So, in my meditation journey, this vicious cycle of guilt continues. I start meditation, follow all the precepts, but then one day sexual desire peaks, and I break the precept. I feel sad and lost, thinking I have lost all my spiritual progress. I delay and neglect my practice just because of one incident.
I know that people carry their spiritual progress from one life to another, but I think if they are serious achievers, they pass on understanding rather than practice.
If someone has achieved jhana, they may be born in the Brahma World, but whenever they are born as a human, they don’t carry that jhana. Perhaps they carry a liking for jhana, and if they practice, they may achieve jhana more quickly than others.
But in the case of Vipassana, people carry the exact understanding to the next life.
If we look at it from the perspective of the Pathana level, jhana is not something that is “achieved,” it is kusala citta (wholesome mind). The more we practice, the more this kusala citta we generate. When it is generated for a longer time continuously, it is called jhana. Guilt hinders that process.
Dear Mrunal
Sense desires are obvious and thus it does/may seem we should tackle them first.
However, the sotapanna still has oodles of sense desire but he has eradicated all wrong view.
And so the wrong view, self view and silabataparamasa, of which the sotapanna has none are where effort is best focused.
And sense desire can be an object of satipatthana as it is as conditioned and anatta as any other object. Then instead of being our constant enemy it can be the very object that assists understanding to grow
I think we need to be careful when it comes to ‘observing’.
Cittas arise and perform their functions- they know the object without any self at all. And although I did mention about understanding sense desire that doesn’t mean we need to especially value it as an object. There is visible object and seeing, sound and hearing, feelings, thoughts and so that are arising and all also need to be understood.
But how to understand without subtle self view intruding. That is why the path is profound, it comes with detachment:
“I crossed over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place.”[1]
“But how, dear sir, did you cross over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place?”
"When I pushed forward, I was whirled about. When I stayed in place, I sank. And so I crossed over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place
Your comments on guilt are so common amongst Buddhists. But hearing the Dhamma is better considered as a cause for joy not self-recriminations. It is because we cling to the view of self and don’t yet properly understand that there are only conditioned phenomena.
Guilt is an aspect of dosa. And is rather unnecessary. Whatever has been done is in the past and can’t be changed.Now is where effort is effective.