In Lama Anagarika Govinda?s The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy, there is a pearl of understanding on page 63 entitled, ?Importance of Joy and Suffering according to the Abhidhamma.?
The excerpt that I would like to share is:
?In other words: out of the 121 classes of consciousness which are discussed in Buddhist psychology, sixty-three are accompanied by joy and only three are painful, while the remaining fifty-five classes are indifferent?How deluded is man, that he mainly dwells in those three painful states of consciousness, through there are overwhelmingly more possibilities of happiness!?
I remember when I read this several years ago, I felt this Wisdom, supporting the enquiry into consciousness itself and how it was worthwhile to take the time and make this a focus of study and practice.
It also resonated with the writing that came to me back in December, 1996:
I reflect, yet I do not grieve
for I understand now
the wisdom in the experience
it is to teach me isn?t it?
so I can feel my soul
when it cries inside
I lovingly embrace my pain now
as I heal from within
for I know there is a way out
and I will take it.
As I have come to see, there is an ongoing invitation, from the Teacher of Life, to enter into a stream that leads and guides us. As beautifully stated by Govinda:
?The more man progresses, the more radiant and joyful will be his consciousness? it becomes more and more sublime, until it grows into that serenity which radiates from the face of the Enlightened One with that subtle smile in which wisdom, compassion, and all-embracing love are mingled.?
I experience and feel this personally in the phrase, ?the peace that surpasses all understanding.?
Melanie