The Way of the Bodhisattva 07 Carefulness and Vigilant Introspection: The Ethics That Lead to Genuine Freedom

About this episode

The episode explores the nature of real ethics as psychological ways of being that lead to genuine freedom through mindfulness and self-reflection.

Real ethics is not a dogmatic system of principles, parameters, or prerogatives that one must strictly follow to achieve enlightenment. They instead constitute psychological ways of being that permeate our mind stream, atmosphere, relationships, and communities. By modifying our conditioned states of mind and curtailing states that produce suffering, we in turn ennoble ourselves and the people we interact with. However, such steps require diligent work in the techniques of mindfulness, self-observation, and self-remembering. See how through an exploration of ethics in the three levels of religion; energy as applied to attention and karma; comprehension in meditation as opposed to repression or justification; voluntary mental discipline vs. imposed systems of constraint; the tools and methods of self-reflection and understanding; methods of analyzing the mind; the nature of good and evil; and much more. Resources and References: https://chicagognosis.org/lectures/carefulness-and-vigilant-introspection-the-ethics-that-lead-to-genuine-freedom

Topics covered

• ethics
• mindfulness
• self-observation
• self-remembering
• meditation
• good and evil

Keywords

• Bodhisattva
• vigilant introspection
• psychological states
• attention
• karma
• mental discipline

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