[Gem]

Originally Posted by 7luminaries

Hello Gem,
I agree that there is an assumption of recognition of the value of self-aware sentience and our respective lives and existence, more broadly. Of the awareness that my highest good is equally valuable to yours and cannot abrogate yours without misalignment with the good. This foundational assumption of what aligns with or constitutes good is what must clearly be discounted or put aside, in order for misalignment to be intended or perpetrated.

So you are saying that our action can be guided by our free will (intent) only so far as it is not mindless or unreflectively driven by craving or aversion? If so, then yes, I would agree with that.

In my meditations I have seen or felt or somehow discovered something which has no will but emanates pure infinite love, and I rate goodness by a standard with is not intellectual, but endemic to It's nature, and even though the human desire for such an experience can be strong, there is no way of making it happen. It happens unexpectedly and suddenly all by itself and there are no steps to take or any methodical approach. There is no way to achieve it, some say because it already is, and although that is true, as it is 'always', when you look for it, it is always behind you.

I have only the basics of the Pali cannon and Therevada Buddhism and am more familiar with Tibetan Buddhism. But within the eternal change paradigm, I get how one posits as a Buddhist that there is no self and so forth.

However, my own experience is that whilst there is eternal change in each moment, so too is there continuity of individuated consciousness. Kabbalah likewise says the world is recreated in each instant, but it also says that there is continuity (spiritually and thus also temporally and physically) between each instant and all instances up to that moment. So, yes and no. I still see that the essence of who we are -- and especially our core strengths and our core challenges -- remain across lifetimes. Not just the difficult or dark bits but the good as well. Lessons accrue, and actions taken shape the mettle of our individuated consciousness across the long arc of our spiritual growth.

In Buddhism, the individual, santana, is eternal in its own right, but not continuous. It is recreated in each moment but this moment shares the characteristics of the last. However, there is no substance which survives from one moment to the next. Thus the context, there is santana, but no continuity of an enduring soul...

Back to your point...are you saying that due to "no self" there is (or can be) no judgment or discernment for the individual regarding his or her intent, thought, word, or deed? Or do you mean there is (or can be) no judgment of others? Clearly, we seek become self-aware, to right-align intent...deed, and we seek to leave off intending or doing misaligned things. By "no judgment", are you saying from the Buddhist perspective that we note an intent or act is misaligned (i.e., bad in the sense of not good) and stop doing it, but we strive not to attach shame or moral inferiority (etc) to ourselves or others, or similar? If so, I can understand this and it is the right way to proceed, IMO.

Yes. We don't attach value judgments to people because there is no continuous person to whom it applies, but we can discern how intent is genuinely kind in that it is truly inspired in selfless love, or how intent is malicious in that it is inspired by personal reactivity, desires and aversions, towards one's own sensational experience. Fundamentally, it has nothing to do with others and everything to do with one's own generation of mind - intent being the urge to move the mind - the genesis of kamma. Therefore, should you enter into value judgement of another such as what they deserve, that is your kamma, and not theirs.

Given our self-aware sentience and our ability to reflect and choose (however difficult or poorly informed it may be, LOL), we do take decisions and make judgments -- and must do, as I see it. It is an aspect of being self-aware that we must assess and take ownership for our intent, thought, word, and deed. But I also agree that judgment without equanimity, humility, compassion, and lovingkindness is imbalanced and often quite harmful. As the history of humanity to date has often proven.

Peace & blessings
7L

Quite.