The Occasional Mind Conditioners

Continuing the review of the 52 cetasikas, those factors that condition the formations of personality, the focus of this talk is on what are termed the Occasional or Particular Cetasikas.  These mind conditioning functions appear in most moments of self-organization, but may be absent or “disabled” when associated with certain unwholesome mind conditioning functions.  During the review, the interactions between the Occasional Cetasikas and the Universal Cetasikas is described, as these provide a foundational condition that can be aligned with either wholesome or unwholesome mind conditioning functions.  This talk was accompanied by a “Guided Mind Conditioner Contemplation”, recorded the same night and posted in the archives.

Here are the notes prepared for this talk:  THE OCCASIONAL MIND CONDITIONERS

For further review of the entire listing of the cetasikas, this document is:  CETASIKAS POSTER

Next week’s talk will review the Unwholesome cetasikas.

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Understanding The Universal Mind Conditioners

Continuing a review of the 52 cetasikas, conditioning factors in the mind, the focus for this talk are each of the 7 Universal Mind Conditioners: Feeling, Perception, Contact, Volition, Concentration, Vitality and Attention.  These factors participate in every moment of consciousness, whether the mind manifests wholesome or unwholesome self-organizations.  Understanding the function of these mind conditioners conceptually creates the conditions that support direct identification of them as impersonal while practicing mindfulness of breathing meditation, and this insight reveals the non-self characteristic of human personality.

Here are the notes prepared for this talk:  Reviewing The Universal Mind Conditioners

Here is the document that shows all 52 of the cetasikas:  CETASIKAS POSTER

The focus for the next talk will be what are called the Particular or Occasional Cetasikas.

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Overview of the 52 Mind Conditioners

This Dharma talk is a continuation of reviews regarding the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, particularly focusing on the 4th of the 5 Aggregates, the Mind Conditioning Factors called Cetasikas.  The talk provides a generalized view of how Buddhism describes those mental constituents that form a subjective experience of a self.  The intention of this review is to create an understanding of the general characteristics of the several categories of cetasikas: Universal, Particular, Unwholesome and Wholesome.  These categories will be reviewed in more detail over the course of several subsequent Dharma talks.  During the talk, a chart of the cetasikas was provided during the Zoom meeting through screen sharing; here is that document for future reference:  CETASIKAS POSTER

Here are the notes prepared for this talk:  Overview of the Mind Conditioning Factors

The focus for the next talk with be the Universal cetasikas.

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