*Robert Rosenbaum* # Progressive Summary # Definitions # Chapter Notes ## Chapter 2 - Temptation and Intention > People overestimate the power of will, underestimate the need to form and implement specific plans, and often don’t take a hard look at the influence (and impermanence) of fluctuating external circumstances. Psychological research shows that goal intentions account for no more than 28 percent of the variance in what people actually end up doing. > Our human delusions of greed and pride bring with them a tendency to overreach, to overestimate our abilities while underestimating the practical difficulties, to expect and grasp at too much too soon. We can be sincerely well-intentioned and sincere in our aspirations, even capable of occasional honest self-observation. However, we have a tendency to conflate imagination with actuation. When we form an intention to be more loving, or more efficient, or less short-tempered, or less ruled by fear, it often comes with a magical tinge: “If I think it, it must/should be so.” ### Heaps > A fundamental tenet of all forms of Buddhism is that everything is composed of collections of heaps, rather than consisting of some fundamental essence. In traditional Western philosophy and science, this evolved into the atomistic approach, which analyzed material compounds into elements, elements into atoms. In the twentieth century, scientists discovered atoms are not indivisible but composed of further heaps of fundamental forces and elementary particles. The radical consequence for both Buddhist and Western physics is the absence of essence: no “thing” exists in and of itself. It’s convenient in everyday experience to refer to individual things we can hold, see, and point to, but fundamentally these are illusory appearances. Material things that seem to be static and permanent are arising and disappearing every moment in continuous, dynamic processes. The five heaps (or skandhas) are: • Form (material image, impression) • Feelings (or sensations) • Perceptions • Formations (mental activity, intention, impulse) • Consciousness (thought, mind, discernment) > If even the skandhas of form (materiality) and consciousness are components of illusions, we should know that thinking something doesn’t make it so. Nevertheless, if we make a mistake and reify our thoughts—saying to ourselves, for example, “I never get anything right!”—our belief in this distortion makes it a fact. The fact becomes “our thing” and may cause us to stop making the effort—and, in the process, make the belief a self-fulfilled prophecy. Under the influence of “I never” we can box ourselves and others into despair, forgetting how just a short while ago we managed to tie our shoes, fry an egg, and drive on a crowded freeway without crashing. Cognitive-behavior therapists like to point out the toxic nature of overgeneralization and all-or-nothing thinking in “I never,” but the Surangama Sutra will help us appreciate the subtler foundations of our delusions, namely our assumption that things exist as separate entities and our very belief in an essence of “I.” > Consider the books on your shelf: they give the appearance to others that you know what’s in them. How does their appearance on the shelf affect your sense of knowing them? How many of them have you read completely, how many have you skimmed, and how many have you meant to read but never got around to? > > The danger is that once I form a vision—whether the vision is of reading a book, of being able to withstand the lure of sex, of meditating daily, or of being kind to everyone—the petty details of how to implement the vision in practical, small steps may seem unimportant. This can be due to a combination of pride (“I am able to do this”) and optimism (“Nothing’s likely to get in the way”). We can mistake the imagined accomplishment as “no sooner said than done.” This easily leads to disappointment, pessimism, and shame. Sometimes we simply don’t know how to implement a change but feel too embarrassed to ask for help. > Research on the implementation of intentions shows rates of any follow-through are low, and those of sustained follow-through are even lower. Medication compliance rates are around 30–50 percent. That’s for something as simple and important as taking a pill—much easier than sitting down on the meditation cushion every day or being generous and kind to everyone we encounter. Breaking a habit such as losing your temper, smoking cigarettes, abusing alcohol, or engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior is even more difficult. # Quotes # References