SELF CHERISHING

[KhedrubGyatso]

In the lamrim, we are asked to identify the faults of self cherishing.
A very good definition of self cherishing is ' wanting things our way' which i think everyone can check out or reflect on personally.

From this definition, can you identify its faults?
The self cherishing mind has been called by many names and likened as:
A slaughterer
A thief
A farmer
A possesor
A soldier
A shameless person
An inconsiderate person

What are the characteristics of above people ? Which of above labels you can relate to most  and how does having those traits affect your life? Does it make you happy or unhappy? What about those near you when you exhibit such characteristics?

[hope rainbow]

A slaughterer
Cutting open the throat of my potential.

A thief
Stealing away the benefits that actions motivated by selflessness bring about

A farmer
[/color]Farming negative karma, storing it, growing it...

A possesor
A possessor of the self, impossible to possess, thus creating a habit of grasping

A soldier
Fighting to keep what cannot be kept, fighting an impossible battle with weapons that hurt us in the end

A shameless person
Putting others behind or after me, only the shameless can

An inconsiderate person
Thinking always about me, about my self, not considering others or only doing so when it suits me

[vajrastorm]

The self-cherishing mind, as in wanting things my way, has many labels.

A slaughterer - self-cherishing / 'wanting things my way' causes me to indulge in negative actions that ultimately slaughters all my chances of attaining liberation from suffering and from samsara.
A thief - It is a thief that steals all my virtuous potentialities because it causes me to become angry at the slightest provocation, thus resulting in the burning up of all these virtuous potentials.
A farmer - it is a farmer as it plants the seeds of negative actions in my 'consciousness field', which ripen into the fruit of suffering for me in this life or future lives.
A possessor - it is a possessor because it fuels strong self grasping at and covetousness of all mundane objects , and goals, leading to negative actions and suffering.
A soldier - it will fuel a great lust for victory in battle, leading one to be reckless and disregard the fact that one's life is at stake any time, as one can be killed in the battlefield anytime and be thrown instantly into the lower realms.
A shameless person - because it causes us to throw our conscience to the wind and act recklessly ruining our chances of happiness, as we create more and more causes of suffering.
An inconsiderate person - because it fuels self-absorption to the level of total disregard for others happiness and well-being. 

Except for the soldier, I think most of the labels have fitted me one time or another before. In every instant, when I operated from any of the labels, my deluded mind tried to convince me that i had gained satisfaction and 'happiness' from my negative actions. But then the main feeling that remained was a disquiet/disturbance  of the mind and no peace. Mostly, there was no real good/happy feeling about my actions afterwards. I can recall one instance,many years ago, when I flared up in anger in front of a group of friends and said words which I wished later I could have taken back. After that incident, people were quieter around me and more distant from me.

[negra orquida]

What are the characteristics of above people ?

A slaughterer
- no empathy for the thing being slaughtered.   does not care about the pain caused to others. The self cherishing mind kills the causes of happiness.

A thief
- sneaky, steals things from others which causes them anguish, but ultimately hurts himself the most.  The self cherishing mind steals time and effort away from pursuing virtuous actions.

A farmer
- reaps what he sows after toiling in the fields.  The self cherishing mind plants the seeds of suffering and reaps the effect.

A possesor
- thinks everything should belong to him, or will go all out to get what he thinks should be his.  The self cherishing mind wants everything which brings deluded happiness and ultimately gets pain and suffering.

A soldier
- follows the orders of his general. trained to kill without thinking.  The self cherishing mind blindly follows the order of the delusion and endangers itself.

A shameless person
- thinks there is nothing wrong with his actions.  The self cherishing mind sees no fault in its actions and hence cannot correct itself.

An inconsiderate person
- does not care about how other people feel or the trouble caused to others by wanting things a certain way.  The self cherishing mind only serves itself and not others.

I relate most to the last one - inconsiderate person.  I am that whenever I put my own comfort and convenience above others'.  There's always a sense of regret or guilt.. or my conscience scolding me for behaving in such way.  It caused the people who experienced that aspect of me to stay away.

[Midakpa]

Self-cherishing is a mind that, due to self-grasping, holds oneself to be more important than others. Thus, the need to "have things our way", otherwise suffering arises. Suffering can be great (like war) or small (irritation due to noice etc.). Self-cherishing is said to be:

1. a slaughterer because it can destroy the life of freedom we are seeking by causing us to commit negative actions

2. a thief because it steals our merits by causing us to become angry

3. a farmer because it plants seeds of negative actions in our consciousness

4. a possessor because it is covetous like a businessman who deals with dangerous people out of greed

5. a soldier because it lusts after victory and disregards the fact that he may be killed

6. a shameless person because it causes us to lose our conscience and we are unable to feel remorse even though we have committed negative karma

7. an inconsiderate person because it makes us think only of our own welfare and forget that others also want happiness.

Number (7) is quite common. Due to a busy lifestyle and laziness, we often forget the welfare of others in our daily life. I'm working on this one. I'm also mindful of (1), (2) and (3).

[RedLantern]

We have been a slave to the self cherishing mind,since beginingless time and have trusted it and obeyed it.
We have work so hard and for our sake,but what do we have to show for it.?Have we solved all the problems and found lasting happiness we desire?It is clear pursuing our selfish interest have deceive us.After having indulged or self cherishing for so many lives,now is the time to received that i t simply doesn't work.
I relate to number seven as without realising before that I'm a rather demanding person towards my loved ones.Am being mindful and working on it.

[Dondrup Shugden]

It is always thought that Self-cherishing is being selfish and caring only for one's own needs at the expense of others.

The classification of being self cherishing in this article is amazingly true and beyond our normal manner of thinking.

Very appropriately described and we all will realise that we are all self cherishing and be within the vicious cycle of birth and death in samsara.  Time to practise the Dharma and Buddha's virtues.

[RedLantern]

Self-cherishing is a mind that considers the self that we normally see, namely an inherently existent self, to be supremely important.  Supremely here means the most imporant compared to everyone else.  With self-cherishing, we value and consider our own happiness to be the only thing worth working for.Self-cherishing only considers things through the very narrow  lens of how things affect ourselves.  Shantideva says all suffering in this world has one source:  self-cherishing.   In the lojong texts it says we should “gather all blame into one”, meaning we should blame all of our problems on self-cherishing.  How can we understand this?  According to Buddhism, all suffering is due to the ripening of negative karma.  Negative karma itself comes from negative actions.  Negative actions in general are those actions which harm a living being (ourself or others) in some way.  All negative actions are driven by delusions, usually attachment, anger or jealousy.  All delusions arise from self-cherishing.
Understanding clearly what self-cherishing is and its many disadvantages, we are naturally led to the conclusion that we must abandon it completely. Every time the thought arises in our mind to favor ourselves at the expense of others, we should recognize this as a deceptive mind and not be fooled. When we see clearly the deception, we will no longer be fooled and our self-cherishing will lose its power over us.

[eyesoftara]

On this basis of ignorance of how things are, karma arises. On that basis a consciousness of the self that is truly existent grasped  bases the the form, feeling and perception. Hence we have the  5 aggregates that is cause by ignorance and from the aggregates arises the grasping and attachments based of the self grasping mind and when things do not turn out to the satisfaction of this mind, anger arises. And we have the 3 poisons, complete.

Because we have the 3 poisons and the 5 aggregates we are suffering pervasively so much so that every moment we are in samsara becomes a cause to remain the cycle of samsara.

So self cherishing is very powerful. But since it arises from ignorance of the ultimate truth, the solution is wisdom of the ultimate truth that arises from compassion and boddhicitta. Hence, the more we work on putting others before us the faster we accumulate the merits and wisdom that leads to ultimate boddhicitta or Wisdom of direct perception/seeing of Sunyata and lasting happiness.

[pinecone]

Self-cherishing is a selfish mind that sees the self as   the most supreme. All we  desired in life is mainly to be happy and possess all good things in life, but this self-cherishing mind leads us to commit selfish and even hurtful actions.  These selfish and harmful actions generate negative karma for ourselves that will ripen later and cause us even more problems and suffering. Therefore, we can stop grasping at our own happiness and work towards in creating happiness for others instead.