Greed, dullness and aversion.

I tried restricting my noting of 3rd foundation to these three for a while.
Anyone have experience with this?
But when I felt calm or joy I couldn't find a way to fit them unless I intellectually created the greed of wanting more.
Or sadness, maybe aversion in the same way.

This could be of my misunderstanding of these words.
Does anyone have a good reference where I can read about these three so I can apply them better?
Thanks a lot!

Heh meekan I have the same issue. I use the notes "craving, ignorance, aversion" instead of "greed, dullness, aversion."

Most of the times when I can't find craving, ignorance or aversion, I don't really feel equanimous at all --- this happens because I am not seeing things clearly, and so I note "ignorance".

But sometimes, just rarely, I am really super equanimous with everything, even pain and discomfort are seen clearly, and then I note "equanimity", because it is very obvious that is what is appropriate to do. I am very prone to spacing out in this mental region (except on retreat), and then "ignorance" becomes appropriate again.

That's what I do.
Bruno

Aha, thanks, B!
Gave me a new way to think about it.
I suspect I misunderstood some of it!

Hi Meekan.

I like to think of greed, aversion, and delusion not as qualities to be sought out and eliminated. Rather, just like the teaching of anatta/nonself, investigating where these qualities might be showing up is just another useful strategy.

When experiencing a lot of discomfort, or frustration, or any other seemingly 'negative' quality of experience, I have found it helpful to ask, "Will grasping this relieve the suffering?" No. "Will pushing this away relieve the suffering?" No. "Will ignoring this, and convincing myself that it's not happening, relieve the suffering?" No. What is there left to do but pay attention and stop any sort of interference?

This is not to say that asking these questions and then responding will suddenly open things up in your practice. Chances are you'll still feel crappy a lot of the time. That's just life. But learning to decide upon an appropriate response to such phenomena is important, and reflecting on greed, aversion, and delusion as strategies for release (of which none are good strategies) will help to guide you in a wise direction. Further development on the path of insight will likely follow in time.

I hope that helps.

~Jackson

Thanks, Jackson!
I got the exercise from Kenneth where I just look for these three when noting 3rd foundation, so I am trying to get my head around it technique-wise.
Your reply gave me more of an understanding of what they are (as I said earlier, my comprehension of the terms may have been a little lacking)! Appreciate it!