{"id":23,"date":"2010-07-18T08:40:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-18T08:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/2010\/07\/the-8-hooks.html"},"modified":"2010-07-18T08:40:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-18T08:40:00","slug":"the-8-hooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2010\/07\/the-8-hooks.html","title":{"rendered":"The 8 Hooks: How Mindfulness Can Get You Off the Hook"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/blockquote>\n

In the Pathamalokadhamma Sutta, the Buddha said,<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Among humans, these things, namely,
<\/span>Gain, loss, status, disrepute, blame, praise, pleasure, and pain
<\/span>Naturally are impermanent, uncertain, and liable to change,
<\/span>The wise, ever mindful, understand these things,
<\/span>And contemplate them as always shifting and changing
<\/span>Thus, delightful things cannot oppress their minds,
<\/span>They have no reaction to disagreeable things,
<\/span>They have abandoned all liking and disliking (for worldly concerns).
<\/span>Further, they know the path of nirvana, dust-free and without sorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

They have reached the other shore of existence and know this correctly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The Buddha warns about the eight worldly things to avoid. These four pairs of opposites are reflected in the above sutra.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
<\/blockquote>\n

1) Taking delight in money, materials possession; Feeling distress when separated from these things
<\/span>(2) Taking delight in praise and things that boost the ego; Feeling distress when receiving criticism or disapproval
<\/span>(3) Taking delight in maintaining a good reputation or personal image; Feeling distress when image and reputation are diminished<\/span><\/p>\n

(4) taking delight when making contact with pleasurable things; Feeling distress when making contact with unpleasurable things.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
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\n

What does the Buddha mean here? These are eight hooks for the mind and are thusly eight attitudes that make us vulnerable to dukkha<\/i> (suffering; pervasive dissatisfaction, and so forth). The Buddha is not encouraging us to become zombie-like with no self-preserving instincts. Rather, he is cautioning against basing our self-worth, happiness, and well-being on their occurrence. In other words, beware of contingent self-worth. All things mentioned here are either not in our direct control (that is, it is something someone else does to us) or they cannot be controlled because they are always changing (that is, the fundamental truth of impermanence). He is not saying don’t enjoy things but he is saying that enjoyment might be a double-edged sword if not tempered by wisdom of impermanence. He is saying don’t take yourself so seriously. He is saying don’t invest so much energy into self-protection. Don’t base your self-worth on what other people think of you. In fact, spend less time on figuring out your self-worth and more time on paying attention to your experience (and while you’re at it, why not focus on helping others, or at least not doing harm to others).<\/p>\n

Gain, loss, status, disrepute, blame, praise, pleasure, and pain are eight hooks to avoid and we are beset by them constantly. Inevitably we succumb to them on a regular basis. Alternatively, each moment is an opportunity to recognize the hook and to disentangle ourselves from its barbed grasp. Mindfulness practice helps us to disentangle. To be mindful is to see how we are hooked and allowing fear to overtake us. We can see how our sense of OK-ness has become contingent. If we breathe through the feelings that our emotional brain thro
\nws at us, we can realize that while some problem may need to be solved, we are not in mortal peril and don’t require activation of our most primitive defenses. We can breathe into this moment with interest and a commitment to get off the hook or put our energy towards solving the problem in a practical matter. If the problem can’t be solved right away, we can breathe through the uncertainty. That, I think, is what the Buddha meant.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Pathamalokadhamma Sutta, the Buddha said, Among humans, these things, namely,Gain, loss, status, disrepute, blame, praise, pleasure, and painNaturally are impermanent, uncertain, and liable to change,The wise, ever mindful, understand these things,And contemplate them as always shifting and changingThus, delightful things cannot oppress their minds,They have no reaction to disagreeable things,They have abandoned all liking…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddha-101","category-mindful-living","category-mindfulnesss"],"yoast_head":"\nThe 8 Hooks: How Mindfulness Can Get You Off the Hook - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2010\/07\/the-8-hooks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 8 Hooks: How Mindfulness Can Get You Off the Hook - 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Arnie Kozak","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#\/schema\/person\/5f92cf2ae15fbe04e74ca47527ac68d8","name":"Dr. Arnie Kozak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6ab\/6abd6f3205265768510a13d66ac2aff7x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6ab\/6abd6f3205265768510a13d66ac2aff7x96.jpg","caption":"Dr. Arnie Kozak"},"description":"Recognized as an innovator in the field of mindfulness-based psychology, Dr. Arnie Kozak is northern New England's leading expert in the field. Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}