|
Tbf enjoying life as it is without permitting a sense of foreboding get in the way of savoring the present sums up a lot of Tolstoy's literary output. It's one of his most recurring themes imo.
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2021 07:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 12:51 |
|
|
22 Eargesplitten posted:I'm not a Buddhist but I read a Buddhist story as retold by Tolstoy years ago, and then when I went back to reference it, I found I remembered it wrong. The story is the one about the man who is chased by a beast/tiger off of a cliff, where he hangs by a vine, then sees three dragons underneath him at the base of the cliff, and two mice gnawing away at the vine. As he hangs, facing inevitable death, he sees that a flower on the vine has nectar flowing from it, and savors it. Hopefully that's a familiar enough story to be known by the description because I don't think he gave any other information relating to it. Buddha repeatedly used the inevitability of death as reason alone for living righteously and renouncing sensual pleasure. He said in the dhammapada: “when men remember they will one day die they set aside their quarrels”, there is another sutra where he tells a story about a powerful king who faces a black apocalyptic cloud that comes from the east killing everything in it’s path. The king asks every wise man he could find what he can do to get it to spare his kingdom before realizing he can only rule justly and treat others with brotherhood until it comes. in everyday life people seek sensual pleasures to distract themselves from the inevitability of their own demise and fear of death. It is not possible to avoid death but neither is hedonism (what is portrayed in the story, although they maybe could have chose something stronger than a berry) the correct answer. Related to this is your use of the word “joy” to describe what the man is doing. He is not seeking joy but happiness. In Buddhism this is an important difference as happiness is based upon experiencing pleasing phenomena and getting things you want which then inevitably produces unhappiness when you experience unpleasant phenomena and don’t get things you want or get something you don’t want. Joy is not based at all upon the senses but is cultivated through training, contemplation, and wholesome actions and is accessible to those who have cultivated it in all circumstances. The man finds happiness in the sweetness of the strawberry yes but don’t you think the dragons tearing him apart limb from limb will be very painful? If he places his happiness in the sweetness of the strawberry he will place his unhappiness in the dragon tearing out his spleen BIG FLUFFY DOG fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Dec 15, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2021 15:26
|
|
|
Thank you for that thorough answer, I'll read it again when my brain is working better so I can hopefully understand more thoroughly. My gut reaction is that some of the logic is similar to how I thought about happiness when I was severely depressed, not wanting to be happy because it would make the inevitable following unhappiness worse, which is not the thinking of a healthy mind, but I'm also not thinking clearly today so I might be misunderstanding. I don't see why enjoying whatever circumstantial pleasures necessarily equates to having a harder time enduring suffering, or the opposite, refusing to enjoy circumstantial pleasures equating to having an easier time enduring suffering.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2021 18:32
|
|
|
22 Eargesplitten posted:Thank you for that thorough answer, I'll read it again when my brain is working better so I can hopefully understand more thoroughly. My gut reaction is that some of the logic is similar to how I thought about happiness when I was severely depressed, not wanting to be happy because it would make the inevitable following unhappiness worse, which is not the thinking of a healthy mind, but I'm also not thinking clearly today so I might be misunderstanding. I don't see why enjoying whatever circumstantial pleasures necessarily equates to having a harder time enduring suffering, or the opposite, refusing to enjoy circumstantial pleasures equating to having an easier time enduring suffering. 1. it doesn't if its enjoyed with wisdom. the issue is that a person forms attachments to the sensual pleasures. as all things are impermanent when the sensual pleasure inevitably disappears they then suffer. it is not the strawberry, or the eating of it, but doing it without thinking or thinking that it alone will produce joy that causes suffering. the two posters before me explanation is equally true as the explanation i gave and you can't really understand the truth without understanding both explanations simultaneously. this is v common with buddhist stories. 2. with your severe depression mindset it sounds like you were still saying "I want this, i do not want that" and suffering when the thing you did not want came to pass. you just placed extra steps in between and made it so everything was something you did not want when it came to you and everything was something you did want when it was away from you. Obviously that's way worse than the normal way of seeing things.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2021 18:50
|
|
|
22 Eargesplitten posted:I understand that Buddhism has an idea of escaping the recurring suffering of reincarnation, did the original story give the man the option of doing ??? to escape the cycle? Couple significant things here 1) From a quite literal pov, yes that is possible at any time. From a practical pov, various otherwise-obscured inevitabilities probably are much clearer than normal when one is stuck clinging to the side of a cliff 2) That said, escaping the cycle of rebirth is not really a primary goal in buddhism, at least not practically. That tends to be a bigger thing in the various forms of hinduism. Attaining the insight and wisdom that would permit one to stop being reborn is seen as a generally very positive thing (eg arhats, in sanscrit), but nearly all branches of buddhism go beyond this to most significantly praise people who don't just peace out but instead who keep being reborn with genuinely altruistic intentions of being of service to others still trapped in the cycle of rebirth. 22 Eargesplitten posted:Thank you for that thorough answer, I'll read it again when my brain is working better so I can hopefully understand more thoroughly. My gut reaction is that some of the logic is similar to how I thought about happiness when I was severely depressed, not wanting to be happy because it would make the inevitable following unhappiness worse, which is not the thinking of a healthy mind, but I'm also not thinking clearly today so I might be misunderstanding. I don't see why enjoying whatever circumstantial pleasures necessarily equates to having a harder time enduring suffering, or the opposite, refusing to enjoy circumstantial pleasures equating to having an easier time enduring suffering. Key thing to note here is attachment and aversion are two sides of the same coin: both are maladaptive (albeit entirely understandable) responses to the simple reality that all tangible things are temporary. Rejecting everything because it will hurt is no more effective than clinging to everything because you don't want to lose it. (Or more pedantically, aversion is a state of attachment to not feeling the pain of loss). On a practical, day-to-day, 21st century level, I think buddhism is much more about identifying the more disruptive or dysfunctional attachments we're carrying around than some absolutist exercise in trying to sever every last attachment or root out every aversion. imo that's probably more the domain of people sitting in caves for 3 years. Also I like what fluffy dog says above and I particularly can relate to the phrase 'depression mindset' there lol also hi earg, I hope the mountain living is treating you well Herstory Begins Now fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Dec 15, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2021 19:52
|
|
|
22 Eargesplitten posted:Thank you for that thorough answer, I'll read it again when my brain is working better so I can hopefully understand more thoroughly. My gut reaction is that some of the logic is similar to how I thought about happiness when I was severely depressed, not wanting to be happy because it would make the inevitable following unhappiness worse, which is not the thinking of a healthy mind, but I'm also not thinking clearly today so I might be misunderstanding. I don't see why enjoying whatever circumstantial pleasures necessarily equates to having a harder time enduring suffering, or the opposite, refusing to enjoy circumstantial pleasures equating to having an easier time enduring suffering. The general concept as I have understood it is that you want to be able to accept things as they are with a clear mind, whether they be good or bad. This is of course more or less the same thing Big Fluffy Dog was saying but my interior landscape articulated it differently and I thought it might be clearer. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2021 20:02
|
|
|
yeah, generally agreed with nessus, fluffy dog et al. it kind of depends in the telling if the person is mindfully enjoying vs. trying to escape from their predicament into sensual pleasure etc etc
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2021 20:05
|
|
|
Okay, fully awake now, and that all makes a lot of sense, thank you. I guess I didn't realize that there was a distinction made of a right way and wrong way to enjoy temporary things. Basically it's like there's nothing wrong with enjoying a good meal (which would probably constitute more than a single berry) but if you put all of your time and thought into food to distract yourself from the rest of your circumstances, that is bad. Is that an accurate example?Herstory Begins Now posted:also hi earg, I hope the mountain living is treating you well Thanks, it really is. I'm in a better mental state than I have been for probably most of a decade.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2021 23:32
|
|
|
Are you savoring the moment, or are you enjoying escape from the moment?
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2021 02:45
|
|
|
Hi thread. Just finished reading from the beginning, a lot to ponder. But it's a nice place to post it seems, you all seem very kind 
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 06:21
|
|
|
Was just looking into what we have in Calgary and my goodness what a very lot of buddhist centres we seem to have. I've known of the large Avatamsaka monastery that was built downtown but they are everywhere--Pure Land, TRUE Pure Land, Tibetan, Viharaya, Modern, Zen, Nichiren, all very confusing to an outsider. The ones in the Chinese and Indian languages are the easiest to filter out I suppose. I suppose its befitting a 2500 year old religion that it have so many interpretations.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:01
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:Was just looking into what we have in Calgary and my goodness what a very lot of buddhist centres we seem to have. I've known of the large Avatamsaka monastery that was built downtown but they are everywhere--Pure Land, TRUE Pure Land, Tibetan, Viharaya, Modern, Zen, Nichiren, all very confusing to an outsider. The ones in the Chinese and Indian languages are the easiest to filter out I suppose. I suppose its befitting a 2500 year old religion that it have so many interpretations. There are a number of sects! Do you have questions about any of them? If it helps, a good way to think of this is probably to think of the various strands of Christianity - you've probably seen (if you lived in towns and cities) Orthodox churches, Catholic churches, various flavors of Protestant churches, and so on for most of your life.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:53
|
|
|
Nessus posted:You want the Real True Provisional Constitutional Pure Land, imo. I'm not sure what I want at this point. Just starting to explore this. Not going to write an elaborate confessional, because frankly nobody cares about our own personal psychodramas (unless they are really compelling I suppose, but I'm no Caro), but a bit of brief background might be helpful. I'm also in day 2 of a migraine so coherency is a thing I currently lack. (and I wrote the first line in the next paragraph intending to say something completely different but saw that and hell, the subconscious is clearly trying to say something so I'll keep it) I'm an agnostic, but from a philosophically and theologically curious bent. I was raised in an American evangelical church that even for those has a bit of an oddball, super Pauline theology. My grandfather was a pastor and 15 year missionary from near the founding of this sect (my father was born and grew up in the mission field), and consequently there were always expectations that not only would I follow in grandpa's footsteps but achieve great things given nearly dying after childbirth. Obviously that didn't stick, but for reasons of their own making: the church took as its motto a passage from Paul about searching the scriptures to see if what you are told is true. They failed on this account with me. But after 18 years in a heavily indoctrinating environment I didn't arrive at agnosticism immediately. I spent some time studying with a hermetic order but I was far too immature and inexperienced for that to have a huge impact (except I really liked the head of the school). That helped transition my thinking to relax its dependence on the supernatural. This was enormously beneficial to my mental well being. Anyway, blah blah blah. I'm now a senior academic in the sciences, primarily materialist in my outlook, but despite reading Dawkins and Dennett back in the day have never been anti religion per se (although I mourn from time to time not having the upbringing in more mainline churches as was frankly my birthright). A few things have brought me to this place. 1) In therapy I was introduced to mindfulness--in the context of anxiety, no meditation exercises were involved, and I found it helpful even if...lacking something. 2) I have started meditating somewhat irregularly, but find it extremely energizing. This has brought me back to one of the hermetic texts on a pattern of guided meditations on the archetypes called pathworking. NOT to do magicks and zap people (spooooOOOOoooky), but to explore the inner mindscape and more fully know myself. In this the author (that person whom I am quite fond of) states that this practice is called "the yoga of the West" and that comment caught me up short. At BEST these traditions can claim that their continuity was kept hidden over the years. Most likely, given how Christianization took place, these practices are largely reconstructed whole cloth from what textural fragments remain after "right minded" people burned the Library of Alexandria, for example. (She would claim that one can gain access to astral repository of knowledge after asking the right "people" the right way, but I'll just leave that at that given its a level of woo that exceeds my thresholds.) 3) I recently listened to this panel discussion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLbSlC0Pucw This has me thinking a great deal. There is a continuity of practice present among you that we in the West lack for contemplative thinking that might overcome the deficiencies that having to recreate a tradition has to contend with, despite being from an otherwise largely unfamiliar cultural context. I'm already at the point where the description of the world (science) and the meaning that entails (philosophy) are two things I can keep in my head simultaneously distinct (being heavily influenced by Gould here). So that is where I am at. I am looking to develop my ability to meditate and focus on the moment, and stop looking to the future or living in the past. This I hope will correct my terrible tendency to put things off for later what I should be dealing with now (and I am seeing some progress with my naïve practice). The Four Noble Truths I recognize as real and true and obvious when put like that, and the 8 Pillars seem a logical extension that naturally follow. Turning off the voice in my head would be an added bonus. But meditation alone I'm not sure will get there, but I'm also not prepared to jump into any particular lineage or tradition (or even take up a religious life again). If that makes sense? I'm also not super wild about the sorts of settings that attract sensitive New Age types, which is also probably hugely limiting. Anyway, despite not wanting to write a WoT there it is. Think I need to read a book about the subject at this point.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 21:05
|
|
|
just go to the centers, bring a token gift (vegetarian food or toiletries can't go wrong. its traditional etiquette, shows your humility and respect for the contemplatives also they're supposed to live off the community) and explain you're just exploring. No one really cares that much or is going to expect you to commit right away unless its a cult or a scam. If its for you great, if its not its not.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 21:39
|
|
|
Makes sense. Learn to crawl before walk. I'm sure the defining differences won't matter much at this point. Now to banish covid e. actually, which would be the combination of both traditional in teaching yet lack doctrinal rigidity? Is this a combination that might exist? Bilirubin fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Jan 18, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 21:50
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:The Four Noble Truths I recognize as real and true and obvious when put like that, and the 8 Pillars seem a logical extension that naturally follow. Turning off the voice in my head would be an added bonus. But meditation alone I'm not sure will get there, but I'm also not prepared to jump into any particular lineage or tradition (or even take up a religious life again). If that makes sense? Meditation alone isn't enough, which is why half the 8 fold path is about ethics. It goes round and round though. Watching what you say and do in day to day life is a kind of mindfulness. And seated meditation goes smoother if you aren't involved in a lot of scheming, or beating yourself up over yestersays immoral behavior. One half helps the other. Bilirubin posted:e. actually, which would be the combination of both traditional in teaching yet lack doctrinal rigidity? Is this a combination that might exist? That depends on what you consider traditional, and what sort of behaviors you consider to be too rigid. In a lot of contexts, being traditional is a synonym for being set in one's ways. And in Buddhism, many schools with wildly different practices can point to some very old texts to justify why they teach what they teach.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2022 10:02
|
|
|
Thank you all for your helpful posts, especially in the face of my inability to really clearly put what I was trying to ask. I'm just trying to avoid the equivalent of a dogmatic fundamentalist sect extrapolating from the Christian metaphor, which is probably of limited use anyway. Listened to some Dharma teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh last night, which were very good. I'm going to absorb what I can now and see what resonates and go from there.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2022 11:43
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:e. actually, which would be the combination of both traditional in teaching yet lack doctrinal rigidity? Is this a combination that might exist? Zen and Tibetan Buddhism are both fairly flexible, with some caveats, though they're also extremely big on the like 'thousand years of unbroken tradition' stuff, too. Particularly with zen, the flexibility of it might not be as apparent right away if you bump into formal practice, but a lot of zen's reputation for idiosyncracy and iconoclasts comes from a deeply flexible view of wtf a properly lived life as a buddhist looks like. Which is to say that it looks like basically whatever is appropriate for someone's respective circumstances, as opposed to some one-size-fits-all approach. Really the only completely rigid things generally are the five core precepts: 'don't kill' 'no sexual misconduct' 'don't steal'. Hopefully you already try to not lie or misuse speech, and while not using intoxicants is very much a good thing and something imo people should at least try for a while, that really can't be forced by anything external if people aren't there yet. In many respects you'll get something similar from tibetan buddhism, but formal practice there eventually involves a bunch of devotional stuff to a teacher that frankly is going to seem pretty weird to most people and unless you're going to an all-english community, you will be chanting in tibetan which might very well be too traditional as many people find it offputting. With all that said, if you want the low pressure way of getting to know more at your own pace, I highly recommend just starting off by reading whatever seems interesting. Zen dialogues with commentary have a lot of flavor if you want some primary source; if you're into poetry, there's a lot of good poetry. There also are a ton of good kind of general introduction books, zen and otherwise. The old thread had some really good book recommendations, but idk if they're listed in this thread anywhere? Personally the first books that made an impression on me were Thich Nhat Hanh's peace is every step and some collection of Rinzai's dialogues, which I thought was great, but whichalso convinced me that rinzai zen was not for me lol. Tibetan buddhists have a bunch of great introductory books, but I'm not a good one to make recommendations there as I'd just tell you to go read old biographies of people who have been dead for 500 years or something. I'm sure people here have better, more up to date recommendations for good books to start out with. BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:just go to the centers, bring a token gift (vegetarian food or toiletries can't go wrong. its traditional etiquette, shows your humility and respect for the contemplatives also they're supposed to live off the community) and explain you're just exploring. No one really cares that much or is going to expect you to commit right away unless its a cult or a scam. If its for you great, if its not its not. This especially ^
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2022 12:20
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:Listened to some Dharma teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh last night, which were very good. I'm going to absorb what I can now and see what resonates and go from there. This is pretty much where I started in learning the dharma, and I got the opportunity to go to Deer Park Monastery for a weeklong retreat this last summer, which was a nice progression from just receiving the dharma electornically to participating in meditation and dharma-sharing with others. I also really like the dharma talks given by his students, especially Br. Phap Dung with his irreverent-but-also-reverent sense of humor
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2022 04:08
|
|
|
Grateful to see my favorite thread awakened again
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2022 06:44
|
|
|
Caufman posted:This is pretty much where I started in learning the dharma, and I got the opportunity to go to Deer Park Monastery for a weeklong retreat this last summer, which was a nice progression from just receiving the dharma electornically to participating in meditation and dharma-sharing with others. That must have been quite the experience. I have read through your reports when plowing through the thread but will go back and read them more carefully. Listened to his talk on handling strong emotions as it hewed close to the mindfulness training I have been given. His comments about how without suffering there can be no happiness was helpful, but the continuation into his opinion that "Buddha-land" (The Kingdom of God) therefore cannot be without suffering more profound to think upon. My first reaction was "well then we are supposed to be happy all the time" but I quickly realized that is absolutely not what he's saying, but that one endures and feels the strong emotion while it happens, then siphon off that energy and redirect it for better purposes.
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2022 16:26
|
|
|
JNCO BILOBA posted:Grateful to see my favorite thread awakened again  
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2022 17:23
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:Thank you all for your helpful posts, especially in the face of my inability to really clearly put what I was trying to ask. I'm just trying to avoid the equivalent of a dogmatic fundamentalist sect extrapolating from the Christian metaphor, which is probably of limited use anyway. As for literature I found BDK's 'The Teachings of Buddha' to be a great anchor for getting started even if it is in fact basic-rear end stuff, but at the time I got it, it was what I needed. However I see BDK must have run out of that good Japanese lens manufacturer money because they're not mailing out free copies right now. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2022 17:41
|
|
|
I found this article (and the original article it discusses by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) on samvega and pasada, feelings at the core of Buddhism and of particular interest to those who value social engagement, to be thought provoking: https://zenstudiespodcast.com/samvega-pasada/
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2022 02:17
|
|
|
Thich Nhat Hanh passed away today. He often taught that a cloud never dies. A cloud may become rain, or a wave on the lake, or the liquid in your cup of tea, but it is never gone. We are clouds, and Thay is a cloud, forever alive in his community and his teachings. I came to the dharma by feeling pulled toward his book, The Other Shore, which is his translation and commentary on the Heart Sutra. From there I spent hours listening to his peaceful dharma talks and officially started identifying as a practitioner of Zen in the Plum Village tradition. Edit: Plum Village posted:Dear Beloved Community, https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/thich-nhat-hanhs-health/thich-nhat-hanh-11-11-1926-01-22-2022/ LuckyCat fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Jan 22, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 00:20
|
|
|
LuckyCat posted:Thich Nhat Hanh passed away today. He often taught that a cloud never dies. A cloud may become rain, or a wave on the lake, or the liquid in your cup of tea, but it is never gone. We are clouds, and Thay is a cloud, forever alive in his community and his teachings. I am very sorry to hear it. I know he was a personal inspiration to many here, and I have been getting a lot from his teachings in the past few days.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 00:52
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:I am very sorry to hear it. I know he was a personal inspiration to many here, and I have been getting a lot from his teachings in the past few days. i mean hes coming back
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 03:03
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:I am very sorry to hear it. I know he was a personal inspiration to many here, and I have been getting a lot from his teachings in the past few days. I'm sure people will be getting inspiration from his writing for generations to come. For over 20 years, there has been very few days where I have not silently recited his "driving meditation". Before starting the car, I know where I am going. The car and I are one. If the car goes fast, I go fast.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 09:36
|
|
|
BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:i mean hes coming back
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 10:54
|
|
|
Nessus posted:Did he have any intentions or stated goals on this topic? I do not believe the Zen traditions have a practice of 'called shots' in the manner of the Dalai Lama and co. My assumption for any Mahayana teacher who isn’t explicitly pure land is that they will come back though not necessarily as a human being.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 15:34
|
|
|
Thay’s views on rebirthThich Nhat Hanh posted:
https://www.lionsroar.com/be-beautiful-be-yourself-january-2012/amp/ LuckyCat fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Jan 22, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 16:04
|
|
|
A very nice obit in the Tricycle, HT Scottish guitarist Martin Taylor: https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/thich-nhat-hanh-dies/?fbclid=IwAR1BnAumP6uqDRE-WTdvA_bAs2665xiqxEUaecBVc41t6xJZxEzwYtXLuXo
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 17:14
|
|
|
hey luckycat, what's that from?
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 20:03
|
|
|
Achmed Jones posted:hey luckycat, what's that from? Sorry I should have included a link. It was an article / interview in Lion's Roar: https://www.lionsroar.com/be-beautiful-be-yourself-january-2012/amp/ The Plum Village YT account also just uploaded this clip from a 2014 dharma talk given by Thay, titled "What happens when we die?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xLbZZAjjY8 LuckyCat fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Jan 22, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 20:07
|
|
|
thanks! it's a very nice discussion of the one:one vs one:many correspondence thing that i was going on about years ago in a previous iteration of this thread (or maybe this one idK). the impression i got from TNH was always "you _can_ believe this if it makes it easier for you to be buddhist, but it's not actually right." which is what i do - basically "ok i think this, but i dont talk about it too much because aint nobody wanna hear from the dude that thinks about metaphysics too much" anyway, if that's actually TNH's considered position and not a skillful-means things for western audiences, that's very interesting to me. i'm sure rEaL uNdErStAnDiNg is that there is no daylight between the two, but let's be real here: im no arahant, im not gonna be an arahant any time soon, so trying to speak from the arahant's viewpoint isn't gonna be a great look for me cheers!
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 20:29
|
|
|
BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:My assumption for any Mahayana teacher who isn’t explicitly pure land is that they will come back though not necessarily as a human being. Achmed Jones posted:thanks! it's a very nice discussion of the one:one vs one:many correspondence thing that i was going on about years ago in a previous iteration of this thread (or maybe this one idK). the impression i got from TNH was always "you _can_ believe this if it makes it easier for you to be buddhist, but it's not actually right." which is what i do - basically "ok i think this, but i dont talk about it too much because aint nobody wanna hear from the dude that thinks about metaphysics too much" At least that's where my head gets a grip on the dharma; everyone's mileage, of course, will vary. Nessus fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Jan 22, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 20:33
|
|
|
Whoa, just found a Plum Village sangha in my town. Adding to the list of places to check out once ~the pandemic~ leaves
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 20:37
|
|
|
I don’t care what Thich says. Hell is real and I’m gonna liberate every motherfucker in there.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 21:04
|
|
|
BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:I don’t care what Thich says. Hell is real and I’m gonna liberate every motherfucker in there. wait so youre gonna stop posting? JUST KIDDING YOURE THE BEST <3
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 21:08
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 12:51 |
|
|
Around fourteen or fifteen years ago I was working in a used bookstore and came across one of Thay's books on a shelf in the alternative religion section. I opened it up and read the first few paragraphs and was pierced through by the sentence, "please do not be imprisoned by your suffering." That was my path into Buddhism. "There is a dissolution of this body, but that does not mean my death. I continue, always."
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2022 23:48
|
|
