So, I did end up drinking a little bit over the weekend in spite of my goal not to do so. A friend I hadn't seen in a while wanted to hang out and brought some beers, so at least it's not like I just broke down and bought myself some or anything. It still kind of sucks, but I'm sticking to (what's left of) my goal nontheless.
DRINKING: the Precepts aren't meant to be convenient for your everyday life or relationships. They're convenient for your self-deliverance. I know that that sounds probably more than a little fanatical, but it's something that I recommend you contemplate.
CONSCIOUSNESS & UNBINDING (Nibbāna): the Pali word viññāṇa is comprised of vi-ñāṇa. Vi literally means "asunder; apart," and ñāṇa means "knowing." That is, I would translate viññāṇa as "discriminative consciousness." In Parinibbāna there is the cessation of this discriminative consciousness, but the aspect of the mind that is Deathless, Unborn, Uncreated, Unconditioned, is untouched. I understand that Luang Ta Maha Bua described the Deathless consciousness as "where knower and knowledge vanish into Knowing." Here is how the arahant Ajaan Mun Bhuridatto put it in his poem "The Ballad of Liberation from the Khandhas":
"When the heart sees its own decayings, it's released from darkness. It loses its taste for them, and abandons its doubts. It stops searching for things within & without. Its attachments all fall away. It leaves its loves & hates, whatever weighs it down. It can end its desires, its sorrows all vanish — together with the weighty cares that made it moan — as if a shower of rain were to refresh the heart. The cool heart is realized by the heart itself. The heart is cool for it has no need to wander around, looking at people. Knowing the mind-source in the present, it's unshakeable & unconcerned with any good or evil, for they must pass away, with all other impediments. Perfectly still, the mind-source neither thinks nor interprets. It stays only with its own affairs: no expectations, no need to be entangled or troubled, no need to keep up its guard. Sitting or lying down, one thinks at the source-mind: 'Released.'"
SAMATHA, VIPASSANĀ, AND JHĀNA: The qualification of samatha and vipassanā as distinct forms of meditation is not something that has a basis in the Pali Canon: within all suttas that I have read, samatha and vippasanā are different activities that go on within the practice of jhāna: samatha is the quality of calm that occurs in the citta when the Hindrances have been fully suppressed, whereas vipassanā is a form of transcendent knowledge (abhiññā) that arises from the mind when it withdraws from the higher jhānas to a state of being able to assess distinct mental objects (dhammas). Sukha is an aspect of the first, second, and third jhānas, and is stilled into equanimity (upekkhā) in the fourth jhāna.
JHĀNA AND SENSUALITY (Kāmā-rāga): Taking delight in the practice is absolutely a point of the meditation at all times, and without it, you won't proceed, because the heart will wither. There are forms of meditation that are harsh and bitter, such as asubha, but those are to make it easier for you to then suffuse your mind and body with ease. The pleasure of concentration is necessary to wean yourself off of sensual pleasures. While you may think that that is something for your future, I urge you all to consider it -now- if you consider yourself Buddhist practicioners. The Buddha compared sensuality to a drop of honey on the edge of a razor, as a burning grass torch held above a parched grassland, as being perpetually in debt. The bliss and delight of jhāna are a sine qua non for the practice, since it's by tasting of that delight that you can attain total liberation from sense-passion (kāmā-rāga). And if you don't free yourself from this visceral and human fetter, there is no way that you can overcome the far subtler fetters of conceit (māna) and the marshal of Māra's armies, Avijjā.
I don't claim to be a nonreturner and therefore unbound from sensuality, but it's got to be said: if you're going to practice the Dhamma in line with the Dhamma, you have to look at sensuality head on. The simile of the son's flesh is a good thing to consider.
Please forgive me if I come off as arrogant or invasive in saying these things, it is never my intention. I just want to point out that there are these parts of the Dhamma that are not "life-affirming", but that -need- to be considered and contemplated and practiced if you're going to get the results that will lead to Release. It's not just for your own sake, you know. Your need for sensuality puts a tremendous burden on the world, because you -eat-. And even if you're a vegetarian, even if you're a vegan, farming slaughters insects, gophers, mice, and marmots, and destroys or has destroyed vast swaths of wilderness. The food web is the essence of Samsara, really, and as long as your heart is tied up into it, you're bringing dukkha to yourself and to all beings around you. Not to mention slaughterhouses, which are Hell on Earth.
...
I'm coming off too strong, aren't I? :/
edited 16th Oct '12 5:09:51 PM by ThDaSu
Your post has indeed given me a lot to contemplate. I don't think there's much to justify my drinking, except that I do avoid it at almost every opportunity; a definite improvement over how I've behaved in the past. Honestly, I'm probably not the best example of a practitioner of the Buddhadhamma. I self-identify as a Buddhist because the teachings are what I honestly believe, but I'm aware there's a difference between believing and doing.
Even so, I have done my best to try to incorporate the teachings into my life, albeit in fairly minor ways. Compared with before, I'm less of a compulsive spender, drink less, and am much more adept at letting go of anger and bitterness before it gets a chance to take root in my mind. I'm not exactly anywhere near Buddhahood yet, but I'm making progress.
Yeah, I understand. I've been practicing and studying for the last three and a half years or so, and seeing as that happened at the same time as my later adolescence, I have all the zeal of both a convert and an idealistic youth. I've been deliberately cutting off my options for an ordinary life for a while now to make sure that I commit my life to the Dhamma: no romance, I'm taking 'impractical' courses here at college, and I've reduced my social contacts greatly. So, you know, I can sound a bit over-the-top, I guess.
I don't really think you were being over the top, it is important to take the teachings seriously if you're serious about following the Dhamma. Aon and I (the only two Buddhists who really frequent this thread) are both laypeople more or less. I may not even qualify as one of those, as I don't live anywhere near a wat and don't presently go to one regularly.
Hey Aon, I was just looking over a Buddhist page on Tumblr and saw a post stating that there were ten spiritual realms in Buddhism (see here
), which is different from what I've heard thus far. Is this some alternate canon or are one of the Buddhist cosmology models I've heard wrong?
I don't see Aon anywhere anymore. :/
I vowed, and so did you: Beyond this wall- we would make it through.
Decoy
Probably Six Realms model are considered right by Buddhists as they are most often mentioned. I never heard about Ten Realms model.
On topic of Six Realms, I got interested in Naraka realm since I want to expand on Hell in my Bleach AU RP setting, combining it with elements of Diyu, Chinese mythology Hell who was heavily influenced by Buddhist concepts. I'm interested whether in Naraka they are designated beings who oversee and administer punishment to cleanse karma of "sinners", and if so, about their nature.
My President is Funny Valentine.
I'll try to look into that for you. What I do know off the top of my head is that Yama, a god who, if I'm not mistaken, originated from Hinduism, is said to be able to read the kamma of people in Naraka to decide which hell realm they belong in. I've also heard the being Mara (the tempter) referred to as a King of Demons before, and that he came to be influenced by the popular conception of Satan when Buddhism and Christianity encountered each other.
Decoy
I know Yama more or less, and the ox headed and horse headed ogres that serve him, as well as two other Ten Kings/Yamas of Chinese Hell. Sadly, wikipedia does not elaborate fully on that subject.
My President is Funny Valentine.
This is just from a quick search but here's the wikipedia pages for the ten realms [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_spiritual_realms#Interpenetration_of_the_Ten_Realms] and the six realms [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_realms#The_Six_Domains], hopefully it helps.
To the Hindi buddhists, or anyone experienced with Hinduism:
I was talking with my ancestors and a past-husband mentioned he'd been Hindi in one of his lives. I went, "Huh, interesting" and forgot about it until fricking Ganesh came. His main message was, "You [plural] are at the door."
He also said that he promised to help my ancestor find me in this life, so I asked how long he was staying and he said, "Until you meet again."
A group of particular ancestors do keep saying that "We're coming back" in the "meeting you again in this life" sense. And there are two guys at my college who look like two of my ancestors, but I'm pretty sure that "Until you meet again" means more than "literally introducing ourselves" since Ganesh is still here (and politely refusing offerings, since he's not calling me to Hinduism).
And initially he kept showing me a vision of me and my past-husband on two sides of a locked door, but recently I got someone else's help to unlock the door*. That was evidently a good thing since now he's sort of blending into the background of my meditations (but not leaving-leaving yet).
So, fact-checking on Ganesh has confirmed that his personality and messages are consistent with his lore.
I'm just wondering if anyone who works with Ganesh would find this plausible, since I'm an Irish pagan and nowhere NEAR well-versed in karma or the Hindi view of reincarnation.
edited 15th Dec '12 9:28:08 PM by Sharysa
Actually, disregard that.
Things are (starting to?) sort themselves out.
I'm mildly interested in Buddhism, since my mum is one too. What should I do to follow the 8 ways?
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!
shit, this thread is just about dead huh? that kind of sucks. if anyone checks in i'd like to ask a few questions about Buddhism.
^^ Try reading these pages, they should clear up a bit, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism#Noble_Eightfold_Path, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path.
^I'll try to answer any questions you have, I'm not the most knowledgeable about buddhism though.
i'm mostly just wondering about the reincarnation process. what happens while you reincarnate, stuff like that.
You gain positive and negative karma from every action and thought that you do or think in your lifetime, this influences which realm you are reborn into.
This isn't the belief of all buddhists since it's got a lot of different versions, but it is fairly common from what I've read.
More or less what he said, plus some of the things you can potentially be exist in the same realms. The goal, of course, is generally to become a Buddha and stop reincarnating, or to help others reach Buddhahood so that they may escape the cycle as well.
I'm a Hindu, but I'm Buddhist-friendly. For those who are curious, I have a Hindu coven.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13696048710A02100100&page=1
I will now link this to a Facebook page. Don't mind me; I'm bored, and I feel like advertising.
This is a signature.
I'm gonna give this thread a bump.
This is a signature.
So I've noticed a pattern that I'm sure others must have as well. I think I've seen it described while I was reading Buddhist philosophy on karma, the cyclical nature of suffering, the three poisons, but I can't for the life of me find the shorthand term that refers to that recursion. An example goes like this: A legislative majority leader publicly accuses the sitting president (who is necessarily of the opposite party in a plurality voting system for this example, not sure how specific I need to get, but I probably don't need to) of exceeding their executive authority on an issue or even of not doing nearly enough with it (Boehner accusing the President of not passing a spending bill) to score political points, then the majority shuts down the legislative branch in an effort to bring the Executive to the table on an issue they can't move on themselves. By publicly saying that the executive has such power, they inadvertently increase the public's expectations in the office, therefore what sorts of things they'd be willing to tolerate from it in the future, particularly when their preferred partisan gains the seat. Additionally, all presidents face the specter of reelection, to say nothing of their sense of legacy, so they have incentive to be seen as forceful and cavalier about things the legislature won't move on. Over time, executive power comes to resemble an autocracy by necessity and complicity, though history probably just remembers the last guy who had to duel with the legislature for control. In effect, there's a power creep in the executive office because the legislature fears the executive creep. I've seen this pattern elsewhere too, the nuclear arms race is another that leaps to a mind in a political set (We fear their nukes so we make more nukes while preparing to shoot down their nukes, so they make more nukes). In any case, there are probably several terms, but I'd like to know some Buddhist ones. It's like attachment plus fear predisposes you to act out what you fear will happen to what you're attached to.
Another example, hopefully not too controversial: A society fears the loss of social cohesion and the rise of dissent seemingly caused by drugs, so they empower and encourage their police to wage war on drugs. Thing is, you can't fight inanimate objects, so the police target the guys holding them, and inadvertently cause disillusionment and fear of the rule of law in those who use them, or for those who know people who use them, or for those who have nothing to do with the stuff but have their home raided by SWAT anyway on the pretext that they might have had time to dispose of their illicit substances in the interim from the polite and timely knock to the opening of the door.
Macbeth is a great example too.
I think karma sums it up, but the term is used so often to flippantly refer to personal stuff that I can't imagine conveying the point with it. If I say that what's happening to the balance of power in government is karmic, most assume I mean that they're getting what they deserve, which precludes any meaningful discussion.
edited 17th Jan '15 9:49:57 PM by Artificius
"I have no fear, for fear is the little death that kills me over and over. Without fear, I die but once."
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
What on Earth is the deal with transpersonal chakras? I keep looking for non-New Age "info" on this topic, but get zilch. Can you guys help me?
(Cross-posted at the Hindu Tropers thread, since the topic pertains to both Hinduism and Buddhism)
edited 7th Jun '15 4:54:04 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
It's not considered part of 'consciousness' and 'reality' so no. It's not even "Neither perception nor non-perception" which is the eighth jhana. It's considered above and entirely separate from everything within reality.
However if you mean in the sense of "Will I still exist?" the answer is held to be "Yes. In a fashion." That meaning that individuality is now entirely dead in every sense. The illusion is wholly gone and once you've crossed over there's no need for bodies and such as we are used to. So there won't be a "you" in the fashion that you're accustomed to. And we've already moved so far beyond perception that we don't even have to deal with issues of neither perception nor non-perception.
Really there's no good answer to the question as Nibbana isn't something that is often described. It's often held to be entirely incomprehensible save to those who've experienced it, for given values of experience.
So we'll just say "Yes, but also no."
edited 12th Oct '12 10:19:59 PM by Aondeug
If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah