Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Living In The Now vs Seeking Enlightenment
FairyFeller
Veteran
I've stopped worrying about or trying to make things happen in the future. I've stopped beating myself up about things I have done or trying to re-create things I've done in the past. I've started living in the now, the world we live in is wondrous. Sure there are bad things happening but we are surrounded by beauty if we open our eyes to see it. Life's experiences are a marvel as long as we take the time to savour them.
Now here lies my problem - do I really want to stop living in the now to lock myself away from this beautiful life to start chasing enlightenment, surely this is just another form of chasing a desire, of trying to live in the future?
Now here lies my problem - do I really want to stop living in the now to lock myself away from this beautiful life to start chasing enlightenment, surely this is just another form of chasing a desire, of trying to live in the future?
1
Comments
tsk, tsk - if not careful, you will be robbing grave shrouds, munching left overs and planning your next life of misery . . .
Stay lay for now, support the unfortunates of the 3 jewels and carry on with Mr Cushion and stop having your head turned by beautiful living, sad cases of flesh or the latest must have moment . . .
hope that is useful
If not, it will soon pass . . . :clap:
Have you ever lived at any other time than now? Even your chasing for freedom is happening at this moment. We must realize this deep in our hearts.
Only through an authentic-genuinely lived & felt NOW we reach some kind of Enlightenment. Greetings!!
I'm talking about the simple pleasures of walking down the road and hearing a bird sing or a beautiful sunset but it's balanced out by seeing a cat hunting the birds or realising have the colour of the sunset is down to the pollution caused by mankind.
I'm talking about the greeting my dog gives me when I come home from work, the way my cat jumps into my arms and purrs if I come down for a drink of water in the middle of the night because she's pleased to have me to herself. The fact that I'm lucky to have fresh, clean water on tap whenever I want it.
What is your view of "enlightenment?" To you, how does enlightenment (and a deeper practice of Buddhism) lead to one not enjoying life anymore?
I must ask because to me, it makes very little sense that people would follow Buddhism if it meant that, after intense and deep spiritual practice, we would become feelingless automatons.
Seeking enlightenment is believing that it's somewhere else.
Living in the "Now" is just not trying to live in the future or the past, but in of itself can embrace greed, hate & delusion as easily as compassion, love & wisdom.
IMO and it's pretty much the same as all the other posts here.... they are both too limited as stated to be an either or choice.
if you are not satisfied that means you are not enlightened
if you want to live a satisfied life
it is a necessacity to see enlightenment
such desire is a positive desire
such Effort leads to Chanda Samadhi (one of the Irdipaa)
for this you have to follow the Noble Eightfold Path
if one is in NEP at that moment one lives in the moment, is living 'Now"
enlightened activity shines forward.
Resting, all things accomplished.
Doing or non-doing, both useless ideas.
Whether doing or non-doing both is enlightenment.
Progression and non-procession each the display of the unborn mind.
Waking up to this is to see non-arising.
Yet for those who wander the this/that world. Practice hard, study the view and arrive no where. The dharma is releasing the grasping. Then one will find nothing was released, nothing was gained, nothing was lost. Just this. How many desire to maintain this? By maintaining or trying to one falls back into duality. Surrender and perfection constantly awaits.
Contentment in simple moments is good for now. We also practice to be content with adversity, to allow the dissipation of our karma and to be more know now . . .
From “A Still Forest Pool: The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chan”
“Traditionally the Eightfold Path is taught with eight steps such as Right Understanding, Right Speech, Right Concentration, and so forth. But the true Eightfold Path is within us-two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, a tongue, and a body. These eight doors are our entire Path and the mind is the one that walks on the Path. Know these doors, examine them, and all the dharmas will be revealed.
The heart of the path is so simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice.
Do not try to become anything. Do no make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.
Of course, there are dozens of meditation techniques to develop samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this-just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle.
Why not give it a try? Do you dare?”
- Achaan Chah
(extrac)
The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things
and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things
is to miss their reality;
to assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.
The more you talk and think about it,
the further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking,
and there is nothing you will not be able to know.
To return to the root is to find the meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance.
Do not search for the truth;
only cease to cherish opinions.
So if I have happiness or joy am I also distancing myself from enlightenment? Emotions are what they are, all of them. They are normal. Remember the Buddha said there is suffering in this world, there are things that are painful, emotions that are disturbing. The problem is not in haveing these emotions, but what do we do with them, how do we hold on to them? Feeling as we do is okay and doesn't, IMO, lead us away from the goal. It's the ability to be with what is happening now and not pushing away that which we dislike; but sitting with it, being aware and mindful of what is and being okay with that. I only responded as I think there is a tendency ( I had this in myself as well) to push away negative emotions, not realizing that this was me too. Sometimes these very negative emotions can be our best teachers, especially if we sit with an open heart and learn from them.
All the best,
Todd
I'm still finding my way with Buddhism so it's always good to hear people's different opinions on things. Other than one particular desire I know I have, I feel I have managed to bring myself almost completely in to the present and it is benefiting me by being ever relaxed and at peace, I do not worry, stress, dwell on the past or have things constantly going around in my head as I did before.
The one desire I have left is to be in a relationship and be able to share my experiences with someone else. This is very difficult to let go of as I have been with one person or other my whole life so far and currently am not. I am content to be on my own at present but I know that what I really want is to find someone else. To be honest I don't see that particular desire as being a bad one even though I know it causes me suffering. Relationships, marriage, families and all that is one area I really cannot get my head around and is the thing that stops me being totally present.
All my best,
Todd
Becoming disenchanted means breaking the spell of enchantment, waking up into a greater and fuller reality. This is the happy ending of so many great myths and fairy tales. Being disillusioned is not the same as being disappointed or discouraged. It is a reconnection with what is true, free of illusion. And “dispassionate” does not mean indifference or lack of vital energy for living. Rather, it is the mind of great openness and equanimity, free of grasping. — Joseph Goldstein.
"And what is the purpose of dispassion? What is its reward?""Dispassion has knowledge & vision of release as its purpose, knowledge & vision of release as its reward."
Kimattha Sutta
"For a dispassionate person, there is no need for an act of will, 'May I realize the knowledge & vision of release.' It is in the nature of things that a dispassionate person realizes the knowledge & vision of release."
Cetana Sutta
"Just as when boys or girls are playing with little sand castles: as long as they are not free from passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, & craving for those little sand castles, that's how long they have fun with those sand castles, enjoy them, treasure them, feel possessive of them. But when they become free from passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, & craving for those little sand castles, then they smash them, scatter them, demolish them with their hands or feet and make them unfit for play.
Satta Sutta
the only moment we live is now.
the only moment, in which we can awake, is now.