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Youtube, the sankhara which undoes itself
fivebells
Veteran
Recommended for me on youtube. I think Google needs to tune its algorithm. How are they ever going to make money if they're encouraging our eyeballs to turn away from it? 
Ask A Monk: Addiction to Entertainment
6
Comments
He did separate Lay from Monastics....
Good point.
What does it do to you?
Good point again.
Denial is a problem.
3 pointer!!
IMHO... treat it like anything
else....too many cupcakes? too much shopping?
too much entertainment? It's all the same state...like
he said.
Thanks for posting this!
May I deal with the state of the mind.....
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/vajradhara-and-84-mahasiddhas.html
They are so 'naughty' :om:
OMYAHAHUMHRIH
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn42/sn42.002.than.html
Movies, music, and I guess books and sports are lumped together under entertainment here. Entertainment is an activity designed purely for enjoyment. Entertainment is not specially bad for you, as the wise monk points out. It is not singled out as one of the precepts. That is certainly correct. For monks, entertainment like watching actors is a distraction from meditation and their practice.
But now for another viewpoint.
The wise monk cannot help seeing life from the viewpoint of a monk, and then that causes him to go on and define entertainment as a defilement and distraction, something that tends to pollute the mind. That is not correct. He does eventually say that for most people, watching or participating in entertaining or activity just for the enjoyment value is not evil, or immoral, or addicting any more than anything in life can be evil, immoral, or addicting.
Now for what the Zen in me is doing. It's pointing out that entertainment is part of the creative process that makes us human. I'm picturing all the many paintings and the marvelous buildings and grounds in all the temples I've ever visited. The entire temple grounds are a work of art, designed to entertain you, created by monks. The monks, in their robes and scattered around the temple, are part of a play put on for your benefit and they know it. Then as you follow the path, you encounter gardens and statues and buildings designed for pure entertainment, created by these same monks. Those Korean and Japanese gardens are there for pure enjoyment and to give you an escape from your normal life. At the end of the trip, you've been entertained for a brief time and it's a marvelous gift from those monks. They have used their imagination and creativity to create a wonderful experience for us. That is entertainment. It's no different from them creating a movie.
Just because you're a monk, you don't give up the human need to create, to entertain and be entertained in return. We express in our works of art, whether it's a stage play or a movie or a song or a dance, something profound about life. Is that a distraction? It can be. What's wrong with that? In our practice, we focus so much on being "here-and-now" that we sometimes forget that our minds also need something else out of life than simply living. A healthy mind also needs to stretch its imagination once in a while.
I'm not saying the monk is wrong. He's absolutely correct for a monk. And people can certainly become attached to this entertainment just as you can become attached to anything, including meditation. But if you ask a monk if you should watch movies or play the guitar and sing or read exciting adventures in books instead of meditating, you're going to get a monk's answer.
"Just as when boys or girls are playing the game:[4] as long as they are not free from passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, & craving for those games, that's how long they have "fun" with that game, enjoy them, treasure them, feel possessive of them. But when they become free from passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, & craving for those little games, then they smash them, scatter them, demolish them with their hands or feet and make them unfit for play.
"In the same way, Radha, you too should smash, scatter, & demolish form, and make it unfit for play. Practice for the ending of craving for form...
Adapted
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn23/sn23.002.than.html
I have a large screen 3D TV, with a collection of stored films in this room and an even larger 3D TV downstairs. Being an Arahat is the better 'entertainment'. When a friend comes this afternoon, we may sit in the garden, watch a mindless film or visit a local market . . . meditation will not be on the cards. That is life. 'Life is a meditation' is too trite for us beginners . . .
I find going to a local temple or supermarket entertaining. Life is an orgy. Does not mean you have to be celibate or a sex maniac. Find the Middle way.
Take it easy but not too easy . . .
Heh. I don't know. Probably something along the lines of "If it bothers you, don't do it. When reading a book, just read. When singing a song, just sing. When dancing, just dance. When meditating, just meditate. Would you like some tea?"
I feel sorry for monks. They give up so much when they shave their heads and put on the robe to willingly take on the hard job of maintaining the Sangha from one generation to the next. It is a sacrifice, the greatest gift we can receive. As @lobster points out, our practice should ideally be about the Middle Way. Unfortunately, we still need people who are willing to dedicate their entire lives to teaching and preserving this thing called Buddhism. I know there's a belief floating around that only monks can be enlightened, but I've always been astonished that any monk managed to be enlightened. They're so busy being monks, the Middle Way takes a beating with them.
A few weeks ago I rented a movie called "Warm Bodies" because my wife likes that sort of movie. Zombies and such. She's a big Twilight fan and thought this might be similar. Normally I will watch a bit then wander off to write or something. But this time, I watched spellbound as a marvelous love story about the power of hope and triumph of the human spirit even against seemingly impossible odds was presented to me. I was uplifted and refreshed after watching it. I was entertained.
no time limit, only KO ends match.
I am sure I have seen sangha who have a touch of the necro about them . . .
I loved it too . . .
totally agree about the dedication, service and sacrifice of our uniformed branch . . .
Normal service is now resumed . . .