Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register
Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
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.

Who did my laundry

JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
in Philosophy
I am reading a book called Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness. I am on the first section which deals with the viewpoint of emptiness of skhandas which are: form, feeling (good bad neutral), perception, formations (volition), and consciousness.

The question I had was if there was no self in these skhandas then who had done my laundry that morning. My laundry was now clean so how can it be that there is no self. The laundry got clean somehow.

Comments

  • CittaCitta Veteran
    edited July 2013
    There was a self Jeffrey..there was rupam and cetana etc. What there wasn't was an abiding self. You and the sheets and pillow cases (or whatever ) and the water and the soap-powder arose at some point in great emptiness by the coming together of essentially empty elements, and have coincided in time and space.which also arose dependently.. and will pass into great emptiness..
    JeffreyInvincible_summerVastmind
  • CittaCitta Veteran
    Or alternatively..it was the pixies. :)
    Jeffrey
  • mfranzdorfmfranzdorf Veteran
    The laundry doesn't exist and there is no one to do it.
  • robotrobot Veteran
    You can't really separate the self from the laundry. If there is no self, there is no laundry. There is a dependently arisen self. Same with the laundry. It's all real and its all empty. Like Citta said.
    Jeffrey
  • misecmisc1misecmisc1 I am a Hindu India Veteran
    edited July 2013
    may be the girl next door or next to next door or next to next to ... next to door may had done your laundry, as she has a crush on you and wants to impress you - and instead of finding that girl, you are trying to understand emptiness here :-/
    Jeffrey
  • CittaCitta Veteran
    mfranzdorf said:

    The laundry doesn't exist and there is no one to do it.

    Who typed that ?
  • mfranzdorfmfranzdorf Veteran
    :om:
  • misecmisc1misecmisc1 I am a Hindu India Veteran
    edited July 2013
    no kidding now, my thinking says: things are, but not the way we think they are.
    Jeffrey
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    The self is more like a verb than a noun. You were doing laundry and now you are whatever you are doing right now.

    I am not a human being, I am being human right now.
    JeffreyVastmind
  • aMattaMatt Veteran
    What is laundry? A composite of clothes and linens? What are clothes? A composite of threads? What are threads? A composite of fibers? What are fibers?

    Asking who did the laundry is odd... perhaps the compression of perceptions that made the shapes and colors into "Laundry" also made the washer into "Jeffrey"?
    Jeffrey
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    It's so cool to talk like this. Makes you seem so mystical. It's groovy.
    JeffreyInvincible_summerVastmindmfranzdorf
  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    Why does a self need to be involved in order for the laundry to be done? Doing the laundry is really just an instinct developed based on expectations by this group of animals we call humans. Or maybe it's based on the desire for cleanliness, which is definitely behavior reinforced by experience and society. Neither of these seem to be personal enough to be caused by a "self", to me. Just some neurons firing, imo.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited July 2013
    Jeffrey said:

    I am reading a book called Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness. I am on the first section which deals with the viewpoint of emptiness of skhandas which are: form, feeling (good bad neutral), perception, formations (volition), and consciousness.

    The question I had was if there was no self in these skhandas then who had done my laundry that morning. My laundry was now clean so how can it be that there is no self. The laundry got clean somehow.

    Your self did the laundry. The Buddha's self did the teaching and the fundraising. He referred to his self as "The Tathagata". But the Buddha didn't cling to self. That's the difference. :)

    Remember what Jack Kornfield said, in a chapter heading in one of his books:
    "After Enlightenment, the laundry". Even self-less Enlightened ones have laundry and bookkeeping and grocery shopping, and... and... so on. When they take a bath, whom are they bathing? Their self/themselves. But all it is, is a body, a vessel. It's not something to get caught up in, or to show off, or to use to impress people. It's just a vessel that needs to be washed, like the day's dishes. To not get caught up in self, that's the trick. :thumbsup:

    JeffreyCittakarmablues
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    "I" did your laundry. But "I" didn't hang it up. "I" did.
  • zenmystezenmyste Veteran
    It just basically means that you are going to die one day and wont last forever.. Of course there is a YOU right NOW!!! You are reading this right now therefore you do exist... However in 100 years from now there wont be a YOU to read it - so theres no abiding self
    vinlynDakini
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    You guys are over-thinking the nothing is permanent concept. It's very simple -- nothing last forever. Including not me and not you. How long something lasts...I'm not sure we know that.
  • ForuiliveForuilive
    Hi Loves...where does the motivation come from to want to know how our creations were created? If a question gets answered in just the way one wants, is there a poof sound, with one step taken towards something? The garment named "us" seems to be made of many threads, also named, and we like to have a way of cleaning ourselves so as to feel fresh and presentable, and we don't end up at the bottom of the hamper, dirty and smelly, unsuitable for wearing....and I never separate my colors from my whites, should I? Bye Loves.
  • lamaramadingdonglamaramadingdong Veteran
    edited July 2013
    As usual, my wife did the laundry. I've ruined enough stuff that I'm basically off the hook.
    riverflowlobsterForuiliveBeej
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    how can it be
    Colonel Mustard, in the Cellar with an Iron Bar?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluedo

    The suspense is killing me . . . :o
    JasonVastmindpersonBeej
  • JasonJason God Emperor Arrakis Moderator
    When questions of this nature arise, I always point people towards Selves & Not-self.
    CittaForuilivekarmablues
  • ForuiliveForuilive
    What does it take to start a branch of a movement, or to "found" a new tradition, a fresh twist...might I suggest "The Laundry Tradition"?
    Thanks Jason, for the Selves & Not-self....I am thankful for all the material offered on this site !

  • footiamfootiam Veteran
    Jeffrey said:

    I am reading a book called Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness. I am on the first section which deals with the viewpoint of emptiness of skhandas which are: form, feeling (good bad neutral), perception, formations (volition), and consciousness.

    The question I had was if there was no self in these skhandas then who had done my laundry that morning. My laundry was now clean so how can it be that there is no self. The laundry got clean somehow.

    I suppose the spirit of the selfless did your laundry.
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    edited July 2013
    The self isn't a distinct, isolated thing that is empty simply because it changes over time.

    image

    Not only does it change but in any given moment it is also empty because it is comprised of non-self elements, namely the skhandas but you could also say the exploded stars that make up the elements of our bodies, the food we eat, the air we breath or the people we know that help us define our personalities.

    (You may have to take a step back to see this one.)

    image
    riverflowkarmabluesVastmind
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    And yes, I'm saying that the self is made up largely of boobies and babies. :mullet:
    riverflowkarmabluesVastmindBeej
  • riverflowriverflow Veteran
    person said:

    And yes, I'm saying that the self is made up largely of boobies and babies. :mullet:

    Have you been smoking buddha again? :orange:
    Vastmindperson
  • mfranzdorfmfranzdorf Veteran
    That looks just like me.
Sign In or Register to comment.