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Your body, and strength.
Zayl
Veteran
I heard a few times on here a saying that your body was a raft, meant only to get to the other side. But what about us people that seek to improve their bodies? I do not exercise and lift weights and work hard, manual labor, to look good. In fact, I prefer function over form any day of the week. I do not do it to appease my ego (as far as I know, anything is possible I suppose) I do it because, I have been in a few situations before where raw muscle was needed. And because it was not there, people died. I could only look on as a helpless bystander. So I began to develop my muscles, up from my core, my legs, and up to my chest and arms. I've even worked on my neck. The goal being, to be a mountain of a man. Not because I desire the gazes of others. In fact, the body type I am pursuing is often considered ugly and chunky. I do this because, sometimes situations arise where there needs to be someone with the strength to be able to save others.
How does Buddhism approach this? I mean, seeking physical strength and function, in order to help others? I was built with a naturally large frame, and strong bones. I've always been somewhat fat, and I cannot seem to lose the weight. All I can do is convert the weight from fat into muscle. I am not improving my raft to be able to cross the river in style. But just maybe, if I improve my raft, I can carry others who are sinking along the way. I only have this one body in this life, I'd prefer it to be strong and ready, in the event of an emergency of some sort. I seriously do not care how I look. I've been called ugly as sin, but I've also been called "built like a brick shithouse" And honestly, I'd like to use that. I mean, I was born with it, would it not be a waste if I did not seek to utilize my body?
This is what I'm talking about, I have the second body type pictured here, the "thicker" one
Again, what is the Buddhist view about improving your body, not out of vanity, but of the desire to aid others, who cannot help themselves?
And, a sort of related song I guess. I've always been the silent type, and born stronger than others, even without working at it (but now, I am) and I always liked this song. My Grandpa showed it to me when I was a little sprout. He said it fitted me, I suppose it does. Not only that but it displays the type of situation I am talking about. A strong man, using his strength, to save others.
How does Buddhism approach this? I mean, seeking physical strength and function, in order to help others? I was built with a naturally large frame, and strong bones. I've always been somewhat fat, and I cannot seem to lose the weight. All I can do is convert the weight from fat into muscle. I am not improving my raft to be able to cross the river in style. But just maybe, if I improve my raft, I can carry others who are sinking along the way. I only have this one body in this life, I'd prefer it to be strong and ready, in the event of an emergency of some sort. I seriously do not care how I look. I've been called ugly as sin, but I've also been called "built like a brick shithouse" And honestly, I'd like to use that. I mean, I was born with it, would it not be a waste if I did not seek to utilize my body?
This is what I'm talking about, I have the second body type pictured here, the "thicker" one
Again, what is the Buddhist view about improving your body, not out of vanity, but of the desire to aid others, who cannot help themselves?
And, a sort of related song I guess. I've always been the silent type, and born stronger than others, even without working at it (but now, I am) and I always liked this song. My Grandpa showed it to me when I was a little sprout. He said it fitted me, I suppose it does. Not only that but it displays the type of situation I am talking about. A strong man, using his strength, to save others.
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Comments
It is a pretty tricky topic though as it obviously does help in life if you are healthy and able to do certain things, it will be interesting to see what people think about this.
As for me, I do not care much about having muscle but I do practice parts of Kung Fu for flexibility and to be able to have discipline in all aspects of life. Add that to Buddhism and you have a great practice IMO. Here is me stretching
Basically though I think as lay people if you work out for whatever reason there should be no problem as long as you do not become attached to it and form all kinds of selves out of the process. That could be quite difficult to do if you really think about it.
No one can outflank or out-think or out-believe life. No one can know the future and the future is invariably filled with buses no one saw coming... the times when all the skill and all the muscle in the world cannot address or solve or save the current circumstances. There are times when you can only do what you can do and what you can do is not very much.
If this is so, as I think it is, then there are two options -- either dissolve into a blob of helpless, hand-wringing, determinist jelly or develop a practice whose aim is not so much to cure things as to see them clearly. And if the latter course is chosen, then each individual must work with the capacities s/he has. You want strength -- OK, do physical strength. You want smarts -- OK work on being smart. You want love -- OK work on love. But no excuses, no pretenses this time -- just work on it, investigate it, and get to the bottom of it. It's not what something called "Buddhism" offers to you that counts; it's what you -- you personally -- bring to Buddhism.
Will such an investigation fend off the buses you didn't see coming? Don't be ridiculous! Will you save the world and lay all the nastiness to rest? Don't be silly. Just take what you have -- body, mind, intention and action -- and look into things.
There is no guarantee that such a course of action will work. Buddhism is a crap shoot. No one can know the future. But the question many Buddhists are faced with is a very simple "I may not know if it'll work, but is my current course working any better?" All the frou-frou promises of spiritual life may be very nice, but it is only individual willingness and action that elevates those promises from the fart-in-a-windstorm category.
Sorry for so much wind.
I enjoy how it makes me feel, as far as having the energy to do all the things I need to do every day, and I just enjoy the science of learning about it. It's a topic of study for me and I find it fascinating to learn how all the body system work together and the things I can do to influence how that happens.
I find working out to actually compliment my Buddhist practice quite well. I have an easier time calming my mind and I do all my workouts the same as I do yoga-with a great sense of connection via breathing and mindfulness in feeling every little part working and doing what it should be doing.
I do know a lady who is about 62 now, she has been an exerciser for her whole life. She still runs marathons and she has more muscle than a lot of men I know, lol. She does it for health but she also has done it in an attempt to help stave off aging. I've talked to her quite a lot about it, and she most certainly looks healthier than most other 62 year olds. But it is also, in part, her fear of aging, illness and death that motivates her, and in the end, it'll get her anyhow.
I exercise quite a lot in different ways and don't think it has to be considered obsession about the body, although it is quite easy to fall into thinking like that. It's easy to get attached to or care in a wrong way about the body. But to care in the right way, I think there is nothing wrong with that.
The Buddha I think said the body is a burden, is "on fire" because it is rarely really content. It needs to eat, scratch, move, sleep. It gets uncomfortable, sick, old, and it dies. So I try to see it in that perspective. Trying to make the burden a little lighter by keeping healthy and energized, while still remembering the body is not a gift but a burden.
I dunno. I just feel like I should be capable and strong and willing to act. Because nowadays the bystander effect or people being apathetic about helping someone else is a damned endemic. There has to be someone there to lend a hand. Considering I have the natural body type, and I am working to improve on that, it might as well be me.
That's how I see it anyway.
I am sorry but I have to say that whole by-stander thing reminded me of this hahaha.
Edit just went back see that you kind of already talked about this in response to zayl still hate u though
But still, my damn hamstrings.....
Anyway whilst you are sorting out any trouble on the streets, I will just glide along the walls and escape like so
What he's still capable of at 85 is simply amazing; lifting wheelbarrows, tiling roofs, building staircases; he puts me to shame (33yo), and would put most people half his age to shame, in this age of diabetes.
With a desk job, I won't be able to achieve his level of fitness by age 85; he worked hard for me to be in this position one could argue. But I can get strong, keep fit, and be with it, all through my life, by exercising and being healthy, and he is definitely an inspiration for this goal.
Me and the gym have never got on; I've joined about 4 times and left after 2-3 months each time. I never have the motivation to continue because there is no end goal. How do you train regularly but only for functional health reasons. Where's the drive? Or have I been looking at it wrong mentally?
My current line of thought is to combine swimming and yoga because I want good all round health and improved flexibility. The gym isn't really the right thing for that type of training but they do have a pool and some yoga and pilates classes.
After work, I don't let my bottom touch a chair ('cos then it gets stuck), I just pull on my running shoes and go do an easy six-or-seven miles.
It can also be part of our spiritual practise; mindfulness while running is quite possible - and when everything is hurting I'll try to escape into the present moment; I was taught that we can always deal with the present moment - rather than thinking, "Wow, I'm hurting now, what am I going to feel like in another ten miles?"
Or I'll try to take my mind off myself by thinking about other people in a compassionate way.
I believe running not only adds years to our life, but adds life to our years.
Don't use the machines!
Body weight exercises are nice because you can use almost anything to challenge yourself even if you don't have weights. Tired of banging out 80 pushups? Change to decline pushups with your feet on a chair. Do pushups with a kid on your back. Do them on your fingertips or one-armed or with your hands closer together. Small variations make huge differences in challenging your body.
Sorry for the tangent. For me, general health and fitness is actually a daily motivator. Because I have a grandma next door would suffers a lot of health problems that would have been prevented by a healthy diet and even mild exercise. And to set an example for my kids, especially the diabetic one. I like to compete, either against my husband, or myself, so that works, too. I track all my workouts on the computer (usually excel) and every time I do the exercise (generally weekly for reference) I increase weight or I add reps. Then excel adds it up. It might not seem like a lot that I did 8 divebombers (my nemesis, lol) and 20 decline pushups. But when excel adds it up and shows I did 116 pushups during my workout today compared to 92 last week, yeah, that motivates me quite a lot.
I have started skateboarding again and boy don't I notice how unfit I have gotten cardiovascular wise, this is also a really good way to get fit that a lot of people don't realise, it takes a lot of muscle and stamina to skate properly as a hobby.
Though lately (within the past year) I have caught a bit of flak. Apparently trying to be strong and trying to improve yourself means you are some CIS male who perpetuates what it means to be a man, as well as trying to be overly "macho"
What do I tell these people? often liberals and transvestites. I don't do it to spite them. They can do whatever makes them happy, I don't judge. But goddamn it's like they come down on me for just doing what is natural to me. How angry would they get if I came down on them for doing what they feel is natural?
Anyway, I can no longer do free weight deads, squats, bench presses or overhead presses. I use a squat machine, leg press and machine deadlift (range is really rack pulls). Because so much of the shoulder tendons had to be trimmed, it is tighter than the other, therefore I do not have the r.o.m. to hold the bar on my shoulders to squat; I also cannot keep the bar level for b.p. and o.h.p. However, with machines I have stabilization for my back and much more control for my weakened shoulder. Actually the best I can do with free weights is single arm dumbells (or kettlebells) because if my right arm needs assistance, I have my other arm free. Opposite your experience, machines are actually helping me to get stronger. Maybe someday I might be able to try free weights again, but I'm not willing to risk another operation. So to that end, machines do have their place.
I'm only looking to run and swim and maybe join yoga or pilates classes for improved flexibility. I have no interest in using weights. I've joined to improve general health and wellbeing, improve flexibility and to get me out of the house more when the kids aren't around. First swim tonight I think :-)
On the flip side, I've also become a member of my local members-only public house. I've lived here for 11 years and it is literally only 1 minutes walk from my door. I've been in about twice in all that time! £2 membership and I get my own fob for the front door.
This is also a good one to try.
Anyway, the goal is to be able to hold each of the 6 or 8 poses for 5 minutes each for a total of 30-40 minutes practice. That's done by working on being able to hold one pose for up to 20 minutes. When that's possible, move on to the next pose(s), rinse, repeat. The first one is actually "standing like a tree"... as the name says, stand completely still, hands at the sides.
I'm talking a good game because I haven't practiced very much of this, but that's the basics. There is a series of YT videos by Master Lam Kam Chuen.
https://www.youtube.com/user/StandStillBeFit?feature=c4-overview-vl
As for that picture in @ThailandTom's post... :eek: holy guacamole!
Now I do it to stay out of a wheelchair and stay as healthy as I can.
In metta,
Raven
I know I'm replying VERY late, but I only stumbled onto this site last week (12/14). I just wanted to say that Gengaku's post so perfectly articulated my experience that I've copied it and refer to it almost every day. It's the best, most succinct observation on what Buddhism (and non-Buddhist meditation and maybe any religion) can or can't do that I've ever heard. It's also the clearest explanation of the kind of wishful thinking that prompted me to pursue Eastern thought and practices for over 30 years, what's "wrong" with that thinking and why its failure inevitably led me to abandon practice, and why I've come back, albeit a bit circuitously, through the Chinese disciplines of qigong shibashi and zhan zhuang that have helped mature and ground me so I could relinquish my naive if well-intentioned fantasies of what practice can acheive and move forward. Just a beautiful teaching, and I had to thank him for it, even so far down the track.
@genkaku, that one's for you...
Because it doesn't have impact it doesn't strengthen the bones.
I think walking is a good exercise, joint mobility exercises like the ones seen in qigong and taiji might be good to prevent injury. But if the goal is avoiding sedentariness and develop natural fitness I believe the bulk of our exercise should be the one we do in our everyday life, such as walking, using stairs, carry weights, all using a proper posture.
Oh and (where are my manners?!)
Welcome, @TheEyeBehind ...