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Nothing Matters - What now??
So I've read a few hundred pages of Buddhist texts and I've been meditating, discussing the teachings with friends (both more- and less-knowledgeable than myself), and I've become confused about a few things. Namely:
If nothing matters, why do anything?
If we should not receive happiness (or sadness, etc.) from external sources but instead from inner peace (and perhaps the knowledge that nothing matters) why bother having friends? Why get married? What do relationships mean?
For some reason I just can't get over these points... Why not just meditate incessantly...?
If nothing matters, why do anything?
If we should not receive happiness (or sadness, etc.) from external sources but instead from inner peace (and perhaps the knowledge that nothing matters) why bother having friends? Why get married? What do relationships mean?
For some reason I just can't get over these points... Why not just meditate incessantly...?
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Comments
Some don't get married. Some do meditate incessantly for years, in retreat. Some have very few friends--cultivate the friends that inspire you to follow the right path.
No one said we shouldn't receive hapiness or sadness, etc. from external sources. One receives the joy, but doesn't cling to it, so by not clinging, non-joy doesn't become suffering.
In Buddha I want to belief love is un-conditional , no demand , no expectation just a sincere feeling of selfless for the betterment of others . In Buddha , relationship , commitment ( married ) , religion , belief is not exist ....we should love our children same way we love our enemy , same way we love even the cancer virus that "attacking" us....love to all equal....to living and non-living
Mediatation is a form of mind exercise is never and will never should associated with Buddha ....maybe this is Siddharta's way to know his Buddha ...but that is him ok...there are countless way to know buddha.
"when you are tired - sleep". ( being rested feels good ). There are many things that matter and make me happy. Analyzing everything can sometimes limit my ability to intuit truth(?) or find solutions.
Relative Truth vs Absolute truth. Relative truth describes values we place on things in our day to day lives. Absolute truth deals with values that can sometimes seem to negate relative values. ( absolute truth being the " big " picture ). I believe both types of truth are equally valid. The glass is actually half full and half empty at the same time. I find much peace in knowing this.
"Emptiness simply means that nothing has any enduring existence, which is not the same as saying you should no longer discriminate between what is beneficial and what is harmful in the context of your private actions and public interactions."
P.
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Dear goriginale -- I'm not sure where you got the idea that nothing matters. That sounds like parlor-game Buddhism, intellectual Buddhism, dead Buddhism.
A small experiment you might be willing to try: Do nothing. Literally, attempt to do nothing. Unless I'm mistaken, in trying to do nothing, you would find yourself doing something. No matter how hard you try, you would still be doing something ... breathing, thinking, smelling, tasting, touching, meditating ... something. And this is the same for all of us. Whether what we do matters or not is just a matter of assessing what we have done or will do at some other time. In the midst of doing something, there is no room for "matters." We just do what we are doing. Later we may say, "Oh that was stupid" or "That was profound" or "That mattered." But in the midst of doing something, there is just doing ... just pounding a nail, just brushing the teeth, just kissing a friend.
Check it out. See if it's true. Does the "nothing" in "nothing matters" matter or not? And what precisely is this "nothing" that is so easy to articulate but remains unexamined?
Patience, courage and doubt are required in Buddhist practice. It really is necessary to slow down. It doesn't matter how smart you are, it matters how willing you are to examine the obvious. And what is the most obvious thing that matters to you? Well, I imagine you are. Now the only question that remains is, who are you? And that requires patience, courage and doubt.
Just thinking out loud here.
I had these same thoughts a few years ago, but I realized...
Everything does matter.
Dharma can be practiced while walking, sleeping, eating, playing games, chatting with friends, watching tv and so on.
It's universal!
I believe in balance of all things.
If you can balance everything you will understand that every single thing matters and then nothing matters...
Everything and nothingness is what I like to call it.
If you do things because they matter in this way, you're a slave.
Liberate yourself from yourself, be free.