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.

What if ?

NomaDBuddhaNomaDBuddha Scalpel wielder :) Bucharest Veteran
edited October 2013 in General Banter
This post might sound stupid, but that's what passed through my mind while I was getting increasingly bored today at the "Hygiene" lab :

What if, we, as sentient beings who look for enlightenment didn't have to struggle with life that much. What if someone, at the right moments in our lives just put a sheet of paper, a test with a few question in front of us, and had like...two hours at best to answer some brief questions about the whole existence and so on ? How would the enlightenment thing look like ? What kind of answers would you give ? And...would you try to cheat ?

Comments

  • poptartpoptart Veteran
    You can't cheat at life. It always knows.
    NomaDBuddhariverflowKundo
  • NomaDBuddhaNomaDBuddha Scalpel wielder :) Bucharest Veteran
    Yeah, or life will let you cheat until you run out of options. And then there'll be the nail bite...
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    I don't understand the question.
    federicaInvincible_summer
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    So like you get questions and if the answers are right that makes you enlightened kinda like exam questions give you good grades?

    I don't think enlightenment is like that. But that is pretty obvious. I think the right answer would be to leave the test blank and then get up and walk out. Touch the earth mudra.
    riverflowmfranzdorfNomaDBuddha
  • KundoKundo Sydney, Australia Veteran
    As tempting as it would be to cheat, I'd have to pass. I don't even know if I WANT to know the answers. I just want to play the hand I'm dealt with dignity.

    In metta,
    Raven
  • 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
    genkaku said:

    I don't understand the question.

    Me too.
    neither do I understand the point.....

    Invincible_summer
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    In america there is a term when you don't know any answers on the exam and places you just guess based on the shape and pattern of the bubbles on a multiple choice machine read test.

    The term is 'I christmas treed it'.

    I think I might have to Christmas tree such a test.
    Kundo
  • mfranzdorfmfranzdorf Veteran
    dhammachick said:

    As tempting as it would be to cheat, I'd have to pass. I don't even know if I WANT to know the answers. I just want to play the hand I'm dealt with dignity.

    In metta,
    Raven

    Perfect!
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    edited October 2013
    I think the real test repeats with each breath and is only about how we spend it.
    There just isn't enough time to cheat..
    when we are the answer.



  • NomaDBuddhaNomaDBuddha Scalpel wielder :) Bucharest Veteran
    @genkaku

    To rephrase it : what if we didn't have to struggle to find enlightenment ? what if someone, at the right moment just put a test sheet in front of you and had a little time to answer questions ( short ones ) about your whole experience that you gained 'till that point ? And if the answers were right, then, there you go, enlightenment !
    And now the other questions : would you try to cheat ?
    How would the whole enlightenment thing look like ( compared to what's described by the Buddha and other people who attained enlightenment ?

    TL;DR : how would enlightenment look like if it was just in a form of a test sheet ?

    @ Jeffrey

    Yes, like that. But let's suppose there are no good and bad grades. You pass or you don't. And leaving the whole page blank would be an option.

    @dhammachick

    Why wouldn't you want to know the answers ?

    @federica

    I tried to rephrase it . Tried :(

    @ Jeffrey

    Giving a bit of a thought, I'd do that too.
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    I am too baffled by this concept of self and enlightenment to even answer.
    00000hhhh. I guess i just did.
    Nirvana
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    To rephrase it : what if we didn't have to struggle to find enlightenment ? what if someone, at the right moment just put a test sheet in front of you and had a little time to answer questions ( short ones ) about your whole experience that you gained 'till that point ? And if the answers were right, then, there you go, enlightenment !
    @NomaDBuddha -- OK, I guess I get it. But, with no disrespect intended, the whole thing sounds more ludicrous than I can describe. At a minimum, it posits that someone or something else is in charge of the enlightenment diplomas. I'm as up for a good wet dream as the next person, but pipe dreams lose their savor when they lack some small connection with reality.
    Invincible_summer
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    NomaDBuddha said:


    what if someone, at the right moment just put a test sheet in front of you and had a little time to answer questions ( short ones ) about your whole experience that you gained 'till that point ? And if the answers were right, then, there you go, enlightenment !

    And now the other questions : would you try to cheat ?

    How would the whole enlightenment thing look like ( compared to what's described by the Buddha and other people who attained enlightenment ?

    In which case, you passed the test so allow me to be the someone who declares your enlightenment.

    I'm not sure there's much point in cheating within the confines of the experience... unless one accepts that the enlightenment or attainment is false?

    You're now the expert - how does it look?
  • KundoKundo Sydney, Australia Veteran
    @NomaDBuddha - Because my life is hard enough as it is. It would be all the more difficult living up to higher expectations. Becoming enlightened isn't the same as STAYING enlightened.......
    @dhammachick

    Why wouldn't you want to know the answers ?

    FullCircle
  • lamaramadingdonglamaramadingdong Veteran
    Q: Why?
    A: Why not?
  • Invincible_summerInvincible_summer Heavy Metal Dhamma We(s)t coast, Canada Veteran
    edited October 2013
    @NomadBuddha - I think a more important question is - how would you deal with being enlightened afterwards?
    Kundo
Sign In or Register to comment.