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Insight for the day

JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlands Veteran
edited February 2019 in Buddhism Today

My insight for the day, on impermanence and no-self: when we die our atoms, the parts that make up our entire body, get recycled and reused by the environment. They have only temporarily been yours, after all they came from somewhere else and will go to somewhere else.

paulysoJaySonShoshinDavidlobsterAlexDaltheJigsawelcra1go
«13

Comments

  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran

    @Kerome said:
    ...after all they came from somewhere else...

    JeroenShoshinDavid
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Insight for the day

    Even when awake one's life unfolds like a dream...For things are never quite what they seem...

    paulysoEliz
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran

    I'm reminded of something Carl Sagan said. Not quite an opposing view.

    "The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it but the way those atoms are put together."

    personfederica
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    edited February 2019

    @Kerome said:
    My insight for the day, on impermanence and no-self: when we die our atoms, the parts that make up our entire body, get recycled and reused by the environment. They have only temporarily been yours, after all they came from somewhere else and will go to somewhere else.

    This also makes want to chime in that really, it's all the same place. All borders are illusion.

    Self awareness is to distinguish between the universe and the self but that implies a border where there are only bridges.

    lobster
  • FoibleFullFoibleFull Canada Veteran

    Until you experience it first-hand, it is only an idea.

    lobsterShoshinpaulyso
  • Updating the incites:

    No updates required?
    https://www.realbuddhaquotes.com

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited February 2019

    @David said:

    @Kerome said:
    My insight for the day, on impermanence and no-self: when we die our atoms, the parts that make up our entire body, get recycled and reused by the environment. They have only temporarily been yours, after all they came from somewhere else and will go to somewhere else.

    This also makes want to chime in that really, it's all the same place. All borders are illusion.

    Indeed. But it is also so that along with the atoms that make up our body, also everything conditioned by the atoms is part of the borrowed structure. Our minds are shaped by and emerge from the body and it’s interactions with the world over time. The learning to see, hear, walk, type, poop, it is all the body — that temporarily-ours collection of particles. All the memes that we learn from the world also. What is left? Perhaps consciousness, the watcher, but even that undergoes change when we sleep, and is not as robust as we would like to believe.

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    It seems to me that desire comes from the past, from what you have known. It is basically a repetition, perhaps of a daydream or an illusion.

    paulysoEliz
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran

    @Kerome said:
    It seems to me that desire comes from the past, from what you have known. It is basically a repetition, perhaps of a daydream or an illusion.

    I wonder what that would say about instinct.

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Insight for the day

    Nothing really matters (phenomena arise and depart) ....but the illusion persists ....

    Kundopaulyso
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited February 2019

    @David said:

    @Kerome said:
    It seems to me that desire comes from the past, from what you have known. It is basically a repetition, perhaps of a daydream or an illusion.

    I wonder what that would say about instinct.

    Instinct is part of the body, it comes out when triggered. Perhaps it is something more of the present, such as a sexual instinct. But even that tends to draw on what we know of sex, a young teenage boys sexual instinct is not the same as that of a more mature man, and both leave a daydream or illusion behind.

    I find intuition a much more interesting faculty...

  • paulysopaulyso usa Veteran

    @Shoshin said:

    Insight for the day

    Even when awake one's life unfolds like a dream...For things are never quite what they seem...

    >
    zen minamalist?:see,what?!,ahh...be.(dance --tango--with karma)

    so interesting, > @Shoshin said:

    Insight for the day

    Nothing really matters (phenomena arise and depart) ....but the illusion persists ....

    another way of saying,emptiness = form ; form = emptiness .or einstien science "buddhist":energy=matter ; matter =energy.so emptiness can correlate to energy --the potential to do work(karma). and form can correlate to matter--the temporal(temporary)work of energy.so it's all karma?!

    leading to a dao-zen insight:fighting karma leads to difficulty ;working with karma leads to easy way.is that the way?

  • paulysopaulyso usa Veteran

    @FoibleFull said:
    Until you experience it first-hand, it is only an idea.

    so we do.experience for ourselves.totally agree with you,foiblefull.

  • @FoibleFull said:
    Until you experience it first-hand, it is only an idea.

    Indeed.
    The point of bodhisattva resonance and sila is to turn theory into practice/being/experience.

    We all want to be Happy, content, at ease. How?
    One way is extreme understanding or insight into others real needs, rather than their unskilful habits and tendency towards unhelpful, unkind or useless behaviour.

    Insight is obvious. Wisdom is everywhere. Be kind. Simple.

    person
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    @lobster said:

    @FoibleFull said:
    Until you experience it first-hand, it is only an idea.

    Insight is obvious. Wisdom is everywhere. Be kind. Simple.

    Are ideas valuable? It reminds me of a story... I have heard that the oracle of Delphi once declared that Socrates was the wisest man of the land. This happened not long after Socrates told his followers that “I know nothing.”

    It seems that ‘being’ is more important than ‘knowing’. Still even this idea proves that sometimes the right idea at the right time can be valuable in helping you to let go of what you don’t need :)

    lobster
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran

    @Kerome said:

    @lobster said:

    @FoibleFull said:
    Until you experience it first-hand, it is only an idea.

    Insight is obvious. Wisdom is everywhere. Be kind. Simple.

    Are ideas valuable? It reminds me of a story... I have heard that the oracle of Delphi once declared that Socrates was the wisest man of the land. This happened not long after Socrates told his followers that “I know nothing.”

    Maybe I'm misreading this and you're expressing something else, but what comes to my mind in response is...

    “As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.” ― Albert Einstein

    My take is that Socrates was expressing intellectual humility. The more we understand, the more we realize that there is so much more that we don't know.

    It seems that ‘being’ is more important than ‘knowing’. Still even this idea proves that sometimes the right idea at the right time can be valuable in helping you to let go of what you don’t need :)

    I think it depends on what you mean by knowing. In the west we generally define knowledge as a purely intellectual phenomenon. I think in the eastern wisdom traditions knowledge is thought of more as what the west might call procedural knowledge, or what we know deeply or intuitively. Ask anyone on the street whether they will die and almost everyone will know that it is true. Ask someone who has survived a near fatal accident or illness if they will die and the knowledge that they have is very different.

    lobster
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    @person said:
    My take is that Socrates was expressing intellectual humility. The more we understand, the more we realize that there is so much more that we don't know.

    I thought on reading the story that Socrates was expressing the difficulty of proof. It is easy to say something and consider it as your opinion, very much harder to come out with something and state that you categorically know it to be true. But perhaps the story has different meanings.

    It seems that ‘being’ is more important than ‘knowing’. Still even this idea proves that sometimes the right idea at the right time can be valuable in helping you to let go of what you don’t need :)

    Ask anyone on the street whether they will die and almost everyone will know that it is true. Ask someone who has survived a near fatal accident or illness if they will die and the knowledge that they have is very different.

    It has a different quality because of the experience that they have been through, that is certain. But I think that brings about more of a change in your being than just in the knowledge you hold.

  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    edited February 2019

    @Kerome said:

    @person said:
    My take is that Socrates was expressing intellectual humility. The more we understand, the more we realize that there is so much more that we don't know.

    I thought on reading the story that Socrates was expressing the difficulty of proof. It is easy to say something and consider it as your opinion, very much harder to come out with something and state that you categorically know it to be true. But perhaps the story has different meanings.

    That sounds good, I think that is also an expression of intellectual humility.

    It seems that ‘being’ is more important than ‘knowing’. Still even this idea proves that sometimes the right idea at the right time can be valuable in helping you to let go of what you don’t need :)

    Ask anyone on the street whether they will die and almost everyone will know that it is true. Ask someone who has survived a near fatal accident or illness if they will die and the knowledge that they have is very different.

    It has a different quality because of the experience that they have been through, that is certain. But I think that brings about more of a change in your being than just in the knowledge you hold.

    Maybe this is primarily a semantic disagreement, I think that is essentially what I was trying to say, but I was saying that knowledge isn't limited to the intellect. I think one of the key pieces of wisdom I received from my time in the scholarly Gelug school of TB was that the learning and knowledge acquired isn't worth much on the spiritual path if it only remains at an intellectual level, that we need to take it into our hearts, or being, and allow it to change us. But also that having a "correct" set of intellectual beliefs matters a lot since that is what we will be taking into our being.

  • It seems that ‘being’ is more important than ‘knowing’.

    In the sense you perhaps mean it yes. In Christian terms, Grace is the enactment of Gnosis. In Buddhist terms we might say knowing is dualistic and being is unitary. We can go beyond knowing but going beyond being ... B)

  • "Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are."
    Zen Saying
    https://buddhistinsights.com

    BunksShoshinJeroen
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    Tonglen!

    When I am feeling shitty say to myself “May the suffering of all beings feeling the same way as me ripen upon me now!!!!” Focus on this.

    Relief (even if only temporary) - helps increase compassion too.

    Shoshin
  • @Bunks said:
    Tonglen!

    Qapla'!
    ;)

    My hovercraft is full of eels
    http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hovercraft.htm

    :3 (normal service is now resumed)

    Kundoajhayes
  • KundoKundo Sydney, Australia Veteran

    @lobster said:
    My hovercraft is full of eels
    http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hovercraft.htm

    :3 (normal service is now resumed)

    הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים

    Cause I can :awesome:

  • KundoKundo Sydney, Australia Veteran

    Poop I just realised that's on the link @lobster sent feels slightly deflated

    Oh well :chuffed:

    lobster
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Insight for the day

    Hmm.... or to put another way... :)

    Kundolobster
  • KundoKundo Sydney, Australia Veteran

    Ok I just laughed too loudly and for too long at my desk at work :awesome:

    lobsterShoshin
  • @Kundo said:
    Ok I just laughed too loudly and for too long at my desk at work :awesome:

    Iz plan! ???

    I quite often meditate in the dark. Laugh for no real reason (without a phone zombie twatter or farcebook account) and have insights of no real value except to me :3
    https://m.wikihow.com/Practice-Darkness-Meditation

    Since everything is but an apparition, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter.
    Longchenpa

    Long live Lonchenpa! ... what you mean she died ... the laughing still resonates ...

    ?

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited March 2019

    I’m glad that my insight thread has served its ultimate purpose with a series of poo jokes.

    And on that line of thought...

    Had you considered that:

    • Everything we eat has been poo at some stage, in the great recycling system we call nature;
    • We are filled with poo (and pus and gall and other unsavoury liquids);
    • The savoury and unsavoury nature of things is a judgment, which though useful divides the world into part heaven, part hell;
    • All things even poo are inherently empty;

    And other poo-related dharma. You know we could make a joke book called the Dharma of Poo.

    federica
  • 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 don't see why not, "The Tao of Pooh" already exists....

    personShoshinKundo
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    @Kerome said:
    I’m glad that my insight thread has served its ultimate purpose with a series of poo jokes.

    • All things even poo are inherently empty;

    Holy crap....are you saying that poo jokes stink ?

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Insight for the day

    Change is inevitable ...Suffering is optional

    There's a choice....

    person
  • 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

    Insight for the Day

    Just because you love someone, it doesn't make them a good person.

    lobsterShoshin
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    edited March 2019

    Abdul Karim Jili, a Muslim Sufi saint, believes that after the Day of Judgement, Hell will cease to exist, and Satan will be back to the service of God as one of his cherished angels.

    https://infogalactic.com/info/Satan

    Ay caramba! Hooray! I luvs a good plan ...

    Hail Atheism Satan Baby Jesus No One

  • Self awareness is to distinguish between the universe and the self but that implies a border where there are only bridges.

    Like the rainbow bridge to Valhalla Purelands ...

    We are the bridge. The constructs are important, both in building and breaking. Long live Odin and Thor but not Thanos who is a naughty boy ...

    In a sense all is Self/attention/awareness. It is why we have bridges. Imagine a border. Dissolves into rainbows and Light ...

  • adamcrossleyJeffreyShoshinperson
  • Lovely day yesterday

    and now back to the insight of today ...

    ShoshinJeroen
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    Here’s one: imagination is Mara’s playground. By imagining things you can create trouble for yourself which is totally surplus to requirements. You often run over areas of healthy, steady thought and insight, and go way to far in your imaginings, or create situations for yourself where you are activating unbeneficial feelings and emotions.

  • 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

    adamcrossley
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Insight for the day

    Patience is a virtue

    Compassion is a must

    ~The Heart of Dharma Practice~

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Insight for the day

    In times of personal crises REMEMBER/BECOME your practice...
    In times of no personal crises REMEMBER/BECOME your practice...

    lobsteradamcrossleyKundo
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited April 2019

    Insight for the Day

    Acceptance is a surprisingly good answer for fear, because there is very little to be truly afraid of. Don’t let your imagination run away with you, remember to use it only to celebrate.

  • adamcrossleyadamcrossley Veteran UK Veteran

    @Kerome said:
    Here’s one: imagination is Mara’s playground. By imagining things you can create trouble for yourself which is totally surplus to requirements. You often run over areas of healthy, steady thought and insight, and go way to far in your imaginings, or create situations for yourself where you are activating unbeneficial feelings and emotions.

    Working with children, we try to foster wonderful imaginations in them, believing it to enrich their lives and engender creative thinking in whatever field they choose to enter as adults.

    Is imagination also the practitioner’s playground?

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    @adamcrossley said:

    @Kerome said:
    Here’s one: imagination is Mara’s playground. By imagining things you can create trouble for yourself which is totally surplus to requirements. You often run over areas of healthy, steady thought and insight, and go way to far in your imaginings, or create situations for yourself where you are activating unbeneficial feelings and emotions.

    Working with children, we try to foster wonderful imaginations in them, believing it to enrich their lives and engender creative thinking in whatever field they choose to enter as adults.

    Is imagination also the practitioner’s playground?

    It’s a fair question. Children are brought up with a mix of truth and imagination, and you have to wonder whether the imagination part of it is that useful to them. What if we only told them true stories? Surely there’s enough that is humorous and true in the world to fill a child’s mind?

    I recall my time in an anthroposophical school (Waldorf in the States) when I was young, and we were taught all kinds of mythological stories about for example St George and the Dragon. It was colourful and fun to paint, but not exactly useful knowledge.

  • @adamcrossley said:
    Is imagination also the practitioner’s playground?

    It depends where you are. I would suggest that most early meditation is largely imagination running riot.

    Attentive awareness makes us aware of this gibbering idiot (speaking for myself). As we calm/ground ourselves in a more focussed or gently concentrated meditation, we are not overwhelmed or dozified and entranced by the minds butterflying nature.

    Now in some dharma, the child/beginner mind can enter a playground ...
    Maybe look for a fire naga and get it to roast and eat its tale Ouroboros style ...

    Better still imagine interacting with a personification of a Dharma Naga Dragon Master, Manjushri, Bodhidharma, Kwan Yin or Durgha ...

    paulysoJeroen
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Insight for the day

    Wherever I go, there I am

    There's no running away from the/your self :)

    Bunks
  • paulysopaulyso usa Veteran

    @lobster said:

    Better still imagine interacting with a personification of a Dharma Naga Dragon Master, Manjushri, Bodhidharma, Kwan Yin or Durgha ...

    <3<3<3 ....sublime,i love you kwan yin,friendship love.

    of course scepticism is welcome,im doing tantric buddhism or dao support without knowing it.but the more members give information about vajria buddhism,now i know im in unity with my diety woman who is.she already gave me symbolism of buddha and pet dragon.it just means,to me they are "transcendal" sublime.

  • paulysopaulyso usa Veteran

    i remember a story about confucious saying to lao-tzu, something like, you have the power of heaven riding the dragon.interesting huh? lao is a buddha ,backed by dao.

    on another note,don't do tibetan buddhism without a guru.,as some tibetan member practitioner suggest.this layperson is still going to do daozen as a lifestyle.

  • KundoKundo Sydney, Australia Veteran

    @paulyso said:
    on another note,don't do tibetan buddhism without a guru.,as some tibetan member practitioner suggest.this layperson is still going to do daozen as a lifestyle.

    Do you mean teacher? There is a Tibetan Buddhist site I've attended near my parents' place and they have a monk in residence and teachers. But no guru. They are well established and well respected. And their classes are great.

    _ /\ _

    lobster
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