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Re: Being mindful of our actions

@RobinH
As someone whose art is writing, even though I do it rarely, I have found:
... that when I write from a place of trying to tell people what they 'should' or 'ought' or 'would be beneficial' to think and feel (according to me), this never works and I only get pushback.
... that when I write honestly and vulnerably from the perspective of having aroused in myself something positive, or have induced in myself a catharsis, only then do I get positive feeedback, and sometimes - when the muses visit - tremendously positive feedback.
The 'trick' is that arousing something positive in me arouses something positive in the reader and arousing a catharsis for me arouses a catharsis in the reader and everyone wants and is benefited by that.
Just some thoughts that came up for me.

marcitko

2

Re: Should a Buddhist own a gun ?

It is interesting discussion. Coming from a Buddhist community, I don't even want myself to label "Buddhist" anymore. "Buddhist" doesn't mean follower of true Dhamma or Buddha's teachings and just a label - I have witnessed worst. You may have different meaning for "Buddhist."

silent

1

Re: The Higher Self

I am female and from nearby country. not from Thailand but staying in Thailand. I just do not want to mention my country name here. I read and listen to Dhamma talks a lot in the past few years and also took online courses. Yes, you are right. It is wrong spelling as I am not familiar with English terms yet. I found clear writings in many places these days but I read mainly in local language until a few months ago. I found this just now https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/snapshot05/. I will try to simplify what I understand. Because we do not know what is right and what is wrong (ignorance), we are doing things that will keep us continue to suffer or suffer more (Karma formations). Because it is formed, we have consciousness and form - like we currently do - become humans. As a result, we can hear, feel, see, smell, taste with our six sense organs which is part of a human whenever we got contact with something. That contact makes you feel - like, dislike or neutral (Vedana). That made you crave ( if you don't like want to push things away, if you like you want more) - it is attachment. Because of attachment we cling to these things - not only food, materials but also to humans such as parents, lovers, spouses, children or even reputation, opinion, belief system, and so on. That clinging/ grasping make us continue to exist - cannot let go, cannot break free from fetters and therefore, rebirth as humans or other forms (higher or lower realms) again. As we were born, we will old and we will die -- as innate fate of human or animal or other forms. As we do not aware of that, we restart again and again and living in this cycle of suffering. Once you know, you change your behavior and meditation and mindfulness is a tool to break this cycle. The place to break cycle is the link between feeling and craving. You can feel but if you can let go of craving, your mental chains become weaker and weaker. When the first three broke, you become a stream-enterer and will not go to lower realms or hell. You have only maximum of seven births to be fully liberated. Hope my explanation make sense.

silent

3

Re: The Higher Self

@Jeroen said:

@silent said:
I am from Theravada community and I am not familiar with "higher-self" concept. We would like to think some people from higher realms are protecting us but I did not hear that higher-self thing. I heard about it only from YouTube astrology videos.

Hi silent. Wikipedia has this definition of a higher self:

Higher self is a term associated with multiple belief systems, but its basic premise describes an eternal, omniscient, conscious, and intelligent being, who is one's real self. Blavatsky, who founded the Theosophical Movement, formally defined the higher self as "Atma the inseparable ray of the Universe and one self. It is the God above, more than within, us". According to Blavatsky, each and every individual has a higher self.

So it goes back to the Theosophists.

Thanks for explaining. Yes, it is not Buddha's teaching. We do not even have "self" and therefore, no such thing as "higher-self" as far as I understand. To get first enlightenment (stream-entry), we need to remove "self" (sakkāya-diṭṭhi) with knowledge first. Unless, insight will not progress. When we actually gained first enlightenment, sense of self/ identity view completely dissolved. This if one of the three fetters totally cut off at that stage. Sense of self as "conceit" will still exist and only disappear when one is fully enlightened. Just sharing what I learned from Dhamma talks and readings.

silent

4

Re: Rebirth as an animal

The traditional view in Buddhism is that a human life offers the best conditions for enlightenment.

I basically agree with @Jeroen, the animal world is difficult and filled with suffering. A constant search for food, always on the lookout to not be food yourself. Being a human offers opportunities to change the way your mind operates, it allows for art and science and a relief from the vicissitudes and stress of an animalistic world.

If you're someone who suffers a lot from negative rumination I can see how the sort of ignorance of animals would be a kind of bliss though.

person

2

Re: What do you think of modern movies?

And why do so many movies revolve around fighting, in one form or another?

Jeroen

1

Re: What do you think of modern movies?

I've bought subscriptions to all the major movie-providers but rarely seem to be able to find anything to watch among the modern movies. I'm not quite sure what it's about but they somehow just don't grab my attention or peek my interest. So, I often revert to rewatching old favourites. Sounding like a Boomer, at 39!

marcitko

2

Re: My Dharma practice today

I am using Insight Timer, free version, as my meditation timer. I like that because it is helpful to remember how many hours or minutes I have meditated in the past as well as some people who meditated at the same time dropped message "thank you for meditating with me." It helps me to keep my daily habit. I meditated 3 hours per day in breaks for about 90 days but now I reduced back to two hours because I feel I am stressing myself out. Adding walking meditation and mindfulness while doing other things. However, when I started, it was very hard to sit even 10 minutes a day.

I am moving to another city soon and will lose my deposit for my current room and will need to give away a lot of things as I cannot carry them. So, a good time to practice letting go and aware nothing is really mine (Anatta). I know if I do not let go, I will lose more in terms of finance and emotion.

silent

4

Re: The Higher Self

I am from Theravada community and I am not familiar with "higher-self" concept. We would like to think some people from higher realms are protecting us but I did not hear that higher-self thing. I heard about it only from YouTube astrology videos.

silent

1

Re: What do you think of modern movies?

This is not a thread I’d normally comment on, because 1. I’m quite ADH and have a very hard time sitting through a movie ( I can’t even bring myself to watch the clips in the links); and
2. I’m culturally out of step with much of what most of the rest of the world considers entertainment .
I’ve watched movies that friends have said I’d enjoy, and usually they leave me flat.

That said though, my wife is a big fan of the Wizard of Oz. We’ve been to the museum in Kansas, and our house has a collection of Oz memorabilia. And I certainly have my own very fond childhood memories of the movie. So of course we went to see Wicked when it came out, and now we’ve just seen Wicked2, which is less a “sequel” and more just a “continuation after the (yearlong) intermission.” These movies are, to me, an absolute masterpiece of storytelling. Refreshing perspectives, plot twists, a LOT of thought given to tying it all in to the well known story but still telling a very different story of its own. Really thoughtful exploration of human thoughts, emotions, and actions.

So, the movie industry is certainly CAPABLE of excellence in storytelling. The fact that so many movies are superficial and mediocre reflects not the industry but the audience they’re selling to.

Open a high quality fine dining restaurant and you’ll work unbelievably hard and could well go bankrupt. Open a McDonald’s franchise and you’ll likely be a millionaire.

Steve_B

3