Best Of
Re: Death
@lobster said:
thanatophobia
Interesting, with Thanos from Marvel
What is your favourite part of Death?
That its so egalitarian... 😏
person
Re: The nine contemplations of Atisha
In Buddhism rebirth often isn't seen as a good thing. Paraphrasing Robert Thurman, "In Buddhism rebirth isn't a promise, its a threat". If we're fortunate enough to have the good karma for a rebirth in the upper realms our suffering will be light, but in Buddhist cosmology most of our lives are spent in the lower realms. Its why they emphasize the importance of taking advantage of the time we have now to practice.
person
Re: The nine contemplations of Atisha
Hi @Shinnen,
Probably the best approach to assuaging a fear of death and dying is to get familiar with the concepts of life after death. Reincarnation is traditionally the Buddhist approach, although stories of near-death experiences (NDEs) may also be helpful. Once you accept that death is not a meaningful end, it loses much of its ability to terrify.
The study of death deterioration is typically more useful with Asubha or not-beautiful meditation, which is the process of breaking down the body’s external image as beautiful.
Jeroen
Re: The nine contemplations of Atisha
Ooooo the old death contemplation....Ven Thubten Chodron has some good guided meditations on this if anyone is interested.
https://thubtenchodron.org/1991/08/important-awareness-death/
Bunks
Re: No Buddhist Quotes
“Nonresistance is the key to the greatest power in the universe. Through it, consciousness (spirit) is freed from its imprisonment in form. Inner nonresistance to form – whatever is or happens – is a denial of the absolute reality of form. Resistance makes the world and the things of the world appear more real, more solid, and more lasting than they are, including your own form identity, the ego. It endows the world and the ego with a heaviness and an absolute importance that makes you take yourself and the world very seriously. The play of form is then misperceived as a struggle for survival, and when that is your perception, it becomes your reality.”
— Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
Jeroen
Re: No Buddhist Quotes
“There is nothing that strengthens the ego more than being right. Being right is identification with a mental position – a perspective, an opinion, a judgment, a story. For you to be right, of course, you need someone else to be wrong, and so the ego loves to make wrong in order to be right.”
— Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
Jeroen
Re: Does all karmic debt need to be paid for a person to reach nirvana?
I have read somewhere? about a shift in perspective. You stop worrying that karma will come to fruition and hurt you. Because karma will come to fruition eventually. And the shift is to worrying about stopping creating new bad karma, rather than worrying about past karma coming to fruition.
Jeffrey
Re: What we are doing right?
@Jeroen said:
@Jason said:
@Jeroen said:
@Jason said:
seeing a psychiatristThe neurodivergent movement seems to be having a bit of a moment, that is for sure. But my experience with psychiatrists is that they are generally more interested in prescribing you pills than in genuine mental health. Music and Buddhism have done me more good in recent years than anything else.
Glad to hear it. In my case, music and Buddhism weren’t quite enough 🤷♂️
I found an investigation into my views and their origins to be helpful. Generally the stronger the opinions that you hold, the more difficult it is to live as kindness, softness, mellowness. Living with one’s being in that space means being more forgiving, holding fewer grudges, and acts as a general protective measure against much mental ill health.
Hence I practice metta even for bodhi Trump.
I think it all depends on what the opinions are as opposed to how strong one holds to them. I know the general attitude of Buddhism is to relinquish views, but some views are skillful and useful and shouldn’t be abandoned before they’re no longer useful.
Holding strong opinions on the efficacy of the principles of Buddhism (especially the precepts, teachings on interdependence, and the four brahmaviharas) has helped to make me a kinder, more compassionate, and easy to talk to person. The same goes for my political opinions. That’s why I’m able to room and treat a patient no matter who they are or what they believe, and every one feels comfortable enough to share their thoughts with me. I’ve had people go off about vaccines being a scam and how I should vote for Trump because he’ll make things good again and others who’d say the opposite. They all feel comfortable enough to share these things with me, and I treat them all the same because I care about them as people.
My own suffering partially stems from childhood trauma and some neurodivergent issues, but the majority of it stems from systemic issues and the external pressures they exert upon my life, not so much my opinions. And while Buddhism has helped me greatly over the years, there are some things that it hasn’t and I’m open to exploring other tools to help. And for mental health issues, I’ve found that finding the right therapist can go a long way towards helping one heal and overcome things that prevent them from moving forward.
Jason