Best Of

Thanks…I suspected you may have already posted it but I was too lazy to go back over the pages and look.

Yeah, the first is the list…and as I said, that’s not lay people….we’re not living on offered food. I’m not, ….don’t know about you.

The mindfulness trainings, I know….i received them the very last visit he did here. That’s not what Buddha said…that was the guidance and determination of our Teacher. And he was there when we played volleyball with the monks. Also that says ‘certain’. We covered in our sits/talks/workshop what those certain ones were/are. I never got the instruction that it was all.

The theatre reference…um…that could be debated as well. Another thread for that.

‘Buddha said’ ?? Can we can a scripture reference for that?
Are you referring to the list of games he would not play?
I think that was referring to him and his disciples….not lay people.
That being said, every Thursday I spent at the Monastery, we would play games with the Monks….so..maybe it depends what your spiritual group is/believes.

Its my understanding that it’s the absorbed part that’s the problem. Not the game. Young people can be very vulnerable to being absorbed by anything. We all were once there, weren’t we?

In fact, all our old asses are here now trying to work thru all the shit we’re absorbed by, hahaha

We have game night at my oldest daughter’s apartment once a month. It’s been amazing for family bonding and shared experiences. Snacks are good too! She has such pride in hosting and it’s really helped with some leftover mental health issues she’s had in the past. It gives me a chance to see about her, get the low down on how the place looks (her caring for herself) and we all have a ball! I try to choose 1/2 thinking/educational games and the other half is cut throat UNO! No stacking allowed, haha

If that disqualifies me for not being serious about my spiritual practice…..I’m ok with that. I’m more in the laid back camp.

@Jeroen said:
So we’ve talked a lot about violence and video games, but we haven’t really mentioned the downsides of nonviolent video games. I’ve played a lot of other games, ranging from card games like Hearthstone to mobile games like Bejewelled, and I see it like this.

• Challenge-reward cycles are still present, as well as a dopamine rush
• There is still a kind of design principle of using appealing pieces for the game
• There can be gambling aspects to the play, like loot boxes
• It keeps you very much in the mind and in goal-oriented thinking

It’s rare that you find very social aspects to this kind of game, but they can still be quite addictive especially for younger players.

On a worldly level I don't see much inherent harm to these, or perhaps any other games. The issue comes when they become addictive and distract from more healthful behaviors. Of course, they are designed to be addictive and keep us engaged as long as possible.

In general challenge-reward or goal-oriented thinking are necessary aspects for living a healthy, prosperous life. Being able to do the dishes, get our exercise in, accomplish our work use these systems.

From a deeper, spiritual aspect these can operate as obstacles. But most of us have worldly responsibilities and can't really afford to let go of them entirely.