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Living the holy life
There are these phrases you come across in the sutra’s, “the holy life has been lived” for example. If you read more widely you will see that in ancient India around the time of the Buddha it was a thing, that certain people would renounce, and would become wandering sannyasi. Mention of this goes back in the Veda’s to the second millennium BCE.
Saṃnyāsa in Sanskrit nyasa means purification, sannyasa means "Purification of Everything". It is a composite word of saṃ- which means "together, all", ni- which means "down" and āsa from the root as, meaning "to throw" or "to put". A literal translation of Sannyāsa is thus "to put down everything, all of it".
It is something that has somewhat gone out of fashion, in todays materialistic society very few people choose to give up work, to lay down all burdens. But those people who study the Buddha’s words and would learn from him do follow in the footsteps of those ancient renunciates.
So maybe it is a good idea to see what we can lay down today? Living a life of voluntary simplicity is perhaps as close as we can come to living the holy life as they did in the time of the Buddha.
Jeroen
Re: Hack Attack
I suppose you are what you eat. He has lived and continues to live in a world of spy vs spy. It's where his attention and time is spent. If you think people are watching you, you act in a way that reflects that. If you act in that way, people may pick up on that and act in response to that.
It's a good lesson in why practicing 4 Brahma Viharas produces good for you and good for others.
Re: The stories we tell ourselves
Yes @how I like that, “giving it space.”
Its about being kind isn’t it?
This tendency to take things personally and stew for hours just needs some TLC Spaciness and big hugs.
I actually used to hate my own limitations but I’m learning to accept them and maybe they may just fly off offa their own accord.
I’ll see.
Re: Beautiful article about Shikantaza
As I understand it, Buddha nature is a little different, and has to do with the capacity for making an internal shift from seeing a narrow individual point of view, to seeing and acting from a more inclusive, holistic viewpoint.
Jeroen
Re: What movies are you watching?
I watched The Joker a couple of nights ago, found him portrayed in a surprisingly sympathetic manner as a man with mental health issues, basically schizophrenia. It shows you what could happen to a man with these conditions if all the things around him go wrong.
But it also casts the Batman / Joker conflict as a class struggle between the rich (Batman) and the underclass of Gotham City (the Joker). The Joker shows how Arthur becomes a bit of a hero figure to the disaffected who seek to rebel against the wealthy and powerful. The clown masks worn by his followers to me almost feel like a reference to Anonymous and the V for Vendetta masks they use.
Jeroen
Re: Why does 1st Noble Truth only list Dukkha?
Because what is anicca and anatta(without self-nature) is not dukkha when its true nature is realized. It isn't a problem if one realizes the danger of claiming ownership. Let the aggregates do their song and dance. Don't cling as if they belong to you.
The Blessed One said, "And which is the burden? 'The five clinging-aggregates,' it should be said. Which five? Form as a clinging-aggregate, feeling as a clinging-aggregate, perception as a clinging-aggregate, fabrications as a clinging-aggregate, consciousness as a clinging-aggregate. This, monks, is called the burden.
"And which is the carrier of the burden? 'The person,' it should be said. This venerable one with such a name, such a clan-name. This is called the carrier of the burden.
"And which is the taking up of the burden? The craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming. This is called the taking up of the burden.
"And which is the casting off of the burden? The remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving. This is called the casting off of the burden."
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.022.than.html
Re: Is being empathic a good thing?
When body and mind are one, empathy is a given.
When body and mind are in disarray, so is empathy.
Empathy will be little more than theoretical
till some transcendence of self & other occur.
how
Re: Why does 1st Noble Truth only list Dukkha?
Seems a great question. Our response to the pain of Dukkha is to somehow struggle to end that feeling. And thus arises the thirst "Tanha" for sense pleasures and I suppose aversion to whatever is blocking those pleasures. I don't think sense pleasures are wrong in themselves they just happen to be a failed strategy ultimately to free ourselves from Dukkha. I think they do work to some extent day by day we have our sense pleasures as a part of our "lives". Thus we stay in samsara. None of the things we thirst for can stay for long. Birth, aging, corruption, death; this too shall pass. Until cessation, where we let go of grasping. Non-self comes in I believe in that whatever self we conceive of is wrong if it is a passing impermanent self which we try to grasp to. It's controversial in Buddhism if there is an authentic (non suffering) self remaining after the process of the noble eightfold path is complete.
Jeffrey
Why does 1st Noble Truth only list Dukkha?
I only see 4 Noble Truths list Dukkha, it's origin, cessation, and path toward cessation.
Where is the inclusion of anicca(non-permanence)/anatta(non-self)?
Re: The nature of jealousy
Jealousy is part of the tangle known as fundamental darkness. (Ignorance, arrogance, jealousy, anger, fear, hate....) Fundamental darkness is the ignorance of the totality, of the great worth of all life, of being. It is denying the potential of the self and of others. An aspect of fundamental darkness is the belief that happiness comes from outside oneself.
One step in rising above this Fundamental Darkness is giving oneself permission to be happy.
Allow yourself to be happy. Allow yourself to enable other to be happy. Instead of practicing jealousy, we must practice gratitude. With jealousy, the flower of life withers. But with gratitude, the flower of life blossoms.
Peace to All
Lionduck