Best Of
Re: Being a light unto yourself
Quite raw, that video @lobster… the way he talks about his parents dying at quite an advanced age in nursing homes struck me as an awful way to go, I can’t imagine living through that and not feeling some measure of guilt about it.
Jeroen
Re: Is it better to believe in one life or in many?
Is it better to believe in one life or in many?
Yes! 😉😁
Sometimes better, sometimes worse.
For some better, for some worse.
In some ways better, in some worse.
The same, and different.
A better question might be: stuck between birth and death, and not knowing what came before and what comes after, whachagona do about it?
marcitko
Re: The AI tsunami
I have small project for work to prepare for. Its similar to things I'm comfortable with but with conditions different enough I wasn't completely comfortable with my knowledge so I thought I'd ask AI for some input. It did give me some info that helped, but it was far enough off that I spent 4 hours and $20 in gas a supplies running around doing things that I had no need to do. I was already correct in my plan, I just didn't have the detailed knowledge of the specifics enough to know I was correct. It also gave me some horrible advice that had I followed would have led to a disaster of a project.
What is it telling me about things that I don't have the knowledge to properly question?
person
Re: Benefits of a Loving Mind
Our local Tibetan Lama says that there is no enlightenment without developing both wisdom and compassion.
And both of these come from developing an ongoing state of awareness/mindfulness.
As we become self-aware and start to feel compassion for our own habits of ignorance, we start to see that others are just like us ... trying to become happier. This awareness triggers a sense of kinship with all living beings, and that is the source of developing compassion.
Without compassion we are too focused on ourselves ... too ego-centered ... to develop the wisdom needed to live in ongoing enlightenment.
Re: Is it better to believe in one life or in many?
I'm not sure it matters. Yes, if you are afraid of creating negative karmic imprints within yourself which might cause a bad rebirth, it might matter. But fear is not a very good motivator when it comes to the matter of mind-training (such as doing your Buddhist meditation).
Buddhism tells us that the Past is just a memory and no-longer matters. And that the Future never arises -- it is always tomorrow. All we have is THIS moment, but when we handle this moment as working on enlightenment, then the internal future we are creating will be positive (and the only thing which really matters IS the internal moment, at this moment in time, Here and Now).
Lastly, it is said that when we die our self-identify and memories also die and all that passes on is a very subtle energy carrying our karma imprints.
So focusing on past/future lives is focusing on something which doesn't really matter. It is this moment, and how we are relating to it, which matters.
Re: Benefits of a Loving Mind
@ Jeroen:
It appears we are talking about the same gem through different facets.
That said, I offer an additional observation.
A beneficial act is a chosen act. It is not an accidental act, but an act deliberately made. The level benefit derived to the individual who performs the act is ultimately dependent upon said individual's intent. There is benefit from and act performed from a selfish intent, but that benefit is reduced and can even be nullified by the coutervalence of the degree of selfish motivation of personal gain.
To preform beneficial acts without regard to expectation of personal gain generated a different kind of personal benefit or gain. Said may appear as inconspicuous or conspicuous benefit or gain, but is more profound, more meaningful and more lasting.
This is the difference between a predatory act of word or deed dressed up as an act of kindness, of selflessness and an act of word or deed arising from the heart freely given free of the chains of expectancy of reward.
Such differences may be invisible to other parties, but the mind, the heart of the person knows, catalogs, remembers.
This is not to say that having an expectation of benefit or gain is exclusive of the selflessness of the specific words or actions. But that the primary reason for the words or actions is not "Where is my gain ? Where is my benefit?" but that gain or benefit will derive from the selfless actions organically. The benefit is already there. The benefit may not manifest immediately or appear in a manner expected. But it is there. It arises through the quality derived from the actions of the heart, not strategy.
Peace to all
Lionduck