Best Of
Re: Some delusions that come from meditation
I think this is more an opinion about spirituality than fact. Like more a belief of how we should be in the world rather than a delusion.
- An excessive love of peace and quiet, to the point of no longer being able to function around ordinary people.
Speaking for myself, my experience is that people have a hard time being around me more than I do them because I don't fit the mold. Occasionally I'll find myself at a party and get in a conversation, everyone is in an excited sort of mood and then the vibe settles down and it gets weird.
- An unwillingness to engage in society, to the point of refusing to work together for political issues, doing charitable work, or, being a useful member of the community.
Sure, yeah we are always tied in with society and its important to give back. During Buddha's time he had his monks go to society to collect alms and offer teachings.
- A belief in the ultimate metaphysical importance of “spiritual things”: for example, believing that simply meditating for long periods of time makes the world a better place all by itself.
"All by itself" does a lot of work here. Doing spiritual work is like filling the cup, creating a place from which to operate. Not sure how many people have been to a monastery that radiates peace, where the feeling is palpable? My view is that these sorts of places are important to spread the value of spirituality.
- Becoming obsessed with teaching what you have learned through meditation to other people,
- whether or not they are capable of, or even interested in, learning it.
Yep, its important to meet people where they are. I think about planting seeds or offering information that may help move someone one inch closer to a healthy life than convincing them right now to drop everything and become a monk. To walk a spiritual path people need to come to it of their own accord through understanding or hope. By letting our own light shine we give others permission to do the same. And social effects transfer not only to people we directly interact with, studies of this effect show it passes as much as twice more, three degrees of separation. By offering our own drop and through the collective effort of others walking a spiritual path an impact is made.
- Becoming addicted to altered states of consciousness and losing the ability to function in the world of ordinary people.
Addicted, what does that mean in this scenario? Is a hermit addicted to spirituality? It doesn't seem like enlightenment is a thing in the author's world. A difference in metaphysical world view about what is and how it all works. Like a monastery radiating peace, I've met spiritual teachers who do the same. These sorts of beings impact the world in a positive way that the kind person working at a food shelter doesn't.
person
Daoism book review
Digging Your Own Well: Daoism as a Practical Philosophy
Written by Cloudwalking Owl (Bill Hulet)….AKA…Bill, from Substack…..if you know, you know. 
So I ordered the paperback. It’s about 95 pages and the first 10 or so pages are his background and credentials, along with a few disclaimers concerning Chinese language and kind of a set up for why/how he presents and spells some things.
Then the good stuff starts. I found it very easy to read and very palatable. He gives practical stories and observations about applying Daoism in daily life and how to move and the different Dao meditations. I found him relatable.He connected some thoughts and concepts to Buddhist terms too, which made it easier for me, sprinkled with a few science examples also. I chuckled a few times too…extra points for being down to earth and what he calls ‘groovy’, hahaha.
I enjoyed the teachings on Hard vs Soft, and the universal problems with meditation as far as the delusions that can come from it. I think I’m going to apply the “Sitting and Forgetting” approach that he describes. The Daoist concept of doing without doing appealed to me as well.
From pg 29
There is something about Western society that encourages people to look at the world as being composed of “things”.
In significant ways, Daoism is different—-it teaches us to look at the world as a “process”.
Amen Brother Bill…I needed to hear that! Anyway, nice little read and I definitely took some things away from it and some things I’ll continue to think over.
Vastmind
Re: Rebirth as an animal
@Tavs said:
I know traditionally Buddhists see being reborn as an animal as a negative thing. But surely most animals lead much happier lives than human beings?
When we talk about animals being happier than human beings, I would say it’s possible they are more content with their lives because they don’t really know anything different. Many live by instinct and immediate needs, fully in the present, and that keeps life simple.
Some animals are self-aware and show emotion, like apes, dolphins, and elephants, but even they seem freer from the constant self-questioning that often troubles human beings.
Perhaps this is why, from a Buddhist perspective, being reborn as an animal is seen as a lesser state, yet in their own way, animals may experience a kind of peace that most humans never know.
Shoshin1
Re: Rebirth as an animal
Perhaps if you are reborn as a cat in a civilised country.
A so-called civilised country practises speciesism: it refuses to kill and eat certain sentient beings it calls ‘pets’, yet continues to butcher and consume others it deems ‘food’. The word civilised is therefore a loaded one, having little to do with genuine moral standards or compassion in a Buddhist sense.
Shoshin1
Re: No Buddhist Quotes
"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them." Barry Goldwater.
person
Re: Buddhism and the Theatre *raises hand in a dramatic fashion*
Hi @Jeffrey… nice to see you again….yeah, I would agree there’s a huge difference between theater for the monastic and theater for the householder. The list of things that keep householders/lay from the monastery is pretty long, I’m sure. 😁
In that vein tho, one of the temples I used to attend was in a very rough neighborhood (gang territory) and we were taught to meditate with gunshots going on outside..that the “goal” was not to be distracted and continue on.
BTW…the roughest people there were so nice and would often come in just out of curiosity and wonder about these foreigners and ask questions.
The few monasteries I’ve been to here in the US are waaaay out in the woods and far from city or nearby distractions… though I did see Monks a few times in Sam’s club getting food and supplies, haha
Vastmind
Re: Life is music, not maths
Maybe its a bit of both. If you want to be a really good musician you need to learn scales and chords and be diligent about practicing. But after you get the fundamentals down, being good really becomes more about taking what you know and being open, creative and spontaneous with it. As a child I would find a piano and be spontaneous and creative, but it was just a bunch of noise.
person
Re: Buddhism and the Theatre *raises hand in a dramatic fashion*
I was just reading about meditative concentration from the 6 paramitas of Mahayana Buddhism. In the section about meditative concentration they talk about the virtue of a monastery compared to the householders life. A monastery was defined as 500 armspans away from a town (an earshot). I think that theatre could be spoken of as a negative if they are keeping someone away from having a very peaceful life where it's easy to reach meditative concentration. So the problem of theatre might be that it's one of the things in the householders life that keeps them away from a monastery life. I also read that even walking 7 footsteps (symbolic or literal?) towards a monastery was a very virtuous offering to the Buddhas, even more virtuous than making extensive offerings of food, drink, flowers, and so forth.
From my reading (translation of the Jewel Ornament of Liberation):
The Good Qualities of Solitude. Escaping from agitation and staying in monasteries for the sake of enlightenment and of sentient beings has many good qualities:
a) It is an excellent offering to all the Buddhas,
b) one will renounce samsara, will be free from the eight worldly concerns, and will not encourage the afflicting emotions
c) meditative concentration will arise
Jeffrey
Buddhism and the Theatre *raises hand in a dramatic fashion*
Off shoot from the game thread.
Is theatre wrong/unskillful ? This scripture was presented in that thread
theatre:
“Thus the actor — himself intoxicated & heedless, having made others intoxicated & heedless — with the breakup of the body, after death, is reborn in what is called the hell of laughter. But if he holds such a view as this: 'When an actor on the stage, in the midst of a festival, makes people laugh & gives them delight with his imitation of reality, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of the laughing devas,' that is his wrong view. Now, there are two destinations for a person with wrong view, I tell you: either hell or the animal womb.”
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn42/sn42.002.than.html
I present this
THE BUDDHA’S GREAT THEATER OF LIFE
BY TONEN O’CONNOR
Not a long read
https://ancientwayjournal.wordpress.com/2015/06/27/the-buddhas-great-theater-of-life/
“ ….. Also with reference to the apparent conflict between the early Pali scriptures and the importance of theatre to our lives, it is important that we not attempt to use Buddhist scriptures as immutable teachings, with the sometimes mistaken notion that the earlier they are the truer they are. The idea that any and all early sayings retain a higher truth throughout centuries of change contradicts the Buddha’s original teaching on the impermanence of all things. “
“ … I have found my answer to the question as to the nature of the relationship between the theatre and Mahayana Buddhism: empathy. Empathy is the ability to experience what others are feeling, to put oneself in another’s place. This is what we need if we are to fruitfully live our Buddhist understanding of our responsibility to the whole. Empathy is essential for the development of compassion. And this is what we experience as we sit in a darkened theater, experiencing the unfolding of lives, of situations, of emotions that we may perhaps never experience in any other way. An audience and actor connect in this mysterious exchange of understanding”
🎭
Vastmind