Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register
Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.

The Vinegar Tasters

MindGateMindGate United States Veteran
edited April 2011 in Arts & Writings
So, I was reading the Tao of Pooh today, and it talked about an old painting called The Vinegar Tasters.

It was 3 people tasting some vinegar. The first, Confucius, has a sour look on his face. The second, Buddha, had a bitter look on his face. The third, Lao-Tzu, had a happy look on his face. The look on each of their faces is supposed to represent each person's outlook on life.

What they were inferring is that the Buddha had a negative outlook on life. Do you agree or disagree?

I disagree, in the sense that Buddha did, in fact, state that life involved unsatisfactory situations. We get cut off in trafic, we stub a toe, our boss doesn't give us the raise we wanted, etc. Though, what the Buddha taught is that these things are NOT ultimately bad - we just give them a bad connotation in our minds. So, I'd assume Buddha would have an apathetic look (or even a smile) rather than a bitter look after tasting the vinegar.

Comments

  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    I'd say it's due to a perennial misunderstanding of the Buddha's teaching. "Buddhism is about sadness, it's about suffering" is the popular perception. Anyway, since the book was about the Tao, you can see it's biased, and says Taoism is the happiness religion. (It would seem that Pooh has been lead astray...)
  • RicRic
    Interesting thread. What do you think about the following, in terms of Buddhism. You graduate college, is it wrong to jump up and down, shouting ecstatically, hugging people around, giving high fives and feeling proud of your accomplishment? Really enjoying the sensation of happiness to the fullest....
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited April 2011
    You should have a sour look on face when tasting vinegar.

    Seriously I think buddhism is a hopeful religion. It doesn't brainwash to believe you are experience stress due to gain and loss and so forth. Instead it gives constructive skills to cope with this factual reality.

    So I think a buddha would be thinking how he can use the vinegar to alleviate suffering. If it was poison he would make a bad face so nobody else would drink it. If it was conducive to liberation he would celebrate the vinegar.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Great book and a picture is definitely worth a million words!
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    Interesting thread. What do you think about the following, in terms of Buddhism. You graduate college, is it wrong to jump up and down, shouting ecstatically, hugging people around, giving high fives and feeling proud of your accomplishment? Really enjoying the sensation of happiness to the fullest....
    Why wouldn't you enjoy your moment of accomplishment? Buddhism is partly about non-attachment, so the only concern would be that you wouldn't let your degree go to your head, and lead to some display of ego.

  • RicRic
    Interesting thread. What do you think about the following, in terms of Buddhism. You graduate college, is it wrong to jump up and down, shouting ecstatically, hugging people around, giving high fives and feeling proud of your accomplishment? Really enjoying the sensation of happiness to the fullest....
    Why wouldn't you enjoy your moment of accomplishment? Buddhism is partly about non-attachment, so the only concern would be that you wouldn't let your degree go to your head, and lead to some display of ego.

    I dont know, the impression I get is that you should just watch the feeling go by, without taking it in. Maybe a 2/3 smile :)
  • VincenziVincenzi Veteran
    edited April 2011
    @Ric

    ...or a content smile, maybe even misterious like Da Vinci's smiles.
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    Buddhism isn't that Puritanical. You can enjoy happiness, you allow sadness to flow through you when appropriate. You just don't get stuck. Happy moments are blessings.
  • Malachy12Malachy12
    Maybe they had that interpretation of the Buddha because witnessing suffering is what spurred his journey. It would be ignorant to assert that he did not have a focus on suffering, but the flip side of that coin is that he was seeking a way to find relief from it. He wanted to find out why humankind suffered, and then how to fix it. So you could say he also focused on happiness.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I like that analysis Malachy.
  • shanyinshanyin Novice Yogin Sault Ontario Veteran
    high five i read that part of the tao of pooh not too long ago
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    Interesting thread. What do you think about the following, in terms of Buddhism. You graduate college, is it wrong to jump up and down, shouting ecstatically, hugging people around, giving high fives and feeling proud of your accomplishment? Really enjoying the sensation of happiness to the fullest....
    Of course it's not wrong to celebrate one of life's happy occasions, no more than it's wrong to cry at a funeral.
  • sukhitasukhita
    edited April 2011
    Rejoicing at a funeral on the occasion of a 'being' leaving this samsaric life and mourning on the occasion of a 'being' born into this samsaric life, seems to also kinda make sense. No, just kidding... ;)
  • RicRic
    ok, I think I get it. The key is to enjoy it fully but when the party ends and people go home to realize that all the joy and happiness you were feeling is going away. Not to get sucked in to that post-happiness mood of "I wish the party lasted longer, I wish my friends were still here"
  • ownerof1000oddsocksownerof1000oddsocks Veteran
    edited April 2011
    Rejoicing at a funeral on the occasion of a 'being' leaving this samsaric life and mourning on the occasion of a 'being' born into this samsaric life, seems to also kinda make sense. No, just kidding... ;)
    At first I was like: 'BAAAuuugGGh!'

    but then I was all: 'Ooo AAhhaa!'

    (In the 21st centruty the vinegar tasters would be having chips with that!)

    =)


  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Rejoicing at a funeral on the occasion of a 'being' leaving this samsaric life seems to also kinda make sense.
    That's why wakes were invented.

  • BonsaiDougBonsaiDoug Simply, on the path. Veteran
    The "popular" explanation is: The three men are Confucius, Buddha, and Laozi, respectively. Each man's expression represents the predominant attitude of his religion: Confucianism saw life as sour, in need of rules to correct the degeneration of people; Buddhism saw life as bitter, dominated by pain and suffering; and Taoism saw life as fundamentally good in its natural state. Another interpretation of the painting is that, since the three men are gathered around one vat of vinegar, "the three teachings are one".
  • aMattaMatt Veteran
    Its interesting that the artist described life as vinegar.
  • EpicurusEpicurus
    I can't even stand the smell of vinegar.
  • YacababyYacababy
    I enjoy drinking balsamic from time to time
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I bet buddha would be liking it on a nice itallian deli and provolone sandwich with french bread, mayo and a vinegrette with the vinegar hehe
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Indeed, at my shop, I gave him that very dish, just the other day! he even made comment!
  • StaticToyboxStaticToybox Veteran
    I can't even stand the smell of vinegar.
    I love the smell of it. And the taste of it as well actually. It can just be easily overpowering.
Sign In or Register to comment.