Everyday practice of desire, liking, disliking, etc.

mynameisuntz

"When objects make contact with the eye, observe and identify them; know what action has to be taken with whatever is seen. But don’t permit liking or disliking to arise. If you permit the arising of liking, you will desire; if you permit the arising of disliking, you will want to destroy."

This came out of a university text summing up Buddhism. What do we extend this meaning to? If I see a new cell phone I like, I understand that I should not like or dislike it; it will only lead to desire or resentment.

But what if you see something like a beautiful landscape. Does the definition of "like" in this scenario differ from the definition of "like" in the cell phone example? What if we see a beautiful photograph of a landscape - should we "like" it because of its beauty, or should we not "like" it because we will then desire to go there and see it for ourselves, and subsequently that can lead to suffering?

Basically: what is the operational definition of "like" in the initial passage?

Thank you, all :]

zenff

Buddhism is not the practice of trying to be a robot.
Likes and dislikes are natural.

The real practice is to see that thoughts and emotions are empty; that they are not you.

riverflow

Chan (Zen) master Ta-mei summed it up this way: “When it comes, don’t try to avoid it; when it goes, don’t run after it.” It doesn't mean one should become indifferent to life, but one should not cling to it either.

The clinging stems from the idea that we think we and all the things around us are independent entities. The realisation of emptiness (sunyata) means seeing that everything is empty of such an independent self, and hence there is no separation.

So enjoy a lovely sunset, but don't cling to it, don't wish it would last longer, don't compare it with other sunsets. After all, if you do any of those things, then you aren't actually paying attention to the sunset at hand!

riverflow

Oh, and for more specific clarification, tanha is the specific word that I think corresponds to "like"-- in order to really understand what is meant in terms of clinging, which is linked to dukkha (suffering/discontent):

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Tanha

mynameisuntz

As per usual, it all makes sense. Thanks so much, again.

ashcatman

"In Buddhism there is no place for using effort. Just be … Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water, and when you're tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand"

DhammaDhatu

hi

If our mind realises impermanence, the "liking" or "enamourment" with the sunset will fade

As for the passage quoted, it is a meditation exercise or that which forms the predominant practise of meditation

If we aspire to develop the path & especially samadhi, we must master the abandoning of 'liking' & 'disliking'

However, when we must make choices, obviously there is a preference there. But that falls into the part of the quote, which states: "know what action has to be taken with whatever is seen"

For example, if you need a new cell phone, you choose the cell phone that best suits your needs

Or if you want to start a forest monastery, you choice the one with the most pleasant forest

Things have their 'pleasant' & 'unpleasant' or 'practical' and 'unpractical' qualities

The 'liking' and 'disliking' referred to is that such as of a child, when I child says: "Mummy, I don't like brussel sprouts, I don't want to eat brussel sprouts, I like McDonalds, I want to eat at McDonalds'

Kind regards

DD

On seeing a form with the eye, he is passionate (sàrajjati) for it if it is pleasing; he is angry (byàpajjati) with it if it is displeasing. He lives with attention to body (kàya-sati) unestablished, with
a limited mind, and he does not understand realistically (yàthabhåtaünappajànàti) the deliverance of mind (cetovimutti) and deliverance by wisdom (pannà vimutti) wherein those evil unwholesome states (dhammas) cease without remainder. Engaged as he is in favouring and opposing, whatever feeling hefeels - whether pleasant or painful or neither-pleasant-nor-painful - he delights (abhinandati) in that
feeling, welcomes it, and remains holding on to it. As he does so, delight (nandi) arises in him. Now, delight in feelings (vedanàsu nandi) is clinging (upàdàna). Becoming is conditioned by his clinging; becoming conditions birth; birth conditions ageing-&-death; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair come to be. Thus is the arising of this entire mass of suffering.

DhammaDhatu

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of stress: 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.

The origin of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is the craving that produces renewal of being accompanied by enjoyment and lust, and enjoying this and that; in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for non-being.

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta