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Are you a nihilist?

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Comments

  • seeker242seeker242 Zen Florida, USA Veteran
    Nevermind said:



    Wow, you are morally superior.

    Wow, you like to insult people. Alright then...

  • NevermindNevermind Bitter & Hateful Veteran
    I didn't know that was an insult. :scratch:
  • BeejBeej Human Being Veteran
    @Vastmind- i never totally left, i just accidentally turned of the cookies on my device, so whenever i came around NB, i did it without logging in. and let me tell you this: it was a facsinating lesson in non-attatchment and an awesome practice ground for keeping my big mouth shut. there were so many times i wanted to shake my fist at something, laugh along, or just give an awesome but i thought my device's browser was just crap and i never tried to figure out the problem. lol! but, alas, i surface. thanks for the warm welcome! now whose feathers need ruffling?:)
    Vastmindsova
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    now whose feathers need ruffling?:

    Did you require a Buddhist or Nihilist list? Perhaps yours? ;)
  • BeejBeej Human Being Veteran
    yes.
    lobstersova
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    seeker242 said:


    But isn't that essentially looking at karma backwards? In both example you refrence the past. Isn't the Buddhist notion of karma supposed to be about how you act right here, right now, and what effects that will have in the future?

    I think it's just different ways of looking at the same thing. What we do now has consequences in the future, just as what we did in the past has consequences for the present. It doesn't matter whether we're thinking of past / future lives or past / future years in a single lifetime, the principle is the same.
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited December 2013
    MaryAnne said:

    That may (or may not) be the end result - no one knows that for sure one way or the other - but I follow the precepts for my own personal reasons, without the promise of 'reward'.

    But presumably following the precepts has some kind of positive outcome, both for yourself and for others? If following the precepts didn't have some kind of positive outcome, then why make the effort? Also "reward" doesn't have to be interpreted in a pejorative way.
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran

    I believe in nothing.... everything is sacred to me.

    I believe in everything.... nothing is sacred to me.


    ^^^The 2 above statements are true, at least in reards to my perspective. So does that make me a Nihlist or Anti-Nihlist? :)

    Confusion say... If one believes in nothing they will never know anything.
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    person said:

    I don't care what all the skeptics and naysayers say, I believe in Nihilism, %100.

    Nice one. I don't think there's anything wrong with being a nihilist - I remember one of my teachers saying that in terms of Buddhist practice it's better to veer towards nihilism than towards eternalism, presumably because it reduces attachment.
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    Nevermind said:

    I didn't know that was an insult. :scratch:

    Being morally superior sounds like a good thing actually.

    :p
    sova
  • BeejBeej Human Being Veteran
    edited December 2013
    ourself said:

    I believe in nothing.... everything is sacred to me.

    I believe in everything.... nothing is sacred to me.


    ^^^The 2 above statements are true, at least in reards to my perspective. So does that make me a Nihlist or Anti-Nihlist? :)

    Confusion say... If one believes in nothing they will never know anything.
    BUT.... since both statements function to cancel each other out, what am i left with? well, obviously, the middle way.
    ;)
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    Rebirth is a religious belief but I don't see karma as religious belief. Nor do I think following the precepts need to be a religious practice.
  • misterCopemisterCope PA, USA Veteran
    It seems like a generally agreed upon fact that it exists; I don't understand what all the discussion is about...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile

    MaryAnnematthewmartinHamsaka
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    edited December 2013

    ourself said:

    I believe in nothing.... everything is sacred to me.

    I believe in everything.... nothing is sacred to me.


    ^^^The 2 above statements are true, at least in reards to my perspective. So does that make me a Nihlist or Anti-Nihlist? :)

    Confusion say... If one believes in nothing they will never know anything.
    BUT.... since both statements function to cancel each other out, what am i left with? well, obviously, the middle way.
    ;)
    Could be, could be... I still think a distinction must be made between "nothing" and "no-thing" to avoid confusion. If there is nothing then there is no such thing as anything whatsoever and if there is anything whatsoever, there is no such thing as "nothing".

    I'm just whining about my own idea of what the semantics may be and not trying to say you are wrong by any means.

    Heck... Middle is my middle name.

    With metta;
    our middle self
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    edited December 2013
    To say that nothing is is to negate the first noble truth.

    The fourth would then not need the eightfold path, it would only need a way to see that suffering is not.

    Guess I am not a nihilist... Oh well.
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    ourself said:

    Rebirth is a religious belief but I don't see karma as religious belief. Nor do I think following the precepts need to be a religious practice.

    I broadly agree, but I'd distinguish between rebirth as part of Buddhism's "religious" content and rebirth as a belief - they are not the same thing. It's quite possible to acknowledge that rebirth is a Buddhist teaching without taking it on as a personal belief.
    robotDavid
  • The act of claiming to be a nihilist is impossible.
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    The act of claiming to be a nihilist is impossible.

    Don't tell me what is impossible before breakfast . . .

    I am a nihilist

    after breakfast it may be possible the impossible is 'wrong speech' and just an act . . .

    :p

    Maybe you had something else in mind? :wave:
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    The act of claiming to be a nihilist is impossible.

    No, it's just another belief.

    :p
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    rebirth - is a fact if you study and experience the teachings properly. In each moment you are born live for the moment and die. There is no place for nihilism. As a concept it is self-annhilating.
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    A true nihilist is a dead nihilist.

    No point in eating, is there?
  • NevermindNevermind Bitter & Hateful Veteran
    ourself said:

    A true nihilist is a dead nihilist.

    No point in eating, is there?

    A true nihilist, by this logic, would also see no point in not eating. :-/
    betaboy
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    Wait - I have decided to become an existential nihilist for a moment.

    Well now thats over what next?

    Social nihilist - well I've been teetering on the thought of that for a while, but can't live without some kind of social interaction - what do you think cyber avatars?

  • sovasova delocalized fractyllic harmonizing Veteran
    robot said:

    very good link
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    Nevermind said:


    A true nihilist, by this logic, would also see no point in not eating. :-/

    New idea for a diet plan? :D
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