Sam and Sara.....
Theswingisyellow
Trying to be open to existenceSamsara Veteran
No to overanalyze and certainly not to trivialize but Sam and Sara (lets call them Samsara for short ) crossed my mind this morning.
For myself samsara draws directly from the well of annica, impermanence. The two are utterly intertwined. Our life to quote Shopenhauer "It resembles the course of a man running down a mountain who would fall over if he tried to stop and can stay on his feet only by running on" (Arthur Shopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms p.52) It is this unceasing motion the constant change that is the fabric of existence that leads to our dissatisfaction. The conditionality of life, always having to redo, remake the world around us. We can never hold on to anything for more than a short time. It's our need to want permanence, to hold onto things, this drives our suffering both because we live in an impermanent world and two when suffering does occurs we imagine it will be permanent, again not understanding impermanence.
Comments
(Sam' and 'Sara' were the 'names' given to the ladies' and gents' home-dug latrines that Lama Surya Das dug out - together with fellow new enthusiasts of Buddhism - when he first went to Nepal, all those years ago....They are mentioned in the preface of his first book in the "Awakening" trilogy. ...I actually thought this was going to be a thread in reference to his work, books, tradition or whatever)
@Federica- didn't remember that (I have read the first book of the series) or maybe it was stuck in my head from that reading and I was not aware of it.
all three are pretty good. Funny that this detail should stick in my mind.... but it's the most infinitely logical name to give them...!
lt's a wonder more Buddhist monasteries, with access to the public for teachings, retreats and festivals, haven't latched onto the same idea!
I'm sorry, I did not intend the discussion to be lavatorially-connected, nor steered off-topic!
My teacher says that we are continually flung out to samsara like centripital force and always coming back to the center with practice and aid from the dharma.
You are missing one vital aspect, if you don't mind me pointing it out to you, unceasing motion, can only been seen as such, if there is something to contrast it with, and that must be a never-ending stillness, aka emptiness for want of a better word.
Reconcile them together and Sam and Sara become Near and farna (ok ok the pun is poor and doesn't work as neatly, but hopefully you get the point...
I have all three of Lama Surya Das' "Awakening" books. In fact I have other books of his too. He is a great writer and teacher.
:om: ...
Always coming back to the "zero center of selflessness," as Joseph Goldstein calls it.
Suffering is in our mind, not in samsara itself. We suffer when we want to match our mind projections and unrealistic expectations of permanence and security with samsara.
@anataman said:
For me this unceasing motion = impermanence.
I understand your point regarding contrasting/dualistic references and I have argued the idea (on this site) that nothing can really be said to change that there are only processes, it is only from a perspective, a point of view that we can say something changes.
I think of impermanence as simply processes we experience (one could call it unceasing motion, I was mainly pulling this from the tone of Shopenhauer's statement), we do have experiences but maybe it gets down our grasping/attachment that ultimately causes our difficulty.
I still think samsara is rooted in this basic condition of ours.
Not having escaped the wheel of samsara I still cling to these processes.
What's doing the flinging?
As to Lama Surya Das, I have two of his books and his CD.
All good stuff.
It's a simile and not a metaphor I guess. Or you could say the eight worldly winds are flinging.
I read Lama Surya Das' "The Big Questions," which no doubt, leaves most of one's existential questions answered.
Well, samsara might be looking at reality through the lens of our conditions and clinging to this lens as if this were reality.
Just say No More Running.
@pegembara:
"Just say No More Running"
Indeed!
"even while walking, says, 'I have stopped, Angulimala. You stop.'
I am doing my best not to "run" anymore even when I am running!
Very nice. Thank you.
I was thinking about you reply. IMO samsara and nirvana are not the same! Why even have a teaching regarding dukkha if it's nirvana?
It's like the 8 fold path...Right View, Right ect.....which then would lead one to understand there is probably a Wrong **View, Wrong** ect....or at least an unskillful way to go about this.
Loving someone and raping someone while they may be processes, a temporary arising, what have you, one is decidedly skillful, the other is decidedly harmful. Kamma is generated
Recognizing samsara, that in this life there is this unease and discontent is the beginning. I think it is very important to recognize this facet of life. Once recognized, then one begins down the path of the 4NT's and the 8FP.
In clinging and grasping we create our own suffering, but without knowing this we will continue to do so.
We often mentioned on other threads that in fact, samsara and nirvana are like two faces of the same coin. To experience your reality as one or the other is just a shift of perception away.
@Theswingisyellow right view is the English word. Not the original meaning. So there is no wrong view.
I'm on my phone and can't bring up the exact translation if the 8FP, I think it's more along the lines of skilful or correctly measured. Rather than correct or right. But even these aren't appropriate. English is good not!
@dharmamom
I understand what your saying, we can choose to hold, grasp or identify with phenomena or not. I think the difference lies not in perception but in equating skillful and unskillful as the same thing. In all these things there is not self, but my thought, words and deeds generate kamma for me and those around me. I think maybe a couple of different ideas are here and hence maybe the confusion.
Skillful unskillful, wise not so wise.........the point is not so much in the translation but there is a difference made, one leads to liberation, nibanna ect... the other not so much. Maybe there is no "wrong" view, I can hold to ideas of permanence and self. I can cling and grasp to all the phenomena that rises before me and indeed this may not be "wrong" but I doubt it would be very helpful.
Right view is the forerunner of the Path because it is through the development of right view that we can eventually attain a sort of makeshift wisdom (if not ultimate wisdom) and therefore uproot the ignorance that leads to suffering.
Bhikku Bodhi claims that the importance of right view cannot be too overstated, since right view is at the root of our perspectives on life and therefore, our actions:
"[...] These views have a far-reaching influence. They structure our perceptions, order our values, crystallize into the ideational framework through which we interpret to ourselves the meaning of our being in the world.
These views then condition action. They lie behind our choices and goals, and our efforts to turn these goals from ideals into actuality. The actions themselves might determine consequences, but the actions along with their consequences hinge on the views from which they spring."
So, right view or wrong view are instrumental in our creating two completely different realities for ourselves.
Bikkhu Bodhi insists that our conceptual orientation of the world is "the decisive determinant of our whole course of future development."
When you see that this unceasing motion and emptiness are actually one, it casts a different light and shadow on what samsara and nirvana are - I've just posted a link in another post; here it is again which I think you might find interesting.
"When you enter the garden, you are part of the garden and mirror the whole garden and all its parts. At the same time the garden mirrors what you are, each constituent interfused with every other without obstruction. If a friend comes and join you, he or she also becomes part of the garden and together you enjoy sharing the pure experience of harmony within diversity. If there comes a breeze or a bird it is also part of the harmonious unity of the garden. You are in the garden and the garden is in you. "Allis in one and one in all", melting without obstruction into oneness."
http://www.taichido.com/chi/newbud/sato3.htm
Thank you @anataman.
I believe this statements helps encapsulate what I think:
"Though my view is as vast as the sky, my attention to the law of karma is as fine as a grain of barley flour."
-Padmasambhava
or 'Tsampa' as the Tibetans/Nepalese, call it....
Good observation....
Samsara is craving impermanent things.