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.

So what's the point of enlightenment?

KikujiroKikujiro
edited October 2009 in Buddhism Basics
I mean ok, I've found that when I'm unhappy, my thoughts and concerns mean a great deal to me, but when I'm happy, I could give a toss that I will die (which is normally, in depression, my biggest issue)

What's the difference between enlightenment and taking a drug that makes you happy and not give a shit for the rest of your life. I'm not saying such a drug exists and I'm sure your gonna say that and say that and say that. But if there was such a drug, would you, if that such drug was real, advocate taking it?

The whole "get used to how life actually is" just stumps me. You could join a cult and get beaten every day for the rest of your life but they could say the same thing, "what you think isn't real, get used to it". Why the hell should I?

There are drugs out there that make you think everything is you and you are everything.

If delusion and crazy psychosis (which I've been through) seem real as hell, why is enlightenment any different from any other radical delusion?

I've been there done that, I've seen the world as being just ok as it is, I've seen all things as perfect, I've felt ok enough to think I could die right there and then and that that would be perfectly fine and natural, but its not the way it is.

I don't trust enlightenment, part of me wants something thats bloody well real. I've already worked myself into a world where nothing matters but suffering (which I didnt feel) and that was total bs.

Is enlightenment just a way of seeing things? if so its no different from a drug that never wears off.

If belief is bs then why would belief in the expereince of enlightenment be any different?

God, i'm off on one, take no notice, it means f*** all. You probably will.

Comments

  • KikujiroKikujiro
    edited October 2009
    I constantly get the sense that some guy is walking around with my eyes in his head.

    All this is BS, it makes no difference whether we are happy or un-happy. It's all the same anyway.

    Edit: I'm sorry for any offence. I just feel like two or three different people right now.
  • jinzangjinzang Veteran
    edited October 2009
    All day long we're engaging in behavior that brings us nothing but unhappiness. All this behavior is centered around a belief in self. The self is a nothing which seeks to hide its nothingness through constant misdirection. The price of this misdirection is a constant restlessness, a flurry of opinion and emotion which is exhausting and futile. Enlightenment is seeing through this charade. And when the restlessness ceases, there's a profound stillness and sense of peace.
  • KikujiroKikujiro
    edited October 2009
    I dearly hope enlightenment is real. I don't trust myself when I'm happy or ok anymore.
  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Jinzang has it.
  • RenGalskapRenGalskap Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Your statements make sense. Your questions are lucid. You are aware of logical inconsistencies in the way that Buddhism is often presented. Whatever your other problems, your critical, intellectual apparatus seems to be sound. But you are aware of disorder.

    I've spent most of my life with a similar, though much less acute sense of disorder. I believe that most people experience the same. Enlightenment is knowing the cause.

    Practice for many years.
  • KarmaDondrupTashiKarmaDondrupTashi
    edited October 2009
    Kikujiro wrote: »
    If belief is bs then why would belief in the expereince of enlightenment be any different?
    Belief is not BS, belief is a dream. Suffering is not thirst, suffering is ignorant thirst. We can never stop dreaming, but we can be lucid. Enlightenment is the bliss of creation - observing yourself creating your world and everything in it, 24/7.
  • penguinpenguin
    edited October 2009
    kikujiro, you think exactly the same way i do. So i agree, enlightenment is seeing the truth.... so whats the point if people will only except it if the truth turns out to be good? Why is truth the way to happiness? Ive always thought its best to not take a buddhist path, but your OWN path, and if it leads you to what buddhists call 'enlightenment' then so be it.

    Think about it, if buddhism was already around when the buddha himself was alive, he wouldnt have taken the buddhism path, taking his own unique path is how he became enlightened anyway. Filling your head with a load of expectations wont do you any favours. I dont trust enlightenment either, but if its the way it is, its the way it is. I think when you see the truth you cant unsee it, and thats what scares me. Its like being unenlightened is an 'oppertunity' if you will... dont know what for yet, but thats what im tryin to figure out.
  • penguinpenguin
    edited October 2009
    Karma Dondrup Tashi wrote: »
    Belief is not BS, belief is a dream. Suffering is not thirst, suffering is ignorant thirst. We can never stop dreaming, but we can be lucid. Enlightenment is the bliss of creation - observing yourself creating your world and everything in it, 24/7.


    exactly what my last post was about. I think thats wishful thinking... people convince themselves enlightenment is what they 'want' it to be... because the idea of having no self, nothing other than the reality thats already here scares them.
  • KikujiroKikujiro
    edited October 2009
    Hmm, Reading this back again. It seems to me I was concerned that enlightenment might not be what I wanted it to be. When what I want it to be is just another thought and what made it important was just another feeling.
Sign In or Register to comment.