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.
I just realized something about 4 noble truths
I was just thinking...what do I know...
What can I.... Count on...hmmm?... :
impermanence!...I can count on that..it appears to be for sure...
suffering!...I can count on that too..it's for sure...
now what is really important is, can I count on, self-centered desire/negative attachment to lead to suffering? sure I can see how that is for sure too
can I count of liberation from suffering?:rolleyes: this is like the 64 million dollar question...is that for sure?
by logic doesn't it have to be for sure, if we know the causes for bondage, and we eliminate them, there is no more bondage...or liberation... HMM?
I wonder how that feels..
by all this logic i feel safe that I am on the right path. Buddhism is for me!!!! yaaay...and for everyone..:D you might even say you can count on Buddhism (to liberate you if you put right effort into it..)
What can I.... Count on...hmmm?... :
impermanence!...I can count on that..it appears to be for sure...
suffering!...I can count on that too..it's for sure...
now what is really important is, can I count on, self-centered desire/negative attachment to lead to suffering? sure I can see how that is for sure too
can I count of liberation from suffering?:rolleyes: this is like the 64 million dollar question...is that for sure?
by logic doesn't it have to be for sure, if we know the causes for bondage, and we eliminate them, there is no more bondage...or liberation... HMM?
I wonder how that feels..
by all this logic i feel safe that I am on the right path. Buddhism is for me!!!! yaaay...and for everyone..:D you might even say you can count on Buddhism (to liberate you if you put right effort into it..)
0
Comments
I agree with o0Mundus-Vult-Decipi0o. It requires zero faith. Just see for yourself. :smilec:
In the meantime, here's something for your mind to chew on...
You can't attain liberation on purpose. The more you want it, the farther away it is. So how does anybody ever manage it?
It's a little like learning to fly, according to the late Douglas Adams in his novel, "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish." The trick to learning to fly, he explains, is throwing yourself at the ground and missing. You have to forget about hitting the ground; forget all about trying to fly. The moment your mind becomes preoccupied with your goal, you find your face in the dirt. If, however, in the split-second between hurling yourself at the ground, and actually hitting it, your mind becomes distracted by something else, you might find you've managed to miss the ground entirely.
(Please don't try this at home.)
In just this way, you can't attain liberation on purpose. The more you want it, the more grass you'll eat trying to get it. It's impossible. Wanting liberation is a desire, and desires cause suffering, and people who suffer--by definition--aren't liberated. You have to hurl yourself at liberation, then forget about actually hitting it.
That's what Zen masters do to their students. They come up with all kinds of marvelous ways of befuddling you, challenging you, making you think you must be going absolutely barking mad. They essentially distract you from "hitting the ground," and suddenly...you might find yourself flying.
You can come up with all kinds of weird stuff trying to imagine what "enlightenment" must be like, thinking "ah-ha, this must be it" with every new discovery. If you find yourself dancing naked under the full moon, chanting "om mani padme hum," eating Twinkies and drinking grape juice from a unicorn goblet...there's a good chance you missed something along the way (I can say this from personal experience. Well, um, mostly...)
However you choose to go about it, I hope you enjoy the journey. It never ends. In spite of the fact I may often come across as a "know it all" (I really do know it all, at least as long as I have a decent Internet connection), I am, nevertheless, far from perfect and still have much to work on. Everybody has their own challenges to face, and if some of my experiences can help others get through theirs, so much the better.
"When you seek it, you cannot find it." ~ Zen saying
OMG anyone want my old unicorn goblet..??.:eekblue:
or you may be speaking about something else.
I think what he is trying to say is that he is unsure whether the 4th noble truth is something that he has to trust or that comes from reason.
okay what I NEED to know..
Is---- can I pour ALL my BEING and faith (and Logic) and LIFE into the Path/CURE that Dr.Buddha is telling us we need to take..
that I didn't figure it out on my own..that I couldn't figure it out on my own ...LIKE HE did.....
Is he right? about all this???.... before I knew anything about Buddhism I was trying to figure out what is what... I took an interest in Taoism, Animism, Christianity( lol although I knew IT was kinda...u know...lol)
Because I knew something was WRONG something was missing...
something remained to be figured out...or realized..whatever...
then my favorite teacher/hero directed me to a book..he was so damn sly, he taught every subject at a special school I went to,
and he never answered what his beliefs were..
but when I started asking about the purpose of life, after-life, the "raison d'etre" stuff like that, he pointed me to a book called "siddartha"
I found Buddhism and I was like WTF ?:eek: now after like 5 years, i realized this guy was most CERTAINLY a Buddhist, and a VERY good one at that.
it explained a lot. Even to this day I think of contacting him again and thanking him, or just quietly putting a copy of the book he lent me (which i never returned) into his mailbox...
anyway that's my story but the main point it..i'm really frustrated with "SEEKING" and not being SURE...hence my name "THE-FOUND" is kind of a sarcasm, and longing.... lol and that's my entire identity basically..lol what's urs?
You'll get to/have to figure that out on your own.
It took many lifetimes, and many experiences, and much discussion with others, before he reached a conclusion.
Sure, he sat under the Bodhi tree, and vowed to not move until things fell into place, but he had taken many years to find that seat, much searching, much discussion, and much debate, I have no doubt.
His first sermon was to his erstwhile companions, and at first, they did not wish to acknowledge him....
You think anything he did, was easy?
You think this is easy for any of us??
Our main problem, is one we share with you.
A reluctance to let go, and accept.
A reluctance to release the suffering, and flow.
There is no other place, but here.
There is no other time, but now.
And still we look for a black speck in a dark room....