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Not gonna get nothing?

SimplifySimplify Veteran
edited November 2009 in Buddhism Basics
I've seen this repeated several times, that all this meditation/contemplation doesn't give you a single thing in the end, although you see things 'clearly'.

I was wondering what this means. Wouldn't clear vision be something you 'get'? If you were a buddha, would you make different choices in your life, if so wouldn't those new choices be something you get? Also isn't their freedom from fear, from suffering, from desire - aren't those things you 'get'?

Perhaps it's just a problem of semantics (i.e. there is no 'you' to get anything), but I would have thought when these kind of statements are made the statement maker would have been more clear.

Comments

  • shenpennangwashenpennangwa
    edited November 2009
    there are different interpretations of what the result is and whether or not it is something that is "attained". There isnt any one answer, i guess we will have to find out for our non-inherently-existent-selves.
  • SimplifySimplify Veteran
    edited November 2009
    Ok cause I really really want to get nothing. Like not just a little bit of nothing now and then, but complete and total nothing :p
  • SimplifySimplify Veteran
    edited November 2009
    last night I felt I was more present at the dinner table with extended family because I stopped my thoughts and just listened, kind of like with meditation but instead of breath my focus was the words they said.

    My wife said I was more present before I even mentioned what I was doing.

    so guess I would say that I have already gotten something, but when I hear people sum up the path, it usually starts out "In the end you get nothing". And I think they tend to use the adjective absolutely.
  • jinzangjinzang Veteran
    edited November 2009
    You don't get anything from meditation because you already have it. It's just that you don't recognize you have it. All you get from meditation is the recognition of what you are and always have been.
  • allanstevnsallanstevns
    edited November 2009
    Just as Jinzang says - You dont GET anything because you already have it. What meditation does, is getting rid of some of the stuff that is hindering you, not getting you something else.

    I hope this helps
    Big love

    Allan
  • SimplifySimplify Veteran
    edited November 2009
    So its purely semantic? If I succeed with meditation my vision will be cleared, analgous to cleaning my glasses? I could say my glasses 'get' cleaned...
  • shenpennangwashenpennangwa
    edited November 2009
    Simplify wrote: »
    So its purely semantic? If I succeed with meditation my vision will be cleared, analgous to cleaning my glasses? I could say my glasses 'get' cleaned...

    sort of.
    a classic analogy is the removal of dust from a mirror. the mirror doesnt change but the dust that prevents it from clearly reflecting is gradually removed.
    the mirror doesnt "get" anything. what happens is that its true nature is allowed to manifest completely.
  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    edited November 2009
    The result of the practice is peace.
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited November 2009
    fivebells wrote: »
    The result of the practice is peace.

    Milarepa revealed to Gampopa the true result of his years of meditation: callused buttocks.
  • SimplifySimplify Veteran
    edited November 2009
    Simonthepilgrim wrote: »
    Milarepa revealed to Gampopa the true result of his years of meditation: callused buttocks.

    If I remove my pants before meditation does it speed up the process? :lol:
  • shenpennangwashenpennangwa
    edited November 2009
    Simplify wrote: »
    If I remove my pants before meditation does it speed up the process? :lol:
    probably, you would also have to sit on the cold rock of cave floors for several years if you want to match Mila's buns-of-steel.
  • allanstevnsallanstevns
    edited November 2009
    Simplify wrote: »
    So its purely semantic? If I succeed with meditation my vision will be cleared, analgous to cleaning my glasses? I could say my glasses 'get' cleaned...

    Exactly - and also as Shenpen says with the mirror. Or another analogy i was told: "the mind is like a glass of water with mud in, that is swirled around. What meditation does, is stopping the swirling thus allowing the mud to drop to the bottom, and letting the water return to its natural clear and transparant state :).
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