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.
If Buddha Lived Today
comicallyinsane
Veteran
I was thinking this morning about Buddha. I wonder if he would have found enlightenment living in the United States in this day and age. Now some of you are going to say, "But Comic, what does this matter to our practice? He did do it back then and now we can reap the rewards of non suffering."
My reason is this. We live in the here and now. And the here and now is very confusing and very fast paced. We have to make ourselves slow down and then it's a little harder to function in society. Sure we could become a monk and live outside of the world(figurativly), but we choose to stay in the world. I don't know how many days I find myself not doing anything because I am happy not to. Then there are days when I work so hard that I just can't wait to have one of my peaceful days. We must find balance I know but the Buddha didn't have these obstacles. So I think it's awesome that any Lay Buddhist reaches enlightenment with allthe crap in the busy world they have to deal with.
My reason is this. We live in the here and now. And the here and now is very confusing and very fast paced. We have to make ourselves slow down and then it's a little harder to function in society. Sure we could become a monk and live outside of the world(figurativly), but we choose to stay in the world. I don't know how many days I find myself not doing anything because I am happy not to. Then there are days when I work so hard that I just can't wait to have one of my peaceful days. We must find balance I know but the Buddha didn't have these obstacles. So I think it's awesome that any Lay Buddhist reaches enlightenment with allthe crap in the busy world they have to deal with.
0
Comments
Seriously though, I imagine that he would. Life in ancient, or present day India for that matter, wasn't always a picnic. It was just as hectic and dangerous as it is today. All the things people deal with today are not too far off from what they had to deal with 2500 years ago. No matter what time he was born in, I believe that he had the conditions present for his profound Awakening. If he had been born now he would still have realized the Dhamma.
You're right that we choose to stay and live in the 'world'. As such, we must find the balance of living a wholesome life with the difficulties of everyday living. It's not always easy. We have to put up with a lot of unhappiness to squeeze out what little happiness we can.
Life is so simple. So...as it is. All the complications in it arise from ourselves, from our minds. All the big questions, searches, problems, solutions, everything arises from our minds. As Simon posted earlier, "Do not make the mistake of imagining that the nature of mind is exclusive only to our minds. It is in fact the nature of everything. It can never be said too often that to realize the nature of mind is to realize the nature of all thing."
To be a good lay-practitioner all we must do is realize that life is what we make it.
I imagine that the world would be pretty much the same if he had not been born and taught the Dhamma. If what he said was true this happens every aeon. The world arises, people arise, there is dukkha, a Buddha arises and discovers the nature of things, some people listen and practice until the are freed from dukkha and samsara while some do not, Buddha is forgotten, Dhamma is lost, world remains the same for a time, world ceases, people cease, world arises, etc.
That is avijja, or not knowing. There is avijja before the Buddha, during the Buddha, and after the Buddha. Only a few turn avijja into vijja and free themselves from samsara. The rest remain in avijja like nothing out of the ordinary ever happened.
http://www.rickross.com/groups/heavensgate.html
I think Buddha would have done okay.
-bf
Palzang
You knew who we meant...
-bf
So let's zoom into present day...
Young Michael Grimmond is the son of a wealthy property magnate, who has also had huge success in the oil industry, and whose wealth is, on paper, immense, and in reality, incalculable. Michael has been propelled by Fate into a family who has no needs, they have all they want and can ask for no more. But Grimmond Senior has been advised to coach his son carefully to follow in his footsteps, inn order to secure the family fortune. The boy wants for nothing. Private nannies, tutors and carers ensure that each and every need he might have, is met even before it manifests. He excels in every sphere; sports, like tennis, baseball, football, swimming..... his extra-curricular teaching ensures a deep and wide knowledge of many things not available to your average college jock....he gets a handle on commerce, finance, politics and law, but as well as all this, the good-looking guy also plays hard.... a Ferrari 430, his own private plane, a string of beautiful nymphettes, (all carefully vetted by Ma 'n' Pa for suitability and drug-free enjoyment....) jeez, this is 7th heaven, isn't it?
Then, one day, he's strolling down Wall Street with a good and genuine friend, (not one of your leech-like hangers-on) and he sees a tramp: filthy, dirty, emaciated and desperate. The look of Life has drained from his eyes, and Hope is nowhere to be seen. Can you imagine the shock? This has simply never ever figured in his life or field of vision before....
"Mike, they're everywhere! What's with you man? He's a tramp, that's all! Just some old guy fallen on hard times, it happens, you know? Now come on, or your Pops 'll go mad you're late for the board meeting!"
Three days later, they're driving down Sunset Boulevard, and they notice a load of medics round a figure lying on the ground. Michael, on a weird impulse, instructs his driver to stop.....
"Go find out what's happening, would you?" He instructs him.
The driver returns.
Some whore shot up and overdosed on heroin. Looks like she won't make it, but hell, those dames never do, Sir."
Michael sits back in his plush leather seat, dazed and fazed.....
A week goes by, and again, on his way to a celebrity Polo match, he passes a cortège of cars, being followed by a long queue of mourners. He stops his car, and asks one of the mourners what is happening.
"Man, ain't you ever seen a funeral?! The guy in the big box in that limo over there, he ain't got to worry no more, he dead, see?! Comes to us all in the end, man, no knowing when, where or why..... don't matter who you is, or what you do, Death will drop by some time...."
This is chilling. This is scary. This is perhaps the scariest thing Mike has seen in all his life. Is this it? A Black box in a car, being followed by a queue of people you don't even know are there?
Mike confides in his good friend, who replies,
"Aw come on, Mike - it ain't all bad! Chill, man, there's more to Life than Polo matches and girls! Look, You have it all, right? But what is it? You can't take it with you, right? Why do you think your Old Man is grooming you to take over the business? He knows he ain't gonna last for ever either! But he wants to leave his mark and make sure you pick it up and run with it...."
Mike is deeply troubled, though..... and bit by bit, like water hitting a stone, things start to wear at him..... He goes to sit in Central Park one day, and this guy just happens to sit next to him and start feeding the pigeons. They begin to talk, each blissfully unaware or uncaring as to who the other is. And the stranger fills Mike with Hope. He talks of inner Peace and happiness, a deep-felt joy available to all..... The Simple Life, the Life filled with gladness and not a care in the world. Mike gazes off into the distant skyline of new York, and then turns again to the stranger, who has gone.... But Mike's appetite for Life has been whetted.....
the rest is history..... who says it can't - or doesn't - happen, here and now, today?
This is worthy of a Hollywood script and I want movie rights, NOW!!
This story offered by an English professor from the University of Phoenix :
"Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The
process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his
or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the
first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that
paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first
paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back,
also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third
paragraph, and so on back-and-forth.
Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the
story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the
e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is
over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."
The following was actually turned in by two of my English students:
Rebecca (last name deleted), and Gary (last name deleted).
THE STORY:
first paragraph by Rebecca)
At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The
chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now
reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he
liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind
off Carl . His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him
too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the
question.
(second paragraph by Gary )
Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron
now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than
the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had
spent one sweaty night over a year ago. " A.S. Harris to Geostation 17,"
he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No
sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish
particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo
bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across
the cockpit.
(Rebecca)
He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt
one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had
ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless
hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes
Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her
newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She
stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed
unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspapers to read, no television to distract her
from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her.
"Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered
wistfully.
(Gary )
Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands
of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of
its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the
Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through the congress had left
Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined
to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty
the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to
pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly
initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the
atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine
headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam , felt the
inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid, Laurie
and 85 million other Americans. The President slammed his fist on the
conference table. "We can't allow this! I'm going to veto that treaty! Let's blow
'em out of the sky!"
(Rebecca)
This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My
writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.
(Gary )
Yeah? Well, you're a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at
writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. "Oh, shall I have
chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F--KING TEA??? Oh no, I'm such
an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels!"
(Rebecca)
Arsehole.
(Gary )
B!tch
(Rebecca)
F__K YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!!!
(Gary )
Go drink some tea - wench!
(TEACHER)
A+ - I really liked this one.
but don't mind me..... remember......(big arrow pointing down here.....)
Very off topic - but you were doing so great with another "Made For Television" or "ABC Sunday Night Movie" that I thought I'd toss this in. Maybe help with your script a little bit. It might be cool if "Mike" also had to battle some aliens while reaching his enlightenment. Maybe we could throw in Nancy, his girlfriend, who is secretly carrying Brad's child after they met in the hospital after Brad's horrible car crash. The car crash he got in when he left Allison when Allisons' mothers uncles brother told Brad that Nancy agreed to marry Mike. Right after she found out that Mike was a successful business man. You see, Brad and Nancy had both grown up poor and childhood sweethearts. Both wanting the finer things in life, but life had never presented those things to them. So when Nancy found out about Mike's riches - she couldn't help herself and fled the arms of Brad. But that fateful night while Brad was in traction after the car crash, Nancy couldn't help herself and slept with him in the hospital.
Does it seem like I've just gone off on a weird tangent? I have.
-bf
Interesting point.
And....
The top people supporting his death sentence would probably be The Pope, Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Oral Roberts.
I think that's how it happened before. The "religious" leaders of the time thought he was, basically, an abomination...
-bf
It is, however, the truth that no human can escape the realities of life. One of the great differences between the Gautama and the Jesus legends is that we are given the proximate causes for Gautama's flight from his home. The story of his throwing himself (he was such an enthusiast) into different ways of escaping the inevitable is the story of every adolescent who suddenly can take the pain any longer. And his vow, under the tree of enlightenment, has all the flavour of a petulant child! Of course, the accretion of myth and legend ascribe prior lives and 'specialness' to this young man but I wonder what we would have seen, had we been there. IMHO, we would have seen one like you and me.
We have to remember that the Buddha did not bring the Dharma. It is and has always been here. He revealed it and, in order to do that, he had to experience it for himself. And then, out of compasion, he pointed the way to others and, down the centuries, to millions. And they (we) have to discover it, again, for ourselves. We are lucky enough to have his teachings and those of the thousands more.
Look around: take a concrete example of people who have moved from comfort to service, even to death. Take the example of the heroes, of all faiths, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Mother Teresa or the Mahatma Gandhi, who could have sat quietly at home, comfortably middle-class and safe. But they chose not to do so because the truth impels, the truth commands, the truth will not be denied.
And, of course, the Buddhas are as alive today, moving among us, as they have ever been. You, dear Comic, are, at the level of your true nature, the very Buddha in which you take refuge.