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.
The Dhammapada certainly suggests that the Awakened are celibate:
"No faultfinding, no hurting, restraint in the patimokkha,
Knowing the measure regarding food, solitary bed and chair,
Application, too, of higher perception:
This is the instruction of the Awakened Ones." (185 )
and, perhaps, the whole of section XVI "The Pleasant".
Buddhists, of course, like all people who use texts, will spin these to their own ends.
I don't hope to spin it. When that comes across to me, it sounds more like moderation of objective ownership. In the 'measure' of life, owning a bed, a chair, not faultfinding, not hurting all seem to point toward this idea of moderation.
I have to agree that romantic relationships bring complexity. I am not convinced that the complexity brings harm, but it does require you to look at more items, and be more flexible in what surrounds you. Its pretty good stuff though.
With warmth,
Matt
Well Matt, without all that BS you have to deal with when you deal with a romantic relationship you get more peace O mind and space for practice. For ex. I have a friend who cannot attend a meditation retreat because she doesn't want to leave her husband for 10 days and her husband is not into meditation. Even if she finally made it to a retreat I don't think she will be settled to do it with all the extra commitments
Sorry to disillusion you, but "soulmates" can turn to "hatemates" sometimes when the romantic bubble starts to get thin and bursts. Feelings and needs can change due to impermanence.:)
.
this is a rather pessimistic view that i don't have much use for. this is why we practice dharma, to be one with impermanence and go along with the vicissitudes it ushers in, in romance and in life.
Well Matt, without all that BS you have to deal with
Bullshit huh? I guess it really depends on the relationship. Co-dependent relationships are so full of neediness and "forced resonance" that people's growth becomes stunted. I think if both people are looking out at a similar world then the relationship can be quite invigorating.
this is a rather pessimistic view that i don't have much use for. this is why we practice dharma, to be one with impermanence and go along with the vicissitudes it ushers in, in romance and in life.
You must use whatever methods you think best. However I speak from personal experience and observation and from the practice of Dharma , not from pessimism.
Comments
I don't hope to spin it. When that comes across to me, it sounds more like moderation of objective ownership. In the 'measure' of life, owning a bed, a chair, not faultfinding, not hurting all seem to point toward this idea of moderation.
Well Matt, without all that BS you have to deal with when you deal with a romantic relationship you get more peace O mind and space for practice. For ex. I have a friend who cannot attend a meditation retreat because she doesn't want to leave her husband for 10 days and her husband is not into meditation. Even if she finally made it to a retreat I don't think she will be settled to do it with all the extra commitments
Bullshit huh?
You must use whatever methods you think best. However I speak from personal experience and observation and from the practice of Dharma , not from pessimism.
.
Indeed