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I've misplaced my understanding
One of my adult students (I'm an ESL instructor) observed that my art includes a lot of Buddhist imagery, so he asked me what I know about it. It's been almost 10 years since I've read anything on the subject. At that moment I realized I knew almost nothing, but when I had studied it and meditated, I felt I was onto something. I replied that it was an exercise in identifying negative habits and cycles, letting them go, and then somehow deriving peace and happiness from it.
I tend to oversimplify things...I don't believe it makes me seem smart, quite the contrary, I just tend to understand things put just so.
I told my student that the last thing I read was by an American monk named Jack Kornfield and I recall that a lot of his ideas on mindfulness and meditation were very accessible from a Western perspective. I've just been listening to his series of audio books, starting with After the Ecstasy, Laundry...it really raises more questions than it quells.
If you can eliminate want, grasping, regret, rumination, envy, materialism, and all those other things that are the causes of suffering...(do you do this first or after you contemplate who you are?)...at some point you contemplate who are without all those things. What do Buddhist teachers tell you is left if you manage to divorce yourself of all those things?
How does God or any deity fit into Buddhism? What is this divinity they constantly refer to? Where does it reside? In all us, haha...more questions. Is is something everyone can experience or something that only some people can experience?
I wanted to quote Jack Kornfield, but since I understand neither his ideas or Buddhism anymore...nothing I can find seems to properly illustrate the way I perceive it. It would just be slightly jaded and flippant to do so. That is not my intention in coming here.
So far I can see that Buddhism requires that you acknowledge things about yourself and the world, while accepting all these things passively. Meditation and introspection will provide insight into yourself and life. There are a great many names for all the processes of Buddhism...both psychological and spiritual, a great deal of discussion about it, so many prayers and nomenclature...all of which somehow result in wisdom. But how does any of that lead to happiness and enlightenment? Each idea is explained in such a way that every question is answered with something that leads to more questions that are answered in a like manner.
A gross oversimplification, I know.
Not getting it at all. I want to....I was there, and now I'm not. I don't know enough to ask good questions yet, so pardon me if I've offended.
I tend to oversimplify things...I don't believe it makes me seem smart, quite the contrary, I just tend to understand things put just so.
I told my student that the last thing I read was by an American monk named Jack Kornfield and I recall that a lot of his ideas on mindfulness and meditation were very accessible from a Western perspective. I've just been listening to his series of audio books, starting with After the Ecstasy, Laundry...it really raises more questions than it quells.
If you can eliminate want, grasping, regret, rumination, envy, materialism, and all those other things that are the causes of suffering...(do you do this first or after you contemplate who you are?)...at some point you contemplate who are without all those things. What do Buddhist teachers tell you is left if you manage to divorce yourself of all those things?
How does God or any deity fit into Buddhism? What is this divinity they constantly refer to? Where does it reside? In all us, haha...more questions. Is is something everyone can experience or something that only some people can experience?
I wanted to quote Jack Kornfield, but since I understand neither his ideas or Buddhism anymore...nothing I can find seems to properly illustrate the way I perceive it. It would just be slightly jaded and flippant to do so. That is not my intention in coming here.
So far I can see that Buddhism requires that you acknowledge things about yourself and the world, while accepting all these things passively. Meditation and introspection will provide insight into yourself and life. There are a great many names for all the processes of Buddhism...both psychological and spiritual, a great deal of discussion about it, so many prayers and nomenclature...all of which somehow result in wisdom. But how does any of that lead to happiness and enlightenment? Each idea is explained in such a way that every question is answered with something that leads to more questions that are answered in a like manner.
A gross oversimplification, I know.
Not getting it at all. I want to....I was there, and now I'm not. I don't know enough to ask good questions yet, so pardon me if I've offended.
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Comments
Welcome to the forum.
I think all the Buddhist processes simply lead to letting go... letting go of these two basic things that bring suffering into our lives:
(1) clinging to pleasant sensations; and
(2) aversion for unpleasant sensations.
Through practice, such a state of equanimity is possible. The practitioner achieves a sort of peace and calm that cannot be shaken by any circumstances, either pleasant or unpleasant. Of course, I'm still at the beginning of the Path and only experienced glimpses of a little peace, now and then.
With kind regards,
S
But shouldn't one be shaken by pleasant circumstances? Understanding the process inasmuch as it eliminates suffering by easing a detachment to life's inevitable challenges is not difficult, but why shouldn't one seek out and cherish positive experiences? Shouldn't the sublime beauty of a bee sleeping on a blade of grass be pleasing? Or the babbling of my daughter, who hasn't learned to speak but wants to? It seems even the practice of Buddhism is in itself a pursuit of peace and happiness, and therefore a species of attachment.
The idea of not harming is confusing too. When I eat a plant, am I not harming it and causing it's life to end? Or is harm an issue of intent? I read an account of someone who'd raised a cat in a temple, and through persuasion and kindness had convinced the cat not to kill mice. But without mice, the cat would surely die or suffer from poor nutrition. In teaching the cat what is contrary to its nature, is it possible that harm was done to it?
I don't see a problem in enjoying pleasant sensations as long as one does not cling to such sensations... wishing for more of it...
... and what Mountains has posted.
I'm not sure if this is directed at me. I understand "intent" has a lot to do with the fruits of karma; but my knowledge base in this aspect, the karma associated with eating plants, is minimal. Sorry, I cannot expand on this further.
I live in a vast sprawling city and the majority of "domisticated" cats live almost entirely on pet food. Cats kept on farms and stray cats in the city may go hunting for mice. I don't think cats given proper pet food (for cats) will suffer from malnutrition. Unless, someone was trying to convert them to vegans!
1 Dukkha; Humans are in a state of "unsatisfactoriness/suffering" (mind)
2 Tanha; "Craving" based on ignorance is the cause of this Dukkha [basically desire to control the uncontrollable; attain the unattainable; make permanent the impermanent -- i.e., eternal life, wealth, fame... but even more subtle, any sense pleasure that once "gone" gives rise to desire for more in the future (this is suffering too)... also the desire to not have things, i.e. not be bothered by so-and-so, not get cancer, etc.]
3 Nirvana; The extinguishing of Tanha is the cure of our suffering [this is accomplished through the cultivation of wisdom of reality; with Ignorance no longer as the root which breeds unwholesome Tanha, disharmonious desires cease]
4 Noble Eightfold Path; A set of eight (8) factors to bring the mind into such a state that the truth can be clearly seen. Includes insight-meditation. This is the path that Buddhists walk, so to speak. It includes morality (sila), concentration and wisdom. [Found a quick link for more, try http://www.wanderings.net/notebook/Main/FourNobleTruthsBuddhism.]
That's just the brief outline. I'd say hit up a site like http://www.buddhanet.net for a good grounding on this stuff.
Namaste
Think of a beach ball in thrown into a stream .. the stream carries in on. Think of a large rock thrown into the stream ... the stream washes over it but does not move it. We become no-longer moved by these things although we live right in the midst of all of it. This is not a position of voidness, but rather creates a great curiousity, calmness and quiet joy ... even giggles, if one is to observe some of these life-long monks.
I think the first insight into this that I actually had was a story relayed by Sharon Salzberg. She wrote about seeing an interview on TV with the Dalai Lama ... he had been given a tour of an American Trappist monastery where they supported themselves by making cheese and fruitcake. They had given him a piece of cheese to sample. Telling this story during the interview, the Dalai Lama said, "But what I REALLY wanted was a piece of the fruitcake!!!" and then he broke into laughter.
WHY would he laugh? Because he saw his desire. And he was not hooked by it. Desires do not stop, but we become free of them. Whether it is the desire for fruitcake or the desire for pleasure, we are hooked as surely as we are by our aversions. We are taught that the last desire that must be uprooted will be our desire for enlightenment (although I am most certainly very far away from having to tackle that one!).