the awesome vs the mundane

TheFound

it just occurred to me...that something so mundane as opening a browser-window to the internet is actually incredibly awesome..i do it every day..i don't think about it too much...

you know something as simple as a flower is amazingly complicated..


on the other hand, something as seemingly complicated , like life and death are actually quite simple and mundane..

is what's really going on all the time ..transcending duality?

TheFound

and is morality on one end (the GOOD end)...or is morality transcending duality too?

Cloud

Animals act a certain way toward each other as their high level of interdependence and needs to survive dictate. Humans create systems of morality based on shared beliefs and desires. Buddhism describes a morality that is natural for the awakened mind that has no further thirsts (thus belief at first, and natural later).

Morality is therefore still a conceptual framework that can change. It isn't specifically describing one thing.

SherabDorje

The distinctions between "awesome" and "mundane" are entirely mental constructs. What may be awesome for one person may be entirely mundane to another. For instance, your distinction between opening a browser window and life and death is entirely arbitrary in terms of the qualities "awesome" and "mundane".

I personally don't see how you can interpret questions of life and death as mundane, but that just shows that they are matters of interpretation of the individual and therefore totally arbitrary, on anyone's part.

genkaku

On his deathbed, the Zen teacher Ta Hui wrote a final verse:

Birth is thus,
Death is thus.
Verse or no verse
What's the fuss?

Is there anything complicated about this?

SherabDorje

Genkaku, you're quoting one verse from one particular school of Buddhism. In Mahayana and Vajrayana at least, great importance is placed on having been given "the precious human existence" and its implications for what effect that has on the person's eventual death. So yes, in other types of Buddhism, it is more complicated than that.

In an attempt to answer the OP's question as to whether or not there is a constant effort to transcend duality, I would say, yes, there is. "Awesome" and "mundane" is a duality simply set up by the human mind. I would submit that something like a computer programmer constructing a browser, however complicated, is pretty mundane because it involves the application of certain mathematical formulas and basic principles of computer programming, whereas the depths of human life and consciousness are something that has been examined and debated from the time that humans first became self-aware and began to wonder about the meaning of human existence and consciousness. So I would say that human existence, the fact of consciousness itself, is somewhat more awesome than a utilitarian act such as the creation of a web browser.

But again, I think most of Buddhism is directed toward transcending dualities and human-constructed concepts that separate things. IMHO, it's all pretty awesome, as in, human consciousness is a pretty awesome thing, and construction of a web browser is one reflection of that. I think it's important to respect things that are productive parts of human creation, but the fundamental problems of human existence and consciousness are ultimately more important and it's important to maintain focus on that goal.

Epicurus

I don't understand the question. Is what's really going on? Where? Or for whom?

RunInTheRain

I'm not sure about transcending duality or how awesome or mundane a browser window, a life or death is. But, I do think that appreciating the beauty of each moment, the opening of a browser window, my fingers typing the keys and conveying my thoughts, the opening of a flower, the birth and death of life...and your appreciation of each are all a perfect application of mindfulness. So, enjoy the moment, look beyond the superficial and breath in deeply...

LiveToLearn

You are all awesome!!