True Self

robot

I'm guess I'm here for the entertainment too. I have shelves full of books. Once you start a thread I really don't think that you can control who participates. You started this to get input on your writing and it has broken down again. I just thought that you had sworn off this type of exchange. I guess I meant defend not debate.

DhammaDhatu

Woo, I didn't realise threads were owned by members here!

.

"Whatever is not yours: let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit. And what is not yours?

"The eye is not yours: let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit. Forms are not yours... Eye-consciousness is not yours... Eye-contact is not yours... Whatever arises in dependence on eye-contact, experienced either as pleasure, as pain, or as neither-pleasure-nor-pain, that too is not yours: let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit.

"The ear is not yours: let go of it...

"The nose is not yours: let go of it...

"The tongue is not yours: let go of it...

"The body is not yours: let go of it...

"The intellect is not yours: let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit. Ideas are not yours... Intellect-consciousness is not yours... Intellect-contact is not yours... Whatever arises in dependence on intellect-contact, experienced either as pleasure, as pain, or as neither-pleasure-nor-pain, that too is not yours: let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit.

"Suppose a person were to gather or burn or do as he likes with the grass, twigs, branches, & leaves here in Jeta's Grove. Would the thought occur to you, 'It's us that this person is gathering, burning, or doing with as he likes'?"

"No, lord. Why is that? Because those things are not our self nor do they pertain to our self."

"In the same way, monks, the eye is not yours: let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit... The ear... The nose... The tongue... The body... The intellect is not yours: let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit... Whatever arises in dependence on intellect-contact, experienced either as pleasure, as pain, or as neither-pleasure-nor-pain, that too is not yours: let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit."

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn35/sn35.101.than.html



:om:

Dazzle

Well said, Dhamma Dhatu ! :om:

TheJourney

I'm not defending my views. I'm trying to get people to, to be quite frank, get off my dick and if they don't like what I have to say then ignore me. I don't care to debate. I don't care to convince anyone. I am here to discuss with like minded people. That is it. I don't care if you disagree, but I don't want to discuss my views with you, because invariably it turns into debate or convincing and debate bores me. I want to discuss. Not be preached at and have it be attempted to convert me. I'm not trying to convert anyone, and I don't want to be converted. What are we, fundamentalist christians?

aHappyNihilist

wham bam thank you ma'm

I'd ask if YOU were the fundamentalist one. So grounded in your views that you won't even open to discuss them

TheJourney

My views are that no view is anymore correct than any other. How exactly can I be grounded in the view that there is no lasting permanently true view? I say over and over that my words aren't the truth. Let me say it again. MY WORDS ARE NOT THE TRUTH. I don't see what is so difficult to understand about what i'm saying. I am trying to help people see their own truth. I have no truth to offer.

aHappyNihilist

Because others disagree, rightly. Of course one view is true. A thing can not both exist one way and exist another. Some views are right and some are wrong. You like to use the "all views are right" thing to keep anyone from questioning your beliefs. The "all views are right" thing only applies to certain situations, actually the only one I can think of is our example with the description of what the self is.

TheJourney

My views are consistent with zen buddhism. You clearly know nothing about it. Some of us actually read. I'm currently reading 8 books, 4 of them about buddhism. 3 more about spirituality and philosophy. Reading is the main thing that I do. I have read a lot from great buddhist teachers. I'm not just making stuff up. You clearly have no knowledge of what you speak.

aHappyNihilist

oh my god. can you stop using the argument that someone else said something makes it true? I don't care how many books your reading you still can't explain or defend your point.

TheJourney

I DON'T WANT TO. I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU BELIEVE. HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT? I'M NOT TRYING TO CONVINCE ANYONE OF ANYTHING. MY VIEWS ARE MINE, AND I AM ENTITLED TO THEM. YOU ARE ENTITLED TO YOURS. Stfu, seriously. To repeat what I said earlier, I can't believe how hard you and others have been riding my dick recently. Please, remove yourself from it.

aHappyNihilist

lol you are so mad

upalabhava

should I just flat out troll the forums until I'm banned I won't hurt anyone, if i can help it, just make fun of them

I'm lyke trolling teh threads

aHappyNihilist

the end is nye

TheJourney

You must really have a fulfilling life if trolling internet forums is what you do for fun.

aHappyNihilist

yes yes try to hurt me with your words. my life is fine thanks for your concern though.

MindGate

I don't have a fulfilling life so I become depressed, so I troll forums to make me happy. (I don't troll this one, just have a few lulzy drinks with the trolls.)

aHappyNihilist

what's wrong with your life? let's turn this into a productive conversation

MindGate

Hmmm... well, school seems to me to be tedious and pointless and boring for the most part, and me and my girlfriend are bored all the time (can't drive, small town, etc), and when I'm not with her we're bored.

aHappyNihilist

Just try to have fun no matter what your doing. Your sufferings are from boredom and pointlessness. No moment is pointless because in any moment we can feel happy. Make the point feeling happy. Do your things but have fun, engage in them. Laugh at the world, smile all the time.

MindGate

I am unable to smile. I tried. I have tried a lot. I can't.

aHappyNihilist

I used to have a very similar situation, I remember the specific insight that helped me, it was my insight into equanimity. when i saw that craving was useless and unnecessary i stopped craving stuff, including fun. I realized that anything can be done without craving, you can want to have fun, you can want to do anything without the pain of craving. That insight really helped me. It gave me this sense that nothing can cause me that suffering.

think about the chained man metaphor. stop training against chains. If you wish find their key, or wait for it to be given to you thats fine, but don't strain against them.

recognize what you are craving. look at the chains your straining against. See that it is useless to strain against them and just stop straining.

MindGate

What if I find the key but can't reach it?

aHappyNihilist

just chill, seriously, your pain is caused by the straining, the pulling against the chains toward that key. If it is truly out of reach for the moment and there is nothing you can do to pick it up, just chill

MindGate

But I see the key.

aHappyNihilist

how far away is it? is it this far | | or is it this far | |
then look at how much slack is in the chain if its only this much | | then just wait around for a little. You will find that the chains are only painful when you pull against them.

ok this is sounding like bullshit but it worked for me, seriously. The day I came here I picked up a knife to cut my jugular and bleed out. I really did. Soon after I was happy.

edit: oops^^ read the other post

MindGate

I picked up a knife to cut my jugular and bleed out. I really did. Soon after I was happy.

What? :wtf:

aHappyNihilist

ooh i forgot an important detail this is what happens when you watch tv while typing. I meant to say, I picked up a knife to cut my jugular and bleed out but i put it down and decided to make one last effort at happiness, then I came here, found buddhism had some insights a few days later and wham happy

MindGate

I was gonna say. xD

Anyways... Its just hard for me to be happy.

aHappyNihilist

Bleh, like i said. the chains are only uncomfortable when you strain. look at which chains your straining against. see how useless it is.

aHappyNihilist

what are you straining against?

aHappyNihilist

it seems like your straining out of aversion, your straining against boredom. just chill with it. feel it. when you reduce it to a feeling suddenly it isn't so bad.

MindGate

Easy to say, hard to do.

aHappyNihilist

true.

shanyin

If you're book can do for me what this man is experiencing, which seems to be the same topic, I'll pick it up:

federica

And this is what happens to threads like these.
Take note.