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Where's the logic of it all?
People seem usually not to get enlightened in a single lifetime. Why do you work on enlightenment? If you cannot get enlightened in one lifetime, and if there is no I/soul/atman which could reincarnate to fulfill this task later on, then there is no point of starting with it (the way to enlightenment), no? And if some can do it in one lifetime, what does it mean then? Everybody dissolves: the enlightened one and the one who dies and cannot reincarnate, because his/her five aggregates are also empty of inherent nature and will dissolve. Buddhism, in many ways makes no sense to me. I see many contradictions in it. Where's the logic of it all?
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Don't spend time worrying about things that really, have no immediate answers....
It little matters what happened before, or what will happen in the future. What matters, is what happens now, and how you deal with it.
Oh and it's not 'reincarnation'. It's rebirth.
Different thing.
Today, the different kinds of Buddhist teachings are many.
But the original intention of the Buddhist teachings was simply for one purpose, which was to remedy human suffering.
If we have suffering in our lives, Buddhism can offer solutions.
For me, this is the practical way to approach Buddhism.
Best wishes
DD
My advice would be to try to find a branch of buddhism that is helpful to you. Currently it is frustrating to be faced with lack of logic. I don't know if that is good or bad. So maybe explore if there is a presentation of buddhism that IS logical.
Or investigate the need for everything to be logical. What is logical? How does it feel etc.. The advantages and disadvantages, I am recalling the mistake of telling my ex-girlfriend when she was illogical ahah. Maybe it was a good thing, but there was advantages and disadvantages haha.
But just examining your own experience is buddhism. It doesn't matter if a buddhist book says something is true. If you find it illogical in your experience then that is what your experience is. I think a hint to getting clarity is to just let things fall into place. Don't press for them to figure out too fast. Just see your feelings and thoughts as they are. With a light touch and a sense that you don't have to understand everything in one day. Yet at the same time a curiousity without the (too much) pressure.
Yes you will tell me that there is no real "I"
But I am raising all these questions and seeking answers suffering pain or seeking pleasures only in the context of this 'I".
If the solution lies outside the context then it is not a solution. It is intellectual exploration of a mind hurting realities. It is like a medic's clinical knowledge obtained from his patient's post martem.
If that was all Buddhism offered, that would be a lot IMHO.
In my tradition (Tibetan Kagyu) we believe Enlightenment is more of a process than "Bang! You're enlightened". So people experience different degrees of Enlightenment, and even a beginner may experience flashes, brief seconds of awareness. So there is definitely something to work towards, even if we don't achieve total liberation by the time we die.
Where there is enlightenment, there is no suffering, of course, so those brief flashes are experiences of the world as it really is
My tradition teaches that it may take a million lifetimes to finally be Enlightened, but a lifetime like this, in which we encounter the dharma is a wonderful opportunity, not to be missed, to make spiritual progress.
You could ignore this opportunity, and just carry on as you were, of course. But I have observed that even a little dharma in one's life is life-changing. Especially when we encounter suffering. But I am not in the business of trying to "convert" people - I don't know where you are in your spiritual journey and so it would be wrong of me to presume and say "You must be a Buddhist". You will take it up when you are ready and when it seems the appropriate thing for you to do.
***************************
Some things work. Some things don't. Might as well go with what works.
Maybe many Buddhists are enlightened but because Buddhism has evolved as a power structure that needs enlightenment to be about something unobtainable (just as all religions need their goals delayed until the afterlife in order to gain purchase on their followers.)
>>>>Buddhism, in many ways makes no sense to me. I see many contradictions in it. Where's the logic of it all?
There are many contradictions in Buddhism, but none in Dharma, and on that you must do your own math;)
Keep on doubting,
namaste
It is believed that suffering is the choice of the mind, that it is Karma that brings one into such an experience.
What if this belief is entirely incorrect?
What if it has nothing to do with Karma, but simply the progression of knowledge pertaining to the collective?
To consider a life is suffering because of the Karmic attachment from past lives, is too believe it is a necessary step towards the path of Nirvana?
Is it necessary?
Do we require an existence where there is any suffering?
The mere fact that suffering exists must conclude that it is a necessity for the obtainment of knowledge. By all logic and reason, why would it exist for any other purpose?
This is where belief enters..... Is it for the individual knowledge to overcome, or for the collective expression to overcome?
The problem associated with the knowledge of the individual, is that it accepts that suffering must exist, and perhaps always exist. To project the idea that every mind must accept this progression within belief, or even that every mind will eventually come to such a path through Karmic growth is quite a leap of faith. It produces a certain aspect of passivity concerning a choice, not a choice of the individual to in effect change it all by actually creating a physical and tangible aspect of existence; but a choice of acceptance through belief that this where the collective resides because of the Karmic growth of the individual.
In contrary, If we could create an existence parallel to this where it displayed an unequivocal freedom of body and mind; could we create an arena where knowledge becomes exponential in growth where everyone would instantaneously see their own beauty?
What I mean to say is........ Could we create a light that is so brilliant, that it would be impossible to look away?..... That it would be impossible to look at it and not see every aspect of yourself in it?
is it possible or impossible to create an existence like this?
Does the concept of letting go of all attachment work, or is there an attachment to a freedom of vision so profound that it would be impossible to let go of?
Through belief, you could say that it is my attachment to such a vision that will ultimately lead to my own suffering..... But through reason, if such a vision could actually be created, it could lead to the end of suffering for all of humanity. As far as Karma is concerned, without hesitation; I would suffer an infinite number of lives for such a vision.
To discard such a vision through belief requires a great amount of conviction, an amount of faith that is unrivaled.
I have the luxury of not having an attachment to a belief that carries such a weight.
If we developed an existence where every aspect of materialistic desire was available to every life, do you then think that greed would be an issue? Do you think people would need to consume and hoard possessions?
Seems to me in this type of existence, that people would not consume as if they were filling a void, but seek to surround themselves with the best.... This in turn would "employ" expressions of artistry and thought. In a sense of minimalism, we would be so taken with the expressions of artistry within the items we possessed; in essence we would require less within the fulfilling nature of them.
Concerning this desire and capability to obtain the best, this push in turn would develop how we educate minds. There is no longer aspects of monetary wealth, value becomes what the mind has to offer to the expressions within a field.
The reward is when your vision becomes a desire of humanity; it's no longer about what can be afforded but what is selected. Mass production, unskilled workers, discarded minds, wasted lives, poorly made items of convenience that become landfill after their short life of use...... They are no more!
Life becomes an expression of beauty beyond the imagination.
How do we become more generous?
Within the aspect of vision within the finality of freedom in body and mind; the concepts by which we are able to measure generosity disappear. We are instantly rewarded ten fold in what we offer unto humanity. As we master our field, we are afforded students that desire to obtain what we know. It is then, we become a teacher, we set minds forward in the expressions of knowledge we ourselves have obtained. We grab ahold of the tail of this mighty dragon, as it carries us along these minds where we can once again become a student.... Riding it's brilliance, the blossom of our own mind, into a beauty our mind itself could have never fathomed.
The concept of generosity is backwards when you begin to see all that life has to offer. What is there to give, when all we have to do is reach out and grasp a brilliance that has always been there?
Generosity is only a concept that applies to this illusion we continue to accept as we call it reality.
To consider every life would have to reach this aspect of enlightenment, is not without it's condition that questions whether or not such a requirement is within reason.
If you believe we reside in this form of existence out of necessity by which minds are able to obtain knowledge towards the path of enlightenment; it carries with it, quite a leap of faith!
If you could change it all where no life or mind is denied, and suffering no longer exists.... Would you?
Do you believe this is impossible?
If you believe it is possible, what are the conditions towards achieving this type of reality?
Does it require everyone to believe as you do? Is that possible?
It certainly proclaims a distinction between the two, of course there is no arrogance involved?
If we considered ourselves one body, the body of humanity; would we watch an arm become infected, go gangrenous and eventually need to be removed?
We have detached ourselves from the physical nature of humanity, it isn't odd when you can understand where Buddhism came from and why.
What many do not realize is that Buddhism and Christianity are both responses to an oppressive aspect of rule..... Neither one could ever envision overcoming this oppression with their own body and mind, with the simple knowledge that both would be ripped to shreds by it's oppressor.
Christianity took a belief system of fear and mysticism and developed it further in order to fight against this oppression.... This is why these words are so confusing, because the words themselves deal with oppression using faith.
Buddhism deals with the same problem using the mind alone, it detaches itself from the oppression in order to achieve a highly passive concept of freedom within the mind.
Neither of these belief systems apply to what we are dealing with in our lives today..... We have become the oppression, evolved into one being with a detached state of body and mind; using archaic systems of belief in order to make sense of it all.
Buddhism could never realize a physical freedom, it was a very responsible way of viewing it for it's time.... It was the only way!
Now here we are, indulging the mind, believing we can't change our existence where there is no longer suffering; even now when we have the means and ability to do so.
And, I am not a very great practitioner too...
Metta
Nidish
Those who achieve it in one lifetime have already spent numerous lifetimes practicing compassion.
(OK, just checking.
(Thx for the extra explanation.
(I've heard that view a lot, and people really do think like that; they give up because they've limited themselves to what was done in the past, rather than realizing the state of their mind is dependent upon the conditions that are "right now" and the skillful means they employ to changing those conditions.)
And I don't see how we can practice compassion and lovingkindness when all we do is to end our own suffering and not care about others at all.