beginning and end

genkaku

If you want to build a bird house, first there is the intention, then the action ... and then it's done.

If you want to practice Buddhism, first there is the intention, then the action ... and then?

We are pretty easy-going about the bird house -- a beginning and an end. And perhaps a Buddhist practice begins the same way -- with some expectation of an end of some kind. But if anyone found an end to Buddhist practice, they would be deluding themselves, don't you think?

And if that is true, what makes us think a bird house is any different?

Talisman

To say that the bird house is built or began is inconsistent with the nature of empty phenomena. When did the bird house begin? Was it when you decided to make it, or when you purchased the materials to construct it, or when you hammered in the last nail? Or was when it was placed on the tree, or when the first bird took residence in it?

When does the bird house end? When the birds have left it empty and alone? When the weather has torn away the wood and it falls from the tree?

What if you repair and repaint the house then place it back on the tree? Is it a new bird house? Is it the same birdhouse even though adjustments and changes have been made?

The duality of beginning and end are analagous to one's dilusional sense of birth and death. In truth there is no beginning or end. The use of such concepts is purely conjecture and is not to be taken for absolute truth. There is no beginning or end to the Buddhist Path, nor is there not a beginning or an end. Such segregating activity is the effect of a the discriminating mind, literally consciousness or the funtion to discern.

You should hold no attachment to the existence or non-existence of either beginning or end.

Dakini

Can one really compare a material thing to a spiritual practice? A spiritual practice is a process, not an object. Or am I missing something here?

NomaDBuddha

If you want to build a bird house, first there is the intention, then the action ... and then it's done.

If you want to practice Buddhism, first there is the intention, then the action ... and then?

We are pretty easy-going about the bird house -- a beginning and an end. And perhaps a Buddhist practice begins the same way -- with some expectation of an end of some kind. But if anyone found an end to Buddhist practice, they would be deluding themselves, don't you think?

And if that is true, what makes us think a bird house is any different?

1. Bird house : thought->intention->action-> right effort(how can you build something if you don't add effort?)->???->profit.

2. Buddhism: view (you got to make an idea first)->thought->intention->action-> effort (to practice meditation and other stuff) -> ??? -> profit. If you gain profit here ( attain enlightenment), then it ends. The concept of buddhism dissapears once you break free from the chain of suffering, and it will end when you die.

3. The end of buddhist practice is your death( relating to this existence, not to the future ones).
Suppose rebirth exists, and buddhism exists in your next life, it will be like a restart, but there are chances that you might not practice the buddhist way in your next life .

Talisman

There is no death with enlightenment.

Floating_Abu

If you want to build a bird house, first there is the intention, then the action ... and then it's done.

If you want to practice Buddhism, first there is the intention, then the action ... and then?

We are pretty easy-going about the bird house -- a beginning and an end. And perhaps a Buddhist practice begins the same way -- with some expectation of an end of some kind. But if anyone found an end to Buddhist practice, they would be deluding themselves, don't you think?

And if that is true, what makes us think a bird house is any different?

I always thought there was an end

MindGate

Another question... We know where a brick ends. The top of the corners, the end of each side. We know where brick ends, but where does brick start?

Malachy12

Maybe the Buddhist birdhouse would be like the Winchester house, because we'll always still be building on with each day and each breath

Ghabe

continued action...

fivebells

The end is to take refuge entirely in the practice. It ceases to be practice at some point, and becomes just the way life works.

genkaku

OK, in one sense, everything is the beginning of everything else; everything is the end of everything else. And then of course there is the fact that there is no something else.

But in down-to-earth, tentative, intellectual or spiritual terms, there is a beginning and an end. Bird house, spiritual persuasion -- same stuff, different day. And what begins and ends continues to begin and end until there is some actualization of the beginninglessness or endlessness.