The two extremes - Eternalism and Nihilism

Whoknows

Hi all,

I personally find it tricky finding the right balance of meditation and action, and thought that there might be some value in considering this in relationship to the two extremes of Eternalism and Nihilism. I thought that there would be a simple relationship between the two extremes and whether a meditator focuses too much on the absolute sphere, or the relative sphere but found that it wasn't so simple when I started looking into it.

I suspect that if someone is too much focused on "absolute reality" irrespective of their conceptual view of reality, then they are falling to "both" of the extremes of Eternalism and Nihilism. Eternalism in respect to believing that "absolute reality" is the "true" reality (ie Buddha nature is a type of soul, or the stream of consciousness is an absolutely existing entity,......), and Nihilism because they neglect the relative world because of over emphasis on its voidness and exaggerated attachment to the ultimate state and/or meditative experiences.

The other side being excessive focus on the relative world, in this respect the Eternalism represents believing the solid concrete reality that appears exists as it appears to exist (our basic ignorance), and Nihilism in respect to denying the existence of liberation from this extreme.

Sorry, but mathematic mind is coming out here.... So graphically we end up with two dimensions: on one axis we have Eternalism/Nihilism on the other axis we have Absolute/Relative.

Even this is probably too simplistic, and of course it is a reification, yet may be there is a tiny bit of usefulness there. What do you guys (gender non-specific term) think?

Cloud

Insightful, and true (as much as I understand your math-speke). The Middle Path isn't just avoiding eternal existence or annihilation, it's avoiding extremes altogether. It's detaching from being pulled hither and thither, and just being "here". To see the conceptual reality and ultimate reality simultaneously, and skillfully navigate life.

Whoknows

Here is a graph, its the first time I've uploaded an image so I hope it works

formermonkJohn

when you do a huge amount of meditating, then are exposed to walking meditation, in my case thai style, you reach a point were you find that the mindfulness you experience through meditation can continue 24/7 in you regular state, in the beginning you can't clear your mind and appreciate oneness without sitting perfectly still, and starting with breath, however, i personally reached a stage were i broke through the idea that i had to sit still to appreciate truth, and just meditate sitting at the computer, driving a car, or laying in bed, i rarely do any sitting meditation any more, but when i do i am reminded how i got to this state and what a wonderful thing meditation is,

so in answer to one of the OPs questions, how do i balance meditation with action? by turning your meditation into action, using the same techniques you develop in meditation in your everyday life for basic decisions.

as to the eternalism, nihilism debate, just an opinion, you dont have to be foursquare in the middle, there are shades of gray, so to speak, and i'm not very nihlistic, but i certainly don't believe that reality is just what we see, if you know what i mean.