Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Easiest to Hardest Scale (personal reflection on Buddhism)
EASIEST TO HARDEST SCALE IN BUDDHISM
Note*(just a personal reflection in the general banter section, not an attempt to start rude backs and forths, some people have been getting prickly around the edges.)
EASY-SIDE-UP: I can read explanations of prajna, anatman, emptiness, the noble truths etc… and think “Right on brotha’. I get what you’re talking about. In fact, I likes when you talk these things.” Reading these teachings is easy-side up on the scale because it’s interesting and fun, and requires little effort.
EASY: Answering philosophical question’s is fun. Getting to root of why I define the world the way I do, breaking that down some more. Examining all this… stuffs… Challenging my perceptions, and breaking them down again. Eating Koans in my cheerios fun on the scale of difficulty.
EASY: I’m not very much into chasing enlightenment; because my understanding of it is just that it’s reality. The here and now, when you finally realize that here and now is reality without our coloration of viewpoints and perspectives, or rather… it’s what exists when we stop trying so hard to define it. So I figure that will happen as long as I don’t try too hard to grasp at it and hold it in my hands. However, for some people who may make this their goal, I imagine then it’s hard. (Especially if your teacher is always telling you… "no that’s not it").
DIFFICULT: (Now for some people who are hard-core practitioners… this is HARD, both on their bums and patience). I’m not very bothered by meditation since I don’t meditate in the Buddhist sense. I often wonder what people are trying to accomplish during meditation and sometimes the response is to become aware of emotions before they have a chance to develop into a thought, like “I’m feeling a little irrit… hey wait that jerk never gave me correct change *fume*!” Like stopping that before it fully develops. So maybe it’s like sharpening your awareness, or letting go of attachments. Whenever I’ve tried it, I’m sitting there thinking… “and this is going to make me a better person? Crap what am I supposed to doing? I’m definitely doing this wrong. Hey wait! I’m not supposed to be having all these interpretations and inner dialogue.” (However, a Theravada monk I spoke with was trying to explain a different version that I didn’t quite grasp). (I’m aware that meditation is sometimes the peanut butter to the Buddhism sandwich, but I guess I’ll be snubbing it until I can understand clearer what is trying/or not trying to be attained... and I can get away with not sitting at the Buddhist's lunch table because I'm only trying to be a lay-person).
HARD: Not just hard… harder than playing Call of Duty on Veteran setting! Probably the most important (in my view) aspect of Buddhism, that’s why it’s so hard. It’s walking the talk. Practicing what we preach. Taking that knowledge and using it. It’s harder than meditation, thinking, philosophizing or finding enlightenment. I can agree with all I learn, but there are times when it all flies out the window when I’m mandated to do a 16 hour shift. At that point I’m not so serene. I’m ticked off, tired, and feeling like a victim. I’ve tried walking around practicing what I’ve learned 24-7, and it’s exhausting. It can leave me with a real headache. I’ve gotten a little better about becoming aware of my thoughts before they lead to inappropriate reactions. But the hardest thing about Buddhism is the actual practice of applying these beliefs in our lives. There are always new challenges! Try as I might to be a better person, I’m still wimpy, anxious, jealous, angry, ecstatic, insecure, flippant, hyper and human. The hardest part of Buddhism is reacting appropriately when life surprises you and catches you off guard. I’m always thinking in retrospect and wondering why I didn’t say this, or do this action, or perceive it in this light. Lot’s of shoulda, coulda, woulda’s. Now I know there is no perfection (some may disagree). But it would be nice if I wasn’t always such a hypocrite. As soon as I think I’m on top of my game, in the next instant something happens to challenge it. I know that Buddhism is a moment-to-moment practice, but in my view, it’s the moment to moment challenges in life that make practice so hard.
Note*(just a personal reflection in the general banter section, not an attempt to start rude backs and forths, some people have been getting prickly around the edges.)
EASY-SIDE-UP: I can read explanations of prajna, anatman, emptiness, the noble truths etc… and think “Right on brotha’. I get what you’re talking about. In fact, I likes when you talk these things.” Reading these teachings is easy-side up on the scale because it’s interesting and fun, and requires little effort.
EASY: Answering philosophical question’s is fun. Getting to root of why I define the world the way I do, breaking that down some more. Examining all this… stuffs… Challenging my perceptions, and breaking them down again. Eating Koans in my cheerios fun on the scale of difficulty.
EASY: I’m not very much into chasing enlightenment; because my understanding of it is just that it’s reality. The here and now, when you finally realize that here and now is reality without our coloration of viewpoints and perspectives, or rather… it’s what exists when we stop trying so hard to define it. So I figure that will happen as long as I don’t try too hard to grasp at it and hold it in my hands. However, for some people who may make this their goal, I imagine then it’s hard. (Especially if your teacher is always telling you… "no that’s not it").
DIFFICULT: (Now for some people who are hard-core practitioners… this is HARD, both on their bums and patience). I’m not very bothered by meditation since I don’t meditate in the Buddhist sense. I often wonder what people are trying to accomplish during meditation and sometimes the response is to become aware of emotions before they have a chance to develop into a thought, like “I’m feeling a little irrit… hey wait that jerk never gave me correct change *fume*!” Like stopping that before it fully develops. So maybe it’s like sharpening your awareness, or letting go of attachments. Whenever I’ve tried it, I’m sitting there thinking… “and this is going to make me a better person? Crap what am I supposed to doing? I’m definitely doing this wrong. Hey wait! I’m not supposed to be having all these interpretations and inner dialogue.” (However, a Theravada monk I spoke with was trying to explain a different version that I didn’t quite grasp). (I’m aware that meditation is sometimes the peanut butter to the Buddhism sandwich, but I guess I’ll be snubbing it until I can understand clearer what is trying/or not trying to be attained... and I can get away with not sitting at the Buddhist's lunch table because I'm only trying to be a lay-person).
HARD: Not just hard… harder than playing Call of Duty on Veteran setting! Probably the most important (in my view) aspect of Buddhism, that’s why it’s so hard. It’s walking the talk. Practicing what we preach. Taking that knowledge and using it. It’s harder than meditation, thinking, philosophizing or finding enlightenment. I can agree with all I learn, but there are times when it all flies out the window when I’m mandated to do a 16 hour shift. At that point I’m not so serene. I’m ticked off, tired, and feeling like a victim. I’ve tried walking around practicing what I’ve learned 24-7, and it’s exhausting. It can leave me with a real headache. I’ve gotten a little better about becoming aware of my thoughts before they lead to inappropriate reactions. But the hardest thing about Buddhism is the actual practice of applying these beliefs in our lives. There are always new challenges! Try as I might to be a better person, I’m still wimpy, anxious, jealous, angry, ecstatic, insecure, flippant, hyper and human. The hardest part of Buddhism is reacting appropriately when life surprises you and catches you off guard. I’m always thinking in retrospect and wondering why I didn’t say this, or do this action, or perceive it in this light. Lot’s of shoulda, coulda, woulda’s. Now I know there is no perfection (some may disagree). But it would be nice if I wasn’t always such a hypocrite. As soon as I think I’m on top of my game, in the next instant something happens to challenge it. I know that Buddhism is a moment-to-moment practice, but in my view, it’s the moment to moment challenges in life that make practice so hard.
0
Comments
I think you have it upside down!
Realizing the noble truths etc. is the hard thing. Because you can have some kind of intellectual knowledge about them, but that doesn't really help you. Only through direct insights can you find out what they actually mean. Sorry to be like a teacher, but your understanding of enlightenment is wrong. The way you define it it becomes a surrender to the ups and downs of life. But enlightenment isn't just the here and now, it is an everlasting state of being happy. Never again any worries/ill will/impatience etc. no matter what happens in life. This needs to be trained by meditation. But you are right,if you strive to get something out of meditation, you will find it doesn't really work.
When meditating you come face to face with your own mind. If you think it is hard, it is because you make it hard, not because it actually is hard. What's hard about sitting on a cushion watching the breath? Meditation is actually very easy if you let it be. Some monks even do all-night sittings. They are obviously enjoying it. Not because they try to get things, but because they try and leave things.
By meditation you can transform your mind and thought patterns. You can actually change yourself. All the hindrances you encounter in meditation (like impatience[restlessness], lust, doubt, anger etc.) are all aspects of your mind. If you can overcome these in meditation, they won't arise in daily life that often anymore. Overcome these obstacles forever and you are enlightened. Maybe we will find this, it's called our Buddhanature in some traditions. That's the reason we meditate and that's why it is of tremendous importance in Buddhism. And if you have some mastery in meditation, you might find 'problems' daily life the easiest aspect of all.
With metta,
Sabre
But I forgot to say, here and now is important of course. And the though times is the time we can learn!
Sabre
Meditation is what makes all these things easier because you are practicing "letting go" when you are sitting there. Sitting there breathing in and out, thoughts and feelings arise and you let them go. If you let go of anxiousness, then you are no longer anxious. If you let go of jealousy, then you are no longer jealous. If you let go of anger, then you are no longer angry. One Zen teacher calls it "opening the hand of thought". If you don't hold on to these things, then they don't cause any problems. The more you hold on to them, the more problems they cause. If you never practice letting go, then letting go is quite difficult yes.
It would be easy to waste lot of space finding meaning and explaining and believing such an observation. But in experience, I think it just comes true.
clear seeing
patience
sitting with the most difficult
in the present moment
no big deal