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Television
LostSoul
Veteran
How many here watch television? Do you think it is harmful to mindfullness?
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We actually just cancelled cable because there is never anything on
Evenings are usually spent reading, gardening, playing guitar, drawing etc.
I only use the home computer for about an hour a week too - to check e-mail etc.
Personally, I (and the rest of the family) watch varying amounts. Some days the tv isn't turned on at all, though that's rare because my hubby likes baseball. I don't watch all that often, because it's too much of a distraction for me, and I can lose track of several hours watching it. Because of that, I tend to keep it off, which forces me to get busy doing other things. Same with the computer. But when it's a really rainy day, when I don't feel well, when it's -40F outside, I'll spend more time on the computer or watching tv than I will today, when it's sunny and 85F outside
I never personally enjoyed watching reality TV. We usually just watch TV for an hour or so before bed. But, what I've noticed is right after a meditation session, if I try watching what we usually watch (which usually consists of stuff like, futurama, american dad, family guy, simpsons), I don't find it quite as enjoyable or as funny. I think it might be because I'm not relating so much to the "trashy" jokes, but who knows. Or maybe I just get super boring after meditation :P
is like trying to winnow something meaningful from chaff
you must try to take the essence of life at all times
day and night.
I believe what your saying is to try to find the "essence" in everything, including things such as television? I do find that I can connect to a lot of history shows, and documentaries, in a mindful way - but do find it very hard to find some sort of meaningfulness in "The Simpsons", however entertaining it may be.
Sometimes, I wonder if entertainment itself is at odds with buddhism?
I watch very little network programming anymore. Right now I am enjoying the "Dallas" revival and "The Newsroom". During the regular season there are handful of other network shows I watch.
So what? Maybe what you do for relaxation or recreation I may think is stupid.
We don't have to be mindful 24/7.
before i watched and absorbed in them, get angry, cursed at villan, feel sorry for victims, etc.
now try to be mindful and see how much i get fooled by the consciousness when eyes see the colours on the TV (four elements which create a shape) and the sound (four elements which brings sounds to the ears
NEWS and movies (from non-english-speaking-countries with english subtitles)
if we are mindful it help us to practice what we learnt from buddhism
if we are ignorant i would say 'poor me'
Course maybe that's just Canadian programming.
Its way more fun to read books anyway, as the imagination has to co-op with the text to paint a picture worthy of, lets say, Bob Ross..... happy little trees and such.
And I do love watching foreign movies. I watched a pretty interesting one a while back (while not actually a "foreign movie" it was a chinese themed movie, I guess) where a man practiced a particular style of martial arts, and wanted to be the "best of the best" and achieved that. But then he found the true meaning of the martial art, which to me alluded to buddhism. Forgot the name, it was on netflix...
EDIT: And sorry, I might just not be understanding your point in my first paragraph..
Well, I enjoy TV. I watch almost no network TV but instead watch the cable/satellite channels 99% of the time.
I love good movies; science shows; nature shows and documentaries.
I love to watch "reality shows", but only the ones that are about what unusual and difficult things people do for a living- like Deadliest Catch (Alaskan crab fishing), or Gold Rush, (mining for gold), Dirtiest Jobs, etc. (I don't watch trashy reality TV like Jersey Shore, etc)
I love travel shows about places and cultures I would otherwise never be exposed to.... I like cooking shows, too, because I enjoy cooking. I like the HGTV and many of their shows about house hunting around the world; or home repair and renovations.
I love learning how to do different things. And TV is my window to the world that I can't afford to travel to.
Whenever I hear people say there's "nothing good on TV" or they don't watch /have TV in their home because there's nothing but garbage on.... I feel bad for them. Because it's not TV that's limited- it's your interests that are limited.
But to each his own, right? Even with my varied interests and my list of what I like to watch, I rarely watch TV for more than 3 hrs a day (and that's with a 2 hr movie tossed in now and then). So I don't think I am overdoing it.
My personal issues with it, is because so many people seem to get sucked into it, and personally invested in it, especially reality shows. All tv is scripted and made to sell a product. 100% of it. It's no more actually realistic than soap operas are. That's not to say I don't enjoy watching them, I just watch them with the same sense I do anything that is obviously fiction. I enjoy the survival shows, and Manhunter, NOVA, Life After People, similar stuff. I do love Big Bang Theory. But overall, if my husband wasn't a baseball freak, we probably wouldn't have cable tv, and just watch what we got on network tv. I certainly wouldn't be missing out on life by not having tv, because tv isn't real life. You can experience things in life without seeing them marketed and scripted for tv.
I love "Big Bang Theory", too...particularly the sensitivity and confusion of Raj.
In the USA we have cable channels... and the vast majority do not have commercials for consumer products. Back in the early days of cable channels like HBO, etc there were NO commercials at all except for what was coming up on HBO in the future.
Now a days you will see commercials for consumer goods on SOME cable channels, but not as many or as often as network TV. Mostly you see commercials for other affiliated cable channels and what they are/will be showing.
PBS used to be 100% commercial free, but no longer. For the best news (IMO) I tend to watch BBC America (cable or satellite). Other than that I glean my current events and news from various internet sources.
I wondered if Amelia was speaking of TV as being spoken of as being just innately beneficial or harmful, whereas a Buddhist practise is about our relationship to it.
I also wonder if this is the same Amelia of former Jiyu linage.
You're right, but I haven't got the energy to be mindful all day, so I feel I need some vegging out time. Or maybe I'm just lazy!