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Life is beautiful

misecmisc1misecmisc1 I am a HinduIndia Veteran
edited July 2013 in Buddhism Basics
hi all,

just some thoughts came to me, so writing this thread.

life is beautiful - agreed it is having suffering in it, the physical suffering cannot be avoided, but the mental suffering can be avoided. much problem is because we want the things to go a certain way, which they will not because they are not under our control. even our body and our mind is not in our control, so how can anything else be in our control. so in a way, nothing is in our control - but this said, there is still the option of choosing right over wrong in every moment in our life.

we suffer, because we want something which we don't have - but we miss to acknowledge the fact that there are things which we do have. we have the six sense organs with us, which themselves are creating magic all the time - but since we consider these as routine things or obvious things (which an organ should do), we miss to see the magic behind it. the eyes see something (be it anything), we think what is the big deal in it as eyes are meant for seeing - but we miss to appreciate the magic which is creating the colours in our experience, so the act of seeing itself is an experience much bigger and much wonderful than we can think of - but we think that seeing Eiffel Tower or The Pyramids is a thing which is wonderful, so we miss the wonderfulness of seeing a flower of a wild plant, which grows just like that without much gardening effort from others.

for hearing, similarly we think going to hear a concert is something which can be considered wonderful, but we miss the magic of sound getting created in our experience in ordinary things like rain-drops falling on earth, wind blowing etc.

same type of things goes with other sense organs and their activities.

we consider the grosser things as valuable and subtle things as ordinary things. life offers everything to us in our every moment, but we confine ourselves in the small self(which we have created) and we miss to see the bigger self, the oneness of which we are a part.

if we just try to fully accept whatever is happening in the present moment, we may be able to appreciate life at its fullest - but usually what happens is we try to do something so that others see it and appreciate it and from their appreciation, our happiness comes - we try to gain something from outside to make us happy, missing the fact that since nothing is in our control, so depending on outside things for pleasure cannot make us happy permanently. agreed with this approach, we may not become somebody big in this material world, but anyways whatever we do and we achieve, in the end all material achievements has to go away from us. so why bother too much to achieve things - at the most what we want is to be alive - some food for maintaining the body, some shelter for protecting our body from weather, some water to drink etc. agreed when we have families, we have much more responsibilities, but still we can try to do our best and not be too bothered or get anxious with what shall happen in future with us or with our families - we can work as per our responsibility and since nothing is in our control, so we can also relax and not get too stressed in our lives. this is not to say that we should run away from our responsibilities, rather we should try to act morally correct in every situation we face, there by making this life itself has a spiritual path on which we travel.

the most wonderful thing, which we have is that we are alive.

i am a completely ignorant person with all defilements of lust, anger, greed, hatred, attachment and ego in my mind - so obviously i cannot say the above things, but the above things came to my mind based on my theoretical understanding of teachings of Zen monks. so just thought of sharing these thoughts with you all. if you find whatever is written above is rubbish, then i am sorry for your time getting wasted in reading this thread.

metta to all sentient beings.
DavidI_AM_THATpegembaraJeffrey

Comments

  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    In life there is no truly solid ground... Stand regardless.

    Thank you for sharing, I agree.

    Life is beautiful, rare and fleeting so I think we should be nourishing its growth.

    I love you too.
    misecmisc1banned_crab
  • Life is beautiful for those who are around beauty....

    Life is ugly for those who are around ugliness!!!

    Simple as that!

    Life is whatever you are experiencing!!!


  • CittaCitta Veteran
    Really ? I think life is what happens while we are busy telling other people what life is.
    Kundo
  • Citta said:

    Really ? I think life is what happens while we are busy telling other people what life is.

    Exactly my point!

    At this very moment i am writing this and i have a nice cup of tea next to me, feet up, takeaway on its way, lovely missus coming round - life is pretty nice at the moment!

    However;

    A person who is going through abuse right now as we speak (somewhere in the world) i wonder if they would say "life is beautiful" or they might think "life is horrible"

    Life isnt just what happens when we are busy telling others what life is...
    Life is whatever you are doing RIGHT NOW............. And NOW.............. And NOW!!
  • misecmisc1misecmisc1 I am a Hindu India Veteran
    edited July 2013
    zenmyste said:

    Life is whatever you are experiencing!!!

    agreed, but not with the sense of the small self, which we create around us, but taking the bigger self or the oneness of entirety in consideration.

    till, there is a sense of an I-ness involved, there would be grasping and rejecting, which will obstruct for experiencing the wonderfulness of life in its entirety. rather, self is part of whole and whole is not complete without self - something like a drop in an ocean - a drop is not ocean, but without drop there is no ocean - so a drop is in a ocean and a ocean is in a drop as the ocean gets manifested from a drop.
  • image
    Vastmindriverflowbanned_crab
  • pegembara said:

    image

    Reading this, I can't help but immediately think of Radiohead:



    Jeffrey
  • footiamfootiam Veteran
    Life is beautiful because suffering can be overcome.
  • misecmisc1misecmisc1 I am a Hindu India Veteran
    life is beautiful - this heading was given to this thread with the view that life is wonderful. life is beautiful because of its wonderfulness. each moment the magic is happening. as zen says, the biggest koan is our life itself.
    Lucy_Begood
  • CittaCitta Veteran
    And the first Noble Truth ?
  • Citta said:

    And the first Noble Truth ?

    The noble truths are just buddhas opinion.. Its what he thought ... Other people may find their own truth and feel different to buddha!
    vinlyn
  • CittaCitta Veteran

    life is beautiful - this heading was given to this thread with the view that life is wonderful. life is beautiful because of its wonderfulness. each moment the magic is happening. as zen says, the biggest koan is our life itself.

    Is your life wonderful and magical misecmisc1 ?
  • misecmisc1misecmisc1 I am a Hindu India Veteran
    edited July 2013
    Citta said:

    life is beautiful - this heading was given to this thread with the view that life is wonderful. life is beautiful because of its wonderfulness. each moment the magic is happening. as zen says, the biggest koan is our life itself.

    Is your life wonderful and magical misecmisc1 ?
    even though my theoretical understanding suggests to me that life is wonderful and magical, but unfortunately due to the defilements of lust, anger, greed, attachment, aversion and ego in my mind, i am unable to realize this wonderfulness and magic of my life at the moment when it happens, but this is due to my complete lack of mindfulness to not able to see things as 'just they are' and rather my grasping and rejecting of phenomena, based on deluded view of 'I' in my mind which leads me to enjoy pleasure and avoid pain. But my theoretical understanding suggests me that life is wonderful, so thought of sharing with all. But since i am a complete ignorant person, so anybody please feel free to neglect whatever i have said in this thread based on my theoretical understanding.
    banned_crab
  • CittaCitta Veteran
    Do you think that projecting wonder and magic onto things will enable us to see things as they are ?
  • robotrobot Veteran
    Seeing things as they are creates a sense of wonder. When I stop trying to explain things and make them fit into a mundane view, such as thinking consciousness is simply a function of the brain, a mechanical type of view of the world, a sense of wonder at the mystery of it all arises naturally. And a feeling of joy and gratitude for the insight that I have found.
    riverflowbanned_crab
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    How do we recognize beauty? That points to the Buddha nature
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    Up and down.
    Middle way.

    You know why we practice when 'life is beautiful'?
    Because change happens. Careful now. :)
  • zenmyste said:

    Citta said:

    And the first Noble Truth ?

    The noble truths are just buddhas opinion.. Its what he thought ... Other people may find their own truth and feel different to buddha!
    My thinking says: First Noble truth states - there is suffering in life. agreed, but i think life has many paradoxes in it:

    Life has both pleasure and pain in it. if there was no pain, then pleasure would lose its meaning and vice versa. pain exists because pleasure exists and vice versa - conventionally both exists and ultimately nothing exists in and of itself.
    1st/2nd NT - clinging to the experience is painful because they are subject to change. Good/bad, pleasure/pain, life/death, health/sickness are part of life. Pleasurable experiences don't last. They are soon followed by their opposites. Freedom lies in accepting what life offers, both the beautiful and the not so beautiful.
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