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We lack courage

betaboybetaboy Veteran
in Buddhism Basics
We fail as Buddhists because we lack courage - the courage to sit through an entire session, facing our emptiness without seeking escapes. We don't do that. We are too scared to face our emptiness, which is why our 'meditations' are full of thoughts running here and there.

The answer therefore is not more practice, but more courage.
ChazpersonDennis1

Comments

  • MaryAnneMaryAnne Veteran
    It's a shame you have that problem. :(
    Invincible_summerEvenThirdanataman
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    Yes, I would say speak for yourself.
  • betaboybetaboy Veteran
    I think it's a common problem.
  • ChazChaz The Remarkable Chaz Anywhere, Everywhere & Nowhere Veteran
    betaboy said:

    I think it's a common problem.

    Your should read Chogyam Trungpa's "Shambhala: The Sacred Path Of the Warrior".

    You may find it interesting.
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    Failure is your ego practicing self-deprecation. Don't get caught up in it.

    Have you seen the film: National Treasure - where every clue leads to another clue, and the father gets really frustrated at his son for continuing the family's tradition of looking for lost treasure. What makes the film interesting is that it is about a path of adventure…

    When there is nothing to strive for - lets tell each others stories, to relieve the boredom, or go out there and do something.
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    I appreciate the words betaboy. My muck is the same as your muck, the only difference is the relative level to which we are mired in it. If you don't quit, I won't.
    anatamanJeffreyInvincible_summerriverflow
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    There is a Zen story I remember ineptly but ...

    The old Zen master was dying. One of his students came to him solicitously and asked, "Do you have any last words for us?" The Zen master replied, "Yes. I am afraid of dying." The student was aghast. Here was a man who had spent a lifetime investigating the matter of birth and death ... a fearless and determined man. "But master," the student sputtered, "how can this be so?!" The old man looked at his student sadly. "You don't understand," he said as if the fault were his own, "I am afraid of dying really. I am afraid of dying really!"
    Jeffreyriverflow
  • jaejae Veteran
    @genkaku ..can you explain what he meant please I dont understand?
    anataman
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    @jae -- Perhaps he had in mind that when anyone is truly afraid, there is no fear.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I think the student thought he was saying a koan. When really the koan was that a zen master REALLY experiences (transitory) fear and fear could be smiled at rather than hidden.
  • jaejae Veteran
    @genkaku @Jeffrey..... he felt it, contemplated it then accepted it, making it easier to live with?.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    @jae, pema chodron says that after even a lifetime of Buddhist study you might hate your nurse in your old folks home or hospice. So you can be disillusioned on Buddhism in addition to dying. You want to practice to have a deep heart wish. And from there whatever happens to you you can just rest in whatever the experience is. So a deeper truth than what you could be thinking of your nurse. A lot of elderly patients are in bad understaffed places. So you really have to plan ahead. Practice now and then save a later pain. Good sense? Yes and no, because making the best of 'now' is also part of the practice. We need to both think of the future (and dukkha when not relying on the turth) and live in the present. You can also rest in the human love whatever you have experienced. Rest in love as your final death practice. We have to think of these things. It's not just about today's blissful shamata (calm). We can only help our friends if we can help ourselves. There is one dance we do alone (death).
  • HamsakaHamsaka goosewhisperer Polishing the 'just so' Veteran
    It is a matter of courage, especially when the mental sewage is intent upon arising, kind of like Hermione Granger jumping up and down with her hand raised the MOMENT you focus on your breath.

    Gassho :)
  • anandoanando Explorer
    Hi, i know about your misery. But there is a solution. I hope you know about the 8 Jhanas. They are describing the consciousness that is the product of meditating the
    8fold path. Emptiness is only the 6th step of the eight one.
    I would like to recommend you reading the Dighanikayo, the Loner Collection od the
    Pali-Canon. Be carefull with the translation. Look for the qualifications of the translator.
    Compare several translations in Englisch.

    anando
  • Dennis1Dennis1 Veteran
    Well said Betaboy: And what is this cup of blood we must have the courage to face?
    The emptiness of our own inherent existence.
  • Dennis1Dennis1 Veteran
    It seems that sometimes we say what courage? Just keep practicing. Well, the courage is required to cease practicing for one's self. I mean a lot of people practice with the aspiration to reincarnate in a better situation. That is surely not the perfection of wisdom. Perhaps the master was afraid of really dying-and being no more.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    betaboy said:

    I think it's a common problem.

    You think wrong.
    It's not courage, it's patience.

    anatamanInvincible_summer
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    ^^^^ Patience takes courage. :p
    Invincible_summer
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    anando said:

    Hi, i know about your misery. But there is a solution. I hope you know about the 8 Jhanas. They are describing the consciousness that is the product of meditating the
    8fold path. Emptiness is only the 6th step of the eight one.
    I would like to recommend you reading the Dighanikayo, the Loner Collection od the
    Pali-Canon. Be carefull with the translation. Look for the qualifications of the translator.
    Compare several translations in Englisch.

    anando

    Again. The 6th jhana has nothing to do with emptiness. All phenomena are empty including all 8 jhanas,
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