Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
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.

Dukkha Moments...How do you handle them ?

ShoshinShoshin No one in particularNowhere Special Veteran

Dukkha can be subtle or gross...and often makes its presence felt as one goes about one's day ...The subtle can develop into gross if one is not mindful of one's thoughts and feelings towards situations as they arise...More often than not (thanks to our conditioning) we are unaware of its seductive subtle nature and can get sucked into the experience generating more negative thought patterns of unsatisfactoriness...making a mountain out of a mole hill of the situation...

What have you found to be the best approach for you when dealing with Dukkha moments ?

Comments

  • 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

    Good times? This too shall pass.
    Bad times? This too shall pass.

    Sorted.

    ShoshinBunkslobsterperson
  • FosdickFosdick in its eye are mirrored far off mountains Alaska, USA Veteran

    As implied, the most important thing is to recognize them for what they are, and to do so as they occur - not later on. Next order of business is also to see them for what they are - empty.

    For the little stuff, this can become virtually a reflexive response. Other stuff may require some sitting time, maybe a lot of sitting time, maybe more sitting time than you can muster - in which case, I guess I'd go with @Federica 's response.

    Shoshin
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    I generally keep to seeing each piece of dukkha as a potential teacher... all difficult situations contain in them the seeds of what makes them difficult, which usually points us to a place in our mind where we are still clinging to something. So that’s often where I start, with the question “in this situation, what am I clinging to”?

    Shoshinperson
  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    Dukkha Moments...How do you handle them?

    I don't ... or not very well.
    Rather I generate as much anti-dukkha as possible.
    The silent sitting that @Fosdick mentions, the acceptance of passage that @federica mentions
    and more ...
    Physically I do yoga and qi-ong and walking wherever possible.
    I simplify and improve my diet, I am not concerned with status, acquisition and material bling.

    “A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence?” ― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

    😌

    Shoshin
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    Found this yesterday

    It’s very important to understand what creates samsara, also called the realm of confusion. Samsara does not arise from external circumstances. It’s not tied to any particular object in the world around us. What creates samsara is how the mind habitually clings to its misperceptions of reality.
    ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

    lobsterShoshinperson
  • 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

    That's a good point, @Jeffrey , good find....

  • NamadaNamada Veteran
    edited July 2019

    Samsara does arise from external circumstances aswell, not only from the mental side.
    There are quite a few examples of this. Let say we put someone in a concentration camp for 3 years. This is to much for a human to handle, as we know many of the prisoners ran toward the eletric fence, just to make an end too it. Human capacity has its limitations.

  • 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

    @Namada said:
    Samsara does arise from external circumstances aswell, not only from the mental side.
    There are quite a few examples of this. Let say we put someone in a concentration camp for 3 years. This is to much for a human to handle, as we know many of the prisoners ran toward the eletric fence, just to make an end too it. Human capacity has its limitations.

    I think if you read Viktor Frankl's account of his time in concentration camp, you will find that the suffering a person faces is absolutely, definitely a product of the Mind's internal attitude to whatever is happening. It's not what happens to you, it's how you deal with it.
    It is most definitely ENTIRELY from the mental side.

    Shoshin
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    Yeah I think it's very hard to find much happiness in a concentration camp. I'm not sure exactly how to think that through and its relation to Samsara coming from our mind.

    But say you park your car at the grocery and when you came back someone has "keyed" your car and scratched it all up. And you didn't park it wrong rather someone was simply unkind and scratched your car. The reaction most people have is something like well screw my life and screw this world. Or something. It's a far cry from a concentration camp; just a cosmetic and possibly rust producing event to a car and thus is nothing similar to a concentration camp.

    But the question is what a Buddhist might think of getting their car "keyed". Is it "samsara" that bad random shit happens? If a bird poops on your head is that "samsara"? And does the samsara come from negative events randomly happening? Or does it come from our feelings of having something we worked hard for and is hard to obtain being purposely damaged for no reason? If your car is "keyed" what is the proper way to think of it? Most people won't be put in a concentration camp but they will have challenging unpleasant things like getting their car "keyed". And we can't prevent random stuff at least not entirely so the only place to work on our feelings that upset us is by working with our minds and feelings. And our human life to work on this stuff is allegedly much more precious and hard to come by than any possessions like a car.

    lobsterShoshinperson
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Happiness is Dukkha ;)

    A case of Samsara Karma Dukkha ...all rolled into one....

  • 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

    Sa-ka-du-du-du push pineapple, shake-y tree...!

  • VimalajātiVimalajāti Whitby, Ontario Veteran
    edited July 2019

    @Shoshin said:
    What have you found to be the best approach for you when dealing with Dukkha moments ?

    Definitely becoming very aggressive towards everyone around me and taking out that rage on inanimate objects. The more you practice becoming very aggressive towards everyone around yourself and taking out that rage on inanimate objects, the quicker the rage will come to you, for sure, and it will become easier for you to become angry over time.

    Oh, wait...

    ShoshinfedericalobsterBunks
  • @federica yepp there are many true heroes from the war, with a heart of compassion and a bright mind.

    Desmond Doss from WW2 a true hero, watch it, 30 minutes its well worth the time :)

  • seeker242seeker242 Zen Florida, USA Veteran

    By making preparations for them before they even happen, via daily meditation practices.

    lobsterShoshin
Sign In or Register to comment.