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The Body of Buddha
lobster
Crusty Veteran
Do nothing with the body but relax.
Let the mind rest in its natural, unformed state.
Become like a hollow bamboo.
Tilopa’s “Song of Mahamudra”
https://www.lionsroar.com/the-balanced-body-and-the-middle-way/
As we know some Buddha bodies are yogi orientated with
with lotus relaxation as their main stance/asana/standing
On my latest heretical retreat I have focussed very much on my yoga mind/body/relaxation.
Fascinating!
The geek/Greek/Buddhist culture influenced the early Ghandaran philosophy of 'a healthy mind
in a healthy buddy/body' ...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandharan_Buddhism
... they befriended their mind/body interface?
Are we too much in an ascetic denial/control of the body? Or in an awareness posture? Hollow?
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Currently, being menopausal, my dear old gradually degenerating body seems to have a mind of its own. No matter how much or how little I put into it, or what form it takes, it won't play ball. They doctor tells me I should relax and let it be for now. Wait and let this transformative phase, pass. Only then apparently, should I attempt to regain control. As things are, it knows best. Allegedly. Does it know my once slinky jeans are consigned to the back of the wardrobe and have been replaced by not-so-fetching harem pantaloons...? Ah well... relax, let be, let go. Abide in tranquility and accept. Breathe, smile, it is as it is. Pass the biscuits....
I think so... we try to find so much in the way of health, fitness, good diet, the body has to this or that, that there is hardly time for true relaxation and being at ease. We are continually making many demands on the body, even in meditation, that it’s hardly ever relaxed and ease full.
Once I did a weekend of deep meditation relaxations, following all the places in my house where I was most comfortable with my body. Everywhere from the toilet to the bath to the couch to the bed, being as mindful as possible. I found that the places where my body was at ease where places of what I experience as happiness, it’s a very animalistic feeling.
Once during a meditation a voice said to me “pooping and pissing is his pleasure”, in a singsong, poetic kind of way. I took it to mean that I was still very connected to the body, and that may be so but the body is both a home and something to ultimately detach from. We need to treat the body with respect and love while we are with it... find a middle way.
Maybe it was a transmission from Venerable Śāntideva. At Nālandā, he was apparently famous for three realizations: mastication, hibernation, and defecation.
@Vimalajāti , Dormition doesn't mean what you think it means. The root is archaic and the current definition is not one of sleep...
It is the passing of the Holy Virgin Mary (in the Orthodox Church) from earthly life.
And also the name of the feast held on 15 August in honour of the Dormition, corresponding to the Assumption in the Western Church.
Perhaps a better more suitable word would be 'slumber'.
The wikipedia article is even less generous in its wording: "eating, sleeping, shitting."
I liked the threefold -ing in the colloquial English and wanted a less blue collar version, so I went for -ation endings. I took a bit of a leap and hoped dormition would still have it's surface-level meaning in English. Alas!
Mastication is also not quite eating, but I figured it was close enough!
Thank goodness celibacy is a given, otherwise we would be tossing around another 'ation' word - ! (Pun intended!)
Which brings to mind the wise words of a certain Empress Nympho, played by the brilliant Madeleine Kahn:
We've found the level...!
The body is also an expression of our will to dominate... in a way we are given it to control as we will by circumstance, conditions causing our arising, but having it causes all kinds of habits to arise in terms of possessing things. It is the first thing of which you say, it is mine.
I really enjoy eucharist jammy dodgers ... but do not buy them, otherwise the whole packet mysteriously transforms to ... gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā
https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/289/catholics-gone-buddhist