I think sometimes it is hard to respond to you because of that darn avatar of yours.
I actually take that as a compliment.
Made you think!
How can you take anyone serious on a forum for grown people who still play pretend?
Is this thread still around? How many times do I have to tell you?
Mu!
Ruff!
Bow-wow!
0
Because we play pretend very seriously! :P
True dat!
*Beats CourtFool with a flyswatter*
*Beats CourtFool with a flyswatter*
Oooo! How'd you know I was into that?
This thread makes me happy.
what are you NOT into?
Class based systems. Srsly. How long have we posted back and forth?
*Beats CourtFool with a flyswatter*Oooo! How'd you know I was into that?Hedonism = into anything
or better yet
what are you NOT into?
Wait... "hedonism"... is that a religion?
Fixed for you.
Fixed for you.
That problem with that is that I am not on any medication.
He meant you should be.That problem with that is that I am not on any medication.Fixed for you.
If the doctor wanted me to be on medication he would have perscribed it ny now.
You have to tell him about the worms.If the doctor wanted me to be on medication he would have prescribed it by now.He meant you should be.That problem with that is that I am not on any medication.Fixed for you.
I don't have any.
Merry Birthday Buddha!
Hello again, Kirth. I hope you do not mind, but I am curious to hear your perspective on the following. Specifically the part I quoted.
Tao Te Ching: Qualities of Compassion
Let me give you an example. I love my wife very much. I want to become old with her. That means that when I am lucky, I am going to see her youthful features turn ancient, and she is going to experience me as a tottering old man. Emotions, sex, ideals of physical beauty and health - all these things may not be part of our commitment, or else our relationship is doomed. We are thankful to have these brief privileges while they last. But they will disappear, like everything else. It is the way of the Tao. The funny thing is, though, that all those youthful emotions classified as "romantic" are replaced by something infinitely more beautiful. It is steadfast as the Tao. I would not exchange this for my earlier feelings, as beautiful as they have been.
Of course you would say, "But you are terribly attached to your wife, and you are not talking about detachment here, are you?" You've got me there. But then, this poem does not mean that we should not be attached to each other. Of course we should, but the attachment should be one of detachment from those aspects that pass by. Our attachment should be based on the knowledge that we are all transient and empty. In the end, even our relationships will perish. Having said all this, I know that there is no way past suffering in this life. It is part and parcel of samsara, this cycle of birth, life and death. There is no way of escaping it. One could easily come to the conclusion that one could escape misery only by living in a cold kind of compassion without any form of attachment. Lucky are those people who can. They are true Buddhas. As for me, I prefer to suffer, for a life without the love I have experienced is quite simply intolerable.
Then what can someone like me do? The only way is to reduce suffering by reducing my own ego. The more selfless my love is, the better able I would be to master the inevitable.
Hello again, Kirth. I hope you do not mind, but I am curious to hear your perspective on the following. Specifically the part I quoted.
Tao Te Ching: Qualities of Compassion
Let me give you an example. I love my wife very much. I want to become old with her. That means that when I am lucky, I am going to see her youthful features turn ancient, and she is going to experience me as a tottering old man. Emotions, sex, ideals of physical beauty and health - all these things may not be part of our commitment, or else our relationship is doomed. We are thankful to have these brief privileges while they last. But they will disappear, like everything else. It is the way of the Tao. The funny thing is, though, that all those youthful emotions classified as "romantic" are replaced by something infinitely more beautiful. It is steadfast as the Tao. I would not exchange this for my earlier feelings, as beautiful as they have been.
Of course you would say, "But you are terribly attached to your wife, and you are not talking about detachment here, are you?" You've got me there. But then, this poem does not mean that we should not be attached to each other. Of course we should, but the attachment should be one of detachment from those aspects that pass by. Our attachment should be based on the knowledge that we are all transient and empty. In the end, even our relationships will perish. Having said all this, I know that there is no way past suffering in this life. It is part and parcel of samsara, this cycle of birth, life and death. There is no way of escaping it. One could easily come to the conclusion that one could escape misery only by living in a cold kind of compassion without any form of attachment. Lucky are those people who can. They are true Buddhas. As for me, I prefer to suffer, for a life without the love I have experienced is quite simply intolerable.
Then what can someone like me do? The only way is to reduce suffering by reducing my own ego. The more selfless my love is, the better able I would be to master the inevitable.
I hope you do not mind, but I am curious to hear your perspective on the following.
I feel similarly towards my wife. Growing old with her would be a great privilege and a pleasure. I have to force myself to remember that this isn't some sort of universal right granted to me, however, and that -- though, more than anything, I most fervently hope it does not -- that time might get cut shorter than I'd like, either on my side or hers. I therefore cherish each moment with her all the more.
Is that attachment? Is it unavoidable? Is it simply that you have not become a Buddha yet? If you had become a true Buddha and were completely detached, would your wife feel less loved? Would she even know?
Psst...don't become to attached to non-attachment.
Psst...don't become to attached to non-attachment.
Point.
Is that attachment? Is it unavoidable? Is it simply that you have not become a Buddha yet? If you had become a true Buddha and were completely detached, would your wife feel less loved? Would she even know?
Maybe it's attachment. Certainly I'm no Buddha. I think the REAL attachment, though, would be in the sense that I'm "entitled" to her company for X amount of time.
I like this parable, from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, a lot:
Tanzan and Ekido, two monks, were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was falling.
Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross a large mud puddle stretching across the road.
"Come on, girl," said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.
Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple, then he no longer could restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females", he told Tanzan, "especially not young, lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"
"I left the girl there", said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?"
Oh, I like that a lot. Thank you, Kirth.
I am still carrying around quite a few girls.
There is some parts of Buddhism that is a thing/non-thing of pure beauty.
There is some parts of Buddhism that is a thing/non-thing of pure beauty.
You and your thing/non-thing of pure beauty. It's not beautiful or pure!
It's just is/not.
There is some parts of Buddhism that is a thing/non-thing of pure beauty.You and your thing/non-thing of pure beauty. It's not beautiful or pure!
It's just is/not.
What is that may not be, yet always was?
What is that may not be, yet always was?There is some parts of Buddhism that is a thing/non-thing of pure beauty.You and your thing/non-thing of pure beauty. It's not beautiful or pure!
It's just is/not.
What does the Budda say about licking ones own croch?
What does the Budda say about licking ones own croch?
Ask a poodle, they have more experience in such matters.
S@*@-sticks (corncobs) can talk?!?!?
Wrong!
The Buddha is a corncob.
And s*#@, it sure smells like Zen in this thread.
repeating yourself?
Wrong!
The Buddha is a corncob.
And s*#@, it sure smells like Zen in this thread.
repeating yourself?
Wrong!
The Buddha is a corncob.
And s*#@, it sure smells like Zen in this thread.
repeating yourself?
Wrong!
The Buddha is a corncob.
And s*#@, it sure smells like Zen in this thread.
repeating yourself?
Just one of the many tools a Roshi uses.
Just one of the many tools a Roshi uses.
Just one of the many tools a Roshi uses.
Just one of the many tools a Roshi uses.
Does a dog have a Buddha-nature? When the questioner does not ask the question.
Assuming you were being somewhat serious, I had engaged Kirth in the Civil Religious Discussion thread. So, to be technical, the questioner did ask a question.
I apologize if I completely missed the meaning of your post.
Kirth, your post in another thread made me think of this. Keep in mind, I am taking things to an absurd conclusion.
If Buddhism is all about reducing suffering, could it be justified to take out a totalitarian regime if that regime is seen as causing suffering?
If Buddhism is all about reducing suffering, could it be justified to take out a totalitarian regime if that regime is seen as causing suffering?
I don't know, but at the present time I'd say our military is stretched thin enough, and the men and women in it already suffering so much, and the region so unstable, that to do so right now in Iran would almost certainly cause more suffering than it would prevent.
I don't have a crystal ball, though. If tomorrow we wake up to headlines that Israel, Moscow, Washington DC, and Beijing have all been nuked in the name of Islam and the Supreme Leader, I'd change my views on that.
I think you would be hard pressed to present any cut and dry example today. I was really thinking more hypothetical.
Your answer does raise another point for me. Is there a point where you can say it was the right thing to do, but in light of current circumstances, you should abandon your previous position. When I write it like that, the answer seems obvious, but what I was thinking was the Afghanistan war.
Have we caused more suffering than the Taliban? And, if so, should we give up the war since it is leading to more suffering.
Sorry. I do not mean to put you on the political hot seat. Just trying to understand you you’re your take on Buddhism better.
Have we caused more suffering than the Taliban? And, if so, should we give up the war since it is leading to more suffering.
Sorry. I do not mean to put you on the political hot seat. Just trying to understand your take on Buddhism better.
A lot of this is just my personal thoughts; I can't claim to speak for all Buddhists. Thich Nhat Hanh and I share a religion (even the same sect), and I have tremendous respect for him, but I also disagree with him on some issues. I don't doubt that his view of Buddhism is clearer and better-informed than mine, but then again he's a monk, with lifelong practice and study.
That said, back when the Taliban first flipped us the finger and said they weren't going to hand over bin Ladin, I said something along the lines of, "Then to prevent worse, we are now forced to commit a horrible atrocity on an unprecedented scale. We are forced to wipe out the Taliban and their supporters to the last person, and then close all our foreign bases and refrain from making war against anyone else, ever, unless they do the same thing that Al Quaida did." Shying away from that resort, over the years of the war we've killed far more people than we would have by following a perceived course of genocide at first, with no end in sight. The invasion of Iraq, on top of that, has hurt things far more than it helped, I think -- we traded half a generation of our troops, and the stability of the region, for the life of one dictator.
No easy answers here. I do believe, though, that having made the incredibly foolish decisions we did, we're now stuck in Afghanistan and in Iraq until some measure of peace and stability are restored to them -- or else we'll end up back there very quickly, on an escalated scale.