I have great anxiety and morbid dread today.Have been texting my ex girlf about Buddhism a couple of times but she doesn't want to meet.Haven't seen her for getting on for three years.I probably should have married her,but I blew it. Interesting reading the previous posts.That is the mudra I usually make.I think it comes naturally to us.Jesus is also depicted making mudras,or am I mistken?
My girlfriend and I are going to the group sitting tonite at the Buddhist center in Cambridge. This will be our second time going together in the four months we've known each other. There will be a 45-minute sitting followed by a dharma talk. She used to be a fundamentalist Christian, but now she wants to be a Buddhist. I bought her Thich Nhat Hanh's book "Living Buddha, Living Christ", which she thinks is fascinating.
That sounds fantastic Sunfighter.I intend to go the Buddhist center in east London next week There is speculation that Jesus went to India in his wilderness years. I can't believe it's not Buddha.
So I've noticed no one's been here for a couple of days...Have I scared you away? Well it was not my intention to create a "holier than thou" censorious thread where real feelings are hidden.Are we to expect that Buddhists have no sense of humour or levity? This is just simple chat space where anyone who is even vaguely on the Buddhist path can drop on and express themselves,warts and all.
That is not what I meant to suggest. Impressionism as you know is a nineteenth century art movement. Perception is not knowledge but can lead to it. Confusion of itself is an effort at deriving a level of certainty. When faced with uncertainty I simply remind myself I don't know and leave it to question openly and not try to make things fit in a preconceived model. Invariably the answer to the question will come in some form we can recognize providing we haven't excluded any. The most practical truth I can offer is having and being are the same and like it giving and receiving are the same.
You occasionally check you mean. You notice many things in the course of a day. i am constantly engaged in our community and I've gotten a message in private containing a question of things discussed here that I am going to bring here and answer in a bit.
Not meant to be metaphysical. We deal with practical nature. It is taxonomy not a hierarchical construction. It is the hierarchical construction that leads to annoyance in Meagain's story.
Many people think of meditation as a place to withdraw to for strength and restoration and this can create a pleasant state of mind. States of mind are qualities of attention. To be consistently in a pleasant state of mind exemplifies right action. A mind without anxiety is kind. So it is with mindfulness. Unpleasant states of mind are caused by varying degrees of self denial. Occasional meditation is less than consistent effort toward your desired aim but you have to start somewhere and the sum of the lesson of meditation is to inform you can affect the quality of your attention. Learning this lesson is the beginning, living it is the way forward. If you can do it for one minute you can do it for two etc.
Yeah, it was my metaphor based on the principle of us not actually knowing, so solid definitions are useless.. a moment of "devotion" reveals a more accurate truth than attempting to define it. Good impressionism defines itself, the process is more an act of faith that the end product is going to come out well, rather than defining the end product from the start. I'll come back with the next bit after some food.
And truly the essence of All is being gifted directly by the Creation. He is merciful to kind of like give one a break to oneness, devotee is devoted to.
Annoyance is caused by varying degrees of self denial. Why would you want to restrain yourself from swatting at flies. Chances are given their own capacity to create temporary conditions to the extent they are able, you won't hit them.
The annoyance comes from the fourth monk's recognition that the others are merely voicing their understanding based on concepts, not an understanding of reality. Their understanding is hierarchical in that their understanding does progress upward in a hierarchical manner. The third monk is "more" correct than the first. But they all are wide of the mark. IMHO
As far as deferring to humble opinion it is a given that we all apprehend things via our own corridor of refraction, so I hope everyone can excuse me for a lack of humble supplications. It occurs to me that humility and political correctness are the same vanity. The monk being more correct is a hiearchical assumption and why he experiences annoyance. Being living creatures we grow in stature not on a vertical axis but a concentric one. The idea that you possess greater understanding than some one else is a degree of self denial. We share our thoughts.
