DenverBachelor Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 I'm not the LS authority on Buddhism and the principles of living the lifestyle, but I'll share what I've come to learn from my own life and how it applies to the Buddhist mindset. One of the most fundamental constants in life is change. Every day, things are constantly changing. There will be things that happen in your life that happen for unknown reasons. When these things happen to us, we have two choices -- to accept, align and adapt or to rebel, refute and resist. The desire to take the second path stems from our desire to keep things orderly and controlled in our own lives. The reason for resisting change is because we believe that our plan is better than that of the universe. Sometimes we are dealt extremely bad events that leave us devastated and scared. When we're faced with something that is a permanent change, we'll try and find some way to change it back -- that's just part of being human. And although we have a lot of power through creativity and design (which I believe comes from a higher power), often we must accept the change and align ourselves to the changes and adapt. If we approach experiences for what they are on a face value and do two things during the experience, when the experience has left us, we'll find that we don't necessarily have to make anything permanent. The first thing is actually realizing you are in the experience itself. Whether good or bad, there is always the other element inside the larger. What I mean is that every good experience has elements of a bad experience and every bad experience has an element of good. When you learn to focus more on the realization that the experience is happening and less on thinking ahead and behind the experience, you put yourself in a position to better appreciate the experience for what it is. Whether you're with a pretty woman for one night or for many years, you really should be placing yourself in the moment no matter what the circumstance. Once you learn to focus on your thoughts, emotions, feelings at the moment, the moment becomes much more alive. We're conditioned in life to constantly plan ahead -- to race from one event to another. We'll go to a job, then while at work think about the party that's going to happen after work. At the party, we'll think about the work we didn't get done at our job and what we're going to do tomorrow. We're constantly shifting ourselves out of the present and into the past and future. We forget to take in the sights, smells, sounds and sensations of where we are at that moment. But a curious thing happens when you resign yourself to change and the realization that nothing lasts forever. Suddenly losing isn't so bad, because we'll gain again. Gaining doesn't become the end all of existence, because we know we could and will eventually lose again. Once you stop fighting the desire to move back and forth between thoughts of the past and future and focus more on the moment, you suddenly have a better appreciation for what it means to be alive. After having accepted that sometimes the universe moves in ways that we least expect, you learn to stop trying to drive destiny and instead just tie a rope to the ship and sit in the wagon for the wild ride ahead. Nothing lasts forever -- no storm, no day or night, no love or hatred, nothing. And once you learn to live in the moment and start to enjoy experiences for what they are, you realize that it's all right to say goodbye to lovers, friends and family when the tide moves you to do so. Because every goodbye brings a hello. Every no brings a yes. It's all right to cry if you're hurt -- but remember you got to experience it and from the experience, you're that much wiser for future experience. Every prior experience is a training ground to make us more aware of ourselves, our needs and our desires, but at the same time, we become wise enough to stop resisting the flow of things and instead embrace the mystery. Once this perception changes, the torture of change becomes the pleasure of diversity.
TaraMaiden Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 I'm not the LS authority on Buddhism and the principles of living the lifestyle, but I'll share what I've come to learn from my own life and how it applies to the Buddhist mindset. You mean how your perception of this Buddhist concept applies to the non-Buddhist mindset, I think.... (. . .) The reason for resisting change is because we believe that our plan is better than that of the universe. Buddhists do not consider the Universe to have any plan, power or potency.... Sometimes we are dealt extremely bad events that leave us devastated and scared. When we're faced with something that is a permanent change, we'll try and find some way to change it back -- that's just part of being human. And although we have a lot of power through creativity and design (which I believe comes from a higher power), Again, this is NOT a Buddhist concept.... Whether good or bad, there is always the other element inside the larger. What I mean is that every good experience has elements of a bad experience and every bad experience has an element of good. This is incorrect. this is acknowledging that the perception is evaluative, when in actual fact, it is usually flawed. Perception is more often than not, deception. It's all relative, and subjective. What you may classify as 'good', I might perceive as 'bad'. In the end, there is no one element inside the other. Because the two are actually one and the same. They merely "are". An experience to be borne and observed, but evaluation creates emotive responses, and therefore keeps us stuck in one mind-frame or another. The trick it to give no prominence or dominant 'power' to either. When you learn to focus more on the realization that the experience is happening and less on thinking ahead and behind the experience, you put yourself in a position to better appreciate the experience for what it is. (. . .) Once you stop fighting the desire to move back and forth between thoughts of the past and future and focus more on the moment, you suddenly have a better appreciation for what it means to be alive. This passage, I can equate with.... After having accepted that sometimes the universe moves in ways that we least expect, you learn to stop trying to drive destiny and instead just tie a rope to the ship and sit in the wagon for the wild ride ahead. (. . .) Once this perception changes, the torture of change becomes the pleasure of diversity. And this too, is an ok concept. You're doing quite well.....
Author DenverBachelor Posted July 14, 2010 Author Posted July 14, 2010 I just KNEW you'd chime in. However, I'll talk to you about the universe and my choice of "plan." Obviously a "plan" suggests a "planner," but more exactly what I am getting at is the universal "truth" whether it be moved by some type of larger consciousness or by the effects of random events that denote terms such as chaos and/or order. We could argue that even if humans are not truly conscious on a deeper level, we still make plans. Being a product of the universe, we could speculate that whatever chain of events caused us to exist is also responsible for our ability to view the universe as a whole. If you have ever seen the big "U" with the eye on one end looking back at the other, you would understand more where I am coming from in the respect that the universe created consciousness to bring itself into existence. In a very weird way, the universe would not exist unless it was observed, so it created the observer to then create the observed. With respect to God and Buddhism, one of the key elements was that Buddhism was always a spiritual philosophy and not a religion. Early Buddhism also stressed that no one view of the universe is a correct one, but early Buddhism never refuted the existence of a higher consciousness or order -- just that there were no points within the philosophy that said, "there is a God." One of the Mahayana Sutras (Lankavatara Sutra) does stress that the concept of an "almighty creator" is detrimental to the path to spiritual perfection and enlightenment, but the concept of what "God" is in this respect is a strict one. When one says, "God," a lot of differing opinions will come up in people's minds. My concept of God has always been the life force that is present throughout the universe (the anima which gives life to the inanimate). If you look at all things from an ontological perspective, one could say that the universe and everything contained within in is God. Another view is that the life-force "God" is within all things sentient and conscious and that God is not a supreme creator but that God itself is evolving along with everything else in the universe. Buddha himself never denied the existence of a God. Buddhism is more agnostic than atheistic in that respect.
TaraMaiden Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 The Buddha maintained that such speculation was futile, but he neither denied nor confirmed the existence of a god. Buddhism is not atheistic, or even agnostic. It is non-theistic. Atheism denies the existence of God. Agnosticism speculates. Non-theism really sees the question as irrelevant. While I do not follow a Mahayana tradition, I consider this sutra to be ok. And I don't wish to de-rail the thread from it's original objective or purpose - that of acceptance and non-clinging - , so I'll merely provide a link.
mickleb Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 I thought one of the most central principles to Buddhism was egolessness. The thread title suggests there may be some work to do..? x
Recommended Posts