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My notion of truth

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 56 total)
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  • #391160
    Tommy
    Participant

    Since the Name of the forum is Tiny Buddha, I will mention Buddha’s three universal truths. Dukkha, Anicca, Anatta. Suffering, Impermanence and no self. The way to inner truth is to drop the self that thinks of all these things and to perceive the truth of one’s nature. When the mind is full of thoughts and creates a murkiness like mud disturbed in water, sitting calmly, the mud settles and the water becomes clear. Sorry for the interruption.

    #391161
    samy
    Participant

    Thanks for mentioning the truths, Tommy.

    I am writing what I understand currently as I have been meaning to explore Buddhism.

    Dukkha is suffering, sadness, problems.

    Anicca is Anityam – not daily, so in this case, not to be expected daily – it is not forever. So it’s not going to be around forever – hence, impermanence.

    Annata is anatman in sanskrit, which would mean without an atma- so this would mean “not a soul” or “does not have a soul”?  You are not a soul? This I am not sure how to interpret. Searched the internet but it is not clear yet.

    #391165
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Creation Impeccability:

    This is my understanding of all that you shared in the forums since yesterday: you shared that, deliberately and intentionally, you “own next to nothing“, “live on the bare minimum… satisfied with… the most necessary, bread and water and a roof over my head, my drum set and my PC… my sick life partner whom I care for“.

    Since childhood you “never participated in all these normal world seductions and normal world destruction… Consciously and deliberately never take part in malevolence. I am innocent. Always in the service of the maintenance of the impeccability of creation“.

    You are never seduced by and never in the service of malice. Instead, you love and protect the innocent nature of creation. What is malicious in this world? Answer: “cars… car driving and refueling at the patrol station and causing normal oil drill and causing microplastic due to abrasion of car tires… weapons… Religion… Greed. Fear. Anger. Mind control“. Malice is human actions that pollute the world and destroy life, actions that are motivated by the desire for financial and material comforts and profits, malice is words and actions that spread baseless fear and unnecessary aggression, so to control people’s perceptions and financial choices.

    Other people do not determine your perception; you determine your perception; you determine what is true: “Truth determines life… and (truth) starts from self… All is in the self. Self is not found outside“.

    When a person’s self is united (“each aspect is in agreement with each other“), the united person does not need other people’s perceptions.

    What is the perception of the united self? Answer: “Gentleness. Forgiveness. Love. Integrity. Consciousness. Learning. Meditation in silence. Incorruptibility. The dignity of life“.

    You then elaborated on the concept of the united self: the inner child needs to be healed and transformed, “over and over again, step by step until the self and the inner child build up a relationship of trust and integrity, followed by respect for one another, followed by rules and agreements for one another and responsibility for one another“.

    The healed and transformed inner child then relaxes into self, as well as the feminine and masculine aspects of the self, all aspects united via “relationship and respect and rules and agreements and responsibility for one another“. You called these and perhaps other aspects of self, “the inner family“. Having this inner family, “no thought of loneliness can arise“, and the “spreading the disease of fear which… weakens the immune system” will no longer be possible.

    What is the goal then…?…  To maintain the impeccability of creation in truth and unity IN the self“.

    anita

    #391184
    Tommy
    Participant

    Dukkha is suffering, sadness, problems.

    Dukkha is suffering. It is created thru the attachments and clinging of desires. However, I do not believe it to be sadness or problems. To be sad of feel sadness is human. To have problems is human. If you feel love or pain then that is human.

    Anicca is Anityam – it is not forever. So it’s not going to be around forever – hence, impermanence.

    Yes, change. Things come together to form something new. Later, it will fall apart and become something else.

    Annata is anatman in sanskrit, which would mean without an atma- so this would mean “not a soul” or “does not have a soul”?  You are not a soul? This I am not sure how to interpret. Searched the internet but it is not clear yet.

    This was taught to me as part of impermanence and suffering. People are an aggregate of things. All together, they create this person, sentient being. The senses and thoughts, all are in a feedback loop of some kind. Thus creating a person who we think we are. That created person has no soul as when the body dies then it too will die. This person we think we are is not independent of the body. When this person thinks it is real and permanent, it will cling to desires and wants as if those were also real. And change will bring the suffering. Cause, as one achieves one’s desires, change will take it away. Clinging to desires, causes the suffering. When one sits and sees the truth of one’s nature, one knows one is not this or that but the whole. Well, that was what I had learned about Buddhism. I could be wrong about the whole thing.

    #391185
    samy
    Participant

    Hi Tommy

    I would like to discover further if you don’t mind.

    To be sad of feel sadness is human. To have problems is human. If you feel love or pain then that is human. – I was using the literal meaning to understand. But, I need help with this. I understand loving without attachment. But, is there sadness without attachment? Isn’t wishing something was one way and not another the root of sadness. Whether it is health, or how the world is, or how your situation is – if you wish it was different, it would cause sadness. But isn’t wishing also desiring? I understand it is human. And human existence is one of experiencing dukkham. This is a truth.

    I understand the definition of annica. This is a truth as well, we see it in our experience.

    Annata you’ve helped give me some clarity on this. Please correct me if I have understood it wrong. Would it mean that we should not assign meaning to who we think we are in this body. Taking birth in this body, in this time, in these circumstances gives us a particular “identity” – of being an individual – defined by our experiences, desires and attachments. But that is not who we are? When the body dies, that identity dies. This identity is tied to the body. It cannot exist without a body. There is no atma, our nature is not one of having atmas, individual “energies” without bodies – an-atman. We are not a collection of atmas. Instead, there is one of some kind and we are all that? And there is no “we”.

     

    #391193
    Tommy
    Participant

    Hello Samy,

    I do not know if I can give you the answers you are looking for. “Isn’t wishing something was one way and not another the root of sadness.” It is not the wishing for something to be one way and not another way. It is more the clinging or attachment to wishing for something to be one way and not the other. My mother passed away recently. And, I was filled with sadness. This is normal. I have feelings and so I felt sadness. The suffering comes if I dwell in the sadness or cling to the hope she would not be dead. If one has a toothache then that is pain. Suffering is having a mindset of only wanting the pain to go away or stop. Of course, we wish for the pain to stop. To live only in that moment, that is suffering.

    There is a story of a woman who came to the monk saying her baby had died and wanted the monk to help her. She wanted her baby alive. There was no consoling her. The monk said he could help. But, she would have to go get three grains of rice from three houses that had no deaths. After she had gone thru every house in town, she went back to the monk. She learned that every house has had a death. She wept and buried her baby. Later, she became a follower of this monk. His name was Dogen.

    From my perspective, I live in my thoughts. They give me meaning to who I am. Man, husband, father, worker. They give me interests and desires. I sense and feel and think. All linked to this body. When the body dies, there will be no thoughts, no hunger, no pain, no feelings. No me as I think of myself. Like to think of it as a child who splashes water, each drop has its own trajectory and path. Some blend with others and some pass thru. Each has it own time in space. But, it all returns to where it came. To realize one’s true nature is to break the bonds of the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Sorry, rambling.

    #391195
    samy
    Participant

    Hi Tommy

    I am very sorry for your loss.

    Dukkha is very clear for me now.

    The story about the mother and baby makes me sad. Why do we have to be born at all when we know it’s going to be suffering Who is the metaphorical baby that has sent us splashing like this, and why? Why do we need to exist like this? We can learn to avoid suffering, but why is it there in the first place? Why do we exist to experience joy at all? Why are we required to experience anything at all, in this form. Why does this form exist? Why did we get these bodies and why are we creating all these things – good and bad. These were just my thoughts.

     

    #391211
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi Sammy

    How to reconcile existence (life) with the fact that to experience existence (life) is to experience suffering?

    Life a continues cycle of birth and death. Spring dies to Summer which dies to Fall which dies to Winter with gives birth to Spring which gives birth to Summer which gives birth to Fall which gives birth to Winter….

    Life feeds off of Life = inevitable suffering.

    The duality (ego) consciousness experiences life as suffering and joy. We tend to pay more attention to pain, fear and measure accordingly. (So Life is suffering) Note how in a day of 10 memorable moments were one of them is negative how most people when asked about their day will think only of the negative one. In general duality consciousness is not very skilled at measuring = more suffering)

    All things in thier time and a time for all things.

    For a Non-dual consciousness Birth and death are not opposites as they cannot be separated, they occur together in every moment no mater how big or small.  Every creation is also a destruction, every destruction also a creation. To a unitive mind they are one ‘thing’.

    Joseph Campbell suggested each of our stories is a story of the hero’s journey. THE Question that is behind each quest being ‘How to Respond to the Realty that Life devours life for Life. How to respond to ‘Life As It Is’ is wonder and horror?

    Every Wisdom tradition attempts to help us answer that question for ourselves. (Not just answer but to be that answer) Oddly each wisdom tradition answer can be interpreted as both a Yes OR No by those engaged in the teaching. For Example many might say that Buddhist answer the question with a NO get me off this cycle of life that is suffering. Yet the teachings of the Buddha Gautama points to a answer of YES now go and engage ‘Life As It Is’ . (the paradox being that this YES to ‘Life As It Is’ , fully integrated in ones being, ends the cycle.) Through the practice of Detachment (not indifference) one can be Still while fully engaged. You have experiences and emotions verses you are your experiences and your emotions…

    Likewise I think Christianity. The dogmas and theology tend to point to a answer of No we can fix Life if we follow the rules while Jesus teaching point to a answer with a YES, follow me engage with LIFE AS IT IS – Birth Death Reresection the reality of every breathe we take (as well as all phycological growth)

    Perhaps a answer of YES requires a higher level of non-duality consciousness… if higher and lower were opposites and meant something 🙂 I would also note that every wisdom teaching  I have come across that express the concept of levels of consciousness the ‘highest level’ is always one involving non-duality. (In Jungian path to Individuation coming to terms with the problem of opposites) 

    And so we work for that which no work is required. (How’s that for a paradox) 🙂

    #391213
    Tommy
    Participant

    Buddha never spoke of the beginning or why things are the way they are. Just that as sentient beings, we have the chance to escape suffering. Guess suffering is what gives us the push or motivation to go past what we believe ourselves to be? Maybe Buddha’s four noble truths would better explain?

    Metaphors are only as good as the boundary that define it. Go outside of the lines and things fall apart. Who is the child who splashes the water? Is it not enough to be given the chance to live. Experience joy, love? A chance to escape suffering and the cycle of life, death and rebirth? Personally, I do not know. But, this is the journey I find myself on.

    There is nothing to be sorry for. Life happens. And so we have the opportunity to grow and move forward. Or one can choose to dwell and suffer.

    #391218
    samy
    Participant

    Hi Tommy

    I will look into this Buddha’s four noble truths 

    Is it not enough to be given the chance to live. Experience joy, love? A chance to escape suffering and the cycle of life, death and rebirth?  I suppose I hadn’t yet learnt to look at this as a chance. You’ve taught me that, thank you.

    #391220
    Tommy
    Participant

    There is an old story of a farmer. One day his horse ran out of the barn and disappeared into the forest. His neighbors said it was bad luck that his horse ran away. He said maybe so, maybe not. After a few days, the horse came back and following it was three other horses. Looking like three mares had come home with the horse. The neighbors said what good fortune. The farmer replied maybe so, maybe not. One day the farmer’s son was riding the horse and the horse bucked and reared up. His son fell off the horse and he broken his leg. The neighbors said such bad luck. The farmer said maybe so, maybe not. Soon soldier came by to recruit any healthy person for the army to fight in a war. They saw the farmer’s son and left him. The neighbors said such good luck. The farmer replied maybe so, maybe not. This story is one I learned of early in my journey. It’s meaning to me has changed over the years. Still, I like it.

    #391221
    samy
    Participant

    Hi Peter

    The duality (ego) consciousness experiences life as suffering and joy. We tend to pay more attention to pain, fear and measure accordingly. I think the ego is there to protect us from other “egos”?. So pain is more intense than joy. It is more common to experience pain than joy because of that?

    Life feeds off of Life = inevitable suffering. – I did not understand this.

    I don’t understand what you mean by duality. Could it be similar to dvaitam – advaitam? You believe you and “god” or a higher power are the same vs you believe you can elevate yourself to “god”.?

    I will go over your post again to respond to other parts. I am confused for now 🙂

     

    #391222
    samy
    Participant

    Hi Tommy,

    The story you wrote is one I read on quora just this morning, a couple of hours ago, when looking into how to deal with failures.

    It concluded that you don’t know if a moment is really a failure.

    It’s so interesting that I saw it again 🙂

    What I take from it is life is a series of events – and you can choose how to look at each event, but since it already happened, you accept it and move on because you don’t know what the next moment holds. I suppose this would apply to failure/ sad events and success/joyous events.

    #391226
    Tommy
    Participant

    The meaning of the story for me (now) is one where one’s thoughts about a situation make it so. Broken leg can be a blessing. So, I choose to look at life as not about detachment to release suffering. But, to live life to the fullest as a way to be here, now. Not to dwell in failures or sadness. Meditation or study of Buddhism may not extends one’s life. But, it can help one to enjoy every moment of it. Being mindful all the time doesn’t create a better life. Rather, it lets us live the life that we have.

    I am a simple person. So when I learn new stuff, I like to break it down to something easy to remember and can be useful. Like the idea of Karma, I made it simple for me to understand. What one plants, one shall reap. If I plant an apple seed then an apple tree will grow. If I am good then good will come from me. Surround yourself with good people and you will be good people. I do not know about this life or the next. Or, what affect my actions now will have on the future. Sorry for rambling again.

    #391231
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi Samy

    No worries Samy, confusion is what I do 🙂

    I agree the ego, sense of self has a important role to play in our experiences. That said it helpful to remember that you are not your ego.

    Duality – problem of opposites.  Ego consciousness tends to arise through the tension of opposites.  If we only experience warm we could never become conscious of cold or this thing called temperature. Ego consciousness tends to experience the world as either this or that, black or white, either or = duality.  Helpful for survival but it also separates us from each other.

    We have become conscious of temperature yet how is it that the same temperature can be experience one moment and cold the next.  Something appears to amiss with ego consciousness breaking down experience as being ‘either or’ – duality. A ego may experience this uncertainty as suffering.

    Unitive conscious is able to experience the world without dividing it up into opposites.

    With regards to the story; A broken leg could be seen as having been a bad thing OR a good thing depending on perspective (duality) . A Unitive awareness might experience the broken leg as it IS and not a Good or Bad Either Or…

    Enough of that confusion..

    I like the meaning you found in the story.

     

     

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