Amazing, how people forget their own teachings.
Or, do you have some hypocrysy in you.??
1. What are the Four Noble Truths?
Arising from under a tree near Uruvela, the young Buddha
probably looked around and asked himself, "What now?"
Well, whatever answer he found for himself inwardly,
history tells us that his first act was to find his way
back to the Deer Park at Sarnath, near Benares. There,
he gathered his five former disciples and whoever else
would listen and gave his first sermon as an Enlightened
One.
The Benares sermon presented for the first time the Four
Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, which would form
the central core of the Buddha's teaching for the next
forty-five years:
1. Life sucks.
2, It sucks because it sticks to you.
3. Stickiness can be washed away.
4. Here's how:
It's All In How You Look At It
Aim Your Beak To The Skies
Talk The Talk
Walk The Walk
Get The Job
Do The Job
Stay Frosty
Focus
To be honest, these are probably not the Buddha's exact
words.
The first Noble Truth states that life is pain. On the
surface, you could see this as a reminder that the joys
of this world, no matter how fulfilling, are transitory.
At best, we will know love, laughter, and the joy of
giving before our bodies fall prey to sickness, decay,
and death. At worst we will become intimate with
suffering in many forms.
But I see the first Noble Truth as more than a pragmatic
reminder that Death Awaits. I think the Buddha is saying
that life is pain not because it's over so soon, but
because it isn't over when it's over. There is another
factor in the equation, one that binds the dedicated
monk to the wheel of birth and death as surely as it
does the profligate or thief.
That factor is desire. The Buddha's second Noble Truth
pinpoints desire (and its counterpart, aversion) as the
real cause of pain. Desire causes pain not because it's
bad, but because it's sticky. You desire an ice cream
cone...you get it...it tastes good...you're fulfilled...
you want another one...this time you don't get it...
you're unhappy...you desire an ice cream cone. No
matter whether you snag the double-scoop Cherry Garcia
cone with the chocolate sprinkles or not, the outcome
is still the same. Attainment of the desire simply
plants the seed for another desire.
*This* is why life is pain. You spend your whole life
trying to get this desire-monkey off your back,
unsuccessfully, and when you die, those very desires
draw you inexorably back to the same plane, where you
spend *that* life trying to get the desire-monkey off
your back. Ad infinitum.
Or almost. Buddha's third Noble Truth states that there
is a way beyond desire. Or more accurately, there is
a way beyond the "stickiness" of desire. The problem
is not in the action (the desire itself) or in the
outcome of the action (attainment or non-attainment
of the goal) but in the actor's *attachment* to the
outcome.
The Buddha's way lies not in inaction, but in non-
attachment to the fruits of action. This is important
because, although the Buddha was originally speaking
to monks, his message that there's a way beyond
desire -- and therefore a way beyond pain -- is
equally meaningful to those of us who live out here
in the world.
So how do you act without attachment? The fourth Noble
Truth tells how, without actually telling how. Instead
of presenting a simplistic, step-by-step set of
instructions for how to perform an action in a state
of non-attachment, the Buddha presents a simple, step-
by-step set of instructions for how to live your life
in such a way that non-attachment becomes your natural
state.
He calls it the Eightfold Path -- right seeing, right
intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood,
right conduct, right mindfulness, right concentration.
This paper is supposed to be 10-20 pages long. It would
take that many pages to do justice to *any* of these
eight subjects. So, other than the cute versions of
each one I listed at the start of this question, I'll
have to save my attempts for a later paper.
> 1. Suffering: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is
> suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is
> suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get
> what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject
> to clinging are suffering.
> 2. The cause of suffering: The desire which leads to renewed
> existence (rebirth).
> 3. The cessation of suffering: THE CESSATION OF DESIRE.
> 4. The way leading to the cessation of suffering: The Noble
> Eightfold Path;
--- TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Sad sign of the times - Victoria's Secret a turnoff
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 7:23 AM
--- Jason <jedi_spock@ ...> wrote:
>
> Don't you think you are too old to bother about these things.??
Absolutely not. And if you think you are, I pity you.
Anyone who has grown too old to appreciate beauty
should just pack it in and try again in another
incarnation.
> I think as a yogi grows older and older he should abandon
> these interests.
Abandon an interest in beauty?
> If you dont do it now, when are you going to do it.??
Hopefully never.
> Leave it behind you and start thinking about the meaning of
> existence.??
BORING. As if existence HAS a meaning.
> I am talking to you because I have genuine Concern for you,
> Sri Barry.
And I'm ignoring what you say because it's silly.
