Center of the Universe?

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
Tirisilex
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Center of the Universe?

Post by Tirisilex »

If everything is an illusion then am I the center of the universe? This is just a question looking to be verified. because I tend to think when I start to think I'm the center of the universe I think of New York City with all the people there.. Kind of humbles me a bit..
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Virgo
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Virgo »

Tirisilex wrote:If everything is an illusion then am I the center of the universe? This is just a question looking to be verified. because I tend to think when I start to think I'm the center of the universe I think of New York City with all the people there.. Kind of humbles me a bit..
Maybe they are in the center of your universe.

So tell one of them to bring you one of those New York hot dogs from a hot dog stand - maybe with relish on it. :)

Perhaps you are the center of the universe. But being that everything simply appears to arise according to Madhyamaka, the universe is only appearing to arise, and you are appearing to be the center of it.

Best,

Kevin
Fortyeightvows
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Fortyeightvows »

I'm surprised we don't have a thread debating whether other beings exist or not :alien:
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Tirisilex wrote:If everything is an illusion then am I the center of the universe?
You don't even need the 'if' part of your question. Since everything you know (i.e. 'the universe') comes to you through your own perceptions, you are indeed the centre of the universe. It only exists in relation to your perceptions.
Of course, I'm the centre of the universe, too, and neither my universe nor yours exists in quite the way it seems to - but it's not really an illusion, either.
:thinking:
I think it's easier to act as though the universe is real and is 'outside', and not to get too hung up on the real state of affairs.

:namaste:
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DGA
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by DGA »

Tirisilex wrote:If everything is an illusion then am I the center of the universe? This is just a question looking to be verified. because I tend to think when I start to think I'm the center of the universe I think of New York City with all the people there.. Kind of humbles me a bit..
There is no center, and no end in sight. endless endlessness at both ends of the road
Tirisilex
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Tirisilex »

Fortyeightvows wrote:I'm surprised we don't have a thread debating whether other beings exist or not :alien:
Do other beings exist? :shrug:
boda
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by boda »

Technically every point in the universe is the center, or so I've heard.
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Queequeg
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Queequeg »

Virgo wrote: So tell one of them to bring you one of those New York hot dogs from a hot dog stand - maybe with relish on it. :)
For some people in New York, talking about relish on a hot dog is fighting words.

Mustard. Sauerkraut. Onions.

Anything else and you've outed yourself as not from here.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Caoimhghín
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Caoimhghín »

Queequeg wrote:
Virgo wrote: So tell one of them to bring you one of those New York hot dogs from a hot dog stand - maybe with relish on it. :)
For some people in New York, talking about relish on a hot dog is fighting words.

Mustard. Sauerkraut. Onions.

Anything else and you've outed yourself as not from here.
No mayo? A travesty.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
DGA
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by DGA »

Coëmgenu wrote:No mayo? A travesty.
what is mayo for? That's some boring stuff right there.
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Caoimhghín
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Caoimhghín »

DGA wrote:
Coëmgenu wrote:No mayo? A travesty.
what is mayo for? That's some boring stuff right there.
Its for making everything right. :bow:
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Queequeg
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Queequeg »

Coëmgenu wrote:
Queequeg wrote:
Virgo wrote: So tell one of them to bring you one of those New York hot dogs from a hot dog stand - maybe with relish on it. :)
For some people in New York, talking about relish on a hot dog is fighting words.

Mustard. Sauerkraut. Onions.

Anything else and you've outed yourself as not from here.
No mayo? A travesty.
That's it. We're fighting.*

*In case it is not clear to anyone, THIS IS A JOKE. Cue laughter.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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conebeckham
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by conebeckham »

Tirisilex wrote:
Fortyeightvows wrote:I'm surprised we don't have a thread debating whether other beings exist or not :alien:
Do other beings exist? :shrug:
Nope. Sentient beings, including yourself, are merely a cognitive error.

In truth there is only Buddha. :smile:
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
DGA
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by DGA »

Coëmgenu wrote:
DGA wrote:what is mayo for? That's some boring stuff right there.
Its for making everything right. :bow:
BO-RING.

No no no, the purpose of green chile is to make everything right.

http://www.eater.com/2014/8/27/6165597/ ... reen-chile

let me tell you my mayo story.

My first job was at a chain sandwich shop. We went through a lot of mayo. It was shipped in by the box--maybe forty pounds of white goop in a white cardboard box lined with a plastic bag. That's it. How do you get the mayo out of the box and into the squeeze bottle? You scoop that stuff with your hand into a smaller plastic bag, cut a corner off that bag, and squeeze that slimy stuff into the bottle. But what happens when you get near the bottom of that bag in a box? The residue of mayo past clings and turns yellow on the inside, and as you reach in for more, it clings to the hairs on your arms. It adheres and is not so easy to scrub away.

And that is how I know there is no center in the universe, to the box of mayo, to anything.
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Caoimhghín
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Caoimhghín »

Tirisilex wrote:If everything is an illusion then am I the center of the universe? This is just a question looking to be verified. because I tend to think when I start to think I'm the center of the universe I think of New York City with all the people there.. Kind of humbles me a bit..
If everything is an illusion then it also follows that perhaps you are also an illusion too, eh? An illusion amidst illusions, all unified by their mutual illusory nature. You can be the centre of the universe, you can be the periphery of the universe, you can be both the centre and the periphery, you can be neither the centre nor the periphery, if you choose to view the world that way. But many say that everything is an illusion only in the deluded state, in the deluded perception.

“Noble son, the real truth is the true Dharma. Noble son, if the Dharma is not true, then it cannot be called the ‘real truth’. Noble son, the real truth is devoid of distortions …the real truth is free from falsity. If it were not free from falsity, it would not be called the ‘real truth’… Noble son, that which is endowed with the Eternal, Bliss, the Self and Purity is stated to be the meaning of the ‘real truth’.”
(Mahāyānamahāparinirvāṇasūtra, Dharmakṣema ed., “On Holy Actions”).
Last edited by Caoimhghín on Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:12 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Grigoris
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Grigoris »

boda wrote:Technically every point in the universe is the center, or so I've heard.
Which essentially is the same as saying that no point is the center...
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
boda
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by boda »

Grigoris wrote:
boda wrote:Technically every point in the universe is the center, or so I've heard.
Which essentially is the same as saying that no point is the center...
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Thomas Amundsen
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Thomas Amundsen »

Grigoris wrote:
boda wrote:Technically every point in the universe is the center, or so I've heard.
Which essentially is the same as saying that no point is the center...
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Tirisilex
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by Tirisilex »

conebeckham wrote:
Tirisilex wrote:
Fortyeightvows wrote:I'm surprised we don't have a thread debating whether other beings exist or not :alien:
Do other beings exist? :shrug:
Nope. Sentient beings, including yourself, are merely a cognitive error.

In truth there is only Buddha. :smile:
If thats the case then why Do Bodhisattvas bother with compassion for others untill all sentient beings reach enlightenment?
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conebeckham
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Re: Center of the Universe?

Post by conebeckham »

Tirisilex wrote:
conebeckham wrote:
Tirisilex wrote:
Do other beings exist? :shrug:
Nope. Sentient beings, including yourself, are merely a cognitive error.

In truth there is only Buddha. :smile:
If thats the case then why Do Bodhisattvas bother with compassion for others untill all sentient beings reach enlightenment?
Precisely because sentient beings, including ourselves, do not realize the truth. THAT is the true reason for compassion, and the root of all suffering.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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