Questions and Answers, not necessarily in order.

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Jesse
Posts: 2127
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 6:54 am
Location: Virginia, USA

Questions and Answers, not necessarily in order.

Post by Jesse »

Part 1 (The answer)
Peace pulls at our pant bottoms, kindly asking
us to remember it's name, and we kick it away in a mad hurry
all that time trying to find what was following us around all the while,
and it patiently waited, hoping we would just stop,
and make time for it to sink slowly and gently, and quietly into our hearts.


Part 2 (The Question)
Why is peace so hard to find? Why are our hearts so discontent?
Why can't life just be perfect, without struggle, without negative emotion?
Without Violence, Strife, Anger, Greed, Disharmony.. What will it take?
What will it take for our world to find a better way to be?

My life feels like a struggle I can never win, a constant symphony of pain.
Yet the whole world shares in this tragedy. Thinking this over makes my heart
wrench, and It makes me wonder why we haven't truly made an effort,
to make this world a better place? We all have these thoughts and feelings,
and yet the world continues to suffer, to play out in it's own self destruction,
it's madness and it's melancholy. Where is peace when we need it?
Image
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
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Matt J
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Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:29 am
Location: Denver, CO

Re: Questions and Answers, not necessarily in order.

Post by Matt J »

In the modern Western culture I find myself in, I am told that pain is a problem to be solved. There should never be any pain at any time, and if there is, we need to quickly buy the cure.

But what if this were not the case? What is pain and suffering, rather than being something to be escaped, was actually helping us?

http://www.superluminal.com/cookbook/es ... ckpea.html
"The world is made of stories, not atoms."
--- Muriel Rukeyser
Jesse
Posts: 2127
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 6:54 am
Location: Virginia, USA

Re: Questions and Answers, not necessarily in order.

Post by Jesse »

In some cases sure. In other cases suffering is totally pointless. War, Hunger, a rotting tooth, a car accident. These thing's are not helping us. We may choose to an outlook which helps us deal with them, but the experiences themselves are rather pointless and unnecessary. (usually.)
Image
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
Punya
Posts: 1437
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:50 pm

Re: Questions and Answers, not necessarily in order.

Post by Punya »

Yes, there is suffering but it's up to each of us individually to get out of it. Garchen Rinpoche provides one inspirational example of how to use suffering on the path.
We abide nowhere. We possess nothing.
~Chatral Rinpoche
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Matt J
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Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:29 am
Location: Denver, CO

Re: Questions and Answers, not necessarily in order.

Post by Matt J »

How do we know it's pointless? How do we know it's not helping? Just because we cannot see the point doesn't mean it is without a point. As human beings, we make judges on limited information. Our eyes see a tiny portion of the light spectrum. Our ears only hear a small part of the vibrations out there. The universe is vast and infinite, and ultimately, beyond our comprehension.

Some spiritual traditions talk about suffering like fire. Fire purges, purifies, and cleanses. It also allows things to change form. It is transformative. Bodhidharma wrote that when we suffer, it is our karma ripening. But once the karma ripens, we are free from it, the seed is gone. Many spiritual traditions speak of it in many ways, but all of them agree that it is not pointless.
Jesse wrote:In some cases sure. In other cases suffering is totally pointless. War, Hunger, a rotting tooth, a car accident. These thing's are not helping us. We may choose to an outlook which helps us deal with them, but the experiences themselves are rather pointless and unnecessary. (usually.)
"The world is made of stories, not atoms."
--- Muriel Rukeyser
Jesse
Posts: 2127
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 6:54 am
Location: Virginia, USA

Re: Questions and Answers, not necessarily in order.

Post by Jesse »

Matt J wrote:How do we know it's pointless? How do we know it's not helping? Just because we cannot see the point doesn't mean it is without a point. As human beings, we make judges on limited information. Our eyes see a tiny portion of the light spectrum. Our ears only hear a small part of the vibrations out there. The universe is vast and infinite, and ultimately, beyond our comprehension.

Some spiritual traditions talk about suffering like fire. Fire purges, purifies, and cleanses. It also allows things to change form. It is transformative. Bodhidharma wrote that when we suffer, it is our karma ripening. But once the karma ripens, we are free from it, the seed is gone. Many spiritual traditions speak of it in many ways, but all of them agree that it is not pointless.
Jesse wrote:In some cases sure. In other cases suffering is totally pointless. War, Hunger, a rotting tooth, a car accident. These thing's are not helping us. We may choose to an outlook which helps us deal with them, but the experiences themselves are rather pointless and unnecessary. (usually.)
I suppose it depends on your lineage. I have heard karma explained as more like a seed. The more the seed is watered, the more the karma ripens, the less it's watered the less it will manifest. Eventually the seed will wither and die away, but karma doesn't simply ripen and forever vanish in an instant. (This is from TNH's understanding our mind, on karmic seeds in the store-house consciousness.)

As you said, we are mortal sentient beings -- we don't really know reality as it is. At best we can make guesses -- even when reading texts written by masters there are variations, differing opinions and such.. it all makes your head :rolleye:

I imagine there is suffering which is helpful (When it leads to insight and understanding, and when we practice through it. Then there is suffering that is totally pointless, which is the saddest of all.)

That's samsara. Here's to quick enlightenment of all sentient beings. :cheers:
Image
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
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