Bodhisattva Vows

[ayar415]

Originally Posted by The Cobbler's Apprentice

In non-duality heaven and hell tend to get entangled. Perhaps take a look at my Post 41 in this thread.

I saw that post. You did point to the "treacherous sea of language" which can not only trip the dullard. It can also be used by the skillful mind to churn up visions of truth, turning water into wine for those dying from thirst. Samsara and Nirvarna vanishes? I did not imbibe the Bentley-Hart brew you found sublime.

The progressive approach to faiths of tradition is an insidious attempt to corrupt society that is anchored to well-defined principles of ethics and morality. The attacks on Christianity in the west, and the westernization of Eastern religious philosophies, serve the advancement of hedonism.

Samsara and Nirvana vanish when they become one to allow rimpoches to lie with married women, and priests to defile young boys.

I don't believe that I am anchored to anything the self can cling to. Like you, I don't claim access to any realm beyond the 5 senses. My zendo is me, and I invite you to practice zazen, as you understand it, in the exploration of Hell and its Heavenly form.

[ayar415]

Originally Posted by sky123

Are you, change the way you look at things and your in Heaven

How do I change the way I look at the situation I am in? First of all, I am trapped in a body that I have to tend to till it dies. In the Buddha story, Siddharta was horrified when he was awakened to his entrapment in a "fathom-long carcass" that can become sick, injured, age, and die. He chucked his family and worldly position and ran off to seek the deathless state. I don't think he ever found it.

Academic research uncovered no scriptural records of what the Buddha taught. Buddhism, as we know it, must have evolved from Hinduism. It focuses on meditative practices to "cast off mind and body". I think this is quite willful if you asked me. Thich Quang Duc burned himself alive in a Saigon protest to prove that it could be done. Is that hellish enough to you?

So, what do we do with the body? Let it age, grow old, and, hopefully, die painlessly in our sleep? This is rare and less likely than getting struck by lightning. Suffering old age is not as scary as dying. As they say, "everybody wants to go to Heaven but no one wants to die to get there". I saw a movie about a young man in China struggling with poverty. He had a child with his pretty girlfriend who had to work as a bar hostess entertaining lecherous patrons. He had no way out and he ended it all by stepping off a balcony falling to his death. Is that hellish enough for you?

Telling you about all this is bad enough without personally living through those situations. I don't think you or Cobbler and most of us here are caught in dire straits. Spirituality is supposed to make us respond to the Hell we are in and not a means for selfish, personal escape from it.

[sky]

All of the above is just 'Life' and the price we pay for living.

Originally Posted by sky123

Are you, change the way you look at things and your in Heaven

Not all have compassion or empathy. Some would step over a starving child without noticing or caring.

Maybe they would say to a child begging for food, "oh just change how you look at things! Be happy! It's all in your mind!"

Life is strange that way, some experience hell on earth, others don't. But I would not deny that some are experiencing horrible suffering just because I am not.

One scary thought is how is compassion and empathy born in a person? Usually it is born by walking in someone else's shoes. If one has experienced abuse, they tend to have compassion and empathy for others that have been victims of abuse.

So the karma from being indifferent to others suffering could be to experience that suffering for yourself.

I read the other day 25,000 people die from starvation everyday. It's amazing how some never can imagine such a thing. For many, the problem is too much food and being overweight. Some can't even get water when they need it.

Life is strange this way. One person has billions, another nothing. One has an easy life, good health, nurturing family, another is abused, has life long physical pain, is poor, homeless etc.

[ayar415]

Originally Posted by AbodhiSky

Life is strange this way. One person has billions, another nothing. One has an easy life, good health, nurturing family, another is abused, has life long physical pain, is poor, homeless etc.

Strange, indeed. Humanity is like a body with a healthy heart pumping away while the liver is rotting from cirrhosis, and the lungs are succumbing to the coronavirus. And the heart just doesn't care until it is impacted.

As Krishnamurti said, we (humanity) are all broken up, fragmented into selfish parts. He saw it, and told us. I see it. So can you. Just look at it he said, don't do anything. Watch it without succumbing to any impulse to feed the poor (food stamps), heal the sick (Medicare), house the homeless (Shelter in the UK).

Can we just sit and watch without any movement of thought? How does that work?

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

"My hurts turn livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe." Walt Whitman.

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

I think that the personal transformation that can take place by "acceptance" will have its inevitable effect upon our attitude toward others.

"In protecting oneself one protects others.
In protecting others one protects oneself"

(Theravada Text)

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

(I like quotes. As A A Milne once said:- A quote is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself, always a laborious business." )

[sky]

Originally Posted by The Cobbler's Apprentice

"In protecting oneself one protects others.
In protecting others one protects oneself"

(Theravada Text)

Reminds me of ' Hands, Face, Space '

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

Originally Posted by sky123

Reminds me of ' Hands, Face, Space '

A good practical example!

(Nyanaponika Thera has written an excellent essay on the text quoted. It can be found on the net with a bit of googling.)