Hi guys, Do you feel the same today as compared to ten years ago? Or do you feel different? What about 20 years ago (if you were old enough)? My answer is no, everything in our reality is a flow, like rivers that merge into the sea or ocean. Nothing is absolute, not even our minds or our so-called souls. Gautama Buddha proclaimed that all phenomena from the grossest form on up to the mind of the Buddha are empty because they are not one or many, both or neither. So nothing has any essence and nothing exists. All appearances merely come about dependently through causes and conditions. Think a little bit here. Gerard.
Heres something I think might be approaching permanent- when I say "I am happy or I am sad" the thing which is used to perceive my emotion or my thought would seem to be eternal or unchanging. 'I' can watch me... And it would seem to be something not limited to one person as everyone seems capable of looking at themselves (though I cant say with certainty- not having ever been anyone else). Oh and Im not talking about self judgement here I simply mean what we seem to use when we become aware of ourselves... Make sense?
Nope definitely not the same as ten years or twenty years ago. Heck, I am not even the same as I was 6 months ago. Life is all about experience and growth. If you live you change. I may have basic core beliefs that are fixed but my reactions, experiences and interpretations are different depending on circumstances and conditions. A year ago I would have never said that I would ever be the suspicious, skeptical type. Now I weigh everything and everybody with a doubting eye. You cannot live and remain the same. We are all rivers that continuously flow and change, but we are bound by the banks of our existence. For me the banks are shored up by my faith and family and standards I have set for myself. But within those banks there is constant change and even erosion of the banks themselves. So I am always me, but different.
We shouldn't afraid for past, just for future. Most of you all are 20+ years, i'm 16, but, what i lived has been hard... First of all, i'm colombian, I love my country, being different to some mates who only wish is going to the USA... I dont know what happned when i was under 11years...my aunt say me i had an accident...i dont remember any happening before that age, anyway. This make me think, so stuff about future, when future is a matter of probabilities and choices.Live and death, hate and love,the sides of a dice, everything can change, killing other futures, and leaving only one. I started a year ago, so i can say too much....
Which also change. However some changes are quicker (i.e. our thoughts or the live of a bug that turns into a butterfly) than others (planets if we follow time measured by human technology); and even elements of the Universe that we may think never change, they do as well (i.e. stars we may observe now are probably extinguished). That's right. But let me ask you another question? If everything in our existence is shaped by change how come there are absolutes like Buddha's teachings? Think again. Gerard.
Well this is really only a problem if you consider thigs like the Buddha's teachings to be absolutes... But if we put that aside for a minute Mahayana Buddhists talk about levels of truth; the relative level and the absolute level. When discrepancies or contradictions seem to be apparent in the Buddha's teachings they are explained by the fact that he taught relative truths i.e. that he taught every individual in the way that most suited them. So for example he may have told one person who needed to get rid of guilt "Theres no Gods dont worry about them just get on with your practice" and another who maybe had too much pride "The Gods have been very kind to you, You must still pay respects to the Gods every morning". These statements are both contradictory and hence highly relative however they are also both intended to help the practitioner come to closer to an understanding of the absolute truth. SO in relation to your question the Buddha's teachings may not necessarily be regarded as absolutes as they too change depending on the situation however they always point towards the same place... Similar to what I posted before about our ability to watch ourselves, we constantly change but something underlying us would seem to always be the same, whats your take on the proposition Gerard?
Hi CKva, sorry but I have just changed my mind. I'm not posting anymore in this website on philosophical issues bearing in mind that there are certain people who don't tolerate well other people's points of view. Again, I'm not the best to say what I am saying since I have also commited mistakes along the way. I have to apologize again. Further discussions on Buddhism are carried on: www.zenguide.com. All the best, Gerard.
Everything is relative. Everything is moving in a circle of time and space. Permanence vs inpermanence. When you start any point in the circle, the further you go, you always come back to where you started. Wealth and beauty etc do not last forever. When you are at the peak of your wealth, you are also close to bankruptcy. When you have some money, you start to invest, you worry about the risks. You make some more money, so grow your worries. If you put away some of it. That is o.k. If you put all your money back to the market, sooner or later, you made a big bad investment and that wiped out all your previous winnings. You are back to where you started in the circle of time and space. Daoism (over 4200 years old) is merged into Buddhism (circa 2500 years old).
Do you think Mr. Gates and other corporate sharks would agree with you? http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/bio.asp
When you start with nothing, there is nothing to lose except your shirt. When you are further down the road and accumulate some wealth, you have more to lose. Money can be made. Money can be lost, too. Enron went bust over accounting. Solomon's Brother went down with the Junk Bond king. K-mart is still struggling. It is difficult for Dell or Wal-mart to grow as in 90's or 80's. They are too big to grow. Pam-Am is gone. All airlines are struggling. on and on. For one company to make it, there are thousands more went bust. What happened to mutual funds in 1990's? They are all under with the market stalls in early 00's. How many MS? There is only one. It outcompeted 1000's and 1000's software companies. For a company to dominate the market, there are 1000's more needed to bow out. I like the story of Yahoo and Google, too. But how many more wannabe will not make it?
You know, despite his almost ridiculous wealth, Bill Gates doesn't seem like to bad a fellow. How many of us can say we donated 3.4 Billion dollars to charity, with 21 billion more on the way over the years?
I don't think, unless your like 90 years old, that anyone is the same today as 10 years ago. We change so much, so quickly, that it would be impossible to NOT say we've changed. Its whether we change for good or for bad that matters.
According to the Vedas; Maya gives the illusionary notion of permanence for impermanence of life and everything. Moksha is a release or enlightenment from Maya, so that we need not go thru karmic reincarnation of samsara. According to Upanishads: Brahman (absolute reality) is Atman (absolute consciousness). Atman is Brahman. They are timeless and permanent. We have to experience them directly.
