The Buddha's Five Rememberances

[TimBlack]

I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape ill health.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being seperated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequence of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

......Has anyone brought the rememberances into their daily meditations? If so, what was the reason and what were the results? Everyone has experienced a time of loss or of sickness where you "swore" that you would live life fully only to find yourself settle into the human habit of taking life for granted. Reciting the five rememberances often help us return to the mindful life. Have you used the rememberances?

 

 

http://www.tao1776.blogspot.com

[Lozen]

I thought death was optional...

[RedFox]

I thought death was optional...

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as far as I know, that particular idea is not one of Buddha's...

[Lozen]

as far as I know, that particular idea is not one of Buddha's...

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Okay you got me, RedFox.

 

love,

Subhuti

 

"Whose thoughts are

vaporized,

well-dealt-with

within,

without trace --

going beyond that tie,

one who perceives the formless,

overcoming

four yokes,

does not go

to rebirth."

[...]

are you shooting for immortality, lozen?

[Lozen]

are you shooting for immortality, lozen?

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I don't know yet. Right now I'm just fighting tooth and nail to get to this ceremony I know I need to be at because I dreamt it. Everything else is temporary. Everything else is a gesture.

 

But I've been really WANTING to *believe* in immortality ever since my grandfather died. At times it seems like I can feel his presence so strongly... But no dreams yet...

 

I used to feel like I was hollow, like an archetype or a shadow or an -ism or a wisp of smoke or even a spirit... But now I just feel like a person.

 

Not sure if this answers anything.

[...]

uh... what do you think immortality is?

[Lozen]

uh... what do you think immortality is?

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Is this a trick question?

 

What do you think it is?

[...]

ahahahahaha no !

I'm not totally sure what immortality is. at this point... I have so much work to do it almost doesnt really matter... not yet...

buddha classified.. like 7-8-9 or so different types of immortals, right? ( I wish I had that text... or even knew what text it was..) but their are.. celestial... earth.. ghost... several types of immortality...

 

so to say immortality is one thing would be kind of.. wrong I guess.

 

 

I was going to say I forgot why I asked.. but I think I asked becuase you typed this...

 

"I've been really WANTING to *believe* in immortality "

 

you put 'believe' between marks, so I guess I am not sure what context you meant to type the word......

[TimBlack]

Everything has it's opposite. Yin cannot exist without Yang, positive cannot exist without negative....There cannot be Yin forever, sooner or later it will swing back to Yang. If we cannot live forever, how can we be dead forever? In order for life to exist, death must exist; life is never endless, so death is never endless. Being and non-being are mutually produced.

This is my view of immortality. But it only a view. My view.

[Lozen]

I saw Rami Shapiro, a Jewish mystic, speak a few months ago, and he doesn't believe in life after death or any of that stuff. He said it was like the waves trying to figure out where they go after they get to the end of the shore, is there another ocean on the other side? He wanted to tell them, "you ARE the ocean, get it?" I guess I believe in reincarnation in the same way I believe in compost. But souls and that whole business, I have no idea.

 

Sometimes I can feel the presence of those who have died so strongly. But I don't know if that means they are there, or if I can feel them in the primordial soup, or what.

[TimBlack]

What happens to the wave? If the wave wonders what will happen when it reaches the shore's end or if the wave DOES NOT wonder what will happen when it reaches the shore's end, it does not change the result. And when they reach the shores end, the wave disappears and is absorbed back into the ocean, only to become a wave once more. Is it the same wave? No. Is the make up of the wave the same. Yes. A wave does not last forever. But it does return to the source and become a wave again someday.

[...]

whoa 1776 say WHAT?

 

uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh

 

check the floor below your computer, make sure you didnt put a hole in it... you get pretty deep aahahaha

 

 

ah well, if the worst student didnt laugh, it would not be worthy of being tao eh LOL

 

love ya brother

[TimBlack]

whoa 1776 say WHAT?  

 

uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh

 

check the floor below your computer, make sure you didnt put a hole in it... you get pretty deep aahahaha

ah well, if the worst student didnt laugh, it would not be worthy of being tao eh LOL

 

love ya brother

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Thanks TW!!!! I did have a good laugh. AND I NEEDED IT!!!!!

 

And I'll try not to let the wave knock me in the ass on my way out

 

Be well