To be or not to be

[Maddie]

Maybe about a year ago I was reading a sutta about dependent origination and I came across the part that said "becoming". Now in the context of the sutta was basically saying this is the point that you enter a new womb to acquire a new body for a new life, but I guess the word had a profound impact on me out of context.

 

Being very general there seem to be two kinds of practices.

 

The first time is to "become" more. To gain super powers, to gain qi, to gain something.

 

The second is to "become" less by letting go of more and more. This was the method the Buddha taught, this is the method of "neti neti". This is the method that I generally practice.

 

What path do you follow, and why?

[Limahong]

34 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

To be or not to be

 

Hi dmattwads,

 

If it is ~ To become or not to become ~ why do I "become" the first and second time?

 

51 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

What path do you follow, and why?

 

I wonder what will be Shakespeare's answer...

 

 

 

- Anand

 

[Maddie]

7 minutes ago, Limahong said:

 

Hi dmattwads,

 

If it is ~ To become or not to become ~ why do I "become" the first and second time?

 

 

 

The Buddha would say you become now because of past conditioning when you became before. Simply you're here now out of habit. You're here because before you were there.

 

[Limahong]

23 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

You're here because before you were there.

 

Hi dmattwads,

 

So we are (were) here, there and everywhere? 

 

 

 

If so, am I as lost as you are?

 

- Anand

 

 

[Maddie]

1 minute ago, Limahong said:

 

Hi dmattwads,

 

So we are (were) here, there and everywhere? 

 

 

 

If so, am I as lost as you are?

 

- Anand

 

 

 

I'm not lost I'm right here... hee hee :-). I do love a good Beatles reference.

 

We are because we were before, and we will be in the future because we are.

[Limahong]

16 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

We are because we were before, and we will be in the future because we are.

 

Hi dmattwads,

 

My immediate future is to have my head on my pillow ~ I am going to sleep.

Good night.

 

- Anand

 

[Nintendao]

It's like how Tao Teh Ching 48 says,

 

Learning consists in daily accumulating;

The practice of Tao consists in daily diminishing.

Keep on diminishing and diminishing,

Until you reach the state of Non-Ado. (Wu-Wei)

 

One example comes to mind, of how when you first learn to do chi kung, there might be a lot of movements to remember, while conditioning the body, but once unlocked true movement-in-stillness, the more it looks like you're just standing still.

[Maddie]

19 minutes ago, Nintendao said:

It's like how Tao Teh Ching 48 says,

 

Learning consists in daily accumulating;

The practice of Tao consists in daily diminishing.

Keep on diminishing and diminishing,

Until you reach the state of Non-Ado. (Wu-Wei)

 

I was unaware of that verse, but really like it!