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<blockquote data-quote="Make world a better place" data-source="post: 14187964" data-attributes="member: 455090"><a href="http://buddhismsucks.com/?p=43" target="_blank">Was the ‘Buddha’ Actually Enlightened?</a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; The word ‘Buddha’ has many meanings.&nbsp; I suppose that the word&nbsp; itself and its many variants existed in some form before the man,&nbsp; Siddhartha Gautama, became the father of a world religion.&nbsp; I don’t know&nbsp; this for a fact; I’m merely assuming.&nbsp;Today, we recognize the meaning of the word ‘Buddha’ to not only&nbsp; encompass the person named above but also to signify any person who has&nbsp; achieved so-called ‘enlightenment.’&nbsp;Suppose for a minute that the man, Siddhartha Gautama, never achieved&nbsp; enlightenment.&nbsp; What if he merely discovered a new way to look at the&nbsp; world?&nbsp; Let’s say ol’ Sidd was sitting around one day (admittedly&nbsp; dissatisfied with his monotonous life as a prince) and he got to&nbsp; thinking about existential things.&nbsp; After all, this is something that we&nbsp; all (as human beings) do from time to time when we are dissatisfied or&nbsp; confused, when we are disillusioned or depressed.&nbsp;Let’s say his train of thought traveled down through some obscure&nbsp; wilderness and into wondering about the heart of his very own&nbsp; existence.&nbsp; If he rose from his place under the Bodi tree with some kind&nbsp; of spectacular philosophical idea, that no one had ever articulated&nbsp; before, and he confessed this idea to others, maybe they just thought he was a Buddha because no one had ever talked about that kind of shit before!&nbsp;I wonder if Mr. Gautama was born in the late 1980′s in let’s say,&nbsp; Detroit, and he spouted off the same kinda shit he did back 2,500 years&nbsp; ago in India, he’d be recognized as the same kind of omniscient,&nbsp; omnipresent, enlightened being?&nbsp; I venture to suggest that he WOULD&nbsp; NOT.&nbsp; Even if people did listen to him, they’d either think he was a&nbsp; homeless schizophrenic or a religious zealot, and they’d write him off&nbsp; as just another false prophet in a line of many.&nbsp;All I’m saying is that maybe, just maybe, enlightenment is a hoax.&nbsp;&nbsp; Maybe that guy did have some important insights and was able to find&nbsp; some kind of peace in reconciling those insights with his own life BUT&nbsp; enlightenment as a concept, as some grandiose, mythological goal that&nbsp; we’re all aiming to achieve doesn’t exist!&nbsp;They say that an intellectual understanding of emptiness is nothing&nbsp; compared to the ‘realization’ of emptiness.&nbsp; What separates the two?&nbsp; If&nbsp; I can explain emptiness and I have faith that emptiness IS the true&nbsp; nature of reality, then how come I haven’t achieved enlightenment?&nbsp;All I can say is, if enlightenment doesn’t exist, there’s gonna be a whole lot of pissed off monks running around this bitch.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Posted in <a href="http://buddhismsucks.com/?cat=1" target="_blank">Writing</a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; |&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://buddhismsucks.com/?p=43#comments" target="_blank">10 Comments</a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="http://buddhismsucks.com/?p=39" target="_blank">Can Buddhists Use Drugs?</a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; - Before I begin, let me say that this is not an admission of&nbsp; guilt; it is merely an exercise in existentialism.&nbsp; (I suppose that&nbsp; statement is an admission of guilt in an of itself, huh?)&nbsp;Alright, here goes – it’s a Monday night.&nbsp; I worked a full 8-hour&nbsp; day.&nbsp; I’m a teacher.&nbsp; I came home from work and played with my kids for a&nbsp; few hours before putting them to sleep.&nbsp; I’ve got three kids, actually –&nbsp; a set of beautiful 8-month old twins and a fourteen year old daughter&nbsp; (who lives with her mother).&nbsp; My wife went out for the night.&nbsp; She&nbsp; seldom does, but tonight was a well deserved night at the movies with&nbsp; her best friend.&nbsp;I’m sitting here at my computer with our video baby monitor right&nbsp; beside me.&nbsp; I glance at it every few minutes just to make sure that they&nbsp; are sleeping soundly.&nbsp; I have approximately three hours of ‘alone time’&nbsp; – something that I seldom have anymore these days.&nbsp;What should I do?&nbsp; Here are my options:&nbsp;<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Watch TV</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Read a book</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Write</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Meditate</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Play music</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Take a bath</li>
</ul>I don’t want to watch TV.&nbsp; First of all, we don’t have cable.&nbsp;&nbsp; Second, there are no shows that I want to see.&nbsp; (Honestly, the only&nbsp; channel I ever turn on is the Food Network, which for some reason I am&nbsp; able to access, and frankly I’m sick of looking at Guy Fieri’s stupid&nbsp; fucking face.&nbsp; If I have to sit through another episode of the ‘Triple&nbsp; D,’ I’m gonna drink Drano.)&nbsp;Reading is definitely an option.&nbsp; I’m working my way throughTo the&nbsp; Lighthouse.&nbsp; Virginia Woolf is a genius.&nbsp; Writing too is an option but&nbsp; both of these choices require ENERGY and MOTIVATION, two ingredients&nbsp; that I’m somewhat low on after a day at work.&nbsp;Forget about meditation.&nbsp; I’m way too tired and way too out of&nbsp; practice to fool myself into thinking that something constructive will&nbsp; come out of plopping my ass down on a cushion.&nbsp; My idea of successful&nbsp; alone time isn’t forcing myself to sit still or fighting off the&nbsp; inevitable coma of exhaustion.&nbsp; Fuck meditation.&nbsp;I’d love to play my guitar (or banjo) but I don’t want to risk waking the kids.&nbsp;I always take a fucking bath.&nbsp; Plus, that will surely put me to sleep.&nbsp;Okay, let’s assume that I decide to write.&nbsp; (That’s what I DID&nbsp; decide, actually.&nbsp; Obvious at this point, I guess.)&nbsp; Let’s throw a few&nbsp; more variables into the mix.&nbsp; I’m sitting here, writing.&nbsp; What if I have&nbsp; a glass of wine?&nbsp; Is that okay?&nbsp; It’ll help me relax; plus, I like&nbsp; wine.&nbsp; It’s nice to drink.&nbsp; No problems there, right?&nbsp; Okay.&nbsp; I’ll have a&nbsp; glass of wine.&nbsp; (It’s a Cabernet.)&nbsp;Can I have another glass?&nbsp; One glass doesn’t really ‘do’ anything to&nbsp; me.&nbsp; Sure, there’s nothing wrong with having two glasses of wine on a&nbsp; Monday night!&nbsp; I’m writing!&nbsp; Writers drink, right?&nbsp; Can I finish the&nbsp; bottle?&nbsp; Why not?&nbsp; What would be wrong with drinking the entire bottle?&nbsp;I guess the answers to these questions depend on (1) who’s asking&nbsp; them and (2) with what system of morality I’m using to color them with.&nbsp;&nbsp; Okay, let’s assume (since this blog is about Buddhism) that I’m coming&nbsp; at these questions from the point of view of a youngish, somewhat&nbsp; non-traditional American Buddhist.&nbsp;Where do I go to find out the answers?&nbsp; What authority figure do I ask?&nbsp; Is there a text I should consult?&nbsp;I suppose I could ask my Lama… if I had one.&nbsp; I live in New York City&nbsp; and I’m sure there are literally hundreds of ‘Lamas’ out there, just a&nbsp; short subway ride away but I don’t want to talk to them.&nbsp; That would&nbsp; mean joining some kind of ‘sangha’ and I’m just not up for that right&nbsp; now – dharma groups are too much of a hassle for me.&nbsp;I guess I could use my own conscience, right?&nbsp; If I drank an entire&nbsp; bottle of wine I would be mildly intoxicated.&nbsp; So what?&nbsp; Well, I don’t&nbsp; want to endanger the lives of my children, right?&nbsp; Still… they’re&nbsp; sleeping.&nbsp; I could certainly step into their bedroom and rub their&nbsp; little warm butts if they stir… even if I was mildly intoxicated.&nbsp; If&nbsp; there was a fire or some other kind of emergency, I could definitely&nbsp; carry them to safety.&nbsp; So should I drink it?&nbsp;Let’s crank it up a notch – forget about the wine.&nbsp; Let’s say I had&nbsp; some marijuana stashed away in a drawer somewhere.&nbsp; Could I take a few&nbsp; hits off a joint?&nbsp; It certainly would help me relax… probably more so&nbsp; than the wine.&nbsp; Plus, there’d be the effects of the high.&nbsp; I could alter&nbsp; my perception just enough to delve deeply into the prose of Ms. Woolf&nbsp; in an ever so tantalizing way.&nbsp; Take a look at the following sentence&nbsp; from To the Lighthouse. It concerns the world of a six-year-old boy named James Ramsay:The wheelbarrow, the lawnmower, the sound of poplar&nbsp; trees, leaves whitening before rain, rooks cawing, brooms knocking,&nbsp; dresses rustling – all these were so colored and distinguished in his&nbsp; mind that he had already his private code, his secret language, though&nbsp; he appeared the image of stark and uncomprehending severity, with his&nbsp; high forehead and his fierce blue eyes, impeccably candid and pure,&nbsp; frowning slightly at the sight of human frailty, so that his mother,&nbsp; watching him guide his scissors neatly around the refrigerator [from a&nbsp; catalog he was cutting], imagined him all red and ermine on the Beach of&nbsp; directing a stern and momentous enterprise in some crisis of public&nbsp; affairs.
Yes, this is ONE SENTENCE – a magnificent sentence, in my opinion.&nbsp;&nbsp; In case you haven’t read any Woolf, she basically pioneered what we now&nbsp; know as ‘stream of consciousness.’&nbsp; There’s a lot there in that&nbsp; sentence.&nbsp; I had to read it several times just to appreciate its&nbsp; complexity and subtle imagery.&nbsp;Just imagine for a second how much MORE vivid this sentence would be&nbsp; after a few puffs off a bowl stuffed to the brim with good quality&nbsp; weed.&nbsp; Those ‘leaves whitening before rain’ would come alive in their&nbsp; naturalness.&nbsp; The boy’s face… ‘frowning slightly at the sight of human&nbsp; frailty’ would blossom into a picture of absolute adoration if I were&nbsp; high as a kite.&nbsp;So… should I?&nbsp; What do you think?&nbsp; What would the Buddha say about this?&nbsp;Let’s take just one final turn… to revisit the idea of meditating&nbsp; tonight.&nbsp; The main problem for me is that I’m just too damn tired.&nbsp; I&nbsp; know that my fatigued body would be a major obstacle to maintaining the&nbsp; kind of attention I’d need to really go deep into my practice.&nbsp; It makes&nbsp; me feel guilty on a daily basis.&nbsp;So what if, to help me overcome said fatigue, I snort a line of&nbsp; Adderall?&nbsp; What if I had a whole bottle of Adderall just sitting in my&nbsp; medicine cabinet.&nbsp; Maybe it was prescribed to me by a bona fide&nbsp; psychiatrist for an attention problem.&nbsp; Should I do it?&nbsp; It would&nbsp; certainly help me meditate.&nbsp; Would that be cheating?&nbsp;I can’t claim to have answers to any of these questions.&nbsp; I was going&nbsp; to dig up some reference material about what recognized Buddhist&nbsp; teachers have said concerning these topics but right now, I just don’t&nbsp; feel like it.&nbsp;I would never do anything to neglect my responsibility as a father or&nbsp; to put the well-being of my children in jeopardy.&nbsp; I would never abuse&nbsp; drugs or alcohol to the extent that my body suffered or that I began to&nbsp; mistreat those around me.&nbsp; These are limits that I’ve put on myself… not&nbsp; as the result of studying some religious text or speaking with a monk.&nbsp;&nbsp; I know that the ‘official’ stance of conservative Buddhism is to&nbsp; abstain from all ‘mind-altering substances’ but I don’t buy into&nbsp; everything that the conservatives preach.&nbsp;So, what should I do?&nbsp; More importantly what should YOU do?&nbsp;Is it okay to use drugs and alcohol recreationally?&nbsp; By what&nbsp; standards should we (as Buddhists) measure how much or how little drugs&nbsp; we are permitted to use?&nbsp; Sure, I know the old adage that moderation is&nbsp; key… Madhyamika is, after all, the Middle Way, right?&nbsp; But what about&nbsp; some more specifics…&nbsp;Can Buddhists Use Drugs?&nbsp; What do you think?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Make world a better place, post: 14187964, member: 455090"] [B][URL="http://buddhismsucks.com/?p=43"]Was the ‘Buddha’ Actually Enlightened?[/URL][/B] The word ‘Buddha’ has many meanings. I suppose that the word itself and its many variants existed in some form before the man, Siddhartha Gautama, became the father of a world religion. I don’t know this for a fact; I’m merely assuming. Today, we recognize the meaning of the word ‘Buddha’ to not only encompass the person named above but also to signify any person who has achieved so-called ‘enlightenment.’ Suppose for a minute that the man, Siddhartha Gautama, never achieved enlightenment. What if he merely discovered a new way to look at the world? Let’s say ol’ Sidd was sitting around one day (admittedly dissatisfied with his monotonous life as a prince) and he got to thinking about existential things. After all, this is something that we all (as human beings) do from time to time when we are dissatisfied or confused, when we are disillusioned or depressed. Let’s say his train of thought traveled down through some obscure wilderness and into wondering about the heart of his very own existence. If he rose from his place under the Bodi tree with some kind of spectacular philosophical idea, that no one had ever articulated before, and he confessed this idea to others, maybe they just [I]thought[/I] he was a Buddha because no one had ever talked about that kind of shit before! I wonder if Mr. Gautama was born in the late 1980′s in let’s say, Detroit, and he spouted off the same kinda shit he did back 2,500 years ago in India, he’d be recognized as the same kind of omniscient, omnipresent, enlightened being? I venture to suggest that he WOULD NOT. Even if people did listen to him, they’d either think he was a homeless schizophrenic or a religious zealot, and they’d write him off as just another false prophet in a line of many. All I’m saying is that maybe, just maybe, enlightenment is a hoax. Maybe that guy did have some important insights and was able to find some kind of peace in reconciling those insights with his own life BUT enlightenment as a concept, as some grandiose, mythological goal that we’re all aiming to achieve doesn’t exist! They say that an intellectual understanding of emptiness is nothing compared to the ‘realization’ of emptiness. What separates the two? If I can explain emptiness and I have faith that emptiness IS the true nature of reality, then how come I haven’t achieved enlightenment? All I can say is, if enlightenment doesn’t exist, there’s gonna be a whole lot of pissed off monks running around this bitch. Posted in [URL="http://buddhismsucks.com/?cat=1"]Writing[/URL] | [URL="http://buddhismsucks.com/?p=43#comments"]10 Comments[/URL] [B][URL="http://buddhismsucks.com/?p=39"]Can Buddhists Use Drugs?[/URL][/B] - Before I begin, let me say that this is not an admission of guilt; it is merely an exercise in existentialism. (I suppose that statement is an admission of guilt in an of itself, huh?) Alright, here goes – it’s a Monday night. I worked a full 8-hour day. I’m a teacher. I came home from work and played with my kids for a few hours before putting them to sleep. I’ve got three kids, actually – a set of beautiful 8-month old twins and a fourteen year old daughter (who lives with her mother). My wife went out for the night. She seldom does, but tonight was a well deserved night at the movies with her best friend. I’m sitting here at my computer with our video baby monitor right beside me. I glance at it every few minutes just to make sure that they are sleeping soundly. I have approximately three hours of ‘alone time’ – something that I seldom have anymore these days. What should I do? Here are my options: [LIST] [*]Watch TV [*]Read a book [*]Write [*]Meditate [*]Play music [*]Take a bath [/LIST] I don’t want to watch TV. First of all, we don’t have cable. Second, there are no shows that I want to see. (Honestly, the only channel I ever turn on is the Food Network, which for some reason I am able to access, and frankly I’m sick of looking at Guy Fieri’s stupid fucking face. If I have to sit through another episode of the ‘Triple D,’ I’m gonna drink Drano.) Reading is definitely an option. I’m working my way throughTo the Lighthouse. Virginia Woolf is a genius. Writing too is an option but both of these choices require ENERGY and MOTIVATION, two ingredients that I’m somewhat low on after a day at work. Forget about meditation. I’m way too tired and way too out of practice to fool myself into thinking that something constructive will come out of plopping my ass down on a cushion. My idea of successful alone time isn’t forcing myself to sit still or fighting off the inevitable coma of exhaustion. Fuck meditation. I’d love to play my guitar (or banjo) but I don’t want to risk waking the kids. I always take a fucking bath. Plus, that will surely put me to sleep. Okay, let’s assume that I decide to write. (That’s what I DID decide, actually. Obvious at this point, I guess.) Let’s throw a few more variables into the mix. I’m sitting here, writing. What if I have a glass of wine? Is that okay? It’ll help me relax; plus, I like wine. It’s nice to drink. No problems there, right? Okay. I’ll have a glass of wine. (It’s a Cabernet.) Can I have another glass? One glass doesn’t really ‘do’ anything to me. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with having two glasses of wine on a Monday night! I’m writing! Writers drink, right? Can I finish the bottle? Why not? What would be wrong with drinking the entire bottle? I guess the answers to these questions depend on (1) who’s asking them and (2) with what system of morality I’m using to color them with. Okay, let’s assume (since this blog is about Buddhism) that I’m coming at these questions from the point of view of a youngish, somewhat non-traditional American Buddhist. Where do I go to find out the answers? What authority figure do I ask? Is there a text I should consult? I suppose I could ask my Lama… if I had one. I live in New York City and I’m sure there are literally hundreds of ‘Lamas’ out there, just a short subway ride away but I don’t want to talk to them. That would mean joining some kind of ‘sangha’ and I’m just not up for that right now – dharma groups are too much of a hassle for me. I guess I could use my own conscience, right? If I drank an entire bottle of wine I would be mildly intoxicated. So what? Well, I don’t want to endanger the lives of my children, right? Still… they’re sleeping. I could certainly step into their bedroom and rub their little warm butts if they stir… even if I was mildly intoxicated. If there was a fire or some other kind of emergency, I could definitely carry them to safety. So should I drink it? Let’s crank it up a notch – forget about the wine. Let’s say I had some marijuana stashed away in a drawer somewhere. Could I take a few hits off a joint? It certainly would help me relax… probably more so than the wine. Plus, there’d be the effects of the high. I could alter my perception just enough to delve deeply into the prose of Ms. Woolf in an ever so tantalizing way. Take a look at the following sentence from [I]To the Lighthouse. [/I] It concerns the world of a six-year-old boy named James Ramsay: [INDENT]The wheelbarrow, the lawnmower, the sound of poplar trees, leaves whitening before rain, rooks cawing, brooms knocking, dresses rustling – all these were so colored and distinguished in his mind that he had already his private code, his secret language, though he appeared the image of stark and uncomprehending severity, with his high forehead and his fierce blue eyes, impeccably candid and pure, frowning slightly at the sight of human frailty, so that his mother, watching him guide his scissors neatly around the refrigerator [from a catalog he was cutting], imagined him all red and ermine on the Beach of directing a stern and momentous enterprise in some crisis of public affairs. [/INDENT] Yes, this is ONE SENTENCE – a magnificent sentence, in my opinion. In case you haven’t read any Woolf, she basically pioneered what we now know as ‘stream of consciousness.’ There’s a lot there in that sentence. I had to read it several times just to appreciate its complexity and subtle imagery. Just imagine for a second how much MORE vivid this sentence would be after a few puffs off a bowl stuffed to the brim with good quality weed. Those ‘leaves whitening before rain’ would come alive in their naturalness. The boy’s face… ‘frowning slightly at the sight of human frailty’ would blossom into a picture of absolute adoration if I were high as a kite. So… should I? What do you think? What would the Buddha say about this? Let’s take just one final turn… to revisit the idea of meditating tonight. The main problem for me is that I’m just too damn tired. I know that my fatigued body would be a major obstacle to maintaining the kind of attention I’d need to really go deep into my practice. It makes me feel guilty on a daily basis. So what if, to help me overcome said fatigue, I snort a line of Adderall? What if I had a whole bottle of Adderall just sitting in my medicine cabinet. Maybe it was prescribed to me by a bona fide psychiatrist for an attention problem. Should I do it? It would certainly help me meditate. Would that be cheating? I can’t claim to have answers to any of these questions. I was going to dig up some reference material about what recognized Buddhist teachers have said concerning these topics but right now, I just don’t feel like it. I would never do anything to neglect my responsibility as a father or to put the well-being of my children in jeopardy. I would never abuse drugs or alcohol to the extent that my body suffered or that I began to mistreat those around me. These are limits that I’ve put on myself… not as the result of studying some religious text or speaking with a monk. I know that the ‘official’ stance of conservative Buddhism is to abstain from all ‘mind-altering substances’ but I don’t buy into everything that the conservatives preach. So, what should I do? More importantly what should YOU do? Is it okay to use drugs and alcohol recreationally? By what standards should we (as Buddhists) measure how much or how little drugs we are permitted to use? Sure, I know the old adage that moderation is key… Madhyamika is, after all, the Middle Way, right? But what about some more specifics… Can Buddhists Use Drugs? What do you think? [/QUOTE]

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