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- Valued treasures -
I re-read something here that i read when it was first posted a short while ago.
For some reason, this time, it hit my mind like a silencing hammer.
So Im just gonna parrot and dance around it again in my own excited kitten like way.
[chref=12]'Goods hard to come by.. make our mind go wild with excitement'[/chref] - and chapter three points out the unwanted consequence of having our valued treasures. i.e a lack of them, or having them 'removed', is [chref=13]startling[/chref] = suffering.
Often this counter-balance is something we only remember in retrospect, if we notice at all, due to the blinding effects of natures myriad calls: food, sex, prestige etc - these headings are easy to see, but nature's magic trick lies in when we catch a scent and fall sure that this particular thing is most certainly the best shiny thing heretofore.
A comment in a recent post slapped me upside my average student head, reminding me that this also mean the 'Emotional treasures,' the ideals of self improvement and 'enlightenment' :
What the?! read that last part again! Valuing the "spiritually" / emotionally 'hard to come by' ideals, even coveting another's 'good attitude' emphasizes its opposite; its counter-balance of dooming one's self to a life of never measuring up. Of course!! :shock:
And only when I can let go of the belief that the fleeting 'up-side' will bring me contentment can i truly and honestly settle and remain still.
Just as the key to 'fixing' our 'down-sides' is helplessly connected to letting go of the promised joyful end of it,
so is the key to what we seek to be found in the [chref=41]'sullied'[/chref] and letting it be just that... and not fussing, meddling, or trying to do anything to it... [chref=15]muddy and yet, settling, slowly become limpid.[/chref]
For some reason, this time, it hit my mind like a silencing hammer.
So Im just gonna parrot and dance around it again in my own excited kitten like way.
[chref=12]'Goods hard to come by.. make our mind go wild with excitement'[/chref] - and chapter three points out the unwanted consequence of having our valued treasures. i.e a lack of them, or having them 'removed', is [chref=13]startling[/chref] = suffering.
Often this counter-balance is something we only remember in retrospect, if we notice at all, due to the blinding effects of natures myriad calls: food, sex, prestige etc - these headings are easy to see, but nature's magic trick lies in when we catch a scent and fall sure that this particular thing is most certainly the best shiny thing heretofore.
A comment in a recent post slapped me upside my average student head, reminding me that this also mean the 'Emotional treasures,' the ideals of self improvement and 'enlightenment' :
Carl said:
Any thing we feel important becomes a personal “trap”.
Extricating ourselves from this is like attempting to see your eye with your eye. A sense of ‘important’ (need, desire, lust, etc), is the “trap” living things fall into the moment they are born, and only escape once dead. This “trap” accounts for an ideal common to all religions (as far as I know). The Taoist version goes like this:
[chref=64]Therefore the sage desires not to desire, and does not value goods which are hard to come by.[/chref]
The ‘goods’ being not only physical things but idealistic goods - [chref=45]perfection[/chref] of any sort, including a perfection in desiring not to desire.
What the?! read that last part again! Valuing the "spiritually" / emotionally 'hard to come by' ideals, even coveting another's 'good attitude' emphasizes its opposite; its counter-balance of dooming one's self to a life of never measuring up. Of course!! :shock:
And only when I can let go of the belief that the fleeting 'up-side' will bring me contentment can i truly and honestly settle and remain still.
Just as the key to 'fixing' our 'down-sides' is helplessly connected to letting go of the promised joyful end of it,
so is the key to what we seek to be found in the [chref=41]'sullied'[/chref] and letting it be just that... and not fussing, meddling, or trying to do anything to it... [chref=15]muddy and yet, settling, slowly become limpid.[/chref]
Comments
I find that when I'm in touch with the stillness, then I'm able to be with the sullied, the whatever, just let it be, and a feeling of peaceful neutrality allows "me" to watch it all happening. "Muddy and yet, settling, slowly becoming limpid" describes the experience perfectly. It's a gut feeling, with little going through the frontal lobe.
I spent last weekend alone and, since my husband has some serious health problems, I find myself thinking "so this is what it will be like after Rick is gone." Sounds miserable, right? But I just notice that thought and move on, like one weekend-long (lifelong?) meditation.
Thenowseeker, actually, we are taught these erroneous perceptions to which we cling so dearly. But that's the whole point of life to have all of these experiences so that we might attain enlightenment or not, lol.
I watched a movie last night, The Ripple Effect, in the genre of "Crash" which is a must see movie. Whereas Crash addressed the instantaneous effects of actions, The Ripple Effect addressed the long term effects of actions. Interesting movies, both, as they address karma, the law of action. In this movie Forest Whitaker told this story:
There was a man who had a stallion that he used for everything which made him rather poor as he used the same horse for all things. One day the horse ran away and all the neighbors came by lamenting, "oh you poor man, you are now the most poorest of the village, we feel so sorry for you.
The man replied: "Maybe, maybe not."
Shortly thereafter the stallion returned with 20 mares. All the villagers again ran to the man's cottage.
"You are now the richest man in the village," they said, "you must be very happy!"
The man replied: "Maybe, maybe not."
Time passed and one day the man's son was riding the stallion, was thrown and became paralyzed.
The villagers again lamented for what they perceived as the man's lost of fortune. "oh you poor man, you've lost your only son."
The man replied: "Maybe, maybe not."
Not long after a war started and all of the villagers sons were drafted.
Visiting the man at his cottage again they cried, " oh how fortunate you are that you have your son, when all of ours' have perished in the war."
The man replied: "Maybe, maybe not."
He ends the story here.
Basically, I tell this story because it made me laugh in glee when I heard it. Secondly, because as a Buddhist, I understand the teachings to a small degree, yet this story basically shows what was meant by the concept of not being swayed by the eight winds, that is, we are neither elated by prosperity nor grieved by decline. In these two extremes we lose our happiness.
Lynn Cornish, lol, I too forget all the time. Yet in forgetfulness we remember and in remembering we forget. This is the cycle of all things, manifestation, maximization of potential, decline and extinction. It is the way of all things.
I'm sending you and Rick positive energy that you find what is for you to find here, in this place, in this time, in these circumstances.
As far as "this is what it will be like...." no it won't because nothing is constant, everything is changing.