Re: Poems For Melancholy Buddhists
Dear Stephanie,
There are many perspectives, all true yet each different; some are conflicting views but without the least conflict ... In our Buddhist Practice, we learn to hold each and all simultaneously. I suggest that you need to free your mind from its narrow tracks of thinking:
By one perspective, our world contains countless painful, ugly things: war, child abuse, poverty, the list goes on. Buddhist Practice is certainly not about being "happy" with such ugliness, nor is it about calling such tragedy anything but what it is. We can never be at peace with such things, nor should we be. Our Buddhist Practice never teaches us to accept or "be at peace with" such things!
Yet, by another perspective, in our Practice we come to "be at peace with" precisely such things and this complex world, and to honor its complexity. We learn to respect, accept and fully embrace impossible situations, difficult or cruel people, calamity and sadness as "just what they are", and not "how we would want them to be". In a universe that presents a garden of flowers and weeds, we respect that both appear whether we like them or not. Stinking dog crap in the road is just stinking dog crap in the road. Weeds are fully weeds and crap precisely crap!! I bow to that!
But, by still another perspective, even as we allow for the world to be a complex place, even as we accept the tragedy ... simultaneously, hand-in-hand without the least break, we can set about pulling weeds. The dog crap in the road is "just what it is" and I accept it, yet I step around or clean it up! I call this attitude "acceptance without acceptance".
(Dog grap, by the way, is an excellent fertilizer for flowers! We learn also to embrace the good and happy events of this world, and not call a lovely rose as just a cluster of thorns. I suggest, Steph, you need to learn this perspective too ... if you wish to embrace the weeds, embrace the flowers too.)
And by yet one more perspective, just as true, we can experience a world beyond all human concept of flowers or weeds, war, peace, without children to be abused or monsters to do the abusing, rich and poor, dogs and dog crap. No separate you, me, cars and tables, sun or stars. It is the blank white page before the play is written, the ways of nature before a human mind even calls it "garden". By this perspective, there is a Peace beyond peace or war, a Stillness in the movement, Life and Growth beyond weeds or flowers. All meaning is there, all belonging.
Do you see conflict and incongruity among these various views? Of course there is! Of course there is not the least!
This is the bus trip we are on ... the garden tour ... perhaps going no where, perhaps some where ... perhaps someone is at the wheel, perhaps not. But all the comedy and tragedy, the weeds and flowers, are seen as but passing scenery out the window.
Free your mind from its narrow ways of thinking!
That may be the attitude of some of the students who come to Buddhism, or any other self-help book in the book store, seeking "happiness". It is certainly not the attitude of most of the Buddhist teachers I know (at least the good ones).
As well, Steph, folks seeking "happiness happiness happiness" everywhere are making the same error you are making, I think, in seeking sadness sadness sadness everywhere. Reality is much more complex than that.
Now, Peace in the presence of peace or war ... that is what Buddhism teaches and is very different from "happiness" I think.
Perhaps you want us to confirm for you, Steph, that life is just weeds and dog crap. Sorry, it is much more that that!!
It is both "wonderful" and "horrible" ... and Wonderful too beyond all human idea of "wonderful" or "horrible". It is a Heaven beyond heaven and hell, not merely a nullity or oblivion!
You say, "I want so much for there to be something or someone else to lean on, and yet I cannot believe that there is ... My personal quest is for truth and for meaning.."
Trust in the bus that brought you this far, and into this world kicking and screaming. Live your life. You are here, you have a seat, you have a window. Weeds and flowers pass by ... enjoy the scenery. Can you not appreciate the existential truth and meaning of the ride????
Gassho, Jundo
PS-
It does not last? It lasts even when you do not feel it so. Practice more with that!
Yes, even in the equanimity there is sadness. But in the equanimity there is no sadness too, not the slightest trace.
As well, know that in the sadness, there is equanimity.
Do not forget this!
Dear Stephanie,
Originally posted by Stephanie
By one perspective, our world contains countless painful, ugly things: war, child abuse, poverty, the list goes on. Buddhist Practice is certainly not about being "happy" with such ugliness, nor is it about calling such tragedy anything but what it is. We can never be at peace with such things, nor should we be. Our Buddhist Practice never teaches us to accept or "be at peace with" such things!
Yet, by another perspective, in our Practice we come to "be at peace with" precisely such things and this complex world, and to honor its complexity. We learn to respect, accept and fully embrace impossible situations, difficult or cruel people, calamity and sadness as "just what they are", and not "how we would want them to be". In a universe that presents a garden of flowers and weeds, we respect that both appear whether we like them or not. Stinking dog crap in the road is just stinking dog crap in the road. Weeds are fully weeds and crap precisely crap!! I bow to that!
But, by still another perspective, even as we allow for the world to be a complex place, even as we accept the tragedy ... simultaneously, hand-in-hand without the least break, we can set about pulling weeds. The dog crap in the road is "just what it is" and I accept it, yet I step around or clean it up! I call this attitude "acceptance without acceptance".
(Dog grap, by the way, is an excellent fertilizer for flowers! We learn also to embrace the good and happy events of this world, and not call a lovely rose as just a cluster of thorns. I suggest, Steph, you need to learn this perspective too ... if you wish to embrace the weeds, embrace the flowers too.)
And by yet one more perspective, just as true, we can experience a world beyond all human concept of flowers or weeds, war, peace, without children to be abused or monsters to do the abusing, rich and poor, dogs and dog crap. No separate you, me, cars and tables, sun or stars. It is the blank white page before the play is written, the ways of nature before a human mind even calls it "garden". By this perspective, there is a Peace beyond peace or war, a Stillness in the movement, Life and Growth beyond weeds or flowers. All meaning is there, all belonging.
Do you see conflict and incongruity among these various views? Of course there is! Of course there is not the least!
This is the bus trip we are on ... the garden tour ... perhaps going no where, perhaps some where ... perhaps someone is at the wheel, perhaps not. But all the comedy and tragedy, the weeds and flowers, are seen as but passing scenery out the window.
Free your mind from its narrow ways of thinking!
... I personally have gotten tired of the candy-sweet Buddhism that dominates popular American Buddhist discourse, as it strikes me as false and merely representative of the subjective reality of the upper middle class milieu it largely represents.
As well, Steph, folks seeking "happiness happiness happiness" everywhere are making the same error you are making, I think, in seeking sadness sadness sadness everywhere. Reality is much more complex than that.
Now, Peace in the presence of peace or war ... that is what Buddhism teaches and is very different from "happiness" I think.
Perhaps you want us to confirm for you, Steph, that life is just weeds and dog crap. Sorry, it is much more that that!!
I guess the question is, when you finally grow up and see what this world is really like, can you say it's so wonderful if you're an honest person and aren't sheltered? I
You say, "I want so much for there to be something or someone else to lean on, and yet I cannot believe that there is ... My personal quest is for truth and for meaning.."
Trust in the bus that brought you this far, and into this world kicking and screaming. Live your life. You are here, you have a seat, you have a window. Weeds and flowers pass by ... enjoy the scenery. Can you not appreciate the existential truth and meaning of the ride????
Gassho, Jundo
PS-
Skye wrote "Holding all things in equanimity, good and bad, is a liberating experience. Have you not felt it??"
Yes, but it doesn't last. And even in that equanimity, when it is there, there is also sadness.
Yes, but it doesn't last. And even in that equanimity, when it is there, there is also sadness.
Yes, even in the equanimity there is sadness. But in the equanimity there is no sadness too, not the slightest trace.
As well, know that in the sadness, there is equanimity.
Do not forget this!
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