Buddha gonna knock you out...UGH!

[thedarksiren2]

I was chatting happily with krylon64 on AIM, checking my e-mail for the daily bits and came across the daily Buddhist Wisdom thing which I get weekly. LOL

Anyway, it read,

"Worldly afflictions are as extensive as an ocean, noisy and clamorous; but they all arise from the thoughts in your own mind. When not a single thought is conceived, you are liberated from them all."
-Ta-t

Thinking about this, and then considering the very intense dream this boy just shared with me -- which, incidentally, involved the ocean, burdens, freezing and stagnation -- I made the comment that I didn't get Buddhism all the time. I mean, I like the peaceful notion of it, but, like many eastern religions, it deems we empty our minds and bodies of wants, desires, etc. It feels, I don't know, passionless to me. What is life without hunger, after all?

As I spoke this notion to Gabe, AIM suddenly had a "fatal error" and shut down, leaving our conversation mid-thought and me with a bloody nose.

Yes, you read that right. I got a bloody nose.

One could say that it's the dry air, sure. Then again, I've been living in the dry air of heated homes in the Cleveland winters now for about nine years, and haven't had a nosebleed in like twelve years.

I think I pissed Buddha off.
This thought, I realize, is contradictory to the concept of peace etc., but I couldn't help being amused, sitting with a tissue hanging out of my nose, reminiscent of the bathroom scene from Better Off Dead where John Cusack has the Q-tips sticking out of every orafice...

life is such a beautiful trip.
~8)

Comments

[daliah.livejournal.com]

not that i am laughing at your bloody nose mind you, but i love it when people can be amused by their own mishaps...so many people would have been ranting and raving about a bloody nose icantbelieveitWTF?!?! its refreshing to hear a more lighthearted take on things. :D

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

One of my many attempts at not sweating the small shtuff that actually worked.~;)

[hematite-cross.livejournal.com]

I like to think of the ideas within Buddism as more an issue of perspective. Emotions, (good, bad, intense, confused, mild), are something that it is possible to separate from, kind of like taking a step backwards from a commotion or climbing a tree or building so as to be able to look upon a noisy crowd from that separated perspective. This can be useful at times when the emotions are confusing, overwhelming or painful. It can also be useful even with wonderful feelings because it allows you to see from almost an outsiders view and know what exactly it is that has caused those intense feelings. In other words, it can help you to learn more about who you are. Also, when bad times come again, it may be easier to remember the distant perspective. The distant perspective is more objective. You may feel that a certain intense happy feeling can never happen again, but the distant perspective knows that while that exact feeling may not return, others just as good in a different way will come to your life in the future.

Having the ability to look at the intensity from life from a distant perspective does not mean that you have to stay distant. It mean that you are given the capability to choose. You can dive into the crowd and live the intensity, or you can pull back and be mellow and quiet while you simply observe. The point is that you have the choice.
That choice is what brings liberation.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

see, in as much as I can appreciate stepping back and taking things in, I do not feel it is healthy to step back from your emotions. It feels to me that doing so labels them in a negative connotation when, in fact, we feel things because of some trigger, which is perfectly valid as long as it exists.

I suppose if you are facing them, rather than ignoring or covering them up, it is one thing. Then again, I believe that the heart of the mind is rubbed differently than the mind of the heart, and mixing the two leads to tangled fingers and broken bones, so to speak. It's almost like mixing business with personal life to me.

I like your choice perspective, and all in all, you're right...it is that choice that liberates us, and, moreover IMO, knowing that the choice exists.

I guess I spent so much time numbing myself from real-life, utilizing vices to make things *easier*, that now I am intent on feeling things completely. Religion, to me, is one other form of escape, and although Buddhism in and of itself is not actually considered religion so much as a way of life, it is yet another organized thing, so I question its validity. After all, these philosophies were all, quite simply, conceived from the minds of mankind, and are not necessarily natural order. I tend to follow my instinct (a whole different conversation that I will not delve into at this moment), and it tells me to trust the latter of the two.

All in all I am a walking contradiction, however, so take any and all of my words with a grain of salt as you deem necessary.~8) I have my personal beliefs, but like the men who wrote pages in The Bible and other religious texts, I am merely human, and would never claim to have the answers. But don't tell anyone...you might screw up my rep~;)

[hematite-cross.livejournal.com]

My problem with emotions has always been an utter lack of knowledge about how I feel. I will think that everything in my life is absolutely wonderful until suddenly I start crying and can't stop, or suddenly get mad for "no" reason. Being with Paul has helped me imensely in figuring out what I feel, and being able to step back and kind of observe myself is helping also. It's not the same as avoiding or escaping the emotions. In a way, it's paying more attention to them. Not really a natural thing for me to do; I'd much rather create a bubble life around myself where the emotions I don't want just don't exist. . . but I've slowly been geting past the unhealthiness of that attitude.