Monday, January 02, 2006

It's all about getting past the conceptual framework. Failing that, developing one that works for you and makes you happy.

Hardcore Zen: THINKING ABOUT STUFF RIGHT:
"The questioner pointed out that if, as Buddhists always say, all concepts of reality are ultimately wrong, then even the Buddhist concept of reality is also incorrect.

This is perfectly true. Ultimately it's all a bunch of B.S.

...But Buddhism doesn't seek to throw everything in the Dumpster®. Buddhism offers a philosphy that attempts to approach as closely as possible a true conceptualization of reality as it is, while understanding clearly that such an attempt can never truly succeed. It is the attempt itself that is worthwhile, not its relative success or lack thereof.

...The degree to which your conceptualization of reality is close to reality as it is determines your ability to be happy. To take an extreme example, there are plenty of people in this world who imagine that if they could kill a rich person and take all his money and get away with it, they could be happy. But that idea is utterly wrong. On the other side you have supposedly "spiritual" people who believe that if they could only escape from this world into the perfect spiritual world they conceive of in their minds they would be happy. Also wrong. You might ask how I could possibly know these ideas are wrong if I haven't actually killed anyone & gotten rich from it, or made it to whatever version of Paradise you subscribe to. The answer is, I do. And even if I didn't, it wouldn't matter. I am not living among ill gotten riches, nor have I made it to Paradise just yet. So what does it matter?

Buddhism is about looking at the facts of your life as they are. Live here and live now. This is the only way of life that makes sense because you can never be anywhere else.

...[it] is intended to get you to put away all your ideas about life, the universe and everything, and allow yourself to experience yourself and the world as they really are, apart from these conceptual frameworks."

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