The Question Abiding in bliss sounds great, but wouldn't it get boring after a while? Why seek to achieve enlightenment / nirvana and become One with the All?From various sources, including conversations with various people (some real), I've constructed a ramshackle, unstable, incomplete and misleading picture of what some aspects of enlightenment / nirvana mean, to some people. But I don't understand what the benefits are; I don't understand why achieving enlightenment should be set as a goal. According to some schools of Buddhist thought, life is full of pain and misery. Then you die and are reborn... into another life of pain and suffering... over and over again, until you escape Samsara (the "Wheel of Cyclic Existence"), achieve nirvana and become One with the All. |  The earliest known Wheel of Life (bhavachakra) depiction is painted on a wall in the Ajanta Cave complex in India. Holding the wheel is Yama, God of Death. |
Reincarnation is to be avoided. Life is to be avoided. The self must be liberated from the endless wheel of cyclic existence.
Or so they say. But is that true for everyone?
Not every life is full of pain and suffering. Life may be full of delusion, but what's so terrible about a bit of delusion once in a while? And even if every single life, without exception, is nothing but pain and suffering and delusion and aversion, some might still prefer that over nothingness, blissful or otherwise.
Right now, with my limited understanding and unspiritual nature, I can't see why enlightenment should be preferred over cyclic existence.
| I'm childish and ignorant and have much to learn. I'm hostage to the mind and the self. But right now, the ignorant child foolishly believes he does not want to be subsumed into the All. I want to keep learning and growing. I don't want an end to cyclic existence. I want more cyclic existence. According to Wikipedia (5th January 2014) nirvana is "the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished". Well, I'm just stupid and selfish enough to prefer the fires of my desire to be burning bright or at least ignited rather than extinguished. I'd rather be flame than ash. I want to live this life hard and well, and try my hardest to do whatever it is I've chosen for my mission.
|  More recent (circa 1800) depiction of the Wheel of Existence, showing the six realms of existence, with Lord Yama in attendance. Applique and embroidery on silk. |
What am I not getting? What am I not perceiving correctly? Or to put it another way:
If the sum of the parts is more than the whole
And some of the parts want a starring roleOne has a question, it’s really quite small
For any who want to be one with the allOne wonders why oneness is set as a goal
One that one dies for, along with one’s soulA goal that’s scored long after the game
When the self is forgotten along with the nameIn trueness your youness is inside your head
Oneness and twoness is noneness: you’re deadMinus my myness my self can’t be found ...
Continues in "One Wonders Why Oneness", AWAREWOLF & OTHER TWISTED TAILS
I've put these questions to a number of people. I've looked for answers in books. I've consulted the Akashic Record ;-)
The Best Answer So Far
For me, so far the answer that has come closest to the truth is from a teacher of mine. I'm not happy with the answer, but it's the best I've got.
Enlightenment is not an object or something that can be achieved. It is NOT anything that can be thought up or experienced. Enlightenment is not a place one gets to. It is a place to come from. Who said you should set it it as a goal? The one who seeks it has nothing to do with enlightenment and yet enlightenment is the space in which that one arises.Setting enlightenment as a goal is like trying to see your own eyes with your eyes, or to try to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. It is impossible to achieve enlightenment just like a fish cannot try to swim or even set a goal for achieving the ocean.
A.M.
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See also Enlightenment? Or a Cold Beer Instead?.
NIGHTMERRIES: THE LIGHTER SIDE OF DARKNESS This so-called "book" will chew you up, spit you out, and leave you twitching and frothing on the carpet. More than 60 dark and feculent fictions (read ‘em and weep) copiously illustrated by over 20 grotesque images you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.
AWAREWOLF & OTHER CRHYMES AGAINST HUMANITY (Vot could be Verse?) We all hate poetry, right? But we might make an exception for this sick and twisted stuff. This devil's banquet of adults-only offal features more than 50 satanic sonnets, vitriolic verses and odious odes.
MANIC MEMES & OTHER MINDSPACE INVADERS A disturbing repository of quotably quirky quotes, sayings, proverbs, maxims, ponderances, adages and aphorisms. This menagerie holds no fewer than 184 memes from eight meme-species perfectly adapted to their respective environments.
FIENDS & FREAKS Adults-only Tales of Serpents, Dragons, Devils, Lobsters, Anguished Spirits, Gods, Anti-gods and Other Horse-thieves You Wouldn't Want to Meet in a Dark Kosmos: 4th Edition
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Nice poem. Taoism is also along the lines of the Best Answer, which is why it is not popular - if we ignore practical, everyday, modern Taoism.
Which may explain the popularity of coopting the young. They grow up to earnestly justify what they already believe in.
Yes I'm still a particularly earnest justifier, but I'm working on it, and getting better every day!
The full poem is included below, with the two stanzas missing from the blog post:
If the sum of the parts is more than the whole
And some of the parts want a starring role
One has a question, it’s really quite small
For any who want to be one with the all
One wonders why oneness is set as a goal
One that one dies for, along with one’s soul
A goal that’s scored long after the game
When the self is forgotten along with the name
In trueness your youness is inside your head
Oneness and twoness is noneness: you’re dead
Minus my myness my self can’t be found
Above in the sky or below in the ground
One and one’s two, and two and one’s three
I’ll date myself first, before marrying me.
Thanks for your comment. Cheers, MM
I know that I'm certainly not ready to step out of the cycle yet. This life is a huge indication that I have a lot to learn! I don't know if this is the first life where I've been consciously aware of that fact, but I have surely become aware of it in spades. I had a lot of awakenings over the past year. Some of them weren't too flattering!
The Real Cie, I hope youwon't think it presumptuous of me, but I think it's wonderful you've experienced awakenings over the past year, even if some of them weren't too flattering -- IMO those are the best kind, those you learn from the most. Maybe. Thanks for your comment. Cheers, MM
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