--- In [email protected], anon_couscous_ff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Who is making this eternal journey? ...as the individuality myth > slowly unravels. If there is no individuality myth, there is no > eternal journey, just eternity, > Consciousness. (And if that is a "disappointment", a sense of loss of > specific pleasures on the journey, then the enjoyer still lives -- the > individuality myth still lives.
I was thinking of this in terms of the Bodhisattva Vow -- "May I assist all sentient beings to attain Buddhahood, and may I be the last one to attain Buddhahood when all sentient beings have attained Buddhahood" The myth of individuality remains as long as there are desires for this or that or a particular outcome or experience to fuel the illusion and myth of individuality. The latter (desire for experiences) being, IMV, the paradox, joke and humor about "seeking enlightenment" -- it is the desire and seeking, amongst possible other things, that keep the myth of individuality alive. The desire or attraction to experience might be earthly or celestial. Like vaj's story of people visiting highly attractive lokas during bardo retreats. The intense beauty and power of celestial realms can keep the myth of individuality alive through its attractivness to be experienced. The Bodhisattva Vow appears to be another means to keep the individuality alive -- the vow taker, in time, may have resolved all samskara, be perfected and liberated all but for that one last desire. Its that on desire that keeps the individuality "together" to enable work for all humankind. In that one sense, Rory's admonishments to create your own defintion of enlightenment makes sense. Ones deeper desires remaining, or constructed, in the "last fling" or life of individuality can be at any level. A "plain vanilla" adept may express quite an uncultured way of life -- "culture" and "being cultivated" being relative attributes of the last-fling individual, not "absolute" qualities of the Absolute. Another adept may take a relative "vow" -- a strong desire to root out all anger. This may become their final desire, all other desires are extinguished prior to it. When this final desire is achieved, no desires remain to fuel the myth of individuality. The adept is liberated, but the current "individuals" body, social-self, intellect, etc. remain for the duration of the "last-fling"life. That adept will live a state of non-anger with consciousness awake to itself. The plain-vanilla adept with live the last fling-life with consciousness awake to itself, and perhaps bouts of anger and other "uncultivated" relative qualities. The non-anger adept "created" their own flavor of the "last-fling" life. And those taking the Bodhisattva Vow create their own flavor of their "last-fling" life -- as well as the flavor of many lives prior to that -- living in a near-perfective state, with many quite polished human virtues, with the small thread of the vow keeping the myth of individuality alive, life after near perfected life. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
