--- David Newman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> but seriously, who is alex?
Seriously, I am alex.
> > It is of crucial importance to come to terms with
> the fact that
> > suffering can indeed be eliminated.
>
> Is that the case with you? I think its a more or
> less thing.. I know of
> no nonsufferers, only people who clain so.. of which
> there is no
> shortage, but always, on closer examination, their
> woes spring forth..
> Buddha is the ideal of this to me.
Regarding your 'more or less', please see the last
paragraph below.
> >> Buddhahood is not some sort of a truce with the
> world. It is not a
> >> philosophical resignation to the sad but
> inevitable facts of life.
> >> Buddhahod is complete
> >> elimination of any possiblity of pain.
>
> hmmm this seems a very idealistic rendering of
> Buddhism to me, as if it
> is an opiate supreme.. how does such a Boddhahod
> work in your view here?
> can you describe what consciousness is like to such
> an enlightened one?
Before Budhahood is realized, there are vexations on
one side and there is wisdom on another side. Deluded
beings firmly believe that the goal is to minimize
vexations and to maximize wisdom.
However, upon realizing Buddhahood fully, both
vexations and wisdom are no more. Both vexations and
wisdom are apparitions, feeding off each other
(dependently originated). As long as this illusion is
perpetrated, the pain is unavoidable.
Perfect Buddhahood is sometimes referred to as
Dharmakaya. In Dharmakaya there are no sensations, and
as such it is impossible for a perfect Buddha to know
any pain at all.
> >> It is definitelly possible. If it weren't, what
> good
> >> would the practice be?
>
> I would say it is good because it encourages less
> suffering through less
> attachment, yet the ideal of total detachment is
> just that, an ideal.
I think we have placed the cart before the horse here.
We live in the nightmarish world of impermanent,
inconsistent, wishy-washy and capricious forces, and
we, on the mere grounds of familiarity, proclaim that
to be the real deal.
Meanwhile, the truly real situation, when explained by
the Buddha and other enlightened teacher, is deemed as
being just an unreachable ideal, a wishy-washy fairy
tale.
Things are completely backwards in this regard. Our
illusive, everyday nightmare where we're hopelessly
trying to make some sense out of some apparently
capricious course of events, should be labeled for
what it is -- an ideal, an arbitrarily cobbled up
fairy tale. The Buddha's teaching, whereby he
expounded how things really are, should be embraced as
a completely attainable reality.
The trouble is, we have been trained from an early
childhood to place our trust only in quantifiable
facts. Anything that can be reliably measured and
quantified automatically wins our respect and our
trust.
That's why all this talk about the truce, about 'less
this and less that and more this and more that'. It's
all about measuring, quantifying, etc. Those things
make us feel comfortable. But, it's a fool's gold.
So, you talk about 'less suffering and less
attachment'. But in truth, the Buddhist practice is
not concerned with quantifying, with less of this and
more of that. It is either/or. Either you're in the
prison, or you're out of the prison. You cannot be 75%
in the prison. Same as you cannot be 46% pregnant.
Either you are, or you're not.
Buddhahood is not an ideal, Buddhahood is reality.
Alex
=====
No karma was produced during the composition of this letter
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