Frailty

[spiritnoname]

Tonight I was at a grocery store with my mom.

I noticed a very old lady in a wheel chair being pushed around by what seemed to be her granddaughters, likely that was the most exciting thing she had done for a while as it is so hard for her to move around.

I noticed a old lady, overweight, with a protective cast on one leg, walking with crutches. I doubt she had much of a family and it reminded me so much of a injured animal in the wild, dragging it's legs and with no support soon to die alone from lack of necessities.

I thought about my mom and how she was similar, she is overweight and is having one joint problem after another and is constantly going in and out of casts. I also thought about how I am similar and if I live long enough I will have to face the same aging process and all the frailty that comes with it.

I realized there is nothing for this, it just can't be avoided, and the suffering, seeing our bodies decay, and even losing loved ones, not knowing where they're going, can only be eased by putting a end to samsaric activity, becoming an Arhant or Buddha.

This sounds so generic, something a Buddhist would say, but I'm actually really afraid.

[Inge]

Tonight I was at a grocery store with my mom.

I noticed a very old lady in a wheel chair being pushed around by what seemed to be her granddaughters, likely that was the most exciting thing she had done for a while as it is so hard for her to move around.

I noticed a old lady, overweight, with a protective cast on one leg, walking with crutches. I doubt she had much of a family and it reminded me so much of a injured animal in the wild, dragging it's legs and with no support soon to die alone from lack of necessities.

I thought about my mom and how she was similar, she is overweight and is having one joint problem after another and is constantly going in and out of casts. I also thought about how I am similar and if I live long enough I will have to face the same aging process and all the frailty that comes with it.

I realized there is nothing for this, it just can't be avoided, and the suffering, seeing our bodies decay, and even losing loved ones, not knowing where they're going, can only be eased by putting a end to samsaric activity, becoming an Arhant or Buddha.

This sounds so generic, something a Buddhist would say, but I'm actually really afraid.

How do we know that we are going to die?

Sure, that is what many people say and believe, but isn't that only assumtions? I really do not know if I am going to die, but still I am scared of death at times.

[spiritnoname]

<< been dead before.


I'm not afraid of the death per say, but the stuff that comes before it and the separation from loved ones.


Inge, your view is actually a very common one. Buddha Shakyamuni called it intoxication, said that many are intoxicated by youth. When you get older, when you start seeing death first hand, when the aches and pains come, when you loose teeth and hair, when your limbs become fragile like brittle wood, then the intoxication of youth will be over because you see the process of decay with your body.

[Inge]

<< been dead before.


I'm not afraid of the death per say, but the stuff that comes before it and the separation from loved ones.


Inge, your view is actually a very common one. Buddha Shakyamuni called it intoxication, said that many are intoxicated by youth. When you get older, when you start seeing death first hand, when the aches and pains come, when you loose teeth and hair, when your limbs become fragile like brittle wood, then the intoxication of youth will be over because you see the process of decay with your body.

I don't remember being dead before.
Thinking about death of the future is just thoughts.
I might be dead now, but that is also just a thought.

Surely i am intoxicated, but not by youth. I experience aching and pains, and my teath as well as the rest of the body seems to be in decay.

Someone told me that the past is only memories. The future is only fantasies. And even the present can not be pinned down.

So where is this death that I am so afraid of?

[spiritnoname]

In Buddhism the primary teaching is karma, that actions have their results, when this comes so does this, phenomenon are interdependent things relying on two or more things coming together in contact. When you do things skillfully, with heedfulness, fearing the consequences, bringing about good states, you have good results, the finality of this fabricated path of karma is the deathless.

Your view might be pleasant for now Inge, but I see fault in it because it is heedless, denying actions matter, and does not put an end to suffering.

Like when we hold any deluded views, we see in line with them,.. in the same way, you see in line with your view, I've pointed out the faults of this view, now it's up to you to challenge your views, check the results, check it against your experience, and ask wise people if it is blameworthy or praiseworthy.

[Inge]

In Buddhism the primary teaching is karma, that actions have their results, when this comes so does this, phenomenon are interdependent things relying on two or more things coming together in contact. When you do things skillfully, with heedfulness, fearing the consequences, bringing about good states, you have good results, the finality of this fabricated path of karma is the deathless.

Your view might be pleasant for now Inge, but I see fault in it because it is heedless, denying actions matter, and does not put an end to suffering.

Like when we hold any deluded views, we see in line with them,.. in the same way, you see in line with your view, I've pointed out the faults of this view, now it's up to you to challenge your views, check the results, check it against your experience, and ask wise people if it is blameworthy or praiseworthy.

Which view is it that you refere to when you write "your view"?

My view is that I am going to die. That is my assumption. That is what I have been taught from early childhood. What I tried to do in the previous posts was to challenge this view.

Also I don't agree that the primary teaching in buddhism is karma.

What I have learned is that there are within buddhism many expedient means. Maybe the teaching of karma is one of them? This is not my view, I am just asking.

[spiritnoname]

You could say karma is the only teaching.