Questions from someone who knows nothing

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Naughtywesterner
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Questions from someone who knows nothing

Post by Naughtywesterner »

I'll start with this,

His holiness told me that 1 cause of negative destructive thoughts and emotions is that people accept reality as it appears. I actually think I don’t want to know at this point, but do tell, if it’s not what it appears to be then what is it? I have my suspicions, theories, experiences, fantasies perhaps. Could anyone help me out with that?

Many thanks.
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Johnny Dangerous
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Re: Questions from someone who knows nothing

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

Perhaps read a book on the subject by his Holiness such as A Profound Mind. Obviously, it is difficult to answer a broad question like ‘what is reality’.

More than likely he is referring to our habit of apprehending reality as permanent, stable etc. then becoming distressed when it behaves otherwise.

Without an actual quote or statement it is pretty hard to know though.
Meditate upon Bodhicitta when afflicted by disease

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when sad

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when suffering occurs

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when you are scared

-Khunu Lama
Naughtywesterner
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Re: Questions from someone who knows nothing

Post by Naughtywesterner »

Hmm, I think it’s as close or close enough to a quote as I have a good memory according to me. Thank you for the recommendation to read a book, I will do that. But I was hoping for a little more!😁
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Johnny Dangerous
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Re: Questions from someone who knows nothing

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

Naughtywesterner wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 5:45 pm Hmm, I think it’s as close or close enough to a quote as I have a good memory according to me. Thank you for the recommendation to read a book, I will do that. But I was hoping for a little more!😁
The question is too vague for more detail. He's probably talking about Sunyata - emptiness, but again without a quote it's hard to say. Some of these are very "big" concepts that someone can't explain in one or two sentences, so knowing the actual question is necessary to whittle down an answer. There are a lot of ways in which people don't understand reality from a Buddhist standpoint, a couple examples might be:

Seeing what is impermanent as permanent, Seeing causes of suffering as causes of happiness, etc.
Meditate upon Bodhicitta when afflicted by disease

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when sad

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when suffering occurs

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when you are scared

-Khunu Lama
Jesse
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Re: Questions from someone who knows nothing

Post by Jesse »

Naughtywesterner wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 3:57 pm I'll start with this,

His holiness told me that 1 cause of negative destructive thoughts and emotions is that people accept reality as it appears. I actually think I don’t want to know at this point, but do tell, if it’s not what it appears to be then what is it? I have my suspicions, theories, experiences, fantasies perhaps. Could anyone help me out with that?

Many thanks.
Something worth investigating further.
Image
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
SilenceMonkey
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Re: Questions from someone who knows nothing

Post by SilenceMonkey »

You could start by looking at how mind distorts reality.
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Questions from someone who knows nothing

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

All composite phenomena are in a constant flux of arising and falling, but we usually perceive things as unchanging and then when things change we feel like we don’t have something solid to hold onto, and this threatens self-grasping. Feeling threatened, negative and destructive thoughts and emotions arise.

Conversely, developing the Buddhist view provides the basis for avoiding the mistake of thinking that appearances are unchanging.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
Bristollad
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Re: Questions from someone who knows nothing

Post by Bristollad »

Naughtywesterner wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 3:57 pm I'll start with this,

His holiness told me that 1 cause of negative destructive thoughts and emotions is that people accept reality as it appears. I actually think I don’t want to know at this point, but do tell, if it’s not what it appears to be then what is it?

Many thanks.
If you don't want to know, why are you asking?
The antidote—to be free from the suffering of samsara—you need to be free from delusion and karma; you need to be free from ignorance, the root of samsara. So you need to meditate on emptiness. That is what you need. Lama Zopa Rinpoche
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