Jokingfish wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:17 am
Wouldn't Buddha find all paintings to be form of self clinging? If so, how can that be objectively beautiful? Can beauty be without self clinging? How can one enjoy beauty if there's no attachment (is non attachment itself beautiful, and only that is actually beautiful)?
(i have a feeling that these questions might have been already answered in this thread, sorry about that if its so)
Purifying the mind from the three poisons/defilements doesn't mean that your perceptions cease. On the contrary, you will perceive more, more through your five bodily senses and through your supranormal powers (abhijña).
Lotus Sutra, Chapter 19
Benefits of the Teacher of the Law
At that time the Buddha said to the bodhisattva mahasattva Constant Exertion: “If good men or good women accept and uphold this Lotus Sutra, if they read it, recite it, explain and preach it, or transcribe it, such people will obtain eight hundred eye benefits, twelve hundred ear benefits, eight hundred nose benefits, twelve hundred tongue benefits, eight hundred body benefits, and twelve hundred mind benefits. With these benefits they will be able to adorn their six sense organs, making all of them pure.
“These good men and good women, with the pure physical eyes they received from their parents at birth, will view all that exists in the inner and outer parts of the major world system, its mountains, forests, rivers, and seas, down as far as the Avichi hell and up to the Summit of Being. And in their midst they will see all the living beings, and will also see and understand all the causes and conditions created by their deeds and the births that await them as a result and recompense for those deeds.”
“Moreover, Constant Exertion, if good men or good women accept and uphold this sutra, if they read it, recite it, explain and preach it, or transcribe it, they will gain twelve hundred ear benefits with which to purify their ears so they can hear all the different varieties of words and sounds in the major world system, down as far as the Avichi hell, up to the Summit of Being, and in its inner and outer parts. Elephant sounds, horse sounds, ox sounds, carriage sounds, weeping sounds, lamenting sounds, conch sounds, drum sounds, bell sounds, chime sounds, sounds of laughter, sounds of speaking, men’s voices, women’s voices, boys’ voices, girls’ voices, the voice of justice, the voice of injustice, bitter voices, merry voices, voices of ordinary people, voices of sages, happy voices, unhappy voices, voices of heavenly beings, dragon voices, yaksha voices, gandharva voices, asura voices, garuda voices, kimnara voices, mahoraga voices, the sound of fire, the sound of water, the sound of wind, voices of hell dwellers, voices of beasts, voices of hungry spirits, monks’ voices, nuns’ voices, voices of voice-hearers, voices of pratyekabuddhas, voices of bodhisattvas, and voices of buddhas. In a word, although the person has not yet gained heavenly ears, with the pure and ordinary ears that he received at birth from his parents he will be able to hear and understand all the voices that exist in the inner and outer parts of the major world system. And though in this manner he can distinguish all the various different kinds of sounds and voices, this will not impair his hearing faculty.”
“Moreover, Constant Exertion, if good men or good women accept and uphold this sutra, if they read it, recite it, explain and preach it, or transcribe it, they will succeed in gaining eight hundred nose benefits with which to purify their faculty of smell so that they can detect all different varieties of fragrances from top to bottom and in the inner and outer parts of the major world system, the fragrance of sumana flowers, jatika flowers, mallika flowers, champaka flowers, patala flowers, red lotus flowers, blue lotus flowers, white lotus flowers, the fragrance of flowering trees, fruit trees, sandalwood, aloes, tamala leaves, and tagara, as well as incense blended from a thousand, ten thousand ingredients, powdered incense, pellet incense, or paste incense. One who upholds this sutra, while dwelling here, will be able to distinguish all these.
“Moreover he will be able to distinguish and identify the odors of living beings, of elephants, horses, oxen, sheep, and so forth, the odor of a man, a woman, a boy child, a girl child, and the odors of plants, trees, thickets, and forests. Whether near or far off, all these odors he will be able to detect and distinguish one from the other without error.
“A person who upholds this sutra, though he dwells right here, will also be able to detect the odors of the various heavens in the sky above. The scent of parijataka and kovidara trees, of mandarava flowers, great mandarava flowers, manjushaka flowers, great manjushaka flowers, sandalwood, aloes, various kinds of powdered incense, and incense made of an assortment of flowers—of heavenly scents such as these, and the scents from which they are derived or blended, there are none that he cannot detect and identify.
“He will also be able to detect the scent of the bodies of heavenly beings. The scent when the heavenly king Shakra is in his superb palace amusing himself and satisfying the five desires, or the scent when he is in the Hall of the Wonderful Law preaching the Law for the beings of the heaven of the thirty-three gods, or the scent when he is wandering at leisure in his gardens, as well as the scent of the bodies of the other male and female heavenly beings—all these he will be able to detect from afar.
“He will thus be able to extend his awareness up to the Brahma heaven and even higher to the Summit of Being heaven, detecting the scent of all the bodies of the heavenly beings, and he will also detect the incense burned by the heavenly beings. Moreover the scent of voice-hearers, of pratyekabuddhas, of bodhisattvas, and of the bodies of the buddhas—all these he will detect from afar and will know where these beings are. And although he can detect all these scents, his faculty of smell will not be impaired or disordered. If he should wish to distinguish one scent from another and describe it for someone else, he will be able to recall it without error.”