about clouds

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clyde
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about clouds

Post by clyde »

A Dharma talk by Thay about clouds:

“Enlightenment means to see what harm you are involved in and to renounce it.” David Brazier, The New Buddhism

“The most straightforward advice on awakening enlightened mind is this: practice not causing harm to anyone—yourself or others—and every day, do what you can to be helpful.” Pema Chodron, “What to Do When the Going Gets Rough”
Malcolm
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Re: about clouds

Post by Malcolm »

clyde wrote: Mon Apr 04, 2022 5:46 pm A Dharma talk by Thay about clouds:
The term the Buddha used was punarbhāva, which means re-existence or existing again, literally, hence "rebirth."
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: about clouds

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

Malcolm wrote: Mon Apr 04, 2022 5:48 pm
clyde wrote: Mon Apr 04, 2022 5:46 pm A Dharma talk by Thay about clouds:
The term the Buddha used was punarbhāva, which means re-existence or existing again, literally, hence "rebirth."
Wow thanks for that.
Knowing that works makes a big difference!

I say thanks because “existing again” doesn’t automatically mean that there is a self, or even a continuum. That’s why I think “rebirth” is a clumsy, if not misleading term.

As an analogy, if I have a LEGO kit for building a house, and I construct the LEGO house, then deconstruct it all, shake up the pieces in a box, then build it again, then I have “punarbhāva’d” that object. It exists again, but nothing continuous about that object, no intrinsically existent “house-ness” has been rebuilt. All that has continued are the causes for that object to exist again. In fact identical, interchangeable pieces might be used in different places than they had been previously, as long as they function there.

Similarly with “rebirth” I think, otherwise if one asserts anything other than a perpetual flow of cause and effect, one might as well just call it atman.

This is what occurs with memories. We think
Of them as being “stored” like a DVD collection. But memories are actually reconstructed anew each time we recall them.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
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