Emotional zombies might be close to the truth. Upon realizing that there is no reason to feel anything about any sort of occurrence you just sort of stop and abide in a state free of joy or sadness. I mean if happiness and sadness are essentially caused by you and your reactions to things then you just sort of "hop out" of that stream of emotions and experience all things equally. At least that's what I've read in some books at my library, and my conversations with monks, and what she is saying (and I have asked her personally and she can confirm, she's also studied it in college and spoken to scholars and monks as well about it).PadmaVonSamba wrote: ↑Sun Jan 01, 2023 12:41 amso, why do you need a reason?Ardha wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 10:05 pm
But what I am trying to say is that in that quote she mentioned there is no reason to feel a way about anything, according to what she said. In other words when someone dies there is no reason to be sad or when you get a gift there is no reason to feel happy, etc because this is all stuff that just happens. There is no reason to feel anything about anything.You originally stated:I think you are adding more to what she is saying than what is there. I'm trying to say that your explanation isn't what she means.
“I don't understand if there is ultimate reality then how can you just go back to living the day to day as if things matter, aren't you pretending at that point? I also didn't understand loss being false at ultimate reality (in regards to someone dying), heck I don't even understand ultimate reality.”
…so, I’m addressing that.I also explained that in the movie the thing falls apart once you recognize it as just a movie.
Right. I can enjoy a car wreck in a movie precisely because I know it’s not real. Likewise, knowing the true nature of things does not mean you have no emotional experiences. Why do you keep arguing this point?I think my reply is what she is getting at, and I say this because she really isn’t saying anything new that hasn’t been said before or that isn’t basically the crux of the buddhist teachings. She just said it in a way that’s got you confused.But to recap she is saying that the one with "true understanding" knows that there is no reason to feeling anything about anything, it's not what you seem to be getting at.
One who has ‘true understanding’ (and I can only interpret that phrase to mean a direct perception of emptiness) doesn’t experience happiness and sadness in the same way that one who is easily swept away by the constantly shifting winds of samsara experiences happiness and sadness.
That doesn’t mean they are emotional zombies. You seem to be making that claim but you have no basis for doing so other than “I don’t think so” .
But, as been suggested, maybe if you do more research into the Buddhist teachings, and don’t just fixate on what that one person has written, you might get a different perspective.
When people are happy or sad you are just "playing along" with them seeing no real reason to feel happy or sad over what's happening but you act as such so that you can relate to others all the while inside you have moved past that. You even move past things you like or enjoy one you realize that at the core of it all there is no reason for liking or enjoying such things so it stops. It's the same thing that happens when you realize a movie is fake. You don't enjoy the car crash.
That's what I meant about entertainment, so much money, effort, and time goes into making people forget it's not real which is the point. Otherwise you're just watching lights on a screen instead of an epic (or some other tale) that's going on. It makes it more than what is, otherwise comics are lines on paper. None of that would go anywhere if people saw it wasn't real, it wouldn't move or inspire what it does today with fandoms, cosplay, movies, and all that.
It's part of why I'm hesitate to look further into this, because I don't want to give up my emotions or the things I like to do, even if it would mean I'm living a lie.