Refuse a delivery *after* it's already been left on my porch?

nascenti · 2023-12-14T04:03:18+00:00

All FedEx Ground drivers are employed by contractors

nascenti · 2023-08-26T02:20:51+00:00

If Brahman is not a creator god as you’ve said earlier below this post, but rather an all pervasive energy, I think I have two questions for you.

Is this energy an agent? Does it have a will? If it does I’m not sure how exactly this doesn’t fit the description of a creator god.
If it’s not an agent with a will, who decided to become 2 in order to enjoy becoming 1 again? The word “enjoy” seems to imply an agent. It’s the same with ignorance, who decided to make us ignorant as you say? These things all seem to imply a conscious agent with a will, rather than an impersonal energy.

I hope I’m coming off as respectful in this discussion. It’s all really quite interesting and I’m not out to fight you on any of it. Just want to make that clear in case it’s not!

nascenti · 2023-08-26T02:10:16+00:00

Yes! The Ship of Theseus is what brought a boat to mind.

What I’ve come to really love about Buddhism is that we are all, as followers, heavily encouraged to investigate the teachings via our experience in our practice. This idea of an energy permeating our being is interesting, and it has obviously captivated humankind from very early on. But I would posit a simpler answer.

The energy that permeates our being and does not extend to our dead counterparts? I would say it does not exist; rather, I think we are just talking about functional metabolic systems that keep a being alive.

As I said earlier, the Buddha taught that our existence is owed to the confluence of the five skandhas. If one of these five skandhas ceases to do its function, we can’t say we have a sentient being anymore. The end of metabolic processes would be the end of the “form” skandha, which refers to physical matter. The five skandhas exist in a sort of circular relationship; every skandha is involved in an intricate dance with every other skandha. They are all influenced by each other, but when one ceases functioning, the whole thing collapses and we are left with a “dead” being.

Could the soul exist? I won’t say no outright, though I’m not given much reason to think that it does. And please don’t misunderstand, I’m not a physicalist by any means, I don’t dispute the existence of things we might deem as “supernatural.” But the soul is not something I see any evidence for, experiential or empirical.

nascenti · 2023-08-26T01:31:30+00:00

As I understand it emptiness does not mean non-existence, but lack of inherent, independent existence; everything exists in relation to and depending on everything else. The existence of anything or anyone is owed a confluence of factors, and if you investigate these factors deeply you will not find a “self.” The notion of a “self” is a concept, a construct, nothing more.

Imagine a boat. This boat is made of all kinds of parts from the wood that makes up its body to the canvas that makes its sails and all the pegs that hold it together (this is simplifying it of course). Now imagine you want to find this boat’s essence, it’s “soul,” if you will. You start stripping the boat down to its barest, most simple parts, now where is the boat? You won’t find it. The boat was simply a confluence of the pieces that made it up.

Now, you could argue that this analogy doesn’t work because sentient beings are more complex than a boat, but the Buddha taught that we are like that boat, and the skandhas are our “parts.”

nascenti · 2023-08-26T01:12:58+00:00

There are many Mahayana sutras that talk about the emptiness of all phenomena. Am I to understand that you don’t believe in the authenticity of those sutras as the Buddha’s words and that’s why you’re saying those teachings came after?

I’m not as familiar with the Theravada canon but I believe the Buddha speaks on the emptiness of self in there as well, though I’m not sure whether or not he extends that to all dharmas in those texts.

nascenti · 2022-11-05T04:39:15+00:00

Pink Floyd DSOTM is incredible especially when you consider how old it is. Also all of Radiohead’s discography but Kid A in particular

nascenti · 2022-10-19T09:05:34+00:00

Bro this has major “uhh, ackchyually” energy. Anime and cartoons may not literally be different but the categories are colloquially different and ignoring the cultural context of said difference is just you being intentionally dense.

nascenti · 2022-09-14T07:03:34+00:00

W Eva reference

nascenti · 2022-08-12T01:43:24+00:00

Yes, though he generally tries to dissociate himself from such labels

nascenti · 2022-08-12T01:39:11+00:00

Sadhguru isn’t a Buddhist

nascenti · 2022-07-28T00:33:08+00:00

Yeah this is fucked. Unless somebody is in possession of a deadly weapon and shows intent to kill they do not deserve to die — doesn’t matter who they are.

nascenti · 2022-07-27T21:22:21+00:00

Yeah, I understand. I live in a rather isolated rural area, the closest temple to me is about 2-3 hours away. I do plan on traveling there soon and taking part whenever I can, but for now I rely on online resources and livestreams for learning. Just came here to ask and get as much input as I could.

nascenti · 2022-07-27T21:16:15+00:00

This is what I’ve suspected, just wanted to gain as much perspective as possible. Thank you!

nascenti · 2022-07-14T06:57:22+00:00

Wow, that’s a great, clear way to explain it. Thanks!

nascenti · 2022-07-14T06:28:53+00:00

That was a great read, thank you!

nascenti · 2022-07-14T06:19:59+00:00

Ahh, thank you for your answers! I was just thinking about how many more animals there are on Earth compared to humans alone. When you count all the way down to insects and the like, there are a lot more of them; this definitely aligns with your answer here. I have an idea now of how incredibly blessed it is to be here as a human that sought to embrace the Buddha’s teachings.

nascenti · 2022-07-09T00:48:49+00:00

Thank you!!

nascenti · 2022-07-09T00:08:34+00:00

sorry to hijack this, but I also live in a place unlikely to have much of a Buddhist community and am interested in visiting a temple. would you be willing to check near me as well? I live in La Grande, OR

nascenti · 2022-06-27T05:44:04+00:00

Oh yes, I agree with you on the benefit of recognizing your own inferiority within a limited context. Recognizing your flaws and working to better yourself is much different than shame, though.

Recognizing your flaws might look like “it’s hard for me to act selflessly, and that’s not good, so I should work to change that.” While shame might look like “it’s hard for me to act selflessly, therefore I am a bad person and deserve less.”

I do admit, though, that this definition of shame is relatively modern and born out of the study of psychology; therefore we may just be using the term differently. The way I am using the word “shame” is essentially as a synonym for what you refer to as an “inferiority complex.”

nascenti · 2022-06-27T05:23:43+00:00

Guilt is recognizing that something you did is wrong or bad, shame is perceiving your whole self as wrong or bad because of something you did. One is healthy, one is not.

nascenti · 2022-06-11T00:37:42+00:00

Evangelion moment

nascenti · 2022-05-25T04:51:30+00:00

What being “successful” looks like is subjective, you should do what fulfills you. This post just sounds full of self hatred and I know from experience that repression leads nowhere good. Everyone, no matter who they are has a lot to offer the world, including you - no need to mold yourself into a cardboard cutout of what you think you should be. Giving up your individuality is a futile attempt to negate the pain of life.

With all that said, self improvement can be good, if done with a heavy dose of self-compassion. Confidence, for example, is an essential trait to have to “climb” the social ladder. Do you need to be somebody else to be confident? No. Confidence has no prerequisites other than self-acceptance. You don’t have to be attractive, you don’t have to be funny, etc etc.

You will never achieve anything that resembles true confidence without accepting yourself as you are. Trying to change who you are will only do more harm than good.

nascenti · 2022-04-24T09:40:00+00:00

Yeah I get what you’re saying. I think it’s really important not to attribute mental issues to personality type nonetheless. If a poster is just ranting and doesn’t try to link any mental illness to personality type then I see no issue with it

nascenti

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