Sadhguru/ being alone

espiegel123

One doesn't have to believe in any supernatural extras to be Buddhist. There are many schools of Buddhism.

Gavinski

@LinearLineman said:

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@Gavinski said:

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:
This guy speculates that the supernatural powers that Buddhism promises is really only a description of lucid dreaming:

https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/article/jhanas-lucid-dreaming-and-letting-there-be-just-seeing-in-the-seeing/

He seems to be trying to find value in Buddhism beyond the supernatural stuff. I learned about the jhanas by reading a different one of his articles. I spend about two hours every day in the jhanas. One hour while waking up, before I get out of bed, and another hour while falling asleep at night.

Yeah... I mean, if you read early Buddhist texts there are tons of things there, including the description of the Buddha's enlightenment as well as various cosmological things, that are as incompatible with modern science and the average educated westerner's view of the world as the biblical creation story and the biblical view of how old the world is etc. These things get ignored by many modern teachers but they certainly seem to have been meant very literally. Again, other modern teachers try to find a million different workarounds to explain these in a way that still manages to find space for the view that the Buddhist idea of enlightenment is somehow less of a fiction than the Christian heaven. This despite the huge number of sex scandals etc involving supposedly enlightened Buddhist masters in recent years and presumably historically as well.

I kind of expect all systems of knowledge to contain a whole lot of bullshit. I don’t see how it could be otherwise given the human condition. Scrolling through texts trying to find the good bits that work and make sense seems normal to me. Is there any alternative?

Advaita Vedanta? This seems the most fundamental way of looking at our condition. Ramana Maharshi, guys like that.

For me, no. Though Ramana seems like a pretty cool guy and I think it is likely that he did have some transformative experience that led him to be much more stress free, and hence more insightful in some ways, than the average person. I think in everyday life you can meet many wise and serene people who got there either just by virtue of being born with that kind of personality, or through some form of ‘practice’, without all this metaphysical baggage. Being calm and insightful seems to me the main thing to ‘strive’ for. Of course, if you strive too hard, you probably won’t get there. If you don’t try, you also may not get there lol.

There’s tons of metaphysical baggage in Advaita that I can’t agree with, and that you probably wouldn’t agree with either if you looked deeper. Jiddu Krishnamurti is another one that people often hold on a pedestal, but it is worth investigating the details of his private life to see that he maybe didn’t really practise what he preached. Not only that, I find his talks pretty unsightful. I have no desire to be the kind of person that Krishnamurti seemed to be. He was so dry and joyless. If - as I believe - this is the only life we have, at least have a bit of fun while living it. Western converts to Eastern religions often seem to have difficulty getting the fun part right.

https://iep.utm.edu/advaita-vedanta/

I think you would enjoy this book, btw, Mike:

You Must Change Your Life https://g.co/kgs/GsRd5n

LinearLineman

@Gavinski Lol, when you see the Buddha you really kill it!

Gavinski

@LinearLineman said:
@Gavinski Lol, when you see the Buddha you really kill it!

Indeed I do haha

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@Gavinski said:
Western converts to Eastern religions often seem to have difficulty getting the fun part right.

Good observation. Although the sex cultists seem to be trying at least. For me my time spent meditating is usually the most fun part of my day. An hour of guaranteed pleasure gives me something to look forward to in the evenings, and a motivation to go to bed on time instead of staying up too late.

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@LinearLineman said:
@Gavinski Lol, when you see the Buddha you really kill it!