Unenlightened Puns

Can you lose enlightenment? Weigh yourself down with too much karma and disconnect from the universe, or lose your connection with God after making poor choices? I feel I've lost my connection with God, and I'm terrified of the eternal consequences of doing so. I'm not the good person I once was, and I'm certainly not close to God like I was, either. What do you all think? Can you become blind once again, even consciously knowing you are?

(Source: from the Vimalakirti Sutra )

(In a certain house, Manjushri was discussing dharma with Vimalakirti and Sariputra. There, Manjushri was giving these teachings: )

Manjusri: 'What is the root of good and evil?'

Vimalakirti: 'Materiality is the root of good and evil.'

Manjusri: 'What is the root of materiality?'

Vimalakirti: 'Desire is the root of materiality.'

Manjusri: 'What is the root of desire and attachment?'

Vimalakirti: 'Unreal construction is the root of desire.'

Manjusri: 'What is the root of unreal construction?'

Vimalakirti: 'False conceptualization is its root.'"

Manjusri: 'What is the root of the false concept?'

Vimalakirti: 'Baselessness.'

Manjusri: 'What is the root of baselessness?'

Vimalakirti: 'Manjusri, when something is baseless, how can it have any root? Therefore, all things stand on the root which is baseless.'

"Thereupon, a certain goddess who lived in that house, having heard this teaching of the Dharma of the great heroic bodhisattvas, and being delighted, pleased, and overjoyed, manifested herself in a material body and showered the great spiritual heroes, the bodhisattvas, and the great disciples with heavenly flowers.

When the flowers fell on the bodies of the bodhisattvas, they fell off on the floor, but when they fell on the bodies of the great disciples, they stuck to them and did not fall.

The great disciples shook the flowers and even tried to use their magical powers, but still the flowers would not shake off. Then, the goddess said to the venerable Sariputra, "Reverend Sariputra, why do you shake these flowers?"

Sariputra replied, "Goddess, these flowers are not proper for religious persons and so we are trying to shake them off."

The goddess said, "Do not say that, reverend Sariputra. Why? These flowers are proper indeed! Why? Such flowers have neither constructual thought nor discrimination. But the elder Sariputra has both constructual thought and discrimination. Reverend Sariputra, 'impropriety' for one who has renounced the world for the rightly-taught Dharma consists of constructual thought and discrimination, yet [you] elders are full of such thoughts. One who is without such thoughts is always proper."

"Reverend Sariputra, see how these flowers do not stick to the bodies of these great spiritual heroes, the bodhisattvas! This is because they have eliminated constructual th

There are some teachings that go along the lines of:

'You are already enlightened. You just need to realize it. Actually there's no need for you to do anything. If you try to strive for enlightenment you just end up falling into the trap of dualism'. Samsara, Nirvana, treat it all like a dream'

On the other hand, there is another flavor of teachings which are like this:

'Work hard to rid your mind from its negative qualities, ignorance, greed, delusion. Do this practice. Purify your mind. Abandon worldly attachment. Also please do this sadhana everyday if not you break your empowerment vows and fall into vajra hell'

How to reconcile this dichotomy? I am aware of the irony of thinking dualistically by creating this post :') My mind can't resolve this contradiction yet, and I don't know which 'path' I should take.

in before: the two views are the same! they don't actually contradict! two truths! mundane & ultimate! you are not advanced yet, that's why you dont see! just do the practice!

What everyone else hears when we're watching.

https://vimeo.com/60860072

1. Zhaozhou's "an insincere man expounding a true doctrine makes it false".

2. Huangbo's "because [a Buddhist] taught 'as you practice, so shall you attain' the robe [Enlightenment] did not pass to him."

3. Guishan,"I admire your just eye [Law-ful Eye?]; I am not concerned about the practical side of the matter [of conduct]."

4. Yunmen's famous "blowing of steam for another's benefit".

.

Welcome! ewk comment: These are some of the more notorious examples of Zen Masters emphasizing that all that matters is enlightenment... if you are enlightened, then as Yunmen teaches, you can get angry at people for their benefit.

If you are not enlightened, as Zhaozhou teaches, then even if you said words which might have been true before, those words become false.

Now, who disagrees with this? Allow me to introduce them:

1. Buddhists: Buddhists believe in "true words" revealed by their messiah. Even though their messiah was a Zen Master who said, "don't do that".

2. Dogenism which claims, as one did recently in this forum, "that it's the teachings [if they are 'right'], not the teacher". You'll recognize this as a necessary doctrinal step after so many of their "enlightened masters" turned out to be sex predators: www.reddit.com//r/zen/wiki/getstarted

3. Perennialists, who believe their judegement to be supernaturally inspired, so much so that they can pick out the "truths" from all the religious texts of the world.

.

Why do Zen Masters teach "enlightenment makes you right, everybody else is wrong"?

In Neoplatonism henosis is commonly known as the idea of "union or unity with what is fundamental in reality; the Source, the Indivisible, the One." A lofty goal that, right up there with the loftiest of goals, and seemingly not unlike meditation's lofty and [once?/still?] very much sought after goal of enlightenment.

However when Neoplatonism's founder Plotinus was asked how one might experience henosis, his reply took what I think was, fortunately for humankind, a pointedly different direction.

He replied, simply, "Take away everything."

Plotinus' biographer and companion Porphyry noted that to the best of his knowledge Plotinus [only] achieved henosis four times in his life. It is known that Plotinus embarked on a journey to India to study that civilization's philosophies and religions, but in what I believe may have been a significant "sliding doors" moment for philosophy, major regime change and upheaval in Persia forced him to turn back.

I've created a document that explains as well as demonstrates what Plotinus may have been able to find had he been able to complete his journey. If there were a William Of Ockham Prize, for succinctness, brevity, clarity and readily demonstrated relatability, I dare say that this [relatively microscopic] document would be very hard to surpass.

I'm aware that the Reddit Community frowns on links to outside websites and would like to limit that type of activity to 10% of one's content.

I see this as a significant philosophical treatise relating to the subject of henosis. It takes less than three minutes to read [were you to read right through]. I will never need post it again on this subreddit, and it does not now, nor will it ever involve lashings of luscious lucre.

One of my favorite pet names for this idea is The Thought-Devouring Oxygenator.

My first thought was to point them to our DD, which, to be honest, can be a bit overwhelming to someone who hasn't yet had to undergo the psychological trauma, jacked tits, Hand transformation to diamonds, the taste for hedgie tears, etc. for months, so I explained the most critical points to make a reasonable person "get it", and not surprisingly, he yolo'd some $ into it (not hard with the right points considering how fuk the hedgies are).

My plan/goal is basically to create a DD from the perspective of explaining this to a newcomer in an easily-ish digestible fashion, functioning as a starting point for someone who wished to dive into the more complex DD. Before I go all in on writing this though, I was curious if anyone felt we had already accomplished "this". I assume some have tried, but we don't seem to have a specific post to direct a newcomer to, that explains the situation as if it was to a toddler or golden retriever.

If we don't feel like we have created an "ideal" version of this, I definitely am going to take a shot as a first pass for everyone to critique and tear apart. Hoepfully, it will end up being something we can use to help make the GME case to the "unenlightened" as I call them, and just one more way we are fighting back the hedgies who are trying to keep those individuals away from GME.

The following are mostly based on my own pitfalls in the past. May you learn from it the smart way, not the hard way.

1. Going too deep too fast. Buddhism is about gradual awakening, step by step practicing the path. Trying too hard, one gets tired. Learn about basic Buddhism first, don’t jump to Abhidhamma and deep Mahayana Sutras without background. Unless you got past life merits and learning

2. Misconstrue without clarifying properly. Reading the Dhamma books or learning Dhamma alone or without a proper community that has right view. Assuming that “this is what I had learned before” and not pay attention to Dhamma talks.

3. Avoiding Suffering: Misunderstanding the First Noble Truth. First Noble Truth: Understand dissatisfaction. 3 types of dissatisfaction: Course Suffering, dissatisfaction of pervasive conditioning, dissatisfaction due to change

4. Anti-social. Be a lamp / island (dipa) upon your self. Misusing the advice for better meditation on lay life. The whole of the holy life is spiritual friendship. Mahayana: develop affinities with people

5. Confusion between understanding and realizing. One may think one is enlightened when one is not. This is the true outcast. Understanding is intellectual, realisation needs practise.

6. Assuming Knowledge. Assume that others would act in accordance with the Dhamma. Regardless of they having learned it or not. Unfulfilled expectations leads to disappointment

7. Misconstrue Mindfulness. Mindfulness is not grasping on each moment as it flies by. It’s letting go of doing. Just observe and know. The tighter you feel, the more likely you’re not mindful. Relax to be mindful. See things as they are not as they should be.

8. Dispassion. Having dispassion for the world, not by force but by realization. Passion is needed for good work performance, or to work happily at all. Difference between craving and wish. (Tanha vs chanda)

9. Eternalism and Annihilationism. Taking things as existing eternally after death without seeing impermanence: Eternalism. Taking things as ending after death, with nothing to go on: Annihilationism. Eternalism is usually by theistic religions, Annihilationism is usually by materialists, would lead to a hedonistic lifestyle. Eternalism: too real, so much grasping Annihilationism: too fake, no point, no meaning.

10. Ignorance of [rebirth evidence](https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/dktouv/buddhists_should_repost_rebirth_evidences_more/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=w

The ticking of the clock: eventually it stops.

Where’s the last place you would hope to find enlightenment? ....now. That’s the most unexpected. That you’re already enlightened. And you just don’t know it.

The search creates the distance. The journey ends where it began. With the question of what it means to be enlightened.

It need not take more than a Simple understanding of both life and death. Hold those two aspects within you outside of hope and fear. Look out of the eye of which you are.

Why does it have to be in the last place you ever looked? Because you stopped looking once you found it. Why does it have to be unexpected? Because if it was fully expected you wouldn’t be looking for it.

Bring your awareness to your awareness and recognize you are enlightened in this moment. Give yourself this gift. Don’t erase all flaws, but exist with them. They will fade in time the more you practice this awareness if you so choose them to.

https://open.spotify.com/track/46bCe7cfEySwQLFjPZQYFM?si=pg1uOtxjRkOGNww_AkS_yA&utm_source=copy-link

My personal favourite acrania song, Luke's vocals are nasty on this split.

Art

Article

> What follows is a description of my mandala, again from the inside out. At the hub of the wheel appear a dollar bill, a tank, and a television, representing the three poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion (these exist institutionally as materialism, militarism, and the media). Just outside the central circle is the ring of financial karma, in which people slowly climb the ladder to prosperity, only to slide back down into a hole of debt. > > The main part of the mandala depicts the Six Realms of Socioeconomic Existence. At the top is the Imperial Realm, in which ultra-wealthy beings live in mansions, ride in limousines, and suffer from arrogance, isolation, and the occasional bad hair day. Below and to the left of this realm is that of the Imperial Wannabes, who abide in sprawling suburban homes, drive expensive cars, and suffer from envy and existential angst. To the right of this realm is the Public Domain, populated by working class humans who live in modest homes, apartments, and trailers, and drive used cars. They speak highly of freedom while being severely constrained by desire, fixation, and fear. Many of them suffer from high blood pressure, low self-esteem, and bad credit. Lower on the ladder lies the Animal Turf, wherein many creatures are subject to displacement, confinement, and cruelty on the part of humans. Some of them are kept as pets and often treated much better than beings in the adjacent Homeless Dimension. This realm is populated by nearly invisible “hungry ghosts” who wander endlessly in search of food and shelter. The lowest of all realms is the Hellish ‘Hood, the residents of which suffer from intense anger and psychological illness. Beings in this realm possess very little freedom, whether held captive in prisons, mental institutions, or army barracks. > > The outer wheel depicts the Twelve Steps of Codependent Consumerism. The sequence begins and ends with shopping, an activity which leads directly to the accumulation of material objects. Possessing lots of stuff leads to the need for a “stuff storage facility,” commonly called a house and usually located outside of town. This necessitates having a motorized vehicle with which to transport one’s person, groceries, and additional stuff. Driving a car necessitates buying gas, which contribut