Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Everything's a concept

or mind object, or whatever you want to call it. Remember: only don't know.

Went to dinner at Iron Starr, then hit the sack about 7:15.

I'm not very happy or at peace these days. There are some things going on in my life I can't talk about here, although some of you know at least some of the details. I wish I was at a point that I could resolve this in a way that was at least partly to my own benefit, but I'm not.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bad is good and good is bad.

Sometimes, SOMETIMES, the "concepts" that have me distressed the most are the very issues that bring me closer to knowing the truth about (my) life. If I was an out of touch, SUV drivng, pedicure getting, clothes addicted women with not a care in the world in Edmond I may never have the chance I have to "get it".

Internal conflict motivates us to seek a better way.....or to kill ourselves but that is not recommended for most people.

Do you remember the soft-spoken, Buddhist monks who set themselves on fire at busy street intersections in Siagon, Vietnam in the early 60s? I have NO idea why I have been obsessed with these men lately. I was only 3-years old when the first venerable monk, Quangduc (born in 1897 and lived in a monastary from the time he was 7), immolated himself over the conflict between Buddhists and other religions in the region. If someone is going to kill themselves I now strongly suggest they set themselves on fire in the parking lot of the Nichols Hills Starbucks so as to make a statement.

mcarp said...

The Buddha taught, or so I've read, that simply being exposed to the dharma or dharmas is the result of merit earned in previous lives.

So the Edmondite in the SUV may have just not earned enough merit yet.

I'm a little sketchy on the whole merit/previous life thing. Who keeps track of earned merit? If I do something that benefits one sentient being but harms another, how is the merit balanced?

Bodhidharma told the emperor (we are told), 'no merit.'

If there are no beings, as the Diamond Sutra says, what difference does it make which illusion I help and which I harm? If I myself am an illusion, how do I earn merit?

Don't-know mind, do your stuff.

wsdbsu