Contemplating old age sickness and death
Contemplating old age sickness and death
Is it good to contemplate old age sickness and death.
- tiltbillings
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
Best to have an experienced teacher with these comtenplations.sundara wrote:Is it good to contemplate old age sickness and death.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
- Spiny O'Norman
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
I find that it can be depresssing, a feeling of "not much to look forward to there"tiltbillings wrote:Best to have an experienced teacher with these comtenplations.sundara wrote:Is it good to contemplate old age sickness and death.
Rick
- appicchato
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
Pleeeease...at what point isn't it 'best'?...tiltbillings wrote:Best to have an experienced teacher with these comtenplations.sundara wrote:Is it good to contemplate old age sickness and death.
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
we are intoxicated with youth, intoxicated with health, intoxicated with wealth- we don't take into account that old age, sickness and death is inevitable. the reason to think these is not to become depressed, rather to be in line with the truth -it motivates us to practice, it makes us aware that we have little time here on earth- gives us a reason to be nice to others as we are all in the same boat, and not for long.
It takes courage to carry out buddhist practices - to face the truth -to be wise. Samsara is all about running away from the truth- wanting to look at only the pleasant, running away from the unpleasant. If we are not bold enough to face uncomfortable truths then the heart of buddhism isn't for you.
It takes courage to carry out buddhist practices - to face the truth -to be wise. Samsara is all about running away from the truth- wanting to look at only the pleasant, running away from the unpleasant. If we are not bold enough to face uncomfortable truths then the heart of buddhism isn't for you.
With Metta
Karuna
Mudita
& Upekkha
Karuna
Mudita
& Upekkha
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
Not always. Sometimes, it's best to focus on more positive things, like our loved ones, what we have to be grateful for, and the true value of our lives.sundara wrote:Is it good to contemplate old age sickness and death.
- tiltbillings
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
Geez. picky, picky, picky. Let me rephrase: when doing this sort of practice one should have a teacher, given the potential danger in them.appicchato wrote:Pleeeease...at what point isn't it 'best'?...tiltbillings wrote:Best to have an experienced teacher with these comtenplations.sundara wrote:Is it good to contemplate old age sickness and death.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
.... there is life itself which teaches if you are able to see and hear ...
Just sent my Mum to hospital in an ambulance ... coughing blood, and breathless.
Please remember her with Metta .... she is very frightened, and pleading to go home .... and
Just sent my Mum to hospital in an ambulance ... coughing blood, and breathless.
Please remember her with Metta .... she is very frightened, and pleading to go home .... and
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
Danger, meaning... Spontaneous human combustion?tiltbillings wrote: Geez. picky, picky, picky. Let me rephrase: when doing this sort of practice one should have a teacher, given the potential danger in them.
Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
Dear Chris
I dedicate my merits to you all.
Metta
Ben
You, your mother and your siblings are in my metta.Chris wrote:.... there is life itself which teaches if you are able to see and hear ...
Just sent my Mum to hospital in an ambulance ... coughing blood, and breathless.
Please remember her with Metta .... she is very frightened, and pleading to go home .... and
I dedicate my merits to you all.
Metta
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- pink_trike
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
I agree with Chris, life and one's bathroom mirror is the very best teacher when it comes to old age, sickness, and death - if we're awake to these experiences.
Spitting blood
Clears up reality
And dream alike
- Sunao, Zen monk. Died 1926
Late this last Sunday, I had a major heart attack. For about 45 minutes I was a blink from death. Paramedics came and rushed me to hospital, threw me on a stainless steel table in an icy cold room, poured liquid anesthesia on the groin, cut a hole into the artery, moved a cable up the artery to the heart, dislodged the blockage, inserted a NASA quality tiny sewer pipe in the vein, removed the cable, slapped a bandage on the hole, and stuck the body in bed to recover...and then cleaned the table for the next person, and the next, and the next, and the next... The actual procedure took less than 15 minutes. Observing the massive chest pains and the intense, amazing sensations that were arising as a result of the mechanical manipulations taking place inside the heart cleared away yet another layer of confusion. Looking at my face in the mirror a day later cleared up even more confusion. Taking the 6 drugs daily clears away even more.
We don't need a teacher to contemplate aging, sickness, and death. We only need to see what's right in front of, in us, and all around us. Point at anything that isn't aging and degenerating. At any age, if we look behind our deluded self-cherishing of youth and our veneration of regeneration, we see our denied but nevertheless active shadow...aging and degeneration. We have a choice in every single moment - recognize that each inhale may be the last...or delude ourselves with constant reaching and becoming. This choice is our birth right. Choose carefully.
Spitting blood
Clears up reality
And dream alike
- Sunao, Zen monk. Died 1926
Late this last Sunday, I had a major heart attack. For about 45 minutes I was a blink from death. Paramedics came and rushed me to hospital, threw me on a stainless steel table in an icy cold room, poured liquid anesthesia on the groin, cut a hole into the artery, moved a cable up the artery to the heart, dislodged the blockage, inserted a NASA quality tiny sewer pipe in the vein, removed the cable, slapped a bandage on the hole, and stuck the body in bed to recover...and then cleaned the table for the next person, and the next, and the next, and the next... The actual procedure took less than 15 minutes. Observing the massive chest pains and the intense, amazing sensations that were arising as a result of the mechanical manipulations taking place inside the heart cleared away yet another layer of confusion. Looking at my face in the mirror a day later cleared up even more confusion. Taking the 6 drugs daily clears away even more.
We don't need a teacher to contemplate aging, sickness, and death. We only need to see what's right in front of, in us, and all around us. Point at anything that isn't aging and degenerating. At any age, if we look behind our deluded self-cherishing of youth and our veneration of regeneration, we see our denied but nevertheless active shadow...aging and degeneration. We have a choice in every single moment - recognize that each inhale may be the last...or delude ourselves with constant reaching and becoming. This choice is our birth right. Choose carefully.
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Vision is Mind
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss
- Dawa Gyaltsen
---
Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss
- Dawa Gyaltsen
---
Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.
- appicchato
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
Hoping it all goes well for your mum Chris...and your family...Chris wrote:.... there is life itself which teaches if you are able to see and hear ...
Just sent my Mum to hospital in an ambulance ... coughing blood, and breathless.
Please remember her with Metta .... she is very frightened, and pleading to go home .... and
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
Best wishes to Chri's mom. Hope she recovers soon. with metta.
With Metta
Karuna
Mudita
& Upekkha
Karuna
Mudita
& Upekkha
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
Chris,
Hope your mum is okay. May you, your mother, and other family members be well.
Pink,
Is that your heart attack you are describing? If so, ouch! Hope you are okay now.
Hope your mum is okay. May you, your mother, and other family members be well.
Pink,
Is that your heart attack you are describing? If so, ouch! Hope you are okay now.
- DNS
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Re: Contemplating old age sickness and death
The sun just rose over here on the West coast of the U.S. Everyday is another day closer to death.