Page 5 of 5

Re: Is it possible for practising Buddhists to have fun?

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 12:33 pm
by Aloka
.

I think perhaps this Brian Ruhe video was meant to be fun (but I didn't laugh !)



Re: Is it possible for practising Buddhists to have fun?

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:03 am
by Benjamin
In regards to the idea of fun/humor in teaching, I think it greatly depends on the audience.

If you listen to Thanissaro Bhikku's talks at dhammatalks.org, you will not find any instances of humor or laughter in his talks. I'm assuming these are the daily talks given to monks and recorded for the website. However on audiodharma, you will find a great deal of talks from retreats with him, where he uses humor and laughs a great deal. I think he understands when it's appropriate to use or not, and while he is of course just one example, my point is that sometimes humor can be skillful means (in my opinion).



Cheers

Re: Is it possible for practising Buddhists to have fun?

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 3:56 am
by pegembara
Of course. But know that all the fun and games will have to end eventually. That is a certainty. It is much better to be at peace than to have fun.

Re: Is it possible for practising Buddhists to have fun?

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 1:52 am
by ground
Aloka wrote:Is it possible for practising Buddhists to have fun ? I'd be interested in reading other peoples comments about this.
Actually buddhism can be great fun, but something that can be fun is not necessarily experienced as fun. E.g. some people can laught about themselves and others can not. Why is this? So getting involved in buddhism is getting involved in experiencing oneself in that context. There may arise lots of reasons to laugh about oneself, oneself identifying with and appropriating ideas which are perceived to be buddhism, perceived as something different from oneself but not merely one's own experience in this context. This may be great fun. :sage:

Re: Is it possible for practising Buddhists to have fun?

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 4:17 am
by BlackBird
David N. Snyder wrote: Just as there is sometimes the 'arahantification' of sotapannas -- that is some who believe a sotapanna has virtually the same traits of an arahant;.
Something very important that could easily have been glazed over by the majority. :goodpost:

Re: Is it possible for practising Buddhists to have fun?

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 1:38 pm
by taintless
By fun do you mean like:

Partying, using recreational drugs, hooking up, chatting, trolling, playing computer games, listening to music etc.

If so, yes. It is possible

Of course, most of the above actions would not be recommended by most forum users here, but I recommend experimenting, to at least know what you're missing, and if you find it to be useless or unskillful, then abandon it!

Re: Is it possible for practising Buddhists to have fun?

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:16 pm
by SarathW
Have fun but make sure no hangovers.
As far as I know only fun you can have without hangover is Nirvana because it is unconditioned. :)

Re: Is it possible for practising Buddhists to have fun?

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:05 am
by Aloka
taintless wrote:By fun do you mean like:

Partying, using recreational drugs, hooking up, chatting, trolling, playing computer games, listening to music etc.

If so, yes. It is possible

Of course, most of the above actions would not be recommended by most forum users here, but I recommend experimenting, to at least know what you're missing, and if you find it to be useless or unskillful, then abandon it!
No. I didn't mean partying etc. Been there, done that, moved on. No inclination for further 'experimenting' thanks.

However, I've attended talks by various teachers who have used humour and laughter - and I find that fun, as well as many other things. Life is short and I don't necessarily need to go around with a grim expression on my face just because I'm aware of anicca and dukkha !

.

Re: Is it possible for practising Buddhists to have fun?

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 3:49 pm
by chownah
I think that if you are practicing Buddhism then having fun is a bonus but when it is time to stop practicing and start actually DOING it then you might discover that all of that fun having is actually a big comedown compared to what is possible.
chownah