Hi, everyone,
This discussion is beginning to look like one that needs real care with words and their translations: liking/disliking vs attachment/aversion/equanimity vs appreciation/enjoyment; etc.
I like (agree with
) what Cooran posted above, especially the bits I have highlighted here:
cooran wrote:
The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature by Lily de Silva
Nature as Beautiful
The Buddha and his disciples regarded natural beauty as a source of great joy and aesthetic satisfaction. The saints who purged themselves of sensuous worldly pleasures responded to natural beauty with a detached sense of appreciation. The average poet looks at nature and derives inspiration mostly by the sentiments it evokes in his own heart; he becomes emotionally involved with nature.
For instance, he may compare the sun's rays passing over the mountain tops to the blush on a sensitive face, he may see a tear in a dew drop, the lips of his beloved in a rose petal, etc.
But the appreciation of the saint is quite different. He appreciates nature's beauty for its own sake and derives joy unsullied by sensuous associations and self-projected ideas. The simple spontaneous appreciation of nature's exquisite beauty is expressed by the Elder Mahakassapa...
Again the poem of Kaludayi, inviting the Buddha to visit Kapilavatthu, contains a beautiful description of spring:[61]
Now crimson glow the trees, dear Lord, and cast
Their ancient foliage in quest of fruit,
Like crests of flame they shine irradiant
And rich in hope, great Hero, is the hour.
...
The long poem of Talaputa is a fascinating soliloquy.[62] His religious aspirations are beautifully blended with a profound knowledge of the teachings of the Buddha against the background of a sylvan resort. Many more poems could be cited for saintly appreciation of nature, but it is not necessary to burden the essay with any more quotations.
Suffice it to know that the saints, too, were sensitive to the beauties and harmony of nature and that their appreciation is colored by spontaneity, simplicity, and a non-sensuous spirituality.
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I will have to look up 'The long poem of Talaputa' - it sounds like my kind of thing.
In my understanding, attachment or clinging, not enjoyment per se, is the problem. If we can enjoy something but happily let it go when it ceases or when we move on, it won't entail suffering. Rather, it will make us happier people and therefore more likely to be nice to ourselves and to others.
As Tilt said, it's a balancing act.
Kim