Buddhist life being boring ?

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
devaloka
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Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by devaloka »

I know this is a controversial topic but I think its a topic that is relevant for many

I just came back from a 2 week retreat and Im back home again.

Even though samsara is an illusion we still are in it.

A life only consisting out of dhamma feels a bit like living a life without colour and sometimes even sanctimonious. The circus of the world can also be entertaining even though that may be foolish in the greater picture. But are we not wasting our time on earth not enjoying our time riding the kuku train with all its vividness and crazyness and only sit on a meditation bench, working jobs for the well behaved and choosing the moral choice all the time? Isnt living a sense restrained life 24/7 a form of conditioning in itself or atleast somewhat dull ?

Ive been able to experience peace thru Buddhism . And as great as it is.. Peace sometimes can be boring.

Buddhism sometimes feels like no fun allowed .

Im curious to you guys view on the matter

:anjali:
Last edited by devaloka on Thu Aug 19, 2021 4:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Mere suffering exists, no sufferer is found;
The deed is, but no doer of the deed is there;
Nibbàna is, but not the man who enters it;
The path is, but no traveler on it is seen
Ontheway
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Re: Buddhist life is boring

Post by Ontheway »

It depends on you...you can choose your pace for practice.

if you are a devout monk, learning Dhamma and practicing it throughout lifetime won't be boring. But if you are a layperson, then you can enjoy your life as much as you can, just don't forget the basic requirements of being a regular Buddhist (5 precepts, for instance).

You can pretty do anything you want (provided it is not violating 5 precepts, but again it is not a commandment by Buddha). Travelling, watch movies, desserts, jungle trekking, shopping, surfing, video games, novels, blogging, have a date with your gf (or bf), getting a cat, hit the gym, are all possible.

Just don't forget to uphold 5 precepts (if really dedicated to Buddha's teachings) throughout lifetime and retreat once in a while for inner peace.
Hiriottappasampannā,
sukkadhammasamāhitā;
Santo sappurisā loke,
devadhammāti vuccare.

https://suttacentral.net/ja6/en/chalmer ... ight=false
dhammapal
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by dhammapal »

Most people aren't ready for the four noble truths, thinking about birth, old age, illness and death all day long. The Buddha gave a graduated discourse: giving, virtue, heaven, drawbacks, renunciation, four noble truths.

One of the dictionary definitions of fun is "light-hearted pleasure". Even advanced monks have a good senses of humor. They can laugh about human foibles, because they know they've been there in the past themselves.
SarathW
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by SarathW »

Buddhism sometimes feels like no fun allowed .
Yes, I agree with you that Buddhism could be boring.
This is when we have not to experience Jhana or attain at least the Sotapanna state.
If you get to one of those states, I am sure that you will see this world is even more fun.
You can watch "just for laughs gags" all day.
It is important to note that Buddhist lay people are allowed to enjoy entertainment and luxury even sex. :o
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
un8-
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by un8- »

Boredom is the discontent that you're trying to overcome without resorting to sensual distraction, that's the whole point of the practice.
There is only one battle that could be won, and that is the battle against the 3 poisons. Any other battle is a guaranteed loss because you're going to die either way.
Cause_and_Effect
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by Cause_and_Effect »

un8- wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 8:34 am Boredom is the discontent that you're trying to overcome without resorting to sensual distraction, that's the whole point of the practice.
:goodpost:

Develop some level of Jhana.

If you notice the monastic environment is deliberately 'boring' and devoid of sensory stimulation. One meal a day, no music, no entertainment, no opposite gender, no intoxicating drinks, quiet and calm.

If it remained at this only it would be very boring to be living such an existence.
It is rather, an invitation to go within and find that 'delight' or the 'magic garden within' or 'cool fire' of jhanic absorption, and learning to enjoy and appreciate the development of the path.
Last edited by Cause_and_Effect on Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:01 am, edited 2 times in total.
"Therein monks, that Dimension should be known wherein the eye ceases and the perception of forms fades away...the ear... the nose...the tongue... the body ceases and the perception of touch fades away...

That Dimension should be known wherein mentality ceases and the perception of mind-objects fades away.
That Dimension should be known; that Dimension should be known."


(S. IV. 98) - The Dimension beyond the All
SarathW
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by SarathW »

Cause_and_Effect wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 8:53 am
un8- wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 8:34 am Boredom is the discontent that you're trying to overcome without resorting to sensual distraction, that's the whole point of the practice.
:goodpost:
Agree.
This is also called the fifth Mara sloth and torpor which lead to sleepiness.
Once you go beyond this you will experience happiness.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
Bundokji
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by Bundokji »

I think Buddhist life is very creative one. Most people are trained to pay attention to the constant, while Buddhism trains us to pay attention to the ephemeral. Paying attention to the constant is a cause for boredom and seeking change in sensuality. Paying attention to the ephemeral causes one to see that change is always happening and need not to be sought after. One of the difficulties of the practice is not to develop aversion towards what would appear as artificial ways of generating change. Unless one is a monastic, maintaining a balance between sensual activities and quietude is advisable in my opinion.
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
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mjaviem
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by mjaviem »

In my opinion right view comes first then intention of renunciation. If we embark on the holy life without right view it is certainly going to be hard.
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammā Sambuddhassa
un8-
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by un8- »

Imho, Boredom is the confirmation that existence is unsatisfying. Boredom is one of the the distant manifestations of dukkha that many people are averse to seeing because they try to keep themselves constantly busy. The average person only sees dukkha at the immediate level (e.g. I cut my finger), they only see dukkha as boredom if they're for example, stuck in a waiting room or something of the sort, then they whip out their phone or engage in conversation to escape that level of dukkha.

In other words, if you're stripped of all your toys in the sandbox (subjective experience), you'll eventually either go crazy and kill yourself from the build up of aversion without release, or you'll attain enlightenment.

Even jhana is a subtle form of distraction, that's why the Buddha instructs you to see the Impermanence of that state, but it's still necessary in the gradual training.

So if you want to accelerate your gradual training, allow yourself to get to the point that boredom arises as much as possible, which implies that you have sense restraint and you're no longer distracting yourself.

In short, boredom is square one.
There is only one battle that could be won, and that is the battle against the 3 poisons. Any other battle is a guaranteed loss because you're going to die either way.
form
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by form »

That is a fact. If you want to be an interesting or exciting fellow you will need to register with Mara. :mrgreen:
Alino
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by Alino »

It's not non-activity that pressures us and felt unpleasant, but it's craving for stimulation what pressures us and felt unpleasant.

Boredom is a proof of dukkha of craving.

For someone who don't practice sense restraint in everyday life, it's hard to overcome boredom with 2 weeks of calm.
From my experience, mind needs about 3-5 weeks of restraint in order to get peaceful and pleasant in non-activity.

More we starve our craving more non-activity, non-stimulation is pleasant.

Hapiness and joy are more fundamental qualityes of our minds, so by unconditioning our minds, by deconstructing, we get access to more basic, profound, less conditioned qualities of our minds such as joy, happiness, equanimity...
They are not products of fabrication, they are produits of un-fabrication.
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Cause_and_Effect
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by Cause_and_Effect »

form wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 12:31 pm That is a fact. If you want to be an interesting or exciting fellow you will need to register with Mara. :mrgreen:
That's a horrible way of putting it. We do not seek excitement, but the path needs to be interesting.
Without interest in your practice and study, you will never get very far at all.

There is plenty to find interesting and fascinating as you progress along the path.

Cultivating interest is part of the path and related to one of the factors of enlightenment dhamma vicaya or investigation.

Cultivating joy is also pleasurable and interesting.

Developing jhana is interesting.
Seeing the dependent origination is interesting.
Examining the mind and seeing ones attachments is interesting

For fireworks on the path if so desired, one could explore iddhis or supernormal faculties, the mind made body and astral travel.
One can make ones practice more interesting than mundane day to day life in various ways.

Of course it needs to be balanced. Sometimes people find delight in the analytic mind and thinking about dhamma which is just a disguised form of restlessness and agitation.
Common on internet forums if people spend five or ten times more time talking and thinking about dhamma then meditating and practicing.
"Therein monks, that Dimension should be known wherein the eye ceases and the perception of forms fades away...the ear... the nose...the tongue... the body ceases and the perception of touch fades away...

That Dimension should be known wherein mentality ceases and the perception of mind-objects fades away.
That Dimension should be known; that Dimension should be known."


(S. IV. 98) - The Dimension beyond the All
Alino
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by Alino »

Cause_and_Effect wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 1:10 pm
form wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 12:31 pm That is a fact. If you want to be an interesting or exciting fellow you will need to register with Mara. :mrgreen:
That's a horrible way of putting it. We do not seek excitement, but the path needs to be interesting.
Without interest in your practice and study, you will never get very far at all.

There is plenty to find interesting and fascinating as you progress along the path.

Cultivating interest is part of the path and related to one of the factors of enlightenment dhamma vicaya or investigation.

Cultivating joy is also pleasurable and interesting.

Developing jhana is interesting.
Seeing the dependent origination is interesting.
Examining the mind and seeing ones attachments is interesting

For fireworks on the path if so desired, one could explore iddhis or supernormal faculties, the mind made body and astral travel.
One can make ones practice more interesting than mundane day to day life in various ways.

Of course it needs to be balanced. Sometimes people find delight in the analytic mind and thinking about dhamma which is just a disguised form of restlessness and agitation.
Common on internet forums if people spend five or ten times more time talking and thinking about dhamma then meditating and practicing.
... sila is intresting

One thing that gives me great fun is while my kilesas say me to do, to say, to think something but you apply little or big effort and see them vanishing.

Winning battles against Mara is interesting...
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
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SDC
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Re: Buddhist life being boring ?

Post by SDC »

Boredom and dullness are signs of progress, even though they are currently an obstruction. It means you’re precepts and restraint (to whatever degree you have established them) are creating a space where unwholesome action does not occur. I was reminded in a recent Dhamma talk about the aggregate of virtue and even though it is quiet and dull establishment, it is necessary for the work ahead.

For someone who does not practice any restraint, the five senses drive almost every choice, but when you make the choice to follow virtue and restraint, the senses get frustrated. They want to get into their feeding grounds and you’re not letting them. That’s boredom. It’s a result of work and it means you’re doing it well. Don’t torture yourself, but don’t turn and run either.
“Life is swept along, short is the life span; no shelters exist for one who has reached old age. Seeing clearly this danger in death, a seeker of peace should drop the world’s bait.” SN 1.3
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