DELETED

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
Post Reply
User avatar
Ryan
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 1:21 am

DELETED

Post by Ryan »

DELETED
Last edited by Ryan on Mon May 12, 2014 1:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
SarathW
Posts: 21234
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 2:49 am

Re: Is "Positive thinking" Good or Bad?

Post by SarathW »

You are right.
Buddha taught dependent arising.
Buddha is not optimist or pessimist but a realist.
May all you be happy and free from suffering!
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
barcsimalsi
Posts: 385
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:33 am

Re: Is "Positive thinking" Good or Bad?

Post by barcsimalsi »

Positive thinking is important to develop a peaceful mind, the problem is it isn’t easy to keep up with especially when one is facing problem and the mind is clouded by restlessness.

It is clear to us that life is impermanent so as it is uncertain, we never know what’s gonna happen next. Speaking about positive thinking if one can really keep up with that pace, one can think like that for example;
“Maybe if i didn’t go out with that man, got raped by him alone and eventually sent me home, there might also be a high chance i got gang raped, photo-snapped naked, robbed, blackmailed by street thugs or something worst like the black dahlia murder or getting into a cab driven by a gentlemen but lost my limbs in a car crash that same night...”
The point is "life is uncertain".

There’s nothing wrong with positive thinking, it is attachment and unskillful thoughts that makes one suffers.
Nicro
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 1:48 pm
Location: Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Re: Is "Positive thinking" Good or Bad?

Post by Nicro »

I consider positive thinking rather important in the path. That said there is a large gap between positive thinking and throwing your better judgement out the window.
User avatar
James the Giant
Posts: 791
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:41 am

Re: Is "Positive thinking" Good or Bad?

Post by James the Giant »

Yes, positive thinking can be forced and artificial.
Just like metta, you create it deliberately and use it as an antidote for negativity or hate.
It's a useful tool, the same as metta.
Then,
saturated with joy,
you will put an end to suffering and stress.
SN 9.11
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13482
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: Is "Positive thinking" Good or Bad?

Post by Sam Vara »

As Kiera said later, "part of my mind was telling me not to get into that car, but how can I see negatively about him as having bad intentions, I'm suppose to see only the good side."
That's not positive thinking. That's just allowing something that you have heard, and might not understand, over-ride your instinct for self-preservation.

In the context, this is positive thinking:
"Whenever you want to do a bodily action, you should reflect on it: 'This bodily action I want to do — would it lead to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both? Would it be an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?'
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
User avatar
Mkoll
Posts: 6594
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:55 pm
Location: USA

Re: Is "Positive thinking" Good or Bad?

Post by Mkoll »

Sam Vara wrote:
As Kiera said later, "part of my mind was telling me not to get into that car, but how can I see negatively about him as having bad intentions, I'm suppose to see only the good side."
That's not positive thinking. That's just allowing something that you have heard, and might not understand, over-ride your instinct for self-preservation.

In the context, this is positive thinking:
"Whenever you want to do a bodily action, you should reflect on it: 'This bodily action I want to do — would it lead to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both? Would it be an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?'
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
:goodpost:
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
User avatar
melancholy
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2013 4:40 pm

Re: Is "Positive thinking" Good or Bad?

Post by melancholy »

Ryan wrote:Is "Positive thinking" Good or Bad?
..."How, friends, should resentment be removed toward the person whose bodily behavior and verbal behavior are impure but who from time to time gains an opening of the mind, placidity of mind? Suppose there is a little water in a puddle. Then a person might arrive, afflicted and oppressed by the heat, weary, thirsty, and parched. He would think: 'This little bit of water is in the puddle. If I try to drink it with my cupped hands or a vessel, I will stir it up, disturb it, and make it undrinkable. Let me get down on all fours, suck it up like a cow, and depart.' He then gets down on all fours, sucks the water up like a cow, and departs. So too, when a person's bodily behavior and verbal behavior are impure but from time to time he gains an opening of the mind, placidity of mind, on that occasion one should not attend to the impurity of his bodily and verbal behavior, but should in stead attend to the opening of the mind, the placidity of mind, he gains from time to time. In this way resentment to ward that person should be removed...

copied from bhikkhu bodhi's translation of anguttara nikaya pg. 775
Ryan, your view is correct. buddha taught us to apply "positive thinking" as an antidote to resentment. But not in all situations, otherwise it becomes an unbalanced way of seeing the world.

i personally heard from your friend's teacher how he deals with the issue at hand, "i only look at the good side of people, otherwise it is very difficult to deal with the bad people." of course in reality he sometimes do not follow this. :tongue: in his retreats, above sutta was quoted several times to support the idea of "positive thinking and non-fault-finding".

as the sutta explains positive thinking should be applied when you have "resentment" towards another, as a way of removing that resentment. so if you are unhappy with a person due to a bad quality then you look at a good quality. however, this is one method out of several. it does not say anything about not seeing the bad or only look at the good when you do not have resentment, if you do so then it becomes artificial, because as SarathW said, buddhism is a realism.

as you can see from the satipatthana sutta (section C. MInd), one should see passion as passion, aversion as aversion, and ignorance as ignorance remaining independent, unsustained by (not clinging to) anything in the world.

sorry about the friend, but as the buddha said many times student must take what teachers say with a grain of salt and compare with the buddha's words, and of course, common sense. may be, as you said she was obsessed with this specific teacher.

:anjali:
Last edited by melancholy on Sun May 11, 2014 10:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
Power can make things disappear, so does me :D

Then the Blessed One said to Ven. Ananda, "Now, if it occurs to any of you — 'The teaching has lost its authority; we are without a Teacher' — do not view it in that way. Whatever Dhamma & Vinaya I have pointed out & formulated for you, that will be your Teacher when I am gone.

-Dīgha Nikāya 16, Mahāparinibbāna Sutta
__________________________________

gO tO wORK, gET mARRIED, hAVE sOME kIDS;
wATCH yOUR tV, fOLLOW fASHION, aCT nORMAL;
pAY yOUR tAXES, pAY yOUR bILLS, oBEY tHE lAW;
aND rEPEAT aFTER mE: "i aM fREE."
User avatar
James the Giant
Posts: 791
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:41 am

Re: Is "Positive thinking" Good or Bad?

Post by James the Giant »

I'd like to give a big :twothumbsup: Thumbs Up to everyone who referenced the suttas on this question. Great stuff.
Then,
saturated with joy,
you will put an end to suffering and stress.
SN 9.11
Post Reply