Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

Some years later...





This is cliche but useful.

Another one.

Wow, this is strong.
I need to arise samvega in myself everyday. I enjoy my youth and the only dukkhas I occasionally face are sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. Death and old age are the dukkhest of those and I forget about them!! I need to remember myself about them EVERYDAY!!!

rhinoceroshorn wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:04 pm Another one.

Lust didn't even arise when I looked at the first picture.

This girl in my avatar also ended like that. So sad.










Let's strive for liberation, friends!!

rhinoceroshorn wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:22 pm This girl in my avatar also ended like that. So sad.

The second picture looks fine to me! Perhaps depends on your age...


Mike

Still Laughing! Thank you Mr. Bean for making funny faces....a little laughter felt great...you are lucky if you still can enjoy Mr. Bean and his impressions of us....he is spot on

rhinoceroshorn wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:01 pm


Some years later...





This is cliche but useful.

I had to look up this term:

Saṃvega is a Buddhist term which indicates a sense of shock, dismay and spiritual urgency to reach liberation and escape the suffering of samsara. According to Thanissaro Bhikku, saṃvega is the "first emotion you're supposed to bring to the training"[1] and can be defined as:

The oppressive sense of shock, dismay, and alienation that come with realizing the futility and meaninglessness of life as it's normally lived; a chastening sense of our own complacency and foolishness in having let ourselves live so blindly; and an anxious sense of urgency in trying to find a way out of the meaningless cycle.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%E1%B9%83vega

Although I again realize "the futility and meaninglessness of life" (not "as it's normally lived" but generally) by means of the pictures of another person you suggest this does not cause a "sense of shock, dismay" or a sense of "spiritual urgency".
So obviously there need to be other prerequisites to "arise samvega [as defined in my quote] in approximately 1 second" by means of pictures of another person younger and older. Experiences are individually conditioned.

Seeing films and photos in the media of people dying of Covid19 in hospitals, and hearing about the extra makeshift mortuaries for the bodies is enough for me to feel a sense of horror.

Ageing or obese people (like in the above photos) are just regular sights I see in the streets every day.

.

rhinoceroshorn wrote: Let's strive for liberation, friends!!

You're still likely to become old, wrinkled, and probably disabled, (and maybe obese too) even if you do become "liberated"!

.

Aloka wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:19 pm

rhinoceroshorn wrote: Let's strive for liberation, friends!!

You're still likely to become old, wrinkled, and probably disabled, (and maybe obese too) even if you do become "liberated"!

.

Perhaps old age, sickness and death motivate towards the path.
Many people chose many different paths unless you are a Buddhist with the knowledge of Noble Eightfold Path.
For a nihilist even the three signs are not enough to arise Samvega.
In modern society it is very difficult to arise Samvega due to medicine, plastic surgery and pain killers even the availability of euthanasia.

SarathW wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:01 am

Aloka wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:19 pm

rhinoceroshorn wrote: Let's strive for liberation, friends!!

You're still likely to become old, wrinkled, and probably disabled, (and maybe obese too) even if you do become "liberated"!

.

Perhaps old age, sickness and death motivate towards the path.
Many people chose many different paths unless you are a Buddhist with the knowledge of Noble Eightfold Path.
For a nihilist even the three signs are not enough to arise Samvega.
In modern society it is very difficult to arise Samvega due to medicine, plastic surgery and pain killers even the availability of euthanasia.

Yes they can help to motivate buddhists but my point was that everyone has to experiences old age sickness and death, including those who are said to be "Liberated". Even the Buddha complained about his painful back. (I can't remember which sutta it is, sorry)

Aloka wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:19 pm

rhinoceroshorn wrote: Let's strive for liberation, friends!!

You're still likely to become old, wrinkled, and probably disabled, (and maybe obese too) even if you do become "liberated"!

.

rh seems to refer to liberation from youth-beauty-and-health cult.

SarathW wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:01 am

Aloka wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:19 pm

rhinoceroshorn wrote: Let's strive for liberation, friends!!

You're still likely to become old, wrinkled, and probably disabled, (and maybe obese too) even if you do become "liberated"!

.

Perhaps old age, sickness and death motivate towards the path.
Many people chose many different paths unless you are a Buddhist with the knowledge of Noble Eightfold Path.
For a nihilist even the three signs are not enough to arise Samvega.
In modern society it is very difficult to arise Samvega due to medicine, plastic surgery and pain killers even the availability of euthanasia.

And yet chronic disease is on the rise. Obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, etc. And mentally there's still depression, still feelings of void, etc. There are people that are poor and stuck in dead end jobs they hate leading to humdrum misery, but also fabulously wealthy and popular individuals who despite all they have are still miserable. There are even those who have middling wealth, and yet are stuck on a treadmill of either trying to get more wealth or more esteem, but never feeling quite full leading to a more subtle misery.

Decreasing suffering is a noble endeavor because there are never ending sources of misery elsewhere. There's no shortage of people who have loss of meaning in their life.