Why humans are stuck in duality?

[SarathW]

Why humans are stuck in duality?

The duality in our life is a very strange phenomenon.
black-white, male-female, good-bad, day-night, loss-gain, long-short, high-low, existence-nonexistence and minimalist living-luxury living is naming a few.
It appears Buddha's main teaching is to break these two extremes.

"There are these two extremes that. are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html

The question is why humans are naturally inclined to two extremes?
Can you name some other extremes?
Do other religions teach the two extremes?
If so how does it differ from Buddhism?
What is the link between extremes and Nibbana?
How do I know that I am in an extreme?
How do I escape from the extreme?

[pegembara]

Measuring or comparing.

To be rich, there have to be poor, tall-short, dead-alive, black-white, good-evil, us-them, inside-outside,
heaven-hell, samsara-nibbana...

All these are concepts that we put over our experiences of the world to make sense of an indescribable reality.
Notice that most of these concepts relate to physical things, especially with regard to our bodies.

Without attachment to the body, rich/poor, healthy/sick, dead/alive, old/young, black/white, male/female has no relevance.
In other words, aging, sickness, and death don't apply. Unwholesome speech and deeds also don't apply.

[SarathW]

Measuring or comparing.

To be rich, there have to be poor, tall-short, dead-alive, black-white, good-evil, us-them, inside-outside,
heaven-hell, samsara-nibbana...

All these are concepts that we put over our experiences of the world to make sense of an indescribable reality.
Notice that most of these concepts relate to physical things, especially with regard to our bodies.

Without attachment to the body, rich/poor, healthy/sick, dead/alive, old/young, black/white, male/female has no relevance.
In other words, aging, sickness, and death don't apply. Unwholesome speech and deeds also don't apply.

Anagami does not have an attachment to the body.
What extremes do they have?

[Lucas Oliveira]

lobha:
Greed; passion; unskillful desire. Also rāga. One of three unwholesome roots (mūla) in the mind.

dosa:
Aversion; hatred; anger. One of three unwholesome roots (mūla) in the mind.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/glossary.html

[SarathW]

lobha:
Greed; passion; unskillful desire. Also rāga. One of three unwholesome roots (mūla) in the mind.

dosa:
Aversion; hatred; anger. One of three unwholesome roots (mūla) in the mind.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/glossary.html

Any reason you did not include ignorance (Moha)?

[Lucas Oliveira]

Do other religions teach the two extremes?

Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - chapter 42

The Tao begot one.
One begot two.
Two begot three.
And three begot the ten thousand things.

The ten thousand things carry yin and embrace yang.
They achieve harmony by combining these forces.

Men hate to be "orphaned," "widowed," or "worthless,"
But this is how kings and lords describe themselves.

For one gains by losing
And loses by gaining.

What others teach, I also teach; that is:
"A violent man will die a violent death!"
This will be the essence of my teaching.

https://www.wussu.com/laotzu/laotzu42.html

https://www.learnreligions.com/tao-te-c ... 42-3183165

[Lucas Oliveira]

Any reason you did not include ignorance (Moha)?

because these two have more to do with duality

moha is the root of the two

[SarathW]

Do other religions teach the two extremes?

Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - chapter 42

The Tao begot one.
One begot two.
Two begot three.
And three begot the ten thousand things.

The ten thousand things carry yin and embrace yang.
They achieve harmony by combining these forces.

Men hate to be "orphaned," "widowed," or "worthless,"
But this is how kings and lords describe themselves.

For one gains by losing
And loses by gaining.

What others teach, I also teach; that is:
"A violent man will die a violent death!"
This will be the essence of my teaching.

https://www.wussu.com/laotzu/laotzu42.html

https://www.learnreligions.com/tao-te-c ... 42-3183165

Interesting.
Buddhist Tai Chi (harmony) is Majjima or the middle.
But it is not the middle of two extremes but the Dependent Origination (or the craving) I suppose.

[pegembara]

Measuring or comparing.

To be rich, there have to be poor, tall-short, dead-alive, black-white, good-evil, us-them, inside-outside,
heaven-hell, samsara-nibbana...

All these are concepts that we put over our experiences of the world to make sense of an indescribable reality.
Notice that most of these concepts relate to physical things, especially with regard to our bodies.

Without attachment to the body, rich/poor, healthy/sick, dead/alive, old/young, black/white, male/female has no relevance.
In other words, aging, sickness, and death don't apply. Unwholesome speech and deeds also don't apply.

Anagami does not have an attachment to the body.
What extremes do they have?

The Buddhist scheme is fetters-

Anagami fetters are the five higher fetters that bind the mind of an anagami, a partially enlightened person who has cut off the first five fetters1. The anagami fetters are only in relation to mind:

Craving for fine-material existence
Craving for immaterial existence
The conceit "I am"
Restlessness
Ignorance
An anagami is still subject to ignorance in some way, as it is a very deeply ingrained and deeply lingering fetter that is only removed at attaining arahantship. Ignorance is also related to the mental fermentation of desiring existence ( bhavāsava ), which an anagami still has.

[form]

Why humans are stuck in duality?

The duality in our life is a very strange phenomenon.
black-white, male-female, good-bad, day-night, loss-gain, long-short, high-low, existence-nonexistence and minimalist living-luxury living is naming a few.
It appears Buddha's main teaching is to break these two extremes.

"There are these two extremes that. are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html

The question is why humans are naturally inclined to two extremes?
Can you name some other extremes?
Do other religions teach the two extremes?
If so how does it differ from Buddhism?
What is the link between extremes and Nibbana?
How do I know that I am in an extreme?
How do I escape from the extreme?

Yin/yang

[Ontheway]

While in the world, the Buddha made it clear that there is duality. Male and female, mundane and supramundane, non-enlightened and enlightened, conventional and ultimate, trapped in Samsara and release from Samsara, etc. These things are not regarded as extremes as what you called it. These are just phenomena.

The extremes mentioned by the Buddha are Sassataditthi and Ucchedaditthi.

[SarathW]

While in the world, the Buddha made it clear that there is duality. Male and female, mundane and supramundane, non-enlightened and enlightened, conventional and ultimate, trapped in Samsara and release from Samsara, etc.

Where is Nibbana fitting here?

[Ontheway]

While in the world, the Buddha made it clear that there is duality. Male and female, mundane and supramundane, non-enlightened and enlightened, conventional and ultimate, trapped in Samsara and release from Samsara, etc.

Where is Nibbana fitting here?

Release from Samsara = Nibbāna

[SarathW]

While in the world, the Buddha made it clear that there is duality. Male and female, mundane and supramundane, non-enlightened and enlightened, conventional and ultimate, trapped in Samsara and release from Samsara, etc.

Where is Nibbana fitting here?

Release from Samsara = Nibbāna

So Nibbana is another extreme?

[Ontheway]

Where is Nibbana fitting here?

Release from Samsara = Nibbāna

So Nibbana is another extreme?

The dualities mentioned above are not extremes.

What Buddha mentioned "extremes" here is of Sassataditthi and Ucchedaditthi (in term of View); then kāmesu kāmasukhallikānuyogo and attakilamathānuyogo (in term of practice).