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 Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 5:56 am
The theory behind enlightenment is that once you die you rise to a higher plane of existance and to do that you must clear yourself of all human desires , may that be sex, games, all material possesions, but once you ascend you cannot do anything to affect our world,why would any oe not try to get it?
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:25 pm
Nirvana....I've always thought that reaching Nirvana was a good thing. But, I've read siddartha and it sounds to me like to reach that plain you have to get through Hell and back.
It just doesn't seem worth the effort.
Maybe my soul wants to reach a plain higher than others, but with that kind of attitude aren't I lowering my standards? heirarchy was not designed for the perfect plain of existance. if I tried to imagine a place like that I would come up with my own idea, while everyonme else would come up with a version of their own. And it's possible that the Nirvana of one person can be simialr to another, but they will never be the same.
When I put my whole heart into someting I do well. But if I lose interest, which happens a lot ( I'm Inflicted with ADD and OCD), then that becomes a flop. SOme buddhists believe that to reach Nirvana you have to stop all thought. But then you just resort to insticts. And that could be a sense of Nirvana since I no longer have a reason or want to reach a higher plain of existance. But, if society were to look at me they wold see savagry and ignorance which is widely believed to be a lower plain of existance.
Ok...Sorry I ramble. My point being that even if I don't have the desire for anything mentally, physically my body will act of it's own accord and instincts to reproduce, eat, and fight to live will kick in. Then my desires become my need. Is that Nirvana?
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Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 9:56 am
Poshdom
Nirvana....I've always thought that reaching Nirvana was a good thing. But, I've read siddartha and it sounds to me like to reach that plain you have to get through Hell and back.
It just doesn't seem worth the effort.
Maybe my soul wants to reach a plain higher than others, but with that kind of attitude aren't I lowering my standards? heirarchy was not designed for the perfect plain of existance. if I tried to imagine a place like that I would come up with my own idea, while everyonme else would come up with a version of their own. And it's possible that the Nirvana of one person can be simialr to another, but they will never be the same.
When I put my whole heart into someting I do well. But if I lose interest, which happens a lot ( I'm Inflicted with ADD and OCD), then that becomes a flop. SOme buddhists believe that to reach Nirvana you have to stop all thought. But then you just resort to insticts. And that could be a sense of Nirvana since I no longer have a reason or want to reach a higher plain of existance. But, if society were to look at me they wold see savagry and ignorance which is widely believed to be a lower plain of existance.
Ok...Sorry I ramble. My point being that even if I don't have the desire for anything mentally, physically my body will act of it's own accord and instincts to reproduce, eat, and fight to live will kick in. Then my desires become my need. Is that Nirvana?
in ideal i think of nirvana is the way that you lead after death,what ever that may be
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Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:46 pm
So you mean the afterlife? What do you believe about ideas pertaining to life after death and the immortal soul?
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Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:27 pm
simple thought of you simply can't not beafter death you would have exist in some form of thought or being
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:53 pm
Nirvana isn't any place particularly special...the literal meaning of the word just means "to blow out"...as in exhaling. From my point of view (mainly a Zen one), enlightenment is a state anyone... indeed anything, can achieve and even within this very lifetime.
It's a funny thing, though... that we search so hard for something so common. blaugh
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:30 pm
When discussing enlightenment, its important to differentiate between the Buddest and the Hindu veiws.
Buddests belive that you are reborn until you can let go of your material possesions and be released. but for them that means you cease to exist altogeather. compleatly. no afterlife, no happy joining with a larger identity. Hindus are the ones that think that you reach the ultamte joining with the universal intelligence.
They also belive that you really have no choice when it comes to reaching enlightnment. they think that everytime you are reborn, you are reborn into the life you wanted in the last one. this will keep happening untill you don't want anything in the next life and then you are released.
If Im mistaken, please correct me. I don't ascribe to any fath or belife in particular, so I only have a vage understanding of many religions and practices.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 3:32 pm
You have the right basic idea about Buddhist and Hindu enlightenment, Aki, but they need a little bit of tweaking. For one thing, there are several different kinds of both religions, so there are several interpretations. When we use the term 'enlightenment' then we are usually referring to a more Buddhist concept.
Enlightenment in Eastern religions tends to be about escape from the cycle of rebirth/reincarnation. Enlightenment is about progession out of samsara and a change in one's kind of existence -- moving up on the karmic scale in Karma-Yoga Hinduism, unifying with the ultimate essence of the universe in Jnana-Yoga Hinduism, unifying with a deity in Bhakti-Yoga Hinduism, escaping the suffering that defines life in classical Buddhism, or even avoidance of suffering in this life in more modern Buddhist views.
To answer the original question, though, the reason that not every person tries to attain enlightenment is quite simple -- it's difficult. It requires effort, and it requires sacrifice. On traditional views, you have to give up an awful lot to become enlightened, and it's all based on one's faith that it even can be attained at all! For some people, that possibility is just not worth it.
And, just for the record, there are plenty of believers in Enlightenment that think that it is possible to affect our world even after you become Enlightened. That's what the boddhisatvas of Buddhism are -- enlightened individuals who have chosen to be reincarnated in order to guide others to enlightnment.
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