Conversation
At times, I feel like a tiny helpless mote trying to stand against all of entropy. If this universe is nothing but an endless domino effect of karma, consequences fractally expanding outwards eternally until the universe fades away, I want to stand against that and bring something good into the world, somehow, even if it lasts only a moment.
5
1
7

@hidden Dw kitten. Nirvana and Samsara indwell each other. All permanent things indwell the impermanent and vice versa. Daddy will take care of your vote for you.

2
0
1
@hidden the universe isnt just the effects of individual jivas karma playing out. It is all the workings of Gods Will and God is often gracious.
1
0
1
@J @hidden thats literally nonsense, do Buddhists really
1
0
1
@georgia That’s how it feels in my own life, my faith is rewarded often, although always in unexpected ways. But the people around me seem to be struggling with something impossible, so I try to share the burden but nothing I do seems to make much of an impact.
2
0
1
@hidden you could always pray for them if you aren't already.
1
0
1
@georgia I volunteer at a soup kitchen but everyone I feed is still homeless. I help my ex-prostitute friend with paper work and finding a home and managing illness but she’s still mostly helpless other than working a job. It’s all an infinite battle, and I’m thankful that I could help, I just wish I could do more than put a pause to a downward trend.
0
0
3
@georgia I could. I guess I never even thought about it since I try to do everything myself
0
0
1

@georgia @hidden It’s a split in Buddhist scholasticism between old Abhidharma (now only surviving in Theravada Buddhism) and Mahayana (China and Tibet) what I said is Nagarjuna’s position bc I’m reading him rn.

2
0
1

@georgia @hidden I agree that it’s nonsense, I’m a firm believer in real hierarchy, but if you take the emptiness doctrine beyond the 5 aggregates then you do wind up having to say things like that.

Daoism has a lot of similar unifications of opposites though, not too crazy in the broad scope of Eastern philosophy.

0
0
2
@hidden To make an impact on the next kalpa....
1
0
1
@J @hidden this is what happens when you have no (nirguna or saguna) Brahman or permanent unchanging Atman in your philosophy. I like the Bhagavad Gita's take better.
1
1
1
@druid Yes, perhaps it’s good to just trust in what I know is right. Although it may not seem so in front of my eyes, i know the universe is inherently just in some manner, and I can keep heart knowing that what I do will ripple to somewhere far away, whether it’s the next cycle in this every revolving wheel or somewhere else unknown.
2
0
2

@hidden @druid > universe is inherently just in some manner
> universe is inherently just in some manner
> universe is inherently just in some manner

2
0
2
@mischievoustomato @druid It’s true, but also horrible to say out loud because so many insane unjust things happen all the time. Both are true simultaneously
1
0
2

@hidden @druid yeah hearing that is awful. nothing but unfortunately happenings in my family is all that happens

0
0
1
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid sounds like Christian fascism, based and authoritarian pilled unless I am the one suffering of course then it’s unbased
1
0
1
@hidden Nothing lasts, but nothing is lost. Everything you do matters. ❤️
1
0
4

@georgia @hidden Nagarjuna’s emptiness view is informed by Hindu (or proto-Hindu, depending how you want to divide the history) philosophy. That’s not the difference.

The classical Buddhist Abhidharma accounts for this. The awareness that persists is permanent, it’s called Sankhara, but that can’t be properly called “you” because the aggregates come in 5, and they change between incarnations.

If you have the same conscious stream, but a different brain, different sense organs, no memories retained, is the thing that persists to a new life “you”?

In some conventional sense, you can say there’s continuity. But it’s not the same “self.” The affirmation of the continuity, though, is why it’s called the “Middle Way.”

1
0
1
@J @hidden Sunyata might be based in Hindu thought but Hindu thought considers the Atman to be permanent and unchanging, in most cases the Brahman literally or an atomic part of God. That was my point.
1
0
1
@druid Thank you. I actually really needed to hear that. It’s easy to lose sight of sometimes. 😭 Gonna make me tear up
0
0
2
@druid @hidden @mischievoustomato I am afraid maybe tomato friend didn't understand the humorous aspect of my comment maybe because he is on the low. Not easy to understand in that state but I would rate the humorous aspect of my comment 7,5/10
1
0
1

@georgia @hidden I know the position, I think your point is that without grounding an Atman in Brahman, a collapse in hierarchy is inevitable.

I’m pointing out that this isn’t true IF you stick to orthodox Buddhist Abhidharma, which provides an account for how you preserve hierarchy and continuity without needing to “divinize” personhood itself. You can think of it like chemical reactions, carbon is the consciousness aggregate and links to different combinations of the other 4 aggregates.

There’s still room underneath that to posit something Aristotelian linking those aggregates together bc sunyata is very limited in scope in the older schools. It only refers to the fact that incarnate things are made of composite base materials, and the configuration changes in such ways that you can’t identify a permanent self.

1
0
2
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid to add some more humor this guy is definitely not following the ideology I was referring to
1
0
1
@J @hidden yeah I definitely think Sunyata should be limited and not posited as an underlying ontological description of reality.
1
0
1
@hidden its always good to make things a little bit better, it doesnt matter if everything is still terrible or its gets worse that takes too much time and you can only do what little good you can
0
0
1

@Diceyocean @hidden @druid what you refer is that uh... thing is good if its good for me, otherwise its bad?

1
0
0
@J @hidden in Hinduism the experience of emptiness/void in meditation is called Bhairava
0
0
1
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid it's pretty easy to understand. It's not necessary to explain. The basic formula involved in my comment is humor and shitposting
1
0
0
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid how long have you been on here among fellow God appointed saints to not understand the joke. You would think you just arrived here
1
0
0
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid that's beyond the point of joke. Surely you know about Christianity on here
1
0
0
@david @Diceyocean @hidden @mischievoustomato @druid my religion is worshipping my gf as a goddess
1
0
1
@mischievoustomato @Diceyocean @hidden @druid you gotta make the post about needing a gf with this pic your pinned post. That was the best joke you ever made.
0
0
1
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid @david @lizzy since you are a chronic masturbator would you understand the joke if it was " it wasn't rape it was sex, I came"
1
0
0
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid @david @lizzy jesus man you may be severely lacking understanding of even the most simple concepts
2
0
0
@Diceyocean @hidden @mischievoustomato @druid @david consider that your jokes are shit and obscure maybe
1
0
0
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid @david @lizzy I guess it's IQ question. You also believe in US being friends with your continent so I guess it's a question of intellect. It's the most basic jokes. I don't have much faith in the intelligence of most on here
1
0
0
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid @david @lizzy is this the level of zoomers. Can't even understand basic psychology of people. Could just as well be a african
1
0
0
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid @david @lizzy I just can't fathom how someone can't understand the joke in beginning of thread. It's like if you said oxygen isn't something we need to survive. It's just as perplexing. But I guess we are all different
1
0
0
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid @david @lizzy I know my mother says I have a terrible sense of humor I would understand if you thought joke was bad but you can't even see it as a joke
1
0
0
@mischievoustomato @hidden @druid @david @lizzy do you know about I am good so it must be God have blessed me. Those that are suffering aren't happy, Gods masterplan is working. If however I wasn't good God's masterplan isn't based at all its actually pretty terrible. It sucks. But since I am good obviously its working as intended. Your comment saying >>universe leaning towards justice sarcastically. And my joke " sounds like Christian fascism, based and authoritarian pilled. If I was suffering it would be unbased though. It's a 4/10 joke
1
0
0
@mischievoustomato @david @druid @hidden @lizzy it's a religious joke about stupidity of thinking universe leans towards justice
1
0
0
@hidden Being the no homo to God's gayest acts
0
1
2