Why is Buddhism so complicated?

[Gerard]

The REAL YOU is not even here, so why bother with all the complex talk about nirvana, suffering, cause and effect, sunyata (emptiness), dependent origination, etc.

 

Same goes with Taoism. Tao ---> yin & yang and the creative action of the five forces. That's it. Stop there and don't make things more complicated.

 

Really:

 

We for once are only spiritual beings having a human experience now and as long as you have tentacles left you will carry on with the vital experience. Once the tentacles are all gone you remain in a state of Tao/nirvana as you have always been from the VERY BEGINNING.

 

 

[Lairg]

14 minutes ago, Gerard said:

The REAL YOU is not even here, so why bother with all the complex talk about nirvana, suffering, cause and effect

 

Why does the Real You bother with generating a line of human incarnations?

 

If the Real You has a purpose then presumably it wants its various human incarnations to contribute.

 

So how can the human incarnations be assisted?   Would some instructions help?

 

Do some spirits object to the intended purposes of humans?  Do they provide adverse instructions?

 

 

The stages of enlightenment are usually described as a bottom-up view.   From a top-down view they are progressive stages of incarnation of the Real You

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:09 AM by Lairg

[Mark Foote]

15 hours ago, Gerard said:

 

The REAL YOU is not even here, so why bother with all the complex talk about nirvana, suffering, cause and effect, sunyata (emptiness), dependent origination, etc.

 

Same goes with Taoism. Tao ---> yin & yang and the creative action of the five forces. That's it. Stop there and don't make things more complicated.

 

Really:

 

We for once are only spiritual beings having a human experience now and as long as you have tentacles left you will carry on with the vital experience. Once the tentacles are all gone you remain in a state of Tao/nirvana as you have always been from the VERY BEGINNING.

 

 

My take:

 

The movement of breath can necessitate the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence.

 

When a presence of mind is retained as the placement of attention shifts, then the natural tendency toward the free placement of attention draws out thoughts initial and sustained, and brings on the stages of concentration.

 

To become aware of the placement of attention, willful activity in the body must be abandoned, even in the face of a stoppage of breath:
 

Be like a person who has died the great death: after your breath is cut off, then you come back to life.

 

(“Zen Letters: Teachings of Yuanwu”, tr. J.C. and Thomas Cleary, p 84)

 

The “great death” is an adherence to the abandonment of activity in the body, regardless of the consequences. The idea, however, is not to die of suffocation, but to relax and discover the automatic activity of the body that occurs through the placement of attention, to “come back to life”.

 

… there is no need to depend on teaching. But the most important thing is to practice and realize our true nature… [laughs]. This is, you know, Zen.

 

(Shunryu Suzuki, Tassajara 68-07-24 transcript from shunryusuzuki.com)

 

 

[Cobie]

 

16 hours ago, Gerard said:

The REAL YOU is not even here, so why bother with all the complex talk about nirvana, suffering, cause and effect, sunyata (emptiness), dependent origination, etc.

 

Same goes with Taoism. Tao ---> yin & yang and the creative action of the five forces. That's it. Stop there and don't make things more complicated.….

I agree. Imo the truth is simple. So I rarely engage with overly convoluted theories.

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Cobie

[Cobie]

 

17 hours ago, Gerard said:

… the creative action of the five forces ..

 

imo:

this whole system of the 5 movements never had any reality, it’s total BS.
It was a later faulty interpretation of the ‘4 directions + me’ (the person as the central 5th element).

https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/56502-pentagon-game/?do=findComment&comment=1048539 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Cobie

[Cobie]

 

16 hours ago, Gerard said:

… We for once are only spiritual beings having a human experience now and as long as you have tentacles left you will carry on with the vital experience. Once the tentacles are all gone you remain in a state of Tao/nirvana as you have always been from the VERY BEGINNING.

 

I totally agree. 

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Cobie