May. 3rd, 2015

cyrano: (Wikipedia)
From the Buddhist point of view, we human beings live in a very peculiar fashion. We view impermanent things as permanent, though everything is changing all around us. The process of change is constant and eternal. As you read these words, your body is aging. But you pay no attention to that. The book in you hand is decaying. The print is fading and the pages are becoming brittle. The walls around you are aging. The molecules within those walls are vibrating at an enormous rate, and everything is shifting, going to pieces and dissolving slowly. You pay no attention to that, either. Then one day you look around you. Your body is wrinkled and squeaky and you hurt. The book is a yellowed, useless lump; the building is caving in. So you pine for lost youth and you cry when the possessions are gone. Where does this pain come from? It comes from your own inattention. You failed to look closely at life. You failed to observe the constantly shifting flow of the world as it went by. You set up a collection of mental constructions, 'me', 'the book', 'the building', and you assume that they would endure forever. They never do. But you can tune into the constantly ongoing change.

I had no idea I was already such a good Buddhist.
cyrano: (Default)
Seattle/Portland/San Francisco folks, help me with a... discussion I had with a friend. Do any of these activities sound interesting? Don't check the ticky box unless you would realistically be motivated to leave the house to do them--lord knows there are plenty of times when I've said "That sounds like fun!" and then never left the couch because it was too much trouble. Facebookies, you can't do the poll if you don't have an account so I guess leave a comment.

Poll #16661 Stepping Out
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6


Which of these things would you realistically actually be interested enough in to leave the house?

View Answers

Welcome to Nightvale live
1 (16.7%)

Bi-Weekly Fiasco game
3 (50.0%)

Old movies in a cinema--like the Stanford
3 (50.0%)

Community Theater
2 (33.3%)

Ticky Box. I go anywhere for the Ticky Box
4 (66.7%)

Seattle
2 (33.3%)

Portland
0 (0.0%)

San Francisco
2 (33.3%)

North Tickybox
3 (50.0%)

July 2025

S M T W T F S
  12 345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Sep. 1st, 2025 05:48 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios