Purpose of human life

@cicerone imposter,

cicerone imposter wrote:

I even met a Jewish Buddhist many decades ago on a flight from Chicago to San Jose, CA, who travels to Asia for Doctors Without Borders.

I knew a buddhist who was half American Indian and half Scotch... She was wild; and tight...

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There’s a fundamental difference between not believing in nonexistence and believing in reincarnation. Reincarnation is a conventional truth taught by the Buddha to prevent the view of nihilism being adopted once externalism is refuted; just a loving kindness was taught as an antidote to hatred.

If we believe in reincarnation it helps to prevent us from becoming nihilists as both externalism and nihilism are extreme views and the true nature of reality is beyond both extremes.

If someone denies reincarnation and also believes in nonexistence then they hold a nihilist view which is fundamentally at odds with the ‘Four Noble Truths’ and the ‘Heart Sutra’. If a person believes that anything that exists can become non-existent then for as long has they hold that view they will not realize the true nature of reality and will be blocked from further progress on the path to the realization that puts an end to suffering.

Buddhism works because it works with the negative emotions by undermining them using conventional and ultimate truth teachings for one purpose to put an end to suffering by removing the root cause. We all know that we can use reason to plan a course of action but we all, also know, that negative emotions destroy many well reasoned plans.

The true nature of reality is beyond the extremes of externalism and nihilism; it is beyond all elaboration. A belief that the true nature of reality can be elaborated is the root cause of all suffering but to understand that, we need to use conventional truth to undermine first one extreme view and then its opposite.

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Can't we just say we don't know and be happy getting on with our lives... Whatever it be...

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@Procrustes,

Procrustes wrote:

Can't we just say we don't know and be happy getting on with our lives... Whatever it be...

And what would life without knowledge be??? What it always was...

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My previous post above has a typo it should read (as it now does - see below):
'eternalism' not externalism.

igm wrote:

There’s a fundamental difference between not believing in nonexistence and believing in reincarnation. Reincarnation is a conventional truth taught by the Buddha to prevent the view of nihilism being adopted once eternalism is refuted; just a loving kindness was taught as an antidote to hatred.

If we believe in reincarnation it helps to prevent us from becoming nihilists as both eternalism and nihilism are extreme views and the true nature of reality is beyond both extremes.

If someone denies reincarnation and also believes in nonexistence then they hold a nihilist view which is fundamentally at odds with the ‘Four Noble Truths’ and the ‘Heart Sutra’. If a person believes that anything that exists can become non-existent then for as long has they hold that view they will not realize the true nature of reality and will be blocked from further progress on the path to the realization that puts an end to suffering.

Buddhism works because it works with the negative emotions by undermining them using conventional and ultimate truth teachings for one purpose to put an end to suffering by removing the root cause. We all know that we can use reason to plan a course of action but we all, also know, that negative emotions destroy many well reasoned plans.

The true nature of reality is beyond the extremes of eternalism and nihilism; it is beyond all elaboration. A belief that the true nature of reality can be elaborated is the root cause of all suffering but to understand that, we need to use conventional truth to undermine first one extreme view and then its opposite.

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@Fido,

What will be will be, boundless knowledge or not...

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@Fido,

i believe in reincarnation Smile

there is a temple down the road from me, walk past everyday daydreaming that i can go in hehehehehe

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@MrsVISHOUS2012,

May I ask how you came to believing in reincarnation?

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@Procrustes,

Procrustes wrote:

May I ask how you came to believing in reincarnation?

The victory of faith over fate is predestined...

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@Procrustes,

That's how I see it. If I do not believe in some kind of after life I will still take part in it. What is to be does not require my belief.

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@JLNobody,

True enough. I agree that neither what we we think, know or believe actually changes what is to be.

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@Procrustes,

that's sweet hon...it was my great grams and nana, they are Tahitian and known in the pacific island's as...healers of sorts Wink

Ne way my parents chose the life of Mormonism for me and my siblings but since we were always at my nana's place they taught us differently lol And reincarnation was one of the talks, the thing i loved about it was they made us question everything and said that our beliefs are our own, all they can do is for now help guide us and grant us with resources, with the church it just didn't feel right, but my nana always told me to respect all churches but i should always remember, i don't need to be in a church every sundae, Jesus never was Smile

But yip reincarnation is mostly faith...just like most things in this world is hahahahah

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@JLNobody,

JLNobody wrote:

That's how I see it. If I do not believe in some kind of after life I will still take part in it. What is to be does not require my belief.

If you don't believe in life after death you should see this place at quiting time...

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@MrsVISHOUS2012,

The only thing I get from having faith in something is comfort. I see it as on the same wave length as hope. That is why I do not agree with taking away what comforts people. I do however try to reason in realistic terms as to why such concepts (be it unreasonable) are most prevalent in aiding such comforts for people. That is still mysterious to me.

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@Procrustes,

oh dduuurrr much if i knew this was philosophy questions i would have use my philosophy head hehehehehehe its ok babe:)

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@Procrustes,

Quote:

Can't we just say we don't know and be happy getting on with our lives... Whatever it be...

What is there about that sentence that I like so much???

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@MrsVISHOUS2012,

MrsVISHOUS2012 wrote:

oh dduuurrr much if i knew this was philosophy questions i would have use my philosophy head hehehehehehe its ok babe:)

Is that the really small head that would pass in most offices for a roid???

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@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

Quote:
Can't we just say we don't know and be happy getting on with our lives... Whatever it be...

What is there about that sentence that I like so much???

It has echoed through hisory in all times of social demoralization since the Greeks and Romans comed up wiff it...

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@Fido,

Quote:

And what would life without knowledge be???

Fido, you seem to be saying that acknowledging "we do not know" is not knowledge. Fact is, it may be the most certain of all supposed "knowledge" we humans have.

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@Fido,

Quote:

It has echoed through hisory in all times of social demoralization since the Greeks and Romans comed up wiff it...

Well, Fido, there certainly is a lot we humans do not know. And I see less harm than good that comes from recognizing and acknowledging that.

The "just get on with it"...can be interpreted to mean that we continue trying to understand (if not actually know) what is going on in existence.

1 Reply

Purpose of human life

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