So, I am utterly confused about this whole Buddhist thing. It seems to me that the main goal is to stop existing, essentially die but really truly die, so that person stops suffering. At least that was my understanding of what Nirvana is trying to be. Is that correct or wrong?
Also, I notice a strong obsession with suffering. Yeah, I do suffer here and there, but I don’t make a big deal out of it. I am not even sure I would want all the pain and suffering gone permanently from my life. It feels to me that some discomfort is actively needed in life at least to serve as a backdrop to pleasure. Am I crazy for thinking so?
Would your pre-interest-in-buddhism-self have felt cool about this?
Absolutely.
Did you previously have something like an order-of-magnitude more suffering than pleasure such that this was worth it to you? Otherwise, I have a hard time imagining why someone would want this; what was your reason? Or was it only something you found out once you got there?
I've always been a happy person, but in a tense way. Now I can be at peace while being sad too. That said, people tend to get into this stuff when they've hit rock bottom—and I'm no exception.
In case th... (read more)
Awakening/satori is the process by which meditation permanently cures[1] a person of suffering. I notice that people who have gone through the process of awakening usually have little intrinsic desire to share the details of that experience. Getting an enlightened person to talk about himself can be like picking a lock. Causally, this makes sense—people with ego death have little need to brag.
When meditation was limited to yogis in mountain monasteries, perhaps the silence was a good thing. But now apps like Headspace are mainstream. What happens when some of its users stumble upon exotic mind-modifying experiences? I know where to find my local Zen master and how to talk to him. I doubt the median Headspace user does.
For that reason, I'm going to try the opposite as an experiment. If there's anything you want to know about meditation, awakening, etc. from someone who is a couple years past stream entry and has a strong enough scientific background to understand Steven Byrnes theory of what's happening in the brain, consider this an invitation to ask. The most basic questions are welcome, as well as advanced questions. There are some things I may choose not to answer, but you are certainly welcome to ask.
Talking about sex used to be taboo. Humanity is much richer now that accurate information is available for free online. If we are to liberate all sentient beings from suffering, the same must be true of enlightenment.
Or, more precisely, reduces suffering by one or more orders of magnitude. There are stages. ↩︎