The art of happiness

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Netti-Netti

Nice passage.

But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind. Hence it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens.

This sounds a lot like the spiritual transparency suggested in descriptions of Buddha mind (Prajna intuition). Empty the contents to get to No-Views.

Could be Neo-Confucianism with a Zen influence. Some of the permutations of Neo-Confucianism have been lovingly characterized as "Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism decked out in Confucian garb."
Neo-Confucianism

It is from the Taoist text Chuang tzu, inner chapter 4,
Zän Kien Shih, This Human World.

Chuang Tzu 4 Lin Yutang translation

Chuang Tse 4 James Legge translation

[Netti-Netti]

Originally Posted by seattlegal

It is from the Taoist text Chuang tzu, inner chapter 4,
Zän Kien Shih, This Human World.

Chuang Tzu 4 Lin Yutang translation

Chuang Tse 4 James Legge translation

Wrong thread? {this one is on Buddhisms}

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Netti-Netti

Wrong thread? {this one is on Buddhisms}

It never stopped folks like Zhi Dun...Buddhist monks in China often introduced Buddhist concepts in the context of Chuang Tzu and the Tao Te Ching, just as Chuang Tzu introduced Taoism at times in the context of Confuncianism. (Do you want to exclude the Mahayana school from Buddhism?)

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by Netti-Netti

Wrong thread? {this one is on Buddhisms}

Yeah come on sg, get with the programme!

My limited understanding of the goings-on in China suggest much of the interactions between Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism were to do with "power struggles" (for want of a better phrase) in the society for "hearts and minds". For example, Neo-Confucianism was essentially a vehicle to be used against Ch'an.

s.

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Snoopy

Yeah come on sg, get with the programme!

My limited understanding of the goings-on in China suggest much of the interactions between Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism were to do with "power struggles" (for want of a better phrase) in the society for "hearts and minds". For example, Neo-Confucianism was essentially a vehicle to be used against Ch'an.

s.

Oh, the interdependent co-arising thing again?

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by seattlegal

Oh, the interdependent co-arising thing again?

There, got you back into the Buddhist garden again


s.

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Snoopy

There, got you back into the Buddhist garden again


s.

'Twas a 'finger pointing at the moon' sort of thing.

[Netti-Netti]

Originally Posted by Snoopy

My limited understanding of the goings-on in China suggest much of the interactions between Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism were to do with "power struggles" (for want of a better phrase) in the society for "hearts and minds". For example, Neo-Confucianism was essentially a vehicle to be used against Ch'an.

Some of it appears to be linguistic:

Since Buddhism arrived in China well after Taoism had developed, the Chinese used familiar Taoist terms to describe similar Buddhist ideas. This has led to countless poor translations of Sutras from Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan into Chinese and caused a lot of misunderstandings. The Tao even has a similar writing style to Chinese Zen (actually called Ch'an in Chinese) writings.

Tao Te Ching and Buddhism

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by Netti-Netti

Some of it appears to be linguistic

Undoubtedly!

and cultural too: (I'm probably recalling badly from a book whose name escapes me but I could fish it out...)...

the Chinese "mindset" was more concerned with the earthy hear and now rather than the more philosophical Indian mindset prone to musing on future rebirths and cosmologies.

s.

[Snoopy]

...and an interesting point about emptiness in your link there, n-n.

s.

[Netti-Netti]

Originally Posted by Snoopy

Yeah come on sg, get with the programme!

Heh, some seemingly distractatory posts actually have clarificatory value.

and cultural too.....the Chinese "mindset" was more concerned with the earthy hear and now rather than the more philosophical Indian mindset prone to musing on future rebirths and cosmologies.

Could be.

The linguistic aspect seems to have been driven by a certain amount of cultural hubris that was quite pervasive throughout early Chinese history, so much that it makes some historians wonder even now how Buddhism ever got going in China. Apparently the idea of importing something from India into China was so abhorrent to the proud Chinese that they came up with a legend that portrays Lao Tse as the founder Buddhism who went to India to raise the level of civilization there.

It seems the Chinese were willing to adopt foreign ideas only after they did a complete overhaul and repackaged them like they were Chinese. For example, it has been suggested that Taoism is actually a Chinese reformulation of forms of yoga that antedated the Vedas by hundreds of years in the form of oral traditions.

I realize these comments are an aside. Just wondering whether it makes sense to go back to see if some of these ideas and practices can be found in a pure form, without a lot of funky cultural adaptations thrown in.

...and an interesting point about emptiness in your link there, n-n.

I though that was interesting, too. The Taoist notion of emptiness is totally different from the Buddhist idea - more of an adaptive social attitude, whereas for the Buddhists it was a more philosophical idea. That's just one example of how these concepts can get reworked and thoroughly weirded out because of icross-cultural differences in concepts and idioms.

Anyhoo, even if it isn't a Buddhism, it's relevant to the questions at the top of the thread (thanks for the derailment, SG):

Opening your heart, you become accepted.
Accepting the World, you embrace Tao.
~Tao de Jing, 10

[Netti-Netti]

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
~Dalai Lama

In the book by the title The Perfection of Shantideva's Bodhisattva Way, the Dalai Lama states: "The end to suffering is the goal of the spiritual aspirant."


Let's consult some of Shantideva's writings. Shantideva describes the desire for happiness as a source of misery. From Chapter 1 of Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara:

"Those desiring to escape from suffering hasten right toward suffering. With the very desire for happiness, out of delusion they destroy their own happiness as if it were an enemy."

Moreover, suffering is described as unavoidable: "Only through suffering is there release from the cycle of existence."

Give what we've discovered about Chinese "cultural adaptation" and them developing their own versions Buddhism, should we consider the issues from the pespective of Indian Buddhism rather than Chinese Buddhism?

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Netti-Netti

Give what we've discovered about Chinese "cultural adaptation" and them developing their own versions Buddhism, should we consider the issues from the pespective of Indian Buddhism rather than Chinese Buddhism?

Certainly.

[Netti-Netti]

Originally Posted by Ahanu

From a buddhist perspective, anybody want to share how they would overcome these problems?

Social anxiety can involve a sense of vulnerability that gives rise to intensified efforts to defend/protect that may interfere with one's functioning . . . . if they take on a life of their own to the point where the individual becomes scattered and, as a result, has trouble staying in the present. It can keep the person from having a real life.

Perhaps the dynamic is resistance to intense emotion. Perhaps fear of fear is a core aversion. Meditation can moderate the intensity of the aversion. The calming down associated with meditation is important in itself. It can also be a preparation for insight.

From the Anupada Sutta
MN 111: Anupada Sutta

"Furthermore, with the abandoning of pleasure & stress — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — Sariputta entered & remained in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither-pleasure-nor-pain. Whatever qualities there are in the fourth jhana — a feeling of equanimity, neither pleasure nor pain; an unconcern due to serenity of awareness; singleness of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity, & attention — he ferreted them out one after another.

The sorting out process is an aspect of identifying emotional impulses and recognizing how they affect motivation and overt action.

Known to him they arose, known to him they remained, known to him they subsided. He discerned, 'So this is how these qualities, not having been, come into play. Having been, they vanish.' He remained unattracted and unrepelled with regard to those qualities, independent, detached, released, dissociated, with an awareness rid of barriers. He discerned that 'There is a further escape,' and pursuing it there really was for him.

[seattlegal]

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