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connectedcosmos
Neti Neti



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Impermanence 3
#28521403 - 10/28/23 04:57 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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 54. The true nature of things is to be known personally , through the eyes of clear illumination and not through a sage : what the moon exactly is , is to be known with one's own eyes ; can another make him know it?
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Kickle
Wanderer



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Impermanence is a gateway to acceptance I think. I went through a loss recently and something that emerged for me was the notion that everyone, at some point, will experience great loss.
And such a thought brought with it an understanding of the expansiveness of impermanence. That it isn't something personal, but much, much larger. And honestly that brought a lot of relief. To cease bringing loss in very close and intimate and instead to let it be very broad, as it truly is.
There's a story of a woman who loses her child and so she goes to the Buddha completely distraught. 'Oh Buddha, how am I supposed to go on!?' The Buddha listens patiently and then when she has finished he says, 'Go knock on the doors of houses and find someone who will give you a bag of flour. Bring it back to me and I will tell you.'
She runs off and begins knocking on doors until she gets a bag of flour. She brings it back to the Buddha, excited to hear what he has to say. He takes the flour and says, 'oh, I forgot one thing. You must only accept the flour from a house which has not been touched by death. I cannot accept this flour.'
She runs off to complete the task again but cannot find a house willing to give her flour that has not been touched by death.
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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syncro
Registered: 01/14/15
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I was surprised as a Vedantic monk he didn't bring it back to Atman or Brahman or something, though it was implied in the poem somewhat, the urge to be plucked into the ineffable, yet no indication of its substance - rather sneakily Buddhist of him. edit - my bad though, the writer was implying for God to pluck him.
On the other hand more subtle than I gathered at first, he also spoke of the beauty of impermanence, a 'permanent' essence flowing.
In commentary of the Yoga Sutras, I saw that two strata are considered eternal- purusha and prakriti, that is, soul(consciousness) and nature.
I don't buy impermanence really. Ridding of attachment, or treasuring the beauty of the ephemeral, ok. Yet grosser levels are more associated with time or impermanence, less so upward.
Edited by syncro (10/29/23 12:48 AM)
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syncro
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Re: Impermanence [Re: syncro]
#28521868 - 10/29/23 12:41 AM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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Considering a sine wave, the oscillations between 1 and -1 are permanent. The value is not always at one or the other, but always returns and rises or falls again. Increasing the frequency, it approaches the appearance of a solid band.
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BrendanFlock
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Re: Impermanence [Re: syncro]
#28521907 - 10/29/23 01:43 AM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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The idea of impermanence is that a instant happens then disappears into the void..
We only have this ever changing instant.. everything else is impermanence.
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connectedcosmos
Neti Neti



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@Kickle, interesting you bring that up, I first discovered that story while asking chatgpt to share with me Buddhist parables
And the first one it showed me was the story of the mustard seed , it is a very good story really reminds me that we are all in this together and we ultimately experience much of the same feelings through life
@Syncro I loved the poem at the end it would be fun to memorize I think 
@Brenden so you think impermanence is essentially like space-time?
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 54. The true nature of things is to be known personally , through the eyes of clear illumination and not through a sage : what the moon exactly is , is to be known with one's own eyes ; can another make him know it?
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syncro
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In the video the first line is used as a repeating chorus... 
Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali 6
Quote:
Pluck this little flower and take it, delay not! I fear lest it droop and drop into the dust.
It may not find a place in thy garland, but honour it with a touch of pain from thy hand and pluck it. I fear lest the day end before I am aware, and the time of offering go by.
Though its colour be not deep and its smell be faint, use this flower in thy service and pluck it while there is time.
1
Quote:
THOU hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.
This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.
At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.
Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill.
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connectedcosmos
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Re: Impermanence [Re: syncro]
#28525117 - 11/01/23 03:58 AM (2 months, 26 days ago) |
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Sit for too long I want to stand , stand for too long I want to sit
I breathe in , I breathe out
If I'm cold - I want warmth
Too warm? Give me cold!
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 54. The true nature of things is to be known personally , through the eyes of clear illumination and not through a sage : what the moon exactly is , is to be known with one's own eyes ; can another make him know it?
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BrendanFlock
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Quote:
connectedcosmos said: Sit for too long I want to stand , stand for too long I want to sit
I breathe in , I breathe out
If I'm cold - I want warmth
Too warm? Give me cold!
Thermodynamics?
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syncro
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Yet, Brahman, the one without a second, where is this involving impermanence? Obscurations are impermanent give or take, yet the core defies impermanence. ?
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connectedcosmos
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Re: Impermanence [Re: syncro] 2
#28525235 - 11/01/23 08:02 AM (2 months, 26 days ago) |
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You know I wonder to myself , how does anyone even know of change , without something changeless to know what change even is ? That would be the Self or Brahman , what one really is , what this whole existence is
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 54. The true nature of things is to be known personally , through the eyes of clear illumination and not through a sage : what the moon exactly is , is to be known with one's own eyes ; can another make him know it?
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GenesisCorrupted
Taoist, Writer, Student, Artist




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There is an anime that I will be making a review of on a separate thread.
But I found it to be a beautiful representation of impermanence.
It was called casshern sins
It discusses how the guarantee of annihilation. Makes something that much more beautiful. Because it only exists for a little while. And will never exist again.
 Definitely worth a watch.
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AnattaAtman
Mad Bodhisattva

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Contemplating impermanence makes you attachment free. Whatever there is, you will lose it eventually. The universe can be a real bitch sometimes.
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GenesisCorrupted
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For everything lost something takes its place. As long as we can take solace in that. The loss isn’t a bad thing. It’s just a changing of form.
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AnattaAtman
Mad Bodhisattva

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Quote:
GenesisCorrupted said: For everything lost something takes its place.
It will be replaced with something, but not necessarily with a better thing. For example, you can spend some time in heaven, but you will be reborn in a lower realm eventually. That is the turning of the wheel of Samsara.
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GenesisCorrupted
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I like to think of it as going back to school. I can always learn more. But yeah, it sure is nice going home for a while. Not having to spend so much time on the campus if you know what I mean.😉
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connectedcosmos
Neti Neti



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As the ol adage "what goes up must come down"
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 54. The true nature of things is to be known personally , through the eyes of clear illumination and not through a sage : what the moon exactly is , is to be known with one's own eyes ; can another make him know it?
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AnattaAtman
Mad Bodhisattva

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Quote:
GenesisCorrupted said: I like to think of it as going back to school. I can always learn more.
That's a nice way of looking at it. Matter is for making spiritual progress, while heaven is for enjoying the fruits thereof. Even if it's only temporary.
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syncro
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It seems the traditional Eastern paths maintain this. In the Shiva sutras iirc, about liberating grace, there are basically two paths to liberation- one going directly to the absolute, and the other having no less certainty of that, also travels through the heavens as it were at one's pleasure.
In the afterlife library I was into for a while, essentially I think all under Spiritualism, in some of the narratives, for some individuals there was not a need to return to physical birth, though here apparently lessons can be learned more profoundly and quickly, and service realized.
I remember now it said in one source of yogis who had passed are in higher realms helping others to liberation from there, not implying need of the disciples for physical rebirth.
It is said that in heavens there would be little motivation to work on oneself but only to enjoy, but again in some sources the wise can continue from there, though the standard typically is that from heaven, the good karmas expire and earthly birth returns.
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GenesisCorrupted
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Re: Impermanence [Re: syncro]
#28526977 - 11/02/23 06:53 PM (2 months, 24 days ago) |
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I’ve always been a spirit that is hungry for knowledge. If I could go down and learn to do it myself, I would. Did🤷♂️🤣
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