Post by donq on Oct 3, 2023 18:04:15 GMT
sound of spiritual quest: sound of an old wine (in a new bottle)
There's a teasing (if not mocking) in my country that people who are into spirituality are those who just have broken hearts or (forever) waiting for a job or being floaters.
Whether that's true or not, I think, at least they try to ease their pains by seeking the right path.
Why spirituality then? Why not some modern methods?
Let me quote some quotes here:
Because the newer methods of treatment are good, it does not follow that the old ones were bad; for if our honorable and worshipful ancestors had not recovered from their ailments, you and I would not be here today.
—Confucius (551–478 BCE)
When winter tended to gnash our wounds,
we evoked spring.
Assayed our hearts, flexed our arms
brought the garden to bloom.
-Muszaffar Aazim, Kashmiri poet (quoted in Akhtar Purvez's book)
.........................
As in Ecclesiastes, son of David, king in Jerusalem uttered:
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity...
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?..
All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing...
That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered...
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow...
................................
As I'm kind of a Buddhist, let me quote why Buddha left his palace and became a homeless monk:
“‘The world is swept away. It does not endure’…
“‘The world is without shelter, without protector’…
“‘The world is without ownership. One has to pass on, leaving everything behind’…
“‘The world is insufficient, insatiable, a slave to craving.’”
“Before my self-awakening, when I was still just an unawakened Bodhisatta, being subject myself to birth, sought what was likewise subject to birth. Being subject myself to aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement, sought (happiness in) what was likewise subject to aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement.
“The thought occurred to me, ‘Why do I, being subject myself to birth, seek what is likewise subject to birth? Being subject myself to aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement, why do I seek what is likewise subject to aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement? What if I, being subject myself to birth, seeing the drawbacks of birth, were to seek the unborn, unexcelled rest from the yoke: unbinding? What if I, being subject myself to aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement, seeing the drawbacks of aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement, were to seek the aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less, unexcelled rest from the yoke: unbinding?’
“So, at a later time, while still young, a black-haired young man endowed with the blessings of youth in the first stage of life—and while my parents, unwilling, were crying with tears streaming down their faces—I shaved off my hair & beard, put on the ochre robe, and went forth from the home life into homelessness.”
There's a teasing (if not mocking) in my country that people who are into spirituality are those who just have broken hearts or (forever) waiting for a job or being floaters.
Whether that's true or not, I think, at least they try to ease their pains by seeking the right path.
Why spirituality then? Why not some modern methods?
Let me quote some quotes here:
Because the newer methods of treatment are good, it does not follow that the old ones were bad; for if our honorable and worshipful ancestors had not recovered from their ailments, you and I would not be here today.
—Confucius (551–478 BCE)
When winter tended to gnash our wounds,
we evoked spring.
Assayed our hearts, flexed our arms
brought the garden to bloom.
-Muszaffar Aazim, Kashmiri poet (quoted in Akhtar Purvez's book)
.........................
As in Ecclesiastes, son of David, king in Jerusalem uttered:
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity...
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?..
All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing...
That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered...
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow...
................................
As I'm kind of a Buddhist, let me quote why Buddha left his palace and became a homeless monk:
“‘The world is swept away. It does not endure’…
“‘The world is without shelter, without protector’…
“‘The world is without ownership. One has to pass on, leaving everything behind’…
“‘The world is insufficient, insatiable, a slave to craving.’”
“Before my self-awakening, when I was still just an unawakened Bodhisatta, being subject myself to birth, sought what was likewise subject to birth. Being subject myself to aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement, sought (happiness in) what was likewise subject to aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement.
“The thought occurred to me, ‘Why do I, being subject myself to birth, seek what is likewise subject to birth? Being subject myself to aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement, why do I seek what is likewise subject to aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement? What if I, being subject myself to birth, seeing the drawbacks of birth, were to seek the unborn, unexcelled rest from the yoke: unbinding? What if I, being subject myself to aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement, seeing the drawbacks of aging… illness… death… sorrow… defilement, were to seek the aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less, unexcelled rest from the yoke: unbinding?’
“So, at a later time, while still young, a black-haired young man endowed with the blessings of youth in the first stage of life—and while my parents, unwilling, were crying with tears streaming down their faces—I shaved off my hair & beard, put on the ochre robe, and went forth from the home life into homelessness.”
