Crossroad blues

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barcsimalsi
Posts: 385
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:33 am

Crossroad blues

Post by barcsimalsi »

Treat this as an imaginative game to see how much does Buddhism matters to you.

Imagine:
The person you love most is ailing and close to dying. In the mist of such sorrow while walking into a crossroad, Mara appeared and offers to help.

“The illness can be removed and health perfectly restore… in exchange for all your dhammic faith, insights and attainment” promised the Evil One.
The contract also makes sure the client will be bared from practicing any Buddhist teaching for another 666weeks.
For those who had practiced the 8fp for more than 20 years or have more than 10,000 posts in DW will have a 20% rebate of their insights when the contract expired, consider if the client is still alive.


Since you bloody Buddhists don’t believe in soul, the devil wants the raft.

How selfless can you be to trade it for the sake of others?

Image
SarathW
Posts: 21234
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 2:49 am

Re: Crossroad blues

Post by SarathW »

Unfortunately the raft is the old self.
You need it to cross the river of ignorance.
Perhaps you can invite Mara to get in to his own raft.
:shrug:
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
barcsimalsi
Posts: 385
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:33 am

Re: Crossroad blues

Post by barcsimalsi »

SarathW wrote:Unfortunately the raft is the old self.
You need it to cross the river of ignorance.
Perhaps you can invite Mara to get in to his own raft.
:shrug:
Unfortunately that's not what Mara wants,
hampering one in the path to liberation...
is what is all about.
binocular
Posts: 8292
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Crossroad blues

Post by binocular »

barcsimalsi wrote:Since you bloody Buddhists don’t believe in soul, the devil wants the raft.
Ha! Good one.

For example, there's a series of suttas in SN 5 that explore just this problem - http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... x.html#sn5
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
santa100
Posts: 6814
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:55 pm

Re: Crossroad blues

Post by santa100 »

"I tell you, monks, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Your mother & father. Even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder & your father on the other shoulder for 100 years, and were to look after them by anointing, massaging, bathing, & rubbing their limbs, and they were to defecate & urinate right there [on your shoulders], you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. If you were to establish your mother & father in absolute sovereignty over this great earth, abounding in the seven treasures, you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. Why is that? Mother & father do much for their children. They care for them, they nourish them, they introduce them to this world. But anyone who rouses his unbelieving mother & father, settles & establishes them in conviction; rouses his unvirtuous mother & father, settles & establishes them in virtue; rouses his stingy mother & father, settles & establishes them in generosity; rouses his foolish mother & father, settles & establishes them in discernment: To this extent one pays & repays one's mother & father." ~~ http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html ~~
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