Path: ultra.sonic.net!news
From: tyagi@arkaotika.abyss.com (nagasiva)
Newsgroups: alt.zen,alt.philosophy.zen,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.religion.buddhism,talk.religion.buddhism,alt.buddha.short.fat.guy
Subject: Re: Nirvana and Happiness
Date: 25 Mar 1999 11:14:09 -0800
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Judi's original text re happiness and practice:
|#>-. The practice is happiness.  That's it.
|#>-. Now, let me clarify.  Notice, that even when you are upset about
|#>-. something, if you stop and pay attention, you will see that inside
|#>-. you are really  happy. So, then when you get upset about something,
|#>-. you won't take it quite so seriuosly because you will know that
|#>-. you are already happy, which is the main deal after all right -
|#>-. happiness?

Judi/Heart Happy <jarhodes@cruzio.com|  elaborates:
| And what happens when we practice this is that we start to see how 
| our identity has been falsely based on this activity of unhappiness
| (suffering)

ah, dukkha as 'unhappiness'.  usually I hear 'suffering' or 
 'spiritual dissatisfaction' distinguishing nirvana from
 'happiness' which is temporary grasping and delight 

identifying nirvana with 'happiness' is problematic in that 
 'happiness' typically describes an EMOTIONAL state, rather than 
 a state of consciousness per se. this can lead to 'Happy Dancing
 White Light Buddhism' where everyone is "supposed" to have big 
 smiles plastered on their faces indicating their sitting success.
 more falsity, fakery. we need frowns too

a trap of religion: identifying process with goal. the path of
 nirvana is presumed to look like nirvana. everyone identifies 
 as goal-winners, never paying attention to the present, inside, 
 surrounding, and of what we are made

| which is actually the search for happiness. 

attempts to grasp and hold impermanence are struggles to
 escape dukkha or dissatisfaction. a 'search for happiness' is
 usually (in conventional terms) a good description of how we
 acquire goods, experiences and children so as to cover over 
 underlying dissatisfaction; it is surface-oriented and DOES
 produce conventional happiness at brief resting points

'happiness' of nirvana, however, is not a transitory plum 
 plucked from pies by good boys, but is instead long-lasting, 
 deep, and provided by contexts of profound attention to now

| And eventually as you go deeper and deeper it totally undermines 
| itself and your real identity, which is consciousness only
| will be realized.  

is there "consciousness only" or is all empty of own being?
 is there 'buddha-nature', or is reality foundationless?
 can we undermine "reality"s ENTIRETY and be left in a sea 
 of shifting energetic malaise?  is this 'existential angst'?

| This is enlightenment, this is non duality, this is "God".

or is this an illusion target for those just beginning on the 
 8-fold Path of Nirvana? how many jump-rings are there?

| Enlightenment is not about a *someone* *having an experience*. 
| It is totally beyond experience in the timeless and spaceless 
| dimension of Reality Itself. 

hand-waving. attempting to point outside the words we wind
 up creating a new illusion to which people become attached.
 suddenly zazen promises to yield "Reality Itself, a new
 dimension in entertainment". we become convinced that we
 should be experiencing a 'fabulous event' as a reward for 
 sitting. more fantasy preventing present-centeredness

| It is simply what IS. We then realize that we are not in
| Kansas anymore! :-)

::cue music::
 first we are in Kansas, then we aren't in Kansas, then we IS
-- 
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