"Hopeless Bleak Despair" - TMBG

"Brain Problem Situation" - TMBG

"Renew My Subscription" - TMBG

Till My Head Falls Off - TMBG

r/zen is not representative of zen. At all. And the people there are arrogant, clueless and rude. It has been this way for over 12 years and seems to be irredeemable.

Well said. Even if we just let ourselves die to avoid killing anything, we are still killing ourselves.

good one

We have been notified and ordered to comply.

For me, getting away from the sources of my AvPD and depression was essential. I left as soon as I possibly could even though it meant I had to be homeless for a couple years as a teen. It was definitely the right thing to do. I have a sibling who stayed too long with our parents and was crippled by it.

Yes. I accepted having AvPD and major depression and have managed to live the way I want for the most part, working remotely. I have never wanted expensive things and value my time more than my possession so I only work as much as I have to but not more. I spent a lot of my life isolated in a rural place because that's what I wanted at the time and only recently moved back to a big city.

I've always had dogs and cats around because living totally alone is too grim.

I've vegetated for long periods of time doing nothing but the bare minimum due to severe depression and then somehow felt better for a while.

For me, success means being able to live with myself. I have some good times and some horrible crazy dark times but the good parts have been good enough to keep me going.

Life is short anyway. And I'm still curious about the big picture - wondering what the hell in going on in this universe and what it is to be sentient and all the rest of it. It's strange and interesting to exist in this fleetingly way.

The first thing would be to find out what the Buddha taught and then it would help to find out about all the different schools of Buddhism and what they teach. After that you might be genuinely attracted to one school of Buddhism and you can find a teacher in that lineage and begin to practice and study.

Hate the harmful beliefs. Don't hate the people infected with them. It isn't easy these days but divisiveness is our common enemy.

Very nice!

I wonder what is "pure awareness" aware of? Awareness of "objective reality" is inaccessible to human beings. Whatever we are aware of is subjective reality.

What is the definition of "pure awareness"? Is it something god-like? A noumenon? An unchanging eternal essence of some kind? How is pure awareness related to phenomena? Are they 2 separate things?

Life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone.

It is important to understand that beliefs are assumptions and that we should hold onto them very tentatively. We should not mistake our beliefs for god-given truths. We are only capable of experiencing the world subjectively so our view will always be incomplete as humans.

There are certain things we just have to accept. The fact that everything is impermanent is one of those things. The longer you live the more you will lose until you lose your own body and mind to old age or sickness and death. It is good to keep things in perspective and have a realistic understanding of our situation as human beings. We have to accept the things we cannot change. It is important to know this and to surrender to what is inevitable. We control very very little as humans. Most of what happens to us is far beyond our control.

Trying to find data to discredit science? Why seek hard evidence to back up a claim that requiring hard evidence to back up a claim is wrong??? Holy flying fucking shitballs.

I would eat nuts and berries.

Why distinguish between "me" and "all the rest of existence"? In zazen this distinction fades away.

If Buddhism teaches anything it's that we're all in the same boat and that divisiveness is our mutual enemy. I think we are obliged to fight divisiveness any way we can.

What makes this guy think that birds have no feelings?

That's an awful lot of "what ifs".

I don't believe there are "good" and "bad" people. I think all people are good some of the time and bad at other times.

Plus, what one culture calls "good" another group of people call "bad". Or what one group calls "good" at one time in history, they call "bad" at another time.

Actually "good" and "bad" are words about subjective reality, not objective reality. This is good to know.

Thank you. In these times of division and conflict around the world, we need to be reminded of our essential unity. In some sense we here, now are a sangha. This is something worth appreciating even if our practices differ in some ways.

Yes. Many of us are hyper-sensitive to other people's reactions. We are unusually good at it because we're paying close attention all the time to see if there's any sign of rejection or distaste.

Let's not forget that prior to his famous silence Vimalakirti delivered an awful lot to teachings using many words to many different people. If he had not spoken often and well in the previous chapters of the sutra, his silence alone would've been meaningless. Choosing silence and rejecting words is creating duality. Both exist and neither is better.

This person sounds as if they could be cynical and a bit self-centered.