The Illusion Of Suffering Part 3 (Thich Quang Duc)

On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in Saigon as a protest against repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime. Buddhist monks asked the regime to lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag, to grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism, to stop detaining Buddhists and to give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion.

While burning, the monk Thich Quang Duc showed no signs of discomfort, pain or fear. He was at peace. It is said he was not under the influence of any drug at the time.

Assuming that this incident happened exactly as is reported...it points to something.

It points to the illusion of suffering. In my view.

So the question arises...HOW he could self immolate without feeling pain and discomfort and fear.

The answer could be that he had seen through the illusion of pain, fear, suffering and all such emotions. He had realised that such emotions cannot be real.

So what is the evidence that this HYPOTHESIS (that pain and suffering are an illusion) has some substance to it?

There can be no undebatable evidence really. Only pointers.

Many spiritual teachers say we humans are going through the 'dream of suffering'. Plenty of them say it. Not just one or two.

Our experience with sleep proves that only when the dream is over does one realise that it was all a dream, and never happened. We were just THINKING that it was happening. (If we think something is happening, it does not mean it is happening, of course.)

This...to me...is a very strong pointer.

But the strongest pointer is that mystics have been talking about the 'dream of suffering' for thousands of years.
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The fleeting nature of this life is self evident. The audio-visual quality of memories of what happened just 10 minutes back are no different from the audio-visual quality of memories of what happened 10 years back.

CONCLUSION:

The audio visual quality of memories of what happened 10 minutes back, logically speaking, should be stronger than the audio-visual quality of memories of what happened 10 years back....but is it?

This question opens one's mind to a huge number of questions. One answer forms, then another one forms, the mind dances.....but this question is worth remembering, from time to time.

Just the mere consideration of this question, and WATCHING mental-emotional reactions as this question is considered is a good way of seeing how one's perspective towards this question evolves.

As one's perspective towards this question evolves, a certain amount of detachment from life occurs. Which is always a good thing.

The Face Of Sanity

Sanity exists, in this world...!!

Control Freaks and Love

This post is just hypothesis, a flight of fancy. It is important to WATCH mental-emotional reactions that appear as this post is read, nothing more. No conclusions need to be drawn on how the blog owner looks at life and people!

In engineering, there is a term called 'degrees of freedom'. It refers to movement---lack of it, or ability for it, in a mechanism or machine part.

All engineering is about limiting and controlling the 'degrees of freedom' in a machine (or mechanism), so that it works in whatever way the designer wants it to work.

So a machine is nothing more than a set of components that control each other, communicate with each other in a strict manner, and move in set, predictable patterns.

So what are people who enjoy limiting the 'degrees of freedom' in other humans?

The graphic below, of a machine like skull and bones, has 'meat meter' written on its forehead. This is a very accurate representation of such people, because such people are just 'meat meters' who meter and barter human meat on a daily basis.

Such people can't be called alive, because they do not treat other people like they were alive.

They are machines because they want to control, restrict, and want others to be like them---move in set, predictable patterns that THEY wish to see. Such humans are nothing more than the 'Central Processing Unit' that controls and runs a computer.

Such people (machines pretending to be humans) treat even their own children like they would treat a machine. Control, restrict, bend, crush.

Machines in human form have robotic emotions. If one watches such people carefully, one will realise that one is talking to some kind of a machine...the proof will evidence itself in terms of the more or less predictable and C-grade emotional reactions in such people....and a total lack of mercy. Only pretense of mercy. Machines in human form just 'operate', optimise the flow of human meat through their systems. That's all.

No one who is sane will admire and respect a control freak who's passion in life is to take away other people's freedom and restrict them in some way. Restricting or wanting to restrict another human even in ONE way means that you have a 'machine' controlling your head.

So there is no such thing as 'conditional love'. It has to be unconditional. Machines put conditions on their environment, not life.

A person who is a control freak is not a free person. A control freak responds to control. A person who wants to control also wants to be controlled, although it may not be obvious. It is not human, it is just a machine. Binary machine. The binary states being 'Control me' and 'I want to control you'. These are signs of machineness. Nothing else.

Attributes of a machine walking around in human form:

1. Stresses too much on discipline and protocols and procedures.

2. Wants to control, restrict, bend, optimise, barter.

3. Wants to spy on you because it wants all the information possible on you, so that it can control you.

A great song by Pink Floyd....named 'Welcome to the machine' has the following lyrics.

'Welcome my son, welcome to the machine....
Where have you been?
Its alright we know where you've been.
What did you dream?
Its alright we told you what to dream.'

The Illusion Of Suffering part 2 (Learn To Be Still)

This is part 2 of my blog entry 'The Illusion Of Suffering'.

The lyrics of this song 'Learn To Be Still' by 'The Eagles' run very deep..they talk of the need to be STILL and WATCH what is going on in one's life, in one's mind...in the world in general.

Being STILL and WATCHING is all that needs to be done. From a certain point of view, it is not incorrect to say that stillness and awareness grow on their own, without anyone doing anything. (See my blog entry 'The Dance Of Life'.)

Evolution is a process that happens on its own. But one must be aware of the value and the healing that stillness and watching provide.

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'Learn To Be Still' lyrics:

It's just another day in paradise
As you stumble to your bed
You'd give anything to silence
Those voices ringing in your head
You thought you could find happiness
Just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will-
Learn to be still

We are like sheep without a shepherd
We don't know how to be alone
So we wander 'round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home
But the flock cries out for another
And they keep answering that bell
And one more starry-eyed messiah
Meets a violent farewell-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still

Now the flowers in your garden
They don't smell so sweet
Maybe you've forgotten
The heaven lying at your feet

There are so many contradictions
In all these messages we send
(We keep asking)
How do I get out of here?
Where do I fit in?

Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin'
It's waiting for you to awaken
And someday you will-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still

You just keep on runnin'
Keep on runnin'
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They sing 'Its just another day in paradise'....then they sing 'maybe you've forgotten the heaven lying at your feet'.

They seem to be saying that life is already perfect, that life never went wrong at all. That all suffering is an illusion.

There are so many contradictions
In all these messages we send
(We keep asking)
How do I get out of here?
Where do I fit in?

Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin'
It's waiting for you to awaken...

And someday you will...

(Just) learn to be still...


Over here they are saying that thinking about the deep, painful questions of life is of no use. The mind does not have the ability to answer such questions.

The essence of the song is...'Learn to be Still'. Through stillness and calm watching of what is going on, awareness of life will grow and as awareness grows, all answers will come on their own, when the time is right.

Waiting for answers, desperately seeking answers to painful questions is a part of the illusion that the mind has built. The mind does NOT want any answers, the mind does NOT want to solve any problems. And it cant.

Only stillness, WITHOUT slipping into what Pink Floyd so beautifully expresses as the 'Comfortably Numb' condition, is the answer.

As stillness comes, awareness grows and understanding of life deepens. And painful questions answer themselves. Slowly but surely.

Life seems to flow in a vaxing and vaning manner because it is in the nature of the ego to vax and vane.

.......

The Eagles sing 'Its just another day in paradise'....then they sing 'maybe you've forgotten the heaven lying at your feet'.

These statements are not at all vague. So many spiritual paths say that suffering is an illusion.

Here are a few paraphrases....I do not have the sources at my disposal currently.

'Only that which is real is real, and deep down life know what is real. Illusions fight with themselves all the time, and illusions will wear themselves out when the time comes.' --- A Course In Miracles.

'A Course In Miracles' says that only illusions fight with themselves. Life does not fight with itself. The illusion that life is fighting with itself will wear out when the time comes.

'Stillness Speaks'--Eckhart Tolle.

All through this book named 'Stillness Speaks', and in his other books, Tolle insists that humans are in the grip of illusion. That real life is not and cannot be in conflict with itself.

Eastern mysticism talks of 'Maya' and insists that suffering is an illusion.

Such messages that come through, about the illusion of suffering, are everywhere. More examples will be added to this blog entry, in time.