Quote (Handcuffs @ 10 Dec 2023 21:31)
I can only speak to some of the representations of Buddhism that I have seen, but I find it really quite tragic the ideas espoused and practiced which seem to value disconnection from other people. I've seen quite a few "Day in the life" videos, in which monks will rise, meditate, walk, eat, do chores, and cycle between those activities before heading to bed, all to wake and do it over and over--all while disavowing intimate relationships and largely being without communication with others for the majority of the day. The rationale I hear for why, is that these practices have given their life "purpose". There are times where, to me, it seems like a way of coping from existential dread and death anxiety.
This is called "deifying" all your "work". Changing your attitude about a seemingly mundane existence by changing the way you "think" throughout the day. People who "have" are constantly bitching about what they don't have "materialistically". They think success in this life is based upon loyally adhering to socially accepted norms, traditions, rituals. The only way to break this is to "Be alone" for a substantial amount of time with "Yourself" to come to the conclusion that you are NOT just this "name" you were given at birth and that you are a part of a greater "whole" or ongoing transitional/transcendent existence.
When Westerners try and "get a glimpse" into life as a monk it seems silly but a monk will say your life is the silly one. You are the one going out in the world trying to make a "name" for yourself. Constantly reinforcing and feeding your ego which "in the end" is useless because you LOSE this physical body eventually(guaranteed) but you don't lose what you have experienced here in this body. This is "your only here a little while" don't forget to "smell the flowers" along the way.
Also monks don't disavow intimate relationships and "go without communication with others for the majority of the day" because it's easy or beneficial they do it because their "goal" is "God" as their are no things in life which can give you that "relationship" except yourself. You alone have to walk that path. A guru can point you in the right direction(according to their own experience) but can't "walk the path" for you.
It's logically speaking 100x easier to facilitate a relationship with God when your not trying to "fuck" everything you see and practicing restraint sexually. It's teaching you discipline and to try to obtain a permanent state of bliss not just a "quick high" that you get from all your physical interaction with the world.
It's also 100x easier when you let go of familial relations because your not thinking about, "How's my mom doing". How are all my friends doing? Am I on the right path? Why do I always think of my past? Why am I flooded with the memories I seek to let go of? Why do I think negative thoughts? &&& so you start to literally only think of "God" because you finally took the time to answer all the "questions" you had about this existence/consciousness.
It seems "tragic" and "seems" like a way of "coping from existential dread and death anxiety" up until you yourself "walk the path" and actually dive into that "unknown". Like Jesus said, "So I will spit you out because you are only warm not hot or cold". This is the whole idea of how can you come to know the "truth" if you just "dip your foot in" and then "pull it out" because you are SCARED of losing control over the "faculties of the mind". Your so scared to be "alone" because it forces you to confront all the silly lies you told to yourself to pacify your own mind from facing that truth. That existentiality.
It's easy to denounce that path as "ludicrous" because you and 99percent of the people around you will affirm that it "has to be" that way. There's no way someone could derive "total bliss" from scrubbing temple floors, cutting the grass, cleaning bathrooms, doing the dishes without any expectation of praise from others or financial compensation. I realized God through "karma yoga' which is "work". "Karma translates at "work" in Sanskrit. I simply "chanted the name of God" in my mind as I went and worked throughout the day doing these things. When I was 21 years old and started volunteering at a temple within a religion, culture, belief system so different then my own it took YEARS for me to get past "I as this name/body deserve "praise/recognition/compensation" for cleaning toilets and doing the "hard work". Everyone always praised me for doing such work because they refused to get on their hands and knees and do something in the name of God not self(one and the same). They wanted to "pay" me for doing such labor. I refused. Instead I found God in a toilet bowl. I found God in a blade of grass. I found God in all things including myself. It gave me "peace of mind" for LIFE and it's the most valuable thing I've obtained. "Heaven on Earth" is a thought away if you can believe it. It takes some people 3 seconds it takes others 30 years but the goal is the same.