life is meaningless?

General Theravada topics
1

Someone wrote that it was sad that everything was so impermanent, life seems meaningless.

Robert:
Not sad! It might seem that way when we think about the present
moment- Insighting the present moment it is a
refuge that can’t be taken by anyone.

In the samyutta Nikaya (III, Khandha-vagga, The First Fifty, Ch 5,
On Being an Island to oneself 2:

“Monks, be islands to yourselves, be your own refuge, having no
other; let the Dhamma be an island and a refuge to you, having no
other. Those who are islands to themselves… should investigate to
the very heart of things: “What is the source of sorrow,
lamentation, pain, grief and despair? How do they arise?” Here,
monks the uninstructed worldling… regards the body as self, the
self as having body, body as being in the self, or the self as being
in the body. Change occurs in this man’s body, and it becomes
different. On account of this change and difference, sorrow,
lamentation, pain, grief and despair arise.”“”

(repeats with feelings, perceptions, mental formations,
consciousness.)

"“BUT seeing the body’s impermanence, its changeability, its
waning, its ceasing, he says, “formerly as well as now, all bodies
were impermanent and unsatisfactory, and subject to change.” Thus,
seeing this as it really is, with perfect insight, he abandons all
sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. He is not worried at
their abandonment, but unworried lives at ease, and thus living at
ease he is said to be “assuredly delivered.” “””

It is a long process and can’t really be hurried but has
comfort all the way.

Question: do you mean that my every living moment should be
devoted to developing parami/kusala dhamma and that’s all what matters? I
guess you’re right; yet my ‘tanha’ makes me feel unsatisfied to
some degree.

Robert: Too idealistic, I think, to say every living moment should be
devoted to kusala. Dhammas arise by conditions: akusala such as
desire and aversion and ignorance have been accumulated for
countless lives and so they must arise- there is no self who can
stop them. Learning about the teachings means that there will be
gradually less tendency to misinterpret them as “MY akusala” - then
they can be known as they are.
Understanding has its own timeframe in which to develop, and
patience is the first parami. If we try to force understanding or
kusala this is because of an idea of a subtle self who can control.

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2

Depends on if you reflect rightly or wrongly about it depending on your own viewpoint.

You have an 8 fold path that is going to take you to liberation from all suffering. Looks pretty good to me.

You can go to refuge to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha that will protect you from the suffering of samsara.

You can keep 5 precepts or more that will give freedom from suffering to all beings in the universe.

You can see truth with meditation and experience awe of it all.

You can invest in meritorious deeds that will bring you real happiness in this life and for a long time to come.

I like it. Seems a good deal to me and all you have to do is walk the path and enjoy the ride.

Just look at Mangala sutta which shows you the way to live a productive life of meaning in this world of confusion and ignorance.

3

yes many blessings.

4

life means rebirth, which is dukkha, which is pointless. life means 5 aggregates, or 1 or 4, which are also dukkha, which are also meaningless. Parinibbāna is not life, which is the best, ultimate goal. So yes, life is meaningless, therefore we aim for cessation.

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5

The ideas of anatta and anicca that some find to be depressing fill me with deep tranquility and calm. I suppose it’s a matter of perspective.

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6

I teach the Dhamma for the giving up of reincarnation in these three kinds of incarnation. ‘When you practice accordingly, corrupting qualities will be given up in you and cleansing qualities will grow. You’ll enter and remain in the fullness and abundance of wisdom, having realized it with your own insight in this very life.’ Poṭṭhapāda, you might think: ‘Corrupting qualities will be given up and cleansing qualities will grow. One will enter and remain in the fullness and abundance of wisdom, having realized it with one’s own insight in this very life. But such a life is suffering.’ But you should not see it like this. Corrupting qualities will be given up and cleansing qualities will grow. One will enter and remain in the fullness and abundance of wisdom, having realized it with one’s own insight in this very life. And there will be only joy and happiness, tranquility, mindfulness and awareness. Such a life is blissful.

-DN 9

“Here, bhikkhus, some misguided men learn the Dhamma—discourses, stanzas, expositions, verses, exclamations, sayings, birth stories, marvels, and answers to questions—but having learned the Dhamma, they do not examine the meaning of those teachings with wisdom. Not examining the meaning of those teachings with wisdom, they do not gain a reflective acceptance of them. Instead they learn the Dhamma only for the sake of criticising others and for winning in debates, and they do not experience the good for the sake of which they learned the Dhamma. Those teachings, being wrongly grasped by them, conduce to their harm and suffering for a long time. Why is that? Because of the wrong grasp of those teachings.

“Suppose a man needing a snake, seeking a snake, wandering in search of a snake, saw a large snake and grasped its coils or its tail. It would turn back on him and bite his hand or his arm or one of his limbs, and because of that he would come to death or deadly suffering. Why is that? Because of his wrong grasp of the snake. So too, here some misguided men learn the Dhamma…Why is that? Because of the wrong grasp of those teachings.

“Here, bhikkhus, some clansmen learn the Dhamma—discourses…answers to questions—and having learned the Dhamma, they examine the meaning of those teachings with wisdom. Examining the meaning of those teachings with wisdom, they gain a reflective acceptance of them. They do not learn the Dhamma for the sake of criticising others and for winning in debates, and they experience the good for the sake of which they learned the Dhamma. Those teachings, being rightly grasped by them, conduce to their welfare and happiness for a long time. Why is that? Because of the right grasp of those teachings.

“Suppose a man needing a snake, seeking a snake, wandering in search of a snake, saw a large snake and caught it rightly with a cleft stick, and having done so, grasped it rightly by the neck. Then although the snake might wrap its coils round his hand or his arm or his limbs, still he would not come to death or deadly suffering because of that. Why is that? Because of his right grasp of the snake. So too, here some clansmen learn the Dhamma… Why is that? Because of the right grasp of those teachings.

“Therefore, bhikkhus, when you understand the meaning of my statements, remember it accordingly; and when you do not understand the meaning of my statements, then ask either me about it or those bhikkhus who are wise.

-MN 22

7

Because we are deluded, it can be quite difficult to realize that impatience is unwholesome. We often think that because our goal is so lofty, that it is excusable, or even good, to be agressive, to be attached to a certain outcome. We don’t realize that that simply conditions more of the same lobha and attā-diṭṭhi again in subtle ways. The cycle continues. Instead of withering our defilments down, we continue in a circle. Lobha and dosa both have unwholesome roots which are always also rooted in delusion. Every time lobha arises, it always arises with moha, yet, because of strong moha, that doesn’t give us any pause. Self, self, and then more self again. Understanding them as distinct elements is helpful.

R

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