bjowan

or rather:

premjan

fear is also the motivator of nearly all human actions. where there is truly no fear, they may also cease to be action and resolve, since one would not know which actions were truly better than others.

bjowan

While I agree with some of this, even if i don't think I'm married because of fear (I'm afraid my wife would hit me if I did...), I would say that there are other ways to know which actions are better.
It is better for me to help my neighbour build a fence, because then he will later help me paint my house. Since I'm not afraid of my neighbour, and I'm not afraid of painting my house alone, I don't really see what fear has to do with it.

premjan

I think there is a little bit of fear lurking in the back of our minds that keeps us moving: call it generically the "fear of death" or alternately the "fear of evil".

Vajradhara

Namaste all,

in my tradition it is commonly said that "what makes your death good, makes your life good."

we regularly engage in contemplation of the impermenant nature of ourselves and things around us.

in my tradition, we believe that, to a certain extent, we can duplicate the dying process (Bardo of Dying) through meditation and thus become famaliar with the process. in the Vajrayana tradition it is said that death presents us with our best opportunity to realize Rigpa, the fundamental nature of mind.

by becoming famaliar with the process we can train our minds so that when the dying process commences we are able to do right practice and have right thoughts.

bjowan

I feel that it is a waste of time really, practising what you are naturally good at. I can't think of anyone not being able to die, so why not practice more fun stuff like sex or something?

(and yes, I do realise I just sort of said I'm a bad lover)

premjan

of death permits us to realize the fundamental circularities and cycles in nature. death is followed by rebirth, both physical and informational (reincarnation of the soul).

Reincarnation is a reintroduction of the selfsame personality, without its memories into a new body.

andy_d

Well, if that were true, naturally gifted athletes shouldn't train, because they're naturally good at it

The point of practice is not necessarily that you are bad at something, it's that you want to be even better.

I, for example, am a fantastic shag, but I still feel it's worthwhile to practice

bjowan

I, for one, will not ask for proof of that

And athletes can always jump higher etc. by training a lot.
How many times do you have to die before you get any better at it?

reverendmoss

Well, how many times have you died already?


the wheels on the bus go round and round . . .round and round . . .