B/c original Buddhism was formulated to solve a problem inherent to pan-Indic (c ~500 BCE) understanding of Life, The Universe & Everything.
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Siddhatta used yogic methods to develop a psychotechnology that if applied rigorously, would extinguish the flame that kept the moth coming back, lifetime after lifetime.
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Extremely noteworthy that Siddhattha (if he was indeed a real human) was a wealthy noble. He lived about as good as it got back in the Iron Age. He had everything in an earthly sense that people knew enough to want back then. He eventually arrived at wanting off the carousel
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Also super-duper noteworthy that Siddhattha was perhaps the first person in written history to be trauma-free as a child/adolescent, and then get MASSIVELY traumatized at twenty-nine.
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Three of the Four Sights must have rattled Siddhattha's cage super, super hard
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The state of saṃvega or existential shock is too often conflated with maladaptive mood and catatonia. The fourth sight invokes pasāda, a serene confidence that enables the wayfaring necessary for liberation.
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i don't disagree about this
but I will always champion those who look for non-renunciative means to find liberation.
Such championing doesn't diminish or occlude my appreciation and respect for those who follow more renunciative styles.2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @Timber_22 @NoaidiX and
I also think that we have basically no access to what Siddhattha's internal experience was. Given that he was a human being, I think it is highly likely that his state of existential shock was accompanied by some very powerful emotions. He wasn't the Buddha at that point!
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We have access to the textual tradition, which describes his existential shock in deeply emotional terms. Such existential shock is a "stirring" force that when paired with serene confidence (upon witnessing the fourth sight) propels one onto the path to freedom from suffering.
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Yes, and the textual tradition has to be read as incomplete, and as performing various functions other than Recording Exactly How it All Went Down. I doubt that "serene confidence" was the only experience he had when he saw the monk
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All conditional knowledge is incomplete. No conditional experience is of a single flavor. The prince's experience was certainly one of mixed emotions. However, the goal is liberation, not depression. That misunderstanding needs clarifying.
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