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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Replying to @Timber_22 @NoaidiX and
A mix of desperation, curiosity, derring-do, fear, faith, doubt, defiance was, as likely as not, roiling underneath the lid of serene confidence. That confidence (borne of inspiration) was no doubt powerful, but how could it have been serene?
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Replying to @Timber_22 @NoaidiX and
...when it led to him doing this to himself? That looks pretty fuckin' intense to me.pic.twitter.com/Fobod2d78V
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And you may recall that he subsequently disowned such practices (i.e., self-mortification) as providing no relief from suffering.
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The contemplative path is one of trial and error. We need not conflate the trials and errors with the goal.
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