Do buddhist monks practice escapism or have they grasped a divine truth about life and the evolution of the soul for a world beyond what we presume to be reality?
Let’s say you break your leg. Your first reaction is usually “HOLY FUCK FUCK FUCK THAT HURTS” and your mind will do anything to try to escape it. But if you turn your attention towards it and focus on it directly, you can start to slightly diminish it by picking it apart. Is it a throbby or stabby pain? Is there an underlying itchy sensation? If you accept the pain and embrace it, it helps reduce it by seeing it for what it is and, more importantly, is not: You are not dying, even though your brain is reacting like you are.
The Buddhist mindset is kind of like that, but for all of your reality. The zen doesn’t come from running away, it comes from seeing and accepting everything as it is and understanding that the only thing you can control is your mind’s reaction to it.
Signed, Someone who’s broken a lot of bones and done a lot of meditation (still a shit Buddhist though)
Yeah, it seems Buddists are more focused on mindfulness and being fully in the moment, which is kind of the opposite of escapism. Also understanding duhkha, sometimes translated as unease due to “not having what one wants” or “having what one doesn’t want” and accepting it and living with it rather than striving to eliminate duhkha.
…and of course Buddhists have been known to kill other Buddhists for being the wrong kind of Buddhists, so ymmv
Dukkha is translated as “attachment” because it’s not about what’s going on and whether you want it; it’s about how you relate to what’s going on. It’s about whether you bet all your energy on each thought and action, or whether you can have a light touch and only invest what is needed.
Seems like early 00s emo me was closer to enlightenment than current me
Not really a Buddhist but one of the old ways in Lakota spiritualism had a saying that even the grasshopper has a lesson to teach you.
One story goes that when Crazy Horse was young, he was a very good bowman. He was the best in all regards, seriously dude was probably one of the greatest to ever live. His mentors challenged him to shoot a grasshopper out of the air. To master that he had to change his style and approach. He was known to use it as a way to talk about impossible problems.
I think what it really means is, if you are able to master focusing on something, like Buddhist Monks are known to do, grasping all that is happening around you while you focus, you will never need to escapism as there is always something within reach that you will never fully understand.
But I also bet that given the chance, they will indulge in fantasy because we all have an imagination
Buddhism is the opposite of escapism. It’s waking up, which means engaging with life consciously and being present. The sleep that buddhists seek to wake from is the escapism.
Buddhism is fundamentally about healing the trauma of existing, by facing existence willingly.
They chop wood and carry water
They have accepted the existential crisis that is life and realized there is no point, no ultimate goal to work towards that is identical for each person, there is nothing divine - we are all here because we are each lucky enough to exist.
