You are a wordsmith. Let's look at "Suffering", defined as "pain, misery, hardship" in Webster's dictionary.
"Rapture" is "extreme emotional excitement."
"Happiness" is a "state of well being, contentment."
"Contentment" is "ease of mind, satisfaction."
If happiness and suffering are in the mind and mind is defined in Mahayana Buddhism as that which is "merely clear and knowing", or clear awareness, then one might question whether would there be "extreme emotional excitement" in "bodhi," defined as "awakening or enlightenment"?
Is it true that when one transcends grasping happiness or suffering, the mind rests in mere clarity and awareness? Is that a state of well being, contentment, satisfaction, freedom from suffering? Did Buddha promise "rapture" or freedom from suffering? Does suffering arise from pain, or hardship, or from grasping onto the wish to be free of it? It's interesting to consider.
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I've been struggling on multiple fronts and it's very rare for people to comment. So I basically have stopped checking for them.
I believe that enlightened awakened being, brings on an unspeakable richness, and I simply couldn't find a word to express that. When I asked an AI to look for all the phrases with that definition, it gave me about 10 and I felt like bodhi-rapture was the best.
I don't pay too much attention to definitions of the Mind, as I believe the idea is Empty, like consciousness, just a story.
Sometimes people suffer, sometimes not. Sometimes people are happy, sometimes sad. There's an element of dualism in happiness versus unhappiness. I'm not sure if happiness versus suffering is a dualism. I know that sometimes people are suffering and happy.
But I see a completely different axis, so to speak, which is unrelated to happiness and suffering. It's that bodhi-rapture. One can be in the throws of it, in the God Realm or the fires of hell, or anywhere in between.
Quoting your text: …"merely clear and knowing", or clear awareness, then one might question whether there would be "extreme emotional excitement" in "bodhi," defined as "awakening or enlightenment"?
For me, that's the surprise of this whole thing. How could dialing your awareness back to near zero produce rapture? It makes no sense. But to some degree I think that's our mechanistic Western mind. How could zero be a source of rapture? How could our fundamental nature, or the fundamental nature of the universe, be ecstatic. It's like saying molecules are ecstatic.
As we talk and think from a normal perspective (as opposed to an ultimate perspective) maybe they are.
When bodhi-rapture exists in the presence of deepest suffering, the suffering remains, but the result is exquisite compassion and clear-light. Maybe?
Hello Dear Mark,
Wishing you well, I have questions.
You are a wordsmith. Let's look at "Suffering", defined as "pain, misery, hardship" in Webster's dictionary.
"Rapture" is "extreme emotional excitement."
"Happiness" is a "state of well being, contentment."
"Contentment" is "ease of mind, satisfaction."
If happiness and suffering are in the mind and mind is defined in Mahayana Buddhism as that which is "merely clear and knowing", or clear awareness, then one might question whether would there be "extreme emotional excitement" in "bodhi," defined as "awakening or enlightenment"?
Is it true that when one transcends grasping happiness or suffering, the mind rests in mere clarity and awareness? Is that a state of well being, contentment, satisfaction, freedom from suffering? Did Buddha promise "rapture" or freedom from suffering? Does suffering arise from pain, or hardship, or from grasping onto the wish to be free of it? It's interesting to consider.
Be well, my friend.
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I've been struggling on multiple fronts and it's very rare for people to comment. So I basically have stopped checking for them.
I believe that enlightened awakened being, brings on an unspeakable richness, and I simply couldn't find a word to express that. When I asked an AI to look for all the phrases with that definition, it gave me about 10 and I felt like bodhi-rapture was the best.
I don't pay too much attention to definitions of the Mind, as I believe the idea is Empty, like consciousness, just a story.
Sometimes people suffer, sometimes not. Sometimes people are happy, sometimes sad. There's an element of dualism in happiness versus unhappiness. I'm not sure if happiness versus suffering is a dualism. I know that sometimes people are suffering and happy.
But I see a completely different axis, so to speak, which is unrelated to happiness and suffering. It's that bodhi-rapture. One can be in the throws of it, in the God Realm or the fires of hell, or anywhere in between.
Quoting your text: …"merely clear and knowing", or clear awareness, then one might question whether there would be "extreme emotional excitement" in "bodhi," defined as "awakening or enlightenment"?
For me, that's the surprise of this whole thing. How could dialing your awareness back to near zero produce rapture? It makes no sense. But to some degree I think that's our mechanistic Western mind. How could zero be a source of rapture? How could our fundamental nature, or the fundamental nature of the universe, be ecstatic. It's like saying molecules are ecstatic.
As we talk and think from a normal perspective (as opposed to an ultimate perspective) maybe they are.
When bodhi-rapture exists in the presence of deepest suffering, the suffering remains, but the result is exquisite compassion and clear-light. Maybe?
Thanks for your reply, Mark. I have to say that it is very hard to put this topic into words. Maybe next time we have tea...:-)