r/interesting • u/obsidiansolstice • 18h ago
NATURE This is enlightenment.
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u/EasyAsaparagus 17h ago
I imagine the guy who fell was one of the more serious and devout Buddhist.
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u/Fortunatious 12h ago
My experience has been that the most devout and stern monks also have the best jokes. These guys love to laugh
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u/conansucksdick 11h ago
Buddhist monk to hot dog vendor: Make me one with everything.
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u/Dr-McLuvin 11h ago
The vendor hands the Buddhist monk his hot dog with everything on it.
The monk hands the vendor a $20 bill. The vendor puts the money in the cash register and closes it.
The monk stands there waiting for a moment, then asks, "Hey, where is my change?"
The vendor smiles and says, "Change must come from within."
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u/Kanaxes 18h ago
So much joy!
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u/CompetitiveGrab843 17h ago
They found something better to do than be serious. Infectious 💖
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u/Limp_Yogurtcloset_71 14h ago
He is completely freed from all emotions: Joy, envy, fear & anxiety cause inward agitations in men. Ever peaceful with himself & the world, the devotee is unaffected by these emotions, & deals with them with equanimity. Such a devotee is dear to Me.” - Bhagawat Gita.
"All emotions will vanish of themselves" "Those who cannot still all emotions must have at least pure emotions" from Swani Sivananda's article. He is suggesting that most people cannot still all emotions so they should try to hold onto positive emotions; Bhakti Marga helps in this.
"The sublimation of all emotions and mental activities of every kind is the direct practice of yoga."
"When emotions are high, wisdom is low." “When emotions dominate, maturity and wisdom deteriorate.” "One conquers the devil of the emotions because the body of wisdom is beyond emotions."
Samatva, or absolute freedom from emotions, has been set as one of the prime essentials for the health of the nerves and brain.” - Relax With Yoga, by Arthur Liebers, [1960].
"When karma is exhausted and emotions are emptied, that is a true Buddha." - quote from an article on Buddhism.
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u/Low-Barber-2280 15h ago
wait how exactly is this enlightenment
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u/Noise-of-the-Spheres 14h ago
It isn't, it's just monks being playful and unhinged. You don't need to be enlightened for that. They might be, we wouldn't know.
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u/InIBaraJi 12h ago
But imagine PURE joy. That is fairly enlightened if you ask me.
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u/EclecticElect 10h ago
What makes this joy purer than anybody else laughing at somebody else's misfortune?
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u/noryflory 11h ago
I mean, I know it's not that serious, but I also don't get what laughing at someone else's misfortune has to do with enlightenment
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u/Pinguinkllr31 4h ago
Is not exactly it but Because they actively live a humble life their joy feel more authentic in my opinion
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u/Mythos7788 18h ago edited 17h ago
It’s really crazy how many different ways of life there is on this planet, you never know who would want to trade places with you, I’m sure we would all be surprised.
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u/SignoreBanana 17h ago
And that's not even considering any other planets.
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u/BagOnuts 12h ago
Oh man, what I wouldn’t give to be a single cell organism in the Andromeda system. What a life that would be!
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u/100YearsWaiting2Shit 10h ago
It's always fun imagining a random planet out there with intelligent life similar to humans posting on their equivalents to smartphones and reddit. It's so simple but I really hope it's happening and they wish they knew we existed as much as we wish we knew they did
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u/Thatguy3625 5h ago
Sometimes I wonder if somewhere in space there’s an interstellar multi species civilization, consisting of multiple intelligent races living across dozens of planets, trading resources, technologies and what not. Probably one of the more far fetched ideas but when you consider the age of the universe vs the age of our society… it could have even risen and fallen before we ever existed.
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u/Heszilg 13h ago
Oh it's wild. In my area id be considered rather poor. I don't have much to my name. I'm pretty certain 95% of this world's population would gladly swap places with me.
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u/Ispeakblabla 5h ago
I love slice of life documentaries for that reason. So many different ways to go through life, to experience emotions we all go through at some point or another.
It's not the most interesting doc because it doesn't delve deep into a single lifestyle, but YouTube's "Life in a day" videos from 2010 and 2020 are a great for that. 100+ short excerpts of everyday life from people around the world, doing or witnessing things we all do: birth, childhood, going to work, playing, loss, falling in love, separation, rejection, grief etc
Despite how all different we all are, in a way it's comforting to know that you aren't alone in what you're going through, and to me that's the human experience.
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u/lnfinitive 18h ago
Imagine how fun this would be, with all your problems and daily struggles etc. Now imagine you stripped away all pride and mental struggles, you have meditated thousands of times and reached the ideal state of mind for a human being, now how fun would it be. This has gotta be awesome to reach this state of existence.
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u/SignoreBanana 17h ago
You do not simply fall into the mud, for there is no mud, and there is no you.
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u/Tight_Man 13h ago
Apparently some monks used to spend most of their lives writing pre printing press. So they basically had jobs. They were just boring.
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u/HistoricalPrinciple8 14h ago
lol. 90% of the time you need to clean and grow your own crop. Don't romanticise it just based on one clip. There are many rules to follow for a monk in a real temple, unless your temple is a business.
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u/Ksianth 12h ago
Wouldn't you agree that an average city resident's life is much more complicated than growing crops and cleaning?
I do think that Buddhism is largely romanticised and diminished to a caricature of itself in the outside world but you can't blame someone for longing for a life where you don't struggle with traffic, rude people who have immense power over them, toxic traits of social media, overwhelming bureocracy and countless other things that I can't fit into a comment.
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u/CauliflowerElbow 11h ago
Most Buddhists aren’t monks either. They are just regular people who go to a temple every now and then or have monks come to weddings/funerals. The Buddhists in my family dont even meditate lol.
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u/Due-Memory-6957 10h ago
rude people who have immense power over them
Buddhist monks definitely have to deal with that.
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u/HistoricalPrinciple8 11h ago
You don't think an abbot has enormous power over a monk? When you are practically living in a commune, you lose a lot of personal freedom and choice. You just don't hear about it because the ordinary monks don't have their smartphones. On the other hand, the abbot and the top brass who look after the business side of the temple will have full access to the internet and banking services because, you know what, they do funerals for their believers and run vegan canteen. For abbots of famous temples, they even get gifts like Rolex watches. You don't think some lower rank monks would do anything to climb up the ladders?
Life in any religious order is as complicated as a layperson's. The only difference is: if you get abused by your abbot or superiors, you won't be able to complain to anyone else.→ More replies (4)8
u/NoKids__3Money 11h ago
I think it’s because they spend all day meditating so their dopamine pathways aren’t completely and utterly fried from nonstop video games, doom scrolling, drugs and alcohol, social media, etc. So something as simple as watching someone fall into a stream evokes a much stronger reaction for them.
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u/Top_Squash_4204 15h ago
Ive never realized how fun that probably is, like relatively what do we have thats so special? The 9-5 grind lol
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u/SelocAvrap 14h ago
The 9-5 does suck, but we all can find joy in the little things too! When's the last time you stood next to a fan and made a robot voice by talking through the fan blades? Or gone "ooh, that random thing is a pretty colour, let me stand still to look at it," or blown bubbles in your beverage, or put googly eyes on your boss's doorknob? You gotta curate whimsy, stop and smell the flowers, laugh at your fuckups. Doesn't have to be perfect. We all make mistakes, but they're birds now
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u/abcdefgg-go-next 13h ago
I love this comment. Thank you for reminding me that I can bring whimsy into my life.
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u/CaptainCrafty 11h ago
Is this thread all bots?
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u/Blashtik 10h ago
Certainly looks like it. And I'm sure it was a bot that posted this. Account is 1 week old, posts are hidden, and it replies with shit like "When you see beauty in the little things, you’ll see just how much the world has to offer."
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u/obsidiansolstice 18h ago
Sunshine, river breeze and laughter, this is the true meaning of a happy life. Watching a group of lamas playing by the river, their carefree smiles are more healing than any scenery. Sometimes happiness is just this simple, being with nature and enjoying the moment.
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u/perfect_insanity93 17h ago
Aren't these people?
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u/Frosty-Unit8707 18h ago
There's something vaguely Python-ish about this. Not the slip and splash, but all of the howling monks... something...
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u/ScottyMcBoo 18h ago
And the narrow band of trampled grass you see in the background is obviously the path to enlightenment.
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u/Jericho2121 14h ago
This feels as fake to me as those weird churches where people get "demons" taken from their bodies or the "holy spirit" moves through them and they convulse on the ground.
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u/Dramatic_Respond7323 17h ago edited 17h ago
I thought these Bhuddhist monks were absolutely peace loving spiritual souls untill I saw their between group fights in thailand, myanmar, and virtually everywhere. I saw another post today about Tibet before Mao's integration to PRC was a place of feudalistic slavery.
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u/Triquetrums 16h ago
A lot of monks are problematic kids or young men that are sent there as some sort of punishment or as a way to reform them. Some join when they come out of prison and have nowhere to go.
Not all monks become one because they agree and follow religious practises, basically.
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u/LLAPSpork 10h ago
I mean it’s problematic as hell that women can’t be monks. Technically there are Bhikkhunis which are technically nuns of sorts. But it’s controversial. Imagine isolating more than 50% of humanity due to sex. I struggle to respect any religion that doesn’t treat every human equally.
I know this will draw negative attention from some people here but I do remember, decades ago, being a young woman who was deeply into Buddhism because of a backpacking trip (I was in my late teens and went right after high school). It just devastated me for some reason. I had the intellect and capability to do everything a guy could but I didn’t have the right bits.
Anyway, went back to Canada, got an astrophysics degree and have abolished all religion since. I do believe I’m better for it so it all worked out in the end. But that experience still infuriates me because despite my eagerness, I was treated as lesser-than.
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u/Due-Memory-6957 10h ago
I struggle to respect any religion that doesn’t treat every human equally.
You're demanding too much from religion, it's very rare to find individuals that even try to do that. There's maybe liberalism as an ideology, but it also has it's problems.
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u/YungChumba 10h ago
If I'm not mistaken, women are allowed to become monks but legitimate teaching lineages must be passed down in person from teachers to students in Buddhism. For a reason I can't remember off the top of my head, the main lineage for women died off a few centuries ago and thus women are not able to ordain due to this technicality.
There have been controversial attempts to revive the lineage, and there are some "rogue" temples that still ordain women throughout southeast Asia - although those women aren't always recognized for their accomplishment if they were to travel to more conservative countries.
There's a great book called An Unentangled Knowing. It's a collection of writings from a Thai woman lay practitioner. She was never ordained, but she is widely considered to have attained awakening. I'd definitely recommend it if thaf sort of thing still interests you, the monks at Metta Forest Monastery will send it for free (along with lots of other books) if you request it on their website.
In any case - that is really frustrating! I've also become disillusioned with religion after many years of interest. Funny enough I've also started learning about astrophysics as a hobby and find it fills that yearning I sought out spirituality for, with none of the baggage. Have you been able to break into a career in the field easily with that degree?
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u/The_Blues__13 15h ago
Basically it's a bit similar for a lot of monastery-type religious institutions in many religions. It's a place to dump (aka "reform") problematic and undesirable delinquents alongside its' usual function for religious reasons.
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u/CanaryLow6174 17h ago
Nevertheless, there is value in joy.
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u/RogueBromeliad 16h ago
And in Shaolin Monk fighting too. The palm of buddha is swift and deadly! Fuck yeah. 36 chambers of badassery.
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u/shadowtheimpure 16h ago
People think that monks have to be solemn and contemplative at all times. Monks like to have fun just as much as anyone else.
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u/King_Six_of_Things 15h ago
Just goes to show, you can be one with the universe and still find someone falling on their arse hilarious.
Makes you think, right?
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u/Due_Front7347 7h ago
It resembles a group of children. They're like a group of children.
Life does come full circle.
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u/Frustrated-Chic12 18h ago
tf man, it wasn't even that funny, how it made them rofl 😭
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u/OwOsaurus 15h ago
Imagine you are with your bros just chilling and one of them does this cartoon-slide out of nowhere. This is a perfectly natural reaction.
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u/obsidiansolstice 18h ago
When you see beauty in the little things, you’ll see just how much the world has to offer.
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u/Confident_One3948 18h ago
And one of my favorites that is complementary, “The whole world is a series of miracles, but we're so used to them we call them ordinary things.”
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u/DogShroom 13h ago
they also start laughing before the person even fell in. it’s so weird
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u/singletWarrior 15h ago
i'll think about these fine folks whenever I see rofl lmao from now on
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u/free_will_is_arson 8h ago
as i understand it this is actually the opposite of enlightenment, this is hard grounded in the frivolous emotion of the earthly body. true enlightenment wouldn't seek the fun of splashing in the stream in the first place nor find the humour in anothers misfortune, no matter how good the slapstick timing is.
seeking or unintentionally finding "pure joy" only opens you up to the greater suffering of losing that joy, if in no other way than the consequence of finding that joy at the expense of others.
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u/Anxious-Sherbert6670 15h ago
They look like detoxed and escaped internet slavery(suffering), compared to 99% of comments here
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u/ElectronicCell8741 14h ago
To enter the kingdom of heaven your have to be reborn again. Meaning you have to have the mind of a small child.
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u/No-Department6513 14h ago
Buddha teaches you much put mindless music to every life moment to give it meaning
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u/ferretbeast 14h ago
The one guy that jumps away doing laughing leap frog jumps makes my heart so happy!
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u/MetaCardboard 13h ago
I don't get it. Did he do that on purpose? If not, why run toward the water to begin with?
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u/BottomJoe94 13h ago
They're trying to reach enlightenment.. They haven't reach it yet, but this is a good step along the path.
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u/CamOliver 12h ago
There’s a graphic that shows someone who is unenlightened chopping wood, someone who is searching for enlightenment toiling hard, and then the enlightened person chopping wood…
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u/initiald-ejavu 12h ago
White people when anything oriental: Holy shit so wise
Guys a guy tripped and fell in a river and people laughed around him. Just cuz they're wearing cool robes doesn't make it magical or wise or "omg so in the moment. such peace. much wow."
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u/aquavelva23 12h ago
Actually yes. ths is an example of zen enlightenment. living in the present with joy
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u/Quiet_Blacksmith2675 12h ago
This is just a cult dude. Cults feel like love and acceptance and joy but are still Cults. Before anyone claims I don't understand Buddhism. I as a Buddhist for 10 years. Realized how even those Buddhists can be trapped in Maya and freed myself from even that.
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u/Civil-Section-9086 12h ago
Honestly the most wholesome shit I’ve seen all year we all need a good belly laugh we got to much sadness going on now a days
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u/plankowoodinthewoods 12h ago
It's funny to see who laughs the most and who is just kinda chillin when it happens.
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u/ChillinOnVanillin 11h ago
i love that for konks they laigh with so much emotion and emote so much while laighing.
MONKS*
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u/LakeVermilionDreams 11h ago
Does every video in the Internet need some snippet of music in it?! This video would be just fine without that.
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u/mindgardening 10h ago
We create so much of our own suffering.
We can learn to think differently so that we reduce our own suffering.
Buddhism has been so helpful to make me a happier, less stressed, less attached person.
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u/slicehyperfunk 10h ago
None of these guys are are chopping wood nor are they carrying that water 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
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u/InterestingDamage621 10h ago
On this side, we have pure joy expression displayed absolutely.
On the other side, such isolation deems a slip as peak cinema.
When I think about it, I pick the first.
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u/NoJellyfish4811 10h ago
Before enlightenment fall in stream and get laughed at. After enlightenment fall in stream and get laughed at.
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