fandomhigh | Hubris from Revelation: the Social Engineering of Ultimate Truths [Monday, Period 2]

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Hubris from Revelation: the Social Engineering of Ultimate Truths [Monday, Period 2]

When the students arrived in the Danger Shop today, they would find the desks abandoned in favor of large meditation garden, Ghanima already sitting in an ānāpānasati stance with her eyes closed, a stack of handouts beside her.

"Good morning, class," she said, blue-on-blue eyes flickering open as the last person took a seat. "Please make yourselves comfortable. Today we study Buddhism."

"Buddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, who lived in and around the Indian sub-continent. Adherents recognize the Buddha as an awakened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end suffering, achieve nirvana, and escape what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth. However, Buddhist schools disagree over the historical teachings of the Buddha, and on the importance and canonicity of various scriptures," she said, standing to pass out the handouts.

"Two major branches of Buddhism are recognized: Theravada, "The School of the Elders", and Mahayana, "The Great Vehicle". Theravada, the oldest surviving, has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, whilst Mahayana, which is found throughout East Asia, includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, Tendai and Shinnyo-en . In some classifications, a third branch, Vajrayana, is recognized, although many see this as an offshoot of the Mahayana. Other movements have appeared in recent times, sometimes classified as Buddhist modernism."

"While Buddhism remains most popular within Asia, both branches are now found throughout the world. Various sources put the number of Buddhists in the world at between 230 million and 500 million. As the foundation of all Buddhist practice is ethical conduct and altruism, the appeal is not limited to the countries where it started," she explained. "Further practices can vary widely, but may include renunciation, meditation, the cultivation of mindfulness and wisdom, the study of scriptures, physical exercises, devotion and ceremonies, or the invocation of bodhisattvas."

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"The Four Noble Truths is one of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings. In broad terms, these truths relate to suffering, or dukkha, its nature, its origin, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation. The Four Noble Truths appear many times, throughout the most ancient Buddhist texts, the Pali Canon," Ghanima said, turning to write on the board.

1. Life as we know it ultimately is or leads to suffering/uneasiness (dukkha) in one way or another.
2. Suffering is caused by craving or attachments to worldly pleasures of all kinds. This is often expressed as a deluded clinging to a certain sense of existence, to selfhood, or to the things or phenomena that we consider the cause of happiness or unhappiness.
3. Suffering ends when craving ends, when one is freed from desire. This is achieved by eliminating all delusion, thereby reaching a liberated state of Enlightenment (bodhi);
4. Reaching this liberated state is achieved by following the path laid out by the Buddha.

"Do you agree with these truths? If not, what four would you substitute, and why?"

"All life is suffering," Tahiri said in a voice that was low, strained, and not quite like her own. "Life is separation from the gods, and pain itself as such."

Okay, so far, so creepy.

Ben gave her a very concerned look.

Which Tahiri (or as much of her was present at the moment anyway), unfortunately, didn't notice right away; she was staring at the board with slightly narrowed eyes.

She blinked a second later and shook her head hard, then caught the look on Ben's face, and went a tiny bit pale. She knew what today was. Her amazing sense of horrible timing was so consistent.

Ben looked alarmed that she'd gone pale and held out his hands in a placating gesture. Are you okay?

Fine, she replied, for a dubious given level of convincing. Just had a . . . moment. Sorry.

Ben, who was still a little irritated from Jaina's "I'm totally fine" smile yesterday and on edge because of the day, frowned back. Not fine, he insisted.

Not fine, Tahiri, who knew perfectly well that he wouldn't have bought it anyway but didn't want to give him more to worry about today (because that was a brilliant plan), conceded. Not a new kind of not fine, though. It was sad that this was getting to be her standard for normal.

Not that reassuring, he replied, biting his lower lip.

I know, she told him, sending a wave of apology in lieu of being able to actually go over and hug him in class. At least it was on topic?

Ben snorted aloud. And an interesting point. Just not one I want to debate with her. You. Something.

Yeah, not one I want to think about much either, Tahiri agreed, giving him a sheepish look before staring down at her desk. Especially not now.

Re: Discussion Two: The Four Noble Truths

momslilassassin - 2009-11-02 19:26 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Discussion Two: The Four Noble Truths

weetuskenraider - 2009-11-02 19:33 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Discussion Two: The Four Noble Truths

momslilassassin - 2009-11-02 19:40 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Discussion Two: The Four Noble Truths

weetuskenraider - 2009-11-02 21:23 (UTC) - Expand

Ghanima's eyes flickered slightly at that pronouncement, noting the difference in Tahiri's tone and attitude, and unable to shake the thought of her skin is not her own.

She had not heard of the Jedi suffering anything similar to Abomination or the Other Memory, but Tahiri was reminding her strongly of a young Alia at the moment.

"Does the pain of suffering create the potential for bodhi, then, or get in the way?" she asked instead. "Can we have enlightenment without knowing agony?"

"No," Tahiri said in a more normal voice now, her expression a touch mortified. She didn't sound as certain any more, like she had to sort out what she was trying to say in order to make sense of it.

"I mean, I don't think so. I think . . . according to this belief . . . the only way to achieve anything like enlightenment is to be reunited with the gods, and that means death. Some of them believe in using pain as meditation, though." That was as specific as she cared to get on the subject with Ben, who'd spent time in the Embrace, in the room, and more specific than she'd wanted to be at all. "They're kind of extreme, though. A lot."

"Desire does indeed lead to suffering," Raven said faintly, only half-aware she'd spoken aloud. "Not just for yourself, but for others."

"It can," Elena said, frowning slightly at how sad the other girl seemed. "But it's human. We want, we feel, we need. Pretending you can turn that off ... just leads to denial. I think the rules take it too far. Getting out of bed, you might step on your roommate's laptop, and crack the screen. That would suck. But the answer isn't to never get out of bed. It's to check the floor first."

"Where I come from, the people have turned off all desire," Raven said. "When I came here, I resented that, but now I am learning to understand better."

"My roommate says the same thing," she said, offering a wry smile. "That his people don't believe in emotions, and so on. I know someone else like that. I ... can't really speak for my roommate, but the other person ... I'm not sure he even knows how unhappy he is. He might be resigned to it."

Which was downright heartbreaking, when she thought about it. Which was, sadly, a fairly frequent occurrence.

"I thought perhaps I could learn emotions here," Raven said softly. "But I have done more harm than good. I have hurt others because of my own desires."

"How badly?" Elena asked, her voice gentle. "Is anyone dead? Is there anything that can't be undone?"

"No one has died, thank Azar," Raven said. "And...they are no longer affected. But it was not without damage."

"There always is," Elena said. "It sounds really trite to go, 'people make mistakes,' but ... it's also true. Sometimes really horrible ones, that have fucked up consequences for people you care about. That doesn't make it okay, that never makes it right, it just means it happens. You forgive yourself, you learn, you move on."

Okay, she was still working on that last point.

... a lot.

Raven nodded slowly. "I think it will take me some time to forgive myself," she said. "I did not mean to cause any harm, but I did, and I cannot undo it."

Elena was frowning slightly, and shaking her head.

"It's too pat," she said. "'I won't desire anything, ever, so I'll be enlightened.' That only means you can decide to punish yourself for feeling anything at all, for daring to want. Emotions are bad; feel nothing and be perfectly enlightened. And hollow."

Her tone was slightly vehement, near the end. Which had little to do with the lesson and more with people she knew who took the concepts a touch too far.

Jill frowned and said, "But if you reject all desire because you want to become enlightened, aren't you still desiring enlightenment? I mean, it's still desire, right?"

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