Path: shell.portal.com!svc.portal.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!gatech!psinntp!psinntp!psinntp!interramp.com!usenet From: us022432@interramp.com Newsgroups: talk.religion.buddhism,alt.zen,alt.philosophy.zen,alt.meditation Subject: Re: Zen Center Ethical Guidelines Available Date: Sat, 03 Feb 96 18:10:37 PDT Organization: PSI Public Usenet Link Lines: 25 Message-ID: References: <4f087a$2an@sundog.tiac.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: 38.12.97.221 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Newsreader: NEWTNews & Chameleon -- TCP/IP for MS Windows from NetManage Xref: shell.portal.com talk.religion.buddhism:16315 alt.zen:23512 alt.philosophy.zen:6070 alt.meditation:20611 In article <4f087a$2an@sundog.tiac.net>, writes: > I'm kind of coming to the conclusion that the idea of Nibbana isn't > all that usefull to someone who doesn't believe in the neverending > cycles of an eternal atoministic self. Since I picture myself as > sort of dissolving upon death anyway, I kind of have trouble > identifying with being released from personal reincarnation. > > I was sort of poking at Mibbana looking for a relationship to > compassion, but there doesn't really seem to be one. I don't > need Nibbana for compassion anyway -- that follows from paticca > samuppada. > My own understanding of Nibbana stops short of "my" consciousness being reborn as well. I have heard Nibbana defined as the dissolution (or similar word) of ill-will, greed and delusion. This kind of unsophisticated definition is one I can work with; Nibbana becomes a work in progress -- and one which may perhaps be more completed by some than others. Jack Carroll