verses from the center
Verses from the Center a Buddhist view of the sublime by Stephen Batchelor.
This book translates some of Nagararjuna’s teachings.
According to Nagararjuna the problem is not in the world, but in our constructions of it. Loosening the excessive grip on oneself and things does not lead to chaos but a centered and attentive response. N.A.’s aim is to change the way one sees, in order to transform the quality of ones life.
In seeing things
To be or not to be
Fools fail to see
A world at ease.
He has an interesting take on attachments, habits and patterns that he refers to as fixations. Fixations do not manufacture a fake reality; they exaggerate what is merely contingent. Fixations imbue self and things with tightness solidity and opacity. Instead of experiencing the world as an uncertain play of conditions we prefer the safety of that which appears clear cut, predictable and manageable. Although within some time this becomes dull and repetitive. To relive this we need intense moments of experience, like food, shopping, drugs, sex, movies, vacations and religion.
Each chapter is an exercise into the sublime landscape of contingency along the tracks of emptiness. Emptiness is to be free from the promptings of fixations that provoke compulsive acts. Once the fixated grip of self centeredness is eased; emphatic awareness of the suffering of others begins to emerge. The silence of emptiness allows one to clearly see and hear the cries of the world.
This book translates some of Nagararjuna’s teachings.
According to Nagararjuna the problem is not in the world, but in our constructions of it. Loosening the excessive grip on oneself and things does not lead to chaos but a centered and attentive response. N.A.’s aim is to change the way one sees, in order to transform the quality of ones life.
In seeing things
To be or not to be
Fools fail to see
A world at ease.
He has an interesting take on attachments, habits and patterns that he refers to as fixations. Fixations do not manufacture a fake reality; they exaggerate what is merely contingent. Fixations imbue self and things with tightness solidity and opacity. Instead of experiencing the world as an uncertain play of conditions we prefer the safety of that which appears clear cut, predictable and manageable. Although within some time this becomes dull and repetitive. To relive this we need intense moments of experience, like food, shopping, drugs, sex, movies, vacations and religion.
Each chapter is an exercise into the sublime landscape of contingency along the tracks of emptiness. Emptiness is to be free from the promptings of fixations that provoke compulsive acts. Once the fixated grip of self centeredness is eased; emphatic awareness of the suffering of others begins to emerge. The silence of emptiness allows one to clearly see and hear the cries of the world.
Comments
It's a fun universe to live in.