What's the meaning of life?

Many before me has answerd many aspects of this question, which I won't repeat, thus I will provide my own views to the matter.

- not to ask silly selfexplanatory questions.
- to seek knowledge by youself, and not be lazy to ask others to provide it for you.
- be critical about information provided, and not just be naive and sheeple about it.
- try to make humanity progress.
- be civil, a very difficult virtue, not to give into emotional behaviour such as agression and hate ..most of all, hysteria!

Demon is alive!

Stanley Huang,
In reply to post #193

Zen rejects nothing. In that case it can not be directly utilized to analyze things. One adept in zen thinking has an open mind and thus is free to be prepared for any solution to an analysis.

Do I have this correct?

I believe that the purpose of humanity is to is to expand. We need to make our species last forever-our manifest destiny. The only way to do this, I believe, is to expand beyond the cradle of Earth, and settle new planets. Our Sun WILL explode, and we can't let our species die out, ever. The purpose of life, I believe, is to help our species reach this goal in any way possible.

Animals, in their basic, instinctual wisdom, ever strive to maintain their numbers in anyway possible-humans must do the same. On intelligence is on an entirely different scale, and so too must our measures for survival be.

I believe that the purpose of humanity is to is to expand. We need to make our species last forever-our manifest destiny. The only way to do this, I believe, is to expand beyond the cradle of Earth, and settle new planets. Our Sun WILL explode, and we can't let our species die out, ever. The purpose of life, I believe, is to help our species reach this goal in any way possible.

So the meaning of life is to exist? I need not point out that no specie has always existed and none ever will in my opinion; they come and go at the whim of nature (environment). Personally, over time, I have begun to think that the question at the heart of this thread, when considered in isolation, has no meaning.

Surely any objective meaning in the context used in the question posed can only be assigned by someone or something outside the framework of what the question relates to for the question to have meaning. If it is assigned meaning by an individual within the framework to which the question relates then any answer is subjective......I'm not sure what I am talking about so I'll shut up now!

The only way I can rationalize it is to consider it within my own framework of knowledge and experience, which of course makes a nonsense of any answer as far as any universal meaning is concerned, as it can only relate to me, looking through my own rose tinted glasses (or blindfold?).

In the meantime, 42 suits me just fine.

All of you people are lost.

None of you come to the realisation of inner awakening.

This is like a person who has not been to the moon, yet, keep on thinking what the moon is like.

And you people search for meaning of life or Zen is just like that.

You can only taste Zen when you experience inner awakening.

Until then, all of you are just guessing what the moon is, without the actual landing there.

You people who read Zen books or read wikipedia and think that you know what Zen is, and that is like a person who is dreaming about the moon but never at the moon.

If you think you know Zen from reading from a book, then, that is not really enlightenment taste of Zen.

Unless you experience enlightenment, you can never taste Zen.

And you know that words have nothing to do with enlightenment.

So Western people who are smart and think they know Zen through reading a book is not only far from enlightenment, but there are too many delusions.

If a Chinese person needs 200 years to reach enlightenment, then it will take Americans 1000000 years to attain enlightenment.

If a dog needs one day to attain enlightenment, then, it will take modern human beings 1000000000000 years to reach the same depth.

And psychologists cannot help you to attain enlightenment.

All the people in Zen centres cannot help you, because none of them attain enlightenment.

If what you say is true than enlightenment can only be experienced individually and can only be defined by the person having the experience in terms of that experience. If that is the case there is no definition of enlightenment only the individual conscious knowledge that there is something out side our understanding of our reality. Or maybe that actually is reality and the rest of it are management strategies that provide order to life where there is no order.

Well, you are judging my words and so long as you judge my words, you cannot taste a clear mind of Zen experience.

But if you think not thinking or not talking is Zen, then, that is also a big mistake.

I think maybe yesterday, there was a person called HexHammer who wrote many words to me.

Now, I do not know what is this crazy person is talking about, but I feel such a person is like a lost soul wandering around in the dark.

Maybe he needs to get a life.

Because does not have have a better thing to do than making some meaningless comments?

Come on! Get a life!

Stanley Huang,

How are you so sure you are not lost as well?

If you are so highly enlightened you should surly be able to help us experience zen.

Hi. How are you?

What is important for us is liberation.

I mean all human beings do not want suffering.

And religion is about liberation, liberation from suffering.

I think liberation depends on individual.

Here, I do not want to argue or debate about religious matters, because sometimes, I feel it only creates more anger rather than more peace or happiness.

But to me, philosophy, science, art and religion are the same.

I dislike when some people separate religion, philosophy, science and art.

I think religion is philosophy. Philosophy is science. Science is art.

I feel Zen is the most complete religion.

To me, physics is the most complete science.

I do not care whether other people will agree with me or not, and I am not going to argue or debate about issue concerning to path to liberation, because as I said, it is meaningless, because does debating make us a more happier person?

Maybe just creating more anger or misery.

But I feel there is a force beyond our abilities, so this is why religion is to me important.

Because what we have is limited.

Genius is limited.

But to me, I feel the Lord is already within us.

God is within us, not outside.

What about demon? Is demon within us?

Well, if Demon mind is like anger, hatred, worries, etc, etc, then, yes, I think demon mind is also within us.

God mind is like happiness, brightness, etc, etc.

If our minds are suffering or worrying or angry, then, demon is within us.

If we feel happiness, then, God is within us.

So I believe we can all experience this, right?

So we all have dark side and bright side.

So yes, there is demon which is anger, suffering, darkness, etc, etc.

But enlightened mind is also within us.

But we often did not discover this enlightened mind within.

And I think Zen practice is maybe like a war against our demon minds.

It is a war against our anger, hatred and worries.

It is a battle.

But the demon will never disappear or leave us.

The potential for anger, hatred and worries will be there so long as we are able to feel.

But if we can discover enlightened mind, then, even though the demon mind is there, but it is not active.

So even though demon mind is there, but it is not active.

But I feel we all always have this dark side, such as anger, worries, or hatred, called demon mind, but so long as demon mind is not active, then, we are ok.

To me, pure thinking cannot answer all of our miseries or questions.

Many things are beyond our control.

This is why we need religion.

Like sometimes, a person wants to get Nobel Prize and works very hard, but he ends up not getting it.

But then, maybe another person never thinks about getting Nobel Prize, but ending up getting it.

Maybe we cannot fully decide what we want or the fate of our future.

So this is why religion is like the compass.

And no matter how smart a person is, he is still going to feel loss without this compass.

But I think religion has the power to sustain a particular culture or particular society.

It has the strength in it.

But I feel Zen is not like a belief.

It is very hard to explain what Zen is, but that does not mean silence is Zen.

It does not mean that not thinking is Zen.

Ok?

PS: I am also doubt about many psychologists.

Because psychologists want to help people, but they do not talk about liberation.

So I somehow feel Western psychology is not complete.

If they try to let people understand people by using logical thinking, still, I feel even though they can think or rationalise very much, but, I feel it is still not liberation.

So I feel Western psychology is not complete science.

It is not complete religion.

The most important thing is: What is the way to liberation for us?

What is the way to freedom?

What is the way to end suffering?

That is the most important question for us, ok?

And to me, science, art and religion are all the same.

[quote="Stanley Huang"

And religion is about liberation, liberation from suffering.
quote:
But to me, philosophy, science, art and religion are the same.
quote:
I dislike when some people separate religion, philosophy, science and art.
quote:
I think religion is philosophy. Philosophy is science. Science is art.

Religion is the product of fear. Fear of the unknown. And fear of the known. Religion is not faith. Religion is a management strategy. It provides reassurance through control. Religion is condemning, exclusionary, and myopic. It is self contained and self perpetuating, It lacks the capacity to evolve. I do not believe art, science or philosophy share similar traits.

You have so much opinion. Do you think a Zen monk will care about religion? A Zen monk once said: "When hungry, just eat. When tired, just sleep!" This is my last letter to you. I have other things to do, so I do not think I will have time to write to you anymore.

PS: Life is not just about thinking, debating and discussion. I mean we still need to eat, sleep, and drink water, etc, etc. So have you heard of the term 'living philosophy?" I mean we are humans, and so long as we are alive, we cannot escape from life. If a person is hungry, thinking, debating or discussion is not going to give him food. If a person needs money to fly to America, pure talking is not going to give him money.

I may not have time to write to you or respond in this forum.

I think modern people waste too much time talking and debating, and not practical. And worse of all, modern people waste time in meaningless quarrel.

Just by expressing an opinion is not going to give people food. Just by expressing a view is not going to save the poor Africans from HIV.

I think living philosophy is what we need, and not just purely debating and discussion, because we are humans and we need to live or survive in this world.

And Zen is the truest living philosophy, because it does not waste any time on anything meaningless that is not relevant to life or our survival.

So, maybe this will be my last letter, since I do not have time. If you live your life to the fullest, then, you will have no time to worry about all these things. Ok?

I was just responding to your statement regarding "religion is philosophy". Sorry if I offended you.

We need to be strong in order to survive in this world. If I was offended, then, it would be my problem and not your fault. People who blame other people for harsh words mean that they are mentally weak. I think a true Zen practitioner needs to be strong inside, so that he can be master of himself. But I think modern people are easily distracted by outside, and therefore cannot be the lord of himself.

So I think philosophy is not just about trying to get clearer understanding, I think living philosophy is also important, as a way of life.

Or what I called the art of life, so art is science and science is philosophy. I think Albert Einstein said that religion, science and art are not divided. But I think art is same as science and I think science is same as philosophy.

And I think Greek philosophers in the past were concerned about understanding, while Indian thinkers were concerned about some religious ideas such as life after death and heaven or hell, but I think it was the Chinese thinkers who were deeply interested in the philosophy of life, so in a sense, Chinese thinkers in the past would feel understanding or religious idea might be meaningless if it was not relevant to our current life or survival. So I feel Chinese thinkers were more practical than Greek thinkers and I think Chinese thinkers were also more practical than Indian thinkers, because Chinese thinkers were interested in philosophy as a way of life, or living philosophy.

Because so long as we are humans, we need to live and human beings like other animals need to survive in this earth. And anything that will not help life is to the Chinese meaningless or useless, so if a knowledge or religious idea is not helpful to humans, Chinese will see it as useless.

Zen is most worldly living philosophy, because it is the philosophy that is the most relevant to life, so it is truly a living philosophy. Anything that goes beyond life would be ignored by Zen.

So Zen will not waste time on anything not relevant to our survival, and in the end, what is life? What is death? What is survival? What is existence?

Zen monk in the past would say: "When hungry, just eat, and when tired, just sleep."

Because this is maybe an important part of life and we can never forget that we are animals.

Ok?

Metamorphosis...

in all human ways possible...
...until we learn how to truly love and be free...