Buddhism

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

You both like buddhism.

Stranger: Hello.

You: hello

Stranger: I'm trying to come up with something interesting to say.

You: interesting

Stranger: Is the word "interesting" interesting?

You: no

Stranger: People on Omegle are often quick to judge.

Stranger: I find that it is difficult to get people not to hang up immediately.

You: teach me what you know

Stranger: You have to be prepared to fail,

Stranger: but it also helps to be able to come with something different all the time.

Stranger: If the other person senses that the conversation is scripted in some way, it ceases to be engaging.

You: I don't like how you said that last one, since I've never thought of a conversation as "scripted" but I think there might be some truth to it

Stranger: Most conversations are scripted to a certain extent.

Stranger: For example, the first thing I said was "Hello."

Stranger: This word is meaningful because of its placement in the conversation. It is a friendly greeting.

You: that's a lot of words to explain what I already knew

You: but I get your point a tad better

Stranger: I like to take a close look at those things in conversations that people "already know."

Stranger: I have found that many of the little social rituals we think are obvious turn out not to be.

Stranger: For example, when people sneeze, it's common to say, "Bless you."

You: not in college

Stranger: Many people think they know the reason for this ritual, but I have never heard an explanation that I find satisfying.

You: no one does

Stranger: No one in college says "Bless you"?

You: not since I've been here

You: 2+ semesters

Stranger: What do you do when someone sneezes?

You: ignore it

You: we usually keep one urnal inbetween us in the bathroom though

Stranger: Why?

You: don't want another guy seeing out dick or don't want to see another dick

Stranger: What would happen if someone saw your dick?

You: nothing

Stranger: Ha ha ha

You: it's just a social comfort barrier

You: it breaks every time in this one building between classes though, since there are only 4 lined in a row

Stranger: People are so weird in bathrooms.

Stranger: So what's your major?

You: electrical engineering

You: what can you teach me about Buddhism?

Stranger: Well, what would you like to know about Buddhism?

You: the basics to middle intensity information

You: I'm very early on

Stranger: Okay.

Stranger: It started in India. There was a guy named Siddhartha Gautama, who grew up as a Hindu prince.

Stranger: He was born sometime around 480 BCE, in northeastern India.

Stranger: When he was about 29 years old, he decided he wanted to become a wandering monk. There were a lot of different ascetic traditions in India at that time.

Stranger: Even though he already has a wife and a young son, he left them to become a monk.

Stranger: He studied under several different teachers, and practiced severe physical austerities, like fasting for many days at a time,

Stranger: sleeping outside in harsh weather,

Stranger: begging for food,

Stranger: doing all kinds of painful things in an attempt to achieve some greater understanding of reality.

Stranger: After about five years of these practices, he decided that neither a comfortable life as a prince, nor a harsh life of extreme asceticism,

Stranger: were helping him to achieve a better understanding of reality.

You: middle road

Stranger: So, he decided to eat a full meal, for the first time in years, and then sat under a tree to meditate until he had things sorted out once and for all.

Stranger: After a long period of meditation, he achieved a mental state called nirvana, the cessation of all suffering.

Stranger: He realized that his understanding of himself as a discrete ego was just a mental construction, and that there really is no such things as a permanent "self" or "soul."

Stranger: He decided to preach this new doctrine to the other ascetics he had met over the years,

Stranger: and they soon became the first Buddhist monks.

Stranger: The Buddha's teaching is often summarized in four statements called The Four Noble Truths:

You: I memorized them, almost

Stranger: 1) All phenomenal existence is suffering. 2) Suffering is caused by desire. 3) Elimination of desire eliminates suffering. 4) Desire can be eliminated by following the Eightfold Path, a set of ethical guidelines for leading a good life.

You: some deeper stuff?

Stranger: Ha ha, okay.

Stranger: It is easy enough to say that there is no self, but how can we some to realize firsthand that there is no self?

Stranger: The realization of no-self (anatman) is the key to achieving liberation from the world.

Stranger: There are various meditation practices that Buddhists use to understand the doctrine of anatman.

Stranger: One is to sit very still, and concentrate on the breathing.

Stranger: When you breathe in, think to yourself, "I am breathing in," and do not think of anything else.

Stranger: When you breathe out, think to yourself, "I am breathing out," and do not think of anything else.

You: awwwwww

Stranger: It sounds easy enough, but it can actually be quite difficult to focus the mind on only one thing.

Stranger: There are also body awareness exercises, in which the meditator reviews his/her body, one part at a time, thinking, "I have hair. I have eyeballs. I have a nose. I have a mouth. I have lungs. I have intestines." and so forth, reviewing every single nameable part of the body.

Stranger: Again, it sounds very simple, but it can be very difficult to maintain a constant discipline of doing these practices, which is necessary for achieving the benefits.

You: I think about so many things when I meditate, so it does not seem like I ever truly meditate

Stranger: You probably are not meditating, then.

Stranger: It takes time to be able to meditate properly.

Stranger: One thing that is difficult for people in the beginning is intrusive thoughts, like "I am so hungry right now," "I wonder how long I have been meditating," "this is so boring," "why am I doing this," etc.

Stranger: And then, people can make these intrusive thoughts worse, thinking, "Shit, I'm not supposed to be thinking about those things," "let's get back on track," "stop thinking about a hamburger," etc.

Stranger: Probably the best way to deal with those kinds of thoughts is to simply acknowledge them, and let them pass away.

You: ok, good

Stranger: Say to yourself, "It's okay for me to have these thoughts, but I'm going to let them pass on now."

Stranger: Don't punish yourself for trying to meditate.

Stranger: Just think, "These are thoughts rising up, now they are passing away."

Stranger: Try not to think about how long you have been sitting there.

Stranger: If you do, just think, "This is another thought, rising up and passing away."

Stranger: Anytime you have a stray thought, just think, "This is a thought, rising up and passing away."

Stranger: Eventually it will become natural for you to focus on the meditation itself, not on the stray thoughts.

Stranger: When you do this, you will find that you enter into a deeper consciousness.

Stranger: If you are too concerned about your progress, you will lose it.

Stranger: Remember, the self is the real problem in all of this.

Stranger: If you think, "I'm not making any progress," or if you think, "Wow, I'm making so much progress,"

Stranger: those can be equally bad in making progress.

Stranger: You don't need to punish yourself, though.

Stranger: Just tell yourself, "Okay, those are just more thoughts, rising up and passing away."

Stranger: If you feel like you can't meditate anymore, then stop. You don't need to do it for a particular amount of time.

Stranger: It helps to try to increase the time gradually, but there is no best length of time for meditating.

Stranger: It's also useful to do it during a time when things around you are quiet.

You: how much do you meditate for

Stranger: It depends. Sometimes only a few minutes, sometimes for an hour.

You: I have 25 dB earmuffs

You: that I use

Stranger: Some nights I don't do it at all.

Stranger: Earmuffs, I haven't tried that.

Stranger: Sometimes I plug up my ears with my fingers.

You: you do it before sleep?

Stranger: Yeah, usually around 12:30 am or 1:00 am. My wife like to go to sleep around midnight, so I usually get up after that and do it. It's quieter at that time.

You: what! what time do you wake?

Stranger: 7:30 am or 8:00 am

You: sleepyti.me

Stranger: Ha ha

You: it is a website

Stranger: Yes, I know

You: cool

Stranger: Thanks, this is pretty useful

Stranger: It's telling me I should go to sleep around 2:30 am

Stranger: I think that is pretty typical for me

You: I don't use it anymore; it's either 6 or 7:30 hours from time I sleep (increments of 90 min)

Stranger: Well, I have found my body is pretty good at knowing when to go to sleep and wake up.

Stranger: I don't have a very rigid schedule most days, so it's okay for me to sleep in if I want to.

You: any more stuff about Buddhism? does your wife practice too?

Stranger: No, I'm trying to get her interested in it, but I don't think she wants to put in the effort of meditating. That's okay with me. It's not for everybody.

You: =)

Stranger: I'd be happy to answer any questions you have, though. I'm not sure exactly what you want to know. The basics are pretty simple, really.

Stranger: The hard part is actually doing it.

You: do you have skype?

Stranger: No, no Facebook or Skype.

You: then how

Stranger: How what?

You: questions I have

Stranger: Just ask.

You: I cant think of them all right at this moment

Stranger: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/

Stranger: That website is pretty good.

Stranger: It has translations of some of the oldest Buddhist texts from the Theravada tradition, which is the Buddhist tradition now practiced in Sri Lanka.

You: aw, this is great!

Stranger: I guess the best piece of advice I can offer is not to be discouraged if you don't notice anything right away.

Stranger: There's no magic pill that leads to enlightenment.

Stranger: Try not to be too obsessed with the meditation aspect, either.

Stranger: You will notice that most Buddhist texts hardly talk about meditation at all.

Stranger: It's actually considered by many monks to be a very minor part of their practice.

Stranger: And some monks don't meditate at all.

You: wow, that was unexpected

Stranger: Yeah, I think the Buddhist tradition is often not portrayed very accurately in the English-speaking world.

Stranger: People tend to focus more on things they imagine Buddhism should be about instead of what it is.

Stranger: Reading lots of original texts is a good way to sort out what is bullshit and what isn't.

Stranger: I would recommend avoiding any of the contemporary "self help"-style books pretending to be using a Buddhist outlook.

You: ok, will do

Stranger: But you can do whatever you want, also. If something works for you, use that.

Stranger: I just tend to be very wary of quick fixes.

Stranger: Buddhist psychology is quite deep. It can take a whole lifetime to begin to appreciate it.

You: allright

You: thanks again

You: any parting words?

Stranger: Be good to people, and they will be good to you. We inflict on others the pain that we imagine they do to us.

Stranger: Good luck!

Stranger has disconnected.