Moonpointer : Buddhist Blog of Everyday Dharma




  • Ad

  • Poll

    Which is Your Favourite of the Eight Holy Places?

    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...
    • Polls Archive
  • Slideshow

      Get the Flash Player to see the slideshow.
  • Random Photos

    Ginkakuji-Moss.gif P1020665Ds P1010873 P1030007Ds P1010912 Nara-Yakushiji-Bell.gif MtKoya-Jizo-green.gif HK-LantauIsland-TempleStatue.gif P1020970Ds
  • Stonepeace@Twitter

    • That it is possible to be more and more enlightened is more important than whether enlightenment is possible or not [though it is]. 2010/03/12
    • The real magic is not in the mystical but in the demystification of what seems magical. This is called enlightenment. 2010/03/10
    • Bodhisattvas think of what others need first, while ordinary beings think of what they want first. 2010/03/09
    • While rationalisation is good if it benefits, it is evil if it harms, while only realisation [of things as they are] is both good and true. 2010/03/09
    • The path to ultimate freedom lies in being less and less bound by both physical and mental shackles. 2010/03/08
  • Subscribe Moonpointer-Daily

    Subscribe
  • Subscribe Moonpointer-Weekly

  • AdLinks

  • Moonpointer Friends

  • Past Blogs







  • Links

    • Buddhist Channel
    • LivingVegan
    • Peta
    • Sea Shepherd
    • Sharkwater
    • TDE
    • VSS
  • Tags

    • acceptance
    • agnosticism
    • Amitabha Buddha
    • Amituofo
    • Anatta
    • anger
    • Anicca
    • animal welfare
    • appeal
    • appearance
    • appreciation
    • Arahat
    • Arhathood
    • arrogance
    • art
    • aspiration
    • astrology
    • asura
    • atheism
    • attachment
    • attitude
    • aversion
    • beauty
    • belief
    • blame
    • blessing
    • blessings
    • bliss
    • Bodhicitta
    • Bodhidharma
    • Bodhisattva
    • Bodhisattvas
    • book
    • boredom
    • Buddha
    • Buddha-nature
    • Buddhahood
    • Buddhas
    • calmness
    • celebration
    • change
    • chanting
    • chaos
    • charity
    • clinging
    • commitment
    • communication
    • compassion
    • complacency
    • complaint
    • concentration
    • confidence
    • conflict
    • conscience
    • consumerism
    • contentment
    • courage
    • craving
    • cruelty
    • cult
    • death
    • dedication
    • defilements
    • delusion
    • demon
    • depression
    • design
    • desire
    • despair
    • destiny
    • deva
    • devotion
    • Dharma
    • Dharmakaya
    • Dharmapala
    • diligence
    • disappointment
    • discrimination
    • distraction
    • dogma
    • domestication
    • doubt
    • dream
    • duality
    • Dukkha
    • dying
    • ego
    • Ehipassiko
    • empathy
    • emptiness
    • enlightenment
    • enmity
    • Environmentalism
    • equanimity
    • euthanasia
    • evil
    • evolution
    • existential crisis
    • existentialism
    • expectation
    • faith
    • fantasy
    • fate
    • fear
    • feelings
    • finance
    • forgiveness
    • Four Noble Truths
    • freedom
    • free enquiry
    • friendship
    • gamble
    • game
    • generosity
    • ghost
    • give blood
    • globalisation
    • God
    • gods
    • goodness
    • gratitude
    • greed
    • grief
    • Guanyin
    • guilt
    • guru
    • haiku
    • happiness
    • harmony
    • hatred
    • healing
    • heavens
    • hell
    • honesty
    • honey
    • hope
    • humanity
    • humility
    • humour
    • hungry ghost
    • ignorance
    • illusion
    • impermanence
    • intention
    • interconnection
    • interde
    • interdependence
    • intoxication
    • invest
    • investment
    • jealousy
    • judgement
    • justice
    • Kalyanamitra
    • karma
    • killing
    • kindness
    • koan
    • leadership
    • letting go
    • liberation
    • life
    • light
    • loss
    • love
    • loving-kindness
    • lust
    • lying
    • Mahayana
    • mandala
    • mantra
    • Mara
    • marriage
    • materialism
    • meaning
    • meaning of life
    • meditation
    • memory
    • merits
    • Middle Way
    • milk
    • mind
    • mindfulness
    • miracle
    • moment
    • monastics
    • money
    • monster
    • morality
    • mystery
    • myth
    • nihilism
    • Nirvana
    • Noble Eightfold Path
    • nothing
    • now
    • offering
    • Organic
    • organ transplant
    • pain
    • paradox
    • paramitas
    • parenthood
    • parinirvana
    • past lives
    • patience
    • peace
    • percception
    • perception
    • perfection
    • perseverance
    • pilgrimage
    • politics
    • pollution
    • possibilities
    • power
    • practice
    • prayer
    • prayers
    • precepts
    • prejudice
    • pride
    • priority
    • procrastination
    • prophesy
    • punishment
    • Pure Land
    • Pureland
    • purity
    • purpose
    • quantum
    • reality
    • reason
    • rebirth
    • rebirths
    • recycling
    • reflection
    • refuge
    • regret
    • regrets
    • rejoice
    • relativity
    • relics
    • religions
    • repentance
    • resistance
    • respect
    • responsibility
    • retreat
    • retribution
    • reverence
    • ritual
    • sacrifice
    • Samsara
    • Sangha
    • self
    • self-fulfilling prophesy
    • selfishness
    • selflessness
    • sex
    • sexuality
    • shojin ryori
    • shrine
    • sickness
    • sincerity
    • skilful means
    • smile
    • sorrow
    • speciesism
    • speech
    • stealing
    • Stonepeace
    • Stream-winner
    • stress
    • stubbornness
    • stupa
    • stupidity
    • suffering
    • suicide
    • sun
    • Sutra
    • Sutta
    • technology
    • terrorism
    • The Dalai Lama
    • Theravada
    • Threefold Refuge
    • time
    • tradition
    • transience
    • translation
    • Triple Gem
    • True Happiness
    • True Love
    • trust
    • truth
    • truthfulness
    • twitter
    • universe
    • Vegetarianism & Veganism
    • vengeance
    • victory
    • violence
    • virtues
    • vow
    • war
    • wealth
    • will
    • wisdom
    • writing
    • Zen
« Translation : Ladies & Gentlemen | Suspension : What Now? »

Extremes : Eternalism & Nihilism

By shian on 7 Jan 2009 under Announcements, Comics & Graphic Novels | Your Comment | Tags: Anicca, death, karma, Middle Way, nihilism

In ‘Eternals’ by Neil Gaiman, Sprite the immortal utters this about becoming human -

‘I can even die - Do you know how cool that is?
Every moment can be my last.
How amazing is that?’

Some of us want to live forever, while some who live forever want to die forever! A case of the grass looking illusorily greener on the other side? Immortals, not that they really exist (unless they are the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who have attained the timeless), might envy mortals when they harbour the delusion that death is an escape from the suffering of existential dreariness, that the possibility of sudden death is intriguingly ‘comforting’. The truth is, death is not the end for the unenlightened; there will be rebirth. In this sense, we already are immortals – since we don’t really ‘die’! And untimely death is mostly a result of negative karma actualising, because the deceased might have little time to be spiritually prepared.

Buddhism speaks of two seriously erroneous concepts about the nature of life and death, which many oscillate between. The first is called eternalism, which is the belief that there will be one fixed perpetual afterlife at the end of this one – usually thought to be eternal heaven or hell. On the other end of the spectrum is nihilism, which is the belief that with death comes eternal annihilation of body and mind. The first belief clings to unchanging existence (and is related to materialism) while the latter clings to nothingness (and is related to morallessness). Both are extreme views which the Buddha refuted of any reality. The Middle Path of truth is between eternalism and nihilism – which is ‘changing-ness’ from moment to moment, from life to life. With Anicca (impermanence; change), we evolve, and with mindfulness, we can evolve into the way we want.



Comments

Name

Email

Website

Do share your wisdom but please consider what you post, thank you!

*
To prove that you're not a bot, enter this code
Anti-Spam Image

(B) (^) (P) (@) (O) (D) (C) (&) (E) (~) (K) (I) (L) (8) (T) (G) (U) (W) (F) (N) (Y) :-[ :-S ;-( :-$ :-O :-( (H) :-) (*) :-D :-P ;-) :bloody: :cool: :choler: :love: :oups: :aie: :beurk: :canny: :go: :miam: :neo: :ueue: :nose: :oh: :oups2: :prud: :yo: :sadd: :bloody2: :cache: :rose: :spd: :dream: :sure: :yes: :sweat: :kiss: :creve: :what: :pff: :hm: :bobo: :aie2: :aie3: :ciao: :dribble: :gene: :pp 88) :loll: =(( :88 ;)) ::(( :oo: :[[ :)) :DD :-|| :-[)) :alien: :angel: :angry: :blink: :blush: :cheerful: :cry: :dizzy: :ermm: :face: :getlost: :biggrin: :happy: :kissing: :lol: :pinch: :sad: :shocked: :sick: :sideways: :silly: :sleeping: :smile: :tongue: :unsure: :w00t: :wassat: :whistle: :wink: :wub: :lovey: :pouty: :bandit: :sb: :ninja: :ninjaa: :devil: :666: :heart:

  • Features

    • About Us
    • Contact Us / Submit Article
    • Album : India
    • Album : Borobudur
    • Album : Hong Kong
    • Album : Japan 1
    • Album : Japan 2
    • Album : Japan 3
    • How I Became Veg*n
    • Japan Tales
    • Movie Reviews With Buddhist Views
    • Zeph Stories
    • A Love History
    • Poll Archive
    • Moonpointer Wall
  • New Posts

    • Why Not Cop Out?
    • From Asanga to Maitreya, Shantideva to Nagarjuna
    • How Vegan is Your Organic Food?
    • Two Monks Too Different
    • An Easy Gauge of Your Good & Evil
    • ‘A Serious Man’ with Serious Doubts?
    • This is a Bad Time
    • The Invisible Colour of Attachment
    • Buddha Astray?
    • Forgot What to Remember
    • Wisdom of Forgiveness
    • Unchanging Love
    • Who is the Real One?
    • Inconceivable Cosmic Proportions
    • India Adventures (12) : More Photos
  • Recent Comments

    keefreddiekeefreddie on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    jilexinjilexin on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    jilexinjilexin on An Easy Gauge of Your Good & Evil
    keefreddiekeefreddie on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    PleaseWriteInPleaseWriteIn on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    keefreddiekeefreddie on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    keefreddiekeefreddie on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    PleaseWriteInPleaseWriteIn on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    SKSK on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    WhynotWhynot on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    aBuddhistaBuddhist on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    keefreddiekeefreddie on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    keefreddiekeefreddie on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    WhynotWhynot on (Detailed) Clarifications of Misconceptions in Pastor Rony Tan’s Videos on ‘Buddhism’
    jane ongjane ong on What’s Wrong With Fur, Leather & Wool?
  • Food For Life

    Headquarters for the world's largest vegetarian food relief organization, serving up to one million freshly cooked vegetarian meals to the needy every day around the world.

  • Tweet

    • India Album is up! Click here

    • We are suspending our comment function on our old blogs till further notice. Please be patient with us. Thank you.

    • Share your views via commenting or write to us via Contact Us/Submit Article

    • You can still visit old Moonpointer by clicking here

  • Categories

    • Announcements (26)
    • Books (43)
    • Comics & Graphic Novels (53)
    • Current Affairs (25)
    • Designs (9)
    • Environmentalism (26)
    • Movies/TV (133)
    • Music (41)
    • Notices (2)
    • Odds & Ends (341)
    • Photojournal (96)
    • Poll (6)
    • Quotations (34)
    • Relationships (20)
    • Travelogue (21)
    • Vegetarianism & Veganism (82)
  • New Archives

    • March 2010 (27)
    • February 2010 (45)
    • January 2010 (56)
    • December 2009 (32)
    • November 2009 (56)
    • October 2009 (34)
    • September 2009 (55)
    • August 2009 (59)
    • July 2009 (55)
    • June 2009 (60)
    • May 2009 (29)
    • April 2009 (49)
    • March 2009 (59)
    • February 2009 (54)
    • January 2009 (53)
    • December 2008 (63)
    • November 2008 (18)
  • ADBooks

  • More Links






  • Veggie Posters

  • RSS Buddhist Vegan Fellowship

    • Introducing Kyabje Chatral Rinpoche
    • Not A Laughing Matter
    • 狄葆贤语录 Quote by Di Baoxian
    • 愿云禅师《护生歌》
    • 弘一大师语录 Quote by Master Hongyi
  • RSS TDE

    • 11.03.10 : The Real Magic | An Easy Gauge of Your Good & Evil | How
    • 04.03.10 : Do the Worthier | Can a ?Creator God? be 'Created'? |
    • 25.02.10: Praise & Blame | Correcting Rony's Mistakes | What If the
    • 19.02.10 : How Best to Protect the Dharma | Misconceptions in Rony T
    • 05.02.10 : What's Left To Do | What If the Joke's On You? | Please F
  • RSS Buddhist Channel

    • Beloved Korean monk Pup Jeong dies
    • China refutes Dalai charge on annihilating Buddhism
    • A group of Buddhists rejected by Pyongyang
    • Tzu Chi: For the common good
    • The heart of Buddhism
Avatars by Sterling Adventures




Creative Commons License