Buddhist cartoon fun/ wisdom (aka 'skillful memes')

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I’ve heard that “one with everything” joke for many years and it makes no sense to be associated with Buddhism. Perhaps it would make more sense if it was Hinduism! Perhaps the Buddhist pizza place just gives you whatever pizza they make…or ones with no toppings and no crust… :upside_down_face:

or perhaps a DIY pizza kit? But with much advice and guidance on what makes a pizza, a pizza.

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What would a Buddhist pizza be without lists?

The Three Right Cheeses
The Four Topping Aggregates
The Eight Grand Slices

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I’ll have mine empty of everything, please.

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Hold the crust, sauce and toppings.

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I think the joke is not that missed. :wink: Even Bhante Sujato when he was asking on this forum what would be best word to translate jhana was considering “oneness” as one of the options.

“One with everything” perhaps doesn’t catch perfectly what jhana is. But in “oneness”, “one” is everything that is. And when emerging from jhana one can see that all that is, ultimately comes from the mind (Like in dhammapada - all is mind wrought), and whole perception is enhanced with feeling and perception that Ajahn Brahm calls “power mindfulness” or “superpower mindfulness” (in his book Mindfulness, Bliss & Beyond), that changes completely outlook of reality and allows one to investigate deeply into structure of everything. So it is not that missed. And right samadhi is part of N8FP, so I think it stands good. Not everything that is buddhist must be so in ultimate sense, and I think the joke relates more to jhana than to Nibbana. And jhanas too are buddhist speciality, even if not explicit to buddhism. :upside_down_face:

I don’t know where, but I’ve read somewhere that most profound feeling of “oneness with everything” is at stage of arupa jhana of boundless consciousness or perhaps through jhanas induced by metta as object, which is also developed by some buddhist practitioners.

PS: Nothing better than seriously talking about jokes. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: So sorry about that :sweat_smile:

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Always a good reminder of SN56.47 and onward.
:slight_smile:

SN56.47 Yoke with a Hole (1)

“Bhikkhus, suppose a man would throw a yoke with a single hole into the great ocean, and there was a blind turtle which would come to the surface once every hundred years. What do you think, bhikkhus, would that blind turtle, coming to the surface once every hundred years, insert its neck into that yoke with a single hole?”

“If it would ever do so, venerable sir, it would be only after a very long time.”

“Sooner, I say, would that blind turtle, coming to the surface once every hundred years, insert its neck into that yoke with a single hole than the fool who has gone once to the nether world would regain the human state. For what reason? Because here, bhikkhus, there is no conduct guided by the Dhamma, no righteous conduct, no wholesome activity, no meritorious activity. Here there prevails mutual devouring, the devouring of the weak. For what reason? Because, bhikkhus, they have not seen the Four Noble Truths. What four? The noble truth of suffering … the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

“Therefore, bhikkhus, an exertion should be made to understand: ‘This is suffering.’… An exertion should be made to understand: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’”

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It is not entirely about being born as a human being, but about gaining a human rebirth for a ‘fool who has gone once to the nether world’. If you live a not-too-bad-life as a human being it is not so difficult as described in the sutta. :wink:

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I’ve never noticed that, thank you for that :slight_smile:

But the next sutta:

SN56.48 Yoke with a Hole (2)

“Bhikkhus, suppose that this great earth had become one mass of water, and a man would throw a yoke with a single hole upon it. An easterly wind would drive it westward; a westerly wind would drive it eastward; a northerly wind would drive it southward; a southerly wind would drive it northward. There was a blind turtle which would come to the surface once every hundred years. What do you think, bhikkhus, would that blind turtle, coming to the surface once every hundred years, insert its neck into that yoke with a single hole?”

“It would be by chance, venerable sir, that that blind turtle, coming to the surface once every hundred years, would insert its neck into that yoke with a single hole.”

“So too, bhikkhus, it is by chance that one obtains the human state; by chance that a Tathagata, an Arahant, a Perfectly Enlightened One arises in the world; by chance that the Dhamma and Discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata shines in the world.

“You have obtained that human state, bhikkhus; a Tathagata, an Arahant, a Perfectly Enlightened One has arisen in the world; the Dhamma and Discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata shines in the world.

“Therefore, bhikkhus, an exertion should be made to understand: ‘This is suffering.’… An exertion should be made to understand: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’”

Btw. I just noticed that Bhikkhu Bodhi and Bhante Sujato translations differ in this case. I always used to read Bhante Sujato translation. Anyway, Bhante Sujato translation gives impression that human rebirth is as hard as the turtle simile… and THEN getting rebirth in the world where Buddha teaching is proclaimed is even more difficult. While Bhikkhu Bodhi translation gives impression that sutta speaks of this all conditions taken together already.

For comparison:

SN56.48 A Yoke With a Hole (2) [Sujato]

“Mendicants, suppose the earth was entirely covered with water. And a person threw a yoke with a single hole into it. The east wind wafts it west; the west wind wafts it east; the north wind wafts it south; and the south wind wafts it north. And there was a one-eyed turtle who popped up once every hundred years.

What do you think, mendicants? Would that one-eyed turtle, popping up once every hundred years, still poke its neck through the hole in that yoke?”

“It’s unlikely, sir.”

“That’s how unlikely it is to get reborn as a human being. And that’s how unlikely it is for a Realized One to arise in the world, a perfected one, a fully awakened Buddha. And that’s how unlikely it is for the teaching and training proclaimed by a Realized One to shine in the world. And now, mendicants, you have been reborn as a human being. A Realized One has arisen in the world, a perfected one, a fully awakened Buddha. And the teaching and training proclaimed by a Realized One shines in the world.

That’s why you should practice meditation …”

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Thank you for sharing the other Turtle simile. :slightly_smiling_face:

Maybe it is like this:

Fool :arrow_right: Human = :turtle: :ring: (turtle-yoke probability)
Human :arrow_right: Meet Tathagata = :turtle: :ring: (turtle-yoke probability)

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So i have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying in the land of the Sakyans, where they have a town named Nagaraka. Then Venerable Ānanda went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him:

“Sir, good friends, companions, and associates are half the spiritual life.”

“Not so, Ānanda! Not so, Ānanda! Good friends, companions, and associates are the whole of the spiritual life. A mendicant with good friends, companions, and associates can expect to develop and cultivate the noble eightfold path.

And how does a mendicant with good friends develop and cultivate the noble eightfold path? It’s when a mendicant develops right view, which relies on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripens as letting go. They develop right thought … right speech … right action … right livelihood … right effort … right mindfulness … right immersion, which relies on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripens as letting go. That’s how a mendicant with good friends develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path.

And here’s another way to understand how good friends are the whole of the spiritual life. For, by relying on me as a good friend, sentient beings who are liable to rebirth, old age, and death, to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress are freed from all these things. This is another way to understand how good friends are the whole of the spiritual life.”

SN45.2 Half the Spiritual Life

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A bit naughty but kinda true!

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:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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