XPost: talk.religion.buddhism, alt.zen, alt.philosophy.zen   
   XPost: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy   
   From: kimmerian@fastmail.fm   
      
   Catawumpus :   
      
   >> The middle way is located in between two   
   >> practices, devotion to sensual pleasure and devotion to   
   >> self-affliction -- Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta -- _not_ between   
   >> attachment and aversion to life, the two attitudes you   
   >> mistakenly thought it balanced.  Aversion to life is plain both   
   >> in the description of worldly existence as dukkha and the   
   >> teaching against "the craving that leads to rebirth."  The path   
   >> aims away from the world.   
      
   halfawake :   
      
   > On the other hand, Buddha plainly says that attachment to cessation will   
   > prevent liberation.   
      
        No, that isn't "on the other hand."  The Four Noble Truths   
   teach against the craving for non-becoming as well as the   
   craving for becoming because they are both part of "the craving   
   that leads to rebirth."   
      
   > If you eschew both self-indulgence and self-denial, what you have left   
   > is a balanced, simple acceptance of the basics of life, while following   
      
        Dead wrong with regard to the Four Noble Truths, where the   
   Buddha basically rejects worldly life by describing it as   
   suffering and warning against the craving that leads to rebirth.   
      
        The Middle Path slips between extremes of sensual pleasure   
   and self-affliction while heading _away_ from birth and   
   rebirth, i.e., away from "the basics of life" you want Buddhism   
   to cling to.   
      
   -- Catawumpus   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)