The Middle Way primarily addresses Siddharta's experience with extreme asceticism, and his realization that that too was a form of attachment, by over- emphasizing the importance of
the material world.
Please let us not forget that Siddartha for the
first 33 yrs of his life was not an ascetic.
He was born into royalty with all the privileges
and finest extensive education
of his time .
much like your Aquinas...so he drew from the vantage
points of both worlds . He was well grounded in meditation
which is the chief tool of all who were
wise to follow.
You seem to think that the Dharmic road to Nirvanna
is only a passionless one for some reason .
The Tibetan Buddhist , the Dalai Lama ...does he seem
passionless to you Neo?
Man becoming detached from many of his own neurosis
and addictions and attempting to be an
original/ virtuous/compassionate/ participant
in his own experience/Life and the discovery of compassion
and reason, can tend in the end to offer moments
of supreme satisfaction and insights that
can be some of the most thrilling & fulfilling.<g>
(tastes great , less filling ---> for Gao Seng)
All things being equal ....the sense of sight
next to the sense of feeling ,and the experience of
insight/wisdom is basically shared by
the atheist, agnostic, believer, peasant, king, emperor
pope, messiah , prophet ... learning to use these
powerful facilities is as good a place
to start as any.
First causes & being
and all that....
;-) |
