Mountains of gold, revisted

The Buddha famously said that even two mountains of gold would not satisfy the wants and desire of humans.

This statment can be interpreted in 3 ways.

1. Things only. Humans want endless things.

This interpretation focuses on physical things that people can purchase. Even if you have the best food, a huge house, and tons of material comfort, that is not enough. People will still want more things.

The mountain of gold includes the situation of being the king or supreme ruler. But it goes beyond that to imagine having more wealth than 1000 kings.

Sometimes people take away that the most important things can't be bought with money. Things like love, connection, calmness. But then, it is easy to conclude that the goal is to just get those things too, then it would be enough.

2. Things and relationships and comfort. Humans also want endless non-tangible things.

In this case, people can buy love and companionship. They can buy good health. Take it even further and suggest that they can live forever and never feel discomfort. They have nearly entertainment and comfort. What then?

The quote suggests that they would still want more. Maybe it is a keeping up with the Joneses. Or needing even more entertainment.

People can take away the idea that the mind and desire cannot be tamed. And that would, imo, also be misleading.

3. Look at this crazy mind, that cannot satisfy desire.

This tells you not to accept desire and also not to necessarily try to smash it down. Instead, you try to notice and understand the patterns of the mind. Why do we trick ourselves to really want things/connections; or rather, there might not be an issue with the wanting, but it is that subtle, hidden backstory that whispers, "If i get it, if i get it all, that will be enough". This is, of course, a lie. Once we get it, we get used to it and then want that next high/feeling of getting. Or that goodfeeling goes away too fast.

The Buddha pointed at a way out. Training and calming the mind.

I am not sure if desire totally ends with nibbana/enlgihtenment. But i know that the chasing and the clinging to desire can end. We don't have to feed it.

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There is a parallel to alcoholism. We lie that we just need that next drink, that that next drink will be enough. But then we want more and more. The AA path gives an interesting approach.  The desire to drink never goes away. Even if one is sober for 25 years, they go to an AA meeting and are supposed to say, my name is John and I am an alcoholic. 

The desire doesn't go away, but the feeding of the desire and having it take over one's life... That ends. That is possible.

5 ways to look at a thing, seeing all sides

From Buddhadasa:

Buddha-Dhamma-for-Inquiring-Minds.pdf https://share.google/7BpSSkzKUFdbH5rxC

45) Concerning ‘really knowing,’ ‘To really know something,

how much do we have to know?’

I advise and request that all students and investigators of

Dhamma listen particularly to the words of the Buddha that

I am about to quote. The Buddha said that to really know

something, we must know five things about it, namely:

(1) What are its characteristics and properties?

(2) What is its origin, its source?

(3) What is its assāda, its enticing quality, its

appeal, its allurement?

(4) What is its ādīnava, the hidden danger, the

sinister power to harm that lies concealed in it?

(5) What is the nissaraṇa, the skillful means by which

we can get the better of it and escape its power?

These five questions make up a valuable set.

inside and outside

There is a phrase in English: What goes up must come down.

But the Buddha never came down. He stayed up.

With the 8 worldly winds, he was not immune, though.  There would still be gains in the world. And there would still be losses in the world. And these gains and losses might affect him. Like weather. Or bug bites.

But these are outside.

As I understand it, the 8 worldly winds affect all beings in the world, i.e. it affects their bodies, their shell, their outsides. But the Buddha trained enough so the gains and losses stayed outside. They did not need to infect and hijack the mind.

For everyday people, those gains and losses do hijack the mind. Envelope it. Create frenzies. So the outside infects the inside.

Insight and release and Nibbana happen by finding a small part of us, maybe just 1 cm in size, that is not hijacked. And we look and notice it.

And eventually, we can nourish it so it grows. So our insides, our mind, is hijacked less and less. Until it is hijacked no more.

And this is a freedom, a total freedom, for our insides. Our outsides might be wallowing in shit, a situation that previously would have infected and disturbed our insides via the mind. But now, the whole world could be on fire and, inside, there is still peace, calm, freedom, knowing.

enough

Meeting a person who has enough

Who has more than enough

Who could have half as much and still have enough

That is rare.

Many say they have enough.

But look.

The grass is greener, over there.

This person got more than me.

This person didn't even have to work for it, it was handed to them 

That is all too common.

mountains of gold

It is a terrible thing for someone to have a mountain of gold but still be unhappy.

It is even worse when they think they will be happy once they get the second mountain of gold.