[Buddha-l] Re: What are the "joys of living"?

[Benito Carral]

On Monday, June 26, 2006, Tim Bovee wrote:

> At my advanced age, if I see a couple of kids dancing
> salsa,  I  don't think, "How lustful". I think, "Such
> beautiful,  happy  kids," and I'm very happy, because
> in them I see the future.

   First   of   all,   old   age  is  not  a  proof  of
wisdom--nowadays  I tend to think that it it's just the
contrary,  just a question of samsaric habituation. You
know,  Buddhism  is  interested  in a different kind of
happiness.  If you could see lust effects in the global
and long term, maybe you will be not so happy.

> Can salsa be an impediment? Of course, both the dance
> and  the  stuff  I  dip  my chips in. But if they are
> impediments, it's attachment to these things that has
> the potential to make them so.

   There   is   something   that   you  don't  seem  to
understand,  we are not buddhas (well, maybe you're one
of  the  prayeka  class,  but not most of people). When
someone  who  has not unrooted the unwholesome roots is
exposed  to  sensual  dance,  porn  films and so on, he
experiences  something  quite  different than when he's
exposed  to Dharma teachings, that is why porn websites
are far more visited than Dharmic ones.

   Then, there is the question of why someone looks for
being  exposed  to sensual dance, porn films and so on.
There  are also a lot of additional questions involved,
how  do  we use our resources?, what kind of activities
we  help  to support?, what kind of artists we pay to?,
etc. Probably you can appreciate the difference between
spending  own money in a ticket for salsa dancing or in
one for listening the Dalai Lama.

   Best wishes,

P.S. Have you looked for "salsa" on Google Images? Then
try to look for "dragon dance." Can you appreciate some
difference?

--
Benito Carral
Asturias, Sepharad (Spain)