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

[Benito Carral]

On Tuesday, June 27, 2006, Tim Bovee wrote:

> Sensual means "of the senses",

   You should check your English dictionary in order to
appreciate the word in a broader sense.

   Here it is what the COED says about "sensual:"

        adjective

           1.   relating   to   the   physical  senses,
        especially as a source of pleasure.

           2.   arousing   sexual   or  other  physical
        gratification.

> and  I  don't  know  how  to distinguish between more
> sensual and less sensusal in any context.

   You  could  learn  if  you are interested. You could
read,  for  instance,  some good textbook (or take some
classes)  about how commercials work or films are made.
You  could  also  study  how  odors  are  used  to lead
consumers' minds.

> I  don't  know  how  to  turn  off  the  senses,  and
> therefore, for me, everything is sensual.

   I'm  not  talking  about  turning  off  your senses,
although  the  Buddha  taught  about  it  (just in case
you're  interested,  look  for "jhanas" on Google). I'm
talking about choosing what kind of sensual objects one
consumes, the Buddha also taught about it:

           There  are  fermentations to be abandoned by
        seeing,  those  to be abandoned by restraining,
        those  to  be  abandoned  by using, those to be
        abandoned  by tolerating, those to be abandoned
        by   avoiding,   those   to   be  abandoned  by
        destroying,   and  those  to  be  abandoned  by
        developing.

           And   what   are  the  fermentations  to  be
        abandoned by seeing? There is the case where an
        uninstructed,  run-of-the-mill person — who has
        no regard for noble ones, is not well-versed or
        disciplined  in their Dhamma; who has no regard
        for  men  of  integrity,  is not well-versed or
        disciplined  in their Dhamma — does not discern
        what  ideas are fit for attention or what ideas
        are unfit for attention. This being so, he does
        not  attend  to  ideas  fit  for  attention and
        attends [instead] to ideas unfit for attention.

           And  what  are the ideas unfit for attention
        that  he  attends to? Whatever ideas such that,
        when   he   attends   to   them,  the  unarisen
        fermentation  of  sensuality arises in him, and
        the    arisen    fermentation   of   sensuality
        increases;   the   unarisen   fermentation   of
        becoming arises in him, and arisen fermentation
        of    becoming    increases;    the    unarisen
        fermentation  of  ignorance  arises in him, and
        the arisen fermentation of ignorance increases.
        These are the ideas unfit for attention that he
        attends to (MN2).

> In my experience, salsa is not always associated with
> lust in my brain, and therefore I conclude that salsa
> is not inherently lustful.

   There  is  nothing  inherently so, but as the actual
Dalai  Lama  said  once,  "Hit  your  head  strong  and
appeciate how empty the pain is."

   The  fact  that  a blind person can't see colors and
forms  doesn't  mean  that  they are are not there. The
fact  that  you  can't appreciate the sensual nature of
salsa doesn't mean that it's not there.

   Then  *it's  not  only  about  how  salsa  affects a
particular  individual,*  it  is also about where salsa
comes from and how it affects in a global sense.

   If  you want to appreciate some of it, please, go to
a  salsa  club on a Saturday night and pay attention to
what is going on there.

   There  are  a  lot  of more questions to consider, I
provided you some examples in my previous post.

   Best wishes,

--
Benito Carral
Asturias, Sepharad (Spain)