Be mindful whenever you like or dislike anything. No need to evaluate or analyze. Just be aware that you enjoy so and so atmosphere, so and so time of the year.
A time for not being mindful, how can you say that? Are you being ironic or something? Surely Buddhists don't need to go looking for a good name – good and bad reputation are two of the mundane concerns, after all.
But if you took a holiday from mindfulness, might you not do or say something you would later regret
perhaps something that put Buddhism in a far worse light than merely being mindful?
Talking about hair shirts and not having a life is going from one extreme to the other: in my experience it's perfectly possible to have a very enjoyable Christmas while being mindful enough to stay on the path.
But perhaps you would call me a humbug or even a prig?
Why would anyone want to practice a religion that doesn't allow you to have a life, doesn't allow you to have a little fun from time to time? And where has it been chiseled in stone that we, as Buddhists, have to be mindful all the time?
I, for one, won't wear a hair shirt as my practice.
Quote from: IdleChater on December 27, 2017, 04:04:11 amWhy would anyone want to practice a religion that doesn't allow you to have a life, doesn't allow you to have a little fun from time to time? And where has it been chiseled in stone that we, as Buddhists, have to be mindful all the time? Buddhism does not say, "Thou shalt not." It says "Thou shalt accept the consequences."
If you choose not to practice mindfulness, that's fine, but it will cost you.
Quote I, for one, won't wear a hair shirt as my practice. So you equate mindfulness with punishment?
Mindfulness brings serenity and equanimity, not more suffering.
If I take a break from practice to let my hair down for 12 days, what does it hurt? Who does it hurt? Why do you even care? I may have a bit of a set-back on the path, but it's taken countless lifetimes to get this far, so taking a few days off won't matter much in the grand scheme of things.
You believe countless lifetimes in hell for evil deeds won't be a "setback"?
Well, I've already had countless lifetimes in the lower realms, and proabably have a few waiting in the wings.
Quote from: IdleChater on December 30, 2017, 02:44:47 pmWell, I've already had countless lifetimes in the lower realms, and proabably have a few waiting in the wings.Sounds like false speech to me; i.e., claiming things not experienced. Why don't me & you go to court over this dispute? Will you win?
Quote from: IdleChater on December 28, 2017, 08:41:37 amIf I take a break from practice to let my hair down for 12 days, what does it hurt? Who does it hurt? Why do you even care? I may have a bit of a set-back on the path, but it's taken countless lifetimes to get this far, so taking a few days off won't matter much in the grand scheme of things.This sounds like Protestant Buddhism. While I personally do not believe in past & future lives & regard the "realms" as here-&-now mental states, the Buddhist "grand scheme of things" includes 're-birth' in the lower realms of hungry ghost, animal kingdom & hell. You believe countless lifetimes in hell for evil deeds won't be a "setback"?