Alternate measures...

[cheeni]

[Continued from here]

Money is a very accurate measure, the more zeroes the merrier.

Alternate lifestyles too have measures. The most popular of alternate lifestyles - the pious life, has a long documented history of keeping count.

St. Francis Xavier found his measure by converting more heathens to the faith than any one ever before. The warriors and kings of the crusades kept their count using decapitated heathen heads.

Can a lifestyle that does not keep count succeed?

Comments

[sriniram.livejournal.com]

I heard that `where there is no craving, there is bliss'

Then why live, why not commit suicide? Why go through a tortured existence of
a) Finding the meaning of life
b) Doing the counter-intuitive task of ignoring desires
c) Leading a life of goal less existence till natural death

Why not speed up the process?

[nearfar.livejournal.com]

I am pulling out from my knowledge of what the Buddha said ..

"Now what is the noble truth of the origination of stress? The craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensuality, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming... And what is the noble truth of the cessation of stress? The remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving." - (source (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/truths.html#second))

First, one should understand the difference between `craving' and `desire'. Trying to put it in words .. `Desire' is something that requires your attention and thus promising you for your happiness if fulfilled. `Craving' is simply the "pull" from your side toward that `desire', remaining ignorant of the impermanent nature of things.

Thus, fulfilling the desires do not cause suffering, but craving for those desires cause suffering, as attaching to something that is inherently unstable is foolishness. Sad, but true. A cure exists, though.