(Ādittapariyāya Sutta, SN 35.28) In the Pali language canon there is a discourse (sutra) called the "Fire Sermon Discourse," popularly referred to as the Fire Sermon [1].
In this discourse, the Buddha teaches that achieving liberation (vimutti, moksha) from all suffering (pain, disappointment, rebirth, and unsatisfactorinesss) through letting go everything (ALL) mind and the five senses obsessively CLING to as personal, as sources of pleasure, and/or as enduring.
This sutra is also found in the Buddhist Monastic Code (Vinaya) at Vin I 35 [5].
English speakers might be familiar with the name of this discourse due to T. S. Eliot's titling the third section of his celebrated poem "The Waste Land" as The Fire Sermon. In a footnote, Eliot states that this Buddhist discourse "corresponds in importance to the Sermon on the Mount" in Christianity [6].
In the Pali canon's "Collection of Discourses" (Sutta Pitaka), the Fire Sermon is the third sutra delivered by the Buddha (after the first discourse, called the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta, and the Anattalakkhana Sutta), several months after his great awakening/enlightenment, on top of Gayasisa Hill, near Gaya, in what is now India (formerly the maha-janapada Kingdom of Magadha before there was an "India").
He delivered it to 1,000 newly converted wandering ascetics (samanas) who formerly practiced a sacred fire ritual (Pali aggihutta, Sanskrit agnihotra) [7].
The 5th-century CE post-canonical Pali commentary called the Sāratthappakāsini (the Spk.), attributed to the Theravada scholar-monk Buddhaghosa, draws a direct connection between the ascetics' prior practices and this discourse's main rhetorical device:
Having led the 1,000 ascetics to Gayā's Head, the Buddha reflected, "What kind of Dhamma talk would be suitable for them?"
He then realized, "In the past they worshipped fire morning and evening. I will teach them that the 12 sense bases (āyatana) are burning and blazing. In this way they will be able to attain full enlightenment" [8]. More
Did your date give you 'the ick'? Here's the science behind the feeling
"Ugh, eww, and ick! I'm out! H to the NO!"
The food was top-notch, the atmosphere was cozy, and my date aimed to entertain. I love a good personal story, so I invited him to relate one that he'd referenced in his profile. Good fodder for a first date, I thought.
At one point in the story, as he recounted it, a goat butted its head into an outdoor toilet that he happened to be using, shoving the door open.
You could say I got "the ick" — that feeling of disgust when someone you're dating does this one thing that you just can't get past. The term was used on Ally McBeal in the 1990s and then popularized more recently on the reality show Love Island and on Nobody Wants This.
What gives me the ick and what gives you the ick can be worlds apart. From wearing acrylic nails to laughing too loud to using a Borat voice in the middle of a make-out session, a little internet searching will reveal a whole universe of "icks."
There's an idea in psychology that all emotions, from fear to disgust, were evolutionarily advantageous traits. But is the ick really serving us now?
One theory posits that disgust evolved to protect humans from pathogens that make us sick. And that kind of makes intuitive sense: If a piece of fruit or meat smells disgusting, you probably won't want to eat it.
But Professor of Psychology Josh Rottman, who studies disgust at Franklin & Marshall College, says disgust isn't just a biological function; it's a product of our socialization. And that means if you get the ick on a date, it might be time for some self-examination.
Prof. Rottman spoke with It's Been a Minute host Brittany Luse about the psychology of disgust and the case for pushing past the ick when it comes to choosing a partner. Here are four takeaways from their conversation:
1. Little kids don't feel disgust — and that tells us something
Maybe innocence means not having disgust yet.
"Unlike many emotions that emerge within the first year of life or so, it seems like disgust doesn't really robustly come online until around 5, 6 years of age," Prof. Rottman says. (Think about the toddler who has no qualms about eating a stale Cheerio off the floor.)
If disgust were all about keeping us healthy, he says, researchers would see it in younger children. Instead, kids start experiencing disgust around the same time they start thinking about "cooties" — and who's in the "in" group and "out" group on the playground.
2. Disgust is more gut reaction than conscious thought process
If you're at the movies and you see your date pick her nose before reaching for your hand, you don't think, "This behavior is indicative of poor hygiene and lack of consideration." You just flinch and pull your hand away. This revulsion response happens almost instantly; it comes without any thought, says Prof. Rottman. And he says once you feel disgusted by something, it can be really difficult to overcome that feeling.
As host Luse of It's Been a Minute puts it, it's just "this tiny bit of disgust that you just can't look past or get over."
3. Disgust is related to social norms — often ugly ones
"I think a lot of the specific icks that people have are reflections of social norms that we might want to challenge," says Prof. Rottman.
For instance, actress Millie Bobby Brown has said her "biggest ick" is when a man holds an umbrella, because "there's something about it that just feels really pathetic."
Prof. Rottman says Brown's ick might be an "aversion to the norm violation against masculinity."
And research shows that the consequences of disgust can get a lot worse than getting rejected on a date.
Prof. Rottman says that disgust may have served an evolutionary purpose in that it could help your reputation to distance yourself from people who your group considered undesirable. "I think disgust has evolved as a way to really embody a lot of xenophobia and bigotry," he says.
"There's a lot of good evidence that genocides and a lot of horrific things that have happened in society have been correlated in some way with disgust," Prof. Rottman says.
Tables turn on racist/implicitly biased Karen
Nazi princesses promoted by racist Disney
For example, Nazi propaganda used terms like "parasites" and "lice" to describe Jewish people. Disgust has been leveraged throughout history to create the feeling that certain people are "impure" or less than human.
"The ick is probably a much more minor version of that," Rottman says.
4. It's worth trying to get past the ick
Why can't I find my one and only perfect prince?
Prof. Rottman says that while it's difficult to completely shake a feeling of disgust about another person's particular behavior, getting the ick doesn't have to be a deal breaker.
And, he adds, there's good reason not to give it too much weight in dating: "I think…these feelings of ickiness are not going to be great signals of whether someone's going to be good for us and a good partner."
He shared that he even gets the ick from his partner from time to time — when she walks around barefoot in the garden, developing big calluses on her feet. "I think I can realize that…she's great in so many other ways, that that shouldn't be something to drive me away," Prof. Rottman says. (The professor said he got his wife's permission before sharing this story.)
As host Luse suggested to Prof. Rottman, perhaps "love is persevering against the ick."
So next time you get the ick, consider whether that says more about you than the other person.
And Luse says on It's Been a Minute, maybe "it's a you problem."
Corey Antonio Rose, B.A. Parker, Barton Girdwood, Liam McBain, and Jasmine Romero contributed to this story. Lead photo: munandme/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Imported from South Korea, many American women are swearing they'll join the 4B movement in light of Don the John Trump's re-election. What does it mean?
What is the 4B movement?
This rumor originated in South Korea as a radical feminist [and possibly lesbian] statement to abstain from interactions with men due to the country’s Patriarchy (patriarchal society).
This 4B movement stands for the four “B”s or “Nos” in Korean. They are bisekseu (“no sex with men”); biyeonae (“no dating men”); bihon (“no marrying men”); and bichulsan (“no having children,” especially not male children that fail to serve the Matriarchy).
So this coincidentally if not ironically will make someone “bi” by promoting lesbianism when abstinence gets boring or difficult, right?
Where did this idea come from? It’s actually a pretty old idea for women to abstain from sexual contact with men as a way of whipping them into shape (though then it was done to end a war).
Perhaps one of the oldest examples is Aristophanes’ Ancient Greek comedic-play Lysistrata. Originally performed in 411 BC, it follows a group of Greek women who withhold sex from men to force them to end their Peloponnesian War by leaving them with annoying boners and all that lust-inspiring testosterone and no one but guys around.
How did the movement get started in (Mahayana Buddhist) South Korea?
It all kicked off around 2016 with the Escape the Corset movement, a social media-led movement that saw South Korean women discussing the ways in which Korean society’s restrictive female standards contributed to a misogynisticsociety.
The 4B movement gained even more momentum a year later when South Korean women started coming forward about the abuse they’d faced as part of the #MeToo movement. More
Euronews, Nov. 8, 2024; Dr. Wendy Walsh (KFI); Crazy Videos; Male editors trying to be supportive and understanding while not liking it, Wisdom Quarterly
But I hate him so much because he's so full of hate, and I hate hate and people who hate!
Why are you mad? - Oh, I'dunno, no reason.
Can anger grow so bad that it eats us alive? But anger is "natural," and it's not good to hold it in. Science has found that people who express their anger, say by beating a pillow, significantly worsen. Acting out what is a transient emotion into a practice trigger-and-response.
Every time I hear that man's name, I get so triggered and p*ssed off, I'm just like Whoopi Goldberg cussing like I did when I was best friends with Mr. Trump, who often hired to me to cuss with my filthy mouth during my act.
Shut the h*ll up, Kids, before I beat you! - Yeah, you heard Mom, shut the h*ll up! - No, you!
.
The way to "manage" anger is to let it all hang out, behave irrationally, right? What could be healthier? When anger arises, watch it mindfully (non-reactively). If that is impossible, apply the immediately-effective antidote of metta (loving-kindness).
If feeling cold indifference towards others and their plight, practice karuna (compassion).
If not happy enough and wishing to instantly be happy, engage in mudita (joy in others' joy), the opposite of schadenfreude.
(What's that? It's delight in the misfortune of others, like poor Mr. Trump, who has to wear an adult diaper and fouls himself daily, which is why his baggy pants are so ill-fitting and wrinkled and his posture so extraordinarily bad, pushing his butt out and behind him. Just ask firsthand witness Noel Casler.)
What's wrong with anger if I don't hurt anyone?
One of the very dysfunctional things about anger is that, without realizing it, we often use it as the basis of our bad habits: I have to drink, I have to party, I have to get my grind on...or I'll explode. First, make things internally intolerable with messy emotions. Then "solve" the distress with a dysfunctional coping method.
Angry activist dies from heart attack and discovers we are all one (NDE)
(Coming Home) Mr. David Williamson shares the story of his near-death experience, dying of a heart attack brought on by hypertension after years of intense anger-fueled activism in support of the Black community.
During his encounter on the Other Side, he is surprised to realize that we are All One, while experiencing himself as a glowing orb of light and learning that no experience in this human life is ever lost or wasted.
Mr. Williamson shares how the experience transformed the way he views life now and how it changed the way he relates to all other people.
"We are creating our next life right now in this moment, with our attention"
- David Williamson
Follow David Williamson on his Substack to connect with him, receive articles he writes, and learn about workshops he may offer ⇨ dwilliamson.substack.com.
Subscribe to newsletter ⇨ cominghomechannel.substack.com where Coming Home explores the meaning and purpose of near-death experiences in the modern age. CH writes about the intersection of spirituality, life after death, comparative religion, philosophy, depth psychology, modern culture, and most of all how we can all stay connected to the truth that living doesn't end when we die in this life. Connect on Facebook ⇨ cominghomechannel. Instagram ⇨ cominghomechannel.
David Williamson (Coming Home NDE (video), June 27, 2023; Dhr. Seven, Ani, Melissa MacKay of insightla.org (video recommendation), Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY
Why is Brian the [horn-] dog hitting on his best friend Peter's wife Lois? But she sees what he's up to.
What nerve Brian has! Poor Lois is accosted while convalescing in her own bedroom. What if he were to see what he's been after as it really is, foul (asubha) and repugnant?
Reflections on repulsiveness
Help! I feel imprisoned by lust, always craving what I don't have but can't stop thinking about.
.
Venerable, what is the cure for obsessive lust?
Paṭikkūla-manasikāra [1] is a Buddhist Pāli language term that is generally translated as "reflections on repulsiveness."
It refers to a traditional Buddhist meditation. In it, 31 parts of the body are contemplated in a variety of ways. In addition to developing mindfulness (sati) and stillness (samādhi), this form of meditation is considered conducive to overcoming lust and craving.
Along with cemetery contemplations such as the contemplation of the nine stages of decay, this type of meditation is one of the two meditations on "the foul" or "unattractive" (asubha) [2].
Translation
Did you see it, Bri? - Stewie, I smelled it!
Paṭikkūla literally means "against" (paṭi) "the slope" or "embankment" (kūla) and has been translated adjectivally as "averse, objectionable, contrary, disagreeable" and, in its nounal form, as "loathsomeness, impurity" [3].
Manasikāra, derived from manasi (locative of mana thus, loosely, "in mind" or "in thought") and karoti ("to make" or "to bring into") and has been translated as "attention" or "pondering" or "fixed thought" [4].
What are you looking at? Why are you staring?
In contemporary translations, the compound term paṭikkūla-manasikāra is generally translated as "reflections on repulsiveness" or, adding contextual clarity at the expense of literal accuracy, "reflections on repulsiveness of the body" [5].
Alternate translations include "attention directed to repulsiveness" [6] and "realization of the impurity of the body" [7].
For Emmy consideration, Family Guy tries to get fancy to woo Hollywood and get an award already.
Try not to laugh clips
Is it a laughing matter? Vulgar cartoon obscenity once canceled in America
Benefits of this strange practice
I remember how warm and sexy she was. Grrr!
This type of meditation is traditionally mentioned as an "antidote" to sensual lust, passion, and obsession [8].
This is also one of the "four protective meditations" along with anussati ("recollection") of the Buddha, mettā (universal loving-kindness, benevolence, agape) practice, and the recollection or mindfulness of death [9].
I love my owner's wife
In individual sutras, this type of contemplation is identified as a contributor to a variety of mundane and transcendental goals. For instance, in the Girimananda Sutta (AN 10.60), Ananda's recitation of this and other contemplations immediately cures an ailing monk [10].
In the Sampasadaniya Sutta (DN 28), Ven. Sariputta declares that meditating on these 31 body parts leads to "the attainment of vision, in four ways" and briefly outlines how this method can be used as a springboard by which one "comes to know the unbroken stream of human consciousness that is neither established in this world nor in the next" [11].
With a debased mind/heart, where will someone be reborn? What future is to come?
.
In addition, in the Iddhipāda Samyutta's Vibhanga Sutta (SN 51.20), this meditation subject is used to develop the four Bases of Power (iddhipādas) by which one is able to achieve liberation from all suffering [12].
While the Pali canon invariably includes this form of contemplation in its various lists of mindfulness meditation techniques [13], the compendious 5th-century Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga) identifies this type of contemplation (along with mindfulness of in-and-out-breathing or anapanasati) as one of the few body-directed meditations particularly suited to the development of samādhi (Vism. VIII, 43) [14]. More
AI (simulated Family Guy LIVE action movie trailer); Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy (cartoon); Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit
Stop fighting LUST! Do this instead | Christian method
(Lion of Judah) Jan. 31, 2023: This is an original narration recorded specifically for this video in the Lion of Judah studio. Footage licensed through: Filmpac/Videoblocks. Music licensed through Audiojungle/Artlist. Social media links: cmlionofjudahinstagram.com/cmlionofjudah...
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Resist not evil: be mindful and stop | Buddhist method
How to stop dirty thoughts | How to not be controlled by lust | Buddhist story
(Wake Up Stories) Nov. 23, 2023: Everyone can be a successful person in their life. We might just need someone to motivate us. [This is not the Buddha's full teaching on overcoming lust.]
Disclaimer: This channel does not promote or encourage any illegal activity. All content provided by this channel is for educational purposes only.
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What is the Buddhist method?
Man, religions is bummer, Sid. - I know, Jess.
[The Buddha's Dharma (Teaching, Doctrine and Discipline, Buddh-ism) has much to say about lust, in many sutras, throughout the Disciplinary Code (Vinaya), in terms of etiquette (the minor observances), and in the Abhidharma, or Buddhist psychology, when it comes to intensive meditation and a deeper study of the Dharma at the higher or ultimate (abhi-) level.
But this is cute story (second video) suggests the first three very important things to do to tame lust:
guard the senses,
choose good companions/friends, and
practice "right mindfulness" (samma-sati).
Wrong mindfulness won't work and may well be harmful, and regular "mindfulness" is not likely to include what the Buddha meant by this word (sati = mindfulness, bare awareness, vigilance), which modern psychology and pop culture has adopted and hollowed out until it's nearly a meaningless shell of a buzzword meaning nothing more than "awareness" or "attention."
The most important component of Buddhist mindfulness is not awareness of what is happening in this moment but to radically accept and dispassionately observe what is happening at this moment without rejecting it, encouraging it, or distorting it. See what is and let it be. Being vigilantly attentive to all that is going on internally without turning away or trying to make it something else, this is mindfulness.
The opposite of mindfulness is distraction, inattention, personal involvement, getting carried away by what is observed, identifying with it, judging it, measuring it, trying to fix it, struggling against it, resisting it, craving it, getting confused by it, thinking about it, reacting to it, or taking it personally.
Just be the watcher, accepter, and patiently dispassionate observer of whatever arises and all that is because in this way in time it may be possible to see through things and see their true nature. Then there is no need to cling, reject, or become bored or confused with anything.
It takes a lot of play and persistence until it becomes habit, but it is immediately effective when done correctly. A lustful thought arises. The moment we are aware of it, it has already passed. We do not reject it, try to push it away, resist it, berate ourselves for it having arisen, nor anything like that; we do not reach for it to grasp it, become attached, cling to it; we do not become involved, identify with it, try to change it. or make it something else, or take it personally.
When it just is, whatever it is, then it is fine. As soon as there's a problem it's because we have fallen into one of the defilements (one of the specific characteristics of the Big Three: greed, hatred, delusion or passion, aversion, ignorance).
Who in the world would want to give up lust?
This is cool, Jess. - I know, we're helping ppl, Sid!
"Resist not evil" sounds like horrible advice. Why would the Buddhist Saint Issa have given it to his disciples? It never made sense, but the first video does a nice job of explaining why. See, Saint Issa is another for Yeshua (Yezu, Yazoo, Iesous) of Nazareth, the famous founder after which they named Christianity.
According to ancient sources he studied as a Buddhist monk or lama at Hemis Gompa, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Leh, Ladakh, modern India, when this Himalayan region was part of Tibet.
The Lost Years of Jesus
The original source of this documented historical fact was a Christian, not a Buddhist. It was Nicholas Notovitch. Buddhists maintained the written records, but Christendom was not going to stand for such an intimate connection between an Abrahamic faith and a Dharmic religion.
Whether people want it to be true or not, the written record still says what it says. Notovitch was neither the only one to see nor the only one to publish an account of seeing it firsthand, And there is that giant gap of time in the official Christian record of where St. Issa was a missing 18 years. He was studying spirituality and coming into his mission (ministry).
The parables of this teacher are to this day very Zen, and people have noticed, and the BBC has made a documentary about it, but Christians prefer to live in ignorance and to turn their back on biblical scholars about what Christianity teaches and what it does not.
No Jew was answering questions in such a way, but an Essene, a monastic (wandering ascetic) going around rebelling against the temple religion just as the Buddha had done centuries before him as he turned his back on the Brahmin priests and their ancient Vedas ("Knowledge Books").
Neither Siddhartha Gautama nor the Buddha (the "Awakened One") needed St. Issa (Jesus) or the Jewish God (YHWH, Jehovah, Asherah's husband). The Buddha, by his awakening, realized the solution to suffering. The solution is not rebirth in heaven. Such rebirths are very nice, and there are many levels of heaven.
The Buddha taught the path to rebirth in all of these heavenly worlds. But he did not give that as a solution to suffering. While such worlds are very pleasurable, very peaceful, very long lived, and bright, they are not release, not freedom, not the end of suffering. Sadly, as long as life lasts there, they are not eternal. So rebirth in such worlds cannot be the solution.
Think other faiths have figured some things out?
What then is the final solution, the end of ALL suffering? It is the realization, the touching, the "refuge" (sarana) of nirvana. This alone is the end of suffering. The Buddha, therefore, taught to paths, one that leads to better rebirths in heavenly worlds and the end of rebirth and the bliss of release of nirvana. We may choose either.
If we choose rebirth in heavens (sagga), it is important to be good. But how good? At a minimum, humans are wise to keep five precepts: to abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, deceiving, and intoxication. Doing so leads to rebirth in the human world or in the lower sensual heavens. These planes of existence are considered the lowest good rebirths.
Below the human planes, rebirth is considered the "downfall" or niraya. It includes rebirth into animal, demon (demigod), ghost, and hell realms, each being worse than the former. Rebirth in these places is called the "downfall" or "downward path" because it is uncertain when one will ever get out again as there is no easy way to make any good karma (deeds).
The opportunity for doing so is very rare. One must then rely on past good karma to come to fruition. Rebirth as a human is good but it is fraught with dangers. One is very close to the edge here, and it is not likely one ever hears a good teaching or doctrine that instructs one even in the basics of good conduct (meritorious karma that ripens in better worlds).
Jesus Lived in India
As good as any "heaven" or deva ("shining one") world is compared to the human world, each higher heaven is far better than the former. What sort of karma results and bears fruit by leading to or sustaining a life in a heavenly world of beauty, ease, pleasure, longevity, and progress?
It is maintaining the Eight Precepts, Ten Precepts, or attaining the meditative absorptions (jhanas), which are weighty good deeds. Each leads to rebirth in a corresponding heavenly world determined by its strength (initial, intermediate, or mastery).
What, however, will ruin, obstruct, or be a hindrance to the doing of any of these good deeds? Greed (lust), hatred (anger, aversion, fear), or delusion (not knowing, wrong views, ignorance, confusion).
We can then begin to appreciate the value and importance of getting lust under control or, at least, not being controlled by it. How wonderful lust seems when we are able to get what we seek and wish for?
But when we are not able, how does lust feel? How does craving, grasping, and clinging to what we are unable to get? It is torment. It is hellish. It is or can be excruciating. Let it go. But we can't! We're attaching, we're obsessed, we're addicted!
When, for example, one is about to ingest heroin it is probably good to crave heroin, desire heroin, and cling to heroin. (If one does it mindfully, one may see that this cycle of addiction and ingestion is a trap, a trick, an unsustainable process with no way out because it will not end. That is to say, the heroin will certainly end but not the craving for it.
How good, then, is sexual lust or attachment to any of the senses? (Desire for pleasant sights, sounds, scents, sensations, or savors is a lure with a hidden hook, a shiny thing with a hidden danger, like licking honey from a razor used to scrape it off a honeycomb. It's pleasant until the tongue is nicked or sliced open.
Why do people take aphrodisiacs? It is because when sexual contact and release are available, impotence or lack of appetite is terrible. When food is unavailable, hunger is horrible, and no one takes hunger-stimulants. Instead, we seek appetite-suppressants. So when are appetizers good? When food is abundant and our interest in eating it is lukewarm, suddenly appetizers are considered good. That's why we order them before the main course.
Bible scholars say one thing, Christians say another
So this should be understood about lust while living in a place of abundance like America during the good times (because certainly the bad times come). Lust will hurt, even to the point of committing suicide to stop that hurt, two times in two different ways? What are they? We are all intimate with lust. But how many of us see the twofold danger in it?
When we fail to get what we wish for, lust for it hurts. Paradoxically, when we get what we wish for (and it fails, as it must, to fulfill us, to finally-satisfy us, to satiate us once and for all). Isn't that strange? Whether we get what we want or fail to get what we want, lust still hurts.
Think about it. I want a car and a better car and the best car -- and I don't get it. That sucks! Now look at my rich, lucky, and successful neighbor. S/he wants a car and a better car and the best car -- and gets it. That sucks! How? S/he got what was wished for. It sucks because that person is not satisfied. It has all the costs of protecting it, insuring it, worrying about it, maintaining it, and keeping it but not of the implicitly promised rewards.
It did not cure my neighbor of wanting it, wanting an even better or different car; it didn't make her/him sexy and irresistible; it didn't make that person powerful, young, beautiful, healthy, long lived, smart, cool, or the envy of all the world the way the commercials and advertisements implied that it would. Those things are what we actually want from a car but do not get.
Only the successful get to find this out. Everyone else keeps being deluded: "If only" I had that, I would be happy, I would no longer want for anything, I would be fulfilled, I would be complete.... Just ask any heroin addict, "How is this heroin going to make you feel?" I would be happy, I would be fulfilled, I would be complete, I would be done...until it wore off and I needed the next dose and, you know, I don't even get much of any pleasure out of it anymore, and yet I can't do without it. That's lust.
It is never satisfied by fulfilling our lusts, and yet we are miserable without it, not seeing the hidden danger. There is actually a third danger, maybe one too obvious to mention. And that is, What will lust make us do to get what we want, crave, need, desire, are attached and clinging to? What won't we do for it if the lust gets bad enough? So, yeah, there's that. But only anyone with leisure and plenty has much chance of figuring that out.
So we tread on and on and on, wishing for this, searching for it, getting it, devouring/experiencing it, then seeking for something else to give us the same rush and thrill and promise of fulfillment (that never comes) but we keep falling for it, like a donkey chasing a carrot on a stick strapped to our own head.
So continue with sexual lust and trying to satisfy the abyss or find a way to remove the lust so that peace and progress toward a better future can be made?
People nowadays would rather be nihilists and hedonists. There's no future, no tomorrow, no rebirth, no afterlife, and so the only sane thing to do is become hedonists now (which seems to be the secular Jewish approach after rejecting the tougher religious Jewish way) and enjoy everything by any means necessary, morality be damned, others be damned, the whole world and God with it be damned cuz I gots to get me mine and expect yous to do the same. What a world, what a world, so all we can say is
rebirth is real,
there is an afterlife,
we get our just desserts in the long run,
and therefore karma can be our best friend or our accuser, as we make it.
"Karma: It's wherever you're going to be."
That being the case, choose to refrain from harm, choose the profitable, choose the compassionate, kind, beneficial, and even if it's Christianity, choose it and do it.
And know that lust is harmful, and if there's a way to overcome it (because fighting it sure hasn't been working), learn it, try it, do it.
The Buddha has answers, and apparently so do other religions for the basics.
Morality is basic; it is not exclusive to Buddhism.
What is exclusive to Buddhism is the end of all suffering by means of nirvana. No other teacher teaches that, and it is not for everyone. It is for the wise.
Remember, Christians may hate Buddhism, but Buddhism does not hate Christianity or Jesus or the God. It's fine with the Buddha if anyone wants to follow those things or anything else.
Christian may hate Buddhism, but we don't think God or Jesus or Mother Mary hate it. They might. But we think it's just some Christians acting out of fear, ignorance, allegiance, or identification. Ask God, "Hey, God, do you hate Buddhism?" He might. Who knows? He's an "angry and jealous god" according to his bestselling book. Ask nice Jesus, too, "Hey, Jesus, WWJD? Would he hate Buddhism?" We hardly think the good lord hates anything, but he might. Maybe it's sin, and maybe he hates sin. Ask Mary, too. Then ask Christians. See how they rage or condescend, close their minds or imagine they're doing their God's will.
What the Buddha taught transcends those things, brings defilements to cessation (for the one who practice this teaching regardless of what one "believes"), and leads to higher rebirths or the end of rebirth.
None of this may make sense now, but when one matures and has a great deal of life experience, one will see how extraordinarily wise the Buddha was and why he is known as the unexcelled teacher of devas and humans.
Say what you want about your religion, whichever religion it is, but all that matters is that we practice, and those practices either work to free us or do not.
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