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Old 12-20-2003, 06:01 AM   #16
aikidoc
Dojo: Aikido of Midland
Location: Midland Texas
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,652
United_States
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"Maybe you're trying to convince yourself that by not smoking you're not going to die.... Being born is slow suicide."

Drew, I have studied Buddhadharma some, I know and accept we are going to die. No one has made it out alive yet. However, there are better ways to go. We are exposed to enough toxins without doing it on purpose.

"One cigarette maybe but a habit of it (addiction as you put it) is slow suicide."

I'm not trying to insult you, you were the one saying it was not harmful.

"Both my grandfathers died of lung cancer. I know they had painful deaths. Should I spend my whole life looking forward to a pleasant death?"

Sorry about your grandparents. I hope you were not in the room to watch their last moments of suffering. Life according the the Buddha is about suffering but it is also about reality. The reality is death can be pleasant or unpleasant depending on one's

perspective. Death by lung cancer is never pleasant.

Mike, I agree obesity is a very serious problem, heart disease etc. Heart disease also is a factor of smoking. The rise in diabetes is alarming due to the promulgation of high carb dietary habits. It's an issue of over indulgence. As is any bad habit. I don't begrudge people the occasional vice-we all have them.

Thanks for your comment. My father died in 1976 so I have come to accept it. However, my kids and my siblings kids never got to meet a very good person. He got to see very few of his grandkids and none of his great grandkids. A sad aspect of enjoying something or being addicted to it.

Obviously, smoking is one of my biggest hot buttons.

I'm curious Drew-how old are you? We all die and could tomorrow for whatever reason-I accept that and know it for reality. we all have the right to chose our vices and I know a lot of Japanese shihans smoke-culture, etc. It just doesn't make it healthy or harmonious with the body. Just mho.
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