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Old 12-13-2012, 10:05 AM   #25
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
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Re: Body Type and Spiritual Beliefs

Quote:
Carsten Möllering wrote: View Post
Buddhism nearly neglects the body, seeing it as one root of illusion. So buddhist spirituality tries to leave the body behind and there are certain ways to vanquish or bear down the body.
I think this is a common misconception, fostered by some arguably poor word choices in translation (particularly the word "illusion"). In English, we'd use the word "illusion" for something that doesn't really exist, but the Buddhist use of the word (in translation) might better be expressed as "impermanent" or "mutable". Buddhist thought certainly doesn't see the body as "illusionary" in the sense that it doesn't exist; it does see it as impermanent and changeable, like all things. This does not, however, mean that Buddhist spirituality is about transcendence ("leav[ing] the body behind"). It focuses instead on immanence, which goes hand in hand with the understanding that what is, here, now, will not be in the next instant.
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