Sex or Death: Robin Willams' "suicide" (video)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Mork; Maurice O'Connell Walshe "Buddhism and Death"

Is it funny (autoerotic asphyxiation)? Is it heavy (depression)? Sex or suicide? The loss of comedic genius, hyper-kinetic former coke-fiend and alcohol abuser Robin "Mork" Williams comes as a shock to us all. He was a funny stand up, an over-the-top Oscar-winning actor, and all around Hollywood icon. The coroner does not say he was "fully clothed" but leaves it at that, which sound erotic. But what if it was suicide?

The Great Unmentionable

(Nadeem Mayhar/flickr.com)

It is sometimes said that DEATH today has replaced SEX as "The Great Unmentionable." And certainly it is, for most people, an uncomfortable subject which they do not care to think much about.

Yet, if there is one thing that is certain in life it is that we shall all die, sooner or later. There was once a creed that declared: "Millions Now Living Will Never Die," and it had great appeal -- but all those who first heard it proclaimed are now dead. [The great appeal of New Testament Christianity is the promise of "eternal life," one of the three things living being crave and suffer over.]

So we all have to face death, whether we like it or not. And we all know it, however we may try to forget the fact. Let us, then, at least for a while, stop trying to forget it and look death straight in the face....

Death-Wish

Though there is a strong fear of death, there is, strangely enough, also a desire for it.

• [In Buddhism "craving" (tanha) refers to three things -- sensual desire, for continued being, and for annihilation, all of which lead to frustration and disappointment.]

Psychoanalysis has much to say about this, though it is perhaps not very illuminating. But the fact remains that many people show suicidal tendencies, or even actually commit suicide, whatever be the explanation.

The Buddha in fact included this "death-wish" as the third of three kinds of craving: besides desire for sense-pleasures, we find in the formula of the second of the Four Noble Truths the desire for becoming (bhava-tanha) and the desire for cessation (vibhava-tanha).

Why annihilation? Since life is -- by its very nature -- frustrating, we can never get it on our own terms; therefore, there is an urge to quit the whole thing. The fallacy, of course, lies in the fact that one will not just get off the carousel so easily. Why? Death by suicide, like any other death, is followed immediately by rebirth in some plane of existence or other -- quite possibly in one worse than this one.

The traditional Christian view is that suicide is a "mortal sin" -- with the implication that it would be a case of "out of the frying-pan and into the fire."

Some psychoanalysts speak -- ignorantly -- of the "Nirvana-principle" in connection with the death-wish. But what we are here dealing with is not in fact the urge for true liberation, but merely an escapist-reaction to disappointment, frustration, and suffering of all kinds.

Disappointment

Sign or cry, but death is no escape.

[What is this "suffering" (dukkha) Buddhism speaks so much of? The Buddha defined it as: "Now this, meditators, is the ennobling truth of suffering: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, DEATH is suffering; sorrow, lamentation (crying), pain (illness), grief, and despair (losing hope) are suffering; coming into contact with the unloved is suffering; separation from the loved is suffering; not getting what we want is suffering. In brief, the Five Aggregates that are clung to are suffering."]

Only if by insight more profound than that of the Freudians, this revulsion is followed by complete equanimity can it be turned towards the supramundane, which is the goal (nirvana) of Buddhism. This will not happen spontaneously.

It should be noted that the "death-wish" here referred to is associated in Buddhism with the "heresy of annihilationism" already mentioned.

Robin Williams reaching out to his wife in hell with appreciation and regret in this clip from 1998's modern version of Dante's Inferno, "What Dreams May Come"

[This is the belief that death brings annihilation, the wrong view of scientists and materialists that there is nothing further at death by the demise of the physical body. This is a pernicious view that leads to much suffering here and hereafter, but by holding to the wrong view that there will be no hereafter, people who hold this view do not worry about the consequences. BEFORE they die, they are sure to realize that there is more to come. Of course, by then it's really late to do or think anything about it other than regret. This is why the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths and showed the path to making an end of ALL suffering, which does not happen with simple death. Some may rejoice that we do not die, but we do in a sense because this personality, this ego, this name, body, karmic result, these relations, these abilities are all hurtling toward destruction; it will not survive. Something will but not I, me, and mine. Death is certain, and rebirth is worse as it insures that there is more suffering and disappointment to come, sometimes much worse depending on the karma, our deeds of body-speech-and-mind, we make now.]

In a somewhat aggressive form it can even serve to mask repressed fear of death. This would seem to explain the vehemence with which people like Dr. Ernest Jones assert the desirability of their anti-survivalist views. By way of curiosity, it may be mentioned that a distinguished biologist has gone on record as declaring that whether or not we believe in survival is entirely determined by our genes, which is pushing determinism pretty far. More

Craving, motherhood, and rebirth (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly, Mata Sutta (SN 15.14-19)

There are better ways to be pregnant, to deliver, and to mother (Nirrimi Firebrace/NM)

 .

Craving is our first mother (Rudi'Peni)

Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi when he proclaimed:

"Rebirth (again becoming, this continued wandering on through samsara -- a process which is impermanent, impersonal, and unsatisfactory) runs far back into an incomprehensible past. Yet no beginning point is discerned when beings -- hindered by ignorance, ensnared by craving, [and inflamed by aversion manifesting as anger and fear] -- set off on this wandering.

 

"So long has this wandering been going on that it is difficult to come across any being who has not already been one's mother, father, sister, brother, son, and daughter at some time in the past.

 

"And why is that?

"Rebirth (or the "continued wandering on" that is samsara) runs far back into an incomprehensible past. Yet no beginning point is to be discerned when beings -- hindered by ignorance, ensnared by craving -- set off on this wandering [this journey through time and place, this continued wandering on in search of pleasure now here, now there, in search of final satisfaction, fulfillment, security].

These three things are true.

"Long have we all experienced suffering (disappointment, dissatisfaction, distress), experienced pain, experienced loss (separation from the loved), swelling up cemeteries -- long enough to become disenchanted with all formations (conditional phenomena, composite things, i.e., Five Aggregates of Clinging), enough to become dispassionate, enough to be liberated."

Motherhood
But motherhood is the most beautiful thing

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What is Nirvana? Complete freedom!

Bhikkhu Bodhi (beyondthenet.net); Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha says that he teaches only two things, disappointment (dukkha, suffering) and the end-of-disappointment (nirvana).

That is, he only finds two kinds of questions important. "What is suffering?" and "How do we achieve the end of suffering?"

In the First Noble Truth the Buddha deals with the problem of disappointment. But this truth is the first word, not the final word, of the Buddha's Teaching, the Dharma.

It is the starting point. Here the Buddha begins by talking about the unpleasant, the miserable, which many of us might feel is hopeless or pessimistic.

Yoga Rave (artoflivingla.org)


• "Hey cheer up, Buddha, and party with us -- not that you would know anything about 'partying' having spent 29 years as a prince living in three massive party palaces full of dancing girls, fabulous food and drink, musicians, minstrels, and the surfeit of princely trappings. It was a right royal rave in your private kingdom somewhere between Egypt and India. Never mind about that then. Hey, Buddha, teach us! We want to be free! We want to be liberated from this lack-of-fulfillment, this misery without end. Show us the way!"

The Buddha begins with suffering because Buddhism is designed to bring about an end to ALL suffering. The Dharma, the Teaching, leads those who practice it to liberation.

Hey, A, please no Buddha selfies (AK)

In order to get us there, the Buddha gives a reason for seeking freedom. For example, if a person does not know that the roof is on fire, one lives in that house enjoying oneself, playing, joking, and laughing. To get someone to come out, that person must first become aware that the house is burning, a dangerous smoldering mass soon to collapse and engulf everyone inside.

In the same way, the Buddha announces that our lives are burning. They are burning with rebirth, old age (decay), sickness, and death -- full of loss, separation, weeping, doing anything we can to never think about it, to divert ourselves with addictive sensual delights which we lose, which are hard to come by, and which we are often willing to kill for, to steal, to engage in misconduct, to lie, and to become intoxicated to get. We find temporary relief through them but never gain release.

 

Meditation Barbie: breatharian Amatue

Our hearts/minds are aflame with greed (craving), hatred (fear and aversion), and delusion (confusion). It is only when we become aware of these perils that we have any chance of beginning to seek a way to release and freedom.

In the Second Noble Truth, the Enlightened One points out that we can do something about one of the causes of suffering and thereby undo all suffering. This weak link we can undermine is our craving, which we have been depending on for relief like drug addicts do their drug of choice.

Novices full of devotion (Dietmar Temps)

It is our insatiable desire for a world of sights, sounds, fragrances, flavors, touch sensations, and ideas. Since one of the causes of disappointment is craving (along with aversion and delusion, spelling out as the key in the 12 links of the dependent origination of suffering), the key to reaching the end of disappointment is to undermine this very painful craving.

In the Third Noble Truth the Buddha, therefore, explains nirvana (nibbana) as the extinction of craving because it results in enlightenment and the end of suffering. [To break the chain of dependently arisen suffering only takes breaking one link, and the Buddha saw that it was here with this link, this obsessive craving, that we could make a complete end of suffering].

In the Fourth Noble Truth, the Buddha explains how, namely, the Noble Eightfold Path.

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, what is Nirvana? What is the end-of-all-suffering? (Angelina K)

• Psychological Dimension of Nirvana
• Philosophical Dimension of Nirvana
• Nirvana is an existing reality
• Is Nirvana conditioned by its path
• Is Nirvana mere annihilation ?
• The story of the Turtle and the Fish
• Two elements of Nirvana
• Experience of an Enlightened Person
• State of an enlightened person after passing away
• Mind Stilled

The Buddha's Noble FOURfold Path

Bhikkhu Bodhi (beyondthenet.net), Four Truths; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

"Eightfold Path? I was into it back when it was the Fourfold Path" (Elephant Journal)

 
An Elephant's Footprint

Elephant at Borobudur (TrevThompson)

The recorded teachings of the Buddha are numerous. But all these diverse teachings fit together into a single unifying frame: the teaching of the Four Noble [or Ennobling] Truths.

The Buddha compared the Four Noble Truths to the footprint of an elephant. Just as the footprint of an elephant can encompass within it the footprints of any other animal -- lions, tigers, wolves, foxes, cats, dogs, and so on -- so all the different teachings of the Buddha fit into the single framework of the Four Noble Truths.

Punk rock Buddha (Saara/Arkiharha/flickr)

The Buddha makes it clear that the FULL realization of the Four Noble Truths precedes the attainment of enlightenment itself, which means touching or glimpsing nirvana, final liberation from all disappointment.

He says that when a teaching-buddha appears in the world, what is taught are the Four Noble Truths. The special purpose of the Dharma is to make known this path to spiritual-nobility, to ultimate truth and liberation from illusions and suffering.

And the special aim of those treading the path to enlightenment is to personally know-and-see (experientially verify) the Four Noble Truths:

1. The truth of disappointment (dukkha, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness, pain, suffering, misery, the unpleasant),
2. The truth of the origin of disappointment,
3. The truth of the cessation of disappointment,
4. The truth of the path, the [eightfold] way to complete and final liberation from disappointment.

Elephant's Footprint sutra (BPS.lk)

The technical Buddhist term dukkha has often been translated as suffering, pain...misery. But dukkha or "disappointment," as used by the Buddha, has a much wider and deeper meaning.

 

It suggests a basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms and planes existence, even the most exalted and long lasting, all forms of rebirth, due to the fact that all forms are impermanent (even when they do not seem to be changing in heavenly planes) and without any inner core or substance.

The term dukkha indicates a lack of fulfillment, a lack of perfection, a condition that never measures up to our standards and expectations. Each word in the phrase "Four Noble Truths" is significant. What is the doctor's prescription?

• The Lesser Simile of the Elephant's Footprint (MN 27)
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Dr. Buddha, Master Physician (Prescription)

Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; BuddhaNet.net; Molly Hahn

Cats are good friends when they sleep in under the Sun (Molly Hahn/buddhadoodles.com)

 

The Buddha and my cat (Dee McIntosh/flickr)

The Buddha sets out the Four Truths as a formula a doctor would use to deal with a patient, a suffering person.

 

1. The Buddha first establishes the basic affliction, which is determined to be the problem of liability to disappointment and unsatisfactoriness; living beings are in pain.

2. Thereafter, he makes a diagnosis. That is, he explains the cause for this disease. This is the second truth, namely, that craving is part of the problem [explained in full in the 12 causal links of Dependent Origination], and craving is the link we can do something about right here and right now.

Accept what is. Let go of judgment. Remain aware of it. And you will know and see (BD).

 

3. As a third step a good doctor gives a prognosis, the possibility of the cessation of the problem. That is to say, a doctor determines whether a cure is possible. Is there some means of bringing about the end of our affliction, our problem, the pain we are sore from, complaining about, and seeking a cure for? Fortunately for living beings, the Buddha says YES: Suffering can be ended in this very life! We can stop all our suffering.

4. Finally, in the fourth step, perhaps the most important from the standpoint of the ailing patient, the doctor prescribes the course of treatment. The Buddha prescribes a fourth truth: the Noble Eightfold Path, the way to the end of all suffering, the treatment, the actions to take for enlightenment that leads to the goal of nirvana, which the Buddha very specifically defined as the final solution, the antidote, the cure, "the end of all suffering."

Distortions of the Mind (sutra)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly translation (Vipallasa Sutra, AN 4.49)

The "distortions" (vipallasas) can be called the hallucinations, perversions, inversions.

 

Candy eye (lilminx16/deviantart)

Earlier we asked, What is art? Is it a cartoon, an illusion... or an attempt to see things the way they really are? 

Art can sensitize us even as it distorts and emphasizes. Perception is how we look at the world we create every moment without realizing we're creating as we're choosing what to notice or how to interpret (cognize) it. Art, like meditation, may sensitize and teach us to clear our mental perception -- our preconceptions and distortions. (See sutra and explanation below).

"Meditators, there are four distortions of perception, distortions of mind (heart), distortions of view. What are the four? 

Saara sees (Arkiharha/weekday-illusion)

"To regard as 'permanent' what is actually impermanent is the distortion of perception, distortion of mind, distortion of view.
 
"To regard as 'fulfilling' what is actually disappointing...

"To regard as 'personal' what is actually impersonal (anatta)...

"To regard as 'attractive' what is actually unattractive is the distortion of perception, distortion of mind, distortion of view. These are the four distortions of perception, distortions of mind, distortions of view.

 
The Undistorted

The Buddha distorted to reflect iridescent colors on drilled metal surface

 

Psychedelic (-william/flickr.com)

"There are four non-distortions of perception, non-distortions of mind, non-distortions of view. What are the four? 

"To regard as 'impermanent' what is actually impermanent is the non-distortion of perception, non-distortion of mind, non-distortion of view. 

"To regard as 'disappointing' what is actually disappointing...

"To regard as 'impersonal' what is actually impersonal...

"To regard as 'unattractive' what is actually unattractive is the non-distortion of perception, non-distortion of mind, non-distortion of view.

 

"These are the four non-distortions of perception, non-distortions of mind, non-distortions of view."

    

"Perceiving permanence in the impermanent, fulfillment in the disappointing, self in the impersonal, attractiveness in the unattractive -- beings, brought to ruin by wrong-view, become imbalanced, go out of their minds.

 

Mara has his eye on us (lilminx16)

"Bound by Mara's noose, from that noose [snare, threat of death] they find no rest. Instead, beings continue wandering on, going to rebirth and death.

 

"But when Enlightened Ones arise in the world and bring light into the world, they proclaim the Dharma [the path to liberation] leading to the cessation of disappointment (dukkha, suffering).

"When those with wisdom (insight) listen, they regain their senses and see the impermanent as impermanent, the disappointing as disappointing, the impersonal as impersonal, and the unattractive as unattractive.

"Undertaking right-view, they go beyond all disappointment and unhappiness."

• Explanation of the discourse (Andrew Olendzki)

The Perversions explained

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary

What is art? (Saara/flickr.com)

The "perversions" or "distortions" are four, which may be either:

• of perception (saññā-vipallāsa)
  
• of consciousness (citta-vipallāsa)
  
• or of views (ditthi-vipallāsa).
  

What are they? The four are seeing or regarding:

1. what is impermanent (anicca) as permanent;
2. what is painful (dukkha) as pleasant (or happiness-yielding);
3. what is without a self (anattā) as a self;
4. what is impure (ugly, asubha) as pure or beautiful'' (A.IV.49).

Ah, is that how I was seeing things?

"Of the distortions, the following are eliminated by the first path-knowledge (stream-entry, sotāpatti): the distortions of perception, consciousness, and views, that the impermanent is permanent and what is not a self is a self; further, the distortion of views that the painful is pleasant, and the impure is pure.
 
By the third path-knowledge (non-returning, anāgāmitā) are eliminated: the distortions of perception and consciousness that the impure is pure.
 
By the fourth path-knowledge (full-enlightenment, arahatta) are eliminated the distortions of perception and consciousness that the painful is pleasant" (Path of Purification, Vis.M. XXII, 68).

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The Buddha as My Best Friend (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly translation of the "Discourse on Half [the Supreme Life]," Upaddha Sutta (SN 45.2) NOBLE FRIENDSHIP (Kalyāṇa-Mittatā)

The Buddha-to-come, Metteyya ("Friend"), Ladakh, Himalayan India (Sahil Vohra/flickr)

  

Theravada novice, Indonesia (Massulan/flickr)

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living among [his relatives] the Sakyans [on the northwest Indian frontier, likely in Afghanistan].

 

There in a Sakyan town named Sakkara Ven. Ananda went to the Blessed One, bowed, sat respectfully to one side, and said: "Venerable sir, this is half of the supreme life: noble friendship, noble companionship, noble association!"* 

• [*As AN 8.54 points out, this means associating with noble spiritual friends (kalyana mittas), learning from them, and emulating their good qualities.]

"Do not say so, Ananda, do not say so! Noble friendship, noble companionship, noble association is the whole of the supreme life. When a meditator has noble friends, companions, and associates, such a person can be expected to develop and pursue the Noble Eightfold Path.

How's that?

Buddha, Bodh Gaya (Chandrasekaran arum/flickr)

"How does a meditator with noble friends, companions, and associates develop and pursue the Noble Eightfold Path? 

 

"A meditator develops right (optimal) view dependent on seclusion [mental seclusion, withdrawal of the senses], dependent on [temporary] dispassion [as a result of directly seeing the Three Marks of Existence, the true nature of things], dependent on cessation [focusing on the passing away phase of phenomena], resulting in relinquishment [letting go].

"Furthermore, one develops right intention... right speech... right action (karma)... right livelihood... right effort... right mindfulness... and right concentration dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in relinquishment.

"This is how a meditator with noble friends, companions, and associates develops and pursues the Noble Eightfold Path [which ennobles one, i.e., results in enlightenment and being set FREE by the Truth (Veritas liberabit vos): liberation from all further rebirth and suffering (nirvana)].

The Eyes of Wisdom are always also the Eyes of Compassion (cabrenna.com/WQ)

 
The Buddha as BEST friend

Ahh, nirvana! (Plsrj/flickr)

"Now through this line of reasoning one may come to directly know how noble friendship, noble companionship, noble association is the whole of the supreme life: It is dependent on me (a supremely enlightened teacher) as a noble friend

• that beings (devas and humans) once subject to rebirth have gained release from rebirth,
• that beings once subject to aging have gained release from aging,
• that beings once subject to death have gained release from death,
• that beings once subject to (suffering manifesting as) sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair [as well as association with the unloved, separation from the loved, not getting what one wants and, in brief, the Five Aggregates of Clinging] have gained release from all of these.

Mahayana novices (wellhappypeaceful.com)

"It is through this line of reasoning that one may directly come to know how noble friendship, noble companionship, noble association is [not only half but actually] the whole of the supreme life."

Lust, desire, and craving (video)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Wikipedia edit raga

"Greed" lust as lobha in "Mondo Amore" (Williams/laluzdejesus.com)

  

Craving?

Young Buddhist Lisa Simpson fails to comprehend wanting stuff. While craving (tanha) is a source of disappointment (dukkha), it is typical of living beings, particularly beings like us living in a Sense Sphere (kama loka) world. Not ALL wanting is unskillful. The wish or desire, for example, for enlightenment (bodhi), complete-liberation (nirvana), wisdom (paññā), or compassion (karuna) is wholesome. Such a wish leads one to strive and eventually find them, even if one must let go even of that beneficial-wish rather than grasping at it to actually attain it. Letting go too soon is a big mistake. In the Parable of the Raft, one fashions a floating device for "crossing over" from enslavement to freedom. The time to let go is once meditation is something one looks forward to and the goal is at hand. Until then, keep doing it until you want to.

 

GREED (Pali lobha or raga, Tibetan 'dod chags) is usually translated as "attachment," "passion," "lust," or "desire." But this is far too kind. It actually refers to craving, clinging, grasping, or hankering.

It is craving things within the three spheres of existence, which produces immediate frustration and eventual disappointment.

 

We crave for what is lasting, pleasurable, and personal in worlds that are radically impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal

Indian words have a broad range of meaning, and this is true of lobha, which runs the gamut from bias or preference to agonizing lust and hoarding behavior. It is easy to see how hoarding and being unable to let go is harmful, but it is almost impossible for an ordinary person to perceive how the very arising of a preference sets one up for disappointment and dissatisfaction.*

 

Greed is identified as a factor in the following contexts:

• The Three Poisons in Mahayana
• The Three Unwholesome Roots in Theravada
• The six root defilements in Mahayana Abhidharma
• The 14 unwholesome mental factors in Theravada Abhidharma. 

I lust you. - I love you.

The Theravada commentarial text the Path of Purification (XIV, 162), which is analogous to the Path of Freedom preserved by Mahayana sources (although likely simply an early draft by the very same author), gives the following definition of "greed" (lobha):

 

...[G]reed has the characteristic of grasping an object like a monkey trap [a device where a monkey sticks its hand in a hole to get salt but can't get it out because of its grasped fist, which it never thinks to let go of even as it is captured by approaching hunters]. Its function is sticking, like flesh put on a hot grill. It is manifested as not letting go, like the dye of lamp-soot. Its proximate cause is seeing enjoyment [but not danger] in things that lead to bondage. Swelling with the current of craving, it should be regarded as sweeping (beings) with it to states of loss, just as a swift-flowing river sweeps to the great ocean.

Lust, lust, lust

I'm just saying, Tone it down. I was once young, too. - Mom, shaddup. You don't even know!!!

  

"Why is lust talked about so much in religion? We have to have desire to survive." It is not that lust is the only problem we face on the road to freedom and happiness. Most of us think lust is happiness, or a desperate emptiness that gives us something to fill, which feels good doing.

The Buddha talked a great deal about sensuality, and sex is promoted to the rank of poster child for the class of sense pleasures. But "greed" includes them all. What is usually translated as sexual misconduct (kamesu micchacara) actually, more broadly, refers to kāma or sensual misconduct.

 

Go on, take it; it makes me feel like a man. - OMG, my mom warned me about this!!!

 

What is sensual in this sense? Everything related to the five senses is sensual as is abuse of the sixth sense thinking about again and again enjoying the other five: (1) sights, (2) sounds, (3) tactile sensations [sex would be mostly here but can, of course, encompass all of the senses], (4) tastes, (5) fragrances, and (6) thoughts (or mind/heart as a sense that perceives or stands in for the other senses or takes in its own unique objects not accessible to the other five).

• Most people think we only have five senses, but we have far more than that. The Buddha talked about six, but that is not a limit, just a handy convention. This is true of other numbers in Buddhism: If one looks carefully, the Five Aggregates of Clinging are not limited to five; those five groupings are pedagogical and can be extended to as many groupings or heaps as one wishes to define. More heaps will not change the fact that there is no being behind them experiencing the process; there is only the process. What are our other senses? According to Vsauce they include, proprioception or kinesthesia, balance, acceleration, temperature, pain reception, time lapse, pulmonary stretch, peripheral chemo reception, distension, esophageal reception, pharynx mucosal reception... If we were, or become, sea mammals we'll gain echolocation (which some humans already enjoy), thermal reception and/or broadened light reception to see in the dark, and so on, and if and when we become devas we will gain refined senses and psychic faculties, and so on, which some people and hybrids (like some Chinese children) already possess. What do chimeras possess?

What is "sexual misconduct" anyway?

As ordinary living beings, even as good Buddhists, we will enjoy and delight in the world (whether it be this one or the many superior worlds above it). In moderation and harming no one, this is fine. Lisa, it's okay! In the Sigalovada Sutra ("Advice to Householders," DN 31) the Buddha advises young Sigala the householder to make use of money earned by partitioning it into four parts: one to enjoy, one to pay expenses, one to restock shelves/promote one's livelihood, and one to save for times of need. This is enlightened self-interest: Enjoy now, and make sure there is something to enjoy in the future.

But in ultimate terms, this will never do. When one wishes to transcend the world (cyclical wandering through birth, death, rebirth, redeath, misery unutterable, and the uncountable lives already lived in worlds of staggering diversity, one must overcome bondage. One must break free of ALL "suffering" (disappointment, dissatisfaction, woe, ill, misery, tragedy, lack of fulfillment, loss, crying, pain, unhappiness...). That means putting away the toys for a minute, so to speak. One cannot attain enlightenment in the thick of one's mental defilements, defilements of the heart (broadly speaking, one's greed, hate/fear, delusion in their various manifestations).

 

The Buddha taught us to see what he saw.

One can, however, enjoy sensual pleasures after stream entry, the first stage of enlightenment. Having uprooted the main bonds and weakened others ensures that one will reach full enlightenment and final nirvana within seven lives. Even a once-returner can enjoy all these things and do so without grossly harming others. A non-returner can look forward to rebirth in the Pure Abodes, exclusive enlightened worlds where life is long and things are good yet the beings strive for final knowledge and liberation from rebirth. The Buddha spoke of these rarefied worlds, which should never be confounded with ordinary conceptions of heaven (sagga). They likely led to the devotional extremes of Pure Land Buddhism, a prominent bhakti tradition in Mahayana Buddhism which is an awful lot like the Brahminical conception of the World of Brahma in Hinduism.

• Blessed are the cheese makers (Monty Python lol)