8 ms·

Bhutan's dark secret to happiness

124 points by hmsln 11y ago

theyeti 11y ago
A bit misleading title, but Bhutan has its own share of problems. The Bhutanese refugee issue, a large scale eviction of Bhutanese citizens of Nepalese origin is a prime example of the Druk kingdom's shady regime. [1] http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/6/19/bhutanese-refugeessuicide.html http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/art... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanese_refugees https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanese_refugees [3] http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e487646.html http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e487646.html
- kinleyd 11y ago
  "Large scale eviction of Bhutanese citizens" and "shady regime" are highly simplistic or one sided ways to describe a complex problem that Bhutan does indeed have. Over the course of the last 4 to 5 decades Bhutan has faced a wave of economic migration that it has been (and continues to be) ill-equipped to manage. In trying to do so, yes, unfortunately and almost certainly some Bhutanese citizens have suffered. At the same time, many claiming to be Bhutanese citizens certainly were not.
  - theyeti 11y ago
    While, certainly not all those who claim to be the refugees might be actually one, the poor human rights record[1] of Bhutan speaks for itself. For a nation that issues citizenship based on race and origin [2] and "categorizes" them, a lot of economic development (and the self claimed Gross National Happiness) might be just a good publicity move by the Druk regime. [1] https://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/bhutan https://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/asia-and-the-p... [2] http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/bhutans-human-rights-record-defies-happiness-claim/ http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/bhutans-human-rights-record-d...
    - kinleyd 11y ago
      For a nation that issues citizenship based on race and origin [2] That's quite a leap you make there. Where exactly in the referenced article does it say that citizenship is based on race and origin? and "categorizes" them I do agree the categories are clumsy at best but how else is it possible to describe aggregated information without some form of categorization?
- saraid216 11y ago
  A very misleading title, yeah. This is what I clicked through hoping to read about, not a brief and vague summarization of the author's encounter with Bhutanese Buddhism.
amagumori 11y ago
this resonates me! i think "happiness" is actually a relative, sliding-scale thing. if you've been comfortable and secure for a long time then i think you're actually going to find it hard to be happy, since a relatively high level of happiness has become your "normal" and you take it for granted. yet if you're going through struggles and grief a lot, it's much easier to feel happy about basic things. like the article said, pain and suffering shouldn't be avoided but should be accepted as a normal part of life. and when you're going through it, it's heartening to look at your suffering as a down payment for greater joy and appreciation later on.
higherpurpose 11y ago
> Ritual provides a container for grief, and in Bhutan that container is large and communal. After someone dies, there’s a 49-day mourning period that involves elaborate, carefully orchestrated rituals. “It is better than any antidepressant,” Tshewang Dendup, a Bhutanese actor, told me. The Bhutanese might appear detached during this time. They are not. They are grieving through ritual. That actually sounds like a great idea. It's basically like AA's 12 steps, but for learning to cope with someone dying in your family.
kghose 11y ago
"Rich people in the West, they have not touched dead bodies, fresh wounds, rotten things" 1. Grandma's funeral. You stole her glasses. Tee Hee. Boy was she cold. 2. Soccer. But you bit the other guy too. 3. That sandwich in the rucksack, left over the weekend. Eww.
themartorana 11y ago
I've been contemplating death a lot lately - from this HN comment thread with @sago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9260286 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9260286 to being at my uncle's bedside as he passed away earlier this week. There was undeniable pain in watching him go, even though I barely knew the man - we were all still rather struck by watching someone breath their last breath. But in the end (and yeah, it's anecdotal) I find I've been spending more time considering what I want the remainder of my life to be, if the end is randomly assigned to be sometime between moments after I submit this comment to say, 60 years from now. It's focused my thinking. I've been more forgiving, less likely to take offense, kinder to my wife, more in awe of my new kid. Politics bothers me less, and I'm less likely to get hot and bothered about the latest scandal. It's been a bit cathartic, while being intensely scary. I'm not looking forward to leaving this life (see comment thread linked above) but having the idea be so in-my-face in the recent past has, in some way, made me more thankful and reflective on the life I do have right now.
- middleclick 11y ago
  My father passed away when I was 18, my mother passed away a year ago. Both from illnesses which no one had in my family. As someone in his late twenties, it hit me hard. Even today, I cannot seem to enjoy anything since I feel the void of my parents, both of whom I was deeply attached to. A friend who saw how broken I was gave me the book, "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tibetan_Book_of_Living_and_Dying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tibetan_Book_of_Living_and.... It changed my perspective on death. It made me realize that nothing is permanent and it's best not to be afraid of death. A must read for anyone suffering from loss of their loved ones. To live without the fear of death and to accept what happens, sets you free in many ways.
  - kinleyd 11y ago
    That is one beautiful book. I've read it twice so far, and it remains on my read again list. I wish you much happiness in the years ahead.
  - crimsonalucard 11y ago
intheuk 11y ago
Content is inaccessible in the UK. Can someone repost?
- howtoplayhuman 11y ago
  Search it in Google and look into the cached version. Not posting a link because the cached version may/will be updated sooner or later.
- hackerboos 11y ago
  http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CV2nyQ3bsoYJ:www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150408-bhutans-dark-secret-to-happiness+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CV2nyQ3...
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- sleepyhead 11y ago
  Are you telling me that BBC is not available in the UK?
  - jallardice 11y ago
    Apparently so... I've never encountered pages like that on the BBC site before though: We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes.
    - hoggle 11y ago
      I wonder why that is an issue? Controlling the message? Feels like a PRC measure - as a UK citizen that'd make me feel very wary about public news.
      - 11y ago
morpheous 11y ago
Bah!, can't access it from the UK!
- M8 11y ago
  What makes you feel entitled to BBC :)? Seriously though, it's available via Google cache.
jamessantiago 11y ago
Reminds me a bit of this book on a modern take on stoicism: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0195374614 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0195374614 Had a part about negative visualization where one would contemplate the negative aspects of life as much as the positive as a sort of counterbalance to hedonic adaptation. One would fall into a good life as being the norm and start to become overly negative about inconsequential aspects of it and hope for the next step up where the cycle would repeat. Instead, using this negative visualisation thing, one would contemplate how life would be without a paying job or a family or arms which I suppose leads to positive thoughts about having such things.
- Zarkonnen 11y ago
  Yeah, the negative visualization aspect very much reminded me of stoicism.
  - hvs 11y ago
    Stoicism and Buddhism have some interesting parallels. They are very different in techniques and belief systems, but similar outlooks.
mikkom 11y ago
That is basic buddhist thinking. However, there is much more than just meditating death in buddhism. As we are talking about buddhist country it would be much wiser to look at what buddhists think (as almost the whole religion is about happiness) than just look at one tiny part and think that is the "thing" to be happy. It's just part of the buddhist "impermanence". One interesting thing: Have you noted that Buddha is almost always laughing or smiling?
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
madaxe_again 11y ago
Fearing death is utterly irrational. One simply transitions from being to non-being. In a state of non-being one cannot worry, influence, toil, think, experience, or suffer. I look at death very straightforwardly: it is irrelevant to me. I will never experience death. I will therefore, from my perspective, never die. My experiences are bounded by my being and non-being, and self-referentially we are each immortal within the bounds of our own experience. I may one day experience the act of dying, but one does not know one is dying unless one is terminally ill. More often than not one simply either goes to sleep and does not wake, or one goes "gosh, what's that thing that's about to hit my head?". Of course one might worry for those one leaves behind - but in most cases, this does the living a disservice, as to think one essential in the life of another is egoistic at best, and controlling and damaging at worst. Hare today, goon tomorrow, and the world will keep turning.
- philh 11y ago
  Would you play Russian roulette for ten dollars? If not, what is it that stops you, and why is it irrational for that same reason to make people not want to die of other causes?
  - rwmj 11y ago
    The OP's net present value of future earnings is likely to be much bigger than $10, so why is it irrational for him to play Russian roulette for so little money?
    - philh 11y ago
      If OP doesn't want to do it, it would be irrational for ver to do it. That's not true of all decisions, but I think it holds in this case. But, I'm a little confused, because > The OP's net present value of future earnings is likely to be much bigger than $10 would seem like an argument against playing. So I'm not sure if you were trying to say something that went completely over my head?
  - madaxe_again 11y ago
    No, because the marginal utility of $10 is inadequate to me. I didn't say that not wanting to die is irrational, but that fearing death abstractedly is. Not wanting to die is rational from an anthropocentric/evolutionary biology point of view, as continuing life increases the odds of genetic and memetic propagation. It isn't rational, however, as an external observer might see it. I suppose it depends on what the "goal" of human life is. If it is simply "to be", then it's a self-fulfilling goal and of null value in an objective argument. So - what stops me is that same instinct for preserving the self and/or ones genes. It does not mean, however, that I have not accepted the fact that I will, one day, die, and the fact that it really doesn't matter. I won't be here to care.
simple10 11y ago
> Another explanation is the country’s deeply felt Buddhist beliefs, especially that of reincarnation. If you know you’ll get another shot at life, you’re less likely to fear the end of this particular one. This is a common oversimplification of reincarnation. I had the opportunity to study with a Buddhist scholar in India a year ago who corrected a lot of my misconceptions. Reincarnation is neither reward nor punishment. It's a long cycle with the end goal not being immortality but escape (or exit) from the cycle through moksha[1]. A possibly more accurate oversimplification is "do good, increase karma until you win the game, and stop being reincarnated." If there's any link between belief or interaction with death and happiness, it's most likely due to simply increasing daily gratitude[2] which does have scientific benefit. I'm headed to Bhutan in a month and will report back if I learn anything interesting on this topic. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha [2] http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-m...
- nickbauman 11y ago
  Well that's one specific interpretation of Buddhism common to a few schools. Samsara (reincarnation) can also be interpreted as an illustration of the problem of not learning from experience. A general way of ending the cycle (that works across different schools of Buddhism) is that the Buddha was trying to teach us to focus on understanding human suffering. And only by understanding suffering can we ultimately dislodge it and move forward. You don't even have to be Buddhist to believe in that!
  - drieddust 11y ago
    I think you are spot on here. Ironically Buddhism has now come very far from original teaching of Buddha.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - greggyb 11y ago
      >Ironically Buddhism has now come very far from original teaching of Buddha. Which one?
vixen99 11y ago
Coming to terms with the inevitable. Can this be why it's reported that so many old people record high levels of happiness and contentment?
cpncrunch 11y ago
His symptoms are typical of hypoxia, and given that he was at 7600ft mild hypoxia seems the most likely explanation of his symptoms.
yawz 11y ago
I quite liked the article until the part that talks about self-deception: > If you know you’ll get another shot at life, you’re less likely to fear the end of this particular one. This should not be the reason to value and enjoy life! This is no different than any other superstitious tradition that is put in place to comfort people who cannot face the reality: we get one and only one shot at this. Beyond that, whether you believe in reincarnation or in 72 virgins waiting in heaven, it is the same delusion.
- meric 11y ago
  When you die, your body disintegrates, and becomes food for insects, plants and bacteria, and so your body merely transformed into other lifeforms, then reincarnation can be considered literately true. Your consciousness, your mind, your nervous system, will not survive this transformation, but new conciousness, new minds and new nervous systems will form in its place. If you take it many steps further, you can see how it connects to Carl Sagan's idea: "The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.". Your life, your death is merely one part of the cosmos, transforming into another. One door closes, and many more doors open.
  - saraid216 11y ago
    Not sure whether or not I'm allowed to plug stuff that I have no connection to, but you may be interested in this Kickstarter I stumbled across recently: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/546469190/the-urban-death-project-laying-our-loved-ones-to-r https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/546469190/the-urban-dea...
bradleybuda 11y ago
"Presumably, she thinks she’s got the right not to be chewed up by the dragon. How willful and presumptuous. The finitude of human life is a blessing for every individual, whether he knows it or not." http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html
NTDF9 11y ago
What a timely article! I was talking to my girlfriend about this yesterday and she became mad at me. What ticked her off was that I made a comment to the effect of, "Don't worry about <this problem>. Your parents will die soon anyway." I soon realized why such a comment would make people unhappy. From my perspective though, I see death (due to natural causes) as a happy necessity. I insisted that my position on death is that death is an absolute truth. It is going to happen sometime or the other. Let's live this journey of life as well as we can and make sure that we are prepared to handle death (of ourselves and loved ones). Since I give death so much thought, I'm not shocked or traumatized by death when it actually happens (I've seen 8 deaths of close friends and family). I am also better prepared to deal with the inevitable emotional, legal and financial storm that this event might bring. After handling all these issues, I'm also able to respect and reflect on that persons life much better. Peace!
krantiveer 11y ago
Someone says they are happy and the world rushes in to prove they are not.
mayreck 11y ago
DMT

124 points by hmsln 11y ago

A bit misleading title, but Bhutan has its own share of problems. The Bhutanese refugee issue, a large scale eviction of Bhutanese citizens of Nepalese origin is a prime example of the Druk kingdom's shady regime. [1] http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/6/19/bhutanese-refugeessuicide.html http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/art... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanese_refugees https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanese_refugees [3] http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e487646.html http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e487646.html

kinleyd 11y ago
"Large scale eviction of Bhutanese citizens" and "shady regime" are highly simplistic or one sided ways to describe a complex problem that Bhutan does indeed have. Over the course of the last 4 to 5 decades Bhutan has faced a wave of economic migration that it has been (and continues to be) ill-equipped to manage. In trying to do so, yes, unfortunately and almost certainly some Bhutanese citizens have suffered. At the same time, many claiming to be Bhutanese citizens certainly were not.
- theyeti 11y ago
  While, certainly not all those who claim to be the refugees might be actually one, the poor human rights record[1] of Bhutan speaks for itself. For a nation that issues citizenship based on race and origin [2] and "categorizes" them, a lot of economic development (and the self claimed Gross National Happiness) might be just a good publicity move by the Druk regime. [1] https://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/bhutan https://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/asia-and-the-p... [2] http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/bhutans-human-rights-record-defies-happiness-claim/ http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/bhutans-human-rights-record-d...
  - kinleyd 11y ago
    For a nation that issues citizenship based on race and origin [2] That's quite a leap you make there. Where exactly in the referenced article does it say that citizenship is based on race and origin? and "categorizes" them I do agree the categories are clumsy at best but how else is it possible to describe aggregated information without some form of categorization?
saraid216 11y ago
A very misleading title, yeah. This is what I clicked through hoping to read about, not a brief and vague summarization of the author's encounter with Bhutanese Buddhism.

amagumori 11y ago

this resonates me! i think "happiness" is actually a relative, sliding-scale thing. if you've been comfortable and secure for a long time then i think you're actually going to find it hard to be happy, since a relatively high level of happiness has become your "normal" and you take it for granted. yet if you're going through struggles and grief a lot, it's much easier to feel happy about basic things. like the article said, pain and suffering shouldn't be avoided but should be accepted as a normal part of life. and when you're going through it, it's heartening to look at your suffering as a down payment for greater joy and appreciation later on.

higherpurpose 11y ago

> Ritual provides a container for grief, and in Bhutan that container is large and communal. After someone dies, there’s a 49-day mourning period that involves elaborate, carefully orchestrated rituals. “It is better than any antidepressant,” Tshewang Dendup, a Bhutanese actor, told me. The Bhutanese might appear detached during this time. They are not. They are grieving through ritual. That actually sounds like a great idea. It's basically like AA's 12 steps, but for learning to cope with someone dying in your family.

kghose 11y ago

"Rich people in the West, they have not touched dead bodies, fresh wounds, rotten things" 1. Grandma's funeral. You stole her glasses. Tee Hee. Boy was she cold. 2. Soccer. But you bit the other guy too. 3. That sandwich in the rucksack, left over the weekend. Eww.

themartorana 11y ago

I've been contemplating death a lot lately - from this HN comment thread with @sago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9260286 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9260286 to being at my uncle's bedside as he passed away earlier this week. There was undeniable pain in watching him go, even though I barely knew the man - we were all still rather struck by watching someone breath their last breath. But in the end (and yeah, it's anecdotal) I find I've been spending more time considering what I want the remainder of my life to be, if the end is randomly assigned to be sometime between moments after I submit this comment to say, 60 years from now. It's focused my thinking. I've been more forgiving, less likely to take offense, kinder to my wife, more in awe of my new kid. Politics bothers me less, and I'm less likely to get hot and bothered about the latest scandal. It's been a bit cathartic, while being intensely scary. I'm not looking forward to leaving this life (see comment thread linked above) but having the idea be so in-my-face in the recent past has, in some way, made me more thankful and reflective on the life I do have right now.

middleclick 11y ago
My father passed away when I was 18, my mother passed away a year ago. Both from illnesses which no one had in my family. As someone in his late twenties, it hit me hard. Even today, I cannot seem to enjoy anything since I feel the void of my parents, both of whom I was deeply attached to. A friend who saw how broken I was gave me the book, "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tibetan_Book_of_Living_and_Dying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tibetan_Book_of_Living_and.... It changed my perspective on death. It made me realize that nothing is permanent and it's best not to be afraid of death. A must read for anyone suffering from loss of their loved ones. To live without the fear of death and to accept what happens, sets you free in many ways.
- kinleyd 11y ago
  That is one beautiful book. I've read it twice so far, and it remains on my read again list. I wish you much happiness in the years ahead.
- crimsonalucard 11y ago

intheuk 11y ago

Content is inaccessible in the UK. Can someone repost?

howtoplayhuman 11y ago
Search it in Google and look into the cached version. Not posting a link because the cached version may/will be updated sooner or later.
hackerboos 11y ago
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CV2nyQ3bsoYJ:www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150408-bhutans-dark-secret-to-happiness+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CV2nyQ3...
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
sleepyhead 11y ago
Are you telling me that BBC is not available in the UK?
- jallardice 11y ago
  Apparently so... I've never encountered pages like that on the BBC site before though: We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes.
  - hoggle 11y ago
    I wonder why that is an issue? Controlling the message? Feels like a PRC measure - as a UK citizen that'd make me feel very wary about public news.
    - 11y ago

morpheous 11y ago

Bah!, can't access it from the UK!

M8 11y ago
What makes you feel entitled to BBC :)? Seriously though, it's available via Google cache.

jamessantiago 11y ago

Reminds me a bit of this book on a modern take on stoicism: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0195374614 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0195374614 Had a part about negative visualization where one would contemplate the negative aspects of life as much as the positive as a sort of counterbalance to hedonic adaptation. One would fall into a good life as being the norm and start to become overly negative about inconsequential aspects of it and hope for the next step up where the cycle would repeat. Instead, using this negative visualisation thing, one would contemplate how life would be without a paying job or a family or arms which I suppose leads to positive thoughts about having such things.

Zarkonnen 11y ago
Yeah, the negative visualization aspect very much reminded me of stoicism.
- hvs 11y ago
  Stoicism and Buddhism have some interesting parallels. They are very different in techniques and belief systems, but similar outlooks.

mikkom 11y ago

That is basic buddhist thinking. However, there is much more than just meditating death in buddhism. As we are talking about buddhist country it would be much wiser to look at what buddhists think (as almost the whole religion is about happiness) than just look at one tiny part and think that is the "thing" to be happy. It's just part of the buddhist "impermanence". One interesting thing: Have you noted that Buddha is almost always laughing or smiling?

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

madaxe_again 11y ago

Fearing death is utterly irrational. One simply transitions from being to non-being. In a state of non-being one cannot worry, influence, toil, think, experience, or suffer. I look at death very straightforwardly: it is irrelevant to me. I will never experience death. I will therefore, from my perspective, never die. My experiences are bounded by my being and non-being, and self-referentially we are each immortal within the bounds of our own experience. I may one day experience the act of dying, but one does not know one is dying unless one is terminally ill. More often than not one simply either goes to sleep and does not wake, or one goes "gosh, what's that thing that's about to hit my head?". Of course one might worry for those one leaves behind - but in most cases, this does the living a disservice, as to think one essential in the life of another is egoistic at best, and controlling and damaging at worst. Hare today, goon tomorrow, and the world will keep turning.

philh 11y ago
Would you play Russian roulette for ten dollars? If not, what is it that stops you, and why is it irrational for that same reason to make people not want to die of other causes?
- rwmj 11y ago
  The OP's net present value of future earnings is likely to be much bigger than $10, so why is it irrational for him to play Russian roulette for so little money?
  - philh 11y ago
    If OP doesn't want to do it, it would be irrational for ver to do it. That's not true of all decisions, but I think it holds in this case. But, I'm a little confused, because > The OP's net present value of future earnings is likely to be much bigger than $10 would seem like an argument against playing. So I'm not sure if you were trying to say something that went completely over my head?
- madaxe_again 11y ago
  No, because the marginal utility of $10 is inadequate to me. I didn't say that not wanting to die is irrational, but that fearing death abstractedly is. Not wanting to die is rational from an anthropocentric/evolutionary biology point of view, as continuing life increases the odds of genetic and memetic propagation. It isn't rational, however, as an external observer might see it. I suppose it depends on what the "goal" of human life is. If it is simply "to be", then it's a self-fulfilling goal and of null value in an objective argument. So - what stops me is that same instinct for preserving the self and/or ones genes. It does not mean, however, that I have not accepted the fact that I will, one day, die, and the fact that it really doesn't matter. I won't be here to care.

simple10 11y ago

> Another explanation is the country’s deeply felt Buddhist beliefs, especially that of reincarnation. If you know you’ll get another shot at life, you’re less likely to fear the end of this particular one. This is a common oversimplification of reincarnation. I had the opportunity to study with a Buddhist scholar in India a year ago who corrected a lot of my misconceptions. Reincarnation is neither reward nor punishment. It's a long cycle with the end goal not being immortality but escape (or exit) from the cycle through moksha[1]. A possibly more accurate oversimplification is "do good, increase karma until you win the game, and stop being reincarnated." If there's any link between belief or interaction with death and happiness, it's most likely due to simply increasing daily gratitude[2] which does have scientific benefit. I'm headed to Bhutan in a month and will report back if I learn anything interesting on this topic. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha [2] http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-m...

nickbauman 11y ago
Well that's one specific interpretation of Buddhism common to a few schools. Samsara (reincarnation) can also be interpreted as an illustration of the problem of not learning from experience. A general way of ending the cycle (that works across different schools of Buddhism) is that the Buddha was trying to teach us to focus on understanding human suffering. And only by understanding suffering can we ultimately dislodge it and move forward. You don't even have to be Buddhist to believe in that!
- drieddust 11y ago
  I think you are spot on here. Ironically Buddhism has now come very far from original teaching of Buddha.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - greggyb 11y ago
    >Ironically Buddhism has now come very far from original teaching of Buddha. Which one?

vixen99 11y ago

Coming to terms with the inevitable. Can this be why it's reported that so many old people record high levels of happiness and contentment?

cpncrunch 11y ago

His symptoms are typical of hypoxia, and given that he was at 7600ft mild hypoxia seems the most likely explanation of his symptoms.

yawz 11y ago

I quite liked the article until the part that talks about self-deception: > If you know you’ll get another shot at life, you’re less likely to fear the end of this particular one. This should not be the reason to value and enjoy life! This is no different than any other superstitious tradition that is put in place to comfort people who cannot face the reality: we get one and only one shot at this. Beyond that, whether you believe in reincarnation or in 72 virgins waiting in heaven, it is the same delusion.

meric 11y ago
When you die, your body disintegrates, and becomes food for insects, plants and bacteria, and so your body merely transformed into other lifeforms, then reincarnation can be considered literately true. Your consciousness, your mind, your nervous system, will not survive this transformation, but new conciousness, new minds and new nervous systems will form in its place. If you take it many steps further, you can see how it connects to Carl Sagan's idea: "The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.". Your life, your death is merely one part of the cosmos, transforming into another. One door closes, and many more doors open.
- saraid216 11y ago
  Not sure whether or not I'm allowed to plug stuff that I have no connection to, but you may be interested in this Kickstarter I stumbled across recently: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/546469190/the-urban-death-project-laying-our-loved-ones-to-r https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/546469190/the-urban-dea...

bradleybuda 11y ago

"Presumably, she thinks she’s got the right not to be chewed up by the dragon. How willful and presumptuous. The finitude of human life is a blessing for every individual, whether he knows it or not." http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html

NTDF9 11y ago

What a timely article! I was talking to my girlfriend about this yesterday and she became mad at me. What ticked her off was that I made a comment to the effect of, "Don't worry about <this problem>. Your parents will die soon anyway." I soon realized why such a comment would make people unhappy. From my perspective though, I see death (due to natural causes) as a happy necessity. I insisted that my position on death is that death is an absolute truth. It is going to happen sometime or the other. Let's live this journey of life as well as we can and make sure that we are prepared to handle death (of ourselves and loved ones). Since I give death so much thought, I'm not shocked or traumatized by death when it actually happens (I've seen 8 deaths of close friends and family). I am also better prepared to deal with the inevitable emotional, legal and financial storm that this event might bring. After handling all these issues, I'm also able to respect and reflect on that persons life much better. Peace!

krantiveer 11y ago

Someone says they are happy and the world rushes in to prove they are not.

mayreck 11y ago

DMT