Thursday, July 14, 2011

Do monks setting themselves on fire prove that pain is an illusion?

There have been several cases of self immolation amongst Buddhist monks over the centuries, and in most cases the monks sit completely still and silent as they are burning to death. Does this prove that physical pain, if not an outright illusion, can be sufficiently reigned in by one's mind so as to be irrelevant? Do we have the choice of never feeling (physical) pain again?

No comments:

Post a Comment