u/Useless-Tree

I hope it's okay to have people on the path, I'm not sure so I apologize in advance if this is not appropriate.

I often think that overcast skies can actually bring out the color in flowers such as the subtle purple pink in this miniature rose.

The question I would like to examine is the relevance of Naropa to Buddhism in the information age. This is a story in effect of a man who had vast academic knowledge and little direct experience.

Its a cautionary tale about balance that was very important in the past, without the academic base when challenged by the Dakini, could Naropa have made the realizations he did?

How important is it now? I don't hear it referred to very often anymore.

We are flooded with information about the Dharma, just about every historical text can be found online, even the secret ones and we have powerful tools for translating and indexing them.

I have been a student of Buddhism for more than 30 years and have read a huge amount of stuff, I worry my floor is going to break from the weight of the books, and all this is aside from the internet.

I read Buddhist texts and posts constantly on the net, but i find the information mostly flows thru me, i don't really retain a lot of it consciously, yet i recognize it when it comes up and find that it surfaces when needed, but in a distilled form.

When a reporter asked Einstein for the speed of sound in 1921, he replied, “I do not carry such information in my mind since it is readily available in books.”

The internet makes that even easier.

Is it still has easy to fall into the Naropa trap now? Or does the saturation act as safety feature?

Are we adapting to it so that we are not so easily absorbed by it?

Or, is it worse now? Maybe we are so embedded in it we mistake it for experience?

An optimistic AI film trailer.