Ok, the current year is actually 2025. It's been a long time since the last time I wrote something in a blog. Long story short, I have decided to do this again. As you can see, I keep my previous writings coming from my previous blog(s)—that I find cringe somehow, but hey, they're worth to keep anyway—here.
The reasoning
To be blatantly honest, I surely question myself on why am I doing this again. Well... I think one of the reasons why I start to archive my thoughts (again) is that I find it annoying that I'm losing my ability to write. It's not that I had objectively assessed and/or compared my previous writings with my today's writings or something; it's that, due to the fact that I'm getting used to give many of tasks to AI tools like GPT, Gemini, etc., I started to ignore the process. I let the tools do the work, so that I rarely write on my own. Even to write this About page feels so hard. Gosh, am I cooked? In conclusion, the first reason is to train my brain so that I can possess my writing skill back, with a glance of hope that it will eventually improve.
Another reason why is that I miss that nostalgic feeling of reading the materialization of my old thoughts in written forms. You know that feeling when you're suddenly years away from your old writings that they start getting the old labels? And that one chill afternoon when you start to open the archives, and read the uglypieces that you once wrote, like, years ago? It's mesmerizing to see how I change as a person, how some of my old thoughts and values are no longer relevant, yet they were once very relevant. The aimless nostalgic sensations, like, "Woah, I used to think this way? I used to experience these trajectories?" Something that feel like a time machine.
What else? Why is this public? Well, I don't really try to attract any visitors. I don't even really know why I bought this domain, it just looks cool and more dedicated. Thinking that I spent my money on this, perhaps I will be more motivated to write, lol. Ok, so why public? Well, it's that delusional thought of there might be someone reading this, so I have to put, at least, bigger effort, although not necessarily there's any; but who cares anyway? The first two reasons are already enough.
The moniker
So, yodhājīva, huh? What does it mean? Is it related to the Yoda of Star Wars? Well, umm, unfortunately not. Let me break this all down here.
The word is coming from Pāḷi, the canonical language of Theravāda Buddhism, that is actually an effort to formalize many dialects of Prakrits—the language of the people, in contrast to Sanskrit, that is the language of the elites—as the main tool to complete the noble preservation of the Dhamma, the Buddha's teachings. We can think of it as a compound word consisting of yodha and ājīva, thus yodha-ājīva with combined a-ā as ā. Straight to the dictionary, yodha stands for soldier; warrior; mercenary; and ājīva is livelihood; mode of living; way of life; way of earning a living. Combining the twos, there comes yodhājīva, the livelihood of a warrior; or simply a warrior; soldier; mercenary; professional soldier; lit. soldier livelihood.
One may ask, "Why did you choose that? Why a warrior?" And here's why. Isn't it suspicious that Theravāda Buddhism has this word? Doesn't the tradition go against fighting, killing creatures? Yes, you're right. It's not that kind of warrior, not those who are fighting in harmful physical battles, but it's more like a battle with oneself. How did I come up with this? So, one day, I was reading the Suttapiṭaka, that is one main part of the Tipiṭaka (the Pāḷi Canon), until I found this sutta ("text") titled Yodhājīva Sutta. There are actually three suttas with the same name, those are: SN 42.3, AN 3.133, and AN 4.181. But, in this case, I only refer to the last twos. In essence, AN 3.133 and AN 4.181 give us the ideal traits that a warrior has to possess to be worthy of a king, fit to serve a king, and is considered a factor of kingship, that is one has to be skilled in the basics, a long-distance shooter, a marksman, one who shatters large objects, then the Buddha gives a simile by reinterpreting the skills as something related to a spiritual life.
Skilled in the basics signifies sīla (ethics, morality):
It’s when a mendicant is ethical, restrained in the monastic code, conducting themselves well and resorting for alms in suitable places. Seeing danger in the slightest fault, they keep the rules they’ve undertaken.
It’s when a mendicant truly sees any kind of form, feeling, perception, choices, consciousness at all—past, future, or present; internal or external; solid or subtle; inferior or superior; far or near: all form, feeling, perception, choices, consciousness—with right understanding: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’
A marksman signifies the understanding of the Four Noble Truths:
It’s when a mendicant truly understands: ‘This is suffering’ … ‘This is the origin of suffering’ … ‘This is the cessation of suffering’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering’.
One who shatters large objects signifies the path that eventually leads to Nibbāna (Extinguishment), that is the cessation of ignorance (avijjā) towards the Four Noble Truths and tilakkhaṇa, that is the three characteristics (anicca, impermanence; dukkha, suffering/non-satisfactoriness; anattā, non-self), the beauty of wisdom (paññā):
It’s when a mendicant shatters the great mass of ignorance.
In conclusion, the four main qualities discussed are summarized as "the remembrance of sīla and tilakkhaṇa (anicca, dukkha, anattā)". Or simply, the Four Noble Truths, because the framework also provide a deeper understanding of the main tenets of Theravāda Buddhism, as the fourth truth refers to the Eightfold Noble Path, that is everything that the Buddha has discovered and taught to humanity (I won't discuss it here, it seems that I need a whole dedicated post on it).
The plan
What's next? Umm... I haven't made any sophisticated plans yet, and I lowkey feel like I don't need such approaches. I just want to let this blog flow, without pressures of achieving this of that. Looking through the reasoning above, none of my goal is to satisfy anyone or something. I do this all to embrace the things that I love to do. So, what's the plan? The plan is to have no plan, and just let it go self-planned by itself :)
Enjoy your time here!