Buddhism

Page 6 of 6 [ 94 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Previous topic | Next topic

anna-banana
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Aug 2008
Age: 43
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,682
Location: Europe

30 Sep 2008, 2:18 pm

TallyMan wrote:

There is a sort of catch 22 about it though. You can then go through a phase of seeking enlightenment by not seeking it - hoping to somehow sneak up on it unawares and pounce. With mindfulness you start to see the games the mind plays. It is through mindfulness that you see your thoughts, feelings and desires come into existence, run their course and go again. The very observation of your mind at work, in a none judging way is the key to Buddhist insight. Being the witness. Not trying to change anything or criticise you own thoughts or behaviour, but simply watching.

yeah, hopefully I'll get there one day. you seem like you know what you're talking about, have you had any guidance or are you self-taught?

_________________
not a bug - a feature.

anna-banana
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Aug 2008
Age: 43
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,682
Location: Europe

30 Sep 2008, 2:20 pm

slowmutant wrote:

I was a Mahayana/Pureland Buddhist before I reverted to Catholicism.

wow, I can understand reverting to Christianity as it appeals to a lot of people but Catholicism? I thought you had to be born into it to believe it. does it hold any appeal whatsoever to people nowdays?

btw, pureland buddhism is sorta mumbo-jumbo anyway...

_________________
not a bug - a feature.

TallyMan
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Mar 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 40,061

30 Sep 2008, 3:42 pm

anna-banana wrote:

TallyMan wrote:

yeah, hopefully I'll get there one day. you seem like you know what you're talking about, have you had any guidance or are you self-taught?

Mix of both. I read lots of books in my teens and spent a year as a monk when I was 18. Then left and studied physics at university then got caught up in the world, earning a living etc, with spirituality taking a back seat in my life, then around ten years ago it went full circle and I looked at Buddhism again with an older eye and since then have developed a deeper appreciation of it. Other teachers / influences include Jiddu Krishnamurti and more contemporary teachers such as Nathan Gill and Tony Parsons. Ultimately it comes down to the individual, books and teachers can only ever be guides or help to point where to look. There is a tired cliché often used "teachers can only point to the door, you have to walk through it yourself". The truth is nearer to realising there is nobody to walk through a door, there never was. When you see this there is no door, no walls no boundaries. Life takes on a new meaning, but not for the old tired "I" that went looking for "more".

I wish you well with your spiritual search.

_________________
I've left WP indefinitely.

slowmutant
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 Feb 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 8,430
Location: Ontario, Canada

30 Sep 2008, 7:28 pm

anna-banana wrote:

slowmutant wrote:

I was a Mahayana/Pureland Buddhist before I reverted to Catholicism.

Many people convert to Catholicism. Many people convert from Catholicism. And yes, it holds considerable appeal to people nowadays. Mahayana/Pureland is mumbo-jumbo only if you don't understand it.

Confused-Fish
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 12 Jan 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 946
Location: trapped in a jar

30 Sep 2008, 8:33 pm

Orwell wrote:

digger1 wrote:

is anyone here a Buddhist?

I love the principles of Buddhism and want to know more about it. I understand it's not a bona fide religion per se, more a practice.

It would depend on what sect of Buddhism (I am not Buddhist, but have studied it a little bit). Mahayana Buddhism I would consider a religion, with a deified Siddartha Gautama, but the more traditional Theravada Buddhism is the philosophical sect, which respects Siddhartha as a wise teacher but does not consider him a god. You can find Buddhist texts on the internet fairly easily if you want to read more about it.

Mahayana Buddhism isn't really Buddhism, more of a cult. a Buddhist follows the teachings of Buddha, Buddha taught there were no gods therefore worshipping Buddha as a god is not Buddhist.

slowmutant
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 Feb 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 8,430
Location: Ontario, Canada

30 Sep 2008, 8:45 pm

Confused-Fish wrote:

Orwell wrote:

digger1 wrote:

is anyone here a Buddhist?

I love the principles of Buddhism and want to know more about it. I understand it's not a bona fide religion per se, more a practice.

Mahayana Buddhism isn't really Buddhism, more of a cult. a Buddhist follows the teachings of Buddha, Buddha taught there were no gods therefore worshipping Buddha as a god is not Buddhist.

Thank you for clearing that up. I was pretty confused for a while there.

anna-banana
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Aug 2008
Age: 43
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,682
Location: Europe

01 Oct 2008, 5:06 am

Confused-Fish wrote:

Mahayana Buddhism isn't really Buddhism, more of a cult. a Buddhist follows the teachings of Buddha, Buddha taught there were no gods therefore worshipping Buddha as a god is not Buddhist.

that was exactly my point, sorry I didn't get it across right. no offence slowmutant, not that you're at all possible to offend in a religious argument :wink:

_________________
not a bug - a feature.

anna-banana
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Aug 2008
Age: 43
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,682
Location: Europe

01 Oct 2008, 5:07 am

TallyMan wrote:

I wish you well with your spiritual search.

cheers TallyMan, same to you

_________________
not a bug - a feature.

slowmutant
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 Feb 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 8,430
Location: Ontario, Canada

01 Oct 2008, 7:33 am

For the record I also disagree with the worship of a deified Buddha.

Daran
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 8 May 2008
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 868
Location: Mokum, NL, EU

01 Oct 2008, 8:16 am

Confused-Fish wrote:

Mahayana Buddhism isn't really Buddhism, more of a cult. a Buddhist follows the teachings of Buddha, Buddha taught there were no gods therefore worshipping Buddha as a god is not Buddhist.

All sets of spiritual practices can be called a cult, so there is nothing negative or sinister perse in following the lifestyle of a certain cult. The abuse of the word cult reminds me of the abuse of the words witch and sect.

Having a close relationship with an elightened teacher is a part of all tantric cults, including the origins of christianity. The idea behind this, is that 'so you think, so you become'.
Having an intimate relationship with an abstract God is near to impossible, so many people go for the next near thing, i.e. a realised soul who took the shape of a human body. To change yourself by association is also a common practice in all major religions.

You can be dogmatic about the idea that God is formless, but in spirituality it is better to be practical rather than to stick to rigid dogmas.
Buddha never taught that there were no gods. He just never commented on the nature of God because the realised state of Nirvana (or God) is beyond the capacity of human description.

Buddha did away with all the hindu myths about gods and goddesses and he also went against begging god or gods for limited wordly things. This doesn't however mean that he would have objected to introducing tantric practices into buddhism such as in the so-called Mahayana.

anna-banana
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Aug 2008
Age: 43
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,682
Location: Europe

01 Oct 2008, 8:36 am

slowmutant wrote:

For the record I also disagree with the worship of a deified Buddha.

I'll second that

_________________
not a bug - a feature.

anna-banana
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Aug 2008
Age: 43
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,682
Location: Europe

01 Oct 2008, 8:41 am

Daran wrote:

Buddha never taught that there were no gods. He just never commented on the nature of God because the realised state of Nirvana (or God) is beyond the capacity of human description.

Buddha did away with all the hindu myths about gods and goddesses and he also went against begging god or gods for limited wordly things.

I don't understand your association of Nirvana with God... Buddha said that if gods exist they must be a part of the universe, so they also must be subjects to the same laws as all the other creatures (i.e. karma and reincarnation), even if they are "higher up" the ladder than humans...

_________________
not a bug - a feature.

slowmutant
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 Feb 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 8,430
Location: Ontario, Canada

01 Oct 2008, 9:10 am

anna-banana wrote:

Daran wrote:

The gods constitued a level of rebirth, but even they were not completely free from death or suffering. Shakyamuni may not have talked about a supreme creator, but that doesn't mean he disbelieved in the existence of a single supreme creator.

Daran
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 8 May 2008
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 868
Location: Mokum, NL, EU

01 Oct 2008, 9:25 am

anna-banana wrote:

When Buddha talked about the hindu gods, he meant the deified saints of the hindu religions. As humans they had to also take on personal karma, so you can never call them "incarnations of God" because God or (Maha-) Nirvana is beyond karma and can never incarnate in one human form.

The ultimate states of Nirvana and Maha-Nirvana however are a different matter. They are identical to the Saguna Brahma and Nirguna Brahma of hindu spiritual philosophy. Brahma or the Consciousness in which all beings have their existence can also be called God.
Hindus will argue that it is that God or Brahma of ultimate reality (beyond the I-consciousness) which they worship through different forms.

Buddha said that it is better to seek that ultimate reality in your own mind rather than in the external worship of gods.
Internalizing so-called "gods" is however another thing. It is part of practices which allow you to transcend your petty ego.
That is why the discussion about whether Mahayana or Theravada are to be preferred is more an academic discussion than a practical one.

Page 6 of 6 [ 94 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Jump to:

Buddhism Post Reply New Topic

Buddhism