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ANy buddhist's here?
- Thread starter theoak01
- Start date
G
Gambino
Guest
yes
G
Gambino
Guest
I'm not buddhist and don't know a lot about buddhism... a quick search on google should come up with good info though. I know one key about the religion is the issue of attachments - Buddhists believe that attachments are the cause of suffering, be it attachment to other people, to material items, etc. and that when you break these attachments you no longer suffer...
Um, someone correct me if I'm wrong. I may very well be. LOL
Um, someone correct me if I'm wrong. I may very well be. LOL
N
nutsnack
Guest
Never been to prison, sorry
Eringobraugh
New member
TheOak01 said:
Its a question that can only be answered by you. That is its essence. Jaded is correct in that notion but also there are many traditions of buddhism based on that, there are three general branches of Buddism and there are distinct subgroups within it. Buhdda came from India and was most like strongly influence by Brahminis, read Upanashadic literature and when he went to China it mixed with Taosim, read the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tse, its a great philosophical read. It involves looking within for the answers and discarding outside teachings, it stresses intuitive knowledge. Example of Buhdihsm is Ch'an for instance. There is also Karma an Dharma, the four truths, the eight concepts you'd have to read.
Ch'an is short for Ch'an Buddhism. It is sometimes called a religion and sometimes called a philosophy. Choose whichever term you prefer; it simply doesn't matter.
Historically, Ch'an Buddhism originates in the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Around 500 B.C. he was a prince in what is now India. At the age of 29, deeply troubled by the suffering he saw around him, he renounced his privileged life to seek understanding. After 6 years of struggling as an ascetic he finally achieved Enlightenment at age 35. After this he was known as the Buddha (meaning roughly "one who is awake"). In a nutshell, he realized that everything is subject to change and that suffering and discontentment are the result of attachment to circumstances and things which, by their nature, are impermanent. By ridding oneself of these attachments, including attachment to the false notion of self or "I", one can be free of suffering.
The teachings of the Buddha have, to this day, been passed down from teacher to student. Around 475 A.D. one of these teachers, Bodhidharma, traveled from India to China and introduced the teachings of the Buddha there. In China Buddhism mingled with Taoism. The result of this mingling was the Ch'an School of Buddhism. Around 1200 A.D. Ch'an Buddhism spread from China to Japan where it is called (at least in translation) Zen Buddhism.
What is Ch'an? (the real question)
This question basically asks "What is the essence of Ch'an?". It appears in various guises throughout Ch'an literature, from "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West?" to "Have you eaten yet?". The question cuts right to the heart of the matter and can only be answered by you. Perhaps the best answer is "practice".
Why does it sound like nonsense
One of the central points of Ch'an is intuitive understanding. As a result, words and sentences have no fixed meaning, and logic is often irrelevant. Words have meaning only in relation to who is using them, who they are talking to, and what situation they are used in. Some teachings are indeed nonsense; other teachings appear to be nonsense at first but this is because the meaning is all between the lines. Ch'an and poetry have gone hand in hand for centuries.
The simple meaning is to find self enlightment through meditation to enter Nibbana or Nirvana. Buddhists believe in nonviolence and helping their fellow man, it is not based on culture or race so it is a universal that any person can follow. Its essence is again self intuition.
edit, it is not a religion in the Western sense b/c it doesnt teach the following of a God.
Other interesting reads are that of it is Hindu and Upanashadic literature
Eringobraugh
New member
biteme said:
It depends on how much suffering you want to have, since even things that make you feel great dont last forever then there is also suffering in knowing that it will end. The conclusion that Buhddists dont form attachments is not a correct one as there are no conclusions to the philosophy and it doesnt matter if you have attachments. Strict followers are part of any religion, they are called monks. Believers in Buhddism do not all become monks. It simply is a way of thinking that one can use or not use, it simply doesnt matter.
M
musclemuscle
Guest
TheOak01 said:
buddah was my brother
I killed him
Now I am the great one
WORSHIP MEEEEE
JayC9
Well-known member
My girl is Buddhist, basically from what I gather is she's learned Buddhist tradition and ideology through family and school which encourages you to live your life by a set of adoptable ideals. The monks are seen as a channel for the people to pray/give alms and play a big role in any ceremony or life events within the community.
I think Buddhism is a more relaxed religion than most and leaves you to take as much or as little as you want from it.
I think Buddhism is a more relaxed religion than most and leaves you to take as much or as little as you want from it.
All of our attachments are simply reflections of emtions that are cointained within ourselves. Love, hate, sorry, empathy are all simply emotional states that are expressed by our attchments and we express them because of personal need and desire.biteme said:
When you come to the realization that metions are not real in the true sense of real and then you can train your mind to control your emotions. Then you can open your mind to the true nature of world.
However in this initial glimpse of the true nature of things people, including myself, make emotional designations, this is due to imprinted emtotions tied to various receptor sites in the brain that correlate to the event you are experiencing. Hence we tie various emtions to various things, people, places and events.
So we have to start learning again on a new level of existance what we have already learned on the previous one. This is becuase we are fundamentally trying to rewire our brains to experience the world in what we percieve is a clear, nirvanic manner.
Y_lifter
New member
Time is cyclical. Each existence continues through death and rebirth so long as the sense of self keeps us attached to this world. Desires are finally quenched (nirvana) but the world continues on its cyclical pattern.
Some forms of Buddhism believe in a future Buddha who will come and bring release to all beings.
At death, each life continues in some other form—human, divine or animal, depending upon the results of behavior in the last life. The goal of Buddhism is to extinguish the flame of wanting or attachment to the sense of self so that rebirth does not occur and Nirvana is attained.
Some forms of Buddhism believe in a future Buddha who will come and bring release to all beings.
At death, each life continues in some other form—human, divine or animal, depending upon the results of behavior in the last life. The goal of Buddhism is to extinguish the flame of wanting or attachment to the sense of self so that rebirth does not occur and Nirvana is attained.
theoak01
New member
thanks for the info guys,Im gonna look into this a little more.
Im really trying to be more at peace with things in my life and learn about different religions etc and see whats out there to expand my mind.
so far its working,Im really happy,however most of the things that make me happy most christians would call me a sinner for doing
Im really trying to be more at peace with things in my life and learn about different religions etc and see whats out there to expand my mind.
so far its working,Im really happy,however most of the things that make me happy most christians would call me a sinner for doing
Y_lifter said:
I couldn't do that. I do believe in treating others the way you would like to be treated. And I couldn't treat anybody the way these suckers have.
Back to Budhism What are they reincarnated to? Another person, an animal, a tree what? And who is in charge of picking what they come back as?
Eringobraugh
New member
curling said:
There is no one in charge per se in this philosophy, but if you need some understanding I suggest reading up on Brahman. Buhddism intersects with Hindu which is understandable b/c Buhdda came from India. As far as picking the next life the notion of Samsara has its place in both Buhddism and Hindu and involves karma and our actions moral or unmoral coming back in this life or the next to influence it. Here is a brief notion of it. You also have to realize that these are teachings by another man, they looked within. The only answer you can have its taught is looking within yourself for the answers to your questions, you can believe or disbelieve these words, it simply doesnt matter, that is its essence, YOU have to decide not another man. The notion of Brahman is a deviation from Buhddism for sure and more Hindu, but I include that as that may help you understand eastern philosophies a bit more. Understanding different cultures and their traditions is an interesting, enlightening endeavor for those interested in learning all their is about life.
Mortality
We probably can't remember when exactly, but at some point when we were quite young, we become aware of our own mortality and not only that but the mortality of others. All things - plants, animals, humans - live and then die. The reality of death is as inescapable as sun in the Sahara. Of course, one of the first questions we begin to formulate is 'What happens when we die?', 'Where do we go?' and 'Is that it?' All cultures and religions in their different ways offer answers to these questions. The Vikings had Valhalla, Christianity has heaven (or hell) and the religions originating in India such as Hinduism and Jainism have reincarnation. So what about Buddhism?
The Six Realms
The doctrine of rebirth in Buddhism stems from the Buddha's own enlightenment experience. As he meditated under the Bodhi tree he came to perceive his previous rebirths - thousands in fact - and also that all beings were subject to rebirth. The place and nature of that rebirth was governed by their deeds. Good actions led to good rebirths (as a human being, for example) and bad actions led to bad rebirths (as a hell being, for example). Traditional teaching has it that there are six realms of existence into which one can be reborn. Thus you can be reborn as a hell being, a 'hungry' ghost, an animal, a human being, a jealous god and a heavenly being. The most precious of these is seen to be the human birth as this gives the best opportunities for winning enlightenment. A heavenly being is too absorbed in pleasure to think about winning enlightenment. Unlike Christianity, Buddhism sees these states as ultimately temporary. A god, therefore, will eventually descend into one of the lower realms.
The Self
What is unique about Buddhism, however, compared to other religions is that it argues that there is no such thing as a permanent self. If this is the case how can the self that I regard as me continue its existence in a new rebirth? Buddhism does not deny the existence of a self as such, what it does deny is the existence of a permanent self that transmigrates from one existence to the next like someone getting out of one cab and entering another. The self is seen to be made up of five factors and that these are ever changing. The new consciousness that emerges in the new rebirth is neither the same nor totally different from the previous one. It is best to see the self from the Buddhist perspective as a continuum, rather than something that is static and sharply defined.
The Goal
When the Buddha saw the nature of rebirth he was filled with compassion. He saw all beings living and dying but never finding perfect peace, nibbana. Even though a good rebirth brings with it temporary happiness, it is not the true goal of Buddhism. The true goal is to realize nibbana which is also the bring an end to the cycle of birth and death and with it desire and suffering.
Samsara
During the period in which the Upanishads were written, Hindu philosophers began to develop the concept of samsara in line with other aspects of Upanishadic thought. The Hinduism of the the Samhitas looked on the material world as understandable and controllable; it was in the material world that the gods (devas ) gave to humans and the gods could be controlled through hymns, prayers, rituals, and sacrifices. But the Upanishadic Hindus began to think of the world as illusion (maya ); reality (Sat ) was rather to be sought in the unchanging and unitary principle of the universe, whether that be Rita, Brahman, or Atman. The material world, on the other hand, was a place fragmented and constantly changing; this changing aspect of the universe came to be called samsara.
The Hindus long before this had integrated the concept of reincarnation into their religion; the Vedic Brahmanas speculate about "death after death," or a death in the afterlife that returns one to life. This concept, along with that of karma, in which all action is seen as the result of previous action and the cause of future action, were combined in the Upanishads to produce the meaning of samsara as "reincarnation based on past actions." Karma not only determined in what form or what caste one was reborn into, it also made reincarnation necessary. All your actions must produce some action in the future; the only way this can happen for all your actions is if you have lives in the future.
This doctrine of samsara obviates any dream of an eternally happy afterlife; if the changing world is but an illusion and we are condemned to remain in it through birth after birth, what purpose is there in atmansiddhi? The goal became not an eternity in a blissful afterlife, but moksha, or "liberation" from samsara .This quest for liberation is the hallmark of the Upanishads and forms the fundamental doctrine of both Buddhism and Jainism.
Brahman
The hymns of the Rig Veda are addressed to a huge collection of devas , or gods; however, there are several references to a single god or single principle which is the source or the totality of all other divinities and phenomenon in the universe; this is an early attempt in Hinduism to unify the many into the one. This single, originary divinity is sometimes the combination of all the gods put together, the Vishvadevas, or "Allgods." Sometimes this single divinity or principle is a concrete, active force, such as the World Maker (Vishvakarman: "All-maker"), or it's highly abstract, such as Rita, or cosmic order, an idea similar in some respects (but different in others) to the Chinese concept of the Tao or the Great Ultimate.
Upanishadic literature tended to talk about this unitary or single divinity, power, or principle to the exclusion of all other gods, so that philosophically Indian thought during the Upanishadic period moved towards many of the same conclusions as Parmenides and the Eleatic philosophers did in ancient Greece. This single, unitary divinity had several aspects and names in the Upanishads, two of the most important are Atman, "Universal Spirit," and Brahman. The word "brahman" in Sanskrit originally meant "power" and specifically referred to the power of prayer or sacrifice to bring about material change in the world (hence the word brahmin for priest); so that Brahman seems to refer to the power that brings about and changes the physical universe. In the Upanishads , Brahman is not only the principle and creator of all there is, but is also the sum totality of the universe and its phenomena.
This dual nature of the single divinity or totality of the universe, Brahman and Atman, gets worked out in the following way. Brahman can be located both in the physical, external world and also in the spiritual and inner world where it is present as Atman, "universal spirit." Now every human being has an undying soul (atman) which, because of samsara, lasts through eternity from life to life; this undying atman is a microcosm of Atman, the universal spirit, which is identical to Brahman. By understanding your true Self, by coming to know one's own undying soul, one then arrives at the knowledge of Brahman itself; the key to understanding the nature of the one unitary principle of the universe is to see one's (undying) self as identical with Brahman: "aham asmi Brahman": I am Brahman.
Here's the equation: Brahman=Atman=atman. Brahman is the totality of the universe as it is present outside of you;, Atman is the totality of the universe as it is present within you; Brahman is the totality of the world known objectively, Atman is the totality of the world known subjectively. This equation fundamentally underlies the whole of Krishna's teachings concerning dharma in the Baghavad Gita .
In the later development of Hinduism, Brahman would become one aspect of a triune god and would represent the creation aspects of that god.
Igjurajuk. An Inuit philosopher once said. The truth lies out in the great loneliness, it is through suffering and privation alone that opens the mind to all that is hidden to others.
Eringobraugh
New member
john937 said:
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
concordsize
New member
bro just because you fucked it up on a pick up doesnt mean you have to do all this lol. jk bro
concordsize
New member
smart man. Close friends are harder to find than a good woman thats for sure.
I lot more people than Paul(formally Saul) saw Jesus after He resurected from the dead. Plus Jesus is the most talked about, researched, influencial man that ever walked the earth. What is the worse can happen if Budism is the true religion and Christianity is wrong? You might come back as frog or a skunk or something but if Budism is wrong and Christianity is right and Jesus is the only way to save your soul from Hell for eternity now that is a sobering thought. Because eternity is a long long long long long time.
Y_lifter
New member
Why can't they ALL be right in some form or fashion and still OK with someones faith ?
If I live my life in the way Jesus/Muhammad said, with love/acceptance/forgiveness for my fellow man. (Jedeo-Christianity/True Islam)
And I learn to calm my mind and thoughts to understand my inner self with a goal of clear thought, a simpler life, Enlightenment and peace. (Budism/Hinduism)
And I want to follow the path of least resistance and be in harmony with the universe and nature. Understanding that without hate there cannot be love, without pain there cannot be joy... (TOAISM)
If I live my life in the way Jesus/Muhammad said, with love/acceptance/forgiveness for my fellow man. (Jedeo-Christianity/True Islam)
And I learn to calm my mind and thoughts to understand my inner self with a goal of clear thought, a simpler life, Enlightenment and peace. (Budism/Hinduism)
And I want to follow the path of least resistance and be in harmony with the universe and nature. Understanding that without hate there cannot be love, without pain there cannot be joy... (TOAISM)
Or at least thats what Paul/saul clamed. You don't know. You weren't there. It is quite possible he made up the whole thing and even the stories of witnesses. People were even dumber than you back then. They'd have no reason not believe him.curling said:
Y_lifter
New member
curling said:
I don't like labels but have indeed labeled myself as a Christian. However-
I think you are mixing Religion with a Philosophy of living life.
Typically "Religions" are Structured and have "set rules", methods, bldgs, leaders,
penalties for not following the rules etc.
Philosophies for life, that have been called religions by some incorrectly(again in my opinion)
such as what I call the eastern *ISM concepts(budism/taoism/hinduism) and even Christianity in its core values typically are not as structured.
And instead of having rules, are more like guides or true Ways to obtain
ballance and understanding of Why things are.
A lot of good questions and I see that I'm losing some friends because of Christ. That's good. Every question that has been brung up here, I have asked myself. I especially thought of the question, "What about all those people that never knew Christ?" I will not go into it now. I'll say it every chance I get because I know it to be true without a doubt. Jesus Christ is your savior, either you will reject what he accomplished for mankind or you will accept him when your time comes. I am not the judge. I condemn noone.
That's convienant. You're like a cafeteria catholic you take the parts you want and throw out the stuff you don't want. For instace homosexuality. You throwing that out as a sin since you have a new covenant with jesus that doesn't even mention it?curling said:
See I look at it this way. Everyone can arrive at peace in their lives through a variety of paths. Then they are still the same person no matter what. You've always been a live and let live guy from what I can tell and you express your faith this way now as well.biteme said:
ruggermu
New member
m not a practicing Buddhist, but I studied it quite alot. Still love their way of life. The best way to learn about it is a book called, Essential Buddhism. It's short, I would tell you the author but I've loned it to someone. You can find it at Border's or anywhere. I'm pretty knowledgable aout it to so if you have any specific questions I can probably answer them.
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