RE: Thoughts on Buddhism
January 26, 2012 at 12:52 am
(This post was last modified: January 26, 2012 at 1:22 am by Bgood.)
Hi everyone, I can relate to Laurens concerns about Buddhism. Reincarnation is probably the most outlandish concept to understand in BuddhaDharma. I think mhikl explained it very well it saying that it represents constant change, or transformation from one form to another. Buddhism teaches that when one reaches enlightenment, the cycle of birth and death is stopped. This cycle is called the Wheel of Life or Karma. Rebirth can be the 'rebirth' of a habit, or addiction, or repetitve way of thinking that causes suffering, such as anxiety or fear, etc. When we attain Nirvana, we are always in the present moment, so no more 'rebirth' of habitual anxiety nor any 'death' of happiness. Just ingenius awareness persists in the well trained mind.
Now with a little imagination and flexibility, one could equate Buddhism to the School of the Jedi, where students learn to use the power of 'force' to master their own mind. That's all it is! It teaches you to have self control, to love others, and to be fearless...like any good Jedi would strive to attain. All the chanting and meditation practices are vehicles or tools to get there, that's all. There is effort and introspection to be done, but it is guided with logic, common sense and rationale. But there is a mystical side to buddhism that is achieved with total openess and perhaps even with some "medicinal" plants. At least that has been my own personal experience lol.
The thing is that not every buddhist monk is going to reach full enlightenment, probably most won't! But the few who do, where the power of the force is strong and well developed and craftily honed, their luminous aura and personality will be so great and magnetic that we could do nothing but have reverance and respect for them and call them great, wise men. My best advice is not to get hung up on trivial details...don't sweat the small stuff. It doesn't have to be perfect, just the best for you.
I don't believe in God, I despise Christianity, but Buddhism is actually really cool. For me to be atheist, and not follow some kind of ethics, spiritual practice, and inspirational devotion to a greater wisdom than my own, is just plain foolish and dishearting. Buddhism to me just seems like the most practical and also quite paradoxically the most transcendental "religion" to follow out of a sea of relative garbage. Call it the Tao, call it Zen, call it crazy, but there is definitely something special about buddha's teachings that cannot be fully grasped with mere words and psychological analysis. PEACE OUT
One more tidbit of info that I'd like to share is that some of buddha's teachings are meant to be functional and skillfully effective rather than just to be blindly believed or intellectually understood. Such are Zen koans that ask, what came first the chicken or the egg? The answer to this question is irrelevent and unimportant, but it is the state of being, the mind of unknowing, that this type of simple koan places one in, that is really the essence of it's function. I think that the idea of Non-Self or No Self (anatta) is kind of like that....If one truly believes that essentially there is no self anywhere to be found...then the universal problem, endless attachment, and harmful vice of stubborn selfishness is completely let go! So although in theory, anatta may be "wrong", in practice, it is dead-on liberating and pacifying.
The Buddha Mind constantly evolves! Worship him or spit on him, nonetheless, he smiles in equanimity! Hey, I think Yoda, buddhist he was. lol
Now with a little imagination and flexibility, one could equate Buddhism to the School of the Jedi, where students learn to use the power of 'force' to master their own mind. That's all it is! It teaches you to have self control, to love others, and to be fearless...like any good Jedi would strive to attain. All the chanting and meditation practices are vehicles or tools to get there, that's all. There is effort and introspection to be done, but it is guided with logic, common sense and rationale. But there is a mystical side to buddhism that is achieved with total openess and perhaps even with some "medicinal" plants. At least that has been my own personal experience lol.
The thing is that not every buddhist monk is going to reach full enlightenment, probably most won't! But the few who do, where the power of the force is strong and well developed and craftily honed, their luminous aura and personality will be so great and magnetic that we could do nothing but have reverance and respect for them and call them great, wise men. My best advice is not to get hung up on trivial details...don't sweat the small stuff. It doesn't have to be perfect, just the best for you.
I don't believe in God, I despise Christianity, but Buddhism is actually really cool. For me to be atheist, and not follow some kind of ethics, spiritual practice, and inspirational devotion to a greater wisdom than my own, is just plain foolish and dishearting. Buddhism to me just seems like the most practical and also quite paradoxically the most transcendental "religion" to follow out of a sea of relative garbage. Call it the Tao, call it Zen, call it crazy, but there is definitely something special about buddha's teachings that cannot be fully grasped with mere words and psychological analysis. PEACE OUT
One more tidbit of info that I'd like to share is that some of buddha's teachings are meant to be functional and skillfully effective rather than just to be blindly believed or intellectually understood. Such are Zen koans that ask, what came first the chicken or the egg? The answer to this question is irrelevent and unimportant, but it is the state of being, the mind of unknowing, that this type of simple koan places one in, that is really the essence of it's function. I think that the idea of Non-Self or No Self (anatta) is kind of like that....If one truly believes that essentially there is no self anywhere to be found...then the universal problem, endless attachment, and harmful vice of stubborn selfishness is completely let go! So although in theory, anatta may be "wrong", in practice, it is dead-on liberating and pacifying.
The Buddha Mind constantly evolves! Worship him or spit on him, nonetheless, he smiles in equanimity! Hey, I think Yoda, buddhist he was. lol
You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha
