Lost faith in conventional theology!

[Samana]

Originally Posted by The Sphinx

The real sanctuary of Spirit is in your soul, it is not a building made by men. And how can another person tell you how to think and how to experience spiritual things. All of these things come from within, not from without. Blanket theologies smother the individualality of their followers.

Buddhists don't believe in a soul ! (Whatever other posters here might say to the contrary, lol !)

Originally Posted by Samana

Buddhists don't believe in a soul ! (Whatever other posters here might say to the contrary, lol !)

What the heck do Buddhists believe In? Not to sound like I'm downing it or anything.. But that's all I ever hear Buddhists say is, "We don't believe in __________." Fill in the blank.

It seems to be a very limited spiritual path that doesn't have much hope of anything except staying postive and mellow during life... It seems kind of boxed in to me in light of some of the things we are beginning to understand about the spiritual path and some of the discoveries found by the new physics. But then again, maybe I'm just uninformed.

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by psychoslice

theology and teachings can only take you to the door, you must drop the load of these teachings to enter on your own, Buddhism, Christianity, no matter what teachings, their all ideologies, concepts, when you are ready you will give up these toy's for the Real deal.

You stand out from the crowd, psycho - and consistenly so.
I'm very impressed with you.



Sphinx - you're impressing me, too.
"...blanket smothering..." good one!

"We don't believe in..." Very funny!

Originally Posted by William Schuck

I have spent my considerably long life trying to learn as much as possible. For many years I had a faith in world religions and tried to emulate their noble truths. In my later years I suppose I grew away from traditional religion. At first I felt empty and without foundation, however I still maintained an awareness of God and over time the empty feelings passed. It seems on a daily basis that I am engaged in an analysis of Gods creative wonders. My mind is like a child in a candy store enthralled over all the wonders before my eyes. Every moment of the day I look at nature and see the mystery and magic of Gods beautiful creation. Please don't label me as a New Age theology thump-er I am just a man trying to find purpose and substance in life. I suppose the intent of this post is just to share with you, maybe your insight can provide some spiritual substance.

Warm Regards

Hello William, It doesn't mean you have lost your faith. It just means that you want to find your won truths. It's an interesting journey.....explore and question everything!

Myer

What are your ideas on near death experiences? The Tibet Book of the Dead warns to be cautious of experiences on the other side. It seems we must always use our critical mind to evaluate every experience be it here, or elsewhere.

Originally Posted by The Sphinx

What the heck do Buddhists believe In? Not to sound like I'm downing it or anything.. But that's all I ever hear Buddhists say is, "We don't believe in __________." Fill in the blank.

It seems to be a very limited spiritual path that doesn't have much hope of anything except staying postive and mellow during life... It seems kind of boxed in to me in light of some of the things we are beginning to understand about the spiritual path and some of the discoveries found by the new physics. But then again, maybe I'm just uninformed.

Your last sentence sums it up nicely.
Buddhists believe in No-thing, Emptiness, Sunyata. This is not a nothing at all or a total absence of anything, that would be nihilism. It is the primal energy fields before any differentiation has occured. In that are all possibilities, and from there everything arises. It is the Dao about which really nothing can be said. From there arises Yin-Yang, from there the three treasures and from there the ten thousand things.
When we say "we don't believe in ____" we don't mean that it, e.g. deities, dakinis (angels), don't exist at all but that they have no eternal permanence because they are only a construct of mind. They are temporary phenomena which need to be treated with care, as if they were real, because they may appear to be real, but ultimately we know that they are not.

To confront someone who is absorbed in the world of appearances with something like "snap out of it, nothing is real" shows a serious lack of compassion and skillful means.

[Samana]

Originally Posted by pre-dawn

.... No-thing, Emptiness, Sunyata.....

This discussion with the title 'The concept of emptiness is such a paradox' might be helpful........


http://www.buddhismwithoutboundaries.com/showthread.php?504-The-concept-of-emptiness-is-such-a-paradox&highlight=emptiness


with metta,

Samana

[God-Like]

Originally Posted by William Schuck

I have spent my considerably long life trying to learn as much as possible. For many years I had a faith in world religions and tried to emulate their noble truths. In my later years I suppose I grew away from traditional religion. At first I felt empty and without foundation, however I still maintained an awareness of God and over time the empty feelings passed. It seems on a daily basis that I am engaged in an analysis of Gods creative wonders. My mind is like a child in a candy store enthralled over all the wonders before my eyes. Every moment of the day I look at nature and see the mystery and magic of Gods beautiful creation. Please don't label me as a New Age theology thump-er I am just a man trying to find purpose and substance in life. I suppose the intent of this post is just to share with you, maybe your insight can provide some spiritual substance.

Warm Regards

Hi Will.

Anything that you put your faith Into other than what you are will always let you down at one point, we all through our many lifetimes attach to things that we feel "Is our Individual holy grail" lol.

All that we are left with In essence Is all that we began with and that Is all that we will ever need.

Everything else will fall away..

x daz x

Well, you are not alone..

Anyway, I practice Buddha Fa Qi Gong(Body and Mind cultivation) in the Falun Dafa self-cultivation school based on Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in daily life´s actions. Third eye, supernormal powers, Gods, Demons etc etc are all explained in the extensive theory. That is one reason why 100 million people started doing it in 7 years before the communists struck down and persecuted all practitioners in China.

If interested I can tell you more, all books and exercises are free of charge to download.