Scripture in Buddhism

[Samana]

Originally Posted by Colbster425

Forgive me, but do not different sects of Buddhism follow different teachings? Cannot man be misguided, even as a follower of the Buddha?

Mahayana teachings were devised a long time after the death of the Buddha and the new 'sutras' by later teachers were made acceptable by telling people they'd been hidden in a 'dragon realm' and so had still been spoken by the buddha. However they are very different to the earlier teachings and have obvious additions and differences in style.

The nearest we have to the Buddha's words is the Pali Canon. Before there was writing, the Buddha's monks memorised his teachings (that's why there's a lot of repetition in the Pali suttas) and passed them on to other monks and then eventually they were written down on palm leaves.

Originally Posted by Colbster425

Forgive me, but do not different sects of Buddhism follow different teachings? Cannot man be misguided, even as a follower of the Buddha?

Different sects may have different teachings but if they are Buddhist they are all based on, and follow the same 4 Noble Truths. The 4 Noble Truths are the core, everything else is to a large extent detail.

We do not know what is contained in the recesses our our mind, let alone in the Alaya consciousness. To a priori reject the things arising from beyond our mind would be misguided.

But are all the clever sayings and brilliant stories merely folk passed down with no scripture (/consistency) attached?

[skyblue]

Buddhism is not the easiest system to navigate these days. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is considered to be the funeral rites in Buddhism. The cool thing about Buddhism as a system of increasing your understanding about yourself and the world around you, is that you can use your own body and mind to learn about your body and mind. There is no shortage of information and people that claim to know what is going on. Be discriminative and use logic to figure out as much as you can. It has been my experience that a real teacher can show you what they are talking about and the rest of the crowd expects you to take they're word for it.
Use your innate wisdom and compassion to guide you. Buddhism is basically very simple. It is the confusion that is complicated. So anything you read that has the effect of clearing up the confusion for you is something that is moving in the right direction. The light, bright path - full of wonder and worth the effort

Originally Posted by skyblue

Buddhism is not the easiest system to navigate these days. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is considered to be the funeral rites in Buddhism. The cool thing about Buddhism as a system of increasing your understanding about yourself and the world around you, is that you can use your own body and mind to learn about your body and mind. There is no shortage of information and people that claim to know what is going on. Be discriminative and use logic to figure out as much as you can. It has been my experience that a real teacher can show you what they are talking about and the rest of the crowd expects you to take they're word for it.
Use your innate wisdom and compassion to guide you. Buddhism is basically very simple. It is the confusion that is complicated. So anything you read that has the effect of clearing up the confusion for you is something that is moving in the right direction. The light, bright path - full of wonder and worth the effort

This is my feeling, but I hear so much wisdom from the Buddha out of other's mouths but cannot find the words myself. I continue exploring and continue listening to my heart and I will be okay.

[Samana]

Originally Posted by skyblue

Buddhism is not the easiest system to navigate these days. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is considered to be the funeral rites in Buddhism.

This is incorrect.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is only acceptable to Tibetans and their followers. It was not taught by the Buddha ,it was taught by Padmasambhava centuries later and it is not recognised as "funeral rites" by other Buddhist traditions.


Kind wishes,

Samana