Why are there two schools of thought?

[sky]

[quote=janielee]One of the problems that the various religions have with each other in interfaith meetings is the lack of a common language. Even though we might all use English, our experiences are interpreted through our own religious conventions. In Buddhism we are not theological in our approach. God is a term connected to a Christian idea and a theological view that comes from Judaism and Christianity. In terms of direct experience, however, we get beyond the convention of our religions. When you talk to Christians who are practising some form of mindfulness and intuitive awareness in the present moment, it seems that what they experience is pretty much what I experience. How they interpret that, however, is often different; they use Christian vocabulary.

A few years ago we had a kind of dialogue at Amaravati with some Benedictine monks from Oxford. One of them was very avant-garde. He had studied Buddhism, and at the time was busily learning the Abhi*dhamma. He talked about the experience of God as ‘nothing’, or ‘no-thing’. This was quite a surprise to me. In my life I had originally picked up this word ‘God’ as an old man in the sky. ‘Does God have a beard or not?’ This is a sort of child’s version. This Benedictine monk was not just being clever with New Age ideas, but had a meditative life. People like Thomas Merton and Christian meditation groups, experience God more and more as ‘no-thing’, as God not being a thing.

https://buddhismnow.com/2013/08/07/b...ajahn-sumedho/[/QUOTE



Thanks for the link, very interesting. I didn't know AS was a Christian....

[Honza]

One of the issues I was getting at in my question is whether since there are two schools of thought about God - whether in fact there are two types of God's existence possible? Or even more than two types....

Honza,do we really need to question and have the answer other than to have faith?

Yes,it's all process.

Though i've come to understand that blockages are created and no clear line of communication just by questioning and not by just surrendering to the unknown.

Who really knows anyway?No 'one'.

Just have faith that all is aok and all as it should be.

[sky]

Originally Posted by Honza

One of the issues I was getting at in my question is whether since there are two schools of thought about God - whether in fact there are two types of God's existence possible? Or even more than two types....

Why does it matter?

[Honza]

Originally Posted by sky123

Why does it matter?

That is another one of your over simplified questions. It could well matter. It depends upon who you are and what you are looking for. If God can exist in various different states it ought to concern us because it means that we as people can exist in various different states.

Why does it NOT matter?

[Honza]

Originally Posted by Elabr8Aspie

Just have faith that all is aok and all as it should be.

But it certainly does not seem that way. There is so much craziness going on with all manner of destruction that it really makes me wonder if God knows what He is doing.

I agree that no one can actually *know* the truth...but we can pick up fragments here and there and put together a picture.

[sky]

Originally Posted by Honza

That is another one of your over simplified questions. It could well matter. It depends upon who you are and what you are looking for. If God can exist in various different states it ought to concern us because it means that we as people can exist in various different states.

Why does it NOT matter?

It matters I presume to those who are still searching, once you stop searching it matters not

Some need to know which direction got them to a destination, others just enjoy being there. I'm the latter...

[django]

I found the phrase "Thy will be done" (God's will not my will) to be very helpful. If I have to surrender my will, it helps to imagine there is an all-seeing God to which I am surrendering.

This allows a humble enough attitude to surrender to Jesus as something special when necessary, and as I've just found out, this again cultivates the ability to surrender to someone else helping to break through the barrier that can only be broken by someone else.

"When a student works hard, makes all sincere efforts, and finds the final barrier and he cannot cross that, then he comes before the teacher who is competent enough, who knows all the hurdles and barriers and obstacles on the path of enlightenment."

Imagine thinking you are God the whole time, and never learning to surrender to what is truly trustworthy.

BTW, this idea of someone helping a seeker across the final barrier is from swamij, and seems to be a Hindu idea. And I keep italicising final barrier , because there's no point surrendering at the beginning to any of the thousands of people who egotistically like to consider themselves to be a guru.

"...The million dollar question of nondual (advaita) Yoga Vedanta meditation and contemplation... is just like the game show, this million dollar question is the last of all the questions of nondual Yoga Vedanta. It is also the hardest question, and the most important question. It is the question that supersedes all other questions." - Swami J

Realising non-duality is the endgame in advaita, anyone claiming non-duality early in the game is selling themselves short.

[sky]

Originally Posted by django

I found the phrase "Thy will be done" (God's will not my will) to be very helpful. If I have to surrender my will, it helps to imagine there is an all-seeing God to which I am surrendering.

This allows a humble enough attitude to surrender to Jesus as something special when necessary, and as I've just found out, this again cultivates the ability to surrender to someone else helping to break through the barrier that can only be broken by someone else.

"When a student works hard, makes all sincere efforts, and finds the final barrier and he cannot cross that, then he comes before the teacher who is competent enough, who knows all the hurdles and barriers and obstacles on the path of enlightenment."

Imagine thinking you are God the whole time, and never learning to surrender to what is truly trustworthy.

BTW, this idea of someone helping a seeker across the final barrier is from swamij, and seems to be a Hindu idea. And I keep italicising final barrier , because there's no point surrendering at the beginning to any of the thousands of people who egotistically like to consider themselves to be a guru.

"...The million dollar question of nondual (advaita) Yoga Vedanta meditation and contemplation... is just like the game show, this million dollar question is the last of all the questions of nondual Yoga Vedanta. It is also the hardest question, and the most important question. It is the question that supersedes all other questions." - Swami J

Realising non-duality is the endgame in advaita, anyone claiming non-duality early in the game is selling themselves short. ,

' Thy will ' indicates separation

' My will ' is ' Oneness '

To each their own, whatever helps you and produces goodness to all Sentient beings has to be good.

[Honza]

Originally Posted by sky123

It matters I presume to those who are still searching, once you stop searching it matters not

Some need to know which direction got them to a destination, others just enjoy being there. I'm the latter...

Would you visit this forum if you have already stopped searching?