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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Religions & Faiths > Buddhism

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  #21  
Old 17-09-2019, 04:37 AM
winter light winter light is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shivani Devi
With trepidation, this Hindu walks into the Buddhist forum, where the topic up for discussion is the (non) existence of God.

There are a few points of interest, in that according to the Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, tribal deities still exist and are still worshiped as "Gods" in that "God" represents any supernatural or supernal being (Deva) possessing mystical powers and attributes ascribed to the notion of a "Transcendent Divinity".
I have trepidation every time I walk here also. For slightly different reasons. I have the same issue you have about being a Hindu out of your element and never finding a place where you belong. Except in my case it is more being aligned with Buddhism on the inner more than the outer. By all outer measures I have zero standing as a Buddhist. I am hardly able to meditate and I feel very disconnected from the culture as I was raised Christian. Yet I have experiences that are clearly mirror those cultures as if I was a part of it. I can only conclude that I am a part of it and try to dismiss the seeming reality I am stuck in.

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....but yes, we are speaking about notions, concepts, ideas, perceptions whichever way it goes; "God" or "No God"...."Self" or "No Self" for if God does not exist, then neither does Buddha...I see many people worship Buddha AS God...waving incense, offering prostration....venerating the noble one, but what have they done? They have just replaced one concept "God" with another "Buddha".
It is not so much they replaced it but they have expanded it. They are not exclusive. The Hindu and Buddhist worlds are still part of one another.

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That is why the saying exists; "If you see Buddha on the road, kill him"...
"If you see God on the road, kill him.."

...and maybe you will find that it isn't as easy to kill a Buddha or a God as one may think...maybe you will succeed and then God will come back to life..."missed me"!
Nice double meaning here.... I did not miss that.

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Whatever we like to think is just the ego...the ego says there is a God...the ego says there is no God...that is why Buddha would say "there is a God" or "there is no God" depending on who was asking the question of "Does God exist?" Buddha would only say whatever that person wanted to hear because in the end and at a personal level, what an individual believes is all that matters to them.
I do not think the Buddha was telling people "what they want to hear" but rather trying to tread carefully and speak to them in a language they understand. It was sincere.

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Like you said to me once, Gem...you quoted "The Boxer" from Simon and Garfunkel "a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest".

So, if a man believes in God, he will only hear those who say that God exists..if a man does not believe in God, he will only hear those who will say that God does not exist.
People will tend to rise to the expectations we give to them if given a chance. It requires a tremendous amount of patience to do this though. And a lot of breathing though the issues before responding. At least that is what I try to do in hopes that it will happen. Namaste.
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  #22  
Old 17-09-2019, 05:06 AM
BigJohn BigJohn is offline
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I read her comments but you expounds on points that went completely over most of our heads.
I thank both of you for your enlightenment.
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  #23  
Old 18-09-2019, 11:31 PM
Gem Gem is online now
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I have a Buddha statue in the garden. It's iconic, for sure, but I know what that means. It's not that the Buddha icon is relevant for it's own sake in that it represents a truth or the holy Gotama. The statue merely symbolises I'm of the ilk that sways toward Eastern spirituality. It is only an egotistic statement about me.
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  #24  
Old 19-09-2019, 02:51 AM
Gem Gem is online now
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It is mainly an ability to discern between the experience 'as it is' and what the mind is fabricating. Religion won't withstand that discernment because the icons and symbols that construct it are fabrications. If you watch yourself closely you'll see how you dream all that stuff up, and be amazed at how much you thought was real is only fabrications of the mind.



This is a spiritual forum so I expect people will have various spiritual beliefs, most will believe in God, but this is the Buddhist section where none of that matters, because you are all breathing, and when I mention it you notice it is true, and that noticing of the fact is the realisation: 'this is'.


You tell me about your God I start imagining things which are not real lived experience. It's just more distraction in this world of perpetual distractions, no more relevant than the pop music they use as a banal background noise which no one really notices anyway. This is symbolic of the background mind which plays on and on. No one really listens, so no one really knows what's going on with their mind. If you start observing the breath you'll notice your level of distraction and all the nonsense rattling the mind will start to become apparent, and even your religion will appear and dissappear depending on if you think about it of not. Imagine if noone ever thought of Christianity again. The religion would vanish in the moment that thought ceased, but all the symbols around the place, around your neck perhaps, would soon remind you, and the thought will recur, hence the religion survive, but it will always be an imaginary thing, and not real in the way the feeling of your breath is. Who would say that sensation is imaginary? You can feel what it is actually like, and you don't have to imagine anything.


Then the meditation theacher will tell you, imagine this or chant that etc etc etc, because all this spiritual stuff is fabricated to keep you in the imagined paradigm. The story of me. I'm a Christian. I'm a Buddhist. I'm a Hindu. Who said? Someone made all this up and people have fallen for it, clustered together in sects signified by costume, iconography, ritual and so on. It's a parade. But the feeling of yourself breathing is an undeniable fact of the direct experience as it happens to be right now.
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  #25  
Old 19-09-2019, 02:45 PM
Altair Altair is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gem
It is mainly an ability to discern between the experience 'as it is' and what the mind is fabricating. Religion won't withstand that discernment because the icons and symbols that construct it are fabrications. If you watch yourself closely you'll see how you dream all that stuff up, and be amazed at how much you thought was real is only fabrications of the mind.

Yes Gem. Though there are still possibilities that what people experience is genuine. I get it, the mind can conjure up images that we 'want' to see, and I'm skeptical about most stories, yet what we see may also provide a glimpse of what is beyond. I don't think it's as easy to discern as you think it is.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gem
This is a spiritual forum so I expect people will have various spiritual beliefs, most will believe in God, but this is the Buddhist section where none of that matters, because you are all breathing, and when I mention it you notice it is true, and that noticing of the fact is the realisation: 'this is'.

Buddhism contains baggage as well. One can practice Buddhism and forget about karma or reincarnation but still these are central in Buddhist spirituality. You talk about breathing, but what if you stop breathing. Is there anything left, if so what, and where..?

Last edited by Altair : 19-09-2019 at 04:00 PM.
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  #26  
Old 19-09-2019, 03:22 PM
r6r6 r6r6 is offline
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Arrow Cosmic Torus and Cosmic Trinity

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gem
But the feeling of yourself breathing is an undeniable fact of the direct experience as it happens to be right now.


Breathing related to prana in Hindu areas of yoga thoughts.

Our first breath is IN-spire-ation.

Spire = cone and the minimal cone is a triangular based pryamid aka tetra{4}hedron. LINK

As the minimal 3D structure of Universe/God and the minimal possible metaphysical-1, ergo conceptual 3D structure of " U "niverse/" G "od, we have considerate of various considerations of duality ---as male and female--- associated with the tetrahedron.

Ex the bisected tetrahedron as two chef hats that are oriented at 90 degrees to each other. LINK-1 LINK-2 Wherein we find two parts of equanimity that are orietend at 90 degrees to each other.

At their optimal orientation and function-ablity of integrity, man and woman being equal in the metaphysical-1, most primary 3D conceptual set, operate at 90 degrees to each other.

This male female duality is key to the top of Cosmic Trinity aka The Cosmic heirarchy as related to Universe/God via SPACE.

First and fore most we have SPACE and under space there exists two primary catagoires;


1} .................................................. ....SPACE............................

1a} macro-infinite non-occupied space......and..............1b} finite occupied space

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next we can consider duality inreference to and consideration of, to metaphysiscal-1 mind/intellect being included to Universe/God as " U "niverse/" G "od

Third we consider the male-female duality and its resultant progeny a in third reference to Uni-V-erse/G-o-d

This variation considers a torus and its peak positive curvature ( ), and peak negative curvature )( duality, resulting in the progeny ---inside the tube and in red-- we call reality or Observed Time and associated with a sine-wave \/\/\/\/\/ or as ^v^v

................(^v^v)(v^v^).............or as (><)(><)..........


And this latter all came from a set of four numerical lines/levels I discovered and explored via inside-outing of the four lines/levels to arrive at the cosmic torus set.
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  #27  
Old 20-09-2019, 01:16 PM
winter light winter light is offline
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It occurred to me today how devotion to the void or to a noble cause is on par with devotion to a deity. The devotion is the important thing as it reflects presence and awareness.
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  #28  
Old 20-09-2019, 01:39 PM
r6r6 r6r6 is offline
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Quote:
winter light--It occurred to me today how devotion to the void......


Void? I dont understand what or where this void you speak of exists. Please clarify for me as best you understand it.



Quote:
The devotion is the important thing as it reflects presence and awareness.


I think I understand what it means when a human is present at a party, meeting, school etc.


I think I know what it means when a human has awarness also ex consciously awake not asleep and can hear, or see, or hear what is going on around them directly or via radio, tv or others telling them information.
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  #29  
Old 20-09-2019, 04:48 PM
sky sky is offline
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According to Suttas/Sutras The Buddha taught various types of Meditation, some involving Visualization. Different people benefit from different techniques and it really isn't important how you Meditate it's the end results which are important....
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  #30  
Old 20-09-2019, 06:42 PM
r6r6 r6r6 is offline
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H-om-e...D-om-e..M-om..B-om-b...

Quote:
Originally Posted by sky123
Different people benefit from different techniques and it really isn't important how you Meditate it's the end results which are important....


There is a reason why cities have parks.

.."The practice of mindful walking, says Thich Nhat Hanh, is a profound and pleasurable way to deepen our connection with our body and the earth. We breathe, take a mindful step, and come back to our true home."....

https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-med...ng-meditation/
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