I would not say we fall into that category. We are god itself. But yes this animal mechanism we are merged with and follow around blindly most likely, it completely misses the mark probably in all ways possible.

I would say we are part of the Universe and are striving to grasp what the Universe is all about which is something we probably will never understand.

That book "Journey Of Souls" where people are hypnotized and taken to memories between lives hinted at the same thing. Even there, between lives, a lot of things are unknown. They (or we between lives) do a lot of energy work, some skilled in such things even create new consciousness's, but the basic "stuff" is just found there, and we figured out what we can make out of it, like how we figured out how to make glass out of sand... but who made the sand that had the potential to turn into glass? Between lives is the same. We found different types of energy and through experimentation how to make it into various things, physical forms, but we still have no idea what made this energy with these potentials.

People somehow think we go to "heaven" and all the mysteries are solved. Really the mysteries just get bigger. It reminds me of that scene in contact where she gets to the end of a wormhole/blackhole and an alien/life form talks to her and she asks them about the wormhole and the alien says, well actually we did not make that, we just found it and figured out how to use it...we know nothing about the civilization or beings that made it...

I remember being told in high school science that the universe seems to be infinite... I was like, what! No end? Really? How can something have no end? As freaky as that idea is, the alternative is just as freaky. Imagine it ends somewhere, what is on the other side of where it ends? What made it end there? What is all this contained in? This infinite space? The human mind cannot grasp any of these realities. They are now discovering even atoms are made up of smaller things, too small for us to perceive with the machines we have now.

If we can't even see this stuff, what can? Then now days with modern math and DNA discoveries, scientists are saying statistically, it is impossible with the probability of dna programming for any of it to have happened without an intelligence of some kind specifically sequencing it in the only way it works which works out to be 1 in a trillion, trillion, trillion.... or some huge number that makes it impossible to have happened without some force making it into what it is.

But then why would we be the most intelligent thing/being that exists? Obviously we are not even close. Our brains do a billion calculations a second... the most things we can be aware of at one time is four...just as an ant will never understand what we are, we will never understand what our creators are...but then maybe we will..... we become more aware and intelligent all the time..... why wouldn't this growth be infinite in potential?

Maybe in a few billion years we too will be gods sending conscious "atoms" of ourselves into physical forms we created to become more aware so that we the totality becomes more aware......that seems to me to be the purpose in all of this and it too is very freaky... our god itself is growing in awareness and intelligence and using us to do so...

With superstition I specifically refer to concepts such as 'karma', 'samsara' and 'nirvana' (if defined as a lasting state of perfection without any possibility for suffering). There is no science that supports such concepts, that something takes on the body of a rat and then a blade of grass, worm, human, etc., spider collecting 'karma' when eating a bug, or human becoming 'all-knowing' when doing years of meditation. If however you only refer to breathing, impermanence than sure, but from what I have understood 'dhamma'/'dharma' is not just about that.

You need to understand Buddhism to be able to see that what your referring to regarding Karma/Samsara/Nirvana is incorrect....

I'd point out Hinduism states souls can be incarnated in bodies besides human, in fact the Bhagavad-Gita states if one messes up and partakes in various bad deeds, one could even come back as a tree, though the tree may just be a Hare-Krishna interpretation as that illustration was in their popular version of the Gita.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a Buddhist text, also states one can receive the body of something other than human. But then the author of it was an Indian Buddhist so had strong Hindu influences. In the last Bardo, the soul meets the Lord of Death.

From the Tibetan Book of the Dead

There’s also a last-ditch chance to escape the cycle of rebirth—if the soul can recognize that everything around him is a projection of his subconscious. Most souls aren't mindful and remain close to their ego, so they are reborn in one of six states.

...and upon emerging from the womb and opening its eyes it may find itself transformed into a young dog. Formerly it had been a human being, but now if it have become a dog it findeth itself undergoing sufferings in a dog's kennel; or [perhaps] as a young pig in a pigsty, or as an ant in an ant-hill, or as an insect, or a grub in a hole,... Dumbness, stupidity, and miserable intellectual obscurity are suffered, and a variety of sufferings experienced.

I'd not sure but I'd guess Chinese Buddhism does not go into such beliefs at all.

Then one last source of information on the topic is the book Journey Of Souls, which states when new consciousness's are created, they have different properties and not all are suited for a human body. Conscious energy or "souls" suited for a human incarnation tend to be special. So the belief stated from this source is basically like how we can't put diesel fuel into a gas powered engine, likewise the bodies we are given match up with the properties of the "soul" or conscious energy. So a consciousness suited to a human form would not be able to exist in a insect body for example. At some point in "soul evolution" or development, we outgrow the ability to co-exist with a human brain and that's when we have basically "escaped the cycle of birth and re-birth." Our "vibration" becomes too high to merge with the lower energies of this world and the life forms on it.

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Well, people are superstitions about kamma and so on. I don't know what samsara is and I'm not interested enough to try and find out. If there's no reason to believe these things, then don't. Such beliefs are unimportant. Important things are like honesty, equanimity, attentivness, insight, deepening wisdom, being generous and kind hearted. Real things...


If I say dhamma I mean 'the way things are' or 'the way nature is'... and I might say 'dhamma teaching' which means Buddha's teaching about natures way... but I don't promote believing dhamma teachings. It's not necessary. What's necessary is discernment: the ability to discover what is true, and differentiate truth from what is untrue.

Dharma V dharma.
 

' Dharma (when capitalized) simply means the collective teachings of The Buddha. In this respect, you might think of the Dharma as simply meaning "The Teachings. '


' With the lowercase dharma, translates as "the way things are." This may seem overly vague, until you understand that the word "dharma" has been used to imply "the laws of nature" or "that which sustains the universe." Sometimes it is synonymous with the English word nature.'

According to Buddhism....

' The author of the Tibetan Book of the Dead is Padmasambhava ; the founder of Tibetan Buddhism in the 8th century when he brought the Buddhist teachings from India and introduced them and established the teachings into Tibet. Padmasambhava was not a traditional Buddhist he also brought with him a lot of esoteric tantric teachings from other traditions and now Tibetan Buddhism as we now know it is a mixture of traditional Buddhism, Hindu tantric teachings and the Bon tradition which was native to Tibet at the time.'

It's certainly a very unusual Book and parts are hard to grasp but some of it are enjoyable.... I surpose it's one that needs reading over and over again...

@Phaelyn: I mentioned there is no scientific proof and you come with Gita and other books. That is not proof, but faith texts. Can you demonstrate, without any doubt, empirically verifiable evidence that such things are real? All you (and other spiritual people) have is the *mystical experience*, which is totally influenced by one's beliefs and ideals, like inducing a lucid dream. If that makes 'karma' and 'nirvana' real than so is a lucid dream where I conjure up a tooth fairy.

@Gem; I'm with you on those ''important things''. However, when you say ''the Dhamma'' and the teachings it does mention such things as 'karma' and 'reincarnation', in the Eightfold Path.