How to know whether a person has reach enlightenment?
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I think Enlightenment is one who has find the Truth and free from self, and thus attained Enlightenment.
However do any of you know basically sentient beings have 3 things that they cant get rids of?
I think is Eat, sleep and pass motions... otherwise, they can attained Enlightenment easily. -
Not only a human, even gods cannot achieve Buddhahood. Those that attain Buddhahood are all are reborned in Human Realm... even though gods in heaven have very good karma, it is still more difficult for them to practice because heavens are too wonderful.. many devas do not feel the need to practise and even those who want to practise may be distracted.Originally posted by shade343:I think what Gautama Buddha acheived is the highest level which a Human can acheive.
There are many gods however, who have at least attained the insights to Non-Self. For example, the Maha Brahma is at most only one lifetime away before achieving Nirvana. -
Oh.... I get what you mean.Originally posted by longchen:For Xabir/Eternal Now only,
"Stepping down the dimension, old thoughts from above" means being stuck at conceptual attachment! Why is that so... because 'old thoughts from above' means that what you know conceptually, you already know since past lifes...'above' referring to your karmic pattern/habit/knowledge storehouse.
Thats it, you will clear this... It is no coincidence that i tell you this now
Amazing right? Note... when i see this images... i do not imagine them... there is a very smart intelligence that directs... my mind is just a reciever.
Thanks
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What about jesus christ?Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Not only a human, even gods cannot achieve Buddhahood. Those that attain Buddhahood are all are reborned in Human Realm... even though gods in heaven have very good karma, it is still more difficult for them to practice because heavens are too wonderful.. many devas do not feel the need to practise and even those who want to practise may be distracted.
There are many gods however, who have at least attained the insights to Non-Self. For example, the Maha Brahma is at most only one lifetime away before achieving Nirvana. -
Eat, sleep and pass motions... realised people still do thatOriginally posted by 798:I think Enlightenment is one who has find the Truth and free from self, and thus attained Enlightenment.
However do any of you know basically sentient beings have 3 things that they cant get rids of?
I think is Eat, sleep and pass motions... otherwise, they can attained Enlightenment easily.
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If I were to tell this publically, I may get alot of complains from ChristiansOriginally posted by shade343:What about jesus christ?
What I can tell is .... Jesus is someone that has reached a very high level of enlightenment. I shall not compare with others. -
I realised these are the things even Buddha cant avoid too. not unless the time He was at ease... that is Nirvana.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Eat, sleep and pass motions... realised people still do that -
Why dont you PM me the ans?Originally posted by An Eternal Now:If I were to tell this publically, I may get alot of complains from Christians -
better not say, later not good.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:If I were to tell this publically, I may get alot of complains from Christians
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Ahhh....Thats because jesus christ did meditation.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:If I were to tell this publically, I may get alot of complains from Christians
What I can tell is .... Jesus is someone that has reached a very high level of enlightenment. I shall not compare with others. -
comparing is a disillusion
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Here is part of the interview between a Christian and the Dalai Lama:
I reminded him of his belief that Jesus is "a fully enlightened being" and asked, "If Jesus is fully enlightened, wouldn't he be teaching the truth about himself? Therefore, if he is teaching the truth, then he is the Son of God, and there is a God, and Jesus is the Savior. If he is fully enlightened, he should teach the truth. If he is not teaching the truth, he is not that enlightened."
As the Dalai Lama felt the momentum of the question, he laughed more than at any other time in the interview. He obviously understood the argument, borrowed from C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity.
"This is a very good question," he said. "This is very, very important, very important." Even in Buddha's case, he said, a distinction must always be made between teachings that "always remain valid" and others that "we have the liberty to reject."
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/008/15.64.html
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And my Master's vision of Jesus Christ is not different Jesus Christ is also an enlightened being. -
Before answering the question if Jesus is enlightened, we need to ask if Jesus existed? Any direct proofs that he was human?
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jesus, like buddha existed as human beings.Originally posted by Eye in the Sky:Before answering the question if Jesus is enlightened, we need to ask if Jesus existed? Any direct proofs that he was human?
what kind of proof do you need? -
Existence due to indirect inferences by the Bible is not proof. Any bodily proof?
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How to know whether a person has reach enlightenment?
He who knows 'No come and no go'. -
jesus was not a human being, he was an avatar like sai baba, for them there is no such thing as enlightment,they are messages of the god, they are born enlightened.Unlike us they did not come here because of their past karmas they came to help and teach.Originally posted by dragg:jesus, like buddha existed as human beings.
what kind of proof do you need? -
All Buddhas who come to Planet Earth, too, descended from Tus hita heaven during his previous Birth.Originally posted by YummyGummy:jesus was not a human being, he was an avatar like sai baba, for them there is no such thing as enlightment,they are messages of the god, they are born enlightened.Unlike us they did not come here because of their past karmas they came to help and teach.
Currently, Maitreya Bodhisattva (the next Buddha to be) will come down when the time is ripe for him to attain Buddhahood. He is a 10th Bhumi Bodhisattva, meaning he is only waiting for his conditions before he descends. He is now teaching in the Tus hita Inner Circle.
But does that mean when he comes down, he is a messenger of God? Not exactly.
How the Brahma believed He was God?
BTW, it was Maha Brahma who asked Buddha to teach and turn the Dharma Wheel. -
Such people personify the basic substance of the universe which they experience through meditation, and create the belief in God. They substantiate this idea of a large 'I' the self-love of God and formulate the mission of being a saviour of the world or an emissary of God. They unify all phenomena and look upon them as objects that were created and are to be saved. Consequently, some religious figures think that the basic nature of their souls is the same as that of the deity, and that they are human incarnations of the deity. In this way, they consider themselves to be saviours of the world. Others think that although the basic nature of their souls is not identical to and inseparable from that of the deity, the phenomenon of their incarnation shows that they were sent to this world by God as messengers to promulgate God's intention.
- Master Sheng Yen
http://westernchanfellowship.org/104.html
This is another article posted previously by Sinweiy, it is from the Dalai Lama:Originally posted by sinweiy:regarding the idea of "Primordial ", here's an Interesting article:
Dalai Lama's answer Philosophical questions on Creation:
Q: You have said that according to Buddhist philosophy there is no Creator, no God of creation, and this may initially put off many people who believe in a divine principle. Can you explain the difference between the Vajrayana Primordial Buddha and a Creator God?
A: I understand the Primordial Buddha, also known as Buddha Samantabhadra, to be the ultimate reality, the realm of the Dharmakaya-- the space of emptiness--where all phenomena, pure and impure, are dissolved. This is the explanation taught by the Sutras and Tantras. However, in the context of your question, the tantric tradition is the only one which explains the Dharmakaya in terms of Inherent clear light, the essential nature of the mind; this would seem imply that all phenomena, samsara and nirvana, arise from this clear and luminous source. Even the New School of Translation came to the conclusion that the "state of rest" of a practitioner of the Great Yoga--Great Yoga implies here the state of the practitioner who has reached a stage in meditation where the most subtle experience of clear light has been realized--that for as long as the practitioner remains in this ultimate sphere he or she remains totally free of any sort of veil obscuring the mind, and is immersed in a state of great bliss.
We can say, therefore, that this ultimate source, clear light, is close to the notion of a Creator, since all phenomena, whether they belong to samsara or nirvana, originate therein. But we must be careful in speaking of this source, we must not be led into error. I do not mean chat there exists somewhere, there, a sort of collective clear light, analogous to the non-Buddhist concept of Brahma as a substratum. We must not be inclined to deify this luminous space. We must understand that when we speak of ultimate or inherent clear light, we are speaking on an individual level.
Likewise, when we speak of karma as the cause of the universe we eliminate the notion of a unique entity called karma existing totally independently. Rather, collective karmic impressions, accumulated individually, are at the origin of the creation of a world. When, in the tantric context, we say that all worlds appear out of clear light, we do not visualize this source as a unique entity, but as the ultimate clear light of each being. We can also, on the basis of its pure essence, understand this clear light to be the Primordial Buddha. All the stages which make up the life of each living being--death, the intermediate state, and rebirth--represent nothing more than the various manifestations of the potential of clear light. It is both the most subtle consciousness and energy. The more clear light loses its subtlety, the more your experiences take shape.
In this way, death and the intermediate state are moments where the gross manifestations emanating from clear light are reabsorbed. At death we return to that original source, and from there a slightly more gross state emerges to form the intermediate state preceding rebirth. At the stage of rebirth, clear light is apparent in a physical incarnation. At death we return to this source. And so on. The ability to recognize subtle clear light, also called the Primordial Buddha, is equivalent to realizing nirvana, whereas ignorance of the nature of clear light leaves us to wander in the different realms of samsaric existence.
This is how I understand the concept of the Primordial Buddha. It would be a grave error to conceive of it as an independent and autonomous existence from beginningless time. If we had to accept the idea of an independent creator, the explanations given in the Pramanavartika, the "Compendium of Valid Knowledge" written by Dharmakirti, and in the ninth chapter of the text by Shantideva, which completely refutes the existence per se of all phenomena, would be negated. This, in turn, would refute the notion of the Primordial Buddha. The Buddhist point of view does not accept the validity of affirmations which do not stand up to logical examination. If a sutra describes the Primordial Buddha as an autonomous entity, we must be able to interpret this assertion without taking it literally. We call this type of sutra an "interpretable" sutra.
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"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity", Albert Einstein
So, like Albert Einstein says, we do not believe in a personal God. (God/Creator with a Personality)