Mahâsthâmaprâpta reincarnated as Jesus Christ?
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buddha is the highest stage in human enlightenment.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:In Buddhism, Buddha is the highest. One that attains complete and perfect enlightened, and freed from samsara.
Even though the stage of Buddhahood seems "high", actually, every one us have the potential to be Buddha. Why? Because our Buddha Nature is complete and perfect. We have just yet to discover it.
but there is a higher being out there. higher than human. of course the general public likes to call this being, GOD. -
Pls read: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel414.htmlOriginally posted by dragg:buddha is the highest stage in human enlightenment.
but there is a higher being out there. higher than human. of course the general public likes to call this being, GOD.
Teacher of the Devas
Contents
* I. Introduction
* II. The Buddha Teaches Deities
* III. Devas and Brahmas Honor the Buddha
* IV. The Role of Devas in the Buddha's Career
* V. Liberation for Humans, Devas, and Brahmas
* Notes
* Abbreviations
* Bibliography
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Then you may ask. If there is such a thing called God in Buddhism. Usually I would say: No, there is no personal being called the Creator in Buddhism.
But in terms of higher truth, there is what some people called 'God'... but God is not a personal being.
The second way in which a Creator appears is as the Dharmakaya Buddha. The Dharmakaya Buddha is the Truth-body or Reality-body of the Buddha. We are no longer speaking about an individualized man or woman, nor are we even talking about a pantheistic concept such as "Nature" or "Being." The Dharmakaya Buddha is the unfathomable mystical reality without which there would be no true nature of reality. In this sense, it is the ground or "creator" of all beings and things. It is the basis of the process of causes and conditions, but it is also beyond the process as well. That is because causes and conditions are merely the phenomenal aspect of the Dharmakaya. In other words, it is the Dharmakaya as experienced by our finite minds and senses. Now the Dharmakaya is not a being or person, but it is not impersonal either. It defies any and all such categories, but one could say that the Dharmakaya becomes personal in and through us and our interactions with each other and the world that we live in. In this way, the Dharmakaya becomes very personal through the manifestation of individuals like Shakyamuni and also as a loving spiritual presence underlying our every experience and especially in our own awakenings and acts of compassion. In Mahayana Buddhism this is discussed in terms of the three bodies of the Buddha. Buddha-nature is another term for the Dharmakaya in terms of its presence in our lives.
But if I seldom use this term because firstly, Buddhism does not use this term, secondly, many people may mistake it to be an ultimate being or entity, which is not the nature of "God" (dharmakaya buddha).
If one were to think of God as a supreme figure or being or deity, that will be falling under the fault of believing the Maha Brahma: How the Brahma believed He was God?
There has been some discussions on this already, previously: http://buddhism.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=155488&page=1
The mystics from the Judaist faiths like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc etc, also share rather rather similar view here. Most mystics however fail to completely comprehend the truth of emptiness, although they may have the glimpse of buddha nature. -
you're mixing christianity or other monotheistic religions with Buddhism u noeOriginally posted by dragg:buddha is the highest stage in human enlightenment.
but there is a higher being out there. higher than human. of course the general public likes to call this being, GOD. -
did buddha ever say anything about GOD?Originally posted by laurence82:you're mixing christianity or other monotheistic religions with Buddhism u noe
not nececessarily other religions. -
huh?Originally posted by dragg:did buddha ever say anything about GOD?
not nececessarily other religions.
wait wait, you keep harping on the fact there is a higher being, knowing the Buddha didnt say anything abt it or Buddhism dont subscribe to this?
So which is which? -
did you ever read anything about buddha saying anything about GOD?Originally posted by laurence82:huh?
wait wait, you keep harping on the fact there is a higher being, knowing the Buddha didnt say anything abt it or Buddhism dont subscribe to this?
So which is which? -
(continued from previous post)
God as the omnipresent essence:
There is a very very old Christian/Catholic tradition. Earlier than the Protestants or the Roman Catholics. It's called White Robed Monks of St. Benedict. http://www.wrmosb.org/default.html
They are also a mystical, contemplative tradition of Christianity. They even practise Zazen with Zen monks!
The Monks, in the traditional spirit of Benedictine hospitality, offer without question the Word and Sacraments to everyone who requests them. The Monks appreciate that Jesus never really said No to anyone and had only two commandments: Love God, Love Neighbor. (Matt 22:37-40, Jn 15:17)Maitaining simplicity, they are neither institutionalized nor bureaucratic. Given their monastic orientation, they appreciate God through the eyes of the early Church rather than an institutional church. They are an independent Catholic jurisdiction in the tradition of the Old Catholic Church (Brief History of the Old Catholic Church). Their clergy come from the Roman and other Catholic jurisdictions. Their general purpose is to let the world be a more compassionate place inviting peace and joy.
I will only quote some parts of Christian Mysticism:
http://members.aol.com/heraklit1/eckhart.htm
God is one.
God is pure oneness, being free of any accretive multiplicity of distinction even at a conceptual level. [Divine Consolation]
There is neither distinction in God nor in the Persons of the Trinity according to the unity of their nature. The divine nature is one, and each Person is both One and the same One as God's nature. [On the Noble Man]
God is in everything.
God is infinite in his simplicity and simple in his infinity. Therefore he is everywhere and is everywhere complete. He is everywhere on account of his infinity, and is everywhere complete on account of his simplicity. Only God flows into all things, their very essences. Nothing else flows into something else. God is in the innermost part of each and every thing, only in its innermost part. [Sermon LW XXIX]
The One descends into everything and into each single things, yet remaining the One that unites what is distinct. [Sermon LW XXIX]
God . . . is the being of all beings. [Sermon LW XXIX]
All creatures are one with God.
All things are contained in the One, by virtue of the fact that it is one. for all multiplicity is one, and is one thing, and is in and through the One. . . The One is not distinct from all things. Therefore all things in the fullness of being are in the One by virtue of its indistinction and unity. [Sermon LW XXIX]
When we know creatures in God, then that is called a `morning knowledge,' and in this way we see creatures without any distinctions, stripped of images and likeness in the Oneness which God himself is. [On the Noble Man]
It sounds familiar to the teachings of Buddhism and Taoism (particularly the Tao Te Ching). Similarly, the Islam Sufi contemplative tradition -
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http://members.aol.com/heraklit1/ibnarabi.htm
Oneness and uniqueness of God.
Praise be to God, before whose oneness there was not a before, unless the before were He, and after whose singleness there is not an after, except the after be He. He is, and there is with Him no after nor before, nor above nor below, nor far nor near, nor union nor division.[TB]
For He will not have anything to be other than He. Indeed, the other is He, and there is no otherness.[TB]
God is all things.
The Cosmos is His form. The forms of the Cosmos are the manifest Reality, He being the manifest. He is also their inner essence, being also the unmanifest. He is the first, since He was when they were not, and also the Last, since in their manifestation He is the Essence. [BW X]
The eye perceives naught but Him. We are in His presence at all times, in all states. [BW X]
God is essentially all things. He permeates through all beings created and originated. [BW X]
He is Being itself, the Essence of Being, He is the Preserver of all. In preserving all things, He is preserving His form, lest anything should assume a form other than His Form, which is not possible. [BW X]
The existence of all created things is His existence. Thou dost not see, in this world or the next, anything beside God. [TB]
God is observer and observed.
He is the observer in the observer, and the observed in the observed. [BW X] None sees Him, save Himself. None perceives Him, save Himself. By Himself he sees Himself, and by Himself he knows Himself. His Veil is part of his Oneness; nothing veils other than he. . . His Prophet is he, and his sending is He, and His word is He.[TB]
The knower and that which he knows are both one, and he who unites and that with which he unites are one, and seer and seen are one. [TB]
Identity of self and God.
Thou art not thou: thou art He. Thou never wast nor wilt be, Thou art neither ceasing to be nor still existing. Thou art He. [TB]
Thou art not what is beside God. Thou art thine own end and thine own object in thy search after thy Lord. [TB]
He who knows himself understands that his existence is not his own existence, but his existence is the existence of God. [TB] -
who's the higher being out there????Originally posted by dragg:true that all buddhas are equal. but there a higher being out there.
An Eternal Now, did u get my msg on MSN ? -
i dont know.Originally posted by gamesharkuser:who's the higher being out there???? -
Originally posted by longchen:
If God can be described, then it is not uncreated. If God can be percieved, then how can it be the One?
'God' can only be understood in non-duality, when there is no two. Even the term 'God' is the mind giving the uncreated a name.
In another word, what we call 'God' cannot be a thing or entity.
First, there is only pure awareness ( Buddha nature, 'God', Tao). IT is straight-line forward focus. Straight line cannot know itself because it is moving in a straight line forward. Parallel lines cannot meet.
Something occurs, pure awareness archs and sees itself in the reflection. The reflection is the sense of existence (I AM). Now, there is duality, awareness aware of awareness. This is the part that give us the sense of 'I exists'.
Next, more and more encasement wrap around creating more and more reflections. These are the minds that are related to our incarnational consciousness, such as mental thoughts, emotions, sense consciousness.
However, all along there is only pure awareness fooling itself. This foolish of itself is call Samsara. -
Oops, too busy posting did not see your message. lolOriginally posted by gamesharkuser:who's the higher being out there????
An Eternal Now, did u get my msg on MSN ? -
btw i am sure you go the temple for class right?
why dont you ask the fashi about the guanyin thing? -
All Fa Shi knows that Guan Yin is from Buddhism.Originally posted by dragg:btw i am sure you go the temple for class right?
why dont you ask the fashi about the guanyin thing?
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frankly, they verbally told you or you read online or from books?Originally posted by An Eternal Now:All Fa Shi knows that Guan Yin is from Buddhism.
i really read from a book from the library. -
Originally posted by _wanderer_:
Indeed the Buddha is not a God (as in personal being God in heaven). However, the Buddha is the teacher of gods and men. He has perfected wisdom and compassion (methods) and is able to help himself and others to attain Nirvana - a state of Enlightenment that is beyond the pain of dualism.
What is dualism? It is the fixated concepts of good/bad, high/low; it is fixation, rigidity, grasping, attachment.
"Heaven is good/desirable and hell is bad/scary." These are dualistic notions, which the Buddha has seen their nature as impermanent, dissatisfactory and painful. Whether one is born in heaven, hell or any other realm, one's existence ensures that one will experience the dukkha of birth, old age, sickness, death and so forth.
Gods are not of higher rank than the Buddha and cannot be, for Gods, like us, are tied by the ignorance of dualism. They are still happy about existence, about getting what they want, and scared about death, angry/unhappy when they don't get what they want. They are swayed by changing conditions and hence are not free. [P/S: Look at how the Christian God describes himself to be a Jealous God; and the stories of how local Chinese deities get angry over their devotees...]
The Buddha, on the other hand, is beyond dualism, beyond birth and death, beyond the 6 realms of rebirth, beyond happiness/sadness, beyond good/bad. Thus, attaining Buddhahood is the ultimate liberation and is beyond comparison. -
ask about guanyin thing??? guanyin is origin from buddhism mahOriginally posted by dragg:btw i am sure you go the temple for class right?
why dont you ask the fashi about the guanyin thing?
singaporeans knowledge about buddhism very poor lor, alot people say guanyin & di zang wang from daoism or other religions, u can see guanyin & di zang wand in daoism temple -.- -
The book you borrowed probably isn't reliable seriously. There are plenty of unreliable books out there.Originally posted by dragg:frankly, they verbally told you or you read online or from books?
i really read from a book from the library.
You can search the internet (buddhist sources), or ask Fa Shi, in any way, you will know that Guan Yin comes from Buddhism -
Yah, Taoist temples (actually more to the chinese folks practise side) often adopt other bodhisattvas from Buddhism.Originally posted by gamesharkuser:ask about guanyin thing??? guanyin is origin from buddhism mah
singaporeans knowledge about buddhism very poor lor, alot people say guanyin & di zang wang from daoism or other religions, u can see guanyin & di zang wand in daoism temple -.- -
nvm la, wait for u got time u go lend the book again den scan give us see lor..Originally posted by dragg:frankly, they verbally told you or you read online or from books?
i really read from a book from the library.
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Im sorry, but Satan doesnt exist.Originally posted by maggot:Might as well that you said Satan committed suicide and reincarnated into this world
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No. thats why i am asking u the relevance of the talks of a higher being in Buddhism.Originally posted by dragg:did you ever read anything about buddha saying anything about GOD?
Duhhh -
eh, this coming from u, i got to go hmmmmmOriginally posted by shade343:Im sorry, but Satan doesnt exist. -
Similarly, Adam and Eve doesnt exist to.Originally posted by laurence82:eh, this coming from u, i got to go hmmmmm Its all a story. -
i will look for the book and provide the title and author when i find it. i dont have a scannerOriginally posted by gamesharkuser:nvm la, wait for u got time u go lend the book again den scan give us see lor.. ....