Originally posted by ¡ÚTearsofTheMoon¡Ú:
Woah, relaxz guys, i just saying that i have friends all always come rushing telling me that bla bla they had saw ghost, well but i have never saw friends come telling me they saw buddhis?...how they are related was i though budhism were the one ghost afraid of?...
First of all, usually when Buddhism speaks of 'Buddha', who is he? He is not a spirit, not a god or a deity. He is an Awakened/Enlightened Being. The Buddha we know is a real person that existed 2500 years ago in India, he attained enlightenment at the age of 35, and taught the dharma (the Teachings that lead humanity to Enlightenment, Liberation, and Bliss) for the next 49 years to the masses. A Buddha is even higher than a celestial being (a being from Heaven), much less a spirit, which belongs to the lower realms.
Now what is a spirit or a ghost? A spirit or ghost belongs to the 3 lower realms. In Buddhism, there are 6 realms of existences, what are they?
3 Higher Realms: Heaven, Humans, Asura realm
3 Lower Realms: Animals, Spirit/Ghost, Hell realm
According to an individual's karma, he will be reborn in the respective realms in the afterlife. Why do people sometimes see ghost? There are some people who have the ability to see ghost, it could be because they are ghost themselves in their past life, or sometimes the ghosts let the people see them.
Do you mean people see ghost but never see Buddhas?
In reality, Buddha is omnipresent and all pervading, it is beyond forms, the Buddha would not appear all of a sudden to you because this will get people attached to forms and appearances. However Buddha Nature is in fact our very essence, without Buddha Nature we would not have existed, in a very simple analogy - without space, things cannot exist.
Since our Buddha Nature is already wholly complete, but only temporarily obscured due to our ignorance, we need to purify our minds and realise our true nature which is one with the Buddhas. This is truly 'Seeing the Buddha', not just seeing his image or statue. Seeing the Buddha, one experiences the highest bliss of life, without seeing Buddha, we are forever trapped in the misery of cyclical sufferings of samsara. And I can also assure you, there are still many people nowadays who have 'Seen the Buddha' in its truest sense. Therefore if we want to see the Buddha, we have to learn the Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha), and then practise it. You may start from
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/basic-guide.htmhttp://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol7no4c.htmAll forms are illusionsBuddhism is truly detached from idols
People who think that Buddhism is the worshipping of an image of the Buddha, or that the Buddha is somebody whom we can appeal to for favours, should know of two very profound verses from the Diamond Sutra that contradict these popular beliefs. To the intellectual, they can lay to rest the suspicion that Buddhism is superstition. To those who are used to praying for divine intervention, they can become self reliant through their own virtuous karma.It is stated in the Diamond Sutra, “He who sees me (Buddha) in forms or seeks me in sounds is on a heterodox path and cannot see the Tathagata (Buddha).” It further states that, “All forms are but illusions, in seeing that all forms are illusory, one sees the Tathagata”. It is only when we have attained a certain advanced level in the learning and practising of Buddhism that we will be able to understand the profound meaning of these verses. If you were to tell a person who has just started to learn Buddhism that learning Buddhism is like these verses, then he would find them too profound. He would not be able to make out what Buddha is like. Of course, he knows what human beings are like and quite naturally he will assume that only those who are similar in form to human beings are Buddhas. We can say that this is correct, but we can also say that this is wrong. For example, kindergarten teachers may use drawings of an old man and old woman when teaching the young children about grandfathers and grandmothers. Thereafter, when the children see other old folks in such resemblance they know that they are someone else’s grandparents. But, to university students it would be inappropriate for professors to use the same approach when talking about such blood relationships.
It is the same in learning Buddhism. When we encourage a new student of Buddhism to pay respect to the Buddha in the temple or monastery, he will not be frightened when he sees that the Buddha is the same as a human being. At the same time, when he sees that the Buddha and Bodhisattva images are so dignified and compassionate, it will give rise to a feeling of joy and reverence and lead him to learn Buddhism.
Often we come across people who have been learning Buddhism for a long time saying that they saw this Buddha or that Bodhisattva in their dreams. Initially, when we do not know about their level of understanding of Buddhism, we may praise them by saying, “Oh! You have such good affinity with Buddha and Bodhisattva that you can even see their images!” But it is wrong if we always praise them like this. If they report dreams like this for more then 3 times, you have to tell them, “The Mara is here, you have seen the Mara! All the Zen masters advise to obliterate the Buddha when the Buddha appears, and obliterate the Mara when the Mara appears [1].” We cannot praise them any more because they have already developed an attachment to forms.
In the same way, when we are dealing with people who are already advanced in Buddhism, we should use the method of the
Diamond Sutra rather than the kindergarten method:
“He who sees me (Buddha) in forms or seeks me in sounds is on a heterodox path and cannot see the Tathagata (Buddha).”
“All forms are but illusions, in seeing that all forms are illusory, one sees the Tathagata.”At this level, people will realize that Buddhism is the only religion that eradicates superstition and attachment to all forms.
Critics often say that the Buddha image is an idol. They criticize that Buddhism worships idols. In reality, the cross, the Jesus Christ image and Mother Mary, they are also idols. In this sense, is there a religion that does not worship idols? Therefore, we cannot say that Buddhism is the only religion that worships idols. The fact is that only Buddhism does not worship idols. The Diamond Sutra states, “All forms are but illusions, in seeing that all forms are illusory, one sees the Tathagata.”!
The essence of the Buddha, the Buddha Nature is omnipresent in the space of the Dharma realm, and the Dharma Nature is omnipresent in the space.
Notes:
1. To ignore and not to be attached to such forms;. Mara is the Evil One, described as a murderer, hinderer, disturber, destroyer, etc.
