So, a Pratyekabuddha and a Samyaksam Buddha attains enlightenment by himself without the aid of other enlightened teachers, in that particular lifetime. But this does not mean that the pratyekabuddha has not practised in previous lifetimes --- a pratyekabuddha has also practised in previous lifetimes, and also under previous Buddhas. Similar goes to the Samyaksam Buddha like Shakyamuni Buddha. Especially for such Buddhas, they have to practise as a Bodhisattva for many many lifetimes, perfecting the Paramitas, before finally being able to attain complete Buddhahood.Originally posted by cheskiz:
Well, i sort of understand and my answers have seem to be derived but just a few final questions..Does it mean that one should not force the teaching of buhdda or wat we would call blind faith. Since we have to go through things before enlightenment. I read the articles and i arrive to the conclusion that one who have never done any bad deeds but only surpress them can never gain enlightenment or real wisdom because only through actions can we learn the truth.
So, a person who did something wrong, face the after-effects of his actions and guilt that stick onto him, then only have he learnt something. Actually, my main answer i wanna get from this thread is.
Is it never wrong to sin, its part of learning journey but why do some buhddist followers actually have dramatic reaction to things like when they see people doing bad deed or so strict on refraining from eating beef or meat. If one refrain from eating meat for sake of the teachings?, then is it right.
First of all, the practise of not eating beef is a Taoist and Hindu cultures. You are mistaking them with Buddhism.
It is true that in the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism, vegetarianism is encouraged (in contrast with Theravada Buddhism where it is less emphasized, and also the Bodhisattva path is less emphasized and the majority of practitioners in that tradition aspires for private liberation or Arhatship, not full and complete Buddhahood). It is however not meant to be forced down a person -- a practitioner of the Bodhisattva path who has great compassion will want to stop eating meat.
If you want to practise the Bodhisattva path, or the path of Mahayana, and emulate great compassions for all beings, then you should practise vegetarianism. As Buddha said, eating meat cuts off the root of compassion. If you cannot even stop eating meat, how can you develope the unconditional love and great compassion towards all beings, of a great Bodhisattva?
Anyway, I am from the Mahayana Buddhism tradition, and I am not yet a vegetarian. However, to lessen the effects of karma I try to eat only from the
Five Clean Sources of MeatNext you mentioned that is walking through a bad path necessary for our path to gain wisdom. Actually it is not necessary for everyone to experience all the negative consequences for wisdom to arise. If you have wisdom, you will not commit the faults in the first place.
That is like suggesting we should all start taking drugs and not just go by the laws, because only through taking drugs, we will succumb to addiction, and from addictions we will then learn how to rise above them and gain wisdom from it so that next time we will know how to avoid it.
This is actually valid, as in if you have not had the wisdom to know how to avoid it in the first place, then perhaps to succumb to addiction and then gain wisdom from it seems to be the only way you can 'learn'. But it does not apply to every single one, it need not be the case.
As the saying goes you do not need to try drugs to know it's harmful effect. Many of us already have the wisdom not to fall into such temptations. But for those who cannot succumb to their temptations, must be prepared to learn a heavy lesson.
The Buddha did not teach that in order to gain enlightenment, we must first commit evil and experience the effect. That is a way to learn but it is not necessary for all of us to go through that path.
The Buddha taught the 8 fold path towards Enlightenment through his own wisdom and experiences, and has lead countless people to enlightenment. This is path walked by countless practitioners before and will work for us if we walk the path and see for ourselves.
Also, you must also know that simply by avoiding evil and doing good does not mean you will gain enlightenment or liberation. I wrote before:
...What "circle" or "cycle of life and death" means in Buddhism, is that sentient beings are constantly being reborn in Samsara - the world of sufferings. They are always reborn again and again in the 6 realms of existence in samsara, according to their karma. Samsaric existence is full of pain and sufferings, even in the Human Existence we have to go through Birth, Ageing, Sickness and Death, and the eight distresses. But even if you are born in a royal family, or even in the celestial/heaven realms, samsaric pleasures are still disatisfactory because of its transiency/impermanence... and by attaching to these transient pleasures thinking they are real and truly existent, permanent, we create even more sufferings. We suffer as we do not know that all compounded phenomena are empty of inherent, permanent, separate existence... and that all arises out of conditions and are always transient. Therefore the Buddha taught that suffering and disatisfactoriness is a fundamental truth in life (i.e first noble truth), however he also teaches the cause of suffering and the solution (second, third, fourth noble truth), the path leading to the liberation from these sufferings.
Sentient beings cannot become liberated from samsara because they are tied down by the bondage of their ignorance and karmic propensities... due to an illusion of duality (means subject-object separation) or a false sense of self, sentient beings are constantly grasping on things and craving for samsaric pleasures and existence, thus undergoing never ending suffering. Not only are we being reborn lifetime are lifetime, we are constantly reborn moment after moment even in this very life. This is because of our illusion and attachment to our 'self' and our sentient thoughts (our identification and attachment to thoughts and things caused by ignorance), and the process of identification with a 'self' is continued without an ending until we attain insights and enlightenment. To gain these insights we have to practise the eightfold path in our lives.
So therefore in Buddhism, Buddha showed us the path leading to the complete ending of all sufferings, finding the abiding purity and bliss of Nirvana, to become liberated from the cycle of rebirth in Samsara. Buddha taught that the Buddhas of past and future all teach Buddhism as "avoid all evil, doing all good, and purifying the mind". Most religions only teach "avoid all evil and doing all good", but only Buddhism teaches about liberation and the purification of the mind. The problem with just "avoiding all evil and doing all good" is that as a result we accumulate a lot of good karma and avoid creating bad karma, meaning we can be reborn in the higher realms or even the celestial realms like the heavens, however we still cannot attain nirvana, we cannot be liberated from the cycle of samsara.. and our enjoyment in these higher realms are also limited and transient. Similarly as described just now even if our lives are very good, there is still bound to be unsatisfactoriness and sufferings.. if we cannot be liberated moment to moment. Therefore when we practise Buddhism, also we practise purification of the mind... through mindfulness we become aware of and disidentify from all our sentient thoughts, our habitual tendencies of the mind, the afflictive emotions and so on due to identification with a false sense of self, and the identification is also known as the false 'ego'. Our Buddha Nature is like a clear mirror, our pure awareness, which unfortunately is obscured from us because of a layer of dust, or mental defilements. Through Buddhism we clean the mirror of its defilements to reveal the clear bright mirror underneath. Therefore through practising Buddhism we gain insights into the nature of reality, the nature of our minds, our Buddha Nature, and through awakening from our delusions we find the nirvanic bliss of clarity and liberation from all sufferings in our lives...