Christian evangelists thrive due to disinterested Buddhists
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When one feels he has climbed the ladder of emptiness, he will still need to descend to earth to live the life of an ordinary folk.
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When one simply is - one lives both ends of the spectrum - yes, articulated very well!
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It is fair that we also ask what can we do for Buddhism, rather than only what Buddhism can do for us
Just an opinion for the discussion
This above sounds reasonable and proper in Buddhism and most important - the attainment. Buddhism can't possibly do anything without faith, comprehend, practice and attainment as it's non-discriminative from sentient beings' pristine nature or Thusness. Buddha Sakyamuni who is sentient beings' senior (and many other seniors as well) who had attained before sentient beings, is delivering His enlightenment in the form of dharma lecture on various means of meditation practices to recover one's Thusness such as Pureland, Zen, Esoteric, sutra chanting, sutra exploration and dharma lectures, in which, more emphasise is on dharma lectures in respective sects of Buddhism, so to achieve the desired objective of one's beautiful nature of loving-kindness, compassion cum serenity in daily living. Student of the enlightened one should react objectively based on benevolence towards any attempts to discriminate against Buddhism, which in the end of sutra stated è�žä½›æ‰€èªªï¼Œæ¡å–œä¿¡å�—，作禮而去. This is crucial to a peaceful and harmonious life for individual and its surrounding especially the nation that one has temporarily live in this Saha world. And it is not the result of evangelism, but the result of one's peaceful lovely and free of conflict, benelovent and charitable towards other living beings based on the truth of compssionate serenity. As a matter of fact, all sentient beings would one day comprehend and attain the level the same as Buddha Sakyamuni when condition is ripen - it may not necessarily in one short lifespan. Thus, be patient, be benvolence, be forebearance, be harmony and be peace, and with this preparedness of true understanding in heart, attainment is a step closer to reality. The process of evangelism in Buddhism is done naturally and harmoniously based on condition (yuan) and one's compassionate serenity - it comes and goes, without restriction and coercion, and it also share the bliss with one that has more valuable objective other than Buddhism. Eventually, it will reunite to the quality of Thusness.
There shall be no distinction, no regard to male or female, good or bad. exalted or lowly; none shall fail to be in his land of purity after having called, with complete faith, on Amida Buddha - Honen Shonin
I vow that when my life approaches its end, all obstacles will be swept away; I will see Amitabha Buddha, And be borh in his Land of Ultimate Bliss and Peace. When reborn in the Western Land, I will perfect and completely fulfill , Without exception these Great Vows, To delight and benefit all being - Realms of world in empty space might reach an end, And living beings, karma and afflictions be extingusihed; But they will never be exhausted, And neither will my vows - The Vows of Samantabhadra
Amitofo -
Firstly, i think we need to understand what is going on in there region in order to help others. Secondly, we have put our idea into plan and plan into action. Thirdly, always refer to the Triple Gems when in doubts.
Buddhism can be perceived as Dynamic or Passive.
There is this article
We always have a choice to do something about it.. to help others who need our help.
To help Buddhism continue to flourish in this Dharma-Declining era, We have to set a good example ourselves - for example to keep our precepts well, to support sangha communtity, meditate and in a zen way - to keep our practice alive in our daily life in our speech, action and thought. Then we can set a good example to others, to our social circle and hopefully influence the world.. in a good, kind and wise way.
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Here is a noteworthy comment on religious conversion from the Dalai Lama.
“Change of religion may be easy but it is very bad and creates confusion,’’ the Dalai Lama said...... The Tibetan spiritual leader cited a few instances of people living in emotional conflict after conversion. It would be “safer” for an individual, particularly in India to follow his/her own religion and adhere to it. However, the Dalai Lama said that by sticking to a religion, one should develop the respect and tolerance towards other religions for socio-religious harmony in society …….The Dalai Lama did not elaborate further as to what these confusion and emotional conflict are. But one can perhaps have some ideas what these may be. Imagine the shock and confusion in the minds especially of the older adults, when they are told that they have to discard age old practices and values, change their outlook, way of life and thinking because it does not conform to the teaching of the new religion. This would be the case especially in instants of force conversion. For the younger generations it may be easier to adjust to such changes more readily. But on the downside we can expect to see a future generation of ‘lost’ people without any roots as age old traditions would also likely to be destroyed as well.
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廣公開示錄
一ä¹�七三年八月二å��ä¹�日徒：師父ï¼�我è¦�皈ä¾�ã€‚å¸«ï¼šä½ ä¸�是早皈ä¾�é�Žäº†ï¼Ÿï¼ˆè¨»ï¼šå�¯èƒ½æŒ‡å‰�生多世。）徒：沒有。徒：（皈ä¾�畢，徒æ��有所é™�制）師父ï¼�有……（什麼é™�制？）師：無æ¢�件ï¼�ç„¡æ¢�件ï¼�å�ƒæ—©é½‹å°±å¥½å•¦ï¼�
一ä¹�七三年，有信徒請師開示。師：è�¬ç‰©æœ‰ç”Ÿæœ‰æ»…，å�ªæœ‰é€™ï¼ˆæŒ‡é ）é�ˆå…‰ï¼ˆé�ˆæ€§ï¼‰æ˜¯ä¸�生ä¸�滅。
一ä¹�七三年，有人隨一群信徒見師，見到眾徒拜師，甚ä¸�æœ�，é�¢ç�¾æ€’容。客：出家人有什麼好拜的ï¼�拿出一點錢給寺廟，就å�¯ä½�一輩å�，ä¸�å¿…å�šäº‹ã€‚師：我這è£�沒有這樣的事，別的地方或許有。在這è£�è¦�修苦行，有錢也ä¸�一定能來我這è£�ä½�。（師作æ¤èªžæ™‚，雙手顫抖。æ¤äººåœ¨è‰æžœè€…å‰�誹謗出家人，當墮惡é�“ï¼Œå¸«å› æ¤æ‚²æ†«ã€‚）
一ä¹�七三年，請å•�關於å��禪的事。師：打å��很å�±éšªï¼Œèªªå¢®è�½å°±å¢®è�½ï¼�念佛最好，會開智慧。一ä¹�七三年æŸ�日，有客來訪，見到è€�和尚，僅點點é ，未拜佛亦未拜師。客：師父å�¥åº·å�¦ï¼Ÿå¸«ï¼šå¥½ã€‚客：山間清é�œï¼Œç©ºæ°£å¥½ã€‚師：是。（客人è¾å‡ºå¾Œï¼‰å¸«ï¼šä»–是一貫é�“。徒：他沒說，您怎會知é�“？師：哪里需è¦�ä»–é–‹å�£ã€‚
一ä¹�å…«å…年，師年ä¹�å��五æ²
師瞻視清澈，定é�œå®‰ç¥¥ï¼Œå…¨ç„¡ç•°ç‹€ï¼Œåƒ…囑弟å�們å�Œè�²å¿µä½›ã€‚å�ˆå¾ŒäºŒæ™‚，告大眾曰：「無來亦無去，沒有事。ã€�並å�‘å¾’çœ¾é ·é¦–èŽžçˆ¾ï¼�閉目安å��ã€‚å°‘é ƒï¼�眾見師ä¸�動，乃趨å‰�細察，知師已於念佛è�²ä¸å®‰ç„¶åœ“寂矣ï¼� -
Amitayus48.....
I am curious about your above comment in Mandarin, unfortunately, I am not literate in Mandarin. Can you translate it into English? Thanks.
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One can spread one's ''worldly'' riches more and more and
more, one can spread one's empire of political
domination, another can spread one's religious empire -
but it is all the same! The desire is to manipulate, to dominate more and more people. Is not this politics behind the cloak of religiosity?
One who has understanding or enlightened (awake) has no need for a power trip! Woeful sobriquet - Pious Egoism. -
Thanks Fugazzi for your translation.
Agreed with the translated comment, that is, when motives are look at in term of personal gain. We do see many instants of so called religious leaders using the cloak of religions to built empires to get rich, to manipulate and dominate people. This has cause a lot of pessimism and doubts about religions. But there is also another dimension in religion. It is from the angle of altruism, which is what Buddhism taught us. That should be the first and foremost thought in our minds and that is why the virtue of compassion is so central in the Buddhist teaching.
To be able grow this virtue in our mind, we should first try to look at others in a more positive light, otherwise there is a possibility that doubt will surface and we will always be questioning other peoples’ motives, and compassion will always be just that, a feeling in our heart and no more.
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Just want to clarify... what Fugazzi was not translating what Amitayus48 typed in Chinese.
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Oops! Thanks for the clarification, zero thought.
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Hi TC,
Not very good in translation -)
The above is the extract from the collection of Master Venerable Guang Qin answering the questions of students. Master Venerable Guang Qin has attained enlightenment at a certain high level.
A student wanted to take refuge in the triple jewels. To his surprise, Guang Qin said that he has been already taken refuge before, in which he replied no (from author who was there: probably referring to past lives!!). After taken refuge, he asked Master whether is there any restriction. Master replied is yes and mentioned to him that it is "unconditional ! unconditional!" and then complimented his cultivation at such an early stage. (my guess is that the refuge is referring to the last dharma lecture of the below mentioned)
Another student asked Master for enlightenment advice - Master said - all sentient beings have its beginning and ending, but its nature is in pristine absolute condition free from all impermanence.
There was a person who followed this group of students to meet the Master, and saw the students prostrated at the Master, and felt against this respect and angry over it. This person said : Why prostrate at those renounced ! Just offered some money to the monastery and you could live in for the entire life without the need to work there. Master said that there was no such matter in this monastery, probably at other place. Master added that the monastery is engaged with ascetic practice, even those wealthy may not neccessarily able to enjoy living there.
There was this guess who went to visit and just nodding head when met the Master. Neither did the guess showing respect by prostating the Buddha statue nor the Master, and asked the Master : Is master healthy? Master said - fine. Guess asked: the monastery is serene and air is refreshing. Master said yes. When the guess left the place, Master said that he is student of the "consistence way" (一貫�). Student then asked the Master, how did he know that he is from 一貫�. Master said : that's no need for him to utter out.
During his last breath at the age of 95 years old in 1986, his last dharma lecture to his student : Neither coming nor going, no worry as there is nothing occurring.Amitofo
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Hi Amitayus48, thanks for your translation.
The essence of Chan teaching is elaborated nicely in your translation. It may sound paradoxical, but Chan teaching is precisely frame that way. Its aim is to take out the logical and intellectual thoughts out of our mental loop, so that we can become more aware and realise the Buddha-nature in us, achieving enlightenment by seeing our original mind without the intervention of the intellect.
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I've read the article and feels the onus is with the local authorities, they should catalog the list of atrocities of National Council of Nagaland and identify them a Christian fundalmentalist and get them listed as a terrorist organisation.
Once listed as terrorist organisation, funding can be cut and activities curtailed.
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Yes, the onus is with the local authorities, but it looks like they may not have the means or the wills to enforce their findings, otherwise the local Buddhists there would not have to write and appeal directly to the Indian Prime Minister for assistance.
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Originally posted by Aik TC:
Yes, the onus is with the local authorities, but it looks like they may not have the means or the wills to enforce their findings, otherwise the local Buddhists there would not have to write and appeal directly to the Indian Prime Minister for assistance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_Council_of_Nagaland
http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/nagaland/terrorist_outfits/nscn_im.htm
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It's M�ra at work...
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The area in which the Buddhists are facing problem of force conversion sits near the northern border of Myanmar and also the northern part of the Indian State of Nagaland. The insurgents from Nagaland serve as a useful tool for the missionaries to achieve their objective of proselytising the local Buddhists community.
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Originally posted by Aik TC:
The area in which the Buddhists are facing problem of force conversion sits near the northern border of Myanmar and also the northern part of the Indian State of Nagaland. The insurgents from Nagaland serve as a useful tool for the missionaries to achieve their objective of proselytising the local Buddhists community.
There may be discrimination against these people that is exacerbating the problem, if look at the photos, they do not look Indian. Neglect, discrimination and exploitation, due to different race, cultural differences,social disparity, etc.
People like them are often marginalized.
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Many religions are encroaching on Buddhism, the belief itself is transforming itself into a more modern easy to apply "formula"
This blog attests to that...
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Originally posted by Middleway:
It's M�ra at work...
The 11th army of mara:
http://www.interactivebuddha.com/eleventharmy.shtml
The Eleventh Army of Mara
In the Introduction to the Jataka, or "birth stories" of the Buddha, it says that the Buddha sat under the Bodhi Tree in powerful, one-pointed meditation, resisted the 10 armies of Mara, perceived the truth of things, and attained to full and un-excelled awakening. For those of you not familiar with standard Buddhist icons, Mara is the personification of the temptation of the world, the lord of all that is impermanent, simultaneously a satanic and trickster figure who does his very best to thwart those who would escape from his dominion and go beyond birth and death. During the heroic struggle of the Buddha on that day, he transforms and overcomes a great number of assaults by Mara and his armies through his steadiness on the Ten Perfections. The Ten Perfections can be translated a number of ways, and I list them as generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolute determination, loving-kindness, and equanimity.
These assaults by the Armies of Mara in the story are relatively fantastic, and while quite a mythologized and anthropomorphized bit of work still makes for fun reading. They consist of a whirlwind, a great rain-storm, showers of flaming rocks, weapons and hot ashes, sand, and mud, profound darkness, and a great discus hurled from a huge elephant. The Buddha was steady in his contemplation, deeply rooted in the Ten Perfections, having perfected his karma and mind for countless lifetimes before. Through the power of his actions and abilities, these assaults were transformed into flowers, celestial ointment, and the like.
Later on, the Ten Armies of Mara came to be listed as: 1) sensual pleasures, 2) discontent, 3) hunger and thirst, 4) craving, 5) sloth and torpor, 6) fear, 7) doubt, 8) conceit and ingratitude, 9) gain, renown, honor and falsely received fame, 10) self-exaltation and dispararaging others. These are now useful guidelines for difficulties that must be avoided when possible and seen as they are for meditators to progress on the path of wisdom. They tend to occur in roughly that order, cycling as does everything else. No eleventh army is listed.
However, it says in Sutta #26 of the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha that soon after the Buddha's enlightenment, it occurred to him that there was no one else that could understand what he had understood. He thought to himself that this dharma was too profound, too subtle, too against the worldly tide, and too difficult. Teaching it would only cause him trouble, as it would be to a generation obsessed with lust and hate, mired in worldliness, incapable of understanding it. And so he decided to keep quiet.
There are other texts that say that it was Mara who came to the Buddha and said to him basically, "Alright, you win. You have gone beyond birth, death, and my realm. Who will understand what you have to teach? Who else can do this? Who will believe you? Nobody." The Buddha, as we have said, agreed without qualification. This I call the 11th Army of Mara, Mara's last temptation, the temptation to keep quiet. The 11th Army of Mara consists of the vast and profound difficulties those who are realized face in describing, explaining, and promoting real liberating insights.
The story continues in its typical style. The great Brahma Sahampati, a relatively high god, understood through his powerful mind that the Buddha had attained to full awakening and yet chosen silence and inaction. This was surprising considering that the Buddha had vowed to attain to that which was beyond birth and death so as to liberate all beings. The Brahma Sahampati appeared to the Buddha and begged him to teach the dharma so that those with little dust in their eyes might see. The story goes that he asked the Buddha to look at the world and see that there were in fact a few who would understand what he had to teach. The Buddha used his psychic powers to survey the world, and indeed he saw that he had been wrong, that there were a few who would understand, whose faculties were keen, whose eyes were only barely clouded. So, he wandered off in search of them and he found some of them. He taught them, they understood, and those teachings have been passed down in a direct line of practitioners that has lasted over 2,500 years.
While the ancient and modern commentators go to great lengths to rationalize why this was all part of the plan, that the Buddha just pretended to not want to teach for various reasons, I take a different, perhaps more cautious and probably realistic view. If we look at what happened as the Buddha tried to go and teach the dharma, we must admit that it was a long, difficult road. He had profound family problems, logistical problems, ran into bandits, had numerous conflicts with opposing sects as well as within his own order. People tried to kill him, his own order fractured at points because of extreme sects and views, people made power plays to take over the order, and so on and so forth. At one point he got so frustrated with his monks that he left them on their own for the whole three month rains retreat and went to be in the forest by himself.
Due to the continued bad and foolish behavior of his monks and nuns in the last 25 years of his teaching, he laid down the kind of restrictive rules usually reserved for vile dictatorships run by raving nut-cases. Clearly he did so reluctantly, as there were no such rules for the first 20 years of the order. The point here being that even for the Buddha, whose teaching ability was clearly of the rarest variety and who had an unduplicated knack for helpful and precise conceptual frameworks, there was nothing easy at all about spreading the dharma.
It is worth remembering that that however mythologized we feel the Buddha was, clearly he as a completely astounding person. He met his struggles with spectacular reserves of intellect, wisdom, stamina and determination. Few of us are so blessed, and the difficulties we face are largely the same as those faced by the Buddha.
I will now begin a short list of basic difficulties faced in trying to spread the dharma by those who know it for themselves. I list them in no particular order. The downside is that I have no great solutions to these problems, but as the AA kids say, admitting you have a problem is the first step.
One of the most profound difficulties in supporting liberating insights is the difficulty in language. It simply cannot explain realization, though it can point to techniques that make it much more likely. Real insight goes beyond the conceptual frameworks of the dualistic mind. Anything you say about it is only partly true at best. The smarter the practitioner, the more frustrating they may find dharma language. The approximately 50% of adults who do not even have the capacity for formal abstract thinking will likely consider you very crazy, intimidating, or at best something to be avoided.
On a related note, if you actually are enlightened, then what is so glaringly obvious to you simply isn't to everybody else, and the longer you have seen it, the stranger it becomes that everyone else doesn't see it also. It can become harder and harder to remember what it was like to sit down on a cushion and not even be able to attain the first jhana, much less cycle effortlessly from the 4th to 16th ñanas. For those who have attained arahatship, the luminosity and centerlessness of perspective becomes such a natural part of one's perception that is seems incredible that it was ever otherwise.
On the flip side of the same coin, one may remember the profound struggles, the thousands of hours of back and knee pain, the extreme subtlety of perception needed, the endless stretching of one's perceptual thresholds, and the relentless determination and tolerance for pain and one's own humanity that was required to finally see it. We may remember the spent vacation time, financial difficulties, relationship issues, logistical complexities and difficulties with teachers and fellow meditators that are often necessary to endure for long retreats and extended daily practice. We may marvel that we were able to do it at all, much less imagine anyone else actually giving up all that they might have to give up and face all that they might have to face to do it. Are we really going to go around shaking people out of their cozy little lives for something we can't even explain?
That brings me to the question of audience. At any given time and place, there are only a handful at best that are ready to hear deep dharma and then convert that knowledge into liberating practice. This was true in the time of the Buddha and continues to be true today. Even among monks and nuns, you will not find many that are enlightened or even aspire to actually be enlightened in this lifetime.
Your best shot is those who have already crossed the Arising and Passing Away, though the complexities of the Dark Night can give them such a complex love-hate relationship to practice and dharma that you may not be able to reach them at all, or perhaps not until they have seasoned in it for years. You may never reach them, as they may not resonate with your personality, teaching style, or your own conceptual and linguistic baggage. You may not even be able to find them, though if you hang out some sort of shingle you will likely cross paths with at least a couple.
Meditation groups are flourishing around the country. You can find them in any mid-sized to larger city, and occasionally in more rural areas in more liberal parts of the country. And yet, very few of these people will actually take the time to get serious about meditation. In truth, few are interested in this at all. Most of these groups function essentially as sectarian churches, venues of social support with a unifying dogma and nice moral lessons, inspiring readings, sharing time, comfortable and satisfying rituals, a little meditation, and often overt or subtle worship and deification of Thich Nhat Hanh, Trungpa, the Dali Lama, Lama Zopa, or some other figure purported to have done it.
Very few will aspire to real mastery themselves. Very few will take the time to learn even the basics of meditation theory. Even fewer will actually go on retreats. Of those that do, only a handful will get their concentration strong enough to attain to basic jhanas or ñanas. Of these, only a couple will be able to cross the A&P, handle and investigate the Dark Night, attain to Equanimity and get Stream Entry. Of those who attain to Stream Entry, a reasonable number will progress to the middle paths, but not many will attain to Arahatship. Call me cynical, but this was true in the Buddha's time and it is true now.
You might think that you could approach these groups and say, "Hey, I know how it's done. Why read the dead books of some guy far away who you are unlikely to have any real contact with when there is someone right here who can help you understand it for yourself? Sure, you might have to bust your butt, but this is what you are all shootin' for, isn't it?"
Unfortunately, likely reactions include: complete disbelief, profound skepticism, confusion, alienation, intimidation, jealousy, anger, territoriality, competitiveness, and the lingering doubts created by having to face the fact that actually doing it is not what they are into at all. People hate feeling these things, and are more likely to blow you off than deal with these feelings. The chances of group or even an individual saying, "Great, I've been looking for a real friend in the dharma for years, and now there is one right here. Tell me how it's done and I'll go do it!" are essentially next to nothing. That said, miracles do occur, and occasionally we do actually run into the few who have little dust in their eyes.
If you are really into finding them, you are likely going to have to meet a lot of people who are not ready yet, even if you are lucky enough to teach at a major retreat center. This can be frustrating. If we look at the life of the Buddha, after the first dozen or so people he taught, he had to walk long distances to even find one person who might get what he was saying. Luckily, he was willing to do this.
How will we handle the 11th Army of Mara? Hopefully the Buddha's story will continue to inspire us to try harder.
<< Back to Essays Page -
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
The 11th army of mara:
http://www.interactivebuddha.com/eleventharmy.shtml
The Eleventh Army of Mara
In the Introduction to the Jataka, or "birth stories" of the Buddha, it says that the Buddha sat under the Bodhi Tree in powerful, one-pointed meditation, resisted the 10 armies of Mara, perceived the truth of things, and attained to full and un-excelled awakening. For those of you not familiar with standard Buddhist icons, Mara is the personification of the temptation of the world, the lord of all that is impermanent, simultaneously a satanic and trickster figure who does his very best to thwart those who would escape from his dominion and go beyond birth and death. During the heroic struggle of the Buddha on that day, he transforms and overcomes a great number of assaults by Mara and his armies through his steadiness on the Ten Perfections. The Ten Perfections can be translated a number of ways, and I list them as generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolute determination, loving-kindness, and equanimity.
These assaults by the Armies of Mara in the story are relatively fantastic, and while quite a mythologized and anthropomorphized bit of work still makes for fun reading. They consist of a whirlwind, a great rain-storm, showers of flaming rocks, weapons and hot ashes, sand, and mud, profound darkness, and a great discus hurled from a huge elephant. The Buddha was steady in his contemplation, deeply rooted in the Ten Perfections, having perfected his karma and mind for countless lifetimes before. Through the power of his actions and abilities, these assaults were transformed into flowers, celestial ointment, and the like.
Later on, the Ten Armies of Mara came to be listed as: 1) sensual pleasures, 2) discontent, 3) hunger and thirst, 4) craving, 5) sloth and torpor, 6) fear, 7) doubt, 8) conceit and ingratitude, 9) gain, renown, honor and falsely received fame, 10) self-exaltation and dispararaging others. These are now useful guidelines for difficulties that must be avoided when possible and seen as they are for meditators to progress on the path of wisdom. They tend to occur in roughly that order, cycling as does everything else. No eleventh army is listed.
However, it says in Sutta #26 of the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha that soon after the Buddha's enlightenment, it occurred to him that there was no one else that could understand what he had understood. He thought to himself that this dharma was too profound, too subtle, too against the worldly tide, and too difficult. Teaching it would only cause him trouble, as it would be to a generation obsessed with lust and hate, mired in worldliness, incapable of understanding it. And so he decided to keep quiet.
There are other texts that say that it was Mara who came to the Buddha and said to him basically, "Alright, you win. You have gone beyond birth, death, and my realm. Who will understand what you have to teach? Who else can do this? Who will believe you? Nobody." The Buddha, as we have said, agreed without qualification. This I call the 11th Army of Mara, Mara's last temptation, the temptation to keep quiet. The 11th Army of Mara consists of the vast and profound difficulties those who are realized face in describing, explaining, and promoting real liberating insights.
The story continues in its typical style. The great Brahma Sahampati, a relatively high god, understood through his powerful mind that the Buddha had attained to full awakening and yet chosen silence and inaction. This was surprising considering that the Buddha had vowed to attain to that which was beyond birth and death so as to liberate all beings. The Brahma Sahampati appeared to the Buddha and begged him to teach the dharma so that those with little dust in their eyes might see. The story goes that he asked the Buddha to look at the world and see that there were in fact a few who would understand what he had to teach. The Buddha used his psychic powers to survey the world, and indeed he saw that he had been wrong, that there were a few who would understand, whose faculties were keen, whose eyes were only barely clouded. So, he wandered off in search of them and he found some of them. He taught them, they understood, and those teachings have been passed down in a direct line of practitioners that has lasted over 2,500 years.Hi AEN,
Sorry sidetracked abit.....
Brahma Sahampati is 4-faced buddha right? I read and he got many different names
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Originally posted by 2009novice:
Hi AEN,
Sorry sidetracked abit.....
Brahma Sahampati is 4-faced buddha right? I read and he got many different names
Nope...
There are many Brahmas.
4-faced buddha (not really buddha) is Maha Brahma, not Brahma Sahampati.
Maha Brahma is the god deluded to think he was a creator of the univese.
Brahma Sahampati is an Arya (enlightened being) of the Anagami level, living in the Brahma planes. Having learnt Dharma in his previous life and attained a high degree of wisdom, he knew the importance of Dharma and requested the teachings to be taught to the masses.
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Those who are not too versed in the Buddhist teachings, could mistakenly construed “Eskimo Buddhism” as just another branch of Buddhism even though the site has state that it is a ‘belief system’. It does not believe in Bodhisattvas and even in meditation, a practice so essential in Buddhism. The term “Buddhism” used is certainly a misnomer design to mislead, as it will make it more palatable, and easier to draw existing Buddhists to its fold. It is started by a group of Christians, who have as yet to come out and clarify whether they have already left their Christian faith behind them. One cannot help, but feels that it is just another ploy at proselytizing.
Traditionally, Buddhism does not emphasize proselytizing of its faith and as such, expertise required to counter other religions converting its followers are low on their list of priority. Frankly, Buddhists organizations here and elsewhere are either disinterested, or just do not know how to go about handling other religions proselytizing its followers such as this group of so called “Eskimo Buddhism”.
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Originally posted by Aik TC:
Those who are not too versed in the Buddhist teachings, could mistakenly construed “Eskimo Buddhism” as just another branch of Buddhism even though the site has state that it is a ‘belief system’. It does not believe in Bodhisattvas and even in meditation, a practice so essential in Buddhism. The term “Buddhism” used is certainly a misnomer design to mislead, as it will make it more palatable, and easier to draw existing Buddhists to its fold. It is started by a group of Christians, who have as yet to come out and clarify whether they have already left their Christian faith behind them. One cannot help, but feels that it is just another ploy at proselytizing.
Traditionally, Buddhism does not emphasize proselytizing of its faith and as such, expertise required to counter other religions converting its followers are low on their list of priority. Frankly, Buddhists organizations here and elsewhere are either disinterested, or just do not know how to go about handling other religions proselytizing its followers such as this group of so called “Eskimo Buddhism”.
This is the first time, I've come across the belief system
The presiding deities except one belongs to the Japanese Pantheon, perhaps is of japanese origin, no?
Buddhism is an introspective practice, encourages us to be not reactionary. Not loud spoken and flashy, no novelty appeal. Buddhism assimilation is relatively more subtle.
Best ally currently, a relatively leisurely life, good education for time to contemplate, and a discriminating mind to discern.