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  1. Vishvavajra

    Buddha-nature in the Tathagatagarbha, and the idea of atman

    Buddha-Nature is not an eternal, underlying self. If anything, it's a function of our lack of an eternal, underlying self. It's couched in terms of a thing that beings possess, but one must be careful not to take that language too literally. Even the scripture you quote is trying to emphasize...
  2. Vishvavajra

    Tathagatagarbha?

    What Buddhists think that the doctrine of Buddha-Nature is not Buddhist at all? On what basis do they make that claim? I have yet to see any argument to that effect, and I'm not sure there is one. And yes, a strong majority of Buddhists accept this doctrine, if only because it's universal to...
  3. Vishvavajra

    Atman-Brahman in Buddhism

    Siderits (an actual academic Buddhologist) presents this view, and I would say it's quite convincing. In the book Buddhism as Philosophy (essential reading for anyone interested in the subject) he works through the philosophical bases of various Buddhist tenets in modern philosophical terms...
  4. Vishvavajra

    Was Satan wrong to demand equal rights in heaven?

    There are some bits in Revelation that probably inspired some of later Christian myth about Satan, but I wouldn't say there's a coherent narrative there. Certainly nothing about having a revolution over wanting equal rights.
  5. Vishvavajra

    Vaccination and Religious Beliefs

    You don't trust credible sources, and you're frustrated that people won't trust your non-credible sources? Maybe you just need to admit that you're wrong. What would it take to disprove your views, since apparently they're immune to evidence? This is neither here nor there. Your anecdotal...
  6. Vishvavajra

    Hindus, Modern Pagans, and Indopaganism

    Neo-Platonic religion is probably a good indicator. In other words, they would have reacted to Christianity by becoming highly syncretic and fusing a philosophical system to the outward forms of religious expression. They also would have come to consider themselves a single tradition with many...
  7. Vishvavajra

    Is pro-gay Christianity really a tenable position?

    You can believe what you want, but this kind of ad hominem isn't an argument either, and it's pretty typical in this context, so perhaps that should be indicative of something. No, I don't find the arguments cogent because they fail at both the logical and ethical levels. People who hold that...
  8. Vishvavajra

    Did Jesus say he was God???

    You can say that, but it's a case of using what is normally a good principle to produce an absurd result. If I'm specifically talking about a thing and fail to mention some rather important aspect, it wouldn't be amiss to take that omission as significant. In that case it's not an argument from...
  9. Vishvavajra

    Was Satan wrong to demand equal rights in heaven?

    Where in the Bible is this found?
  10. Vishvavajra

    Are all religions equally false?

    How so? I wasn't aware I gave one.
  11. Vishvavajra

    Hindus, Modern Pagans, and Indopaganism

    Things aren't so static. The culture that authored the Vedas wasn't vegetarian either. It was a semi-nomadic pastoral culture ruled by warrior aristocrats. Their chief god was Indra, who is very similar to Zeus, and they practiced animal sacrifice. The move towards nonviolence and vegetarianism...
  12. Vishvavajra

    Hindus, Modern Pagans, and Indopaganism

    "Pagan" is a word Christians invented to describe the "other." Pretty much everybody who's not a Christian or a Jew has been tossed into that category at some point, and many still are. Most Christians still regard Hindus as pagans, for all intents and purposes. Same with Buddhists and pretty...
  13. Vishvavajra

    Vaccination and Religious Beliefs

    It's not about me. You're deflecting.
  14. Vishvavajra

    Strong Relations between Turkic Tengrism and Christianity

    Christmas trees and Santa Claus aren't ancient traditions. They arose at the beginning of the modern period, way too late to have been influenced by the Huns. Turkic peoples did bring a lot of things to Europe, but Christmas wasn't one of them.
  15. Vishvavajra

    Vaccination and Religious Beliefs

    You have pearls? (Also, Jesus just died again because of your heinous misuse of his metaphor.)
  16. Vishvavajra

    Is drinking alcohol sin?

    Outside of Islam you're not likely to find alcohol in itself considered to be the problem. The problem is that alcohol makes doing other problematic things much easier. In Buddhism, for example, the precept against intoxication is called the "guardian precept,' since it helps one not to break...
  17. Vishvavajra

    Are all religions equally false?

    All religions are equally products of human mind and human culture. That does not mean they are all equally useful.
  18. Vishvavajra

    Is pro-gay Christianity really a tenable position?

    OK, maybe it is complicated for some people. I suppose some people can justify anything by claiming to do it in the name of "love." These same folks love to beat their children and claim it's a loving act (there's a thread on that somewhere). This happens because they don't know what love really...
  19. Vishvavajra

    Is pro-gay Christianity really a tenable position?

    Like Sojourer, I'd argue that it isn't about accepting or rejecting. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that framing of the issue has a fundamentalist bias, since it assumes that there is something coherent to accept or reject. In fact the Bible's contents as well as its significance are things...
  20. Vishvavajra

    Is pro-gay Christianity really a tenable position?

    According to you, any Christian who isn't an orthodox 1st-temple Jew is a half-assed Christian. Leave aside Leviticus for a moment; Christians aren't bound by purity laws to begin with, or any of the rest of the old Judaic law code. They're also not bound to own slaves or marry multiple wives...
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