I guess i am just confused by the term "ordinary" in reference to Siddhartha Gautama pre-awakening. He was a 10th Bhumi Bodhisattva on the verge of full awakening the moment he entered into this world. This is accepted by Mahayana Buddhism, and many Theravada Buddhists accept he was on the path...
No, and neither are you. Prior to Buddha Shakyamunis enlightenment, he traversed the path for 3 eons. So, he was born as an animal, reborn as a god, human, etc. You, me, nor the Buddha are intrisically human, ordinary or extrordinary. Also, saying he was an ordinary human takes away from the...
In Mahayana Buddhism the Buddha was not a human like you and me, there are sentient beings, and then there are Buddhas.
And, about the claim that the Buddha manifested lotuses underneath his feet when he was born: He explains how such miraculous feats. occur in the Mahayana Sutras themselves...
Im going to add my 2 cents, just for the fun of it.
Enlightenment hasnt become anything, the ego just makes it appear far off and obscure so you dont strive for it. Enlightenment isnt in the sky, its on the ground, right where you stand.
This is the problem with seeing enlightenment as a...
"Three modes of generating an altruistic intention to become enlightened are described--like a king, like a boatman, and like a shepherd. In the first, that like a king, one first seeks to attain a high state after which help can be given to others. In the second, like a boatman, one seeks to...
Just start reaching out to centers, email them, tell them where you are at and what your short term goals are (conversion, etc). If you visit a sangha and decide its not right for you, its all good! That just means to keep looking. If you have other questions, you can always PM me. I was in the...
All of the Buddhas teachings are one path. That is very important to understand. If you have taken refuge, the basis for awakening has been set, and any teaching of the Buddha will have awakening as its result.
However, in the meantime we have a couple of differences.
In Theravada the focus is...
That's interesting! Personal question: do you believe hell is eternal? And, I wasn't ever really a christian, I would try sometimes (mostly because of my elderly relatives), but it never felt right to me.
That last part, I agree with. 100%. However I just dont see the point of God creating this world and then saying, because its our fault of course (free will), that many of us are going to hell because we dont accept his teachings.
But, eh. if a belief in God keeps your mind open and...
Yeah... good one... [/sarcasm]
So that's what your god does? Puts things that are not good for us and against our wellbeing in our faces so we can choose not to use it?
Obviously your God's will is more important than the happiness of his creation.
The problem is, if you parented children...
Samsaric Beings are those who are bound within Samsara, or the cycle of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Also within that experiance of samsara is all of our discontentment, the suffering of pain, the suffering of change, the suffering of desire, etc. Gods, being samsaric beings, are not...