Spirit of Light
Be who ever you want
Was Buddha Sakyamuni the only one you reached Nirvana? Or enlightenment?
Buddha means enlighten being. Does it not?
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I love Buddha
- Thread starter Starlight
- Start date
Buddha means enlighten being. Does it not?
Truthseeker
Non-debating member when I can help myself
That sounds wise. Don't know if that is true, but I confess that what Baha'u'llah says mystically is beyond me sometimes.Can I find oneness with God through Sufism, yes it is possiblebut I realized that setting it as a goal will never lead me there. One has to let it go and only focus on where one are at any given moment.
Spirit of Light
Be who ever you want
If you were to understand Baha'u'llah in everything he spoke about, you would be a truly wise man
Truthseeker
Non-debating member when I can help myself
That would be like encompassing an ocean.If you were to understand Baha'u'llah in everything he spoke about, you would be a truly wise man
Spirit of Light
Be who ever you want
That is how Sufism feels to meThat would be like encompassing an ocean.
seeing the ocean in front of me, but in the same time understanding the wisdom is not on the other side of the ocean, it is within me already. Just missing a few keys to unlock it 
RestlessSoul
Well-Known Member
It is true I did not reach Nirvana through Buddhism
Can I find oneness with God through Sufism, yes it is possible
If I say " I want to find oneness with God" then I have already made it impossible to actually realize it. Oneness with God is not something you achieve by finding it.
It is already there within us, so by peeling away the human aspect/ attachments, that is the path to God.
What you say here is consistent with many spiritual traditions and philosophies.
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or Lo there! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
- Luke 17:21
The Lord is hidden in the hearts of all.
The eternal witness, pure consciousness,
He watches our work from within.
- Shvetashvatara Upanishad VI:11
We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis, it is only there that he may be found.
Alcoholics Anonymous p. 55
Secret Chief
Vetted Member
It was apparently originally a koan (a paradoxical statement or question - most famously perhaps "what is the sound of one hand clapping?") to give consideration to.
As such, I would suggest the "answer" would be your considered answer. But then that would only be my answer to your question. Regarding the koan, it seems to me to be saying do not make the mistake of fetishising the Buddha.
PruePhillip
Well-Known Member
I love Buddha
Do you love Buddha?
Did he lay down his life for me? Or did he give me a bunch of pithy sayings?
Starlight
Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
Because Buddha was kind and loving to other humans and animals. And his teachings is very good for everyone
Starlight
Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
I do not know to be honest. I do not know much about buddism
Truth&Hope
Jesus Freak
I love Buddha
Do you love Buddha?
God does too!!
Secret Chief
Vetted Member
It is an epithet for an awakened one. So if one wants to make that claim for oneself then one is claiming to be a buddha.
The Buddha on the other hand is taken to mean Siddhartha Gautama. (Unless you want to delve into previous or future Buddhas - such as Maitraya - but that's not a road I'm going down. If I did, and I met Maitraya, I'd have to kill him
).
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Guitar's Cry
Disciple of Pan
I was going to say the same.
But still I love him.
"And he thought of those he angered
For he was not a violent man
And he thought of those he hurt
For he was not a cruel man
And he thought of those he frightened
For he was not an evil man
And he understood, he understood himself."
Truthseeker
Non-debating member when I can help myself
Well, all human beings are a reflection of God, and do have a kind of spiritual ocean within themselves. My own personal view of achieving total union of God is that we will always be an individual, and will forever be getting closer to God, and be more in union, but never total understanding of God or total union. It would be boring in a way to have achieved everything, with nothing left to strive for. It is explicit within the Baha'i Faith that we can never have the spiritual attainment or status of Prophets of God, whatever we may be able to achieve. We all have a high destiny, though, if we fulfill it, and we will be in an ecstatic union with God.That is how Sufism feels to me
I've thought about what you said about not striving to be in total union, and now I realize there are Baha'i Writings that I think support that. Striving can only get you so far, for instance, and the grace of God is necessary for our advancement. There is this also by the Bab:
WORSHIP thou God in such wise that if thy worship lead thee to the fire, no alteration in thine adoration would be produced, and so likewise if thy recompense should be paradise. Thus and thus alone should be the worship which befitteth the one True God. Shouldst thou worship Him because of fear, this would be unseemly in the sanctified Court of His presence, and could not be regarded as an act by thee dedicated to the Oneness of His Being. Or if thy gaze should be on paradise, and thou shouldst worship Him while cherishing such a hope, thou wouldst make God’s creation a partner with Him, notwithstanding the fact that paradise is desired by men.
Fire and paradise both bow down and prostrate themselves before God. That which is worthy of His Essence is to worship Him for His sake, without fear of fire, or hope of paradise.
Although when true worship is offered, the worshipper is delivered from the fire, and entereth the paradise of God’s good-pleasure, yet such should not be the motive of his act. However, God’s favor and grace ever flow in accordance with the exigencies of His inscrutable wisdom.
(Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
www.bahai.org/r/436577209
This seems to say that nearness to God when worshipping Him should not be our motive. Also it is said elsewhere that a good deed is it's own reward.
Ok, that is not bad. I personally don't like his idea of Nirvana, which actually sounds to me basically the same as hell in Biblical teachings.
Secret Chief
Vetted Member
In nirvana there's aircon.
How so? How is it the same as hell in Biblical teachings? There’s no fire, punishment, torture, in nirvana. Nirvana is not actually a place but rather a state.
It is possible I have understood Nirvana wrongly. But, by what the Bible tells, person is destroyed fully, body and soul in hell. After that he doesn't feel, do or have anything. By what I have understood, the Nirvana is essentially the same. And curiously, it is almost like the future Klaus Schwab and his disciples want to others.
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matt. 10:28
However, even if the Nirvana would not be a good idea, Buddha can have some other good ideas.
Being Hindu my knowledge of the ins-and-outs of Buddhist belief wrt the soul is limited. Buddhism posits no soul, at least not one that is independent. This is actually not unlike Advaita Vedanta, the Hindu philosophy of oneness. Advaita means “not two”. It is part of a whole. None of this can be or is destroyed.
Though it’s Hindu text (which Buddhism is actually an outgrowth of) the Bhagavad Gita describes the soul as having always exists, will never cease to exist, cannot be destroyed or hurt. It does not know suffering. Depending on the karma of that individual it will be reborn into another body after death. If the karma warrants it, and the individual has achieved enlightenment, that is, understands reality, nirvana is achieved. Nirvana means “blowing out”. The elimination of all desires and suffering and full enlightenment. There will be no rebirth in the material world. In Hinduism we call this moksha.
It’s not unlike the Advaita concept of saccidānanda, “being, consciousness, bliss”. Adi Shankara, one of the early (Hindu) proponents of Advaita was criticized as being a crypto-Buddhist. Otoh Buddhists could be considered crypto-Advaitins.
So, any comparison to anything in Abrahamic religions is not possible.
Ashoka
श्री कृष्णा शरणं मम
I love Buddha
Do you love Buddha?
I have respect for his teachings, but I wouldn't say I "love" him.