Rick O'Shez
Irishman bouncing off walls
Probably because I've been doing Buddhist practice for 35 years. Among other things.
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
What is spiritual enlightenment?
- Thread starter Gambit
- Start date
Probably because I've been doing Buddhist practice for 35 years. Among other things.
Gambit
Well-Known Member
Interesting. Because it doesn't appear that you subscribe to one of the basic tenets of Buddhism - namely, that all sentient beings have "Buddha-nature."
Last edited:
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Welcome. It is about my family, my society, my country, and my world as to what is really best for them.
@ Gambit, I have a Buddhist connection though I am not a Buddhist. First, Hinduism regards Buddha as the ninth avatara of Lord Vishnu. And second, Buddha is my second guru having taught me not to accept anything without scrutiny. My first guru is the first Sankaracharya.
Last edited:
Gambit
Well-Known Member
Why is this of any relevance (especially in light of the fact that you have presented yourself as an atheist)?
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
That is because you mentioned that Spiny has buddhist leanings. I too have buddhist leanings. Sure, I am a strong atheist, my advaita does not allow the existence of a second entity, so no God, but I am very much an orthodox Hindu. My atheism fits very well with 'advaita' (no duality).
Rick O'Shez
Irishman bouncing off walls
What I said was that it's a Mahayana teaching and not a Theravada one. Buddhism is very diverse with many schools, they have different assumptions and methods. So on this and other subjects you probably need to do more research.
Please don't be fooled by misguided misrepresentations.
Last edited by a moderator:
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
A fiction
How so?
Are you implying that atheism somehow opposes Buddhism or religion generally?
Oh boy, if so, then you are SO wrong.
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
Because, according to those who claim to know, it is not something that can be grasped.
That does not mean it is a fiction.
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
Something that I cannot hold in my mind cannot be considered 'real' by my mind.
I always felt that the idea is that it is real, but any conceptions of it are unavoidably unfaithful to it. Particularly when they are used to attempt to communicate to others.
Rick O'Shez
Irishman bouncing off walls
And even more so when people cling to a particular form of words.
Is your mind all you are? Was the world real to you as a child before you had your ideas about the world you do now? Is the world real to an infant? Isn't this the illusion that our thoughts and ideas constitute reality? Can't experience exist as it is, without the wash of ideas you have to "hold" in your mind?
What I hear in this is really more a matter of trust, and looking to ideas to "tell us" from the outside what we don't hear from the inside. Letting go of holding ideas and notions is what leads to liberation. Holding them tightly chokes us from seeing beyond them.
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
Indeed it is. Everything that I perceive is in my mind. I cannot talk about anything that is not of "I"
Can just experience without any judgement of ideas about it exist in the mind? In other words, are you defining mind as your ideas, or the place through which we perceive and experience the world, with or without thoughts and ideas? Does a dog experience the world? Does a tapeworm, which lacks a brain? What is "mind" to you?
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
For me, mind is that which thinks, perceives and acts. It is the product of interaction between my social/cultural context and my biology.
Isn't cognitive thought a tool of mind? Do all animals have cognitive thoughts? Yet a bird has a bird world. It perceives and interacts with it through its social structures as well and they become part of its lived reality. But aren't those all simply what shape the experience of reality itself, as understood in the minds of all living things? Is it is possible to know reality by knowing mind itself, prior to and beyond any social or cognitive frameworks that define the boundaries of our realities? Isn't mind at its basis, the perceiver, the seer, the knower, and what is known is not mind itself?
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
I don't think mind and its contents can be separated. I am a construct of my mind. I wholly accept that one can get lost in a mystical moment but by definition that mystical moment when one is in some sense absent or fallen away can never be 'mine' because 'I' was not there.
I can never get past my mind. My 'I' is a prisoner of subjectivity.