Buddhism and Christianity - do they differ?

Discussion in 'Philosophy & Religion' started by BabyRain, Jun 24, 2007.

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BabyRain Doppelgänger of da E.Twin

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I thought this is interesting...

Shot at 1969-12-31

As with all great traditions, there are few differences at experiential levels; however, at a belief level after we label and try to explain the experiences, some differences exist - such as beliefs about heaven and God. Heaven is achievable, but always only a temporary respite for a Buddhist, and there is no belief in a personal God; a difference between belief and actual knowing is recognized. We can believe in Santa Claus, but when we see him in our living room putting gifts under the tree, then our belief becomes reality, unless, of course, its dad all dressed up!
So what do Buddhists believe? They believe that we must follow the precepts, or guidelines, which number five, eight and ten for lay people, and two hundred twenty-seven for monks.The five precepts list not killing, stealing, indulging in inappropriate sex (with those spoken for or too young to understand), lying, or indulging in intoxicants. These are to be adhered to at all times.

The eight precepts are kept temporarily when a lay person attends a retreat or visits a monastery. They are the five precepts plus 6. no eating solid food after noon, 7. no dancing, singing, music, entertainment, jewelry, perfumes or cosmetics, and 8. no sleeping on high or large luxurious beds.

The ten precepts apply to people actually living in a monastery and add no touching of money, gold or silver to the list, and breaks the seventh precept into two. making ten. Buddhists believe that if these precepts are kept, the next lifetime will be in a happy realm of humans or devas (minor Gods). However, because past karma from many other lifetimes that has not been resolved, there is the possibility that after some time in this happy realm, a fall back into the hell, animal or ghost realms could occur. Therefore, only being a good person won't insure a happy destiny forever - that takes additional work.

Heaven to a Buddhist, unfortunately, is not a one-way ticket! If only it were that easy! A Buddhist must go a little deeper than being a good, kind, loving person and following the rules. The morality has to become natural where all actions are moral without thinking about how being moral will help me get to heaven. This requires what is called spiritual training of the mind, or meditation, which if perfected, removes all our bad karma so that we will not have to worry about falling back into the lower realms. This is called attaining supramundane morality.

It begins with mundane practices of meditation, or concentrating the mind. In Christianity, this is called orison (meditation), normally called introversion, which is further broken down into recollection, quiet and contemplation. These stages of meditation parallel Buddhist meditation very closely, with the outcome being an approach to the ground of our soul. The mind sinks into nothingness, which deepens until the Christian mystic completes his or her journey within, to the center of the divine Immanence where he or she comes face to face with God, no different than the prophets who have come before. The mystic doesn't read about God or imagine him, the mystic actually meets him! Why else would monks squirrel themselves away and give up all the good times to be had in the world. St John of the Cross, a famous Christian mystic has said that all the pleasures of the world are but crumbs from the table of God.

After the Buddhist practices meditation religiously and after living a moral life, he or she then goes on to the Brahma, or God planes of existence which span millions of years. Depending on their success with meditation, they will spend from one span to 84,000 spans in these realms. But, alas, eventually they will fall back into human form and be susceptible to all the physical and mental hardships.

The only way to insure never falling back into human form is to acquire supramundane wisdom, and this is done through advanced meditation practices, strict morality and the cultivation of wisdom. The meditator will observe materiality( material things in the universe including our bodies) with bare attention, not intellectual evaluations. He will see the arising and passing of all materiality.

The meditator will observe impermanence of all things in the universe, the suffering of beings here on earth, and the reality that no self stands behind it all. What the meditator sees as a self is only a reflection of the Ultimate, or God, but because we spend so much time on this apparition, we never really get to know God, and therefore can't be with him permanently.

The trick is to somehow see this self and break the self-hypnosis that we are under. This is called enlightenment; a direct personal experience that is totally intuitive and beyond the common mind. Once the self is seen through, there is no possibility of ever returning to the lower realms.

All of this can only be experienced, not something that is believed in. Buddhists only believe what they can prove true for themselves, and meditation is the means of doing that. Once a shift in consciousness occurs, then one can remain in the present. A base of calm underpins everything, so that no matter what the turbulent outside circumstances are, underlying peace and wisdom prevails without effort. Therefore, Buddhists need not look to future realms or other places for their happiness, happiness is present in every moment .

E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, http://www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com His twenty-eight years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers. Visit http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com
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Source: Religion and Inspiration Articles on ArticlesTree.com

the paragraph I disagree with is this, "there is the possibility that after some time in this happy realm, a fall back into the hell, animal or ghost realms could occur. " which I don't believe in my personal research based on the Tibetan Buddhism. -^_^

#1 BabyRain, Jun 24, 2007
Last edited: Jun 24, 2007
BabyRain Doppelgänger of da E.Twin

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More on the subject of difference/similarities between these two -^_^

Gautama the "Buddha" and Jesus the "Christ:

Gautama the Buddha never claimed to be God. Jesus Christ did, by words and deeds, making miracles, resurrecting after death and being prophesied as the the God-Savior hundreds of times, hundreds of years before his birth. 1,093 prophecies and types of each book of the OT fulfilled in Jesus Christ and his church

Both Buddha and Jesus came to the nations, India and Israel, which were practicing Hinduism and Judaism for over a thousand years. Both were "rebels" against the abuse of rituals, rules and authority of their respective religions.
Buddha's teaching emphasized on self-enlightenment and self-liberalization. But not many people can achieve that... and most people need God and the supernatural... which are some of the reasons of the many Buddhism "Anti-Buddhist" Traditions after the Buddha, with gods, incense, authority, even faith in the god Buddha and a kind of Heaven in the Pure Land Buddhism.
Jesus came five hundred years later to teach a simple way, emphasizing on the salvation from God freely, by Grace, through faith, cleaning all the bad karma, all sins.
Now it's time for people to understand the real truth of enlightenment and salvation come from God, by faith in God - in Jesus Christ - converting this life into a "piece of heaven on earth", with good deeds and precious hope, and a real glorious eternal Heaven after death, as the same person who lived on earth with the body glorified, and without any reincarnation.
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Two Kinds of Buddhism:

1- Buddhism of Buddha, before Christ:

Gautama "Buddha" (the enlightened one) founded Buddhism in India, in 528 before Christ. He left us a good psychological method to overcome suffering and the problems of life on earth, and to get away of the Caste System in India... he did not tried to start a new religion, he purposely never even mentioned the words religion, god, soul, the after-death...

Gautama preached not a religion, but a system devoid of "authority", without gods and rituals, devoid of the "supernatural"... "by this you shall know that a man is not my disciple, that he tries to work a miracle", said Buddha... he preached a psychological system of "intense self-effort", "whatever your caste, he told his followers, you can make it in this life-time"... no fatalism like in Hinduism!... man does not have to believe in any god, but in himself.

In fact, Gautama was "a rebel" against the complicated way and rituals of Hinduism, he took away the gods, priests, rituals, candles, incense, the caste system... and this is why today in India there is practically no Buddhism...

Gautama always evaded the task to define the blessed state of Nirvana, always avoided discussing either God or life after death... Gautama Buddha's System

2- Buddhism Anti-Buddhist, after Christ:

This Anti-Buddhism is the one in mind when the theology of God and gods are mentioned in Buddhism, because Buddha Himself never even mentioned the word "God"

After Gautama Buddha, his followers, with the many holy scriptures and rules, have made out of his simple system a "religion" full of "rituals to many gods, making a god even out of Gautama... with intense "authority", and practice of the "occult", with much "supernatural" and magic, and prayer wheel and prayer bids, and candles, and incense, and complicated worship rituals to the gods... and the principle of the "middle way" between the extremes of ascetics and self-indulgence has been converted into the hard way of a most rigid "monasticism"... making a real "Anti-Buddhism" out of Buddhism...

Yes, men can't live without religion, and many Buddhists have made a religion out of the beautiful and practical teachings of Gautama... in fact, Buddhism as a world religion has been shaped less by the words of its founder than by the requirements of its followers, most of it after Christ.

1- Hinayana, Lesser Vehicle, (Theravada): Emphasizes the writings of the Buddha, the closest to Buddha's original teachings, in southern Asia, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia.

2- Mahayana, first and second century after Christ, is the Greater Vehicle: emphasizes the spirit of Buddha, by far the largest branch of Buddhism, in China, Japan, Tibet, Korea, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand.
Mahayana introduced the doctrine of "bodhisattva"or "helpers": Enlightened perfect beings who become gods, which is an open rebellion against the teachings of Gautama Buddha.

3- Pure Land (Sukhavati, Jodo, Ching-tu): In the third and fourth centuries. One enters the Pure Land through faith in the god Amitabha, or Amida or Buddha, by repeating the "membutsu", "Namu-Amida-Butsu", "Have faith in Amida, and you will be saved", they proclaim, imitating Jesus Christ... in a total contradiction of the teachings of the Buddha.

4- Vajrayana, Diamond Vehicle, the third Vehicle, Tantrism. In the fourth century after Christ, it borrows the Hindu belief in the goddess Shakti sexual power and developed a cult devoted to idols, magic and sex. It has been condemned as a degeneration of Buddhism, and indeed it is an anti-Buddhism.

5- Tibetan Buddhism: Eighth century after Christ, in Tibet and Japan, added to Tantrism the primitive animistic religions of the Tibet, the magic "bon", and some "Mahayana" doctrines to create the most openly occultist of all Eastern religions. On top of it created the super-authority of the "Dalai Lama", a god-on-earth, heading a hierarchy of priests, destroying the "religion without authority" that Gautama the Buddha proposed.

6-Nicheren Buddhism: In the 13th century a Japanese, Nichiren, founded a school whose aims are the opposite of Gautama Buddha: To satisfy all desires, because "happy individuals can build a happy world"; with emphasis on acquiring wealth, power, personal happiness, pleasures, political power...

7- Zen Buddhism, in the tenth century after Christ, from Japan had become in the mid-20th century perhaps the best known of the Buddhists schools in the Western world... "Zen" means "be nothing, think nothing", and "Zazen" "seated meditation"; its adherents claim Zen to be the quintessential of Buddhism... and it may be a real Buddhism, not an anti-Buddhism.

8- "Folk" Buddhism: Besides the "official" Buddhism, there is the "Folk" Buddhism, very popular. It is "animistic", with magic to spell spirits and devils, with many gods, divination, witchcraft... and it is lived with Taoism, Confucianism or Shintoism...

- Finally, Hinduism: The Buddha, for the Hindus, is the 9th incarnation of Vishnu... of course, openly against the will and teachings of Gautama Buddha himself... The 7th and 8th incarnations of Vishnu for the Hindus are Rama and Krishna... and the 10th incarnation and the last one, will be "Kalkin", still to come. .
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#2 BabyRain, Jun 24, 2007
BabyRain Doppelgänger of da E.Twin

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and the Similarities/Differences

Similarities between Buddhism and Christianity:

The similarities between these two religions extend essentially over three spheres:

1- The life history of the founder;
2- Ethics
3- Church or tradition history.

1. The biographies of Buddha and Christ show many similar features.

- Both were born in a miraculous way.
- Soon after their birth, their future greatness is proclaimed by a sage (Asita, Simeon).
- Both astonish their teachers through the knowledge they possess, though still in their early childhood.
- Both are tempted by the devil before they start upon their public career.
- Both walk over the water (//Jataka//, 190; //Matth.//, 14, 26).
- Both feed 500 and 5,000 persons, respectively (//Jataka//, 78; //Mark//, 14, 16ff.) by multiplying miraculously the food available.
- The parables ascribed to them show some similarities as, for instance, the story of the sower (//Samyutta//, 42, 7; //Matth.// 13,3), of the prodigal son (//Lotus of the Good Law//, Chap. IV; //Lk.//, 14), of the widow's mite (//Kalpanamanditika//; //Mark// 12).

2. Both Buddha and Jesus based their ethics on the "Golden Rule."

Buddha told the Brahmins and householders of a certain village as follows: "A lay-follower reflects thus: How can I inflict upon others what is unpleasant to me?' On account of that reflection, he does not do any evil to others, and he also does not cause others to do so" (//Samyutta// 55, 7). And Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount: "Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets" (//Matth.// 7, 12; //Lk.// 6, 31) -- this being, by the way, a teaching which, in negative formulation, was already known to the Jewish religion (//Tob.// 15, 4).

Also the principle "Love they neighbor like unto yourself" (//Lk.// 10,27) which, in connection with //Lev.// 19,18, was raised by Jesus to a maxim of ethical doctrine, is likewise found in Buddhism where it was given a philosophical foundation mainly by the thinkers of //Mahayana// (Santideva, beginning of Siksasamuccaya). As to the injunction that love should also be extended to the enemy there is also a parallel statement by the Buddha. According to the //Majjhima Nikaya//, No. 21, he said: "If, O monks, robbers or highwaymen should with a double-handled saw cut your limbs and joints, whoso gave way to anger thereat would not be following my advice.

A practical proof of the love of enemies was given, as the report goes by the Buddhist sage, Aryadeva. After a philosophical disputation, a fanatical adversary attacked him in his cell with a sword, and Aryadeva was fatally wounded. In spite of that, he is said to have helped his murderer to escape by disguising him with his own monk's robe.

3. Also the historical development of both religions presents several parallels:

- Both, setting out from the countries of their origin, have spread over large parts of the world, but in their original homelands they have scarcely any followers left. The number of Christians in Palestine is very small today, and on the whole continent of India proper, there are at present not even half a million Buddhists.

- It is also significant that today the overwhelming majority of the followers of Buddhism and Christianity belong to a race and linguistic group different from those of their founders. Buddha was an Indo-Aryan; but, with a few exceptions, most of his devotees are found today among yellow races. Jesus and the Apostles were Jews, but the main contingent of Christians is made up of Europeans, Americans, Africans... This holds true also in the case of Islam, since those of the prophet's race, the Semites, are in a minority compared with the Muslims of Turkish, Persian, Indian, Malayan and African extraction

4- Cult and forms of worship.

I mention here only: monasticism, tonsure of the clergy, confession, the images, relic worship, ringing of bells, use of rosary and incense, and the erection of towers.
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Differences between Buddhism and Christianity:

Beliefs not shared: Buddhists do not share most of the core beliefs of historical Christianity. These include:

1- A transcendent or immanent or any type of God.

2- An original golden era in the Garden of Eden, and a subsequent fall of humanity.

3- The Original Sin shared by all present-day humans, derived from Adam and Eve.

4- The need for a personal savior whose death enabled individual salvation.

5- A God-man Savior, Jesus Christ, who was born of a virgin, executed on a Cross, buried, resurrected and ascended to heaven.

6- Salvation achieved through by the Grace of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, with subsequent good works and sacraments.

7- The power of prayer.

8- Eternal life spent in either a heaven or hell after death.

9- Return of the savior to earth at some time in the future.

10- An end of the world as we know it in the near future.

The essence of Christianity is not "to know" about Christ but "to be" another Christ, with Christ in the Christian and the Christian in Christ, in his Mystical Body, in his church... and Christ is God, the Absolute, the real Brahman who became a real human person, not just a hero of an imaginary novel.

1- The Cross: Jesus on the Cross redeemed us, He paid for all our sins for all our bad karma, we just have to appropriate this free payment just by believing in Jesus Christ.

2- The Resurrection: But the Cross was not the end... After His Resurrection Jesus Himself wants to live in us, here, on earth. We were saved from sin to live on earth with the love and joy and peace of Jesus in us, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Gal.2:20). A love and joy and peace that nothing and nobody can take away (Rom.8:37-39).

Give thanks with joy to God always and in any circumstance as proclaimed in Eph.5:20 and emphasized in the Preface of every Holy Mass, Indeed it is "just" and "necessary", our "duty" and our "salvation" to give thanks to God always and in all circumstances. There are no more words in the dictionary to emphasize it!

The life of a Christian on earth is a A Wedding Feast! , as proclaimed in at least 20 quotations in the Bible. In this Wedding Feast each one of us is invited, and not just as any guest, but as the "Bride of the Lamb". This is the message of the Cana wedding feast in John 2, the first miracle of Jesus.

With problems like in Cana, but always with the joy and love and excitement of a bride in her wedding feast. In success or failure, good or bad health, always with the joy and love and peace of Jesus in me that nobody and nothing can take away.

3- The Ascension: Still more: The work of Jesus on earth did not end with the Cross nor with the Resurrection, but with His Ascension to Heaven: He wants us to go to eternal Heaven, like Him!... Christianity is the religion of joy on earth, but still more, in Heaven for one eternity, without the need for any reincarnation, because Jesus paid for absolutely all or sins, all our bad karma.

Suffering?

Yes, many problems and sufferings, but with the joy and excitement of a "mother in labor" Jesus tells us in Jn.16:21. Because Each suffering is to bring up a new life, either in us or in others:

1- In us... because each suffering is like an injection of God to purify us, as proclaimed in Hebrews 12.

2- In others... like the sufferings of redemption of Christ or Mary, of Peter or Paul... Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. (Colos.1:24)... yes, with my cross I am a co-redeemer with Christ, it is my best evangelization, to help others to go to Heaven. An old sick woman is not a burden, but the best treasure of home.

"Suffering" is a great revolution of Jesus in the two mountains:

1- In the Mount of the Beatitudes, proclaiming the "poor happy", the "hunger happy", those who "mourn happy", the "persecuted happy"...
2- At Calvary it was not with words, but with deeds, with his flesh... the greatest success of humankind!...
IT CAN BE DONE... CHRIST AND I, ABSOLUTE MAJORITY!, I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Phil.4:13).

2. The historical personalities of Jesus and the Buddha differ widely.

Jesus Christ grew up in a family of poor Jewish craftsmen. Devoting himself exclusively to religious questions, he was a successor of the Jewish prophets who enthusiastically proclaimed the divine inspirations bestowed upon them. As a noble friend of mankind, full of compassion for the poor, he preached gentleness and love for one's neighbor; but, on the other hand, he attacked with a passionate zeal abuses, for instance when he showed up as hypocrites the Scribes and Pharisees, when he drove from the Temple the traders and money-lenders, and held out the prospect of eternal damnation to those who refused to believe in him (//Mark// 16, 16). With the conviction of being the expected Messiah he preached the early advent of the Heavenly kingdom (//Matth.// 10, 23). With that promise he primarily turned to the "poor in spirit" (//Matth.// 5, 3), because not speculative reasoning, but pious and deep faith is the decisive factor: What is hidden to the clever and wise, has been revealed by God to the babes (//Matth.// 11, 25).

Gautama Buddha, however, stemmed from the princely house of the Sakyas that reigned on the southern slopes of the Himalaya. He lived in splendor and luxury up to his 29th year, when he left the palace and its womenfolk and went forth into homelessness as a mendicant. After a six years' vain quest for insight spent with various Brahman ascetics, he won enlightenment at Uruvela. This transformed the Bodhisattva, i.e., an aspirant for enlightenment, into a Buddha, that is into one who has awakened to truth. From then onward, up to the eightieth year of his life, he proclaimed the path of deliverance found by him. He died at Kusinara about 480 B.C. Buddha was an aristocrat of high culture, with a very marked sense for beauty in nature and art, free from any resentment, and possessed of a deep knowledge of man's nature. He was a balanced personality, with a serene mind and winning manners, representing the type of a sage who, with firm roots within, had risen above the world. In the struggle with the systems of his spiritually dynamic time, he evolved out of his own thought a philosophical system that made high demands on the mental faculties of his listeners. As he himself said: "My doctrine is for the wise and not for the unwise." The fact that his teaching had an appeal also for the uneducated is explained by his great skill in summarizing in easily intelligible language the fundamental ideas of his philosophy.

3. Christianity regards the Bible as the "Word of God," as an infallible source of truth in which God, by inspiring the authors of these scriptures, revealed things that otherwise would have remained hidden to man.

Contrary to Christianity, Judaism and Islam, atheistic Buddhism does not know of a revelation in that sense. Nevertheless, it possesses a great number of holy texts in which the sayings of the Buddha are collected.

4. God:

- The central tenet of Christian doctrine is the belief in an eternal, personal, omnipotent, omniscient and all-loving God. He has created the world from nothing, sustains it, and directs its destiny; he is law-giver, judge, the helper in distress and the savior of the creatures which he has brought into being. Angels serve him to carry out his will. As originally created by God, all of them were good angels. But a section of them turned disobedient, and breaking away from the heavenly hosts, formed an opposition to the other angels, a hierarchy which under its leader, Satan, strives to entice man to evil. Though the devil's power is greater than that of man, it is restricted by the power of God so that they cannot do anything without God's consent, and at the end of the days they will be subjected to divine judgment.

- Anti-Buddhism Buddhists, on their part, believe in a great number of deities (//devata//) which direct the various manifestations of nature and of human life. They also know of evil demons and a kind of devil, //Mara//, who tries to turn the pious from the path of virtue. But all these beings are impermanent though their life span may last millions of years. In the course of their rebirths they have come to their superhuman form of existence thanks to their own deeds, but when the productive power of their deeds is exhausted, they have to be reborn on earth again, as humans.

An impersonal and immanent cosmic law (//Dharma//), is the main difference between Buddhism and Christianity. The retribution for one's actions operates through the inherent efficacy of these deeds themselves. Helpers in need are the numerous but transient deities, while the truths of deliverance are revealed by human beings evolved to the perfection of Buddhas (Awakened Ones), who therefore are also made objects of cult and devotion. Savior, however, is each man for himself, in so far as he has overcome the world through wisdom and self-control.

The homage paid to the Buddha, as it may be observed in Buddhist temples, has a meaning quite different from the worship of God in Christian Churches.

- The Christian worships God in reverence due to the creator of the universe and the ruler of all its destinies; or he does so in order to be granted spiritual or material boons by God's grace.

- The Buddhist pays homage to the Buddha without expecting that he hears him or does something for him. Since the Buddha has entered into Nirvana he can neither hear the prayers of the pious nor can he help them. If a Buddhist turns to the Buddha as if to a personality that actually confronts him, his act has a fictive character. The devotee expects from his act only spiritual edification and a good Karma. This theory as advocated today by orthodox Buddhism has, however, often been altered in practice and in the teachings of some of the Buddhist schools. But even those who think it possible that a Buddha may intervene in favor of a devotee regard the Buddha only as a savior, a bringer of deliverance, and not as the creator and ruler of the universe.

5. Creation of the World:

According to the Christian doctrine, God has created the world from nothing, and he rules it according to a definite plan. The stopping of the cosmic process comprises the end of the world, the universal resurrection of the dead, the Day of Judgment, the eternal damnation of the sinners and the eternal bliss of the pious in a heavenly Jerusalem descended to earth.
Buddhism, however, knows neither a first beginning nor a definite end of the world, nor of Judgment, nor of heaven and hell, but reincarnation and universal karma law.

6. Body and Soul:

According to Christian views, man is composed of body and soul. While the body is formed of matter in the mother's womb, the soul is a special creation of God, from nothing. A soul is a simple, spiritual, immaterial substance. Maintained in eternal existence by God, the soul continues also after the dissolution of the body at death and receives from God the rewards of its deeds, either in heaven or hell. At the end of time, God causes a resurrection of all flesh and united again the souls with their former bodies. By the fact that thus the whole man, i.e., not only his soul but also his body, receives reward or punishment, the bliss of the heavenly realm of the torment of eternal damnation is felt with still greater intensity. In Christianity, the significance of life on earth, and of the decisions made in it, has been enhanced to the utmost through the idea that it is man's conduct during that short life-span which determines the soul's destiny for all eternity.

Buddhism believes in reincarnation... in body, not in soul. Just as nothing occurs without producing some effect in the physical world, so every morally good or evil act is the cause of definite effects. Though when a being dies a combination of factors is dissolved which had previously formed a personality, yet the deeds performed in the new life now passed become the cause of a new and separate being's birth. The newly born is different from the being that had died, but it takes over, as it were, the latter's inheritance. Thus the stream of the factors of existence is continued also after death, and one life form follows the other without break. Since any act can have only a retribution of limited duration, Buddhists do not know eternal bliss in heaven or eternal torments in hell, but believe that the inhabitants of heaven and hell are later reborn again on earth.

7. Collective and personal Sin:

- In Christianity, the suffering inherent in the world is the outcome of sin, and sin is disobedience towards God's commandments. Because Adam had sinned, all his progeny is afflicted with Original Sin. Man is too weak to free himself from sin by his own strength, from the Original sin and from and personal sin. Therefore God in his compassion became man in Christ, and died on a Cross as a vicarious redemptory sacrifice for all humanity. Through Christ's sacrificial death all men have become free from the power of sin, but that vicarious salvation from evil becomes reality only if man opens himself to divine grace through his faith in Christ.

- The idea of collective guilt and collective salvation is far from the Buddhist's way of thinking. According to Buddhism, everyone accumulates his own evil and everyone has to work out his own deliverance. The entire Christian conception of sin, as a matter of fact, is alien to the Buddhist. If man has to suffer in punishment for his misdeeds, it is not on account of his disobeying divine commandments, but because his actions are in conflict with the eternal cosmic law and, therefore, produce bad karma... but who created that eternal cosmic law?

8. Eternal Life... Nirvana:

- The definite and perpetual state of salvation which is the redeemed person's share according to Christian doctrine is conceived as an eternal life in the heavenly kingdom. If, after the second advent of Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the Last Judgment, the final kingdom of God has been established, then, after the old world's destruction, on a new earth, the redeemed ones will live in an inseparable communion with God and Christ.

- The Buddhist conception of Nirvana presents the most radical contrast to Christian eschatology. The Christian hopes for infinite continuation of his entire personality, not only of his soul but also of his body resurrected from dust to a new life. The Buddhist, however, wishes to be extinguished completely, like a drop of water in the ocean, so that all mental and corporeal factors which form the individual will disappear without a remainder. Nirvana is the direct opposite of all that constitutes earthly existence. It is a relative Naught in so far as it contains neither the consciousness nor any other factor that occurs in this world of change or could possibly contribute to its formation. Not wrongly, therefore, has Nirvana been compared to empty space in which there are no differentiations left, and which does not cling to anything.

Conclusion:

Though Buddhism and Christianity differ from each other in their respective views about world and self, about the meaning of life and man's ultimate destiny, yet they agree again in the ultimate postulates of all religious life. For both religions proclaim man's responsibility for his actions and the freedom of moral choice; both teach retribution for all deeds, and believe in the perfectibility of the individual. "You must be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect" (//Matth.// 5, 48), says Jesus. The Buddha summarizes the essence of his ethics in the words: "To shun all evil, to practice what is good, to cleanse one's own heart: that is the teaching of the Enlightened Ones." Jesus summarizes it in these words: "12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12).
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http://biblia.com/theology/buddhism7.htm

Take note of this article's conception of Nirvana, which I have explained is often misconstrued as in Nirvana means nothingness.
That is an absolute error, further from the Truth.

Nirvana is freedom from lust, freedom from the various hungers of the flesh. Nirvana is not even a blissful contemplation. It is, instead, a fulfillment of spiritual knowledge, and liberation from all bodily desires.

The state of Nirvana is being in a pure state, pure so far as lack of lusts of physical things are concerned. But even when one has attained to Nirvana (ie graduate from this Earth and escape from the cycle of rebirth ON THIS EARTH), one goes on to learn spiritual things and to advance in OTHER planes of existence.

#3 BabyRain, Jun 24, 2007
Last edited: Jun 24, 2007
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Another article:

Buddhism and Christianity: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers
By Thich Nhat Hanh

The dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity has not gone very far, in my opinion, because we have not been able to set up a solid ground for such dialogue. This is a reflection of the present situation.

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Buddhists believe in reincarnation, the possibility for human beings to live several lives. In Buddhist circles, we do not use the work incarnation very much: we use the word rebirth. After you die, you can be reborn and can have another life.

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In Christianity, your life is unique, your only chance for salvation. If you spoil it, then you will never get salvation. You have only one life.

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Buddhism teaches that there is non-self, anatta. Christianity clearly teaches that a Christian is a personalist. Not only are you a person, self, but God is a person, and He has a self.

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The Buddhist teaching of emptiness and no substance sounds like the teaching of no being.

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Christianity speaks of being, of existence. The teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of the philosophy of being, la philisophie de l'etre, the confirmation that the world is.

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There is compassion and loving-kindness in Buddhism, which many Christians believe to be different from the charity and love in Christianity. Charity has two aspects: your love directed to God, and your love directed to humankind. You have to learn how to love your enemy. Our Christian friends have a tendency to remind us that the motivation of love is different for Christians and Buddhists. There are theologians who say that Buddhists practice compassion just because they want liberation; that Buddhists don't really care about the suffering of people and other living beings; that they are only motivated by the desire to be liberated. In Christianity, your love is grounded in God. You love God, and because God said that you must love your neighbor, so you love your neighbor. Your love of your neighbor springs from the ground of your love of God.

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Many people, especially in Christian circles, say that there are things in common between Christianity and Buddhism. But many find that the philosophical foundations of Christianity and Buddhism are quite different. Buddhism teaches rebirth, many lives. Christianity teaches that only this one life is available to you. Buddhism teaches that there is no self, but in Christianity there is a real self. Buddhism teaches emptiness, no substance, while Christianity confirms the fact of existence. If the philosophical ground is so different, the practice of compassion and loving kindness in Buddhism and of charity and love in Christianity is different. All that seems to be a very superficial way of seeing. If we have time and if we practice our own tradition well enough and deeply enough, we will see that these issues are not real.

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First of all, there are many forms of Buddhism, many ways of understanding Buddhism. If you have one hundred people practicing Buddhism, you may have one hundred forms of Buddhism. The same is true in Christianity. If there are one hundred thousand people practicing Christianity, there may be one hundred thousand ways of understanding Christianity.

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In Plum Village, where many people from different religious backgrounds come to practice, it is not difficult to see that sometimes a Buddhist recognizes a Christian as being more Buddhist than another Buddhist. I see a Buddhist, but the way he understands Buddhism is quite different from the way I do. However, when I look at a Christian, I see that the way he understands Christianity and practices love and charity is closer to the way I practice them than this man who is called a Buddhist.

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The same thing is true in Christianity. From time to time, you feel that you are very far away from your Christian brother. You feel that the brother who practices in the Buddhist tradition is much closer to you as a Christian. So Buddhism is not Buddhism and Christianity is not Christianity. There are many forms of Buddhism and many ways of understanding Buddhism. There are many ways of understanding Christianity. Therefore, let us forget the idea that Christianity must be like this, and that Buddhism can only be like that.

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We don't want to say that Buddhism is a kind of Christianity and Christianity is a kind of Buddhism. A mango can not be an orange. I cannot accept the fact that a mango is an orange. They are two different things. Vive la difference. But when you look deeply into the mango and into the orange, you see that although they are different they are both fruits. If you analyze the mango and the orange deeply enough, you will see small elements are in both, like the sunshine, the clouds, the sugar, and the acid. If you spend time looking deeply enough, you will discover that the only difference between them lies in the degree, in the emphasis. At first you see the difference between the orange and the mango. But if you look a little deeper, you discover many things in common. In the orange you find acid and sugar which is in the mango too. Even two oranges taste different; one can be very sour and one can be very sweet.
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http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Buddhism_and_Christianity/id/9322

I find the words in bold, very thought-provoking.

#4 BabyRain, Jun 24, 2007
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It took me an hour to read these articles but I'm glad I can say I've read it! These are the stuff that definately goes deeper than the basic things we've learned back at school and I found myself agreeing more with the Buddhist views than the Christian views as an Atheist. Especially when I realize I live more like a Buddhist (something I already more or less knew due upbringing but after having read these articles I'm even more aware about this) whether I want it or not. The 5 Buddhist guidelines; "not killing, stealing, indulging in inappropriate sex [...], lying, or indulging in intoxicants can be all applied me. (unless you count the small white lies ofcourse)

And the 2nd article in post #3 mentions 'atheistic Buddhism' which got me thinking; so I can life like a Buddhist while regarding myself as an Atheist?

I think I've mentioned it somewhere else on PA I was more attracted to the Buddhist views anyway because it's not a god religion, you improve for yourself. In the end , in theory, if everyone started to think like that the whole world can be a much better place to live in. A better world starts by your self.

#5 Taxloss, Jun 24, 2007
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Taxloss;336579The 5 Buddhist guidelines; "not killing said:

, lying, or indulging in intoxicants can be all applied me. (unless you count the small white lies ofcourse)
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I think small white lies may count also. I guess I can't follow the 5 buddhist guidelines then...

#6 無得頂, Jun 24, 2007
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無得頂 said: ↑

I think small white lies may count also. I guess I can't follow the 5 buddhist guidelines then...
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Haha MDD, remember my posts on Buddhism?

One of the Eightfold Paths:

6) Right Effort:

Right effort has a special meaning; it means that one must proceed at one’s OWN MOST SUITABLE speed on the Holy Eightfold Path. A person who is seeking to progress should not be impatient and try to move too quickly before he has learned the lessons which are to be learned.

and also the Middle Way.

Buddhism is a way of life, nowhere does it say that you are not a Buddhist any longer once you break any 'rules'. As long as you think the white lies are harmless and justifiable, you are not violating the Buddhism 'code'. But I have already explained to you how karma works anyway. If you commit a bad deed, you get bad karma added to you, so it's fair.

Buddhism is not a religion, therefore you don't have to go through any ceremony to embrace it. As long as you practice Buddhism teachings in your everyday life, you are already a Buddhist.

#7 BabyRain, Jun 24, 2007
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BabyRain, did you get this from one author or multiple sources?

#8 apollon, Jun 24, 2007
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BabyRain said: ↑

Buddhism is a way of life, nowhere does it say that you are not a Buddhist any longer once you break any 'rules'. As long as you think the white lies are harmless and justifiable, you are not violating the Buddhism 'code'. But I have already explained to you how karma works anyway. If you commit a bad deed, you get bad karma added to you, so it's fair.

Buddhism is not a religion, therefore you don't have to go through any ceremony to embrace it. As long as you practice Buddhism teachings in your everyday life, you are already a Buddhist.
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I guess that also answers Taxloss' question on whether one can be an atheist and a buddhist at the same time.

#9 無得頂, Jun 24, 2007
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apollon said: ↑

BabyRain, did you get this from one author or multiple sources?
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What do you think? She clearly added the sources and the names of the authors at the beginning of each article... these are basic things to check.

#10 Taxloss, Jun 24, 2007
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apollon said: ↑

BabyRain, did you get this from one author or multiple sources?
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Maybe it's time for you to make an appointment with your optometrist, apollon. I think those tiny font size you been using have damaged your eyesight? <_<

#11 BabyRain, Jun 24, 2007
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BabyRain said: ↑

Maybe it's time for you to make an appointment with your optometrist, apollon. I think those tiny font size you been using have damaged your eyesight? <_<
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I may have a problem with my eyesight, but you can't answer my simple question without stringing it with an insult.

anyways, thanks Taxloss for pointing out the citing; i presume that it was some outside source agreeing with the associated post. so, i didn't look into it.

wait, did Buddha performed "miracles"? I'm a bit confusing because within the same source both aspects are addressed which is contradicting. Unless there is a definition difference between the miracles perform by Christ and the miracle performed by Buddha. But the author agree that their both the same. () odd, but interesting.

#12 apollon, Jun 24, 2007
Last edited: Jun 24, 2007
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apollon said: ↑

I may have a problem with my eyesight, but you can't answer my simple question without stringing it with an insult.
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haha not an insult, just /sarcasm because I find it rather a silly question, when it's obviously posted there.

apollon said: ↑

i found it interesting that one author claims that Buddha didn't perform any miracles when another author says he did.
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So what you do reading those articles are merely comparing notes on who is greater, Jesus or Buddha right? Does it matter that Buddha performed or not performed any miracles? That is not even the point of these articles... sigh.

#13 BabyRain, Jun 24, 2007
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BabyRain said: ↑

haha not an insult, just /sarcasm because I find it rather a silly question, when it's obviously posted there.
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ok.

BabyRain said:

So what you do reading those articles are merely comparing notes on who is greater, Jesus or Buddha right? Does it matter that Buddha performed or not performed any miracles? That is not even the point of these articles... sigh.
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No. Like most ppl that reads an article, sometimes elements in the articles will cause their mind to drift afar into another tangental topic. When I was reading your post, I was interested to know in the beginning that Buddha didn't perform any miracle, but I continue reading to the third post I realize that he did perform miracle. That only got me questioning to myself, "Did He [Buddha] or did he not perform miracles?" That is all. An inquiry if you may.

I understand the reason for the post and I agree with some aspect of it. But Buddhism and Christianity are two very different religion (or Way of Life). Like an apple growing on an apple tree and an orange growing on an orange tree. We can state that both objects are fruits and both similiary receive their nutrition from a mother-host: its Tree. So, in essence it is the same. But, an apple is very different from an orange, b/c not only does it look different, it taste and smell different as well. So, as much as Buddhism and Christianity may have in common. They are still very much apart.

my two cents.

#14 apollon, Jun 24, 2007
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More on the subject:
http://evolutionspace.wordpress.com/tag/buddhism/

A group of brave Christians, intent on following the example of ancient Brahmins and interviewing the Buddha, found him walking in a forest near the small town of Jaredville, Indiana, and asked him:

“If there is no personal God, and if one can attain nirvana only as a result of the destruction of thirst (tanha) / desire, therefore the destruction of attachment, therefore the destruction of existence–from whence, do you suppose, did personality (or even the sense of personality) ever come? Exactly what is it, and where does it go when one ceases to exist?”

The World-Honored One smiled and responded:

“Christian friend, “Nirvana” is not the name given by me to something lacking, nor to something attained; Nor do I teach of the “end of existence”, nor of its beginning. Those things only lead to ceaseless speculation, and to inevitable suffering. I suggest that your question has been misframed. There is suffering, and there is a way to the end of suffering, and this is all the Buddha teaches. What you call “personality” arises when the conditions necessary for the formation of “personality” are present, and it vanishes when those conditions are no longer present. To ask “where the personality goes” is also a mis-framed question; where does a fire go, when its fuel is exhausted? You have twice stated that I teach of the “destruction of existence” or the idea of “ceasing to exist”, but I teach none of those things. I teach only of the arising of unsatisfactory states, and of the ceasing of unsatisfactory states.”
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Question 2 Concept of Personal God

Intent on outsmarting the Buddha, those Christians found him again at a Bus stop out on Route 8. They asked him:

“Without a personal God, on what basis can there ever exist any human moral standard or ethic–and therefore, in what sense do you mean for us to understand the terms noble and truth, i.e. The Four Noble Truths, or the term right in the eight-fold path of right views, resolve, speech, conduct, occupation, efforts, awareness, and meditation?”

The World-Honored One said:

“Christian friend, I have opened my eyes and seen numberless sentient beings in existence, and I know that all of these beings have one thing in common: all suffer from pains of body and mind; all suffer from the heat of thirsts and passions; all suffer from physical sickness or injury, and they all quake with fear in the face of the great lord of death.

All beings suffer in this way, and all beings wish to be free of suffering. Without knowing it, driven by negative karma, they mindlessly create the causes for their own sufferings and the sufferings of others. Still, in their hearts, all desire to be loved, accepted, and free of suffering and the causes of suffering. All fear pain, injury, isolation, and death.

Realizing this, compassion for all other beings can arise. It is this compassion, and the mindfulness that arises from it with respect to the needs of others, that the Buddha says is the basis for moral and ethical standards. The words “noble” and “truth” found in my teaching of the Four Noble Truths are meant to be understood as describing the noble call to examine the truths of our condition, so that we will be motivated to seek a life that leads us to be free from suffering.

The term “right” used to describe the various parts of the Eightfold Path is meant by me to be understood as being synonymous with “mindful” and “compassionate”.
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Here comes question 3. This is a good question that can be asked of all major religions, Christianity, Islam and the like - what provisions do the religions provide before they come on to scene?

In an incredible show of “pot calling the kettle black” logic, those Christians found Buddha on the side of the road outside of Chicago, and actually demanded to know the answer to this question:

“If your teaching, which came on the scene in the sixth century B.C., alone represents truth and liberation–what provision was there for the millions who lived previous to the advent of your enlightenment and teaching? Why do you suppose that you, of all humankind, were the one to come on this insight when you did?”

The World-Honored One answered:

“Christian friend, You have misunderstood what I have taught, or perhaps you are led astray by the things others have said about me. I came to no insight, and attained not a single thing that would lift me above all of humankind. The Buddha’s way does not promise a special “insight” that stands in opposition to a condition lacking insight. Such a view is a poisonous view, a tangled view, a dualistic view that will inevitably lead to more suffering.

The Buddha’s way directs each person to be satisfied with simplicity, and to cultivate an attitude of mindfulness. My way leads to the development of right views that reveal the root of suffering in each person, and the way to the end of that suffering. There is no “insight” to be won as most people think of this word; there is only suffering that exists, and which can cease.

All sentient beings live, suffer, and die, and are driven by karma to rebirth. All sentient beings exist in this manner, from age to age, until they find the path that leads to freedom, and thereafter they are free. The teachings of the perfect Dharma arise in every age of the world from the enlightened speech and action of the Buddhas of those ages, and those teachings are the “provisions” of which you ask. So long as the Dharma persists, so will beings find the way to the end of suffering. The liberating power of its wisdom reaches every grain of sand.”
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Question 4

The Christians who were on Buddha’s trail drove around for a while, before spotting him sitting in the Playground of a McDonalds in Dallas. They ran into the playground and asked him:

“If, as you are reported to have said, nirvana is “beyond…good and evil”, then, in the ultimate sense, there is really no difference between Hitler and Mother Theresa, or between helping an old lady across the street and running her down–correct?”

The World-Honored One responded:

“Christian friends, had I ever said “Nirvana is beyond good and evil”, it would not lead to the conclusion you have come to, that there is no difference between an evil man and a good woman, or between helping and harming a fellow human being.

To state that something should be considered beyond the categories created by the grasping of the deluded mind and beyond the act of labeling is one thing; to say that there is no difference between the actions undertaken by an evil man and a good woman, or no difference between helping and harming, is something else entirely.

There are those who do harmful things to others, and there are those who selflessly give aid and compassion to others; woe follows the first kind of person, and joy is the companion of the second. Avoid woe; do what leads to peace and joy. This is the Law, ancient and inexhaustible. That is what the Buddha teaches.”
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Question 5

Not to be undone, the Christians tracked Buddha down and found him in Boulder, Colorado, standing outside the gates of Naropa Institute.

They asked him:

“Thich Nhat Hanh, bodhisattva (holy man) and author of Living Buddha, Living Christ, attempts to homogenize Buddhism and Christianity. Though you never knew of Jesus Christ, it would seem that you too might suggest that one could conceivably be a “Christian Buddhist”. Yet how could that ever be possible given Christianity’s categorical differences with Buddhism on matters like the nature of sin, reincarnation, and salvation–to name just a few. Jesus claimed to be the Truth. The Christian Scripture says that “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”

The World-Honored One smiled patiently and said:

“Christian friend, I have never suggested that a person could or should be a “Christian Buddhist”. I have never suggested that someone be anything in particular; I have only ever taught that people should be mindful, should avoid extremes, and practice compassion and virtue. That is all. How a man acts is one thing; how he understands is another, and these two are entwined. What a man calls himself, whether Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, or Brahmanist, is secondary to how he thinks and acts, and tertiary to the level of mindfulness that man has attained. Only in compassionate, selfless, and virtuous acts are the conditions for peace created; only in peace can mindfulness be cultivated. What a man calls himself therefore means little to me.

For a man to say that he “is the truth” sounds like a misframed statement; there is confusion here. It would be just as confusing for a man to announce “I am Justice”. A man may seek justice or attempt to perform just acts; he can teach about justice or believe in justice, but he is not himself justice. A man is a man, and justice is justice.

The Buddha is the Buddha, Truth is Truth, and Compassion is Compassion. I do not say “I am truth” or “I am compassion”; I am awakened and I teach the eternal Dharma; I am awakened and I teach about the way suffering arises, and the way it is defeated. That is salvation, and it is boundlessly available to all, in any age, though karmic obscurations are so strong that most will need to hear the Dharma of the awakened ones to find the natural peace that arises from recognizing their unborn nature.

Those who cannot or do not understand what I have said will create warped teachings which they believe will offer them release from their suffering- doctrines of this and that God, doctrines of sin and requirements of prayer, incense, sacrifice, and ritual. They will go around and around the wheel of suffering grasping on to these things, their desperation growing stronger as their doubts about themselves grow stronger, and their minds will become darkened with despair, fanaticism, violence, and ignorance.

These conditioned things can no more free people from suffering than the light reflecting from a pond’s surface can quench a man’s thirst. They can enchant the senses, but they end where they began: in suffering and deluded grasping for some certainty which the Buddha has taught cannot be found in this world of samsara. If it is certainty you seek, you must obtain it from your own awakened nature, and from nothing else.”
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Question 6 mirrors a question that I would love to ask Jesus or God if I could - how would he feel about all these Christian denominations such as Catholicism, Orthodox, Anglicanism, Methodism and so on and on and on…

Finding the Buddha wading in the shallow water off the coast of Oahu, the Christians sent forth their most clever commentator, who asked the Buddha:

“How do you feel about the many variations of your teaching that have evolved down through the years? Please comment on Theravada (38%), Mahayana (56%), Tantrism or Vajranaya, Tibetan (6%; Dalai Lama), and Zen Buddhism?”

The World-Honored One said:

“Christian friend, a million beautiful words can be spoken or written down, but bring no peace. Better than a million beautiful words is one plain word that brings peace. Men and women love words, and so many words will be spoken and written down, in every time and place. The orientation towards peace is more important than words, and this orientation has always existed in every school or sect of Buddhism.

Many years ago, when I was born as Siddhartha Gautama, I realized unexcelled freedom, and I taught people a way to the end of suffering. Since that time, people have taken my teachings and applied them in many brilliant ways, all for the same purpose- the end of suffering.

Regardless of sect or transmission, my teachings about the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path have remained constant; my view of the Middle Way has informed all sects of Buddhism, and through every age, sanghas working in the name of my teachings have devoted themselves to rooting out the causes of suffering. All of these sects have produced impressive works of art, writing, and culture, all of which manifests the spirit of great awakening.

In much the same way that many variations on the teachings of Jesus have evolved down through the years, such as Catholicism, Greek Orthodox Christianity, Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, Methodism, Mormonism, Southern Baptism, and many, many more, so have people looked upon my teachings in the various ways they needed to look upon them, to find peace.”
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Question 7

Begining to grow weary and somewhat desperate, the Christians found Buddha in a diner somewhere in the Texas Panhandle. One of them asked him:

“Chuck Stanford says: “Like cloudy water, our minds are basically pure and clear, but sometimes they become cloudy from the storms of discursive thoughts. Just like water, if we let our minds sit undisturbed the mud and muck will eventually settle to the bottom. Once this happens we can begin to get in touch with our basic goodness. It is through this basic goodness that the Buddha discovered that we can lead sane lives.” But, Mr. Gautama, what if you are wrong about our being basically good? The Bible says that we’re conceived in sin. What if there is a personal God to whom we will all one day answer? What if your enlightenment (awakening) was really only a dream?”

The World-Honored One Answered:

“Christian friend, perhaps someone has misquoted me to you. I have never called human nature “basically good”; I have said that the true nature of all things is without character, is boundless and free, empty of any qualities you may wish to ascribe to it whatsoever. It is because your nature is purely and boundlessly free of any one “way of being” that you can be free of suffering. If your nature was innately “one way or another”, freedom would not be possible.

I know that humans have boundless potential to express enlightened actions, actions which soothe suffering, show compassion, and bring peace and healing to other beings. Insofar as these things are preferable to causing suffering, breaking peace, and harming other beings, they may be rightly called “good”. I say that humans have boundless potential for good acts, acts of compassion and kindness.

If humans lacked this potential, then not only would goodness be impossible, but the moral foundations of human life would be undermined. Every day world-renouncers, saints, monks, nuns, and laypersons of all faiths and countries express good acts. They have expressed countless virtuous acts long before the birth of your Messiah, or the writing of your sacred texts. This is evidence that their nature is basically good, for no effect can rise above its cause. If the cause is good, the effects can be good and virtuous. If human nature were innately flawed or bad, no act of a person could ever be virtuous.

You now ask me “what if my awakening was a dream” and “what if there’s a personal God to whom we will one day answer?” You now cite the authority of a holy scripture or a sacred book and say “I believe in these things because this book says so.”

And to you, I can say: I have experienced freedom. I do not have “faith” in freedom, I am certain of the reality of freedom. I have no need to appeal to a scripture to validate my knowledge of freedom. Anyone who follows the way of awakening with great courage and nobility will find freedom.

You cannot respond by saying “I have experienced my Supreme Being”, for in the same manner that you can doubt the Buddha’s experience, others can doubt your statement- perhaps your experience of your God was a dream. How will you show that it was not? You ask me “what if” many times; I can ask you “what if” in the same manner. What if your God isn’t what you believe he is? What if your sacred texts are just so many piles of paper and ink? What superior evidence can you show me for your claims that will render your positions more compelling?

You can say you have faith in your God, and indeed, you will happily admit to your good and virtuous faith, but you don’t have certainty; faith implies that you cannot be fully certain. Where you are uncertain, and prepared to live in the shelter of your faith, all of the Awakened ones rest in the certainty of boundless freedom.

You appeal to scriptures for both evidence of your beliefs and authority, but this proves nothing, except that you personally choose to believe that this book has a sort of authority. In this same manner, many people all over the world have chosen to believe that their magical statues, idols, jewels, and scriptures had miraculous powers or were sources of spiritual authority. Your own sacred text does not stand out against those, except in your own opinion. But freedom is not based on opinion; it is a reality that all people can experience, and it is far beyond opinion.

Those who follow the path of Theism will not all find their God here and now; some will say “we only know the Supreme Being by his silence or mystery”, and in this, they revert back to faith. To no Theist is given a shred of tangible evidence for their claims or the powers they ascribe to their deity. But anyone who follows the Buddha’s way of awakening will find freedom. Do not course in the endless circles of suffering brought about through speculation, beliefs, and blind adherence to tradition. Stop and look, with clarity, and really see what is there.”
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Question 8

Finding Buddha walking down a crowded sidewalk in Memphis, The Christians put their cinema knowledge together and asked him:

“In the film “Beyond Rangoon” Laura’s guide says that the (Buddhist) Burmese expect suffering, not happiness. When happiness comes, it is to be enjoyed as a gift, but with the awareness that it will soon certainly pass. If the ultimate Buddhist hope is to just leave the present wheel of birth and rebirth and enter into the ineffable bliss of Nirvana, where is the motivation to do good, and to actively oppose injustice, in this present life?”

The World-Honored One said to them:

“Christian friends, I cannot answer to the accuracy of a movie created by a motion picture company, nor its ability to reflect the truth of my teachings. I have not seen this movie, “Beyond Rangoon”, but I hear good things.

From what you say, it sounds as if a screenwriter has made a statement about what some Burmese Buddhists may or may not believe. For my part, I say that all conditioned things arise, abide, and fall away or vanish, and that includes all occassions of joy and sorrow.

In this light, people can be aided in enduring sorrow, knowing that the conditions that bring it about must eventually change or fade, and we can appreciate the joyful things that we experience, by not grasping on to them, or expecting them to remain unchanged forever. We can be fully appreciative of them while we experience them. In this sense, the Burmese Buddhists are not unwise to see occassions of happiness as gifts, but keeping the awareness that they must eventually pass.

Again you have come to misunderstand my teachings- my disciples are not enjoined to place their efforts into an “ultimate hope” for a great spiritual achievement one day. I have never taught that people should have “hope” that they can leave some wheel of rebirth and “enter into” Nirvana; Nirvana has no door or gate; one does not “enter into” it. Nirvana is not some world or paradise apart from the experience you are having at this moment. Anyone who thinks of Nirvana in these wrong ways will never know freedom.

The motivation to do good, to oppose injustice, in this present life, is born in compassion. All men, women, and children in this world suffer; all want to be free from suffering. All want to be loved; all want to be spared isolation and pain. Each person knows this is true about himself; it is equally true for all mankind, and for all sentient beings. This realization gives birth to compassion. The more we help others with kindness and compassionate acts, the more the world will become peaceful and the more likely it will be that happiness and joy will surround us, helping us on our own path of realization.”
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Question 9

Realizing that their time was short, the Christians cornered Buddha in the Florida Everglades. One of the youth pastors asked him:

“How do we reconcile the Dalai Lama’s observation that “Every human being has the potential to create happiness”, with your own teaching that suffering is caused by desire? If one sets out to resist desire, why would one ever then entertain the desire for happiness, and thus work to create it?”

The World-Honored One answered:

“Christian friend, egocentric desire is not the only thing that can motivate the actions of human beings. For most people, it is true that narrow desires drive them from one action to another. But for some, compassion and love are what motivate them. Compassion is the wish for others to be free from suffering; love is the wish for others to have happiness. It is possible to wish these things for other people, without any hint of selfish desire.

Surely you have heard of the term “selfless love”- a parent, for instance, can love a child, putting that child’s needs before their own, and even be willing to die to save the child. This parent’s love isn’t based on hope of personal reward, but on a selfless wish for the good of the child before their own good.

Just so, compassion can be selfless, and all of the Awakened Ones feel just this love and compassion for all other sentient beings. Without hope for reward or thought of personal aggrandizement, they express whatever they must express to help save other sentient beings from suffering; they do whatever they can do, with the boundless energy of bliss, selfless compassion and love to support them.

These Awakened Beings never want to create the “desire” for happiness in others, nor do they have it in themselves; they work to create happiness or the conditions for happiness in others, and they are themselves already perfectly happy and at rest, in the ongoing freedom of their own awakening. Those who walk the path of awakening are enjoined to work on laying aside egocentric motivations and embracing true, boundless compassion and love for all sentient beings. After they have done so, they work to create happiness and peace naturally and spontaneously.”
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Final Question

In one last act of desperation, The Christians found Buddha on Decatur Street in New Orleans, and surrounded him. The rudest of them asked him:

“Personal Trivia: Did you really sit under that bo tree for seven full days–without ever eating any figs? Did your remarkably sensitive, compassionate, nature come more from your mother or father? How did your son, left to grow up without a father, feel about your “Great Renunciation”?

The World Honored One answered:

“Christian Friend, there have been many stories told about my awakening experience; many think that I sat for seven, eleven, thirty, or even forty days without food or drink; some say that I was awakened upon seeing the full moon rising, and others say that I was awakened upon seeing the evening star. Some say that armies of demons attacked me, and that I had to use my miraculous powers to defeat them, before I could awaken; others believe that I simply sat and came to deep profundity through techniques of meditation. Bodhi Trees don’t actually produce figs, so I can assure you I didn’t eat any figs. I did sit, however, and meditate, and yes, after a point, I was free.

If it is true that aspects of a person’s character can “be inherited” from one parent or another, my sensitive and compassionate personality was probably from my mother, for my father was a stern, quiet, and driven man. My underlying, awakened nature, like the nature of all things, is free and boundless, but my potential to express sensitivity and compassion was developed through my own efforts. All people can develop the same good potentials. I honor my parents by saying that they gave me a good, strong body through which I could find freedom in this world.

As far as my son Rahula, I left him and his mother safely in the palace of my father, where they were taken care of, fed, protected, and entertained until my return six years later. In those times, 2500 years ago, men in that part of India didn’t have the same role expectations that men in nuclear families in modern America have. I was a warrior, and a prince, and all princes in my time spent most of their time away from family, roaming the land, engaging in politics, fighting, and the like. It was very similar to how princes and kings treated their own families, during the Christian ages of Europe. I do recall Jesus stating in your scriptures that he came to set family members against one another, and that he also renounced his mother in front of a lot of people. While Jesus claims to have come to bring “not peace, but a sword”, my teachings are here to create peace, a lasting peace for each sentient being.

I was only gone six years, but I missed my child and wife, and had much joy to see them again. They both found awakening through my teachings, and now enjoy perpetual bliss.”
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#15 BabyRain, Jun 24, 2007
Last edited: Jun 24, 2007
BabyRain Doppelgänger of da E.Twin

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Wow, I am going to memorize the answer to question #7 and quote it everytime a Christian claims "Christianity is the ONLY way" to my face .

#16 BabyRain, Jun 24, 2007
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I like challenges; the idea trying to improve yourself and thus your life and thus other people involved in your life (supposed they're good people too), attracts to me. If you do your own best the fruits of your effort will taste sweeter -as ye sow, so shall ye reap- when you eventually manage to move to the next stage until you've reached Nirvana. Christianity seems to use scaring tactics (Hell) and promises of a heaven after your life have ended. Don't think it's that easy.

BabyRain said: ↑

What is KARMA?

“As ye sow, so shall ye reap”.

If you are going to sow some bad deeds, you will reap a bad future either in the next life, or the next, or the one after that. If in this life, you sow good, if you show goodness and kindness and compassion to those in need, then when your own turn comes to misfortune, someone; somewhere, will show you kindness and consideration and compassion.
[...]

Karma, then, is the process whereby we incur debts and we pay off those debts. We make a debt, we have to pay it; we do good to others, they must pay us back and do good to us.

[...]

In conclusion, to attain Nirvana and the state of Buddhahood, one has to pay off one’s bad karma fully. Only by one’s success in overcoming one’s Karma can one be ready to move on to another plane of existence.

So in other words, after death; yes one has choice in laying out his own pieces of his next upcoming life. However, he must also take into account the 'bank account balance' or the karma he has accumulated; be it bad or good karma.
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#17 Taxloss, Jun 25, 2007
BabyRain Doppelgänger of da E.Twin

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Taxloss said: ↑

I like challenges; the idea trying to improve yourself and thus your life and thus other people involved in your life (supposed they're good people too), attracts to me. If you do your own best the fruits of your effort will taste sweeter -as ye sow, so shall ye reap- when you eventually manage to move to the next stage until you've reached Nirvana. Christianity seems to use scaring tactics (Hell) and promises of a heaven after your life have ended. Don't think it's that easy.
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Just to add to this:

I determined to cut all of the chains with my old life. The first chain I had already cut when I left my country. Next, I cut my money, my job, my language, and my culture. I lived like my Chinese brothers, and I learned to love them. The one chain I still maintained was my religion. I was still Catholic. And, as much as I loved studying with my friends, and even going to prayers with them, in my heart I just didn't feel that I could ever give up my religion.

I sought advice from my Buddhist advisor on this, "Gwo Su, you are the best person I know, serene, peaceful, kind, generous. I want to be like you. Should I become Buddhist?"

Gwo Su shook his head with a soft smile. "Have you learned nothing from us? We weren't teaching you to become one of us. We were teaching you a lesson in tolerance. If I ask you to become like me, to take my religion, this is not tolerance."

"Tolerance," he said, "is learning to accept people who are different. If you can learn to accept and love people who are different, if you can learn to see their differences as beautiful, then you have achieved tolerance."

After two years with these spiritual warriors, Gwo Su's wise words helped me to realize that although I had been going through the motions, I had failed to learn this central lesson. They had always given me the freedom to live as an American Catholic among Chinese Buddhists without ever asking me to change. This was a truly profound lesson.

"How could I have been so stupid?" I asked.

"You Americans are so full of yourselves that it is impossible for you to learn anything new," Gwo Su said flatly. "If your glass is full of water, you cannot put something more tasty into it. You must first empty your glass that it may be filled. Only by loosing everything are we free to gain the most precious gifts."

These martial arts masters also believe that your race, your religion, and sometimes even your profession – the core aspects of who you are – are all carefully chosen, and you cannot change them. They feel that the way you are born is the way you should be. Yes, you can change your actions. You can change your behavior. But you cannot change the core of who you are. Through my extraordinary journey with these people, I learned that acceptance and tolerance both of myself and of those around me opens the door to incredible new possibilities.

The one lesson that I wish to give is this: You are who you are, and that is OK. Whether you are a man or a woman, rich or poor, fat or skinny, old or young, you are fine just the way you are. It doesn't matter if you are Black, White, Asian, Latino, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, or whatever else. It is our differences that make us special. Celebrate your uniqueness! Yet allow others their uniqueness, too.

And if you make a conscious choice to change jobs, start a business, earn more money, lose weight, finish a degree, or achieve any goal or dream you have, just do it. If you believe it will serve you, go ahead and do it. But don't ever let anyone bully you into feeling bad about who you are. You are who you are supposed to be.

Like my grandma and the Shaolin masters, I now know that you are beautiful just the way you are.
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http://www.wanttoknow.info/070518inspirationalstories

This is why I despise preachers, and people who try to influence others into submission to their religions by fear (Hell) or temptation/bribery (Heaven).

Nothing spells 'IGNORANCE' clearer than if you claim yours is the ONLY true way. Religions/ways of life are all based on our own faith, no certainty and nothing can be proven.

Certain groups of people who believe they are superior than others just based on their religions are seriously deluded and arrogant. They are in dire need of a lesson in humility and tolerance -mellow

Buddhists are supposed to be humble, modest and tolerant. I always try my best to respect believers of other religions, unless they disrespect me first.

I have always believed in free-will and tolerance towards other religions. We all learn at our own will, our own pace, our own faith.

#18 BabyRain, Jun 25, 2007
Last edited: Jun 25, 2007
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apollon said: ↑

wait, did Buddha performed "miracles"? I'm a bit confusing because within the same source both aspects are addressed which is contradicting. Unless there is a definition difference between the miracles perform by Christ and the miracle performed by Buddha. But the author agree that their both the same. () odd, but interesting.
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Since the subject of whether Buddha performed any miracles is of interest to you, here are some articles I have found:

From Wiki:

There are many different types of miracles and powers that Gautama Buddha is known to have possessed and exercised on many occasions. These are described in the Mahasihanada Sutta and many other suttas in the pali canons [1].

Insight Knowledge
Mind-Made Body
Iddhi
Telepathy
Divine Hearing
Divine Seeing
Seeing Past Lives
Freedom from Defiling Impulses

Gautama Buddha was said to possess many superhuman powers and abilities. He is said to have attained these through deep meditation during the time when he had renounced the world and lived as ascetic. He supposedly performed such miracles to bring the most benefit to sentient beings and he himself warned that miraculous powers should not be the reason for practising his path. He claimed such powers were side effects of spiritual cultivation.

At Birth
It is said that immediately after the birth of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became known as The Buddha, he stood up, took seven steps north, and fearlessly uttered:

"Supreme am I in the world
Greatest am I in the world.
Noblest am I in the world.
This is my last birth,
Never shall I be reborn"

The Golden Bridge

During the 3rd week after The Buddha's Enlightenment, the devas were unsure about whether Siddhartha Gautama had truly attained enlightenment or not. As proof of his enlightenment, The Buddha, using only his mind, created a golden bridge in the air, and walked up and down the bridge for an entire week.

The Serpent King

One day The Buddha was meditating under a mucalinda tree. It was heavily raining and a giant serpent, said to be a King of the Nagas, came out to wrap himself seven times around The Buddha to keep him warm. The Naga King then placed his enormous hood over The Buddha to shelter him from the rain, which fell for seven days. The depiction of this event, with Guatama Buddha sitting beneath the hood of a seven or nine-headed serpent can be commonly seen throughout Buddhist iconography.

Twin Miracle

After The Buddha returned to his father's kingdom, some people were still unsure about whether Gautama Buddha was really enlightened or not. Some perceived him as the same Gautama that had abandoned his family to become an ascetic. In response, in order to clear the obscurations to their pure perception, The Buddha displayed the Yamaka-pātihāriya or the "Twin Miracle", called so because of its simultaneous production of apparently contradictory phenomena; in this case, fire and water. Upon seeing this, great devotion arose in the hearts of the King and the people.

There are different accounts of this Miracle, some being far more detailed than others. The twin miracle is a miracle wherein Gautama Buddha produced flames from the upper part of his body and streams of water from the lower part of his body, alternates this, and does so similarly between the left and right sides of his body. Six colored rays spring from every pore of his body, reaching up to the highest realms and down the lowest realms. he is said to have performed this miracle on numerous occasions to ripen the minds of those in attendance.

It is said that after this display, the Buddha took three giant steps, arriving in Tavatimsa, the abode of Thirty-three, which is also known as Tushita Heaven. There he preached the Abhidharma to his Mother who had been reborn there as a Deva named Santussita.

This miracle is also said to have been displayed by the Buddha´s relics.

Brahma

On one occasion, when The Buddha flew into Brahma's world, he skillfully explained to Brahma that all things are transient and temporary and devoid of independent existence. After hearing The Buddha's words, Brahma felt intense faith and decided to follow The Buddha's Dharma.

Brahma then requested a competition of powers between the two of them. Brahma hid himself in many places but The Buddha easily pointed out where he was located. Then The Buddha hid himself in voidness and mediation but Brahma could not spot him. Brahma's faith in The Buddha was increased.

Taming the Elephant

A cousin of The Buddha, the son of the Buddha's maternal Uncle, was named Devadatta. Devadatta was tormented from early in his life by jealousy against his superior cousin. After trying quite a number of dastardly schemes to no avail, one day Devadata set loose a fierce elephant, known as Nalagiri or Dhanapala, to destroy The Buddha. One account is that as this elephant, who had been intoxicated into a crazed state by his keepers, ran through the town towards The Buddha, a frightened woman accidentally dropped her baby at the Buddha's feet. Just as the elephant, who was headed for The Buddha, was about to trample the child, The Buddha calmly reached up and touched the elephant on the forehead. The elephant became calm and quiet. Then knelt down before The Buddha. Some accounts indicate that The Buddha then gave a personal Dharma sermon to this elephant.

The Clean Water

One day Gautama Buddha asked his disciple Ananda to go get him some drinking water from a well. Ananda however repeatedly told The Buddha that the well was filled with grass and chaff, and thus not drinkable. However The Buddha continuously asked Ananda, so Ananda went to the well. As Ananda walked to the well, The Buddha with his power alone expelled all the grass and chaff from the well, so the water was radiant and clean.

The Day of Miracles

The first full moon of the year is celebrated in the Vajrayana tradition as the Day of Miracles, or Chotrul Duchen in Tibetan, to commemorate the final day of miraculous display by the Buddha which lasted 15 days. He performed these numerous miracles to overpower the six heretical teachers who challenged the Buddha. When the Buddha first received the challenge, he moved to another kingdom of India and he continued to avoid the teachers until he had visited all the kingdoms. Finally, he had the kings of these lands and their retinues accompany him to the final kingdom. There, at an arranged field, he displayed his miraculous powers for 15 days, it is said, to increase the devotion and merit of future disciples. Through these acts of this 15 day period, which are every year observed by the great prayer festival of the Gelugpa Monlam Chenmo, The Buddha defeated the heretical teachers and introduced all in the audience to the path of Dharma.
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An Article on Buddha towards the subject of MIRACLES

If a wicked man can become a pure religious man, this according to Buddhism, is a practical miracle.

In every religion we hear of miracles being performed by either the founders of these religious or by some of their disciples.

In the case of the Buddha, he performed what people would call miracles on the day of his birth until his passing away into Nirvana. The psychic powers (so-called miraculous powers in other religions) of the Buddha were attained through his long and intense training in meditation. The Buddha meditated and passed through the highest stages of meditation that culminated in Enlightenment. Among his many abilities were the power to levitate, to multiply his body, to read the minds of others, to pass through solid rock and such. These abilities were performed during many episodes of his life and were considered common events by his disciples and those who encountered him.

The Buddha taught that such powers can be acquired through training in meditation. They are not considered miracles by those who understand them and they fall within the ability of any person who trains his mind through meditation and mental concentration to very high levels.

Once a man named Kevatta went up to the Buddha, paid homage, and said, "Lord, Nalanda is a successful city. The people living in Nalanda are prosperous, and they have confidence in the Blessed One. Lord, it would be good if the Blessed One appointed a monk to work a marvel of supernormal power, so that the people of Nalanda might become much more confident in the Blessed One."

The Buddha replied, "Kevatta, I do not teach the Law to monks in that way". The Buddha gave the same reply when the question was put to him the second and third time. After the third question, the Buddha replied that there were three kinds of supernormal levels:

1. The marvel of supernormal power to appear as many persons, to pass through walls, to fly through the air, walk on water. All these are physical actions the ordinary people cannot perform.

2. The supernormal power to read other people's minds.

3. The supernormal power to be able to guide people according to their mental development, for their own good, using suitable methods that fit these people.

He taught that a monk who displays the first two supernormal powers for their own sake in order to impress people, is no different from the performance of a shaman or a magician. The Buddha said that a monk who practices such worldly miracles is a source of shame, humiliation and disgust. This is because such actions may impress and win converts and followers, but they do not help them put an end to their suffering.

The third kind of supernormal power which the Buddha calls "the miracle of instruction" helps people to get rid of suffering. This is the only supernormal power that is fit to be practiced and is encouraged and praised by the Buddha.

"Furthermore, there is the case where a Tathagata appears in the world, worthy and rightly self-awakened. He teaches the Dhamma admirable in its beginning, admirable in its middle, admirable in its end. He proclaims the holy life both in its particulars and in its essence, entirely perfect, surpassingly pure. ~ Kevatta Sutta"

Another story illustrates the Buddha's attitude towards miraculous powers. One day the Buddha met an ascetic who sat by the bank of a river. This ascetic had practised austerities for 25 years. The Buddha asked him what he had received for all his labour. The ascetic proudly replied that, finally, he could cross the river by walking on the water. The Buddha pointed out that this gain was insignificant for all the years of labour, since he could cross the river using a ferry for one penny!

When the uneducated, the unsophisticated and the naive see the performance of miracles, their faith and incredulity deepens. The converts who are attracted to a religion through witnessing these powers embrace a faith, not because they realize the truth or gain in wisdom, but because they are either frightened or impressed by matters they do not understand. In contrast, the Buddha appealed to the reasoning power of people to consider his teachings. This is best illustrated in the Kalama Sutta.

It is possible and even quite common for a person to gain psychic abilities without gaining any wisdom. The Buddha teaches that if we first gain spiritual power, then we can easily develop the miraculous or psychic powers too. But if we develop psychic abilities without spiritual development, then we are in danger. Because of man's ego it is easy for him to misuse this power for worldly gain, to impress others and for other selfish purposes. Indeed, many people who have obtained some psychic abilities have merely succumbed to their ego and vanity.
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http://www.parami.org/buddhistanswers/what_about_miracles.htm

and Article 2

The only miracles that should be performed are these: when you see a man full of passion, craving and greed and you teach him to free himself from passion, craving and greed; when you see that a man is a slave to hatred and anger and you use your powers to help him control his hatred and anger; when you come across a man who is ignorant and who cannot see the true nature of the world (everything in this world is impermanent, sorrowful and egoless) and you use your powers to help him overcome his ignorance. These are worthy "miracles" you can perform.

This advice to Kevaddha was also extended to the Vinaya rules that forbid monks from performing miracles to impress people and gain converts, without helping them to be enlightened. This was clear in the case of Pindola.

Arahant Pindola Bharadwaja was famous for miraculous psychic powers. A rich man, wanting this monk to prove his psychic powers, placed a beautiful bowl at the top of a high place and challenged any holy man to get the bowl down. If he could do it, he could keep the bowl.

Pindola Bharadwaja flew up and took the bowl down easily. This was also done to prove to the rich man that there are saints in the world, a fact that the rich man did not believe. When the Buddha came to know about this incident, he called Pindola Bharadwaja to bring his bowl. He broke the bowl into pieces in front of a large gathering of monks, saying, "I am displeased about the demonstration of your psychic powers. You must never show off your powers just to impress simple ignorant people."
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http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/lifebuddha/2_26lbud.htm

^We can see from the two articles above that Buddha doesn't encourage people to talk about his miracles.

Buddha wants us to accept his teachings based on our own power of reasoning, not because He is said to be able to perform any miracles. -^_^

"Burmese religious pilgrims flocked by the thousands at the weekend to Nyaunglaybin township, 160 kilometres north of Rangoon, to witness a "miracle" of multi-coloured light beams appearing from a Buddhist monastery." ( Source: DPA, Germany, March 1997 )

Residents of Nyaunglaybin say the light beams have been occurring since March 9, and has drawn increasingly large crowds to the small town.

At the centre of the phenomenon is a Buddhist monk named Sayadew.

In recent years the monk has become known for his hour-long sermons at which listeners are required to remain perfectly still with their eyes closed. But this year he changed his technique, shortening his sermons to 20 minutes and insisting that people keep their eyes wide open, with no blinking.

Earlier this month some of Sayadew's followers claimed to see "relics of the Buddha", or mortal remnants of the Lord Buddha who died more than 2500 years ago, on the monk's robes.

"Scriptures have it that those who have been blessed with the experience of looking at the relics would be distanced from Hell by 92 worlds," Sayadew told his followers on Sunday.

Witnesses also say they have seen rainbow-like colours coming from the roof of Sayadew's home.
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http://www.mcn.org/1/miracles/M-image.html

Buddha statues emit rays of light

Thousands flocked to temples in Sri Lanka in early August 2006 after media reports that “miracle rays” could be seen emanating from statues of the Buddha. As news of the extraordinary phenomenon spread, traffic was held up throughout the capital city of Colombo and its suburbs as large numbers of people visited temples and roadside Buddha statues.

“Several of my colleagues and I saw the Buddha statue glow with light green rays,” reported one witness at the Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo. Statues at the Bellanwila Rajamaha Vihara temple located on the outskirts of Colombo, a statue near the Sambodhi orphanage in the city of Galle, a statute at a bus stand in Galle, and a Buddha statue at the entrance to a housing complex in the city of Battaramulla were among the many statues said to be emitting rays of light. “Thousands vouched for having seen rays emanating from the chest of the Buddha statues and considered it a miracle,” according to an article in a Sri Lankan newspaper. (Source: www.lankanewspapers.com, The Island, Sri Lanka; Agence France-Presse)

(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms these to be genuine miracles manifested by Maitreya.)

(From the October 2006 issue of Share International)
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A statue in Lhasa, Tibet, is crying small pearls, reports a German journalist. The statue is of Shakyamuni Buddha and is in the Jokhang Temple. The lama who related the story to the journalist reports that the statue cries frequently and the lamas are always very moved when it happens. The journalist brought five of the pearls to Munich where he plans to have one analysed by a chemist. Describing the pearls he said: "They are lovely and look like love-pearls."

(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the pearls are manifested by Maitreya.)

(From the December 1999 issue of Share International)
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Light emanates from Japanese Bodhisattva image

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On 4 July 1987, an image of the Bodhisattva, emanating rainbow-coloured light, was discovered on the bathroom window in the house of Mr and Mrs Yajima in Nagano City, Japan. Rainbow colours emanate from the head and body of the 48-cm-high figure on the glass. The image has a patterned, silver-coloured crown on its head. On its neck, there are two strings of prayer beads. The image is standing on a lotus, and is holding a small round-faced girl.

About the same time as the window image was discovered, an image appeared on the wall below the bathroom window. In the beginning, this image looked as if it were just a stain, but as time went by, it became clearer, and the outline darker. The image is appr. 40 cm high, and wears a pointed hat with a rounded middle. It holds a water pot in its hand, and sits on a lotus. The eyes are now clearly visible on the wall.

About a year after the image appeared on the bathroom window, the family demolished their bathroom. In its place, they built a small temple to enshrine the glass of the Bodhisattva. During the construction process, when workers were digging in the ground below where the image appeared, they discovered a ball about 35 cm in diameter. No one could figure out whether the ball was made of wood, stone or iron. The ball emanates a very strong energy. When people place their fingers close to the white walls of the shrine, a rainbow-coloured light appears between the wall and their fingers. This phenomenon can be seen only at the wall, and happens to everyone who tries it. The rainbow colour is most clearly seen when the wall is in the shade.

(Courtsey of Share International)
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http://www.einterface.net/gamini/buddhist.html

#19 BabyRain, Jun 25, 2007
Last edited: Jun 25, 2007
BabyRain Doppelgänger of da E.Twin

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And a summary on the subject of MIRACLES :

(Never really interested in the subject of Miracles myself. More interested in the Buddha's teachings than the 'miracles' He performed).
http://science.jrank.org/pages/10251/Miracles-Miracles-in-Sacred-Scriptures.html

Miracles in Sacred Scriptures

The best-known miracles are those found in the scriptures of the major world religions, and in the sacred biographies of the saints, sages, and spiritual masters who embody and extend scriptural precedents. When experienced as events embedded in religious traditions, miracles tend to define themselves as stories that in some way repeat or echo previous miracles within the same tradition. For example, the Hebrew Scriptures (for Christians, the Old Testament) contains so many and various kinds of miracles—divine rescues, healings, feedings, punishments and blessings, even raisings of the dead and one ascension (of Elijah) into heaven—that it can fairly be regarded as the repository of most of the forms that miracles take in the later Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions.

Within the Hebrew Scriptures themselves, later books deliberately recall earlier miracle stories. For example, there are 120 repetitions and allusions to the ancient Israelites' divinely provided crossing of the sea of reeds, the great deliverance miracle in the Book of Exodus. When the prophet Elisha picks up the mantel of his predecessor, Elijah, the power to produce similar miracles passes with it. When Jesus heals the sick and raises the dead, these miracle stories echo the miracles of Elijah and Elisha, though Jesus does them on his own authority. Likewise in the Book of Acts, the apostles Peter and Paul work the same kind of miracles that Jesus did, but they do so in his name and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Although in the Koran the prophet Muhammad notably refuses to work miracles, the story of his ascension (mi'raj) into heaven, a narrative developed out of a Koranic verse (Q. 17:1), replicates and surpasses the ascensions of Elijah and Jesus. This same story also provides the model of the mystical path followed by later Muslim mystics who are the chief miracle-workers in Muslim tradition.

In Buddhism, miracle stories are tied directly to Buddhist teachings as manifestations of their power to liberate. Thus the Buddha's first disciples collectively repeat the miracles of the master as they progress along the path to perfect enlightenment. In the Puranas ("ancient tales"), a vast and very popular collectin of sectarian scriptures composed and edited between the second and seventeenth centuries C.E., the miracles of Lord Krishna not only echo previous stories of earlier Vedic gods but also have the power to establish in his devotees the ability to replicate the experiences of Krishna, in some cases by becoming Krishna himself.

From this it can be seen that miracles achieve their meaning as signs through specific narrative traditions. Conversely, narrative traditions—to a large extent—determine which kinds of extraordinary events are recognized as miracles and which are not. Thus, in order to understand the significance of many scriptural miracles, one most know what previous miracles are being replicated, echoed, or superceded. But there are important exceptions in Islam. In the Koran, Muhammad says "the signs [ aya, meaning miracles] are with God alone;" the greatest sign is the Koran itself, every Arabic verse (sura) of which Muslims regard as the actual words of Allah. But the miracles attributed to Muhammad (mu'jizat) are all found elsewhere, chiefly in the hadith (roughly, "the traditions") of the Prophet, considered second only to the Koran in importance. However, in the various authoritative collections of the hadith, Muhammad's miracles tend to be merely listed apart from any interpretive narrative context. This arrangement suggests that miracles were incidental to the life and importance of the Prophet and may have been included in the hadith for the apologetic purpose of demonstrating that Muhammad, like Jesus, Moses, and other prophets of Allah before him, possessed the power to work miracles. Thus, among the three monotheistic traditions, Islam makes a formal and linguistic distinction between the miracles produced as signs by God and the miracles attributed to the prophets, whereas in Judaism and Christianity the distinction is informal: in the Bible, the power to work miracles belongs to God as the creator and sustainer of the world, but beginning with Moses that power passes to the prophets. In the New Testament, Jesus not only heals and raises the dead, like earlier Jewish prophets, but also exercises power over nature (as in calming storms and walking on water), a sign of his divinity since the power to control nature belongs to God alone.

In the various religious and philosophical traditions collectively known as Hinduism, miracles are usually understood as manifestations of innate divine power. Here we must distinguish between the miracles of God or gods, principally Shiva, Vishnu, and the latter's many avatars (especially Krishna and Rama) and the miracles of the saints or renunciates in a long line of ascetics reaching back to the fabled sages (rishi) of the Vedic period (1500–500 B.C.E.) Stories of the gods and their avatars belong to the great and complex tapestry of Hindu mythology and need not concern us here. Far more relevant to the Hindu understanding of miracles are the stories told of the saints.

Just as the Hindu deities can descend in human forms (avatars), so the Hindu saints can, through the practice of asceticism (tapas), rise to godlike status. Thus the saint is often understood to be a "god-man" or a "goddess woman" by virtue of having "realized" the divinity innate in all human beings. In this context, a miracle is a manifestation of supernormal powers (siddhi) acquired as a function of attaining ever purer forms of consciousness (samadhi) through meditation and physical austerities. A classic treatment of the siddhi is the Yoga Sutra of Pantanjali, where the list of supernormal powers includes knowledge of previous lives; clairvoyance; knowledge of the moment when one will die; control over and thus freedom from one's bodily systems; the ability to levitate and transverse great distances in a moment's time; the power to expand or shrink one's body; and so forth.

Although the Buddha rejected the traditional practices of Indian ascetics, Buddhism incorporates the same understanding of miracles as supernormal powers that Pantanjali outlined. The main difference is that there is no "self" to be realized in Buddhist teachings—it is the last and greatest of illusions—which is why the Buddha taught his disciples not to display their acquired powers before the laity: to do so would manifest pride and so trap them in yet another form of attachment to self. Yet after his own enlightenment the Buddha did perform many miracles, some of them more fantastic than any attributed to Hindu god-men. But he did so for evangelistic purposes, secure in the knowledge that he had liberated himself from all attachments.

Although miracles are found in all religions, in none of them are they considered a substitute for faith or commitment to a spiritual path. As signs, they point to different meanings according to traditions, and so may be seen as boundary stories separating one religious tradition from another. As wonders, miracles continue to elicit curiosity, if not always belief.

An old Hasidic saying nicely captures the ambivalence that has always attended miracles and their stories: "He who believes all these tales is a fool, but anyone who cannot believe them is a heretic."
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#20 BabyRain, Jun 25, 2007

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