The Buddha

[indescribability]

"I teach one thing and one thing only: suffering and the end of suffering"


The Buddha believed that our purpose was to end our suffering, and believed that this could be accomplished, in part, by letting go of our wants and desires. That only when we became content with ourselves and our life could we truly find the path to enlightenment.


The Buddha also taught that we should find our own truth, much like we are trying to do by starting COOL. I think this is one of the most fitting quotes I've ever read in regards to our mission.

"Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested
and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto"

[Skip]

"Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto

Absolutely! I'm not one to accept things on faith. I like to see or experience the proof. The existence of a conscious "God" is probably the most difficult thing to prove, but then again, isn't the proof all around us?

As for anything else, I think everyone should accept only what they feel right about accepting.

Since we are involving the teachings of so many masters and religions, there is no way to say definitively "this is acceptable to US, this isn't". It's more like what is acceptable to YOU.

This is true freedom of religion.

I think the experience of sharing our beliefs, our ceremonies and our fellowship is the most important part of COOL, not any single belief or system of belief.

The Buddha has much to offer us. Especially since he became a self-realized being. His message is that we can all achieve enlightenment/nirvana. No one of us is anymore capable than anyone else of achieving that goal. We are just at different points in our spiritual evolution.

I look forward to what others have to say about the Buddha.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

[prana]

I found the following in a book I have, The Spiritual Universe by Fred Alan Wolf, page 146, in a chapter entitled The Buddhist nonsoul. The bibliography shows the Buddha quotes came from a book by Rahula called What the Buddha taught.

The Buddha once chastised one of his disciples, Sati, for misquoting his teacher by stating that consciousness transmigrates and wanders about. The Buddha stated:

You stupid one, who have you ever heard me tell that nonsense to? Haven't I always told you that consciousness arose from conditions, and that without these conditions, there is no consciousness?

Next the Buddha, perhaps somewhat impatiently, laid his cards on the table and explained how one apparently can have a soul without having one. Better than any scientist, he demonstrated consciousness to his student, and from this definition we, as scientists, could begin to look earnestly. He said:

Consciousness always carries a label. In and of itself, it has no object. It is named according to how it arises. Because we have eyes, we see visual objects and we have visual consciousness; because we have ears, we hear audible sounds and we have aural consciousness; because we have noses, we smell aromatic objects and we have olfactory consciousness; because we have bodies, we feel touch-sensations and we have tactile consciousness; because we have tongues, we taste foods and the like and we have gustatory consciousness; and because we have minds, we think mind-objects (ideas and thoughts) and we have mental consciousness.