Does anyone have a ny good buddhist metaphors.. symbolism for past lives..and how they help a soul...or what they mean...?? i've heard the ones about candles that light other cadn;les as they go out.. it's the same flame...but always changing...new candle..etc....
well there's the old one about the ocean, where sentient beings rise out of the same thing (the sea) and then, in the end, return to it at death. All waves will be different in terms of size, etc, but they will all be made of the same thing.
hard to say, but it seems not. some buddhists might argue that in a sense, yes, but on a different plane no. so the waves could symboize souls because there are many different waves, but at the same time not because they aren't independant beings, but rather just movements of the whole.
Yes - but beliefs are part of our overall experience. We can't exclude them. Whether beliefs are important, or what difference they make is another matter. But also one would have to believe, I suppose, in the validity of one's own direct experience.
i don't think so bill, you are so wrong... reason, the basis of belief along with lust and greed tether us to our world of illusions... buddhist beliefs could more appropriately be called techniques or observations and not comparable to the beliefs that fabricate our world
Yes but there must be some belief in the validity of those observations and techniques - also to begin with there would have to be a belief in the possibility of enlightenment. In effect, things like the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold path etc do look very much like formulated beliefs similar to other religions. But Buddhism is a diverse thing - some techings tend to emphasize that beliefs are actually a bar to enlightenment, Zen Master Hui Neng for instance was asked if he could explain the principles of Buddhism, to which he replied that he didn't know anything about Buddhism. Tantric Buddhism on the other hand seems almost top-heavy with beliefs to me - there are so many forms of Dhyani Buddhas etc, and complex forms of meditation.
not true... do you have to believe your car is gonna start to turn the key to start its ignition... nope but it happens... similarly if one meditates one will awaken yes but these are relative truths and not absolute truths... good suggestions for one to tune into the real rather than the phantasmagoria of the mind and senses agree which is why its best best to gain insight and enlightenment from one's buddhic nature which is why i don't give any weight to the puny opinions of others
One has faith that it will start. When it doesn't start, one gets upset. Usually you get a warning that your battery is dying or that the starter is going. Usually you end up replacing the distributor cap and rotor. Ever go out to your car and find out that your battery has been stolen?
Why then bother listening to the words of Buddha. You do know he lied, right? They all lie. "You can't handle the truth." If you really become Enlightened, the truth will kill you. "You" will die. That is the truth.
that is the greatest truth brother... what if buddha did lie or maybe he made a mistake and his ideas were fallible or truth could never be coded into a belief system that's why one's trip has to be one's own and if you see buddha on the open road, kill him
I know many people who have meditated - I wouldn't like to say definitively that any one of them has awakened. All formulated truth is relative.
then either they have faulty insight or they are on the way... they will get there with their sincerity of purpose as long as they aren't mean spirited and exploitive of others
Thre are some schools that don't teach meditation. Also, there's the zen idea that meditation is just 'sitting quietly doing nothing' and that there is nothing to be 'attained' from it.
The latter may be an inside joke. (It is akin to a dream I once had where I flew over a Zen Monastery. I thought of landing and speaking to a few monks. But then I realised that no-one was there. (That is an oblique joke.)) So, to attain nothing may be to attain all. As to the former, try not to think. It is very hard not to do something, almost impossible. You might even be able to separate witnessing from the thought process, you'll see thinking separate from yourself, thinking on its own without being identified with what is thought.
