Dukkha is more than suffering.

[CharacterAssassin]

Really? Unlike Christian doctrine.....you have no tenet about revealing why the content of your heart directs you to Buddhism? When a Christian is asked about his/her faith there should be a response as to why your faith is valid why hope remains in your heart. Makes one wonder about socks and pretention...no? You are either a student of the faith that rests in your heart or its all eyewash...an in vogue attempt to seek accolade. A faith not worth defending is not worth serving.

"But sanctify the Lord in your hearts; be ready always to give an answer to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." -- 1 Peter 3:15

To me its about evidences of faith.....Christian faith is not blind, we are instructed to PROVE ALL THINGS, TO TEST ALL THINGS (1 Thess. 5:21-22) If something does not present itself as logical or reasoned truth....then its probably not truth. I can find no Prima Facie truth in Buddhism....there is no evidences of reincarnation possible, its a blind tenet of faith.

But....to each his own, I can only defend MY FAITH.

The faith requited by Christian tosses the very concept of proof out the window and it utterly and completely divorced from the concepts of reason and logic.

Why do you pretend to be a Christian?

 

[Jack]

The faith requited by Christian tosses the very concept of proof out the window and it utterly and completely divorced from the concepts of reason and logic.

Why do you pretend to be a Christian?

I think Ralph has pretty much admitted to being a Cult Follower.

Character: "The faith requited by Christian tosses the very concept of proof out the window and it utterly and completely divorced from the concepts of reason and logic."
Jack: "EXACTLY".

And this is the same guy that just blurted out "Christian faith is not blind, we are instructed to PROVE ALL THINGS, TO TEST ALL THINGS". (and probably said it with a straight face, looking as serious as he could)

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

So it is funny when folks say "At death everything disappears and I exist no more" ---where is there a place where things disappear?
Is there a Guru who says there is such a place?

<just saying>

I don't think I've heard that "everything disappears" bit. Are you talking about the soul/spirit, rather than material, physical matter? Thanks for the info regarding nirvana and the history of Buddhism.

As for the afterlife, who knows? Different religions teach different outcomes. I have a friend who experienced a near-death event during the birth of her first child. It was the classic NDE. She saw her body on the delivery table, being zapped with the defibrillator. Then she went down the hall of the hospital and saw other women in other rooms, and then the journey to the light through a tunnel. A being of light, who she took to be an angel of some sort, stopped her and told her that it wasn't her time yet. She asked some questions, including what is the meaning of life. All knowledge of everything was instantly transferred into her mind, then she was traveling backwards back into her body. She said the only thing she could ever recall about it was that life is "everything over and over again." She interprets that to mean that reincarnation is real. Two things happened because of her experience. 1) She no longer fears death, and 2) she is no longer a devout and practicing Baptist.

As for me, I don't know one way or the other after the nature of an afterlife, or if there is one. I also don't understand the anger and fear that various believers have towards others' beliefs regarding that. I kind of figure that whatever happens after death (If anything other than lights out) happens to us all regardless of what we believe, or don't believe. What do you think?

 

[Ralph]

Ralph: "PROVE ALL THINGS, TO TEST ALL THINGS"
Jack: Since we know NOTHING about what occurs AFTER death, it's all SPECULATiION and CONJECTURE.

Just because I believe I turn into a Rabbit after Death, doesn't make it true. We have NO idea if there is a Level 2, a Level 3, a Level 4, ... of if there IS a NEXT Level.

Phish much? What we do know is that after 5000 years of recorded history within the pages of the Holy Scriptures.....not one tenet has been proven to be false through History Actual or Application of Science. Not so with all the false religions around the world. You have no idea about the truth of those other world religions? I could not have presented a better case. As you self professed....simply because you believe something void of evidence....does not make it true.

The Holy Scriptures are about LIFE and living it in a certain advised method. If you follow that advise...what have you lost? You have lived a life that is morally correct.....after life is the HOPE that rests in your heart. That hope that Buddha refused to explain. I wonder why? Because he has no possible evidential trail to demonstrate the reality of reincarnation....with no standard of morality expect as self defined. I am still awaiting the evidence of just WHO or what gets to decide what is good or evil.....without law, there can be no sin, just like nature. What is being propagated is IDOLOTY...nothing less. You can believe in the flying spaghetti rabbit.....if you will as for Me and My Household....we shall serve the Lord and the laws thereof.

 

[Jack]

Phish much? What we do know is that after 5000 years of recorded history within the pages of the Holy Scriptures.....not one tenet has been proven to be false through History Actual or Application of Science.

Is the Earth still the Center of the Universe.
Do you worship 'graven images'? (Like Christ on a Cross)
Do you take Sunday off? (One of the Big Ten)
Still believe that a Dead Person (Jesus) has the ability to become alive after 3 days and walk among us?
Then, ... floats off into outer space and lands ...?

 

[dukkha]

But....to each his own, I can only defend MY FAITH.

OMG.. STFU already... start your own thread instead of sermonizing all over this one..
dang holy rollers have no tolerance

 

[Ralph]

OMG.. STFU already... start your own thread instead of sermonizing all over this one.. damn holy rollers have no tolerance

There it is......SOCK, exposed. Not much accolade in being exposed as a fraud...no? Its just a matter of ringing the right bell. The "ID" knows all and exposes all. I am still wondering why a thread on religion was started on a site called JPP? You can look at all the threads that I have started promoting religion. It will surprise you. Me thinks....the entire fraud was to make discourse for CHRISTIANS. Just an opinion. You appear not be ready to move on to the next life...with all that repressed anger. Karma is a hell of a thing no? This is what happens when you Question All THINGS.....PROVE ALL THINGS....it rings some people's bell. No where in all of Christianity is there a command to be POLITICALLY CORRECT...or tolerant of fallacies.

What we are taught is a simple lesson, "Preach the word; be prepared in season, out of season.....correct, rebuke and encourage (through truth implied) with great patience and careful instruction." -- 2 Tim. 4:2

 

[dukkha]

I think Ralph has pretty much admitted to being a Cult Follower.

I don'r consider christianity a "cult" it's a major world religion with a message of love unlike Islam for ex,
the Evangelical preaching though is annoying when trying to talk about stuff not Xtian related

 

[dukkha]

There it is......

fucking sanctimonious asshat.

 

[dukkha]

I don't think I've heard that "everything disappears" bit. Are you talking about the soul/spirit, rather than material, physical matter? Thanks for the info regarding nirvana and the history of Buddhism.

As for me, I don't know one way or the other after the nature of an afterlife, or if there is one. I also don't understand the anger and fear that various believers have towards others' beliefs regarding that. I kind of figure that whatever happens after death (If anything other than lights out) happens to us all regardless of what we believe, or don't believe. What do you think?

bhaktajan is a Hare Krisna sage. Hindu believe in the self reincarnating, Buddhists do not,
The reason for reincarnation is any imperfected karma is not Nirvanna release, but the life energy is then recycled
as samasara

 

[dukkha]

the Law of Karma
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=law+of+karma+buddhism
The six realms of rebirth include Deva (heavenly), Asura (demigod), Manusya (human), Tiryak (animals), Preta (ghosts), and Naraka (resident of hell).
rebirth, state Buddhism traditions, is determined by karma, with good realms favored by Kushala (good karma), while a rebirth in evil realms is a consequence of Akushala (bad karma).
While Nirvana is the ultimate goal of Buddhist teaching, much of traditional Buddhist practice has been
centered on gaining merit and merit transfer, whereby one gains rebirth in the good realms and avoids rebirth in the evil realms.

and

https://www.britannica.com/topic/paticca-samuppada
the chain, or law, of dependent arising (paṭicca-samuppāda), or the chain of causation—a fundamental concept of Buddhism describing the causes of suffering (dukkha) and the course of events that lead a being through rebirth, old age, and death.
karma refers to the idea that intentional actions have consequences for the agent, in this life and in future lives; in fact, it is karma that leads to rebirth. Buddhists understand the law of karma as another manifestation of dependent arising (paṭicca-samuppāda), the law of cause and effect, whereby everything that exists arises due to specific conditions. In this sense, the law of karma is a sort of natural law, so that actions are naturally followed by consequences, not as the result of divine judgement. But they will follow: the Buddha emphasised that actions lead inevitably to appropriate consequences:
(important -dont want it missed under all that other stuff)

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

bhaktajan is a Hare Krisna sage. Hindu believe in the self reincarnating, Buddhists do not,
The reason for reincarnation is any imperfected karma is not Nirvanna release, but the life energy is then recycled
as samasara

The recycling of "life energy" seems logical to me. After all, everything in meat space is recycled. The problem then becomes proving that there is "life energy/spiriti/soul."

 

[dukkha]

The recycling of "life energy" seems logical to me. After all, everything in meat space is recycled. The problem then becomes proving that there is "life energy/spiriti/soul."

the karma is that energy
https://hackspirit.com/truth-karma-can-use-guiding-force-life-1/
The word “karma” means “action,” not “fate.” In Buddhism, karma is an energy created by willful action, through thoughts, words and deeds. We are all creating karma every minute, and the karma we create affects us every minute.It’s common to think of “my karma” as something you did in your last life that seals your fate in this life, but this is not Buddhist understanding. Karma is an action, not a result. The future is not set in stone. You can change the course of your life right now by changing your volitional (intentional) acts and self-destructive patterns

 

[bhaktajan]

bhaktajan is a Hare Krisna sage. Hindu believe in the self reincarnating, Buddhists do not,
The reason for reincarnation is any imperfected karma is not Nirvanna release, but the life energy is then recycled
as samasara

Oy Oy Oy. At best I am a good clerk and "Well, occasionally I like to help the humans"

aka a Good Neighbor [...God's knows what happening to this neighborhood!...]

 

[bhaktajan]

Is the Earth still the Center of the Universe.
Do you worship 'graven images'? (Like Christ on a Cross)
Do you take Sunday off? (One of the Big Ten)
Still believe that a Dead Person (Jesus) has the ability to become alive after 3 days and walk among us?
Then, ... floats off into outer space and lands ...?

...and lands at the right hand of the father.

That's what "Avataras" do.

 

[bhaktajan]

Still believe that a Dead Person (Jesus) has the ability to become alive after 3 days and walk among us?
Then, ... floats off into outer space .... .... ...?

Now I intend to be very sincere in the following statements:

When entering "Ashram" life [aka enter monastic life +/-] the FIRST thing that is to be taught and the first thing to learn is:

I AM NOT THIS MATERIAL BODY, I AM SPIRIT SOUL.
[the First Rule of Spiritual Knowledge]

Yada yada yada.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Predicated upon the above maxim of yore...IMO...Christ's "Pastimes" on Earth
[as an Avatara ---that advents, and, teaches Dharma. Note: Only enough
Dharma "as per Time and place/Audience"] was to "Take away the sins of the world"
---The Sins in question [aka lots of varied bad karma enmass] was the lack of knowledge
that "WE ARE NOT THIS MATERIAL BODIES, WE ARE SPIRIT SOULS"

I have learnt via documentaries that in Roman times the emperor was the divine being on earth--- not the peons. No never the peons.
They were the subjects and the common person's existence was deigned to be fleeting by definition. Only the Autocrat was divine.
The common person in western antiquity made oblations to the temple etc etc for the good of their "Sovereign"
---this is how is was in pagan days--- it was NOT every-man for himself.


BUT...when...Jesus came and went...
word spread...
and in every distant point in the "known World" that the event was heard...

Fellows like these understood immediately the meaning...
And every other bloke the world over understood from the get-go
Oi I AM NOT THIS MATERIAL BODY, I AM SPIRIT SOUL !

So if you come to the point where you realise

I AM NOT THIS MATERIAL BODY, I AM SPIRIT SOUL.

That's called self-realisation.
That comes after much pious prayer and erasure of bad-karma...
Jesus's Pastimes accomplished imbibing the First Rule of Spiritual Knowledge

It takes lifetimes of bad-karma to conceal the First maxim of Spiritual Knowledge:
I AM NOT THIS MATERIAL BODY, I AM SPIRIT SOUL.

Jesus enacted a pastimes where this maxim got embedded in everyone's heart.


PS: the Soul [jiva-atma] is located in the heart. Yada yada yada.

 

[bhaktajan]

I don't think I've heard that "everything disappears" bit.

Black holes are spoken of by Guru and *Pandits.
The holes are hidden in space far away and can
only be seen in High Mathematics [which you can
self-teach your self or for a fee learn from bonefide
true real Nerds incarnata].



*Pundita, Pundit from the Sanskrit word for scholar, teacher, professor.

 

[bhaktajan]

Are you talking about the soul/spirit, rather than material, physical matter?

Nirvana is the state sought by the meditating [yogi].


Nirvana in Sanskrit means "without-qualities" [nir-vana]
It will be in full upon death.

If such a state is experienced during one's life time...the Sanskrit term is "Samadhi" [serene equanimity].

When the individual stops creating both Good & Bad Karma and will not take another birth in future, Nirvana is achieved.

But death is the final exam. If the exam is failed samsara occurs...and piety must be resumed to continue progress on the path toward nirvana.

 

[bhaktajan]

As for the afterlife, who knows? Different religions teach different outcomes.

There are three World Scripture from which all other so-called scripture branch out from:
Judeo-Christian Bible;
Muslim Koran;
Sanskrit Vedas.

So there are 3 teachings.

Karma is Action and re-action.
An object moves through empty space
and bumps into another object and
a chain re-action occurs.

The world is composed of the "periodical Table of Elements" [the 10 thousand things]
and the laws of Duality [yin & yang] swirls around the 10 thousand elements
into a phantasmagoria of re-actions.



The Sanskrit texts say there's really a 3-part ying & yang force that fluxes the
10 thousand things, name the 3-Modes of Nature [the 3-gunas: sattva, raja and tama guna(s)]

So that the 10 thousand things and the interplay of the 3-gunas produces three sorts of re-actions:
Good-Re-action, Complex-Re-action, Bad-Re-action.

The funny thing is that the 3-gunas [sattva-guna, raja-guna & tama-guna]
when translated into English literally spell out personality traits/disposition
[rather then a mechanical name reference ie he's a "tool']:

sattva-guna = mode of Goodness
raja-guna = mode of passion
tama-guna = mode of ignorance

In Taoism it's a ying-mode or yang-mode or different degrees of both modes.

In the Vedas it's parts of Goodness mixed with passion mixed with ignorance of different degrees

Have you heard anyone say "You are carrying around too much ying. You need some more yang"?

We are in a world of duality: light/dark; fat/skinny; near/far; left/right; up/down; Small Shining Stars/Wide open dark space;
male/female; happy/sad; birth/death.

Each opposite is paired-up and in-separable from the other. You can't find one without the other!

If you are born, you will die...if you die, you will live again.

law of conservation of energy definition
In physics and chemistry, the law of conservation of energy states that the total energy
of an isolated system remains constant; it is said to be conserved over time.
This law means that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be
transformed or transferred from one form to another. Wikipedia

 

[CharacterAssassin]

There it is......SOCK, exposed. Not much accolade in being exposed as a fraud...no? Its just a matter of ringing the right bell. The "ID" knows all and exposes all. I am still wondering why a thread on religion was started on a site called JPP? You can look at all the threads that I have started promoting religion. It will surprise you. Me thinks....the entire fraud was to make discourse for CHRISTIANS. Just an opinion. You appear not be ready to move on to the next life...with all that repressed anger. Karma is a hell of a thing no? This is what happens when you Question All THINGS.....PROVE ALL THINGS....it rings some people's bell. No where in all of Christianity is there a command to be POLITICALLY CORRECT...or tolerant of fallacies.

What we are taught is a simple lesson, "Preach the word; be prepared in season, out of season.....correct, rebuke and encourage (through truth implied) with great patience and careful instruction." -- 2 Tim. 4:2

They why don't you actually ever preach the word, you silly Christ-hating, biblically illiterate whore?