Buddhism

[fortunateboy]

This post is in answer to a request by someone in the General Chat>Everyone is doing their best... post.

I was drawn to Buddhism early on by a combination of things. I was raised in a very beautiful Christian family and when I was 16 or so I began to question my religion of birth. As I began to look around at other paths I found I was drawn to the few Buddhist books that were available in the late 60's.

One thing that intrigued me in my early explorations were the descriptions of super-human acts that in my experience only had equivalents in the Bible. Things like Buddhist saints feeding multitudes from one bowl of rice, and Zen masters who could hit a target with an arrow and then split the first arrow with a second, all without looking at the target. It actually brought the Bible to life for me, to think that the acts described there could have actually happened.

About 20 years ago I met my Master, a small-framed Tibetan monk who carried with him an air of tangible power. Humble almost to the point of vanishing, his wisdom on all manner of topics was astonishing. The more I learned by being with him and other Lamas like him, the more I was accepted that the acts of super-human ability I read about were real. What clinched it was the fact that these acts were considered by them to be just a by-product of spiritual practices, practices that had as their focus compassion and wisdom. Now this was impressive: power seen as a meaningless by-product of intense meditation on love. Lord Jesus came to mind.

Finally the foundation teachings of Lord Buddha as presented by the Tibetan masters were simply good quality thinking to me. The descriptions of life as pain resonates with me still. Karma had always been a reality for me, ever since my early Christian upbringing: Christ spoke of karma constantly. So to see it so comprehensively and eloquently explained in Tibetan Buddhism gave me great faith in the teachings.

The more I studied with my Master, the more my mind was drawn to the beauty of Tibetan Buddhism as practiced by the Gelug sect. Among the highlights of this path are:

The practice of love/compassion as a method of becoming spiritually evolved, specifically to benefit others.

Teachings on wisdom and the nature of reality that are experiential - not just a belief system or philosophy.

A thousand-year-old sequential program of study and meditation so you can know what to do and in what order.

While I find this particular path to be right for me, I feel deeply that all spiritual/ethical ways of living are valid paths to reach the Ultimate. May we all reach it quickly.

[nikolayevich]

Greetings fortunateboy,

Thank you for the information. As per rules of the forum:
3. When you start a new topic in a debate subforum, it must state a clearly defined question(s) for debate.

Please let us know what you are wanting to debate here.

[Naruto_Fan_KevinReed]

This post is in answer to a request by someone in the General Chat>Everyone is doing their best... post.

I was drawn to Buddhism early on by a combination of things. I was raised in a very beautiful Christian family and when I was 16 or so I began to question my religion of birth. As I began to look around at other paths I found I was drawn to the few Buddhist books that were available in the late 60's.

One thing that intrigued me in my early explorations were the descriptions of super-human acts that in my experience only had equivalents in the Bible. Things like Buddhist saints feeding multitudes from one bowl of rice, and Zen masters who could hit a target with an arrow and then split the first arrow with a second, all without looking at the target. It actually brought the Bible to life for me, to think that the acts described there could have actually happened.

About 20 years ago I met my Master, a small-framed Tibetan monk who carried with him an air of tangible power. Humble almost to the point of vanishing, his wisdom on all manner of topics was astonishing. The more I learned by being with him and other Lamas like him, the more I was accepted that the acts of super-human ability I read about were real. What clinched it was the fact that these acts were considered by them to be just a by-product of spiritual practices, practices that had as their focus compassion and wisdom. Now this was impressive: power seen as a meaningless by-product of intense meditation on love. Lord Jesus came to mind.

Finally the foundation teachings of Lord Buddha as presented by the Tibetan masters were simply good quality thinking to me. The descriptions of life as pain resonates with me still. Karma had always been a reality for me, ever since my early Christian upbringing: Christ spoke of karma constantly. So to see it so comprehensively and eloquently explained in Tibetan Buddhism gave me great faith in the teachings.

The more I studied with my Master, the more my mind was drawn to the beauty of Tibetan Buddhism as practiced by the Gelug sect. Among the highlights of this path are:

The practice of love/compassion as a method of becoming spiritually evolved, specifically to benefit others.

Teachings on wisdom and the nature of reality that are experiential - not just a belief system or philosophy.

A thousand-year-old sequential program of study and meditation so you can know what to do and in what order.

While I find this particular path to be right for me, I feel deeply that all spiritual/ethical ways of living are valid paths to reach the Ultimate. May we all reach it quickly.

i think I know where you are going with this, I dont really beleive in christianity, but the teachings of kindness and love of buddhism really appeal and make sense to me.

[seen da light]

hey "fortunate boy"

I'd like to first and foremost express my disappointment in you change from the way the truth and the life(Jesus)

I'd secondly like to look at the horrors that is buddism:
One example of the amazing buddist monasteries that are actively torturing children because they believe that they were reincarnated into these children to be punished for their past lives...
A grueling story on the heart I must say. How can you believe in something like that?By no means in your religion are these people doing anything wrong(who are torturing)
I'd seriously recommend re-evaluating your spiritual life.Its a nice comforting idea that when you screw up now, you have another life to screw up more in.the sad truth is when you die, you are dead. You will be judged by the almighty God and you know what will happen.

I will post more later but for now, I'd seriously recommend thinking about who you walked away from and where to you are going.

Will pray for you
May God bless you and bring you home

[BeHereNow]

seen da light
If we are going to point to the worst of Buddhism as a reason to reject it, surely we need to point to the worst of Christianity and reject it post haste.
The horrors experienced by Christians and non-Christians alike at the hand of misguided Christian zealots equal or exceed any horrors committed by Buddhists.
If you are prepared to defend Christianity by saying Christians have never tortured or killed other humans, we may have a discussion.

[seen da light]

sadly those Christians were acting on their own will (the choice god has given us all)
they wanted to see their worldly desires carried out-not what god wanted. they used Christianity as a mask.

they weren't in line with what the bible teaches or the most basic principles of Christianity(love thy neighbour)

However, my point comes in with buddhism actually believing and doing these things.

Hope you see the light also.
God bless

[BeHereNow]

seen da light sadly those Christians were acting on their own will (the choice god has given us all)
they wanted to see their worldly desires carried out-not what god wanted. they used Christianity as a mask.

they weren't in line with what the bible teaches or the most basic principles of Christianity(love thy neighbour) However, my point comes in with buddhism actually believing and doing these things.

You are incorrect.
If your teachers tell you all Buddhists believe and follow these thing, they are deceiving you, and possibly themselves.
It is the same with Christianity and Buddhism.
Buddha never taught these things you speak of. Only men who followed him.
Religions are contrivances of men.

[rabidsmily]

User "seen da light" stated the following:

[quote="seen da light"]
"I'd secondly like to look at the horrors that is buddism:
One example of the amazing buddist monasteries that are actively torturing children because they believe that they were reincarnated into these children to be punished for their past lives..."(sic)


I have never seen any indication of this nor heard about this on the news. Could the user "seen da light" provide a citation or evidence for this? I have to see this to believe it.