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@Dakini and @DhammaDragon
The guru thread was intended to be a discussion of the student teacher interview with Lama Shenpen and it expanded to everyone's associations of 'guru'
But that ('guru thread') thread came 5 days after the mention of gurus in this magic Buddhism thread. Also I thought of guru under the heading of 'magic buddhism' because actually in a big portion of Tibetan Buddhism schools the blessing of the guru has power in the world to transform. The essence of magic is the power to transform. Maybe. 'Blessing' and 'magic' have to be unpacked. You could say the blessing of the mother makes the family transformed.
"Tibetan Buddhism is strongly influenced by Hinduism (hence the guru worship, and Tantra), and by shamanism (the "magical thinking" part). The more I learn about Tibetan culture besides the superficial parts that we see as Westerners, the more I learn about how strong the shamanic undercurrent still is. It's fascinating. The most obvious manifestation of that would the be tradition of "oracles", which is pure shamanism."
is what I originally saw that set me towards questioning if worship is a good word.
Comments
I thought we had a thread on Gurus recently opened elsewhere...
So did I.
@Dakini and @DhammaDragon
The guru thread was intended to be a discussion of the student teacher interview with Lama Shenpen and it expanded to everyone's associations of 'guru'
But that ('guru thread') thread came 5 days after the mention of gurus in this magic Buddhism thread. Also I thought of guru under the heading of 'magic buddhism' because actually in a big portion of Tibetan Buddhism schools the blessing of the guru has power in the world to transform. The essence of magic is the power to transform. Maybe. 'Blessing' and 'magic' have to be unpacked. You could say the blessing of the mother makes the family transformed.
and then THIS
"Tibetan Buddhism is strongly influenced by Hinduism (hence the guru worship, and Tantra), and by shamanism (the "magical thinking" part). The more I learn about Tibetan culture besides the superficial parts that we see as Westerners, the more I learn about how strong the shamanic undercurrent still is. It's fascinating. The most obvious manifestation of that would the be tradition of "oracles", which is pure shamanism."
is what I originally saw that set me towards questioning if worship is a good word.
Magic is unbelievable.
Like children, who are magic.
In Tantra and other child like Dharmas, there is a suspension of disbelief and an experience of . . .
HO HO HO
(as the Yidam said to the man in the funny hat)
Here is a youtube video about prayer which some may think is magical I suppose I do too!
http://hermitageoftheawakenedheart.org/page12.htm