Angels

sharpiegirl

I already know (I think) the answer to this but I'd like to pose it anyway.

The idea of angels in Buddhism.
Last summer, a few very peculiar events occurred. I am interested in hearing what you all think.

In the few weeks leading up to my trip to Italy, I noticed a butterfly outside my house everyday. Whenever I parked my car next to my house, there was this butterfly.
When I went to my parents house for a swim, there was this butterfly. same color and everything! I noticed it everytime, thinking how wonderful. But never took it to be more than that.
A few days before I left. I had a dream that I was sitting across from my grandmother, whom I was very close to. All around us were butterflies!
I made a connection. Oh, Hi Bachi! The next few days, I looked at that butterfly a bit differently.:wow:
While in Italy, as I sat poolside, there was a butterfly. Everytime. I thought, Oh, Hi Bachi. It them landed on my toe.

I realize that many would deem this a simple coincidence and /or the comfort of thinking that my grandmother is near.
But does it not strike anyone as...well... more than mere coincidence??

Thanks for any thoughts....

Sharpie:scratch:

Celebrin

simple reply with little explanation: no, when u look, u find it everywhere.

KnightofBuddha

Angels? I don't think so. I guess I put angels in the zombie and goblin category. Losing people is difficult and it is always more comfortable to believe that they have not left us. Although it is difficult, I think it is better to accept through time that we won't see our loved ones anymore once they die.

federica

No Sharpiegirl, I'm actually with you on this one...If my life seems to take a plummet or a purler, and throws me a little bit of a sombre surprise now and then, less than a day after the knock, I see a turtle ring-neck dove, on a house roof, cooing at me. Every time. Without fail.
It immediately comforts me and alerts me to the fact that, "This too shall pass" and "Leave life alone. It's progressing as it should, be happy."

Same dove?
No, I doubt it, though I can't tell for sure....
Someone I "Knew"...?
Possibly, though once again.... I can't tell, really, can I?
Stating the obvious? (I mean, all this happens even without the dove, right?)
Yes, of course....

But it always brings a smile to my face, comforts me in an instant, and brings me to the Present.

And that, whatever the reason, is fine by me.....

harlan

I didn't used to believe...but I do now. I have a hard time trying to learn the Buddhist view on this....just an aspect of our minds...more delusion? I find that I can't accept that...because if only illusion then it dies when I die....and that is unbearable.

Perhaps...they are aspects of our higher selves? There IS something...that I know.

Palzang

Well, butterflies do like water...

I don't have the answer for you on this one, but it is interesting that in early Christian art, angels resembled Buddhist protectors more than modern depictions of angels. Hmmm....

Palzang

sharpiegirl

Palzang...
I find that very interesting...
You would mind elaborating on that?

thanks...sharpie

Simonthepilgrim

I find the modern angelology rather disturbing. It seems to be part of a take on spirituality that is more interested in conflict and getting one's own way than anything else. Angels used to be understood to be messengers, which is where the word comes from. Thus a butterfly or a dove or a stone may be an angel. As it is delivering a 'message', if we receive one then an angel is what it is.

Of course, there are also the terrifying angels as in Old Testament visions but they may have more to do with extreme physical privation, thirst or mushrooms, like the last book of the New Testament. But they have messages too.

The great poet Rilke speaks of angels as 'terrible':

Jeder Engel ist schrecklich

His Duino Elegies are well worth revisiting.

harlan

Terrible, and wonderful at the same time. Only terrible if there is fear, or attachment. Like Death.

Palzang

sharpiegirl wrote:

Palzang...
I find that very interesting...
You would mind elaborating on that?

thanks...sharpie

Sorry, I don't know really any more than that, but it is interesting. If you find any more info on the subject, let me know. Another interesting thing about angels that I came upon one day is that the cute little angels you see everywhere, you know, the two little cherub-looking pudgy angles leaning on something? They were even on a stamp. Well, it turns out they're not really cherubs at all but piti, who are messengers who bring the soul to heaven after death, and what they're leaning on is a coffin - some pope, I forget who - waiting to carry his soul away once the eulogy is over or whatever. So they're not quite the cheerful little guys most people think they are, but messengers of death!

Palzang

sharpiegirl

"I find the modern angelology rather disturbing. It seems to be part of a take on spirituality that is more interested in conflict and getting one's own way than anything else."

I agree Simon. All the books in stores these days...

Palzang

Hey, ya want angels? C'mon down to Sedona. We got every kind of angel you can imagine here, ceptin', of course, real ones.

Palzang

Xrayman

I got some angel dust-wanna buy?

Palzang

When I moved to Sedona (10 years ago, omigosh!), just for grins I thought of the stupidest, most outrageous idea to make money I could come up with - selling cans of air from vortex sites. Unfortunately I completely underestimated the depths people will go to - they were already selling them here!

Palzang

sharpiegirl

As Simon posted awhile back, messangers bring messages. That I definitely believe as messages have have been delivered to me in the most unusual ways. Deliverers were mostly human. Strangers striking up a conversation just to say something that makes TOTAL sense...just when I needed it most. As for fairy dust and air....?:scratch: lol