Christ = Buddha / Bible = Dharma / Congregation = Sangha / Heaven = Pureland / Saint = Boddhisattva
johnathan
Canada Veteran
So, as some of you might know I have added ritual into my practice as a means of trying to diminish my clung to ideas of organized religion from a staunch Atheist point of view. I also have read a bit about Pureland which has helped me a lot in gaining an acceptance and appreciation for theistic religions.
Essentially all religions are the same. It is all mind and a directing of our thoughts to the qualities we wish to emulate in our lives. Hell or Hell Realms are where we go, mentally when we are not focusing on those qualities that a Buddhist would consider skillfull or ones that take one towards Nirvana and away from Samsara.
Putting ones faith in "god" is just another method of letting go of the ego. Giving all glory for the things we accomplish to god and not ourselves. I don't think theistic methods are as effective as others as they take ownership for ones situation away from the person and place it upon god. Unless a theistic follower was aware that their "god" was "mind" and knew that ultimately all their actions and consequenses were of their own making then it's a lesser path. But better a lesser path than no path.
What do others think?
Comments
Buddhism is the correct path to the eternal ending of suffering but Christianity is not.
Christianity can take you to the higher realms however, as we know, once the kammic accumulation that took us there is exhausted, back down we come.
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Christianity puts it all 'out there'.
Buddhism brings it all 'in here'.
Christianity is abdication of responsibility.
Buddhism - the Buck stops with you.
Indeed.
With no moral compass we may end up a lesser human. Which is what most of us are. Karmically damaged, less than perfect, flawed. [Yep that's me for one].
Atheism is part of some Buddhists understanding. I found it emotionally empty but not in a good way. A theistic path is more supportive but as mentioned, it is not a dharma requirement
http://sufi-tavern.com/
The example of Pureland as a mind state is a good one. Some of us have experienced heaven/euphoria enhanced pleasurable states of being. They can entrap us as much as emotional hell realms/angry demi-trump/god realms or other murky swampings.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_realms
Trance states are useful ways of calming. Many exist. Dhyana.
The path is simple. We are a knot. Unravel by loosening up. Then bit by bit the string or stream straightens but we always are the mind/life string ...
To use a much quoted metaphor, all paths lead up the mountain but some merge with others as they come up out of the foothills.
There is some truth in that, but other religions have difficulty acknowledging this, and without a freedom of finding that the path which one has travelled for a way now leads into another path, a different stream, it is ultimately difficult to continue one’s progress.
In Hein Thijssen’s story there were some very clear indications, he was a Catholic monk and priest at first, then left that religion, then spent a long time studying other religions before coming to the conclusion that his path was his own, although he learnt the most from Buddhism and from the Tao.
A very fair conclusion. So should one try to help those on a theistic path? I have found it useful to point those people at others within their tradition who had more of an understanding, Christians at Meister Eckhart for example.
I think at an everyday level most religions are pretty similar at helping people live happier, more ethical lives. Though often emphasizing differing aspects or values.
I do wonder though if at deeper, subtler, more refined meditative, mystical states of mind there aren't important distinctions that may look the same to us mere mortals but contain critically divergent paths that do lead to differing ultimate outcomes.
Religions do offer you a stable worldview, ethics and some sort of goals. So they provide you with a kind of definition, which might otherwise be lacking.
I’ve wondered in the past whether the thoughts of different religions lead to different afterlives, but lately I do not think so. I suspect that the afterlife looks very different from what most people suspect, that it is not at all like life on Earth. The muslim idea of rivers of wine and 40 virgins each seems very naive, when you won’t even have a body, tastebuds or sexual organs.
lord christ and lord buddha gnosis is beauty body of god or the dharmakaya.they know the beautitude. giving hope to the poor is beautitude.suffering is ugly,nirvana is beautiful.they chose to be poor so we can be rich in dharma.
It is the other way around. The divergence is the ordinary appearance. Everyone is on A Path. Non practitioners are on the path of ignoring the spiritual. They still learn. Some become more ignorant and move into hell realms unprepared.
However ...
By Sila, study, commitment, attention and intention we progress ... and unfold ...
... eventually pushing up daisies/lotus flowerings ...