Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
are buddha and god synonymous?
Assuming a pantheistic(or panentheistic...i'm not sure which category it would fall under, but I think pantheistic)idea of god, don't god and buddha mean the same thing.
0
Comments
I don't mean that sense of the word god. I mean. The buddha(not just the historical, but the buddha within) represents the truth that encompasses all reality. In a sense, the truth of the reality IS the reality. Since separation is an illusion, and you could call the universe god, it means that the buddha(whether the historical buddha or the buddha within)is god. And by god I mean nothing more than the truth that encompasses all of reality. If you reach buddhahood you would not only walk in accordance with the dharma(I like thinking of it as the tao, the way), but you would understand dharma, and understand it's brilliance and benefits.
And part of that entails ceasing to cling to notions of god.
I edited my post. By god I mean nothing more than the truth that encompasses all of reality. That's an assumption for me at this point, I have completely abandoned the notion of "god" in the natural sense of the english word.
Pondering god isn't really conductive to enlightenment. Neither is trying to redefine the concept.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_Cosmology_%28Theraveda%29
I like that way of looking at it. I guess it's my tendency to look for somethings implications, rather than being content that I know the something.
Buddha says: Suffering is caused by ignorance. Overcome ignorance by the 8 fold path and you will overcome suffering.
Buddha and God synonymous ? I think not...
If by God you don't mean a Christian or Biblical God, but rather the underlying fabric of reality, and by Buddha you are not referring to Shakyamuni, but rather you mean Buddha nature, or Suchness, then I think that they probably are different cultural interpretations of the same idea.
Actually I think humans sense that reality is not bound by the senses,or our deluded ego based view of things, and that there is more to it. So we all create myths, theologies, philosophies, and names according to out epoch, culture, language, and understanding....then get all uptight if another culture uses a different myth or name, and stomp our feet saying it is different than ours, therefore wrong.
I know many Japanese immigrants to Canada that went to the United Church before Buddhist Temples were established, or if there just wasn't a Buddhist Temple near them, and they don't worry too much about the differences. They still felt it had a moral teaching and emphasis on a deeper truth than we see with our deluded vantage point.
Once they had a Temple most went back to Buddhism, but honestly I find most Asian born and raised Buddhists are far less worried about the God comparison than western converts to Buddhism are.
Whatever name you use is only provisional anyway, so I wouldn't worry too much about what it is called. Whatever name helps your practice is fine.
However if finding common ground fosters better relations and deeper understanding among different faiths I'm ok with that.
God, Demi-God or Buddha.
Perhaps none exists. Perhaps all exist.
Who am I to say.
If any of them exist. I hope their nice and like ice cream and music as much as I do.
Maybe their not nice.
Who am I to dictate their nature.
Perhaps we will never know.
Perhaps asking is futile.
My advice is to do your best in life and hope like hell.
And if you find out a fool proof method of contacting God/Buddha/Jesus/Demi-God in person,
please let me know.
Preferably a method that doesn't require large quantities of LSD.
Thanks.
I come to similar conclusions as Shutoku if we begin with the definitions Shutoku gave in this post. Having confirmed confidence in Buddhist teachings through practice and having practice which suits us does not mean it is the only way.
Jesus coming soon - Buddha here now.
Jesus is coming - Look busy.
... but that has nothing to do with the topic.
Noble Eightfold Path.
If you follow the noble eightfold path you can become a buddha, right? Gautama Buddha teaches us the dharma, which allows us to see the buddha nature of all, and in that way we can become enlightened or a buddha ourselves. I think...
I would like to say that I have also met the Buddha or God in person, but I am trying to follow the right speech element of the 8 fold path, without being Dogmatic.
Good for you. Say hello to Buddha from me the next time you see him. Perhaps you could invite him around to my house for a cup of earl grey tea.
Kind of. More accurately if you discover the Eightfold Path you can become a Buddha. If you follow the Eightfold Path you can become an Arahant (Worthy One - i.e. Fully Awakened).
All Buddhas are Arahants but not all Arahants are Buddhas. A Buddha can only arise in a time when the Dhamma has been forgotten. Also, there are two different categories of Buddhas: Paccekabuddhas and Sammasambuddhas. There can only be one Buddha per era but there can be many Arahants. The Buddha that (re)discovered the Dhamma in our era was Sakyamuni Buddha who was a Sammasambuddha.
"Buddha Nature" is mostly used in Mahayana Buddhism. In Theravada there is no concept of "Buddha Nature" but there is the belief that we can all become fully enlightened Arahants, which may or may not (depending who you might ask) essentially mean the same thing as "Buddha Nature".
There is also a famous quote attributed to the Buddha which states:
"He who sees the Dhamma sees the Tathagata (Buddha). He who sees the Tathagata sees the Dhamma."
I believe this means that one who awakens to the Truth (Dhamma) that the Buddha Awakened to 2500 years ago is essentially seeing the same Truth that all the Buddhas and Arahants have seen and realized for themselves for countless aeons. But I could be wrong about this.
Ironically, when kids get tuned into dope through things as the Rastafarian faith, no one is told that smoking extensive amounts of dope has the potential of causing psychotic mental illnesses such as schitzophrenia.
Hey, I am not being a kill joy. I have just seen countless people ending up in the adult psych unit through smoking too much dope.
Many of them also end up using other drugs, and some have ended up dead.
Sometimes, think that we would have been better off without them really.
Well many of the dead people would likely still be alive.
http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Madness-Neurobiology-David-Castle/dp/0521819407
LOL
No I have not met Buddha and God in person.
To clarify, what I meant was that if we practice the Noble Eightfold Path we can realize the Dhamma and see what the Buddha saw, which in turn would mean that we are "contacting" the Buddha.
I am not Enlightened, I have not seen the Dhamma nor the Buddha, but I am confident that the Eightfold Path leads to realization. This confidence is based on the wise beings I know who appear to live in line with what we can expect from those who practice well. This too could be kind of like contacting the Buddha.
I do not see this as dogmatic because I admit that I do not know for sure, rather I have confidence that there is a high probability of the Noble Eightfold Path leading where it is supposed to.
I see now that simply saying "Noble Eightfold Path." was not sufficient to explain this. Sorry for any misunderstanding.
Interesting info on the 8 fold path and attaining Buddhahood.
I do not mean to cause trouble.
However, I have noticed that much of what is written is quoted from books.
You know, stuff like this book says this and that tradition says that.
Great stuff for a historian but this is not the same as truly knowing "what is".
Not that books aren't a great place to start, as they certainly may give a great map to follow on our journey. However, some books may give the wrong directions and may create additional obstacles.
I prescribe to the opinion that everything must ultimately come from experience, so, where I may read such books, I do not accept anything unless I know from experience, as doing so would be ignorant.
So, as with everything, try for yourself.
No worries, I understand your perspective.
I also like the 8 fold path.
However, living the 8 fold path can be hard while living in modern society.
As some societies do not hold compassion, honesty, selflessness etc. as assets.
(People of this nature often see these traits as weakness or even stupidity. I just feel that they do not comprehend the bigger picture).
And if you explained to them that you followed the Buddhist 8 fold path, they would think you were nuts, and then they would probably work out a way of using the 8 fold path to rip you off.
8 fold path best practiced around other people who practice the 8 fold path.
Agreed. However, it can be very useful if even our experience is checked against the experiences of others, especially those we consider wise. Who is wiser than the Buddha? This is why I like to quote from the Suttas so much, not necessarily because I lack personal experience, but because often the Buddha has already said what needs to be said much more eloquently than I could have said it.
Perhaps a good way of getting a point across is to use both the words of the Buddha AND your own experience.
I believe someone on this site told a quote from the buddha where he says that the trees are buddhas. We are all buddha's(awoken), we just need to realize it.
Well I moreso associate myself with Mahayana buddhism. I don't like labeling myself, as I don't follow everything just because "my" group believes something. I'm gonna think what i'm gonna think, and if I along the way find a group that is mostly like-minded then great.
This is what makes the practice all the more valuable.
That would be their loss and more grist for the mill for me.
You could say that "following the road rules is best practices around other people who follow the road rules". While it is true that your risk of death or serious injury is reduced is EVERYBODY follows the road rules it does not mean that because some people don't therefore I shouldn't either.
If we follow the road rules we make the roads a safer place for ourselves and others, regardless of whether or not other people follow them. We give ourselves the highest possible chance of arriving safely at our destination.
In the same way, if we practice the Noble Eightfold Path 24/7 (which is by no means easy), regardless of whether those around us do or not, we give ourselves the highest possible chance of arriving at Nibbana.
I think this is exactly the way I feel. God = Is
I am "God", as are you, and you, and that tree, and my cat, and your bird, and the fish in the oceans, and that rock over there and so on ad infinitum. God = IS.
And I think everythings true nature is their buddha nature. Hence my statement that buddhha=god. You have to have a certain understanding of what buddha and god mean, though. If it doesn't sit well with someone I could care less if they agree.
Nothing is good enough for those in the know, providing there is someone around to spread the word......
And that reminds me of another bumper sticker seen and another topic lampooned....
Jesus Is My Co-Pilot Buddha is My Navigator and Vishnu Will Be Serving Drinks Once We Reach Cruising Altitude
Am I correct in assuming that by this comment you are referring to the band?
I think I know what that means, but I probably don't. When I said it has nothing to do with the topic, I wasn't talking about your post, but mine. Then again, I may be misinterpreting what you're saying. If so, never mind.