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GOD
God, who is He? To be honest, I'm still searching. He can be reached through meditation, like Buddha nature.
I don't personally agree with the image of God in the bible and in the minds of many traditional christians.
I think that God is inexpressible, undefinable, formless, like the Tao of Taoism.
I use the DR. Wayne Dyer meditation technique, he says helps to know God, to be in concsious contact with Him.
Our Father Who arts in Heaven hallowed be thy name
The first line of the Lord's prayer.
In your mind Imagine the word "Our" and then "Father" and then visualize them together "Our Father" then go into the gap between those two words and then stay in the gap for a few seconds and keep all thoughs out and images then repeat out loud "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH" , the sound of God (later on you can repeat it in your head when you progress). Then do the same with the rest of the first line of the Lord's prayer, carry on, use the word "Father" and then "in" and then together etc etc This is called Jappa meditation.
I haven't met God yet, I hope to meet Him. My Mother said that when you go deep enough into the gap and when you feel great love in peace, you've found GOD and you'll know him, understand him.
I can't wait to experience God, I still doubt of course, but then having prayers answered is quite miraculous, so I still mostly believe in Him even though I call myself "Buddhist"!
I've been looking at Taosim, which helps in dealing with the events of life, everything falls into place...
What do you think of God? Have you experienced Him?
I don't personally agree with the image of God in the bible and in the minds of many traditional christians.
I think that God is inexpressible, undefinable, formless, like the Tao of Taoism.
I use the DR. Wayne Dyer meditation technique, he says helps to know God, to be in concsious contact with Him.
Our Father Who arts in Heaven hallowed be thy name
The first line of the Lord's prayer.
In your mind Imagine the word "Our" and then "Father" and then visualize them together "Our Father" then go into the gap between those two words and then stay in the gap for a few seconds and keep all thoughs out and images then repeat out loud "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH" , the sound of God (later on you can repeat it in your head when you progress). Then do the same with the rest of the first line of the Lord's prayer, carry on, use the word "Father" and then "in" and then together etc etc This is called Jappa meditation.
I haven't met God yet, I hope to meet Him. My Mother said that when you go deep enough into the gap and when you feel great love in peace, you've found GOD and you'll know him, understand him.
I can't wait to experience God, I still doubt of course, but then having prayers answered is quite miraculous, so I still mostly believe in Him even though I call myself "Buddhist"!
I've been looking at Taosim, which helps in dealing with the events of life, everything falls into place...
What do you think of God? Have you experienced Him?
0
Comments
Why is it important to consider that such a being exists?
To be honest, it little matters to me whether such an entity exists.
I really don't care one way or the other.
it's what would be defined as an Unconjecturable, so I just leave it be.
It's not conducive to my personal practice to consider the existence, or otherwise.
If he exists, he is beyond mind, if he doesn't, he is within it.
You would generally not be received well when using the word God on Buddhist forums, as I assume one would not be received well using the word Buddha on Christian forums.:)
Still, if there is a God, God would have to transcend subject, transcend object, transcend concept and transcend you itself. And yet not be apart from all that. Just be peaceful in life and in that peace of mind you will know God as He is to you.
Best wishes,
Abu
Unfortunately, though, the faiths based on GOD have traditionally been experiments gone largely awry. That is because, instead of seeing things as revelations of the pure unfathomable likeness of all beings, religionists of all times and places have tended to perceive their windows into divine reality as special dispensations. When that happens, the rights and sensibilities of others tend to be trampled. In God’s name(s) many evils are wrought.
Nobody can comprehend (literally, engulf) God! But there are plenty of pompous asses out there who condemn others who just can’t see things exactly like them and toe the line that they see.
What do I think of GOD? The Beatitudes of Jesus pretty much sums it up for me:
Matthew 5:3-10.
sincerely John
Maybe its the "He" that gives the game away! Fortunately Buddhism has little to do with "Him Up There", especially as portrayed in certain Old Testament texts, where He is oftimes portrayed as patroling the heavens looking for the next sinner - or sinners - to slay. Though Mahayana has more murky waters, Theravada seems content with Udana 8:3.......
There is, monks, a not-born, a not-brought-to-being, a not-made, a not-conditioned. If, monks, there were no not-born, not-brought-to-being, not-made, not-conditioned, no escape would be discerned from what is born, brought-to-being, made, conditioned. But since there is a not-born, a not-brought-to-being, a not-made, a not-conditioned, therefore an escape is discerned from what is born, brought-to-being, made, conditioned.
Anyway, all Faiths seem to have "many mansions", and Christianity has its mystical thread, with those like Meister Eckhart who spoke of the Deity in his typical "negative" way.....
Nothing that knowledge can grasp or desire can want is God. Where knowledge and desire end, there is darkness; and there God shines.
I agree with those here who distinguish between "knowledge of/belief in" and "experience of". When it is merely a matter of belief, second hand "tributes" to God can be accepted without question as fact. Add fear of questioning, strong peer groups who insist on towing the party line, and you end with bigotry and intolerance, not to mention pictures of God that are unworthy, idols born of ego projections and the "will to power."
For me there is room for dialogue between faiths, especially if those like Thomas Merton are studied. Merton, beginning with a deep appreciation of true mysticism as the "contact of two liberties", and true fidelity to the "I-thou" discipleship of Christian Faith, nevertheless explored Zen meditation and is recorded as saying..........the progressive must learn to relax their grasp on the conception of the goal and of "who it is" that will attain it. To cling too tenaciously to the "self" and its own fulfillment would guarantee that there would be no fulfillment at all. (From "Zen and the Birds of Appetite")
My own Pure Land way recognises the variety of human experience, of understanding Amida as "other" as well as being a personification of Reality-as-is. The "way" seeks to transform "other" by existential experience into selflessness, recognising that there is neither self power nor other power, there is only Other Power. This through every experience of our lay lives, as lived and known each moment of each day.
Anyway, Snowpaw, you mentioned the Tao. If you have time, and the inclination, here is a thread you may find interesting, where Progressive Christians are wending their way through the Tao Te Ching, drawing various lessons and parallels from it - between "eastern" and "western" ways of "being" (or Non-being!)
http://tcpc.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/1578-the-tao-te-ching/
Much Metta,
Todd
Todd, I agree, but most "Gods" (or "God") are often very changeable if various texts are taken at face value. It often seems to me that it is when the claim is made that the Divine is "personal" that we slide into trouble. This seems so because many identify their own "person" exclusively with the social self/ego/constructed persona. When this is done, and such is projected, we have a God as capricious as ourselves, and unworthy of worship.
What we actually mean by "person" is a very live issue in inter-faith dialogue, especially in dialogue with Christianity where the "eternal word" is identified with Christ as Person, rather than the Biblical text as such.
In a lot of what could be called "mature" Christian thought, God is understood as the "ground of being" rather than a being (distinct from other beings), and as "empty" in the sense that "he" is a circle whose centre is nowhere and everywhere, Whose circumference is infinite.
I would defintely understand Reality-as-is as infinite creativity, not as a being - unchanging or not.
All the best
tariki
...but ultimately, g0d's theistic and atheistic natures are completely unprovable. As far as the Question of Theism goes ("Is there a God?'), it cannot be answered.
You are asking the wrong question.
Our Intrinsic Nature have limitless potentials, hence the feeling of "connected to god".
http://www.kwanumzen.com/pzc/oldnewsletter/v01n06-1973-april-dssn-q&aaboutgod.html
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The village I finally reach
deeper than the deep mountains
indeed
the capital
were I used to live![/FONT]
I had an experience when I was a child that showed me that our mind has the ability to alter physical reality ... therefore, if you decide that something exists, or IS a certain way, then you will most certainly find it someday. The only problem is that you will never know for sure if you found it because it was there to be found, or if you found if because you created it.
Sometimes it's best to just open up, without trying to pin things down too much.
Are you saying that Gods, devas, and celestial beings believe that Buddhists exist? I know the reverse is true.
And I am not sure that it has been clearly stated but the Buddha claimed that gods existed, but that none of them were solely responsible for creation.
As far as I know, the Buddha did not discredit the teachings of gods or other religions as beneficial to people.
I recently read where a christian who attended an interfaith congregation asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama "what is the best religion?".
The Dalai Lama said that the best religion for himself was Buddhism, and also told him that the best religion is the one that brings you closer to god. So it would seem that at least His Holiness, believes in the search for god.
Dalai Lama is just one of the sprititual leaders within the vast practices of Buddhism in this world. I personally don't know anything about his teachings. But as far as Buddhism is concerned, wouldn't the whole concept of seeking god hinder your path to enlightenment? Cause that will result in your relying on outside sources.
I suspect maybe Dalai Lama is referring to MahaPrajnaparamita?
As for God being the universe and oneness or whatever....why must there be a word for everything? Things just are like they are. There is no entity pulling the secrets. Nothing divine.
Some have had glimpses of them, some have heard others stories about them, hence the curiosity.
What kind of experiences? And why must they be immediately be related to anything divine in nature. It's just different.
They don't have to be divine in nature, but many explained them using the divine.
I agree with you that they are just different.
I'm explaining one of the potential source of the curiosity; not the experiences themselves.
The reason people would immediately explain them with the divine is the same as the reason why there are so many people believing in gods.
Dalai Lama is suggesting in a humble manner that to close to god (heavenly beings from the perspective of that christian perception of God), buddhism is the one as once attained Buddhahood, he could travel to the heavenly realm to liberate the heavenly beings:cool:
Still some forms of buddhism so called subdue the traditional culture and transmit 'true' buddhism. For me true buddhism is transmitted to me because I am suffering and it helps me.
Namaste
If you ask me if there is a creator who thinks and some what acts like man with emotions I'll say I'm atheist and I find that a rather silly idea.
If you ask me if I believe man comes from the earth which comes from the universe which could have some form of consciousness I'll tell you I'm agnostic. I don't know because I don't have the senses or tools to observe it.
I think man wants there to be a creator because man loves to create stuff and wants to be something greater. He visualizes God as someone like himself to envision his own greatness (aka ego). However, thinking there has to be a creator leads to infinite God's as there is no reason to believe God didn't require a creator himself.
People have pondered the question of god for thousands of years. Every great ancient culture had many gods/goddesses who embodied the memes of the times. Religions became powerful organizations. They still are today. They depend on belief in a supreme god, strict obedience from their followers, and most of all- MONEY.
Let me ask you a question, if you don't mind. Why would a supreme deity need power, control, worship or money?
Epicurius' Riddle
"If God is willing to prevent evil, but is not able to
Then He is not omnipotent.
If He is able, but not willing
Then He is malevolent.
If He is both able and willing
Then whence cometh evil?
If He is neither able nor willing
Then why call Him God?"
What thinkest thou?
This really got me thinking years ago and helped me along in my quest to find a path that would help in my development.
I have Dr. Dyer's book/CD on the Jappa meditation. I tried it and it was OK but the prayer interfered with my meditative attempts. This is not to say that other people wouldn't get good results using it. Just a personal preference. I do like Dr, Dyer's work and would recommend his movie- "The Shift"
Link: http://www.dyermovie.com/
As for myself, I've come to the conclusion that the concept of a god is man made. The bible, again- not picking on the christians, did not present a deity that I would have anything to do with. Examine "his" characteristics. He advocated and indulged in very negative behavior. We wouldn't tolerate it from our fellow humans, so shouldn't we expect more from a "god"?
I just feel a Source of all life. I cannot define it, but I can feel it when I make the effort to connect with it.
My apologies- I tend to go on. I hope that this helps.
Namaste
It goes like this:
A. Our trying to understand god is like trying to explain skyscrapers to an ant.
There. That eases a bit of anxiety for me at least. Allows me to take on stuff I might have a better chance of understanding and being able to communicate.
The point of the above answer: "god" is absolutely HUGE.
Our pinprick of mind embodied in these brains can't grasp it. Everything we think we can conceive, experience and communicate about god-ness is miniscule.
Enjoy this life, there's a lot to it. But give up delusions of grandeur thinking some small portion of what you can characterize, know and can communicate IS god.
What is it then? It's our magnificent creation as human beings.
in my opinion, you are being very disrespectful here.
why is it your business to change the common image of the Bible God?
who do you think you are? the next Messiah?
the Tao does not teach about "God"
get over "God"
it is simply a form of conditioning from your youth
Buddhism does teach about "Gods". They are deities or personal beings
Buddhism does not teach about inexpressible, undefinable, formless "Gods"
So best to leave the other religions alone and respect the beliefs of others
Best wishes, try to see clearly
DD
they are not something unique; they are often simply natural law
eg. give and you will be given; forgive and you will be forgiven; judge not and be not judged, etc,...are simply psychological karmic law
kind regards
who knows what the future holds?