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how do other dimensions relate to buddhism?

evolveevolve Explorer
edited October 2012 in General Banter
or do they?? do you think consciousness has the potential to be multidimensional?

image
SilePrairieGhost

Comments

  • andyrobynandyrobyn Veteran
    I am not sure but it looks to me as if that cat is evidence of the possibility of absolute knowledge by means of mystical experience ... he looks very serious about it !
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    What is a 'dimension'?
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    Moved to Advanced Ideas.
  • BhanteLuckyBhanteLucky Alternative lifestyle person in the South Island of New Zealand New Zealand Veteran
    edited August 2012
    evolve said:

    or do they?? do you think consciousness has the potential to be multidimensional?

    Asking such a question has no benefit, and no answer other than idle speculation.
    It is impossible for us to know.
    Here's what the Buddha said: (with my italics)
    A HANDFUL OF LEAVES

    The Blessed One was once living at Kosambi in a wood of simsapa trees. He picked up a few leaves in his hand, and he asked the bhikkhus, ‘How do you conceive this, bhikkhus, which is more, the few leaves that I have picked up in my hand or those on the trees in the wood?

    ‘The leaves that the Blessed One has picked up in his hand are few, Lord; those in the wood are far more.’

    ‘So too, bhikkhus, the things that I have known by direct knowledge are more; the things that I have told you are only a few. Why have I not told them? Because they bring no benefit, no advancement in the Holy Life, and because they do not lead to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. That is why I have not told them. And what have I told you? This is suffering; this is the origin of suffering; this is the cessation of suffering; this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. That is what I have told you. Why have I told it? Because it brings benefit, and advancement in the Holy Life, and because it leads to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. So bhikkhus, let your task be this: This is suffering; this is the origin of suffering; this is the cessation of suffering; this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’

    [Samyutta Nikaya, LVI, 31]
    Cool picture of the cat by the way!
  • Lotus21Lotus21 Indiana Explorer
    A HANDFUL OF LEAVES

    The Blessed One was once living at Kosambi in a wood of simsapa trees. He picked up a few leaves in his hand, and he asked the bhikkhus, ‘How do you conceive this, bhikkhus, which is more, the few leaves that I have picked up in my hand or those on the trees in the wood?

    ‘The leaves that the Blessed One has picked up in his hand are few, Lord; those in the wood are far more.’

    ‘So too, bhikkhus, the things that I have known by direct knowledge are more; the things that I have told you are only a few. Why have I not told them? Because they bring no benefit, no advancement in the Holy Life, and because they do not lead to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. That is why I have not told them. And what have I told you? This is suffering; this is the origin of suffering; this is the cessation of suffering; this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. That is what I have told you. Why have I told it? Because it brings benefit, and advancement in the Holy Life, and because it leads to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. So bhikkhus, let your task be this: This is suffering; this is the origin of suffering; this is the cessation of suffering; this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’

    [Samyutta Nikaya, LVI, 31]

    Thank you for this quote.
    For some reason I need more today than any other days.
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    as an ozmonaut, I regularly have to travel to other dimensions. Buddhism is very different in this brane (Dimension) let alone others . . .
    http://tmxxine.tumblr.com/post/27759414205/ftl-has-to-start-with-a-theory-so-here-is-one :vimp:
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    JamestheGiant said:

    ‘So too, bhikkhus, the things that I have known by direct knowledge are more; the things that I have told you are only a few. Why have I not told them? Because they bring no benefit, no advancement in the Holy Life, and because they do not lead to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. That is why I have not told them.

    But according to the suttas the Buddha did teach extensively about other realms, which can be seen as other dimensions. So presumably he saw this stuff as important to dispassion and enlightenment.
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    PedanticPorpoise said:


    But according to the suttas the Buddha did teach extensively about other realms, which can be seen as other dimensions. So presumably he saw this stuff as important to dispassion and enlightenment.

    Dimensions = space = other realities like your own = other worlds = higher numbers are better and bigger = ascension etc is science fiction.

    The concept of a dimension is not understood - it is thus far a mathematical pitstop.
  • tmottestmottes Veteran
    edited October 2012
    Imaging the Tenth Dimension
    lobster
  • tmottestmottes Veteran
    Another bit on dimensions...

    Scientists suggest spacetime has no time dimension
    RebeccaS
  • RebeccaSRebeccaS Veteran
    edited October 2012
    "Time as a measure of the numerical order of change" that makes so much more sense I think. :)

    Awesome stuff. Cheers, @tmottes
  • SileSile Veteran
    evolve said:

    or do they?? do you think consciousness has the potential to be multidimensional?

    image

    Single-focus mind.

  • SileSile Veteran
    edited October 2012
    evolve said:

    or do they?? do you think consciousness has the potential to be multidimensional?

    We probably need to define dimension before going too much further, but if we ask whether the ordinary mind has the potential to be in different states, the answer in Buddhist terms is yes.

    If the question is one of realms (that strikes me as a concept very similar to dimension), then the answer would I think also be yes, since (I believe) there are accounts in Buddhism of individuals acting in multiple realms within one lifetime.

    Certainly a realized being can manifest in multiple realms within another being's lifetime (or even simultaneously, infinitely and basically all over the place), so if we all have Buddha nature, and the capability to do this ourselves, it seems to me the consciousness definitely has the potential to be multidimensional.

    I just LOVE that picture.

  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited October 2012
    Other dimensions = "realms" of existence. The Bardo, for example.
    Sile
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    Dimensions are just ways of measuring change and distance... Height, width, depth, time/space.

    Even for other realms of existence... It's all the same place (for lack of a better word), just different frames of mind and or being.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    The boundaries between two people have no dimensions.. just something my lama said that I don't understand so well.
    Sile
  • ZendoLord84ZendoLord84 Veteran
    I read a book once about the ten dimensions. I stopped reading it.
    It's too abstract and humans are not equipped to actually....go there.
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    Jeffrey said:

    The boundaries between two people have no dimensions.. just something my lama said that I don't understand so well.

    Something without dimensions is a point - that's the fiction for it as the point doesn't exist - it's adopted for mathematical purposes - it's right there in front of you but it has no dimensions.

    Perhaps it is the same with boundaries between people - they're adopted for human living purposes but they dont really exist in a way... no dimensions
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Yes my teacher talks about dimensionless points and how they can connect into a line or surface while having no dimensions themself
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    Jeffrey said:

    Yes my teacher talks about dimensionless points and how they can connect into a line or surface while having no dimensions themself

    Geometry would be lost without it! :)
  • SileSile Veteran
    I tried to understand the fourth dimension once and came to the conclusion it was a doughnut.

    My reasoning was that the 2nd dimension (a round plane) can be achieved by connecting two lines at a point, the 3rd dimension (an oval tube) by connecting two planes at a line, and therefore the 4th dimension (a doughnut) is the shape you get when you connect two tubes at a plane.

    Kinda need some graphics here. But it sounded good in theory long ago.
  • jumblesjumbles Explorer
    di-ment; hypothetical adhesive for affixing delusion to nothing else.
    lobster
  • SileSile Veteran
    The koan for 4th dimension might be, "How is the hole part of the doughnut, yet tasteless?"
    Jeffrey
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Don't mention donut. :eek: That's my weakness. :eek2:
    SileDairyLamalobster
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