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 Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 2:20 am
An Introduction To BuddhismAnyone interested in learning about Buddhism, or is a Buddhist, please post here and openly discuss the topic and share your experiences, your journey, and what brought you to Buddhism?
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 10:21 am
One of my favorite Buddhist ideals is this:
"If you meet a Buddha on the side of the road... you kill him."
At first I thought this quote was kinda brutal (Why hurt Buddha? Hes always so happy and smiley, I love Buddha!), but then as time went on I started meeting people who felt that their path (or choice of faith) was the correct and only path. Even with the best of intentions, some of these encounters the people would have a dogmatic air about them. And that is when I started to realize, that no matter what they were trying to convince me of, I would not be convinced. However...
Enlightenment cannot be taught directly, "If you meet a Buddha on the side of the road... you kill him." Many of life's most important lessons are ones that are internal revelations, and words fail to grasp the intensity of awe one feels when the lesson is learned.
If you ever meet someone on this journey of life who has an air of "you should listen to me because..." Well, chances are they have a lot less to teach you then you think, or they know something very important to be learned, but you will not learn it from them (words don't get the job done). Knowledge is a gift that must be worked for and built upon, it is soo much more then just a grade on a piece of paper. Always remember that the most important lessons are those we learn from ourselves, not other people. Much Love. xox
"Live to learn, learn to live."
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 6:51 pm
TheCraftyOracle One of my favorite Buddhist ideals is this: "If you meet a Buddha on the side of the road... you kill him." At first I thought this quote was kinda brutal (Why hurt Buddha? Hes always so happy and smiley, I love Buddha!), but then as time went on I started meeting people who felt that their path (or choice of faith) was the correct and only path. Even with the best of intentions, some of these encounters the people would have a dogmatic air about them. And that is when I started to realize, that no matter what they were trying to convince me of, I would not be convinced. However... Enlightenment cannot be taught directly, "If you meet a Buddha on the side of the road... you kill him." Many of life's most important lessons are ones that are internal revelations, and words fail to grasp the intensity of awe one feels when the lesson is learned. If you ever meet someone on this journey of life who has an air of "you should listen to me because..." Well, chances are they have a lot less to teach you then you think, or they know something very important to be learned, but you will not learn it from them (words don't get the job done). Knowledge is a gift that must be worked for and built upon, it is soo much more then just a grade on a piece of paper. Always remember that the most important lessons are those we learn from ourselves, not other people. Much Love. xox "Live to learn, learn to live." Beautiful I really like how you thought this out. I agree that you can learn more from yourself then other when they take the approach of I am right you are wrong. Some people may differ but I also believe that some people can push you for good reason by using maybe not the best of polite tactics but in the end for positive results.
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Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 5:41 pm
I'm a Buddhist. I was a Christian for a while. But I really couldn't find my true self. So I tried other religions, they didn't work. Then I tried Buddhism. That was the best, I really conected to it's teachings.
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Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:22 pm
Official Uchiha Mikoto I'm a Buddhist. I was a Christian for a while. But I really couldn't find my true self. So I tried other religions, they didn't work. Then I tried Buddhism. That was the best, I really connected to it's teachings. That is good for you. It is wonderful to have a well rounded person in our group now. Share your experiences here with us alright. Message me anytime.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 1:23 am
When I was a freshman in high school (now freshman in college) our class had to write a report on a religion. I picked Buddhism because it seemed the most real. When I was doing the research for my paper I was reading a lot of teaching and I was like wow this is great. Eventually I came across a video of the Dalia Lama during one of his teachings it was 3ish hours long and I was like well I will watch a few mins of it and the next thing I know it's over. That's what really brought me to Buddhism.
Unfortunately where I live I'm 5ish hours away from a temple so I have to watching teachings online and that's ok but I really would like to be more involved than that.
On campus not to long ago we had a monk on campus to give a talk and that was one of the best moments of my life he was great. He really knew what he was saying.
In May I will be going to South Korea for school and I will be heading to the temples as much as possible!
Man sorry I wrote a lot! sweatdrop
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:27 pm
sara.w. When I was a freshman in high school (now freshman in college) our class had to write a report on a religion. I picked Buddhism because it seemed the most real. When I was doing the research for my paper I was reading a lot of teaching and I was like wow this is great. Eventually I came across a video of the Dalia Lama during one of his teachings it was 3ish hours long and I was like well I will watch a few mins of it and the next thing I know it's over. That's what really brought me to Buddhism. Unfortunately where I live I'm 5ish hours away from a temple so I have to watching teachings online and that's ok but I really would like to be more involved than that. On campus not to long ago we had a monk on campus to give a talk and that was one of the best moments of my life he was great. He really knew what he was saying. In May I will be going to South Korea for school and I will be heading to the temples as much as possible! Man sorry I wrote a lot! sweatdrop Wonderful please do tell us about all your experiences. Is there anything significant that you have have learned that so very special?
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 5:40 pm
This is from Amnesty International On Wednesday May 4, 2011 Amnesty International USA is honored to present the first-ever "Shine A Light On Human Rights" award to His Holiness the 14 th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso for his tireless commitment to social justice and human rights around the world. Due to the overwhelming popularity of this event, tickets are completely SOLD OUT. But you can still join us for a special online event: Where: http://amnestyusa.org/dalailamaWhat: Watch live-streaming video from the event and chat with other Amnesty supporters about legacy of the Dalai Lama and this special occasion. When: Wednesday May 4, 2011 9:45 a.m. PST/ 12:45 p.m. EST See His Holiness the Dalai Lama His Holiness the Dalai Lama will deliver a keynote address, which will be preceded by a welcome from Ann Burroughs, a former prisoner of conscience from South Africa, and the award presentation by Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's Executive Director.
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 5:45 pm
sara.w. This is from Amnesty International On Wednesday May 4, 2011 Amnesty International USA is honored to present the first-ever "Shine A Light On Human Rights" award to His Holiness the 14 th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso for his tireless commitment to social justice and human rights around the world. Due to the overwhelming popularity of this event, tickets are completely SOLD OUT. But you can still join us for a special online event: Where: http://amnestyusa.org/dalailamaWhat: Watch live-streaming video from the event and chat with other Amnesty supporters about legacy of the Dalai Lama and this special occasion. When: Wednesday May 4, 2011 9:45 a.m. PST/ 12:45 p.m. EST See His Holiness the Dalai Lama His Holiness the Dalai Lama will deliver a keynote address, which will be preceded by a welcome from Ann Burroughs, a former prisoner of conscience from South Africa, and the award presentation by Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's Executive Director. How wonderful thank you for posting this. smile
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 8:21 pm
It was actually the "kill the buddha if you meet him" koan that helped me better understand my current path. 3nodding Buddhism isn't for me but there is some tidbits of wisdom I pick up hear and there that aid me on my path.
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 9:38 am
rmcdra It was actually the "kill the buddha if you meet him" koan that helped me better understand my current path. 3nodding Buddhism isn't for me but there is some tidbits of wisdom I pick up hear and there that aid me on my path. Awesome. Would you care to share your story with us?
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 12:29 pm
Sneaker Pimps rmcdra It was actually the "kill the buddha if you meet him" koan that helped me better understand my current path. 3nodding Buddhism isn't for me but there is some tidbits of wisdom I pick up hear and there that aid me on my path. Awesome. Would you care to share your story with us? Well it was the koan that explained to me that I was doing something wrong in coming to know of Christ, that I had some view of him that I need to let go of but I couldn't put my finger on it. Later down the line about 2 or 3 months, I heard the song Simon Zealotes from Jesus Christ Superstar for the first time and it put my conundrum into perspective. Though being raised Christian and reading so much, I had know clue who he was outside of what others were telling me, if I wanted to know who Christ was I had to seek him for myself. A week later during a meditation, I came to know why Christ is described as the Light of the World and why the expression "seeing the Light" came into being. I cannot fully put it into words but it was very humbling and made me realize that there is a world much larger than myself out there and that there is much that we don't know. I will jokingly refer to it as my divine "bitchslap". It was at this moment I killed Jesus and witnessed the resurrection of Christ.
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 1:12 pm
rmcdra Sneaker Pimps rmcdra It was actually the "kill the buddha if you meet him" koan that helped me better understand my current path. 3nodding Buddhism isn't for me but there is some tidbits of wisdom I pick up hear and there that aid me on my path. Awesome. Would you care to share your story with us? Well it was the koan that explained to me that I was doing something wrong in coming to know of Christ, that I had some view of him that I need to let go of but I couldn't put my finger on it. Later down the line about 2 or 3 months, I heard the song Simon Zealotes from Jesus Christ Superstar for the first time and it put my conundrum into perspective. Though being raised Christian and reading so much, I had know clue who he was outside of what others were telling me, if I wanted to know who Christ was I had to seek him for myself. A week later during a meditation, I came to know why Christ is described as the Light of the World and why the expression "seeing the Light" came into being. I cannot fully put it into words but it was very humbling and made me realize that there is a world much larger than myself out there and that there is much that we don't know. I will jokingly refer to it as my divine "bitchslap". It was at this moment I killed Jesus and witnessed the resurrection of Christ. That is absolutely amazing. Great story and thank you for reflecting on this with us. In my life I have had several enlightening experiences as such. The imagery was astounding. I wrote poems about my meditations and enlightening experiences. One experience I had was of a lotus blossoming out of an opening hand. This let out a bright vibrant vibrating light that I could feel deep within. Some other things happened but they are very hard to explain. Like a series of scenes from different parts of the world. It was amazing to say the least. Another was of me in the form of a bird soaring across the land across the world, like in the past, forests mountains oceans, just kept going and I saw through the eyes of the bird. I was being summoned and brought to a circle of chanting people around a fire by the bird. Also when we arrived we dived straight into the fire and I was snapped back into myself like kabam!
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Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 8:29 am
Sneaker Pimps That is absolutely amazing. Great story and thank you for reflecting on this with us. In my life I have had several enlightening experiences as such. The imagery was astounding. I wrote poems about my meditations and enlightening experiences. One experience I had was of a lotus blossoming out of an opening hand. This let out a bright vibrant vibrating light that I could feel deep within. Some other things happened but they are very hard to explain. Like a series of scenes from different parts of the world. It was amazing to say the least. Another was of me in the form of a bird soaring across the land across the world, like in the past, forests mountains oceans, just kept going and I saw through the eyes of the bird. I was being summoned and brought to a circle of chanting people around a fire by the bird. Also when we arrived we dived straight into the fire and I was snapped back into myself like kabam! That is really amazing too. Thank you for sharing and reflecting with me as well.
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Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 6:22 pm
rmcdra Sneaker Pimps That is absolutely amazing. Great story and thank you for reflecting on this with us. In my life I have had several enlightening experiences as such. The imagery was astounding. I wrote poems about my meditations and enlightening experiences. One experience I had was of a lotus blossoming out of an opening hand. This let out a bright vibrant vibrating light that I could feel deep within. Some other things happened but they are very hard to explain. Like a series of scenes from different parts of the world. It was amazing to say the least. Another was of me in the form of a bird soaring across the land across the world, like in the past, forests mountains oceans, just kept going and I saw through the eyes of the bird. I was being summoned and brought to a circle of chanting people around a fire by the bird. Also when we arrived we dived straight into the fire and I was snapped back into myself like kabam! That is really amazing too. Thank you for sharing and reflecting with me as well. Your welcome anytime you wish to discus anything the guild and I are always here. Feel free to add me if you like to. 3nodding
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