_-iconoclast-_
I live by faith in the Son of God.
What if Jesus' God & his realm are not the highest goal?
This is a question of doubt. We have personal experiences too
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What if Jesus' God & his realm are not the highest goal?
Indeed. In spiritual matters, the only authority one should really answer to, is their own.
What if the real message Jesus was preaching was about the Buddha?
Maybe he was .. some suggest that he went to Egypt to learn the mysteries there, including Buddhism.
What spiritual experiences have you had?
i wouldn't even know where to begin. nor would i want to. the past is the past and no point in being attached to old experiences.
Certainly I was taught it ... and then I experienced it for myself, making the teaching my own.Hello. Back again
So it is an appeal to your authority and more so your personal experiences.
You did not learn the term 'suffering is the motivation for all action' through your own personal experiences, you were taught it.
By systematically following the Buddha's Path, I have experienced a progressive decrease in dukkha/suffering.Someone before you devised the process to reach nirvana. However, personal experiences are an authority to the person who has one or many.
What experience(s) have you had that make you certain what you are taught is correct - Ie spiritual experience?
Physical/sexual attraction, acts of love, singing and dancing, etc. are merely examples of the opposite side of the same coin - e.g. they show our attachments to pleasure, as a way to temporarily dispel suffering.Lets look more at that statement you made previous. If hunger were suffering, i eat - action. Nirvana goal - no desire, no attachments and no sction.
All action is suffering. Eating is action. Does one have to die to reach nirvana?
One day will you be content not to eat?
Action is not always motivated by suffering. Sexual attraction is motivated by physical attraction. Arousal is motivated by sexual attraction. Non perverse or questionable sexual intercourse doe not cause the man to suffer - women also enjoy sex. The consequence of sex - labour - does not cause suffering to the man.
If sex were suffering it would not be so popular.
Buying a present for someone is not motivated by suffering - acts of love.
Singing and dancing - not always motivated by suffering.
These 3 examples show a different motivation for action with positive outcomes.
I neither believe nor disbelieve, being agnostic to them and to the Christian deity likewise, as I have not experienced any of them for myself.In relation to this statement 'The gods came to the Buddha to request instruction and clarification, to support his Sasana'. Do you believe Hindu Gods are real or exist?
I didn't mean to imply that I wouldn't help others as best as I knew how; compassion and loving-kindness is part of the Buddhist Path. What I do mean is that, as I grow older (and hopefully wiser), I see the wisdom in allowing others to experience the consequences of their own mistakes, instead of immediately jumping in to "help".So you would not help someome out who is suffering if it were to cause you suffering. You cannot have a desire to do so. You cannot have an attachment to that person and you cannot perform the action. Does that worry you?
The point is that the unbound flame illustrates the release of attachment & results in the coolness of peace.So nirvana is the unbinding of a flame that appears to extinguish but in reality it is there?
The flame does not vanish?
What is the purpose of the illusion?
Why do i need to think it vanishes?
Ultimately, "suffering" is my answer. It is the question to all of existence, as I understand it. Why do you believe it is not my own reason?What is the benefit for you to loose your self, loose all desire and loose all action?
Ps
Please give me a different answer than suffering. I would like to know your own reasons.
Thank you
I don't disagree ... I suppose I'm merely pointing out that - at least for myself - even if I directly experienced an independent intelligence named "Jesus" or "God", I'm not sure how that experience would prove that they were Omniscient/Omnipotent/Almighty/etc. Of course, I haven't experienced that, so I am agnostic about it.This is a question of doubt. We have personal experiences too
I was exploring the question "what if?"Buddha is not a teacher of Jesus.
I don't agree that this represents the earliest teachings of the Buddha, as far as I've learned them.Buddhism ... reincarnation. Life is largely predetermined by past lives' karma. One has little free will, and it is very hard to work off bad karma ... Buddha and Jesus have a different endgame friend. 2 roads one leads you to God. One leads to emptiness
I understand that is the Christian position.Jesus existed be4 the foundation of this world is laid. why would he learned from his creation.
But there is a point to being....attached to the ONE who overcame all things for us who is THE AUTHOR...and FINISHER of our faithi wouldn't even know where to begin. nor would i want to. the past is the past and no point in being attached to old experiences.
Ananda.I understand that is the Christian position.
The Buddhist position is that certain beings sincerely - but delusionally - believe that they are God or represent God, and are eternal, and teach likewise.
Yeah, I never could get on board with the non-dual notion that we areThe Buddhist position is that certain beings sincerely - but delusionally - believe that they are God or represent God, and are eternal, and teach likewise.
I can understand that desire ... however, does "God" explain all your questions about existence?Yeah, I never could get on board with the non-dual notion that we are
God. I prefer to see God as an individual entity with Whom we can have a
relationship. If I thought for a moment that I was "as God as it gets", I'd
be bummed. ఠ_ఠ
I like the idea of being one with Him, without being tantamount to Him,
if that makes sense. There's a saying, "I do not want to be sugar;
I want to taste sugar. I want to love and enjoy the Beloved."
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He probably did before I incarnated, but I've either forgotten, or theI can understand that desire ... however, does "God" explain all your questions about existence?
I've had many. One is the sacredness of Mother Earth. Another is experiencing trees, animals and all around me not as nouns/objects but as verbs, very alive, vibrant and with souls.What spiritual experiences have you had?
But there is a point to being....attached to the ONE who overcame all things for us who is THE AUTHOR...and FINISHER of our faith
And THE OVERSEER of our soul
1 John 5
It may be just me, but as I look around the globe and at all of those people who live with just as much in the grace, blessings and presence of God as does any Christian that I've ever come across, it's pretty clear to me that "THAT DOOR" is not as exclusive as is being portrayed.Ananda.
It is the only "position"
There is only "ONE DOOR"
One is either inside or outside "THAT DOOR"
John 10
If there's only One Way, it sure has many lanes. •‿•It may be just me, but as I look around the globe and at all of those people who live with just as much in the grace, blessings and presence of God as does any Christian that I've ever come across, it's pretty clear to me that "THAT DOOR" is not as exclusive as is being portrayed.