Message for Atheists

[vajradhara]

Namaste Aradia,

thank you for the post.

Thanks for the welcome, vaj and ZW. Been doing pretty well, but have been enormously busy this past year or so, between work, building kayaks, rock climbing... and getting married! Woohoo! Still not a perfect buddhist by any stretch of the imagination, but I continue to become more mindful as time goes by.

congratulations on the marriage!

True indeed. I've continued trying to mentally separate myself from the "buddhist" label, and what you've written describes it exactly. It's not so much the teachings, but the dhamma, apart from any label, that really matters. The more I discuss religion with those of other faiths, the more it helps me to rise above the unnecessary labels and see the dhamma for what it really is... and isn't... and both is and isn't... and neither is nor isn't... hehehehe.

for quite a while i wasn't interested in lables of any sort.. and, to be frank, i still am not.

however, i make the concession to facilitate conversation over the web.. i'm not sure how much good it actually does

this is, of course, one of the reasons why Buddha Shakyamuni explicitly stated that after the Parinirvana, we were to look to the Dharma to be our teacher. as a new Buddhist, that can be somewhat difficult to do which is why Buddha Shakyamuni also extolled new Buddhists to find a mature Buddhist to be a mentor and guide.. like taming elephants, as it were... taking the wild elephant and chaining it to the tame one.

of course, my monkey mind likes to slip those chains as often as possible!

metta,

~v

 

[AlexandraB]

You have a Monkey Mind??!!?? Have you any idea how much I have wanted one of those?? I have hunted every store in London for one in the January sales!! They are sooooo 'This minute' accessories! I tell you sweetie, they are so 'de rigeur'...! Everybody who is 'Anybody', has one! Oh, wait 'til I tell the girls at our next fluffhead cocktails get-together! they will just diiiiee!

 

[Aradia]

congratulations on the marriage!

Thanks! =)

for quite a while i wasn't interested in lables of any sort.. and, to be frank, i still am not.

however, i make the concession to facilitate conversation over the web.. i'm not sure how much good it actually does

Very true. It's still the most accurate description for me, so it's much easier to just tell someone I'm a buddhist instead of telling them everything I believe.

this is, of course, one of the reasons why Buddha Shakyamuni explicitly stated that after the Parinirvana, we were to look to the Dharma to be our teacher. as a new Buddhist, that can be somewhat difficult to do which is why Buddha Shakyamuni also extolled new Buddhists to find a mature Buddhist to be a mentor and guide.. like taming elephants, as it were... taking the wild elephant and chaining it to the tame one.

of course, my monkey mind likes to slip those chains as often as possible!

I'm reminded of a quote.... "If people say Jeet Kune Do is different from 'this' or from 'that', then let the name of Jeet Kune Do be wiped out, for that is what it is, just a name. Please don't fuss over it." -- Bruce Lee, _Tao of Jeet Kune Do_

Wise man, that one. =)