As someone coming from Christianity, I dont get the prayers to specific Buddhas with desires. Also, this seems very religious. If I didnt know any better I would assume it to be a theistic religion. I also dont see why one man comes to claim the truth. If it is so wouldnt it spread and come to be dominant? Christianity spread by the sword which is different. I cant accept buddhism for the same reason i dont accept christianity anymore: both have one man claiming the truth and way. Both appeared at random places in time. Both claim exclusivity. Why didnt they come earlier? Scientists claim we have existed as man for hundreds of thousands of years and yet, we receive 2 men who claim dramatically different claims, in dramatically different settings/climates (physically and politically), and since they claim truth by default they reject other claims. Orthodox christianity has real results like these Buddhas mentioned. People of service and true love for community. Both have produced "saints", for lack of better term.
The Buddha never asked anyone to follow him without first checking to see if the teachings he discovered make sense. We as individuals must use our own critical thinking to see if what has been presented as truth is or is not. The teaching on dependent origination is very clear and shows one step by step how positive and negative emotions are created and how those lead to results. I also came from a Christian background. I was never encouraged to question the Bible. My root teacher Khensur Rinpoche said that I would be stupid not to question the Buddha. Anyone can say anything and smile. Geshes spent over 20 years debating and trying to logically disprove Buddha! You are following suit! These teachings are conclusions that I have made over 30 years of study. I still learn everyday and find practicing them has a great impact on my mind and behavior. Buddhism is very complex and dialogues all the time with modern physicists. Mainstream Buddhism is really lacking the complexity at times required to see how rich the teachings really are. I think it is awesome that you question things. Just make sure you are questioning the accurate information. Looking at Buddhist logic and tenets will give anyone a glimpse into the subtlety of the teachings. Thanx for taking the time to comment.
@JeffAllen-um5zh I'm not trying to disprove it, I dont know enough. That's how I process things, I suppose it's because I was into christian apologetics. I enjoy that realm of debates, I think it helps me understand. I want the truth, this is what I have been after. I'm suspicious of Buddhism because it's so foreign and every word or concept is so new and foreign. I feel I was fooled into christianity with a good sales pitch and emotional manipulation. I have read the Dhammapada and have recently acquired the Suttanipata, the full commentary by Bodhi. I only have christians or atheists in my life. The Dhammapada was amazing. I enjoy reading simple poetic literature about old wisdom, Proverbs for instance. I read in the Suttanipata about a Buddha talking about the declination of Brahmic (pre hindu, you know what im referring to) tradition, how they became worldly and it's consequences. One of the draws i do have to Buddhism is Buddha challenging the religious institution of his day and providing "the middle way", which i do find agreeable and admirable. I feel a connection and understanding through that. The Buddhist groups by me are Vietnamese. I only see a couple pictures of anyone not Vietnamese. Orthodox christianity, there's not many churches either and a lot are cultural hubs for the Greeks, Russians, and other Eastern EU nationalities. So it's mainly a country club that doesn't want, literally, outsiders coming. I don't want to experience this again, or any brainwashed individuals/cult groups (which I have seen in christianity).
Buddha never told people who believe in nothing, just to observe and learn from their experience. He said " Come and See" never come and believe. Of course there are several school and sects of Buddhism, but Forrest tradition is plain observing your experience. The truth pointed out for the Buddha are truth independent if someone believe or rejected them. ( Impermanence, birth and death, Unsatisfactory nature of all conditioned experience, etc.) This video is from one sect of Tibetan Buddhism probably Gelup.
I'm sorry, but there is always some degree of blind faith in Tibetan Buddhism, many Tibetans believe in Karma, reincarnation without any verifiable faith, others believe in Heaven and Hell, Sukabati realm, etc that we can not prove or perceive but we develop faith in them as a possibility. If you get in to Vajarayana then there is much more blind faith : you will believe that your teacher, Higher lamas and Rinpoche are some kind of high beings with special hidden powers, when in fact some of them recognize that they are not aware of any previous reincarnation , etc.
I would say these are cultural adaptations to the teachings that don’t represent all practitioners. If you listen to the whole teaching, I show how the use of a syllogism and various forms of reasoning presented by the Nalanda pandits can prove a continuum of consciousness without a beginning. Vajrayana won’t work without logically understanding emptiness and bodhicitta. Many people skip the needed preliminaries and rely on magical thinking like you mentioned. I translated thousands of teachings for Khensur Rinpoche and he never said to believe anything without analysis. Just making a blanket statement without having been immersed in the scholarly tradition, isn’t always fair. It’s easy to dismiss the teachings by seeing what the masses do. Without systematic studies, Vajrayana is not possible. Most people want a shortcut that does not require work. Mahayana has 2 divisions, sutra and tantra. Without the basis of the common sutra understanding, I agree that blind faith is all you could have. The tantric/vajrayana teachings actually do a better job at showing logically how rebirth is true when combined with the sutra understanding. There is also inference through belief that is accurate and valid. Some of these realms can be reached in meditative states. I have not done so yet so I remain skeptical but have not been steered wrong yet so I keep an open mind. Thanks for listening. I appreciate you.
As someone coming from Christianity, I dont get the prayers to specific Buddhas with desires. Also, this seems very religious. If I didnt know any better I would assume it to be a theistic religion. I also dont see why one man comes to claim the truth. If it is so wouldnt it spread and come to be dominant? Christianity spread by the sword which is different.
I cant accept buddhism for the same reason i dont accept christianity anymore: both have one man claiming the truth and way. Both appeared at random places in time. Both claim exclusivity. Why didnt they come earlier? Scientists claim we have existed as man for hundreds of thousands of years and yet, we receive 2 men who claim dramatically different claims, in dramatically different settings/climates (physically and politically), and since they claim truth by default they reject other claims.
Orthodox christianity has real results like these Buddhas mentioned. People of service and true love for community. Both have produced "saints", for lack of better term.
The Buddha never asked anyone to follow him without first checking to see if the teachings he discovered make sense. We as individuals must use our own critical thinking to see if what has been presented as truth is or is not. The teaching on dependent origination is very clear and shows one step by step how positive and negative emotions are created and how those lead to results.
I also came from a Christian background. I was never encouraged to question the Bible. My root teacher Khensur Rinpoche said that I would be stupid not to question the Buddha. Anyone can say anything and smile. Geshes spent over 20 years debating and trying to logically disprove Buddha! You are following suit!
These teachings are conclusions that I have made over 30 years of study. I still learn everyday and find practicing them has a great impact on my mind and behavior.
Buddhism is very complex and dialogues all the time with modern physicists. Mainstream Buddhism is really lacking the complexity at times required to see how rich the teachings really are.
I think it is awesome that you question things. Just make sure you are questioning the accurate information. Looking at Buddhist logic and tenets will give anyone a glimpse into the subtlety of the teachings.
Thanx for taking the time to comment.
@JeffAllen-um5zh I'm not trying to disprove it, I dont know enough. That's how I process things, I suppose it's because I was into christian apologetics. I enjoy that realm of debates, I think it helps me understand. I want the truth, this is what I have been after.
I'm suspicious of Buddhism because it's so foreign and every word or concept is so new and foreign. I feel I was fooled into christianity with a good sales pitch and emotional manipulation. I have read the Dhammapada and have recently acquired the Suttanipata, the full commentary by Bodhi. I only have christians or atheists in my life.
The Dhammapada was amazing. I enjoy reading simple poetic literature about old wisdom, Proverbs for instance. I read in the Suttanipata about a Buddha talking about the declination of Brahmic (pre hindu, you know what im referring to) tradition, how they became worldly and it's consequences. One of the draws i do have to Buddhism is Buddha challenging the religious institution of his day and providing "the middle way", which i do find agreeable and admirable. I feel a connection and understanding through that.
The Buddhist groups by me are Vietnamese. I only see a couple pictures of anyone not Vietnamese. Orthodox christianity, there's not many churches either and a lot are cultural hubs for the Greeks, Russians, and other Eastern EU nationalities. So it's mainly a country club that doesn't want, literally, outsiders coming. I don't want to experience this again, or any brainwashed individuals/cult groups (which I have seen in christianity).
Buddha never told people who believe in nothing, just to observe and learn from their experience. He said " Come and See" never come and believe. Of course there are several school and sects of Buddhism, but Forrest tradition is plain observing your experience. The truth pointed out for the Buddha are truth independent if someone believe or rejected them. ( Impermanence, birth and death, Unsatisfactory nature of all conditioned experience, etc.) This video is from one sect of Tibetan Buddhism probably Gelup.
I'm sorry, but there is always some degree of blind faith in Tibetan Buddhism, many Tibetans believe in Karma, reincarnation without any verifiable faith, others believe in Heaven and Hell, Sukabati realm, etc that we can not prove or perceive but we develop faith in them as a possibility. If you get in to Vajarayana then there is much more blind faith : you will believe that your teacher, Higher lamas and Rinpoche are some kind of high beings with special hidden powers, when in fact some of them recognize that they are not aware of any previous reincarnation , etc.
I would say these are cultural adaptations to the teachings that don’t represent all practitioners. If you listen to the whole teaching, I show how the use of a syllogism and various forms of reasoning presented by the Nalanda pandits can prove a continuum of consciousness without a beginning.
Vajrayana won’t work without logically understanding emptiness and bodhicitta. Many people skip the needed preliminaries and rely on magical thinking like you mentioned. I translated thousands of teachings for Khensur Rinpoche and he never said to believe anything without analysis.
Just making a blanket statement without having been immersed in the scholarly tradition, isn’t always fair. It’s easy to dismiss the teachings by seeing what the masses do. Without systematic studies, Vajrayana is not possible. Most people want a shortcut that does not require work.
Mahayana has 2 divisions, sutra and tantra. Without the basis of the common sutra understanding, I agree that blind faith is all you could have. The tantric/vajrayana teachings actually do a better job at showing logically how rebirth is true when combined with the sutra understanding. There is also inference through belief that is accurate and valid. Some of these realms can be reached in meditative states. I have not done so yet so I remain skeptical but have not been steered wrong yet so I keep an open mind.
Thanks for listening. I appreciate you.