Who is Budda

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Myhrr:
Which Buddha?

hinduwebsite.com/buddhism/mahayana.htm
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The Buddha of this era, who lived around 500 BCE – Siddhartha Gautama.

Ahimsa
 
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Gennell:
So I am gonna do some homework and find out before I email her back, hopefully a lil information from all you good smart people will help, thanks.:confused:
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This site has information on the two main ‘paths’, of Buddhism; the original Theravada, now called Hinayana, ‘lesser vehicle’, by the much later development into Mahayana, ‘greater vehicle’, and shows the main differences between them.

Theravadins think of Buddha as a “supremely gifted but mortal man” while in the later Mahayana development he became a divine being, variously interpreted.

One of areas of difference in doctrine:

“The third area of Mahayana innovation covers doctrine and philosophy. Early Buddhists rejected the existence of any permanent self or soul (atman) and taught the no-soul (anatman) theory. However, they also accepted the reality of the elements (dharmas) of existence. A famous example of this duality is the early Buddhist parable of the cart: the components of a cart exist, but the cart itself, being a mere concept, does not exist. Similarly, the components or aggregates of living beings exist, but the single permanent entity (atman) postulated as uniting them does not. The Mahayana sutras and their interpreters rejected this realistic and limited interpretation. They reaffirmed the nonexistence of the soul, but also denied the existence of the components. They argued that since there is no permanent foundation beneath or within all things, the things themselves do not and indeed cannot exist.”

mb-soft.com/believe/txh/theravad.htm

mb-soft.com/believe/txh/mahayana.htm

Only two pages to sort through! Hope this helps with your email.
 
Contarini: I agree completely. Right now I am in Thailand going to many wats and studying Therevada Buddhism among other things. My post was in response to what I perceived to be a possibly too-liberal attitude put forth by Ray Marshall, but upon re-reading his post I have a different perspective on it.

Personally I think it is quite likely that the Buddha, in the Therevada and historical understanding, is indeed a Saint in Heaven. He came before Christ, but is the perfect example of a Gentile who lives by the Law depite having never heard it, as described by Paul. I disagree with many of his conclusions, and many conclusions of his followers (most espescially in the Mahayana tradition), but at the core the Virtues expressed are very in line with Christianity.
 
What’s the sound of one God clapping?

I don’t know, but it makes an interesting title of a book written by a Zen Buddhist-Rabbi.

😃

Ahimsa
 
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Ahimsa:
What’s the sound of one God clapping?

I don’t know, but it makes an interesting title of a book written by a Zen Buddhist-Rabbi.

😃

Ahimsa
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I’ve just read the extract, have put it on my ‘to buy’ list…🙂

I was involved in some discussions recently with Jews and was amazed how many were adapting Buddism to their Judaic practice.

I came to explore Zen via Taoism, which influenced Buddhism as it travelled east, first through some Tao poets in an anthology of Chinese verse and of course from that to the great Lao Tzu.

From someone’s homepage:

There was, in a small chinese village, a mule tied up in a narrow alley. Each time someone would try to pass the mule, it would kick them. Soon enough a small crowd had gathered to try to find a way around the animal. All were stumped. Soon though someone ran up to the crowd. “The old master is coming! He will know what to do!” Everyone waited and watched as the old master walked around the corner, looked at the crowd and the mule in the narrow space, turned, and went down another street.

🙂

homepage.mac.com/shentzu/Tao/
 
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