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Post by lowell on Jul 26, 2015 21:52:13 GMT -6
There is a parable that Jesus taught that was previously recorded in the Lotus Sutra at the first Buddhist Council.
"World-Honored One, we would be pleased now to employ a parable to make clear our meaning. Suppose there was a man, still young in years, who abandoned his father, ran away, and lived for a long time in another land, for perhaps ten, twenty, or even fifty years. As he grew older, he found himself increasingly poor and in want. He hurried about in every direction, seeking clothing and food, wandering farther and farther afield until by chance he turned his steps in the direction of his homeland.
"The father meanwhile had been searching for his son without success and had taken up residence in a certain city. The father's household was very wealthy, with immeasurable riches and treasures. Gold, silver, lapis Lazuli, coral, amber, and crystal beads all filled and overflowed from his storehouses. He had many grooms and menservants, clerks and attendants, and elephants, horses, carriages, oxen, and goats beyond number. He engaged in profitable ventures at home and in all the lands around, and also had dealings with many merchants and traveling vendors.
"At this time the impoverished son wandered from village to village, passing through various lands and towns, till at last he came to the city where his father was residing. The father thought constantly of his son, but though he had been parted from him for over fifty years, he had never told anyone else about the matter. He merely pondered to himself, his heart filed with regret and longing. He thought to himself that he was old and decrepit. He had great wealth and possessions, gold silver and rare treasures that filled and overflowed from his storehouses, but he had no son, so that if one day he should die, the wealth and possessions would be scattered and lost, for there was no one to entrust them to.
"This was the reason he constantly thought so earnestly of his son. And he also had this thought: If I could find my son and entrust my wealth and possessions to him, then I could feel contented and easy in mind and would have no more worries.
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Post by lowell on Aug 2, 2015 15:51:30 GMT -6
Consider also, that the advice of Jesus that "As Ye sow so shall Ye reap", which is further explained as "Do unto others and you would have them do unto you", is very different from the Law of Moses. The cause and effect relationships are those of karma, and Jesus brings them into even more perfect alignment with buddhism when he clarifies that even foolish thoughts bring retribution. "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment"
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2015 17:32:48 GMT -6
Consider also, that the advice of Jesus that "As Ye sow so shall Ye reap", which is further explained as "Do unto others and you would have them do unto you", is very different from the Law of Moses. The cause and effect relationships are those of karma, and Jesus brings them into even more perfect alignment with buddhism when he clarifies that even foolish thoughts bring retribution. "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment" There's a lot of differences between the law of Moses (The Old Contract) and what Jesus taught (The New Contract. In the old Contract God was trying to establish a people, a nation for himself. In the new contract God no longer required a sacrifice for sin, because God became a sacrifice and salvation was obtain for everyone, as The Bible says....Who so ever will, let him come.
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Post by lowell on Aug 3, 2015 2:44:18 GMT -6
So out of all the major galactic clusters, all the local groups of galaxies within those clusters, and all of the galaxies within those local groups, and all of the star systems within those galaxies and all the planets within those solar systems, God had never before in all the millions of billions of trillions of quadrillions, of septillions of major Kalpas of existences, God had never ever before had a people, a nation for himself. It is easy to understand how god could get irritable, after failing in an infinity of existence for eternity prior to his love affair with Mary. You would think that Jesus would drop the pretense of being the Son of God since Jesus as you claim was his own Father and conceived himself with the help of his mother. It is odd that when he asked his disciples what the father would do when the tenant farmers seize his son and kill him, that he would tell them "He will come". It makes it seem like the father is in some way different from the son. Now if he had said "I will come", that would make this sacrifice of God by God seem more sensible. Then it would just be a matter of pretending that God would want man to kill God and when they did, God would reward man because their original sin would be gone because they had sacrificed god to god who wanted them to kill god and drink his blood and eat his flesh. Nothing perverse there. I have to admit that this has no similarity to Buddhism. I was looking at the Thou shalt not theme of Moses in contrast to the commandments of Jesus that focus on doing good, and not so much on not doing evil. The doing good commandments bear a strong resemblance to the actions of bodhisattvas in Buddhism. Not that Buddhism lacked thou shalt not commandments. For the male devotees of the Agon sutras there were 250 commandments, for the female devotees there were 500 commandments. Most of those commandments were about what not to do. The Wonderful Law of the Lotus Flower does not require adherence to any of those minor laws. It is the precept of the Diamond Chalice. It is a contract that cannot be broken. Even those who have a negative relationship to it, will eventually become disciples of it. This is termed the "poison drum relationship".
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2015 3:00:35 GMT -6
Hmmmmm, okay how come the women have so many more commandments than the men, it seems like it should be the other way.
Christianity is so simple that it is foolishness to those that perish. 1 Corinthians 1:18. A lot of things have to be understood with the heart (spirit).
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Post by lowell on Aug 3, 2015 3:54:30 GMT -6
Christians did not originally have commandments for women. For instance in the Old Testament, the ten commandments said among other things not to covet thy neighbor's wife. They did not say to not covet thy neighbor's husband. This is because the commandments were for men, not for women. Women were viewed as not having a soul. They were considered to be incapable of going to heaven. All the angels were men too. Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Remiel and Saraqael were the arch-angels. There were no females in Heaven, it was a boy's club, a man's domain. Buddhism is the only religion that allows a woman to attain the highest position, that of Buddha. The Buddha predicts enlightenment for Mahaprajapati and Yasodhara and the nuns that are their followers in Chapter 13 of the Lotus Sutra. While the Buddha preaches Chapter 12, the daughter of the Dragon King attains enlightenment to the amazement of all of the followers of the Buddha. The Dragon King may refer to the leader of a clan of people in Southeast India known as the Dragon Clan who were fishermen. Women were regarded as having more difficulty attaining enlightenment, which is probably an example of buddhism being taught from the viewpoint of the people in the early sutras. The viewpoint of the people prior to Buddhism in India was that women were inferior to men. So it is not surprising to find that only in the Lotus Sutra do women discover they can attain enlightenment. This is because the Buddha says at the beginning of the Lotus Sutra "Obediently discarding the provisional teachings I now reveal only the Truth". The Lotus Sutra is taught from the viewpoint of the Buddha. Nichiren states "Only in the Lotus Sutra do we read that a woman who embraces this sutra not only excels all other women but surpasses all men".
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2015 4:13:04 GMT -6
That's interesting. Well did you know that the Jews practiced polytheism up until the time of Isiah? For some reason the scribes edited out everything pertaining to more than one god and it became a monotheistic religion.
Women in some places were treated like property. I'm still trying to figure that out.
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Post by lowell on Aug 3, 2015 17:56:55 GMT -6
The theory is that there was a flood that ended the polytheism. We find remnants of polytheistic beliefs in the worship of the golden calf while Moses is getting the commandments. Buddhism says that Gods were once men who selfishly sought enlightenment for themselves and refused to help others. As a result they are fated to not be able to attain supreme enlightenment until all entities are enlightened. They have to use their powers to provide support and protection for unenlightened entities, particularly those who are progressing towards enlightenment. In Buddhism, gods are inferior to scholars, sages, bodhisattvas and Buddhas. All gods vowed to protect and aid those who embrace the Lotus Sutra. They did this during the Ceremony in the Air which began while the Buddha was teaching Chapter 11 and did not end until he finished Chapter 22. A passage from Chapter 11 reads. "Immediately Shakyamuni Buddha used his transcendental powers to lift all of the great assembly up into the air." Chapter 21 has a passage that reads, "At that time the heavenly beings in the midst of the sky cried out with loud voices, saying: "Beyond these immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of asamkhya worlds there is a land named saha, and in it a Buddha named Shakyamuni. Now for the sake of the bodhisattvas and mahasattvas he is preaching a sutra of the Great Vehicle called the Lotus of the Wonderful Law, a Law to instruct the bodhisattvas, one that is guarded and kept in mind by the Buddhas. You must respond with joy from the depths of your heart, and also offer obeisance and alms to Shakyamuni Buddha!" In Chapter 26, the gods make their vows to the Buddha. "At that time the heavenly king Vaishravana, protector of the world, said to the Buddha, "World-Honored One, I too think compassionately of all living beings and shield and guard these teachers of the Law, and therefore I pronounce these dharanis." Then he pronounced these spells: atte natte nunatte anado nadi kunadi "World-Honored One, with these supernatural spells I shield and guard the teachers of the Law. And I will also shield and guard those who uphold this sutra, making certain that they suffer no decline or harm, within the area of a hundred yojanas." At that time the heavenly king Upholder of the Nation, who was in the assembly along with a host of thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of gandharvas who surrounded him and paid him reverence, advanced to the place where the Buddha was, pressed his palms together and said to the Buddha, "World-Honored One, I too will employ dharanis, supernatural spells, to shield and guard those who uphold the Lotus Sutra." Then he pronounced these spells: agane gane gauri gandhari chandali matangi janguli vrusani agasti "World-Honored One, these dharanis, these supernatural spells, are pronounced by forty-two million Buddhas. If anyone should assault or injure these teachers of the Law, then he will have assaulted and injured these Buddhas!"
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Post by lowell on Aug 3, 2015 18:19:03 GMT -6
Buddhism, beginning with the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, (the sutra taught just prior to the Lotus Sutra) is monotheistic. The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings states "Infinite phenomena proceed from the One Law" Nichiren states "Nothing surpasses the Law in its ability to cause birth, nurturing, maturity and prosperity. Therefore, the person is insignificant while the Law is supreme." The Laws of Jesus are more important than Jesus. In the same way, the law of Hammurabi has been more important than Hammurabi. The law of Moses has been more important than Moses. The Law of the true Buddha (Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo) is more important than the true Buddha. So it is that Nichiren risked his life to propagate the Law. Jesus today is insignificant, his Laws though not followed, are all that is significant. Jesus said to love your enemy. Jesus said "If you love me, keep my commandments." Bodhisattva Never Despise was able to practice the "love your enemy" commandment. As a result he attained enlightenment aeons ago and appeared in India as the Buddha Shakyamuni. Shakyamuni means sage of the Shakya clan. muni is the sanskrit word for sage. His law is found in the depths of the Lotus Sutra. It remained concealed there, safeguarded until the original Buddha who taught it to Shakyamuni could teach it to us. This One Law is the mother of all reality.
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Post by carpathianpeasant on Aug 3, 2015 19:43:19 GMT -6
Lowell,
With all due respect, I'm not going to try to sort through all that above....
Let's just say that Jesus taught with an eye toward practical reality (the way things are, etc.) All truly wise men would have come to the same conclusions because they would be dealing with the same realities (2 + 2 = 4, water runs downhill, etc.)
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Post by lowell on Aug 4, 2015 2:23:43 GMT -6
Love your enemy is a tough act to follow. It is not found in Judaism or Islam. It was not practiced by the patriarchs of Judaism nor by the saints of Judaism (until Jesus). It was practiced by the Buddha both in his incarnation in India and ever since his incarnation as Bodhisattva Never Despise, an almost immeasurably long time ago. I think you are overlooking this carpathianpeasant. Love your enemy is not something that many practical realistic people with even more than a smattering of wisdom have developed. I don't hear it from anyone who is not a buddhist, in the United States. The current Pope seems to have that wisdom. The Dalai Lama seems to have that wisdom. They don't openly command that people do that. Jesus commanded it. "Give to every man who asks of you" is also a tough act to put into practice. It is also a paramita, a way of practicing the way of a bodhisattva. It is not Judaism. It is not something that people consider a realistic practical course of action at the present time. Particularly in our country. The Pope might even balk at this one. Bible scholars qualify this commandment with the "don't give what is sacred to dogs, don't cast your pearls before swine" but those have nothing to do with material things. Sacred things are sacred teachings and objects of worship. The pearls are the profound wisdom of the sages. I learned this when I read Chapter 3 of the Lotus Sutra. Shakyamuni tells his disciples not to teach the Lotus Sutra to men who are selfish, lazy, or arrogant, because they will slander it and the punishment for slandering it is immensely more terrible than even the punishment for killing one's parents. He says that those who slander the Lotus Sutra will be reborn as camel, donkey, pig or dog for trillions upon trillions of aeons, where one aeon is the time the universe endures. (In Buddhist thought, the universe also is born, develops, declines and passes into a state of nonexistence (latency). Then it goes through that cycle again, endlessly.) Why is the retribution so severe? Nichiren likens it to the difference between pounding your fist on mud and pounding your fist on a rock.
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