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Tang Dynasty
Tang DynastyWednesday, January 26, 2005
Re: newbie
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New Message on Theravada Buddhist Forum
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From: TurqoiseMirror8
Message 2 in Discussion
Hi ,Vee!
I'm sorry you feel that way. It happened to me as well. I've belonged to an
evangelical church and got disappointed at the way people were, and with all
the manipulative strategies from the church leaders, I was asphyxiating
myself. There's no room in my life for greedy and materialistic pastors,
that are power-thirsty. So am I losing my faith?. Certainly not!. I'm
learning to cope with appearences. My views about a theistic philosphy have
also changed during the last 2 years.
A couple of weeks ago, I lost my niece Norma. She died suddenly, from a
heart attack, she suffered after being dismissed from her job, where she
begged for mercy, but wasn't heard. She used to be my best friend in all
games during childhood. I still come to tears when I remeber her face when
she was playing with me. But this will pass, too. it's something that I just
have to let go.
It's not childish to feel without protection outside in a cold world.I would
love to help in any way whatsoever. In the meantime, there are tons of
information on how to meditate and how to detach from suffering, maybe we
can exchange.
Metta,
Edouard
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New Message on Theravada Buddhist Forum
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: TurqoiseMirror8
Message 2 in Discussion
Hi ,Vee!
I'm sorry you feel that way. It happened to me as well. I've belonged to an
evangelical church and got disappointed at the way people were, and with all
the manipulative strategies from the church leaders, I was asphyxiating
myself. There's no room in my life for greedy and materialistic pastors,
that are power-thirsty. So am I losing my faith?. Certainly not!. I'm
learning to cope with appearences. My views about a theistic philosphy have
also changed during the last 2 years.
A couple of weeks ago, I lost my niece Norma. She died suddenly, from a
heart attack, she suffered after being dismissed from her job, where she
begged for mercy, but wasn't heard. She used to be my best friend in all
games during childhood. I still come to tears when I remeber her face when
she was playing with me. But this will pass, too. it's something that I just
have to let go.
It's not childish to feel without protection outside in a cold world.I would
love to help in any way whatsoever. In the meantime, there are tons of
information on how to meditate and how to detach from suffering, maybe we
can exchange.
Metta,
Edouard
_________________________________________________________________
On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to
get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement
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Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Re: newbie
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New Message on Theravada Buddhist Forum
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From: Pesala
Message 3 in Discussion
Faith in Buddhism is called Saddha. It is very different to the concept of having faith in God as in other religions.
Saddha is often translated as confidence. It arises from suffering, which is your experience. You suffer, so you think there must be some way to escape from suffering.
So suffering is the cause and faith or confidence is the effect. Then we make a proper investigation as advised by the Buddha, to find out what this suffering is, how it arises, and how it can be abandoned. We should investigate the Buddha's teachings by reading and asking questions to remove any doubts that we may have about its truth and effectiveness.
As one's initial faith grows one gains in confidence, and makes more effort. Confidence is the cause and effort is the effect. If we have little confidence, we won't make enough effort to investigate. Buddhist faith is confidence based on knowledge and one's own direct experience of suffering. This first noble truth of suffering needs to be understood.
Then the cause of suffering, which is craving or attachment, needs to be abandoned. That's the hard part. It takes training. However, if craving and attachment can be abandoned, suffering caases. When one accepts the unpalatable truth of suffering, one is no longer surprised or disappointed when one meets it. How, could one possibly not meet suffering if one has been born?
The development of the path is the essence of Buddhism as this will reduce and gradually eradicate all suffering. Therefore, we must following the three trainings in morality, concentration, and wisdom. There is no other way to escape from suffering.
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New Message on Theravada Buddhist Forum
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Pesala
Message 3 in Discussion
Faith in Buddhism is called Saddha. It is very different to the concept of having faith in God as in other religions.
Saddha is often translated as confidence. It arises from suffering, which is your experience. You suffer, so you think there must be some way to escape from suffering.
So suffering is the cause and faith or confidence is the effect. Then we make a proper investigation as advised by the Buddha, to find out what this suffering is, how it arises, and how it can be abandoned. We should investigate the Buddha's teachings by reading and asking questions to remove any doubts that we may have about its truth and effectiveness.
As one's initial faith grows one gains in confidence, and makes more effort. Confidence is the cause and effort is the effect. If we have little confidence, we won't make enough effort to investigate. Buddhist faith is confidence based on knowledge and one's own direct experience of suffering. This first noble truth of suffering needs to be understood.
Then the cause of suffering, which is craving or attachment, needs to be abandoned. That's the hard part. It takes training. However, if craving and attachment can be abandoned, suffering caases. When one accepts the unpalatable truth of suffering, one is no longer surprised or disappointed when one meets it. How, could one possibly not meet suffering if one has been born?
The development of the path is the essence of Buddhism as this will reduce and gradually eradicate all suffering. Therefore, we must following the three trainings in morality, concentration, and wisdom. There is no other way to escape from suffering.
-----------------------------------------------------------
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newbie
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New Message on Theravada Buddhist Forum
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From: OneSummer
Message 1 in Discussion
Hello I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Vee and I have been interested in Buddhism for quite some time so joined this forum in an attempt to learn more. I am one of many nowadays I suppose who seem to have lost faith. I was brought up as a christian but after some disappointing experiences, shunned this and all faiths, believing as a lot of people do nowadays that everyone is in it for themselves so why not me. At the back of my mind Im not comfortable with feeling like this and feel without faith in something Im a lost soul. I have had some distressing times over the past 8 years, not least losing my parents within 3 weeks of one another. This happened 8 years ago and I still feel no further on than at the beginning. I want to believe they have gone on to a better place, but this eludes me. Since it happened, I have never been truly happy or had peace of mind and I really dont want to spend the rest of my life feeling this way. By the way Im not a child although my feelings seem to be similar as to what I expect a child would feel like. How does one begin to have faith, I honestly dont know anymore. Can anyone point me in the right direction please?. Thanks for listening
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New Message on Theravada Buddhist Forum
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: OneSummer
Message 1 in Discussion
Hello I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Vee and I have been interested in Buddhism for quite some time so joined this forum in an attempt to learn more. I am one of many nowadays I suppose who seem to have lost faith. I was brought up as a christian but after some disappointing experiences, shunned this and all faiths, believing as a lot of people do nowadays that everyone is in it for themselves so why not me. At the back of my mind Im not comfortable with feeling like this and feel without faith in something Im a lost soul. I have had some distressing times over the past 8 years, not least losing my parents within 3 weeks of one another. This happened 8 years ago and I still feel no further on than at the beginning. I want to believe they have gone on to a better place, but this eludes me. Since it happened, I have never been truly happy or had peace of mind and I really dont want to spend the rest of my life feeling this way. By the way Im not a child although my feelings seem to be similar as to what I expect a child would feel like. How does one begin to have faith, I honestly dont know anymore. Can anyone point me in the right direction please?. Thanks for listening
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Sunday, January 23, 2005
Re: The Creator
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New Message on Theravada Buddhist Forum
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From: S_Lin5000
Message 5 in Discussion
Thank you so much for your explanation, I understand now.
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New Message on Theravada Buddhist Forum
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From: S_Lin5000
Message 5 in Discussion
Thank you so much for your explanation, I understand now.
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Re: The Creator
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New Message on Theravada Buddhist Forum
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From: tummai
Message 4 in Discussion
Buddhism offers several different answers to this type of question. I will do my best to explain a couple of these answers to you. :) One answer is the famous "Parable of the Arrow". There is a man in a forest, and suddenly he is hit in the chest with a poisonous arrow. He is going to die soon! After some time, a doctor comes to him and offers to heal him with some medicine. If the man starts asking questions "Who shot me? From which direction did the arrow come from? What kind of wood is the shaft of the arrow made from? From what bird do the feathers come from?", he will die. If instead he takes the medicine, he will be cured. This story is analagous to the 4 Noble Truths: the man is dying from a wound, which is caused by an arrow. There is a cure for his wound, and that cure is the medicine that the doctor has. In the same way, everyone is suffering, which is caused by craving. There is a cure for our suffering, and that cure is the Noble Eightfold Path which the Buddha discovered and taught to us. If we don't "take the medicine" and instead worry about questions like "Where does the universe come from? Is there a creator?", we will die without ever being free of suffering. The moral of the story is that this knowledge of the origins of the universe is irrelevant to the practice and goal of Buddhism. You may find this answer to be evasive. Consider this: In Judeo-Christian religious traditions, there is the concept of a creator God, before whom nothing existed. He created the world, plants, people, etc. After a person dies, he will be judged by God and the soul will be sent to an eternal life in heaven or hell. This is the basic idea anyway. So what we have is a line that looks like this: God |----------------> infinity where there is a starting point (God) and no ending point (eternal life in heaven or hell after death). Buddhism works the other way around. There is no starting point. The cycle of samsara has gone on forever, back into infinity. One can break out of samsara, however, by following the Eightfold Path and achieving Nibbana (skt Nirvana). So in Buddhism, our line looks like this: infinity <-------------------| Nibbana In brief, there is no beginning :). I hope I could help you find an answer to your question. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
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New Message on Theravada Buddhist Forum
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From: tummai
Message 4 in Discussion
Buddhism offers several different answers to this type of question. I will do my best to explain a couple of these answers to you. :) One answer is the famous "Parable of the Arrow". There is a man in a forest, and suddenly he is hit in the chest with a poisonous arrow. He is going to die soon! After some time, a doctor comes to him and offers to heal him with some medicine. If the man starts asking questions "Who shot me? From which direction did the arrow come from? What kind of wood is the shaft of the arrow made from? From what bird do the feathers come from?", he will die. If instead he takes the medicine, he will be cured. This story is analagous to the 4 Noble Truths: the man is dying from a wound, which is caused by an arrow. There is a cure for his wound, and that cure is the medicine that the doctor has. In the same way, everyone is suffering, which is caused by craving. There is a cure for our suffering, and that cure is the Noble Eightfold Path which the Buddha discovered and taught to us. If we don't "take the medicine" and instead worry about questions like "Where does the universe come from? Is there a creator?", we will die without ever being free of suffering. The moral of the story is that this knowledge of the origins of the universe is irrelevant to the practice and goal of Buddhism. You may find this answer to be evasive. Consider this: In Judeo-Christian religious traditions, there is the concept of a creator God, before whom nothing existed. He created the world, plants, people, etc. After a person dies, he will be judged by God and the soul will be sent to an eternal life in heaven or hell. This is the basic idea anyway. So what we have is a line that looks like this: God |----------------> infinity where there is a starting point (God) and no ending point (eternal life in heaven or hell after death). Buddhism works the other way around. There is no starting point. The cycle of samsara has gone on forever, back into infinity. One can break out of samsara, however, by following the Eightfold Path and achieving Nibbana (skt Nirvana). So in Buddhism, our line looks like this: infinity <-------------------| Nibbana In brief, there is no beginning :). I hope I could help you find an answer to your question. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
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This week in Theravada Buddhist Forum
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> WEEKLY REPORT OF Theravada Buddhist Forum ACTIVITY <
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NEW MESSAGES
The Creator
Statues in Bamiyan
Dependent origination
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7l4kyrpr1
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> WEEKLY REPORT OF Theravada Buddhist Forum ACTIVITY <
--------------------------------------------------
NEW MESSAGES
The Creator
Statues in Bamiyan
Dependent origination
Go to your group's message board.
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NEW MEMBERS
7l4kyrpr1
marataisce
TurqoiseMirror8
klarson1975
tummai
survailence
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