Buddhist Philosophy

[Artaxat]

All of us can benefit from such discussions. It is clear that the religion of many mindful people is influenced by Buddhism, it can somehow balance philosophy, psychology and science branches.

Aryan or not, hope we find out

[beaver]

Beaver, unfortunately, not all us speak Russian, although i think i understand about half.

It would be too hard for me to traslate but brahmana 8 surely should be somewhere in the Net. I will try to find but not now.

[mymy]

Once i read that Buddhism is only religion who admit their believes could be wrong and there is possibility the truth is different. From that time, i'm fascinated.

[beaver]

Thanks Beaver, but Upanishads are the part of Vedic literature, used by Astika schools they are not Related with Buddhism

I dont know what is this that can be related to Brahmana 8, but it is cult text among most smart physicists of the world.

[Armenian Bishop]

Thanks Beaver, but Upanishads are the part of Vedic literature, used by Astika schools they are not Related with Buddhism

Katha Upanishad discussed OM, which is used in many Buddhist Chants. It breaks down OM into 3 sounds:
AH is associated with creation of life force.
UH is associated with sustaining life force.
MM is associated with an end and rebirth.

In Buddhism we have a chant of 6 realms:
OM
MAH
NEH
PAH
MEH
HUM

[beaver]

Eighth Brahmana

1. Then Vakaknavi said: “Venerable Brahmanas, I shall ask him two questions. If he will answer them, none of you, I think, will defeat him in any argument concerning Brahman”

Yagnavalkya said: “Ask, O Gargi.”

2. She said: “O Yagnavalkya, as the son of a warrior from the Kasis or Videhas might string his loosened bow, take two pointed foe-piercing arrows in his hand and rise to do battle, I have risen to fight thee with two questions. Answer me these questions.”

Yagnavalkya said: “Ask, O Gargi.”

3. She said: “O Yagnavalkya, that of which they say that it is above the heavens, beneath the earth, embracing heaven and earth, past, present, and future, tell me in what is it woven, like warp and woof?”

4. Yagnavalkya said: “That of which they say that it is above the heavens, beneath the earth, embracing heaven and earth, past, present, and future, that is woven, like warp and woof, in the ether (akasa).”

5. She said: “I bow to thee, O Yagnavalkya, who hast solved me that question. Get thee ready for the second.”

Yagnavalkya said: “Ask, O Gargi.”

6. She said: “O Yagnavalkya, that of which they say that it is above the heavens, beneath the earth, embracing heaven and earth, past, present, and future, tell me in what is it woven, like warp and woof?”

7. Yagnavalkya said: “That of which they say that it is above the heavens, beneath the earth, embracing heaven and earth, past, present, and future, that is woven, like warp and woof, in the ether.”

Gargi said: “In what then is the ether woven, like warp and woof?”

8. He said: “O Gargi, the Brahmanas call this the Akshara (the imperishable). It is neither coarse nor fine, neither short nor long, neither red (like fire) nor fluid (like water); it is without shadow, without darkness, without air, without ether, without attachment, without taste, without smell, without eyes, without ears, without speech, without mind, without light (vigour), without breath, without a mouth (or door), without measure, having no within and no without, it devours nothing, and no one devours it.”

9. “By the command of that Akshara (the imperishable), O Gargi, sun and moon stand apart 2. By the command of that Akshara, O Gargi, heaven and earth stand apart. By the command of that Akshara, O Gargi, what are called moments (nimesha), hours (muhurta), days and nights, halfmonths, months, seasons, years, all stand apart. By the command of that Akshara, O Gargi, some rivers flow to the East from the white mountains, others to the West, or to any other quarter. By the command of that Akshara, O Gargi, men praise those who give, the gods follow the sacrificer, the fathers the Darvi-offering.”

10. “Whosoever, O Gargi, without knowing that Akshara (the imperishable), offers oblations in this world, sacrifices, and performs penance for a thousand years, his work will have an end. Whosoever, O Gargi, without knowing this Akshara, departs this world, he is miserable (like a slave). But he, O Gargi, who departs this world, knowing this Akshara, he is a Brahmana.”

11. “That Brahman, O Gargi, is unseen, but seeing; unheard, but hearing; unperceived, but perceiving; unknown, but knowing. There is nothing that sees but it, nothing that hears but it, nothing that perceives but it, nothing that knows but it. In that Akshara then, O Gargi, the ether is woven, like warp and woof.”

12. Then said Gargi: “Venerable Brahmans, you may consider it a great thing, if you get off by bowing before him. No one, I believe, will defeat him in any argument concerning Brahman.” After that Vakaknavi held her peace.

Read more: Eighth Brahmana http://www.infoplease.com/t/rel/upan...#ixzz1gAUngGeD

http://www.infoplease.com/t/rel/upan...anyaka3-8.html

[beaver]

All modern physicists are just crying somewhere in the mans' room.

[arcticwolf]

Once i read that Buddhism is only religion who admit their believes could be wrong and there is possibility the truth is different. From that time, i'm fascinated.

What they mean by that is one needs to perceive reality without distorting it, that is to say without adding or subtracting from the perception of it, to see it the way it really is. We will get to that, and how this is done.

[Zephyr]

Nothing extraordinary. Usually fear takes over during the last part of life when Death has knocked the door in a form of a sickness.

One would resort to chemical medications which would artificially extend the lifespan but then the organic balance would be disrupted, making the dying process even more difficult, because instead of reflecting on one's own life, and finding the OFF button, one will have to struggle with the pains and discomforts.

When the external respiration ceases, then is a great opportunity for liberation, the time span of this opportunity is defined as long as it takes to have a meal. Can be 2 seconds or 3 days.

If the mind fails to grasp the true nature of reality. Then after the cessation of internal breathing, one enters into a Bardo, very similar to dream state, thoughts manifest instantly as reality. Then one understands that he is in the intermediary state (dead), panic takes over, being partially disconnected from his physical body, past memories and life retrospection takes place. At any point before entering a womb a soul is able to get out of the process and there are precise techniques how to reverse these processes, but if one doesn't know them, then for example, being desperate to find a physical body, one will not hesitate to transmigrate into other lifeforms, thus, having lost the precious opportunity of being a human.

Depending on what one sowed in this life, will harvest in the other. If one had strong attachment to money and worldly possessions, very probably will look for a family who is wealthy. If one has a connection to a particular land, or a people, an unfinished business with a friend or a relative....
For an entertaining Saturday evning movie I recommend "Enter the Void"




True, and that is a pity. It reflects the degenerate times we live in attested by many religious opinions, even factual such as evident planetary degradation of land resources, oceans, atmosphere, extinction of species, pollution, industrialization. In other words, we are living mechanical, Robotic lives, heavily conditioned by media, which is driven by money, monopolized by some few power hungry blood suckers.



Transmigration has no limitations, souls can cross species, as well as dimensions. Have you tried to correlate the number of say, Apes killed in the previous couple of hundred years (you can caclulate such numbers by the area of pristine tropical forests destroyed, in africa, asia, america) plot the human population increase as well (from 1 to 7 billion). You will find an inverse correlation. It is far fetched and I say it for fun only (but there is no smoke without fire)
Usually many traditions even who accept reincarnation doctrine set limitations, for example, that humans reincarnate only in humans. Such as the Druze of Lebanon. A sect heavily meshed in Buddhism. But since they have a Judeo-Islamic component, they added such constraints.

The good news of all this is that the blind faith of Muslims, their absolute aversion to pork meat, and their hope for some virgins will totally block any possibility for them to cross over into European dimensions

So we only have to take care of the physical intrusion of Europe, it's Eastern front constitutes the largest land froniter. Israel so far is blocking the African gates. The Armenians Highlands however would deal with Arabian-Asian intrusion. But till now, this role has been given to Turkey, westernized at the bend of the century by Ataturk, but seems the winds are changing with pro-islamist developments. Let's see how it goes. up

glad that we have such conversations, it stirs our minds

I honestly thank you for your reply and indeed this offtopic was the best part of the thread.

Well, I am fond of the teachings of Marcion of Sinope (a former neighbour of yours), which I consider to be spiritually a true path to Christendom in its purest form. The Cathars based their doctrine in Marcionism, though to an extreme extent that is very difficult to understand, and they followed an ascetic life that it's as scaring as intriguing.

Both catharian and budhist teachings stress the need to release ourselves from the material world of flesh in order to achieve peace with ourselves and see natural death as something good. However they differ in the aspect of reincarnation. Cathars didn't want to reincarnate because they considered this world a work of the false God.

[Phil75231]

Eighth Brahmana

Personally, I would have answered "time". It seems to qualify metaphorically for all the descriptions - unless the answer is self-referential (given the question asks about the past,present, and future). I wonder if that could be an answer. If not, I'll just suffer.

(I'm not intending to be a smart-ass. If I offended anyone, I apologize for it).