Guest guest Posted April 4, 2001 Report Share Posted April 4, 2001 I tried posting this before but It didn't work .. (apologies if two arrive) advaitin, f maiello <egodust@d...> wrote: > colette wrote: > > > > I just this week have asked elsewhere what this concept of anatman is? > > > > I am no expert at all on Buddhism but I like to think that we are all > > exploring the same Reality just using different words. I like to see > > where paths meet. > > > > whoa! this is the whole point: all paths meet at one summit! Existence Itself. Some call It Self but or It or That ... what i'm claiming has been the most popular mistake > in interpretation of sakyamuni buddha's assertion of 'anatta'-- > first of all, in responding to whether the soul or god existed or > not, he remained silent. *that* was interpreted as a 'no'!! Yes. Some could say It's Silence Itself. Silence on the move & non moving. it is in fact *existential*, which inherently precludes > some being having a state of consciousness. Life > > buddha's purpose for silence in the face of in fact what amounts > to have been *all* philosophical speculation, is to stop that > part of the human mind's historic obsessive-compulsion to resolve > and make reasonable the Unknowable. > > the following url provides an excellent intro to buddhism: > http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/dhamma/dham-hp.htm Thanks Frank. You may find it interesting that I just bought a copy of the Dhammapada recently. Yesterday I found a marvellous Buddhist writer in March's Shambhala Sun Magazine. His name is Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. I really like him! "Mind is not a thing that has physical form, sound, smell, taste or texture. Mind is empty. Space is also empty. No matter where you go in space, there is no limit, no boundary, no edge. If you were to travel in a space ship in a single direction for a hundred billion years, you would not reach the end of space. It's the same with the other directions - you can travel forever, & you'll never reach a place where pace ends. Now, how can something without limits have a center? It can't, can it? That is why it is taught that space has no center & no edge. The Buddha used space to point to how mind is. He said that mind is empty like space: That just as space has no limits in any direction, mind has no center or edge. As a matter of fact, wherever there is space, wherever space reaches, there are sentient beings. And wherever there are sentient beings there are disturbing emotions & the creation of karma. And wherever there is the creation of disturbing emotion and karma, there is also buddha nature. The awakened mind of the buddhas is all pervasive. As sentient beings, we think, we remember, we plan - & the attention thus exerted moves towards an object & sticks to it. This mental movement is called thinking or conceptual mind. We have many different expressions in Tibetan to describe the functioning of this basic attitude of mind, of this extroverted consciousness unaware of its own nature. This ignorant mind grabs hold of objects, forms concepts about them, & gets involved & caught up in the concepts it has created .. All these involvements are merely fabricated creations; they are not the natural state. They are based on the concepts of subject & object, perceiver & perceived. This dualistic structure, together with the disturbing emotions & the karma that is produced through them, are the forces that drive us from one samsara to another. Yet, all the while, there is still the basic nature, which is not made out of anything whatsoever. It is totally unconstructed & empty, & at the same time it is aware: it has the quality of being able to cognize. This indivisible unity of being empty & cognizant is our original ground that is never lost." Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche Peace, Col Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2001 Report Share Posted April 5, 2001 > > colette [colette] > Thursday, April 05, 2001 3:26 AM > advaitin > > Now, how can something without limits have a center? It can't, can it? YES! It can! The center is at the very same place, where you are *thinking* of starting your journey from! :-) I remain Yours, Madhava Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2001 Report Share Posted April 5, 2001 >"Madhava K. Turumella" <madhava > > > > > colette [colette] > > Now, how can something without limits have a center? It can't, can it? > >YES! It can! The center is at the very same place, where you are >*thinking* >of starting your journey from! :-) > >I remain Yours, >Madhava yes or no - yes only if one thinks that he is limited with a center and he has to do the journey towards the truth no if you have realized that you are that infinite and there is no need for any journey. Infinity and center and infinity with a center all notions drop out in the infinity. Even the concept of infinity also drops out - These words are used only to negate the notions of opposite. Infinity only means it is not any finite - objects, concepts, notions etc etc. existent only means it is not non existent. It is undifferentiable, incomprehensible, unmanifest etc, opposites of what we know or can know by intellect. Hari Om! Sadananda _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2001 Report Share Posted April 5, 2001 BEAUTIFUL! Thank you. :-) > > Kuntimaddi Sadananda [k_sadananda] > >"Madhava K. Turumella" <madhava > > > > > > > > colette [colette] > > > Now, how can something without limits have a center? It > can't, can it? > > > >YES! It can! The center is at the very same place, where you are > >*thinking* > >of starting your journey from! :-) > > > >I remain Yours, > >Madhava > > yes or no - yes only if one thinks that he is limited with a > center and he > has to do the journey towards the truth > > no if you have realized that you are that infinite and there > is no need for > any journey. > > Infinity and center and infinity with a center all notions > drop out in the > infinity. Even the concept of infinity also drops out - These > words are used > only to negate the notions of opposite. Infinity only means > it is not any > finite - objects, concepts, notions etc etc. existent only > means it is not > non existent. It is undifferentiable, incomprehensible, > unmanifest etc, > opposites of what we know or can know by intellect. > > Hari Om! > Sadananda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2001 Report Share Posted April 5, 2001 Col wrote (from Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche):- If you were to travel in a space ship in a single direction for a hundred billion years, you would not reach the end of space. It's the same with the other directions - you can travel forever, & you'll never reach a place where pace ends. Sorry to be pedantically scientific but isn't it the case that, if you travel in a straight line in any direction, you eventually arrive back where you started? Not that I see this as a problem at all. I haven't quoted any T. S. Eliot for a while but, as he says, We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. Still says it all for me. Dennis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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