One

[Guest guest]

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[Guest guest]

Baba,<br><br>I found your lighteye message most

interesting and very beautifully done. I have a question to

you and to others: you had said the One created the

universe, how do you reconcile this with buddhism, so many

buddhists say that buddhism does not teach a God or Creator

Being. I would like to hear some thoughts about this and

wonder if any one out there thinks about

this.<br><br>?<br><br><br>Kathy

[Guest guest]

Hi Kathy!<br><br>Welcome and so glad you jumped

right in to participate. You may have to forgive us a

bit; many of us don't respond immediately but most all

do certainly read. Please don't feel no one is

interested. I'm hoping members will participate more often

and break that pattern.<br><br>Buddhism has been a

large part of my personal journey and I would like to

share some thoughts. To understand where Buddha was

coming from it is important to have an idea of the

times. Refer to my posts # 2422 and 2423 for a little

sketch.<br><br>It was a period in the history of Hinduism where

there was an excessive focus on rituals for the past or

the future, and less on the personal inner growth.

His personal journey, which took him through the

various Hindu paths, didn't bring him a permanant state

of Self-Realization. He found that no matter what

happened when he was in samadhi, when he came back into

the "real world" his mind was still disturbed by the

everyday pains of life. <br><br>I personally feel each

Master comes to bring focus to a particular aspect of

the many paths to Self-Realization. Buddha’s path

took him to realize that no matter what one does for

future or about the past the most important thing to

work through what the present moment brings to us. He

brought attention back to a mindful present moment; to

the here and now. When he was asked by many of his

disciples whether he believed in God or not, he never said

he didn't believe. He merely said he didn't know

either way. Some one in our club may be able to give you

the text references for this. <br><br>The importance

of being "here and now", attending to what is

happening within, was a new focus for that time. Much later

(almost 1100 yrs after Buddha) when Buddhism was being

spread rapidly by the then King Ashoka, Shankaracharya

came along and was able to debate the Buddhist leaders

to show that what they were teaching was in fact

intrinsic in the teachings of Hinduism. Thus the age-old

spiritual centers were returned to the study of Hinduism,

this time with a renewed focus on aspects that went

beyond ritualism. Advaitic principles began to take hold

among the populous. In fact much later this too, became

too intellectual for the masses and the forces of

history brought about the renaissance of the Bhakti

(devotion) period through the presence of Sri Chaitanya.

<br><br>In reading the Buddhists texts, I personally feel,

he wanted to take the focus away from a dependence

on an external source of power to an internal one.

Buddha is within, and ultimately we have to stop, listen

and turn within to be able to realize the Self.

<br><br>Just a brief introduction. I hope many others will

pick it up for discussion.<br><br>_/\_ Tat twam

asi<br><br>Uma

[Guest guest]

Hello Kathy and Uma:<br>I am one of the admirers

of Gautam Budhha. He was born on 563 B.C and left

for eternal abode on 483 B.C.. He was no doubt the

enlightened one and the blessed one. Lumbini Garden was the

place where he was born. This place is now in Nepal

which is north of India and in the foothills of

Himalaya.<br>His father was a king whose name was Suddhodhana and

his mother's name is Mahamaya.<br><br>At the time of

his birth the hindu astrologer told the king , either

he would be become a great ruler or he would be

saint and a great religious teacher. That was a piece

of news that bothered his parents a lot and his

father decided to keep him away from all the miseries of

life. He could succeed only for a while and the day

Gautam was exposed to miseries and realities of life, he

was transformed and he decided to search for the

truth.<br><br>The turning point in his life was when he went for a

drive in his chariot and he saw an old man, a sick man,

a dead man and a saint. These four incidents

changed Gautam and he decided to leave his wife and

started wandering in the forest in search of

truth.<br><br><br>-Savvy

[Guest guest]

Hello friends,<br>I will shed my two cents here,

hope that helps. <br>Who created the Universe? Somemay

say God, Allah, Christ and some may say a force. What

I would like to talk about is the force.<br>The

force is what we are referring to as Brahman. In the

Aganna Sutta, The Buddha describes the universe being

destroyed and then re-evolving into its present form over a

period of countless millions of years. The first life

formed on the surface of the water and again, over

countless millions of years, evolved from simple into

complex organisms. All these processes are without

beginning or end, and are set in motion by natural causes.

<br>Somewhere we have a very thin line between the scientific

phenomenon and GOD. Prince Siddhartha sat and meditated on

Brahman?? If so, then couldnt this same Brahman have

created/ been involved in the 'scientific' creation of the

Universe?