Guest guest Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 Robert's posting yesterday (and Nora's today!) reminded me of a conversation I had about fifteen years ago with my then-supervisor. He was taking a world religions class; we were talking about reincarnation, specifically in Buddhism. Me: "I don't get it. If there's no soul [in Buddhism], then what reincarnates?" Him: "If a candle flame is extinguished, and then the candle is re-lit, is it the same flame, or a different one?" Me: "Why, thank you, smartass. That clears it right up." Him: snicker. Robert, more to the point of your question: Linda Johnsen's _Complete Idiot's Guide to Hinduism_ discusses these issues in sort of a Hinduism 101 way. Chapter eight talks about the Self. I tried to look up the passages online with Amazon's "look inside the book" function -- pages 101 - 105 seem relevant. Unfortunately, those pages suffer from really poor reproduction. Take a look, if you're interested; I'm not sure how much you'll be able to make out. , "NMadasamy" <nmadasamy wrote: > > <willendorfer@> wrote:I have another Hinduism 101 question here: > How is the doctrine of reincarnation compatible with the doctrine > that the ego-self is an illusion -- an amalgam of consciousnesses > under the mistaken impression that they constitute a separate, > autonomous being? What is it that gets reincarnated then? Why does > this amalgam continue to pattern as a unit from life to life? Or > do Shaktas reject either of these doctrines? > > > > znanna93" <ninahill@> wrote: > I am no Hindu, so please take my two cents as one :)But, it seems to > me that if one is ONE, what is the point of reincarnation? > > Swami Satprakashananda remarked : The self is unchange. Only the > mind and the body undergoes changes. > > Krishnamoorthy said : The real change/transformation should take > place is in the SELF. > > > > What is the purpose of Candle? To provide light. As I understand, > candle is made up of three things : The Flame, The wick and The wax > [ fuel ]. How does the candle provide us with light? > > It starts with a spark of flame from either from the match or other > flame being used/transferred. [....] > > If I use a different wax for eg will it change the color of the > flame? > If I use a different type of wick, will the flame be different? > > Can I say the element of the flame will remain the same but the size > of the flame will change or if I use a good quality wick, the flame > will create a brighter light? > [....] > What's the point I'm trying to make here? I'm not actually nor do I > have any cents to give. I'm trying to make some sense that is all. > Since its Deepavali, and people talk about the festival of lights, > suddenly I thought about candle and have this sudden urge to talk > abt it. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 This is a symbolic description which is especially suited to illustrate the buddhist viewpoint, since the idea here is that when the flame is starved of fuel (karma, kleshas, samskaras) it is extinguished, depend upon karma and kleshas the conglomerate evaporates into void after it is cleansed of these obstructions leaving only void. The difference to other indic religions especially so called hinduism is the fact that after the Kleshas Samskaras Karmas etc are cleansed the true nature of the self appears, and awareness is not obliterated. ut one should keep in mind that neither Hinduism nor Buddhism mean that our limited self is non existent. In all indic religions the subtle body still exists with all his faculties after the dissolution of the physical body during death. Awareness-Conciousness is never reduced to function only as long as the physical body lasts. There are important differences in opinion about which, if any, parts of the subtle body may also dissolve after/during death. Some of these issues lead to the rise of practices that aim to construct artifical more powerful, less destructible, or even "indestructible" subtle bodies by yoga/upasana methods while alive. , "msbauju" <msbauju wrote: > > Robert's posting yesterday (and Nora's today!) reminded me of a > conversation I had about fifteen years ago with my then-supervisor. > He was taking a world religions class; we were talking about > reincarnation, specifically in Buddhism. > > Me: "I don't get it. If there's no soul [in Buddhism], then what > reincarnates?" > > Him: "If a candle flame is extinguished, and then the candle is > re-lit, is it the same flame, or a different one?" > > Me: "Why, thank you, smartass. That clears it right up." > > Him: snicker. > > Robert, more to the point of your question: > Linda Johnsen's _Complete Idiot's Guide to Hinduism_ discusses these > issues in sort of a Hinduism 101 way. Chapter eight talks about the > Self. I tried to look up the passages online with Amazon's "look > inside the book" function -- pages 101 - 105 seem relevant. > Unfortunately, those pages suffer from really poor reproduction. Take > a look, if you're interested; I'm not sure how much you'll be able to > make out. > > > , "NMadasamy" <nmadasamy@> wrote: > > > > <willendorfer@> wrote:I have another Hinduism 101 question here: > > How is the doctrine of reincarnation compatible with the doctrine > > that the ego-self is an illusion -- an amalgam of consciousnesses > > under the mistaken impression that they constitute a separate, > > autonomous being? What is it that gets reincarnated then? Why does > > this amalgam continue to pattern as a unit from life to life? Or > > do Shaktas reject either of these doctrines? > > > > > > > znanna93" <ninahill@> wrote: > > I am no Hindu, so please take my two cents as one :)But, it seems to > > me that if one is ONE, what is the point of reincarnation? > > > > Swami Satprakashananda remarked : The self is unchange. Only the > > mind and the body undergoes changes. > > > > Krishnamoorthy said : The real change/transformation should take > > place is in the SELF. > > > > > > > > What is the purpose of Candle? To provide light. As I understand, > > candle is made up of three things : The Flame, The wick and The wax > > [ fuel ]. How does the candle provide us with light? > > > > It starts with a spark of flame from either from the match or other > > flame being used/transferred. [....] > > > > If I use a different wax for eg will it change the color of the > > flame? > > If I use a different type of wick, will the flame be different? > > > > Can I say the element of the flame will remain the same but the size > > of the flame will change or if I use a good quality wick, the flame > > will create a brighter light? > > [....] > > What's the point I'm trying to make here? I'm not actually nor do I > > have any cents to give. I'm trying to make some sense that is all. > > Since its Deepavali, and people talk about the festival of lights, > > suddenly I thought about candle and have this sudden urge to talk > > abt it. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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