Search found 186 matches

by Acchantika
Sat May 19, 2012 4:01 pm
Forum: Dzogchen
Topic: Dzogchen and Buddhism
Replies: 1454
Views: 277712

Re: Dzogchen and Buddhism

I have really enjoyed reading this thread over the last few days. I do think that a lot of disagreements that have occurred thus far could be avoided if people were perhaps more cautious in assuming shared definitions of terms, for what it is worth. :smile:
by Acchantika
Wed May 09, 2012 7:03 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Buddhist Emanations in Indian Religions
Replies: 124
Views: 30580

Re: Buddhist Emanations in Indian Religions

Even though I would agree that the first human beings (both Enlightened and unenlightened) were Black (i.e. heavily melanated), I'm not so sure about some of the contemporary secular out-of-Africa theories. Sure it would be difficult to deny that the oldest humans of this epoch were and are in Afri...
by Acchantika
Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:44 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
Replies: 370
Views: 76578

Re: Misunderstanding emptiness

P1) All knowledge is mediated by experience. P2) The objective is not mediated by experience. C1) Therefore, the objective cannot be known. If the objective cannot be known, how do we know it is not mediated by experience ? Because objective means independent of experience. Something mediated by ex...
by Acchantika
Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:38 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
Replies: 370
Views: 76578

Re: Misunderstanding emptiness

Yes, but internal and external does not mean subjective and objective. I claimed you were making this equation. The external is still part of experience. How does internal/external not equate to subjective/objective? It equates ultimately in the sense that they are both arbitrary distinctions. Tent...
by Acchantika
Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:57 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
Replies: 370
Views: 76578

Re: Misunderstanding emptiness

1. Reality is mind-independent. 2. Knowledge is mind-dependent. 3. Therefore mind cannot perceive reality? Non sequitur. This is the argument: P1) All knowledge is mediated by experience. P2) The objective is not mediated by experience. C1) Therefore, the objective cannot be known. P1 is the princi...
by Acchantika
Mon Jan 23, 2012 8:09 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
Replies: 370
Views: 76578

Re: Misunderstanding emptiness

I don't think I've ever seen "public accessibility" so have no idea what you are talking about. Public accessibility is a concept in the philosophy of science that refers to a coherency between different individuals’ experiences of events. It is a fundamental part of the scientific method...
by Acchantika
Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:37 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
Replies: 370
Views: 76578

Re: Misunderstanding emptiness

Then I call reality the fact that both of us see and taste this white stuff on the table, we are not sleeping, and there must be something external causing us to agree. Your unqualified "reality" may mean something else, like a "nonconceptual ultimate reality" which nobody can s...
by Acchantika
Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:27 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
Replies: 370
Views: 76578

Re: Misunderstanding emptiness

It strikes me that all of the various views and positions are really about conventional reality. The ultimate is beyond concept, I believe on that score every interpretation of Madhyamika agrees...so it's somewhat ironic that the Tibetan commentators spends so much time and energy on how, exactly, ...
by Acchantika
Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:25 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
Replies: 370
Views: 76578

Re: Misunderstanding emptiness

Multiple contexts where words can have multiple meanings and repeated references to "essence of salt" which makes absolutely no conventional sense, nobody can seem to define it, yet everyone wants us to get rid of it. In order to process its environment a conceptual mind needs to quantify...
by Acchantika
Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:14 pm
Forum: Dzogchen
Topic: Dzogchen, Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachings...
Replies: 34
Views: 5920

Re: Dzogchen, Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachings...

The idea that Dharma is the cause and Dzogchen the result can't possibly be universal, simply because the are billions of Buddhists who are not Dzogchenpas. I don't think it is that controversial. There is a Dzogchen that is a body of beliefs and practices within Buddhism and a Dzogchen which is a ...
by Acchantika
Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:47 pm
Forum: Dzogchen
Topic: The individual in dzogchen, independence, dharmakaya
Replies: 121
Views: 20336

Re: The individual in dzogchen, independence, dharmakaya

Uhh I insisted that a rock has no mind, no dharmakaya, is not a sentient being and cannot achieve enlightenment and you proceeded to tell me how my view is conditioned and only I can allow it to subside and to remain open to the possibility etc. Dharmakaya pervades everything. If it were multiple a...
by Acchantika
Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:49 pm
Forum: Dzogchen
Topic: The individual in dzogchen, independence, dharmakaya
Replies: 121
Views: 20336

Re: The individual in dzogchen, independence, dharmakaya

For you, if you got realized, such imputations would fall away. But not for the rest of back home in samsara. Your realization is your own and not anybody elses. As we have pointed out elsewhere, it is true that the Dharmakaya, the dimension of reality, is universal, like infinite space itself. It ...
by Acchantika
Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:13 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Becoming a Buddhist
Replies: 30
Views: 6174

Re: Becoming a Buddhist

I would like to take refuge in the Triple gem though I do not think I can abstain from sex. My partner is supportive in the commitment to better myself for myself and others around me through the middle way. Though we already are in this relationship and sex is a part of it. Am I misunderstanding t...
by Acchantika
Sun Jan 08, 2012 4:00 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
Replies: 370
Views: 76578

Re: Misunderstanding emptiness

Don't be silly. Of course Buddha had a view. He stated it at great length over many years. Nagarjuna, Arydeva and Chandrakiriti elaborated upon it extensively, and referred to it many times. The notion that Buddha had no view is a result of excessive literalism derived from lack of imagination. As ...
by Acchantika
Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:40 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Are there any enlightened people in the world today?
Replies: 24
Views: 6897

Re: Are there any enlightened people in the world today?

"There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people. There is only enlightened activity." ~ Shunryu Suzuki
by Acchantika
Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:52 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Faith and Belief
Replies: 15
Views: 3620

Re: Faith and Belief

Concerning Buddhism, what do you believe that an atheist philosopher or scientist would say is impossible? Nothing in Buddhism would be considered impossible by virtue of atheism alone. Buddhism might be considered a kind of weak atheism itself. What are sometimes called "deities", "...
by Acchantika
Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:24 pm
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Conceptuality in Buddhism
Replies: 211
Views: 43159

Re: Conceptuality in Buddhism

Oh well, that much is easily answered. The Buddha was asked about the origin of the universe, and answered that when an origin is sought, a beginning is not seen. Notice that he did not say there was no beginning, nor did he deny it. This because the concept of a beginning simply does not apply. I ...
by Acchantika
Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:26 am
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Conceptuality in Buddhism
Replies: 211
Views: 43159

Re: Conceptuality in Buddhism

While no one will suffer the hell realms simply because they ask a question, those who pursue the imponderables are still in grave danger, simply because they are spending their time on idle academic pursuits rather than engaging in practice. It's the same sort of problem a chess master might face....
by Acchantika
Fri Dec 02, 2011 11:37 pm
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Conceptuality in Buddhism
Replies: 211
Views: 43159

Re: Conceptuality in Buddhism

If it is possible to know any detail about anything with certainty, that is a realist position... The counter-example to your assertion is the omniscience of a buddha, which has unimpeded knowledge of all phenomena precisely because all phenomena are illusory and unreal. N Only if we consider unimp...
by Acchantika
Fri Dec 02, 2011 10:43 pm
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Conceptuality in Buddhism
Replies: 211
Views: 43159

Re: Conceptuality in Buddhism

There are two main camps: those who believe that it is possible to perfectly know all details about everything, including future events, and those who don't. No, the difference is that former are not realists; and the latter are realists i.e. realists in the sense of thinking that phenomena are fun...

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