Search found 186 matches
- Sat May 19, 2012 4:01 pm
- Forum: Dzogchen
- Topic: Dzogchen and Buddhism
- Replies: 1454
- Views: 278463
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.
- Wed May 09, 2012 7:03 pm
- Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
- Topic: Buddhist Emanations in Indian Religions
- Replies: 124
- Views: 30635
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...
- Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:44 am
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
- Replies: 370
- Views: 76783
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...
- Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:38 am
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
- Replies: 370
- Views: 76783
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...
- Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:57 am
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
- Replies: 370
- Views: 76783
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...
- Mon Jan 23, 2012 8:09 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
- Replies: 370
- Views: 76783
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...
- Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:37 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
- Replies: 370
- Views: 76783
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...
- Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:27 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
- Replies: 370
- Views: 76783
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, ...
- Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:25 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
- Replies: 370
- Views: 76783
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...
- Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:14 pm
- Forum: Dzogchen
- Topic: Dzogchen, Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachings...
- Replies: 34
- Views: 5934
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 ...
- Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:47 pm
- Forum: Dzogchen
- Topic: The individual in dzogchen, independence, dharmakaya
- Replies: 121
- Views: 20375
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...
- Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:49 pm
- Forum: Dzogchen
- Topic: The individual in dzogchen, independence, dharmakaya
- Replies: 121
- Views: 20375
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 ...
- Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:13 am
- Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
- Topic: Becoming a Buddhist
- Replies: 30
- Views: 6182
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...
- Sun Jan 08, 2012 4:00 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: Misunderstanding emptiness
- Replies: 370
- Views: 76783
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 ...
- 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: 6908
Re: Are there any enlightened people in the world today?
"There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people. There is only enlightened activity." ~ Shunryu Suzuki
- Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:52 pm
- Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
- Topic: Faith and Belief
- Replies: 15
- Views: 3629
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", "...
- Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:24 pm
- Forum: Academic Discussion
- Topic: Conceptuality in Buddhism
- Replies: 211
- Views: 43301
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 ...
- Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:26 am
- Forum: Academic Discussion
- Topic: Conceptuality in Buddhism
- Replies: 211
- Views: 43301
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....
- Fri Dec 02, 2011 11:37 pm
- Forum: Academic Discussion
- Topic: Conceptuality in Buddhism
- Replies: 211
- Views: 43301
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...
- Fri Dec 02, 2011 10:43 pm
- Forum: Academic Discussion
- Topic: Conceptuality in Buddhism
- Replies: 211
- Views: 43301
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...