Search found 352 matches

by Sentient Light
Thu Nov 03, 2016 4:09 pm
Forum: East Asian Buddhism
Topic: Saddharmapuṇḍarīka & maṇipadme
Replies: 18
Views: 4860

Re: Saddharmapuṇḍarīka & maṇipadme

Etymologically, they do not originate from the same phonemes; it is more coincidental than anything else. While "Om" has always had a fairly abstract meaning, "namo" was a word that very clearly meant "I bow to." The use of "namo" in mantras is a verbal prostr...
by Sentient Light
Tue Nov 01, 2016 5:35 pm
Forum: Sūtra Studies
Topic: Numbers in Sutras: How are they to interpreted?
Replies: 2
Views: 1340

Re: Numbers in Sutras: How are they to interpreted?

A lot of these are actually just idioms from the host language that have been translated literally rather than with their intended meaning. "500" in Pali/Sanskrit/Prakrit is a generic term for what in English would actually just be rendered as "hundreds and hundreds", with no act...
by Sentient Light
Tue Nov 01, 2016 4:34 pm
Forum: East Asian Buddhism
Topic: Buddha's Son/Son of Buddha
Replies: 15
Views: 4488

Re: Buddha's Son/Son of Buddha

No, I'm fairly certain it appears in the texts as written, since many of these texts also include the term "bodhisattva" as is. In Asian cultures, it's not uncommon to show reverence by calling one's self the child and the revered being the parent. More than that, disciples of the Buddha-d...
by Sentient Light
Mon Oct 31, 2016 5:54 pm
Forum: East Asian Buddhism
Topic: is Cheontae/Tendai Seon/Zen and Pureland is the same?
Replies: 34
Views: 9604

Re: is Cheontae/Tendai Seon/Zen and Pureland is the same?

In Vietnamese Buddhism, at least (and I infer the same as Chinese Buddhism, though some posts in this thread seem to be contrarian to this idea), all the Mahayana "schools" that are literally distinctive schools in Japanese cultures are simply... not. To some degree, this even applies to T...
by Sentient Light
Mon Oct 31, 2016 4:03 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: is Sadhana is practiced in Zen, Pureland, Chinese Tian Tai?
Replies: 15
Views: 3807

Re: is Sadhana is practiced in Zen, Pureland, Chinese Tian Tai?

This sounds a lot like what East Asian Buddhists would call "kung fu" (not the martial art). I'm not sure how much kung fu is spoken about in Zen / Pure Land teachings in the west ... I think that, generally, it just gets translated to "discipline" to avoid confusion with the mar...
by Sentient Light
Fri Oct 28, 2016 3:36 pm
Forum: Sūtra Studies
Topic: Bhikkhu Analayo on Mahaprajapati's ordination in Madhyama-agama 116
Replies: 1
Views: 1338

Bhikkhu Analayo on Mahaprajapati's ordination in Madhyama-agama 116

https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/mahapajapati.pdf Bhikkhu Analayo and I both seem to have a fascination with Mahaprajapati and the order of nuns. In earlier papers, he's asserted that the section in the Bahudhātuka-sutta of the Pali canon that claims it impossible f...
by Sentient Light
Thu Oct 27, 2016 9:43 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: If Vajrayana is superior to Hinayana, how come no stories of Dipa Ma-like siddhis?
Replies: 82
Views: 21630

Re: If Vajrayana is superior to Hinayana, how come no stories of Dipa Ma-like siddhis?

What do you understand as a siddhi relating to martial artists? What could they do exactly? I am also curious what you saw from taoist masters. I mentioned in an earlier post that my father tames wild animals by doing little more than looking at them and pointing his finger. I know other martial ar...
by Sentient Light
Thu Oct 27, 2016 6:49 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: If Vajrayana is superior to Hinayana, how come no stories of Dipa Ma-like siddhis?
Replies: 82
Views: 21630

Re: If Vajrayana is superior to Hinayana, how come no stories of Dipa Ma-like siddhis?

So actually there is noone who can say "I saw" only "I heard from.." about any such siddhi? I have been witness to displays of many siddhis, though not often from Buddhist masters of any kind -- largely martial arts masters, Taoist masters, geomancers, folk conjurers, etc. Most ...
by Sentient Light
Wed Oct 26, 2016 8:00 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: If Vajrayana is superior to Hinayana, how come no stories of Dipa Ma-like siddhis?
Replies: 82
Views: 21630

Re: If Vajrayana is superior to Hinayana, how come no stories of Dipa Ma-like siddhis?

I meant to hear the teachings. Yes, I understood. I'm just saying that it's an interesting siddhi. It could resolve all sorts of questions, e.g. what language(s) did the Buddha teach in? I'm not sure if that would work. There've been accounts of other masters who can remember past lives when they w...
by Sentient Light
Wed Oct 26, 2016 7:22 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: If Vajrayana is superior to Hinayana, how come no stories of Dipa Ma-like siddhis?
Replies: 82
Views: 21630

Re: If Vajrayana is superior to Hinayana, how come no stories of Dipa Ma-like siddhis?

I've watched my father tame wild animals, multiple times, by doing nothing but staring them in the eye and pointing his finger at them. He brought two adult crows into the house once, just perched on his arm, chilling like no big deal. Literally, one of the things he does for fun is to go out, find...
by Sentient Light
Wed Oct 26, 2016 4:45 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: If Vajrayana is superior to Hinayana, how come no stories of Dipa Ma-like siddhis?
Replies: 82
Views: 21630

Re: If Vajrayana is superior to Hinayana, how come no stories of Dipa Ma-like siddhis?

I've heard plenty of tales of monks and nuns within the Pure Land tradition, and many other traditions, capable of levitating in the air, being impervious to hot or cold, controlling fire, disappearing from one place and appearing at another, etc. Within East Asian cultures, there's always talk like...
by Sentient Light
Wed Oct 26, 2016 3:10 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: How do buddhas contact people?
Replies: 52
Views: 14599

Re: How do buddhas contact people?

How does one distinguish between actually contacting a buddha mentally and one's own wishful thinking/fantasies/delusions? Everything, the entire realm of experience, is the product of "one's own wishful thinking/fantasies/delusions". If one encounters a buddha or several buddhas in one's...
by Sentient Light
Tue Oct 25, 2016 9:25 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: How do buddhas contact people?
Replies: 52
Views: 14599

Re: How do buddhas contact people?

How does one distinguish between actually contacting a buddha mentally and one's own wishful thinking/fantasies/delusions? First, I think "contact" is a weird verb choice here -- it sounds like you're trying to think of this as divine intercession, which it is not (or, at least, not quite...
by Sentient Light
Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:47 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: comparing paths, uniting paths, and practicing a path
Replies: 201
Views: 33442

Re: comparing paths, uniting paths, and practicing a path

I have issues with Analayo, particularly with using Pali terms instead of Sanskrit in his agama translations, but I think he's a little bit more balanced and forgiving than not. True, he will always tend to favor Theravadin interpretations, but as a scholar, he's typically pretty upfront about that ...
by Sentient Light
Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:22 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: How do buddhas contact people?
Replies: 52
Views: 14599

Re: How do buddhas contact people?

I think this part of the Avatamsaka Sutra is also relevant: Without discerning any coming from anywhere on the part of the buddhas, without discerning any going on the part of my own body, knowing the buddhas as like a dream, knowing my own mind as dreamlike thought, knowing the buddhas as like a re...
by Sentient Light
Mon Oct 24, 2016 9:08 pm
Forum: East Asian Buddhism
Topic: Sadhana or Visualization come under what category in Tendai or other Buddhist sects?
Replies: 13
Views: 3255

Re: Sadhana or Visualization come under what category in Tendai or other Buddhist sects?

Thanks for explanation are they under vipassana? the visualization, or they are under different category In general, most Mahayana traditions don't differentiate and will call the practice "samatha-vipasyana". The cultivation of one is the cultivation of the other. The idea of vipasyana a...
by Sentient Light
Mon Oct 24, 2016 9:01 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Is there any evidence Buddhism rejects the Vedas?
Replies: 24
Views: 7692

Re: Is there any evidence Buddhism rejects the Vedas?

I don't accept Chinese texts as sources. Then read the Pali version? It's literally the same thing, except the names of the characters in the past life have changed, and Uttara and his friend take a quick bath in the river before heading out to meet Kasyapa. My point still stands: The early Buddhis...
by Sentient Light
Mon Oct 24, 2016 8:18 pm
Forum: Pure Land
Topic: Qigong and Pure Land
Replies: 17
Views: 4122

Re: Qigong and Pure Land

Apologies, I just have one more question. Does the school expressedly forbid the practice of shamatha meditation? Does this run counter to the practice of nembutsu? Thanks for your patience At least according to Chinese and Vietnamese Pure Land, niệm phật (nembutsu) is samatha meditation, it is jus...
by Sentient Light
Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:48 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Is there any evidence Buddhism rejects the Vedas?
Replies: 24
Views: 7692

Re: Is there any evidence Buddhism rejects the Vedas?

MA63 (The Discourse at Vebhaḷiṅga) -- Page 166 at https://againstthestreamnashville.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/analayo-2013-2.pdf "Ananda, the eminent brahmin householder Non-anger had a son by the name of Uttara, a young brahmin. He was of pure descent on both the father's and mother's sides ...
by Sentient Light
Mon Oct 17, 2016 4:42 pm
Forum: East Asian Buddhism
Topic: Belief in Kannon (Documentary)
Replies: 58
Views: 14821

Re: Belief in Kannon (Documentary)

I guess my question is "What is the point of the word 'Buddhist' if one just worships idols with a viewpoint which is very similar to those of Catholics and Hindus?" This seems like exactly what the historical Buddha wanted to avoid and becomes more a matter of cultural identity than of r...

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