Is everything "one" or are we just inter-connected without a center?

General forum on the teachings of all schools of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Topics specific to one school are best posted in the appropriate sub-forum.
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Karma Dondrup Tashi
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Re: all or nothing? what will it be....

Post by Karma Dondrup Tashi »

krodha wrote: Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:10 am The Buddhist view of emptiness is an epistemic insight into the misconception of ontological entities which reveals ontology is truly impossible.
Negation of ontology is also impossible.
It has been the misfortune (not, as these gentlemen think it, the glory) of this age that everything is to be discussed. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France.
croco
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Re: Is everything "one" or are we just inter-connected without a center?

Post by croco »

Aryjna wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 7:16 pm Where do you mean?
I was referring to the statement of "given that there is nothing but suffering involved."


Most if not all religion was designed to pacify humans.
There are 2 spectrums to this statement.
1) pacification through the promise of something better after this
2) pacification through the acceptance that we are to suffer.

I say no. Fight. Be angry. Make this world better for our children through action. And not through passivity or prayer but by action.
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Queequeg
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Re: Is everything "one" or are we just inter-connected without a center?

Post by Queequeg »

croco wrote: Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:22 am I say no. Fight. Be angry. Make this world better for our children through action. And not through passivity or prayer but by action.
You might be a Lotus Sutra Buddhist - except the "be angry" part. Anger clouds the mind and makes one less effective, and ultimately leads to one's downfall.

Determination, grit, but at the core the deepest loving kindness and compassion. Even rebukes and punishment must be founded on love and concern for our fellows.

As Bodhisattva Sadaparibhuta greeted everyone he encountered, "I would never dare disparage you - you are bound to Buddhahood!" Even when they assaulted him and tried to kill him.

We are here. We are concerned primarily with this Buddhaland, Shakyamuni's Saha world. We are here to cultivate this field of merit. Our practice will continue elsewhere when we are there.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Aryjna
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Re: Is everything "one" or are we just inter-connected without a center?

Post by Aryjna »

croco wrote: Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:22 am
Aryjna wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 7:16 pm Where do you mean?
I was referring to the statement of "given that there is nothing but suffering involved."


Most if not all religion was designed to pacify humans.
There are 2 spectrums to this statement.
1) pacification through the promise of something better after this
2) pacification through the acceptance that we are to suffer.

I say no. Fight. Be angry. Make this world better for our children through action. And not through passivity or prayer but by action.
I do not think that most religions were designed to pacify. If anything, most religions are doing the exact opposite. Also, I don't think the majority of religions, if any except Buddhism, talk about the world being pervaded by suffering.

As for the truthfulness of this statement, it is not something you have to accept on authority. It is very easily observable by a combination of observing what is going on around you and observing how your mind works and how it perceives what you consider to be your surroundings.

Finally, fighting and being angry always leads to worse suffering. That is also very easily verified by looking into the history of any part of the world, nation, group of people, or even individual persons, from the beginning of recorded history, until today. That does not mean though that one should not do what they can to be helpful to others. But you cannot really change anything unless you improve yourself first, and for the world to change, every being living in the world needs to do that themselves. That is never going to happen. If it ever happens, this won't be the human realm any longer.
krodha
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Re: all or nothing? what will it be....

Post by krodha »

Karma Dondrup Tashi wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 7:21 pm
krodha wrote: Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:10 am The Buddhist view of emptiness is an epistemic insight into the misconception of ontological entities which reveals ontology is truly impossible.
Negation of ontology is also impossible.
A perception of ontological status is a figment of ignorance.
Schrödinger’s Yidam
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Re: Is everything "one" or are we just inter-connected without a center?

Post by Schrödinger’s Yidam »

A teaching I got that’s of possible relevance:

In the Guru Yoga what we are actually devoted to is the Dharmakaya. The first analogy given for this was that the Dharmakaya is like snow on a mountain. Our devotion is like sunlight that melts the snow. When the snow melts the Lama is the pipeline through which the melted snow water (Dharmakaya) flows. Different gurus are just different pipelines.
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
Lucas Oliveira
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Re: Is everything "one" or are we just inter-connected without a center?

Post by Lucas Oliveira »

Astus wrote: Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:22 pm
Polarbear wrote: Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:28 amis just interconnected or if also everything is part of something bigger
Interconnected means how one thing is always caused and sustained by other factors, in other words, nothing is self-reliant. In case of a human body, it cannot function without air and food for instance. Contemplating that sort of dependency one should recognise that the body cannot be trusted, as it exists only because of factors we do not control.
The point of the teaching of interdependence is not to imagine some sort of magical bond between all beings, but to recognise how fragile and causally bound life is. Then it becomes clearer that assuming a oneness or something bigger is also the wrong approach that looks for stability where there is none.
:anjali:
I participate in this forum using Google Translator. https://translate.google.com.br/

http://www.acessoaoinsight.net/
Snowbear
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Re: Is everything "one" or are we just inter-connected without a center?

Post by Snowbear »

Queequeg wrote: Thu Jul 12, 2018 3:22 pm
croco wrote: Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:22 am I say no. Fight. Be angry. Make this world better for our children through action. And not through passivity or prayer but by action.
You might be a Lotus Sutra Buddhist - except the "be angry" part. Anger clouds the mind and makes one less effective, and ultimately leads to one's downfall.

Determination, grit, but at the core the deepest loving kindness and compassion. Even rebukes and punishment must be founded on love and concern for our fellows.

As Bodhisattva Sadaparibhuta greeted everyone he encountered, "I would never dare disparage you - you are bound to Buddhahood!" Even when they assaulted him and tried to kill him.

We are here. We are concerned primarily with this Buddhaland, Shakyamuni's Saha world. We are here to cultivate this field of merit. Our practice will continue elsewhere when we are there.
Why Lotus Sutra Buddhist and not liberal humanist?
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Queequeg
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Re: Is everything "one" or are we just inter-connected without a center?

Post by Queequeg »

Snowbear wrote: Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:31 pm Why Lotus Sutra Buddhist and not liberal humanist?
Sure.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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