Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Buddha did not have to endure anything remotely like what Christ did while retaining an undiminished maitri (indifference to the pain and suffering of this world with the love of all life). "Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do."
So in your thinking a person must or should endure what Christ did to attain a perfect enlightenment? Just trying to follow.
I have never heard this line of thought. Is this unique to you or do others say this, also?
Really just curious, it is new to me.
Personally, as some don't say 'God' because of conflicting connotations, I never say 'enlightenment'. Ha!
You're absolutely right; one's experiences confirm nothing except to the person who has had them. On the other hand...
"Experience is, for me, the highest authority. The touchstone of validity is my own experience. No other person's ideas, and none of my own ideas, are as authoritative as my experience. It is to experience that I must return again and again, to discover a closer approximation to truth as it is in the process of becoming in me. Neither the Bible nor the prophets -- neither Freud nor research -- neither the revelations of God nor man -- can take precedence over my own direct experience. My experience is not authoritative because it is infallible. It is the basis of authority because it can always be checked in new primary ways. In this way its frequent error or fallibility is always open to correction."
You're absolutely right; one's experiences confirm nothing except to the person who has had them. On the other hand...
"Experience is, for me, the highest authority. The touchstone of validity is my own experience. No other person's ideas, and none of my own ideas, are as authoritative as my experience. It is to experience that I must return again and again, to discover a closer approximation to truth as it is in the process of becoming in me. Neither the Bible nor the prophets -- neither Freud nor research -- neither the revelations of God nor man -- can take precedence over my own direct experience. My experience is not authoritative because it is infallible. It is the basis of authority because it can always be checked in new primary ways. In this way its frequent error or fallibility is always open to correction."
So in your thinking a person must or should endure what Christ did to attain a perfect enlightenment? Just trying to follow.
I have never heard this line of thought. Is this unique to you or do others say this, also?
Really just curious, it is new to me.
Personally, as some don't say 'God' because of conflicting connotations, I never say 'enlightenment'. Ha!
No, of course not! If one DOES retain a perfect love for all regardless of any consequences they endure from this existence, that would be perfect resonance with the God-consciousness I encountered and the one revealed and demonstrated unambiguously by Christ. I do not aspire to any such perfection nor do I think I would be capable of it. Fortunately, it is not remotely necessary. As the Beatles said, "All we need is love."
Do not presume to teach me Buddhism, Phet. I was a Theravada Buddhist. You cannot know there is no connection. Your antipathy toward Christianity and its corrupt "precepts and doctrines of men" taint your spirituality and is antithetical to your Buddhist aspirations, IMO. I made no assertions of superiority about any system. It is all syncretistic and we are all looking at the same Reality. The differences among our evolved cognitive constructs pale by comparison to their similarities suggesting to me a single source. My experiences confirm a single source.
Do you believe there are several perfect paths to attain self-realization, besides be connecting to god through Jesus?
No, of course not! If one DOES retain a perfect love for all regardless of any consequences they endure from this existence, that would be perfect resonance with the God-consciousness I encountered and the one revealed and demonstrated unambiguously by Christ. I do not aspire to any such perfection nor do I think I would be capable of it. Fortunately, it is not remotely necessary. As the Beatles said, "All we need is love."
Why do you think it is important for you to establish, through your own experience or revelation, that the only true way to god is through Christ, a human being in a mortal body?
Does your vision of perfect love embrace the idea that each will find his way to self-realization?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
