Teachings of the Buddha

[JustinHesychast]

Forgive me, please.

I've been reading about all sorts of neat teachings from the Buddha lately. Some I can relate to Christ. Others are just so cool and true.

One is when a woman came to the Buddha grieving, her dead child in her arms. He told her to go to all the houses in the village, and see if they had experienced death. They all had, and it was a profound lesson for her.

Another is that sometimes, the Buddha would give a lesson. All he did was hold up a flower. That's it. But it is something so huge and impacting... you know?

And the wisdom of the Buddha is often very straight forward, elegant, yet simple. With Christ, you have to dig with things, have interpretations, and it's generally no fun to try and read.

Thoughts?

[Tsarina]

Speaking of elegent and simple, this reminds of Lao Tzu.

Why don't you read "Christ the Eternal Tao" I really think you will like this book:

Click (http://www.sainthermanpress.com/catalog/chapter_three/Tao_book.htm)

[Nickolai]

What Buddha? A buddha is merely one who has reached "enlightenment". There is no one person known as "the buddha".

Yes, their advice is sometimes very simple, much like countless Saints of the Orthodox Church. Why not look some of them up. ;)

[DarkNLovely]

What Buddha? A buddha is merely one who has reached "enlightenment". There is no one person known as "the buddha".

Yes, their advice is sometimes very simple, much like countless Saints of the Orthodox Church. Why not look some of them up. ;)
I believe he means Sudharta Gautama! They call him "The Buddha".

[JustinHesychast]

"the Buddha" is generally referred to being Siddhartha. But yes, we all can be buddhas. Even things can be buddhas. A buddha for me would be sunrises and sunsets.

[MichaelArchangelos]

Keep in mind: Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion. I put forward this very point last year in my essay for Chinese Civilization class - that Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism (Taoism) are not religions - they are philosophies (although Daoism has since evolved into a religion).

So any teachings of Buddha would be along the same lines as those of Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle. They're not religious teachings (except the Four Noble Truths and reincarnation), they are philosophical teachings.

[JustinHesychast]

Another favorite:

One of Buddha's followers came up to him and asked, "Are you the Messiah?"

"No," he replied.

"Well, are you a healer?"

"No," he replied again.

"Well, are you a teacher?"

Again, the Buddha said, "No."

Exasperated, the young student asked, "Well, what are you?!"

The Buddha replied, "I am awake."

[DarkNLovely]

Justin, if you like Asian lit, then you would love the Annelects by Confucious and "The Pillow Book" by a Japaneses woman that is one of if not the oldest work of "stream of conciousness" writting! But again, they are just philosphies and proverbs, and for as little as we have written by him, I still prefer Good Ole' King Solomon! lol!

[Breaking Babylon]

Abba Anthony said, "I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, 'What can get through from such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humility."

One day some old men came to see Abba Anthony. In the midst of them was Abba Joseph. Wanting to test them, the old man suggested a text from the Scriptures, and, beginning with the youngest, he asked them what it meant. Each gave his opinion as he was able. But to each one the old man said, "You have not understood it." Last of all he said to Abba Joseph, "How would you explain this saying?" And he replied, "I do not know." Then Abba Anthony said, "Indeed, Abba Joseph has found the way, for he has said: 'I do not know."

A brother renounced the world and gave his goods to the poor, but he kept back a little for his personal expenses. He went to see Abba Anthony. When he told him this, the old man said to him, "If you want to be a monk, go into the village, buy some meat, cover your naked body with it and come here like that." The brother did so, and the dogs and birds tore at his flesh. When he came back the old man asked him whether he had followed his advice. He showed him his wounded body, and Abba Anthony said, "Those who renounce the world but want to keep something for themselves are torn in this way by the demons who make war on them."

The more a man's tongue flees verbosity, the more his intellect is illumined so as to be able to discern deep thoughts; for the rational intellect is befuddled by verbosity.

What is the sign that a man has attained to purity of heart, and when does a man know that his heart has entered into purity? When he sees all men as good and none appears to him to be unclean and defiled, then in truth, his heart is pure.

Be persecuted, but persecute not; be crucified, but crucify not; be wronged, but wrong not; be slandered, but slander not. Have clemency, not zeal, with respect to evil. Lay hold of goodness, not legality.

Be every man's friend, but in your mind remain alone.

A merciful man is the physician of his own soul. Like a violent wind he drives the darkness of the passions out of his inner self.

Silence is a mystery of the age to come, but words are instruments of this world.

Not every quiet man is humble, but every humble man is quiet.

-- Quotes of Saint Anthony of the Desert and Saint Isaac of Syria

There's a lot of wisdom to be found in God too.

[Michael the Iconographer]

Justin, perhaps if you are looking for wisdom you should look to the Desert Fathers as Isaac was pointing out. I find no real reason to read Buddhist philosophy when Christian theology and spirituality is so rich and when Christ is the true vine.

[Dust and Ashes]

Luk 7:11 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.
Luk 7:12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
Luk 7:13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
Luk 7:14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
Luk 7:15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
Luk 7:16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

[repentant]

Confucious say....

"Man who stand on toilet, hign on pot."





:P ^_^

[ShiFuBill]

You know how when you talk to Protestents and they think they know about Orthodoxy and why it's wrong, but those who are living it understand it in a completely different way? That's how it is when Westerners think of Chinese religions.

Buddhism and Daoism are religions. I know in the US now there are many who say and even practice it as though it is only a philosophy. But one doesn't pray to a philosophy for success, one doesn't burn paper money to get family members out of a philosophy (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZVrhKbwhw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZVrhKbwhw) ), one doesn't dedicated children to a philosophy. There are philosophical aspects to both (see Christopher Gowans work on Buddhist philosophy), just like there are to Orthodoxy, but you can't divorce them from their religious context. The idea that Buddhism is atheistic is also misleading. They do, they just don't rely on a god for salvation. The religious aspects of Buddhism varies by sect. Chan, or Zen, is probably the least dogmatic in teaching, but while there are Zen monks you'll hardly meet any pure Zen Buddhists. People may do some Zen meditation and take instruction from a Zen monk, but they'll also sit doing Buddha name recitation, or praying to Guanyin for a safe trip, go to one of the more popular temples when their kid gets sick. Pure Land Buddhism seems to be the most common sect here in Taiwan. The Siddhartha Buddha is recognized as a powerful god in a similar form to Zeus. It would be hard to pass a Buddhist temple here and not think it was a religion. That would be like taking the philosophy of Soloviev, but never taking communion, and saying "I'm Orthodox."

You could take the books Dao de Jing and Zhuang zi and call them philosophical, but even if you ignore the religious development that followed you can't take them out of the semi-samanistic religious context they grew out. In Christ the Eternal Tao, the writers take a Westernized Daoism and try to make Christ the tao of that.

Buddhism is mostly benevelont, it teaches people to be good and compasionate. However, I could talk for a long time about the demonism in Daoist practice.
If you want to know any real facts about either religion you can't trust what you read in most books you'll find in an English language book store, even those by "scholars." I'd recomend for Buddhism almost anything by D.T. Suzuki or Chan master Sheng Yen of Taiwan.

In Daoism it is extremely hard to find anything on legitimate Daoism. The works of Michael Saso are good, and The Taoist Body by Kristopher Schipper. Those are very involved, the Shamballa Guide to Taoism by Eva Wang would be a good place to begin.

Having said all that, I once tried to learn stuff from Chinese thought, Daoism in particular, as well as Sufism, but since becoming Orthodox I came to see things in a different way. While Buddha or Laozi had important and revealing teachings, I think there is a tendency in modern Western countries that are almost devoid of spirituality to place too much importance on them because they seem so otherworldly and mystical compared to the familiar teachings and practice of, especially, western Christianity. But when you start trying to put what the Buddha said into action it gets just as old, just as fast. The shine wears off, as my mother used to say. But no teaching can do for us what Christ did. We cannot be joined to a teaching like we are joined to the body of Christ. And while a teaching can help us understand the importance in being nice to one another, it cannot bring us into union with one another. Jesus and Buddha said many of the same things, and Buddha and many others taught very important truths that Jesus did not say, or was not recorded as saying. But just living by the philosophy of Christ or any other teaching does not remit our sins, and cannot deify us as we are by the Grace of God.



If you want to see some pictures of ritual in Taiwan here are some pix from my web page. And let me know what you think of my youtube video above. And that's about the most I've ever written without getting paid for it.

Seraphim

[MichaelArchangelos]

In Malaysia, Buddhism, Daoism and Chinese folk religion are all rolled into one main "Chinese religion". There are shops that sell statues of the various Chinese "gods", and people have little shrines to various "gods" in their houses and make offerings of incense, fruit, etc. These shrines are also found in many public places in Malaysia - I remember seeing one in a playground.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l269/michaelorapronobis/Malaysian_god_shrine.jpg

[rusmeister]

You know how when you talk to Protestents and they think they know about Orthodoxy and why it's wrong, but those who are living it understand it in a completely different way? That's how it is when Westerners think of Chinese religions.

Buddhism and Daoism are religions. I know in the US now there are many who say and even practice it as though it is only a philosophy. But one doesn't pray to a philosophy for success, one doesn't burn paper money to get family members out of a philosophy (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZVrhKbwhw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZVrhKbwhw) ), one doesn't dedicated children to a philosophy. There are philosophical aspects to both (see Christopher Gowans work on Buddhist philosophy), just like there are to Orthodoxy, but you can't divorce them from their religious context. The idea that Buddhism is atheistic is also misleading. They do, they just don't rely on a god for salvation. The religious aspects of Buddhism varies by sect. Chan, or Zen, is probably the least dogmatic in teaching, but while there are Zen monks you'll hardly meet any pure Zen Buddhists. People may do some Zen meditation and take instruction from a Zen monk, but they'll also sit doing Buddha name recitation, or praying to Guanyin for a safe trip, go to one of the more popular temples when their kid gets sick. Pure Land Buddhism seems to be the most common sect here in Taiwan. The Siddhartha Buddha is recognized as a powerful god in a similar form to Zeus. It would be hard to pass a Buddhist temple here and not think it was a religion. That would be like taking the philosophy of Soloviev, but never taking communion, and saying "I'm Orthodox."

You could take the books Dao de Jing and Zhuang zi and call them philosophical, but even if you ignore the religious development that followed you can't take them out of the semi-samanistic religious context they grew out. In Christ the Eternal Tao, the writers take a Westernized Daoism and try to make Christ the tao of that.

Buddhism is mostly benevelont, it teaches people to be good and compasionate. However, I could talk for a long time about the demonism in Daoist practice.
If you want to know any real facts about either religion you can't trust what you read in most books you'll find in an English language book store, even those by "scholars." I'd recomend for Buddhism almost anything by D.T. Suzuki or Chan master Sheng Yen of Taiwan.

In Daoism it is extremely hard to find anything on legitimate Daoism. The works of Michael Saso are good, and The Taoist Body by Kristopher Schipper. Those are very involved, the Shamballa Guide to Taoism by Eva Wang would be a good place to begin.

Having said all that, I once tried to learn stuff from Chinese thought, Daoism in particular, as well as Sufism, but since becoming Orthodox I came to see things in a different way. While Buddha or Laozi had important and revealing teachings, I think there is a tendency in modern Western countries that are almost devoid of spirituality to place too much importance on them because they seem so otherworldly and mystical compared to the familiar teachings and practice of, especially, western Christianity. But when you start trying to put what the Buddha said into action it gets just as old, just as fast. The shine wears off, as my mother used to say. But no teaching can do for us what Christ did. We cannot be joined to a teaching like we are joined to the body of Christ. And while a teaching can help us understand the importance in being nice to one another, it cannot bring us into union with one another. Jesus and Buddha said many of the same things, and Buddha and many others taught very important truths that Jesus did not say, or was not recorded as saying. But just living by the philosophy of Christ or any other teaching does not remit our sins, and cannot deify us as we are by the Grace of God.



If you want to see some pictures of ritual in Taiwan here are some pix from my web page. And let me know what you think of my youtube video above. And that's about the most I've ever written without getting paid for it.

Seraphim
Thanks, Seraphim!
Chesterton also speaks in "The Everlasting Man" of this tendency to admire something because it is alien, and to reject that which seems familiar:

Now the best relation to our spiritual home is to be near enough to love it. But the next best is to be far enough away not to hate it. It is the contention of these pages that while the best judge of Christianity is a Christian, the next best judge would be something more like a Confucian. The worst judge of all is the man now most ready with his judgements; the ill-educated Christian turning gradually into the ill-tempered agnostic, entangled in the end of a feud of which he never understood the beginning, blighted with a sort of hereditary boredom with he knows not what, and already weary of hearing what he has never heard. He does not judge Christianity calmly as a Confucian would; he does not judge it as he would judge Confucianism. He cannot by an effort of fancy set the Catholic Church thousands of miles away in strange skies of morning and judge it as impartially as a Chinese pagoda. It is said that the great St. Francis Xavier, who very nearly succeeded in setting up the Church there as a tower overtopping all pagodas, failed partly because his followers were accused by their fellow missionaries of representing the Twelve Apostles with the garb or attributes of Chinamen. But it would be far better to see them as Chinamen, and judge them fairly as Chinamen, than to see them as featureless idols merely made to be battered by iconoclasts; or rather as cockshies to be pelted by empty-handed cockneys. It would be better to see the whole thing as a remote Asiatic cult; the mitres of its bishops as the towering head dresses of mysterious bonzes; its pastoral staffs as the sticks twisted like serpents carried in some Asiatic procession; to see the prayer book as fantastic as the prayer-wheel and the Cross as crooked as the Swastika. Then at least we should not lose our temper as some of the sceptical critics seem to lose their temper, not to mention their wits. Their anti-clericalism has become an atmosphere, an atmosphere of negation and hostility from which they cannot escape. Compared with that, it would be better to see the whole thing as something belonging to another continent, or to another planet. It would be more philosophical to stare indifferently at bonzes than to be perpetually and pointlessly grumbling at bishops. It would be better to walk past a church as if it were a pagoda than to stand permanently in the porch, impotent either to go inside and help or to go outside and forget. For those in whom a mere reaction has thus become an obsession, I do seriously recommend the imaginative effort of conceiving the Twelve Apostles as Chinamen. In other words, I recommend these critics to try to do as much justice to Christian saints as if they were Pagan sages.

http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/everlasting_man.html

[Orthosdoxa]

Well, Seraphim, I paid you in rep. How's that? :)

Justin, read Seraphim's post. Now read it again. I think it's what you've been looking for.

[nikolayalexandroff]

You should read NT first, guy.

[Shubunkin]

The only reason I read books on Daoism, Buddhism, et. al. was because of an archaeology class. It's interesting as far as culture goes.

After that, for our personal purpose, read the NT first, and then all other religions will see simplistic and dry.

When I read about reincarnation I was appalled. Why would anyone want to keep returning to this life with all of the rampant sin there is in the world, grief, sorrow, and pain?? What reward is that? No, our God promises eternity with Him, and Paradise. This is so much better.