I consider Budhism closest to what my personal beleifs are, but i cannot bring myself to beleive in reincarnation and other supernatural...."bogus"....for lack of better word. i was wondering if there is a version of budhism that doesnt rely on supernatural stuff. i was looking into Zen budhism, but im unsure as to what it entails. thank you nobhdy
Actually if you read some of the sutras and other writings about reincarnation, you'll find that the concept, as the Buddha taught it, really has less to do with the idea of "reincarnation" than it has to do with the idea of "you die, and parts of your former self go on to become parts of other organisms, everything is connected and over time becomes reanimated by the Universe." It really has less to do with mysticism and Hinduism than you think, but I've found that all of the major Buddhist tenets seem to not place enough emphasis on the non-mystic and simple (yet concealed and unknown) nature of "reincarnation." The Buddha taught Anatta, or "No Soul." How can there be any sort of mystical reincarnation of the self if there IS no self? There can't be, and that's why it makes sense that reincarnation has nothing to do with the perfect reanimation of the "self" and has more to do with inheritance of volitional energies used in organisms which have long since ceased to function. This seems to tie in perfectly to the idea dependent origin. Remember! The Buddha, because of the language at the time, uses many terms which have nothing to do with their literal translations! "Dukkha," which translates to "suffering," is a term which the Buddha uses to describe "everything in the physical world," which creates and maintains attachment to desires and other physical things and such. Does that definition really have much to do with suffering? I leave that judgment to you, but certainly the Buddha uses other terms like "reincarnation" to describe more complex thoughts and processes in a simpler language. I personally believe that "reincarnation" entails the handing-down of volitional energies until they form a being which acquires enough wisdom to become enlightened and cease those volitional energies. For this reason and others, I no longer consider myself Zen Buddhist -- I like to think of my practice as "Nu Buddhism." By itself, "Zen" seems to have a meaning that relates to finding one's own path, and finding enlightenment in an instantaneous way. However, "Zen Buddhism" is a specific branch of Mahayana Buddhism which has less to do with "Zen" (singular) than it does with "Buddhism." So a new (hence "Nu") term was needed to describe the relationship between Buddhism and self-guidance. Anyhow these are all just ramblings, take them for what they are. Does anybody agree or disagree with me?
wow, actually, that helps. i am looking for self guidance, but i dont think that it will happen in a moment of enlightenment, but over time. thanx for the help bro, ...and those are some killer swords...
Thanks, that's a -- uh -- killer avatar. I, like you, see enlightenment as happening over time, but I think the small transitions are sometimes instant. i.e Those times where you just kind of "get the big picture" linking parts of wisdom with other related parts. I'm glad you found my post helpful though.
....i wish i could have my own avatar, though... yeah, i do have those instantanious glimpses....i just found an old book in my close, "The three pillars of Zen" im going to read it and see if i can get anything out of it.
Taken from 'Buddhism Without Beliefs' by Stephen Batchelor "We neither have to adopt the literal versions of rebirth presented by religious tradition nor fall into the extremes of regarding death as annihilation. Regardless of what we believe, our actions will reverberate beyond our deaths. Irrespective of our personal survival, the legacy of our thoughts, words, and deeds will continue through the impressions we leave behind in the lives of those we have influenced or touched in any way." Beautifully put. I saw rebirth this way before I ever read the book he just put it in a better way! For an example lets say you spend a lot of your life as an aid worker in africa. You help many sick and dying people and help with vital projects and generally show great compassion towards them. Then you return home , you grow old and you die. But your positive and compassionate actions have left a legacy with those Africans you helped; One eventually got an education, worked very hard and eventually became a doctor because you saved his/hers life when they were starving, helped build a school for his/hers village, and your compassionate actions inspired her. Then he/she as a doctor helped countless sick and suffering people throughout his/her life. So this also left a legacy on many thousands of people, and we could go on and on endlessly (but karma is very complicated so we wont continue any further eh?!). Of course negative karma works the same way. This is how I see rebirth. I think it's just a by-product of the concepts of emptiness and karma. When our body dissolves 'our' karma (though it doesn't really belong to a permanent inherently existing self) is reborn constantly and lives on through countless other people. That's how I see it.
wow...that is exactly how i immagined it...we all think alike, but we havnt ever met. well, thiss week, ill start "three pillars of zen"...ill tell you guys what i get out of it.
