On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:52:11 GMT, "Witziges Rätsel"
wrote:


In Buddhism, everything we see, do, things done to us, by us is all
based on previous lifetimes and how our karma ripens in this lifetime.
So, with each life, provided I have enough merit to take a human
rebirth, we come closer and closer to being able to reach an
enlightened state and no longer have karma, the karma is fully
purified after many lifetimes of practice, meditation, etc.

I think you've mixed Buddhism with Hinduism. But I guess
you're allowed.

No I didn't. I am a student of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Venerable
Robina for years now. I've been to His Holiness' teachings and I am a
practitioner. This is how we view things. Maybe you are not aware
that Buddha Shakyamuni (historical Buddha) is from India and was a
Hindu practitioner until he found The Middle Way.

I am indeed saying that everything is void of independant arising.
Everything is dependant on previous moments of itself, and is empty.
Emptiness is a huge part of Buddhism's delight. I'll give an example
of something they did in the film "Little Buddha." A Lama was trying
to explain emptiness to a man. He filled the cup with tea then broke
the cup aka the vessel for the tea. After the cup is broken, it is no
longer a cup. But the tea is still tea. Contents and container. The
container changes, but the contents do not.
This is a basic belief and yes it does require a relative amount of
faith, but it's pretty much in line with quantum physics. If you wipe
the tea up off the floor with a towel, and then wring it out, you
still have tea.

And the cup is still a cup, just broken. It can be repaired. Apparently
Buddhists think anecdotes about common things have some kind of profound
meaning and are explanations, but they're not.

No, it is no longer a cup because it must function as a cup to be one.
Because it is empty of inherent traits, it is now a bunch of pieces of
broken clay. It is no longer a cup, but the tea is still tea. Our
minds are the tea. It goes from vessel to vessel. Everyone dies, but
nobody is dead.

How are things beginningless? Well, can you trace back your every
thought and every action you did in just one day? In one hour? I
mean every single thought, glimpse, notion, action, every snap of a
finger etc.

Again, time's an illusion. And memory, for whatever reason, is faulty.

So your answer is no. You cannot. Time is a measure. Eventually
when people become fully awake, time is absolutely an illusion. In
life as a lay person, someone who is not enlightened still have a
measure of time even if it is illusionary. Actually, the term Buddha
used is delusion. We delude ourselves. This is all the pollution we
are cleaning out when we meditate.

Does water look clear? It's H2O, right? Not really. All water has
a lot more in it that hydrogen and oxygen but we don't call the
pollution H2OP45. We're still deluded and believe it is water, clear
and without any other element.

Buddhists say there are 64 thoughts to snapping your
fingers.

People can say anything.

I guess you are just cranky and unwilling to believe anything nor are
you willing to consider another way of thinking or experiencing.
..
So look at something inanimate. Those examples are also
beginningless. A simple one would be a rubber gasket. First, a
person has to become interested in growing rubber trees, then then
need the seeds or plants which are delivered by a truck, driven by a
driver, who needs gas, which comes from refineries, which comes from
oil wells, which have pipes built by people and the driver uses a
truck, how many people were responsible for the building of the truck,
each part, machinists, assemblers, engineers, designers, who makes the
glass, how is that delivered...and this is a HUGELY brief explanation
that everything is absolutely dependant on something else and the
previous moment of itself. Else, we'd all be here for a moment then
gone.

Exactly my point: we are here for just a moment. Only "now"
really exists.

Nothing I said is in opposition to your contention. Each moment
coming from must then come from a prior moment in order for it to be
thrust into this moment. I agree there is no past, no present.

By the time the two dollar gasket reaches its final
destination, one is baffled that it doesn't cost a million dollars!
Look at what goes into a simple pencil, trace it all back to the acorn
if you can. The pencil is 25 cents. How? Amazing.
So this theory is certainly more tangible than saying a man in the sky
called god created everything. This method come about by deep thought
and meditation, self exploration, etc.


Deducing that things which happened in the past affect this
moment or the future is not very amazing. It's obvious; no meditation
and exploration is necessary.
And it's obvious there are no gods.

So you are saying you are enlightened? No exploration is necessary?
How about someone who never saw a television or read a book. How do
they draw a conclusion? Self exploration is always necessary for
growth. But, I am coming from a different component than you are.
Mine is spirituality, yours is scientific (or so it seems). I am an
atheist, no doubt about it. That doesn't make me void of beliefs or
faith.