Saints

[Sky Dancer]

Do you have any favorites?

I have two Tibetan Buddhist favorites, Angulimala and Milarepa. Angulimala is named that because he had a mala, (rosary), made out of the fingers of the people he'd killed. Still he was able to purify his karma and became an arhat.

Milarepa was a magician, and killed an entire village with his black magic in revenge for his family's loss of land and fortune.

He, too, was able to purify his karma and became enlightened.

I figure if those two guys made it, there may be a chance for me. That's one difference between Buddhism and other religions. Even the hell realms are impermanent. Eventually, all sentient beings will become enlightened buddhas.

 

[Sky Dancer]

The best known Buddhist saints lived in the Middle Ages. They are known collectively as the 84 Mahasiddhas.

What marked them, apart from their enlightenment, was that they came from wildly divergent backgrounds and social classes and used unorthodox methods to show that supreme liberation can take many and sundry forms.

The adept Tandhepa, for one, started out as a compulsive gambler who lost all his money but became enlightened when he grasped the notion that the universe was as empty was his pockets.
Read more: Lama Surya Das on the Saints of the Dharma - Beliefnet.com

What appeals to me about the Buddhist saints is that so many of them were flawed, and their flaws became their source of realization.

 

[Tank]

You smoke weed?

 

[Sky Dancer]

You smoke weed?

No, I don't.

 

[lizzie]

I tend to identify with Augustine in spirit.

 

[Mr. H.]

Stephen the first saint
Frank of Sissy the animal guy
There's another- patron saint of lost car keys but can't think of the name

 

[Ernie S.]

I like St Patrick, the patron saint of green beer.

 

[Ernie S.]

And St Jude, who was the patron saint of taking a sad song and making it better.

 

[Ernie S.]

and of course, Drew Brees.

 

[Sky Dancer]

I tend to identify with Augustine in spirit.

What is it about Augustine that you want to identify with? I don't know Augustine very well.

I relate to Milarepa and Angulimala because they both had bad tempers, like I have, and still became enlightened.

 

[lizzie]

I tend to identify with Augustine in spirit.

What is it about Augustine that you want to identify with? I don't know Augustine very well.

I relate to Milarepa and Angulimala because they both had bad tempers, like I have, and still became enlightened.

It's not that I want to, it's that I do. He was a bit of a renegade as saints go, seeking hiw own path, and questioning. His was a bit of a turbulent life of passion, pain, and the seeking of knowledge.

 

[Sky Dancer]

I just remembered St Francis of Assisi fondly.