Mahayana Buddhism

[OldLady]

You need to explain why we should be interested in your religion, not just tell us where to read up on it.

Motivation is supplied from within, so whether others decide to investigate Mahayana or not, is up to them. I am not a preacher.

Not preach, simply explain why it's worthwhile.

And brah, you didn't even supply a link to the texts. You know you're on the internet, right?

It may not be worthwhile to many, they will decide, yea or nay.

You also are on said internet - seek and ye shall find.

I admire your religion, but I would be a terrible Buddhist. I want to fix everything.

 

[Blackrook]

You need to explain why we should be interested in your religion, not just tell us where to read up on it.

Motivation is supplied from within, so whether others decide to investigate Mahayana or not, is up to them. I am not a preacher.

Not preach, simply explain why it's worthwhile.

And brah, you didn't even supply a link to the texts. You know you're on the internet, right?

It may not be worthwhile to many, they will decide, yea or nay.

You also are on said internet - seek and ye shall find.

I admire your religion, but I would be a terrible Buddhist. I want to fix everything.

Except killing babies, you don't want to fix that. You're ok with people killing babies.

What religion are you following that says its ok to kill babies?

 

[OldLady]

You need to explain why we should be interested in your religion, not just tell us where to read up on it.

Motivation is supplied from within, so whether others decide to investigate Mahayana or not, is up to them. I am not a preacher.

Not preach, simply explain why it's worthwhile.

And brah, you didn't even supply a link to the texts. You know you're on the internet, right?

It may not be worthwhile to many, they will decide, yea or nay.

You also are on said internet - seek and ye shall find.

I admire your religion, but I would be a terrible Buddhist. I want to fix everything.

Except killing babies, you don't want to fix that. You're ok with people killing babies.

What religion are you following that says its ok to kill babies?

It was so peaceful here.....

 

[OldLady]

You need to explain why we should be interested in your religion, not just tell us where to read up on it.

Motivation is supplied from within, so whether others decide to investigate Mahayana or not, is up to them. I am not a preacher.

Not preach, simply explain why it's worthwhile.

And brah, you didn't even supply a link to the texts. You know you're on the internet, right?

It may not be worthwhile to many, they will decide, yea or nay.

You also are on said internet - seek and ye shall find.

I admire your religion, but I would be a terrible Buddhist. I want to fix everything.

Except killing babies, you don't want to fix that. You're ok with people killing babies.

What religion are you following that says its ok to kill babies?

“Noble son, bodhisattvas endowed with ten qualities have knowledge of the
world. What are those ten? They are humility toward the haughty, no pride
when facing the proud, honesty toward the deceitful, truthfulness toward liars,
gentle words toward unskilled speakers, loving words toward the vicious,
patience toward the aggressive, love toward the brutal, compassion toward the
suffering, and sharing when meeting the stingy. Noble son, bodhisattvas who
possess these ten such qualities have knowledge of the world."

From the Jewel Cloud Sutra.

Okay, so I'm saying this in a patient, loving voice: KISS MY ASS

 

[Blackrook]

Motivation is supplied from within, so whether others decide to investigate Mahayana or not, is up to them. I am not a preacher.

Not preach, simply explain why it's worthwhile.

And brah, you didn't even supply a link to the texts. You know you're on the internet, right?

It may not be worthwhile to many, they will decide, yea or nay.

You also are on said internet - seek and ye shall find.

I admire your religion, but I would be a terrible Buddhist. I want to fix everything.

Except killing babies, you don't want to fix that. You're ok with people killing babies.

What religion are you following that says its ok to kill babies?

“Noble son, bodhisattvas endowed with ten qualities have knowledge of the
world. What are those ten? They are humility toward the haughty, no pride
when facing the proud, honesty toward the deceitful, truthfulness toward liars,
gentle words toward unskilled speakers, loving words toward the vicious,
patience toward the aggressive, love toward the brutal, compassion toward the
suffering, and sharing when meeting the stingy. Noble son, bodhisattvas who
possess these ten such qualities have knowledge of the world."

From the Jewel Cloud Sutra.

Okay, so I'm saying this in a patient, loving voice: KISS MY ASS

This is great advice you have here, but none of it will do you a damn bit of good so long as you are on this forum saying it's OK to kill babies.

 

[OldLady]

Not preach, simply explain why it's worthwhile.

And brah, you didn't even supply a link to the texts. You know you're on the internet, right?

It may not be worthwhile to many, they will decide, yea or nay.

You also are on said internet - seek and ye shall find.

I admire your religion, but I would be a terrible Buddhist. I want to fix everything.

Except killing babies, you don't want to fix that. You're ok with people killing babies.

What religion are you following that says its ok to kill babies?

“Noble son, bodhisattvas endowed with ten qualities have knowledge of the
world. What are those ten? They are humility toward the haughty, no pride
when facing the proud, honesty toward the deceitful, truthfulness toward liars,
gentle words toward unskilled speakers, loving words toward the vicious,
patience toward the aggressive, love toward the brutal, compassion toward the
suffering, and sharing when meeting the stingy. Noble son, bodhisattvas who
possess these ten such qualities have knowledge of the world."

From the Jewel Cloud Sutra.

Okay, so I'm saying this in a patient, loving voice: KISS MY ASS

This is great advice you have here, but none of it will do you a damn bit of good so long as you are on this forum saying it's OK to kill babies.

You are off topic.

 

[zaangalewa]

You need to explain why we should be interested in your religion, not just tell us where to read up on it.

Motivation is supplied from within, so whether others decide to investigate Mahayana or not, is up to them. I am not a preacher.

Not preach, simply explain why it's worthwhile.

And brah, you didn't even supply a link to the texts. You know you're on the internet, right?

It may not be worthwhile to many, they will decide, yea or nay.

You also are on said internet - seek and ye shall find.

I admire your religion, but I would be a terrible Buddhist. I want to fix everything.

To fix everything or to change everything?

-----
Heinrich Böll 1963 (translated from Leila Vennewitz): "Anecdote concerning the Lowering of Productivity"
-----
Plot

The story is set in an unnamed harbor on the west coast of Europe. A smartly-dressed enterprising tourist is taking photographs when he notices a shabbily dressed local fisherman taking a nap in his fishing boat. The tourist is disappointed with the fisherman's apparently lazy attitude towards his work, so he approaches the fisherman and asks him why he is lying around instead of catching fish. The fisherman explains that he went fishing in the morning, and the small catch would be sufficient for the next two days.

The tourist tells him that if he goes out to catch fish multiple times a day, he would be able to buy a motor in less than a year, a second boat in less than two years, and so on. The tourist further explains that one day, the fisherman could even build a small cold storage plant, later a pickling factory, fly around in a helicopter, build a fish restaurant, and export lobster directly to Paris without a middleman.

The nonchalant fisherman asks, "Then what?"

The tourist enthusiastically continues, "Then, without a care in the world, you could sit here in the harbor, doze in the sun, and look at the glorious sea."

"But I'm already doing that", says the fisherman.

The enlightened tourist walks away pensively, with no trace of pity for the fisherman, only a little envy.
-----
source: Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral - Wikipedia

 

[Skull]

We living beings come into this world and renounce the roots while we grasp at the branches.
We forget the fundamental matters, turn our backs on enlightenment and unite with the “dust” – the wearisome mundane world.
That is why we forget the Buddhas and never remember to be mindful of them.

Master Hsuan Hua

 

[Skull]

Since 2009 Bhikshu Dharmamitra, a disciple of Master Hsuan Hua, has been working on more translations for Kalavinka Press. The new ones are now on Amazon.

Search for Kalavinka Press to see the new Chinese-Skt-English versions of several titles. Also the new Ten Grounds Sutra versions, one by Kumarajiva & one by Shiksananda. Both of these also have PL Vaidya's Sanskrit in appendices.

The smaller Buddha mindfulness book has three methods, with differing purposes. It is also a valuable text.

For those who do not read Chinese, nor Sanskrit, (nor wish to learn) the two fat volumes of Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Ten Bodhisattva Grounds can be ignored.

There is also a one volume English only version. With a very comprehensive outline of contents, Glossary & Notes over 700 pages, and radiant with good Mahayana!

 

[Skull]

Many Buddhists try to follow the Great (Maha) Vehicle (Yana), but still have doubts & questions. In this sutra Buddha teaches them how to develop confidence & trust in the Great Vehicle.
The Introduction by the translators says:

Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle unfolds at Vulture Peak Mountain, where
the Buddha, surrounded by a great number of bodhisattvas from the human
and nonhuman realms and many monks and limitless other beings, gives a
discourse on the nature of trust in the Great Vehicle. The teaching is
requested by a bodhisattva known as Great Skillful Trust, who requests the
Buddha to answer four questions concerning the nature of trust in the Great Vehicle:

1. What are the characteristics of trust in the Great Vehicle?
2. How is trust aroused?
3. What are the different types of trust?
4. What are the benefits of having trust?

Over the course of the sūtra, the Buddha answers all four questions,
devoting a separate chapter to each.

Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle | 84000 Reading Room

 

[Picaro]

lol Buddhism is merely extreme narcissism chasing itself, which is why it's as dead as Orthodox Judaism, itself now buried under ridiculous numbers of laws and sophistry that keeps its practitioners buried in legalisms and no longer a religion.

 

[Skull]

lol Buddhism is merely extreme narcissism chasing itself...

What a dopey, ignorant remark! Study up on Mahayana or bodhisattva. The keynote is self-sacrifice for others over many incarnations - altruism in short.

 

[emilynghiem]

lol Buddhism is merely extreme narcissism chasing itself, which is why it's as dead as Orthodox Judaism, itself now buried under ridiculous numbers of laws and sophistry that keeps its practitioners buried in legalisms and no longer a religion.

Sure Picaro if you don't follow the whole concept of Buddhism in NOT ATTACHING yourself to perceptions and material rituals,
Yes, I agree the whole system contradicts itself and falls apart.
Buddha even warned against this. He said not to listen to him or any authority based on faith,
but study and only adopt what is proven to be true.
He warned that perception of truth would be impermanent and constantly changing.

So of course, people who don't follow that miss the whole point of detachment
and meditating to let go of conflict and material desires biasing human perception
so we receive the truth.

Buddha didn't even receive the truth until he let go and stop striving.
So that is what he taught as the key to enlightenment. You cannot get
there by holding on to rituals and thinking that will save you.

 

[Picaro]

lol Buddhism is merely extreme narcissism chasing itself...

What a dopey, ignorant remark! Study up on Mahayana or bodhisattva. The keynote is self-sacrifice for others over many incarnations - altruism in short.

Keep studying your own navel until you finally just disappear into your own self-absorption, the ultimate 'perfection of the soul' according to the fat parasite's 'theology'. they have no interest in altruism' other than convincng others to give all their stuff to 'monks'.

 

[Skull]

Nagarjuna Bodhisattva in his Treatise on the Ten Bodhisattva Grounds reminds us to cool our censorious tendencies:

If one assesses inward qualities on the basis of externals
and hence develops an attitude of slighting condescension,
one brings ruin on oneself as well as on one’s own roots of goodness
so that, at the end of one’s life, one falls into the wretched destinies.

As for the places to which someone else’s mind proceeds,
one may be mistaken about them, for they are hard to know.
Therefore one must not make false assessments
with regard to any being.

It is only someone possessed of all-knowledge
who can fully know their minds’ states
and the subtle, secret places to which they may proceed.
Hence, with regard to judging other beings,

the Buddha said, “It is only those who are my equals
who can pass judgment on other beings.”
If the Buddha himself spoke in this manner,
who then could have the ability to pass judgment on others?

 

[Skull]

Here is one text with commentary on developing the needed selfless motivation for this lifetime and future ones. It is by a real Bodhisattva, with comments from a modern Bodhisattva, Master Hsuan Hua:

https://www.berkeleymonastery.org/u...on_bodhi__content__21_feb_2013_with_cover.pdf

 

[Blackrook]

Here's my truth: The world is an extremely fucked up place and it doesn't seem anyone is doing anything about it. More specifically, I refer to abortion. 3,000 babies are aborted per day and the world's religions, including Buddhism, don't do a damn thing about it.

 

[LittleNipper]

You need to explain why we should be interested in your religion, not just tell us where to read up on it.

Motivation is supplied from within, so whether others decide to investigate Mahayana or not, is up to them. I am not a preacher.

Not preach, simply explain why it's worthwhile.

And brah, you didn't even supply a link to the texts. You know you're on the internet, right?

It may not be worthwhile to many, they will decide, yea or nay.

You also are on said internet - seek and ye shall find.

There is no GOD SAVIOR connected with Buddhism. I don't believe in reincarnation either. Once saved always saved is good enough for me. Now, there are some very good teachings with regard to Buddhism pertaining to how to live; however, I feel that to love the Lord thy GOD with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself ---- says it so concisely.

 

[Skull]

Tara the Liberator is both a bodhisattva & a buddha. She vowed long, long ago to always appear as a woman. Here is a long video where her blessing mantra is sung with varying rhythms:

 

[Skull]

This link is a good source as a Mahayana sampler, many excerpts from many texts:

Dharma Jewels Directory Page