Buddha is fake

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fabianfred
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Buddha is fake

Post by fabianfred »

Sing Jo was a young man in ancient China; he earned
his living by pulling a rickshaw. His father passed away when
he was a young boy. He had to work hard ever since so that
he could look after his mother. He also strictly followed
Confucius’ teachings and always fulfilled his filial duty to his
parents. Everyone in the neighbourhood knew that he was
not only a good son but also a very kind man who could
never do enough for people. He did his best to save his hard
earned money. When the village needed help to build a road
and a rainbow bridge to create a shortcut to the nearest
town, Sing Jo not only contributed his savings towards the
project, but also his labour when the construction was on
its way. After a long day of pulling the rickshaw, he would
go home to have dinner with his mother and quickly rushed
to lend a hand at the building site where he would work
until late into the night. When his day time work was a bit
slow, he would come straight to the construction site and
work there until someone called him for a service. He never
moaned about anything and was very happy with what he
was doing.
Finally, the road and the rainbow bridge were finished
and a few years after that his mother developed an illness and
died. Sing Jo had never got married. Without any responsibility
to tie him down and now in his forties, he decided to lead
a monastic life and become a monk. After a few years of
learning the basic skills of meditation and chanting, monk
Sing Jo decided to move away from the temple in the village
and live in a cave on the side of the mountain instead.
A young novice who had always been fond of monk Sing Jo
asked to go with him and promised to look after him. They
both had managed to turn the small section of the mountain
where there was a cave into a very basic monastery. They
had a little shrine with a Buddha image. Everyday, they
would burn the candles and incense and they did their
regular morning and evening chanting together. There were
a few households at the foothill and they were only too
glad to offer alms food. So every morning, monk Sing Jo
and his young novice would walk down to the foothill
and receive food from the well-wishers. People also came up
and visited the monastery from time to time.
A few more years had gone by, monk Sing Jo gradually
developed some skin complaints. He tried many herbal
remedies but nothing helped him to get better. His skin
disease got worse – it was leprosy! Despite the hardship, he
never complained of his ill fortune. His novice, who had
now become a monk, was still very much faithful to him and
took good care of his master. Although monk Sing Jo did
not go for his alms round for a long time, he kept up with
his regular chanting and meditation practice.
There was a night when it rained heavily with thunder
and lightning too. Monk Sing Jo had to come out of the cave
to use the outdoor toilet when he was suddenly struck down
by a bolt of lighting and killed. The young monk threw up
his hands in despair at finding his master’s body the next
morning and said:
“Master Jo, I cannot understand what’s going on. You
are a born do-gooder but you seemed to have bad luck in
return. Your father died when you were young, you worked
hard to look after your mother; you used your savings and
your labour to help build the road and the rainbow bridge;
then your mother died; you became a monk and had leprosy.
Now, you are struck down by lighting. I am very confused,
master. Maybe there is no real Buddha. Maybe the Buddha is
fake and so is the law of karma.”
Acting on impulse, the despaired and confused young
monk grabbed a piece of charred wood burnt by lighting
and wrote on his master’s hand three Chinese words “Buddha
is fake!” He went through a period of mourning for his master
and decided that he would carry on living there by himself
for a bit longer. Therefore, he kept up with the daily routine
of chanting as if his master was still around.
Meanwhile, the nearest town to the village where
Sing Jo used to live had just welcomed a new governor and
his wife. It was only one month after their arrival when the
wife gave birth to their first born, a baby boy. For some
unknown reason, the baby was born with a clenched fist
and no one could open it no matter how much they tried.
The baby also cried a lot and nothing seemed to pacify him.
After two weeks of putting up with the baby crying, the
mother began to notice that her baby would stop crying at
a certain time. Every day around six o’clock in the morning
and seven o’clock in the evening, the baby would stop crying
and suddenly become very content.
The governor asked his local officers to notice what
triggered his baby to stop crying. After another two weeks of
observation, they could link the baby’s happy moment with
the sound of the beating gong and the chanting which came
from the mountain not far from the town. The governor
told his officers to follow that sound and find out from
where it came. Finally, they found the temple where monk
Sing Jo used to live. The junior monk was still there and
carried on with his daily routine of gong beating before the
morning and evening chanting. The officers then told the
monk why they were there. The monk asked when the baby
had been born. When the officers told him, he realised that
it was the same time when his master Jo was struck down by
lighting.
The monk was invited back to see the baby. No
sooner did the holy person enter the room where the mother
was holding the baby than the baby giggled, waving his
hands and legs and showed obvious excitement at seeing
the monk. The monk approached the baby and gently opened
his clenched fist. To his amazement, he could see three words
“Buddha is fake!” written on the baby’s hand. The monk
burst out with loud laughter, shook his head and said:
“All right, master Jo. Indeed, Buddha is not fake. The
law of karma is certainly real. The result of all your good
karma has finally arrived. This time, you will have a much
easier life. I am very happy for you.”
The monk told the governor and his wife the story
of his Master Jo. They were delighted to know. From then on,
the baby was always happy. The governor also contributed
a generous sum of money to rebuild the monastery by
the mountain. The monk spent the rest of his life at the
monastery and worked hard with his practice. He never
doubted the Buddha again.
alan
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by alan »

A fine exercise in typing!
fabianfred
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by fabianfred »

a rapid series of copy and paste more like... :)
alan
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by alan »

Well then maybe you can tell everyone what you meant.
fabianfred
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by fabianfred »

alan wrote:Well then maybe you can tell everyone what you meant.
I thought this was for light hearted stories of Buddhist relation....why so serious??
I copied these from books by my teacher...
alan
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by alan »

And the point was?
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pilgrim
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by pilgrim »

...the workings of karma may not necessarily be seen in one lifetime?
Mawkish1983
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Location: Essex, UK

Re: Buddha is fake

Post by Mawkish1983 »

I can't figure out why dissatisfaction with the workings of kamma would lead one to conclude the 'Buddha is fake'; I am not even sure what that statement means...

I don't get it.
beeblebrox
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by beeblebrox »

Mawkish1983 wrote:I can't figure out why dissatisfaction with the workings of kamma would lead one to conclude the 'Buddha is fake'; I am not even sure what that statement means...

I don't get it.
It was the junior monk who concluded that... not the entire moral of the story. :tongue: I think this would find more appreciation on Zen or Tibetan forums. I appreciated it, anyway.

I think the people (myself included) on here get suspicious when it seems like the rebirth are equated with reincarnation, since it could be a misunderstanding of what was actually taught in the Pāli Canon.
fabianfred
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Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:06 am

Re: Buddha is fake

Post by fabianfred »

There are cases in real life of people being killed and then reborn with a birth mark where they had been shot.
Maybe some people try to read too much into what are simply stories.
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Sobeh
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by Sobeh »

fabianfred wrote:There are cases in real life of people being killed and then reborn with a birth mark where they had been shot.
There are cases in real life of people being killed.
There are cases where a newborn has a birthmark.

Your conclusion that this is due to rebirth is wholly unfounded.
fabianfred
Posts: 158
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by fabianfred »

My teacher, told about a boy who recalled his past life and remembered being shot. The person he was in his previous life was in the same village and everything he said was confirmed by his family. The place he had been shot showed as a birthmark.

Please do not make wild accusations when you know nothing about me or my knowledge.

I know what I know, You know what you know, I don't know what you know, you don't know what I know. :anjali:
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Sobeh
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by Sobeh »

fabianfred wrote:wild accusations
It is simply flawed logic; I merely pointed out that your inherent conclusion was not logically supported by your given premises.
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pilgrim
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by pilgrim »

Sobeh wrote:
fabianfred wrote:There are cases in real life of people being killed and then reborn with a birth mark where they had been shot.
There are cases in real life of people being killed.
There are cases where a newborn has a birthmark.

Your conclusion that this is due to rebirth is wholly unfounded.
Actually, there is scientifically gathered evidence to support this.
See : http://paranormal.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi ... hmarks.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Sobeh
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Re: Buddha is fake

Post by Sobeh »

What you cite as "scientifically gathered evidence" is in fact inconclusive (among other things, Stevenson's methodology was not robust enough to warrant any strong conclusions). Those cases provide a preliminary reason to perform more scientific research, nothing more - as Stevenson himself admits in the paper!
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