Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

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Fede
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by Fede »

catmoon wrote:Calling people names isn't doing much for your argument either.
I didn't call you names. I referred to what you were saying as puerile and facetious. We all get heavy doses of that sometimes, but I emphasise - how does it actually help the discussion to resort to such argument?
Please rest assured that there are perfectly rational people in the world who find questioning the historicity of Jesus right up there with denying that any Jews were killed in WWII
These are provable.
or denying that NASA ever went to the moon
This is highly disputable.
I for one, don't believe they did, and there's plenty of evidence they didn't and very little in return that they did.
But this is taking it off-topic....

.
It is my earnestly held opinion that all these arguments are perfectly ridiculous, as I believe I have demonstrated.
No, obviously you haven't sufficiently, otherwise the discussion wouldn't still be on-going.
How would you like it if Christians were running around denying the existence of Buddha? Would you think them skilful?
It little matters to me whether he did or didn't. Just as it little matters to me whether Jesus existed, or whether God exists.
It's not something that is conducive to my practice to go into, in great depth.
What's important is how I follow the teachings of the Dhamma.
"Samsara: The human condition's heartbreaking inability to sustain contentment." Elizabeth Gilbert, 'Eat, Pray, Love'.

Simplify: 17 into 1 WILL go: Mindfulness!

Quieta movere magna merces videbatur. (Sallust, c.86-c.35 BC)
Translation: Just to stir things up seemed a good reward in itself. ;)

I am sooooo happy - How on earth could I be otherwise?! :D


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catmoon
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by catmoon »

Fede wrote:
How would you like it if Christians were running around denying the existence of Buddha? Would you think them skilful?
It little matters to me whether he did or didn't. Just as it little matters to me whether Jesus existed, or whether God exists.
It's not something that is conducive to my practice to go into, in great depth.
What's important is how I follow the teachings of the Dhamma.
That's nice. How about answering the question though?

Also, do you you think the Dhamma teaches tolerance?
Maybe even brotherhood and goodwill between faiths?
Laurens
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by Laurens »

Whether or not Jesus exsisted, samasara still goes on...
"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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catmoon
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by catmoon »

Laurens wrote:Whether or not Jesus exsisted, samasara still goes on...
I do believe I detect a note of humour in this...
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Fede
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by Fede »

catmoon wrote:
How would you like it if Christians were running around denying the existence of Buddha? Would you think them skilful?
It little matters to me whether he did or didn't. Just as it little matters to me whether Jesus existed, or whether God exists.
It's not something that is conducive to my practice to go into, in great depth.
What's important is how I follow the teachings of the Dhamma.
That's nice. How about answering the question though?
I've been confronted by Christians saying this to me, and I believe I did answer the question.
I don't really care, it doesn't bother me.

Also, do you you think the Dhamma teaches tolerance?
No, the Dhamma teaches acceptance. There's a difference.
Maybe even brotherhood and goodwill between faiths?
No.
I go for brotherhood and goodwill between people, not faiths. The Kalama Sutta puts paid to any acceptance I might develop for other faiths.
They simply don't work for me, so I discard them.
"Samsara: The human condition's heartbreaking inability to sustain contentment." Elizabeth Gilbert, 'Eat, Pray, Love'.

Simplify: 17 into 1 WILL go: Mindfulness!

Quieta movere magna merces videbatur. (Sallust, c.86-c.35 BC)
Translation: Just to stir things up seemed a good reward in itself. ;)

I am sooooo happy - How on earth could I be otherwise?! :D


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Cittasanto
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by Cittasanto »

Kare wrote:
Manapa wrote:
Those who have said the Buddha or Jesus didn't exist I would like to see them prove Shakespeare did exist!
Sorry to say so, but this is a totally confused way of arguing. If you wish to examine the question of the existence of Jesus, examine the question of the existence of Jesus, not the Buddha or Shakespeare.

If you want to find out if Joe is at home or not, do you then go to the home of Jack or Mary to see if they are at home?
Hi Kere,
I wasn't suggesting that proving one existed proved the other/s existence or to prove one didn't exist proved the others didn't. just that evidence for existance or not isn't a guarantee that they did or didn't exist, and that if it could happen to someone closer to our time it can most certainly happen to someone further back.
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He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
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Cittasanto
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by Cittasanto »

Fede wrote:Was actually Robert of Loxley, and probably never came from Nottingham itself, but from a neighbouring hamlet.....
oh....sorry.....
I see what you're doing there...... :tongue: :jumping:
I was going to say that!
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by pink_trike »

Fede wrote:edit note:
Responding to Pink Trike, here.....

In whichever case, most of what we're discussing is therefore hypothesis, speculation and total guess-work (coupled with, I dare say, the odd fragment of wishful thinking....) :juggling:
Suffice to say we should gaze at the moon, and not the finger.
Hi Fede,

Agreed that it is the moon that matters, but there are different methods for getting a clear sight of the moon:

1. Ignore or deny the finger, peering around it for a skewed view of the moon
2. Look spang at the finger until it dissolves, revealing the moon.

I prefer the latter. The more directly we look at the finger, the less we can find it. This method lessens the habitual tendency for the obscuring finger to block the view.
Last edited by pink_trike on Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
Vision is Mind
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss

- Dawa Gyaltsen

---

Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by BubbaBuddhist »

Whenever this topic comes up, it always seems to reach a point where people begin giving each other the finger and then mooning each other.

J
Author of Redneck Buddhism: or Will You Reincarnate as Your Own Cousin?
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BlackBird
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by BlackBird »

Bubbabuddhist wrote:Whenever this topic comes up, it always seems to reach a point where people begin giving each other the finger and then mooning each other.

J
Should we give it a nama

How about "Conspiracy effect"?
"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

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PeterB
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by PeterB »

Bubbabuddhist wrote:Whenever this topic comes up, it always seems to reach a point where people begin giving each other the finger and then mooning each other.

J
Long ago, in a forum far away and now defunct I suggested that all mention of fingers and moons should be avoided under a voluntary code of conduct, as in my experience, discussion around fingers and moons invariably are discussion stoppers..and whats worse they are a slippery slope that leads to the cul de sac known as " If you meet the Buddha on the road " etc etc yawn etc.

For me the salient point is , did Jesus or his author teach anything remotely like Dependant Origination ? I think the answer is clear, not even remotely. So, no relevance to Buddhism then.
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by tiltbillings »

PeterB wrote:
For me the salient point is , did Jesus or his author teach anything remotely like Dependant Origination ? I think the answer is clear, not even remotely. So, no relevance to Buddhism then.
Bears repeating:
For me the salient point is , did Jesus or his author teach anything remotely like Dependant Origination ? I think the answer is clear, not even remotely. So, no relevance to Buddhism then.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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catmoon
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by catmoon »

pink_trike wrote:

2. Look spang at the finger until it dissolves, revealing the moon.

I prefer the latter. The more directly we look at the finger, the less we can find it. This method lessens the habitual tendency for the obscuring finger to block the view.
Ok let's strain a metaphor beyond recognition. The method assumes the moon is behind the finger, which it usually isn't. In most cases, if you stare at the finger, and IF it dissolves, which seems unlikely, you will end up staring at a blank patch of sky, with no moon in sight.

At the risk of sounding radically pedantic, I would suggest that if you want to see the moon, looking in the direction of the moon as directed by a finger would, with some large statistical probability, lead to the seeker beholding the moon.

And no, you are not allowed to give advice on where one might put said finger. :tongue:
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Fede
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by Fede »

well strained.
"Samsara: The human condition's heartbreaking inability to sustain contentment." Elizabeth Gilbert, 'Eat, Pray, Love'.

Simplify: 17 into 1 WILL go: Mindfulness!

Quieta movere magna merces videbatur. (Sallust, c.86-c.35 BC)
Translation: Just to stir things up seemed a good reward in itself. ;)

I am sooooo happy - How on earth could I be otherwise?! :D


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Cittasanto
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Re: Did Christ come to India to study Buddhism, Vedas?

Post by Cittasanto »

So having a staring competition with a finger isn't a good (eye)dea! :twothumbsup:
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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