Tirisilex

bodhichitta, I dont mind at all if you wish to add some input. As for Vedic Gods being in Samsara.. All the Buddhist Bodhisattva Deities are also dwelling within Samsara. They have chosen not to enter Nirvana to stay and help those in need. Whats this about a concert promotion??

I found this one text that mentions the worship of Kama for the purpose of obtaining a mate. It's called : SrImAn SaDagopan's tamizh treatise I would post it up here however it is rather long. If you copy and paste the title as a google search you should be able to find it.

You said: It looks like Mahaprabhu's message was borrowed from the Buddha and I just proved it by asking a question that nobody can answer. We might as well shut down the forum and become buddhist. ******************************************************** It was this statement that gave the feel that you were trying to convert.

According to all my Books the Buddha appeared around 500 BC not 600 BC. Confucius taught compassion in China around 550 BC. Mahavira the founder of Jainism also appeared around 500 BC. Jainism founded Ahimsa (Non-Violence). Jainist compassion is outstanding where as they even show compassion towards plantlife. Not only do they abstain from meat but, they wont eat a plant food that will kill a plant. They live to minimize any kind suffering to others. To say compassion originated from the Buddha is ubsurd. There have been many unknown people over the millenia that have been compassionate. You can find them as far back as Ancient Egypt and Sumeria (2500 BC) I'm curious as to what your purpose is here. Are you looking for knowledge or are you looking to convert? A while back the Dalai Lama had made a statement against the idea of preaching to convert others to another religion. Christians do this alot as do other religous groups. This kind of attitude causes aggressive reactions, anger and hatred. A Buddhist should never try to convert someone to be a follower. A Buddhist should try to help others and only present Dharma if said people show interest.. It's never to be pushed.

Bodhichitta, I'm part of a Buddhist forum as well. It's a decent one and I thought you might be interested in it. http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php?

I pulled out my Dzogchen book and looked up Rigpa for ya.. This is what I found Rigpa is one of the key terms in Dzogchen teachings. Its literal meaning is "knowledge," but the accepted use of the term in Dzogchen expresses much more than that. It refers to the intuitive and direct knowledge of the primordial condition, maintained as a living presence. In the book "Dzogchen, The Self-Perfected State" the term rig pais rendered as "the state of presence," and sometimes as just "presence."

I havent purchased any of the Puranas yet because I just dont have the money to get them as of yet.

My Lamas name is Zopa. (No he is not the famous Zopa) He's a student under Kalu Rinpoche. Information on Kalu is here: http://quietmountain.org/links/teachings/late_kalu_rin_bio.htm As for showing you in wiriting, I told you what book it is in. I'm gonna have to read through it and find references so it may take awhile.

I talked with my Lama (I'm a practicing Tibetan Buddhist) and he said that "Yes, awareness is the only thing permanent. Because it is not conditioned by Karma." He said the book "Everyday Consiousness and Buddha-Awakening" explains this. Just FYI..

Well said..

How is consciousness different then awareness? Does the Buddha not say awareness as the only thing that is permenant?

Are you talking about having a soul? That would be Atman not Atma.

I dont know how anyone is going to take this. But I wanted to tell this story.. For the last year or so I had been doing research on Kama and Rati. I searched and searched the web and asked questions here at this forum. After doing so much research on them I decided to "worship" the two of them and I prayed for a girlfriend. I havent had a date in the last 11 years of my life and now just 2 months of doing relatively little worship I met a girl and am now seeing her. When this happened I was in awe.. If Kama and Rati helped me.. How much more so can Krishna? So.. Now I'm interested in looking into Krishna more. I still consider myself a Buddhist but I now have faith in Hinduism as well.. I believe the 2 to be quite compatible. I have a dream to become a Performance artist and to start an entertainment business where we donate the profits to charity. I'm in college right now to pursue this dream. I've read that Krishna isn't into earthly pursuits so much and I'm wondering if anyone thinks Krishna would help me in my schoolwork and my dream??

How many Gayatri Mantras are there? I have been finding here and there at different web sites claiming that the mantra they present is a Gayatri Mantra. I've noticed some similarities with each one. Here is one I found: AUM KAMADEVAYE VIDMAHE, PUSHP'VANAYE DHI-MAHI TANNO KAMAH PRACHODAYAT Also just out of curiosity how do you pronounce this mantra? Or if you present another please show it's pronounciation.

Padma Purana 10 Vol. Set $ 199.00 plus tax and Shipping. Narada Purana 5 Vol. Set $ 125.00 " Bhagavat Purana 5 Vol Set $ 125.00 " Siva Purana 4 Vol Set $ 90.00 " Garuda Purana 3 Vol Set $ 75. 00 " Agnimaha Purana 2 Vol Set $ 108.00 " Brahmavaivartha Purana 2 Vol Set $ 135.00 " Vishnu Purana 1 Vol $ 50.00 ********************************************************** Oh My I didnt realize there was so many at these prices.

This is in response to karthik_v post.. quote: ------ Until the contraceptives came, people had sex and also children that come with it. In the modern times, one is having sex without the responsibility of having children - the reason is children have become liabilities rather than assets as in the past. ------ There is some truth to this, but we don't know if there were any contraceptive methods practised traditionally. Perhaps some Ayurvedic expert can answer this. India didn't face epidemics like Europe, till they came in, but even then until 18th century India's population was a mere 50 million. So, there may have been methods. ****************************************** About contraceptives.. I have found Tantric practices that proclaim to teach one to refrain from ejaculating. I wish I had my books with me so I could do more acurate quotes. I also read somewhere that to have Tantric Sex and ejaculate would cause you to goto a Hell... Just FYI

This belief is held by all 3 vehicles.. Therevaden (Hinayana) Mahayana Vajrayana

This belief is held by all 3 vehicles.. Therevaden (Hinayana) Mahayana Vajrayana

That went completely over my head... what did you just say?

That went completely over my head... what did you just say?

Yes.. The self is made up with the 5 aggregates According to the Buddha all phenomena is illusion including the sense of self. Unfortuantly I am not at my home for the next week so I can't give you a better answer. Once I get home this comming weekend I'll be able to explain it better with Access of my books =o) *** from a website In general the five aggregates are a way of classifying the body and the mind. The two main constituents that make up any person are the body and the mind. Rather than merely saying the body and mind the Buddha mentioned five classifications, and when he was teaching this he was using handfuls of grain to say there is this aggregate and this aggregate and this aggregate, five all together. The Sanskrit word is skanda, and what it means is a pile, as in a heap or pile of rice, and those five are the aggregate of form, feeling, recognition, compositional factors and consciousness. The first three of these he mentioned in particular, because of their relationship with desire. In addition to mentioning that the source of all our sufferings is in a misknowledge of reality, at other times the Buddha said that the source of all of our problems is desire. However we should know that he was not referring to all desire. For instance the desire to be happy is not a source of problems. The desire to escape one's problems is also not the source of suffering. So he was referring to a specific type of desire, and that being a desire whose object appears as the source of happiness when in fact it is not. So it is a desire with respect to or, a desire towards an hallucination, and the means of eliminating that desire is by discovering that the object is an hallucination. So what are the types of objects that this negative desire arises towards? Well, one is bodies, our own and others. It's not uncommon that a body can appear in an exaggerated way, causing it to seem as if it is the source of happiness, and not only the body but also all the objects of our senses. So in order to discover the actuality of the objects of the senses then the Buddha taught, or The Buddha mentioned the aggregate of FORM. Then desire arises for those things that feel good. In fact the desire that motivates most people arises from pleasant experiences, such as with the thought "This feels good therefore I want to never be parted from it." What a common thought! Where the mistake arises is in this expression "never being parted from it", especially if this object is something impermanent, and that there is no way that the contact can be preserved for- ever. Consequently the desire is setting oneself up for disappointment. Therefore in order to explore such feelings the Buddha mentioned the second aggregate the aggregate of FEELING. Another object to which people become attached with desire are ideas. The disputes that scholars get into can get very heated, because these scholars become attached to their ideas and discriminations, regarding their own as superior and other's ideas as inferior, causing them to desire for their idea to be recognized as the supreme. This fuels the actions of speech and so forth that make the various disputes that one gets and can come to such extremes as causing closed mindedness, losing the ability to openly examine other's ideas. In order to explore such discriminations or ideation the Buddha mentioned the aggregate of DISCRIMINATIONS. There are many other functions and emotions of the mind, so he heaped all of those in the classification known as COMPOSITIONAL FACTORS. In some texts the compositional factor aggregate is called VOLITION, and volition is one of the functions of the mind that is contained within that class. This is an example of giving the name of a member of the group to the whole group. VOLlTION was chosen rather than any of the others because of it's importance, and this is because desire for instance can only bring about experience once it is put into action, and the way it is put into action is through volition. For instance one can have the desire to possess something, but it is only when one generates the actual will to get it that the action follows and such volition or will is what is known as karma. The word karma is used colloquially to refer to the experiences that occur to people. Technically those experiences are known as the results of karma, and technically karma is referring to the action which is the cause of such experiences. Karma then is referring to volition or will, as well as the actions of body and speech motivated by such will, and once you have set the action in motion then you're bound to the result, like the turning of a wheel. So as this is something important to analyze and come to know the Buddha mentioned this aggregate of compositional factors. The last aggregate is the aggregate of CONSCIOUSNESS and this is referring to the six consciousnesses, visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile and mental, which are the main means we come to know the various objects that compose reality. So this also is very important to investigate. In the doctrine of selflessness there's said to be two types. The selflessness of person and the selflessness of phenomena, and the person is said to be the I that is designated in dependence upon any of the aggregates such as in the expression "I am sitting here." That I is a person which is being designated in dependence upon the form aggregate, because it is being designated in dependence upon the body which is included in the FORM aggregate. Without the body you wouldn't be able to have the thought "I am sitting here." The great Indian master Nagarjuna who elucidated The Buddha's teaching on selflessness said that the misconception of the self of a person arises by depending upon the misconception of the self of phenomena. By phenomena there he meant the five aggregates, and for example because of mistaking the way in which the five aggregates exist, such as the body, mistaking the way in which it exists then we mistake the way the I exists which is dependent upon those aggregates. By mistaking the way the I exists one mistakes the way others exist, and by mistaking the way others exist then such perverse thoughts as clinging and ill will arise. Due to the arisal of such emotional addictions there comes volition, the acting out of those emotions, and due to such action one is bound to experience the result, which creates a cycle or vicious circle of death and rebirth, over and over again.

Yes.. The self is made up with the 5 aggregates According to the Buddha all phenomena is illusion including the sense of self. Unfortuantly I am not at my home for the next week so I can't give you a better answer. Once I get home this comming weekend I'll be able to explain it better with Access of my books =o) *** from a website In general the five aggregates are a way of classifying the body and the mind. The two main constituents that make up any person are the body and the mind. Rather than merely saying the body and mind the Buddha mentioned five classifications, and when he was teaching this he was using handfuls of grain to say there is this aggregate and this aggregate and this aggregate, five all together. The Sanskrit word is skanda, and what it means is a pile, as in a heap or pile of rice, and those five are the aggregate of form, feeling, recognition, compositional factors and consciousness. The first three of these he mentioned in particular, because of their relationship with desire. In addition to mentioning that the source of all our sufferings is in a misknowledge of reality, at other times the Buddha said that the source of all of our problems is desire. However we should know that he was not referring to all desire. For instance the desire to be happy is not a source of problems. The desire to escape one's problems is also not the source of suffering. So he was referring to a specific type of desire, and that being a desire whose object appears as the source of happiness when in fact it is not. So it is a desire with respect to or, a desire towards an hallucination, and the means of eliminating that desire is by discovering that the object is an hallucination. So what are the types of objects that this negative desire arises towards? Well, one is bodies, our own and others. It's not uncommon that a body can appear in an exaggerated way, causing it to seem as if it is the source of happiness, and not only the body but also all the objects of our senses. So in order to discover the actuality of the objects of the senses then the Buddha taught, or The Buddha mentioned the aggregate of FORM. Then desire arises for those things that feel good. In fact the desire that motivates most people arises from pleasant experiences, such as with the thought "This feels good therefore I want to never be parted from it." What a common thought! Where the mistake arises is in this expression "never being parted from it", especially if this object is something impermanent, and that there is no way that the contact can be preserved for- ever. Consequently the desire is setting oneself up for disappointment. Therefore in order to explore such feelings the Buddha mentioned the second aggregate the aggregate of FEELING. Another object to which people become attached with desire are ideas. The disputes that scholars get into can get very heated, because these scholars become attached to their ideas and discriminations, regarding their own as superior and other's ideas as inferior, causing them to desire for their idea to be recognized as the supreme. This fuels the actions of speech and so forth that make the various disputes that one gets and can come to such extremes as causing closed mindedness, losing the ability to openly examine other's ideas. In order to explore such discriminations or ideation the Buddha mentioned the aggregate of DISCRIMINATIONS. There are many other functions and emotions of the mind, so he heaped all of those in the classification known as COMPOSITIONAL FACTORS. In some texts the compositional factor aggregate is called VOLITION, and volition is one of the functions of the mind that is contained within that class. This is an example of giving the name of a member of the group to the whole group. VOLlTION was chosen rather than any of the others because of it's importance, and this is because desire for instance can only bring about experience once it is put into action, and the way it is put into action is through volition. For instance one can have the desire to possess something, but it is only when one generates the actual will to get it that the action follows and such volition or will is what is known as karma. The word karma is used colloquially to refer to the experiences that occur to people. Technically those experiences are known as the results of karma, and technically karma is referring to the action which is the cause of such experiences. Karma then is referring to volition or will, as well as the actions of body and speech motivated by such will, and once you have set the action in motion then you're bound to the result, like the turning of a wheel. So as this is something important to analyze and come to know the Buddha mentioned this aggregate of compositional factors. The last aggregate is the aggregate of CONSCIOUSNESS and this is referring to the six consciousnesses, visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile and mental, which are the main means we come to know the various objects that compose reality. So this also is very important to investigate. In the doctrine of selflessness there's said to be two types. The selflessness of person and the selflessness of phenomena, and the person is said to be the I that is designated in dependence upon any of the aggregates such as in the expression "I am sitting here." That I is a person which is being designated in dependence upon the form aggregate, because it is being designated in dependence upon the body which is included in the FORM aggregate. Without the body you wouldn't be able to have the thought "I am sitting here." The great Indian master Nagarjuna who elucidated The Buddha's teaching on selflessness said that the misconception of the self of a person arises by depending upon the misconception of the self of phenomena. By phenomena there he meant the five aggregates, and for example because of mistaking the way in which the five aggregates exist, such as the body, mistaking the way in which it exists then we mistake the way the I exists which is dependent upon those aggregates. By mistaking the way the I exists one mistakes the way others exist, and by mistaking the way others exist then such perverse thoughts as clinging and ill will arise. Due to the arisal of such emotional addictions there comes volition, the acting out of those emotions, and due to such action one is bound to experience the result, which creates a cycle or vicious circle of death and rebirth, over and over again.

Anyone know of a Buddhist forum as good as this? I've been searching for months and all I can find is poorly organized sites. buddhistboards.com does not exist anymore. Any suggestions?

Anyone know of a Buddhist forum as good as this? I've been searching for months and all I can find is poorly organized sites. buddhistboards.com does not exist anymore. Any suggestions?

I helped a friend out who had his first book published. I did the Graphic layout for the cover. I saw him tonight and we were discussing religions. I brought up the fact that my studies have been Hindu related and when I brought that up he said "ugh.. Hinduism is an ugly religion.." I asked why? His reply was.. They are very judgmental and are without compassion when it comes to people of lower classes. I was startled by his answer. I dont know what he has seen or has read. But I dont see that in this religion. I thought about it for awhile and came with this conclusion. The Caste system (I believe) is being done away with with. To say that India still follows a caste system and that people still practice it. Is exactly like saying that U.S. citizens still believe in slavery of Africans. It's been done away with but you can still find people who accept it. What would you suggest I say to him?