Search found 6471 matches

by Astus
Wed Mar 13, 2024 11:01 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: AUTHETNIC Buddhist Quotes
Replies: 5
Views: 247

Re: AUTHETNIC Buddhist Quotes

If they are meant to be authentic, it should give the sources properly, including the actual source, like the title of the book, date of publication, and the name of the translator. For instance, at 0:51 is a quote from "The Sutra of Hui Neng": "By amending our mistakes, we get wisdom...
by Astus
Wed Feb 28, 2024 2:33 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Was Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka an implicative negation?
Replies: 15
Views: 977

Re: Was Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka an implicative negation?

However, Yogacara does say that there is something which is real, an ultimate reality, which is not a sheer negation, the thing-in-itself (vastumatra). Why? Because for them, it is only when there is something to be empty that we can speak of emptiness (e.g., a cup is empty because it exists as a c...
by Astus
Tue Feb 27, 2024 11:12 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Was Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka an implicative negation?
Replies: 15
Views: 977

Re: Was Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka an implicative negation?

Well, this is kind of unfair. It begs the question for the Madhyamaka position. This statement is basically saying, either you agree with this specific Madhyamaka position, or you are clinging to self. Denying ultimate reality to consciousness is not specifically a Madhyamaka concept, especially wh...
by Astus
Tue Feb 27, 2024 4:59 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Was Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka an implicative negation?
Replies: 15
Views: 977

Re: Was Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka an implicative negation?

However, even the ones you quoted don't entirely eliminate the Yogacara elements. It eliminates the suggestion that there is somehow a special consciousness not empty. After all, the need to establish mind as ultimately real is simply a form of clinging to self. So it doesn't agree with even the fu...
by Astus
Fri Feb 23, 2024 10:09 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: How to respond to theistic/deistic arguments from a Madhyamaka point of view?
Replies: 21
Views: 1127

Re: How to respond to theistic/deistic arguments from a Madhyamaka point of view?

There are two situations where one is occupied by such questions: - as a mere mental exercise for amusement, in which case it's simply meaningless and futile, a type of wrong speech ( samphappalāpa ) - as a way to establish a specific set of rules and regulations, precepts and practices, in other wo...
by Astus
Wed Feb 21, 2024 11:07 pm
Forum: Ethical Conduct
Topic: Does the doctrine of karma blame victims for their own suffering?
Replies: 16
Views: 2017

Re: Does the doctrine of karma blame victims for their own suffering?

The teaching of karma is meant to show how skilful and unskilful intention resulting in action influences one's state of mind, and that in turn defines one's experience. Although it is generally viewed as things happening out there, the main point is still what is happening in here. As far as the ex...
by Astus
Tue Feb 20, 2024 10:25 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Was Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka an implicative negation?
Replies: 15
Views: 977

Re: Was Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka an implicative negation?

Other translations might help in a better understanding: 'Such things spoken of as the “great elements”, These are fully absorbed into consciousness; Since they are dissolved by understanding them, Are they not falsely imputed?' (Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning, v 34, tr Thupten Jinpa) "The great el...
by Astus
Mon Feb 19, 2024 2:44 pm
Forum: Discovering Mahayana Buddhism
Topic: Finding Common Ground
Replies: 6
Views: 826

Re: Finding Common Ground

If you're drawn to Kagyu, then you might want to get familiar with their teachings, starting with the Jewel Ornament of Liberation by Gampopa and its modern commentaries. The website Study Buddhism is also a good place to start, for instance it has a page about Concentration Terminology and The Four...
by Astus
Tue Feb 06, 2024 4:49 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Yogachara: Ontological or Epistemological Idealism?
Replies: 16
Views: 920

Re: Yogachara: Ontological or Epistemological Idealism?

Thanks for the recommendation, I will try to look for the book on Scribd. No need, click the link , it's freely available. Does this lack of metaphysical assertion of a transcendental mind apply to the whole of Yogachara, or were there really some subschools which reified the mind and elevated it t...
by Astus
Tue Feb 06, 2024 10:00 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Yogachara: Ontological or Epistemological Idealism?
Replies: 16
Views: 920

Re: Yogachara: Ontological or Epistemological Idealism?

This practical clarification by Karl Brunnhölzl might help ( An Overview of the Five Texts of Maitreya , p 19-21): 'Cittamātra is not a metaphysical assertion of a transcendental reality consisting of “mind-only” but a description of our delusion — the dreams of this sleep from which the Buddha has ...
by Astus
Fri Feb 02, 2024 9:48 am
Forum: Ethical Conduct
Topic: Which of the following activities do you consider sexual misconduct? (continued)
Replies: 33
Views: 2567

Re: Which of the following activities do you consider sexual misconduct? (continued)

If one were brought up in a strict Christian environment, one might become extremely jealous if someone else slept with his wife. If one were living in a society in which it was good etiquette to offer your spouse to a guest (and there used to be such societies), he might not be upset. If a person ...
by Astus
Thu Feb 01, 2024 3:53 pm
Forum: Ethical Conduct
Topic: Which of the following activities do you consider sexual misconduct? (continued)
Replies: 33
Views: 2567

Re: Which of the following activities do you consider sexual misconduct? (continued)

I also disagree with the notion that there must be some universal at work in determining what is and is not ethical. Karma is quite the universal ethical principle that applies even to non-human beings. Also, in what situation is this not valid: 'If someone were to have sexual relations with my wiv...
by Astus
Mon Jan 29, 2024 11:22 pm
Forum: Discovering Mahayana Buddhism
Topic: Two truths question
Replies: 21
Views: 1145

Re: Two truths question

Should you be comfortable sharing, do *you* think it's useful/illuminating to ascribe aspects to ultimate truth? Ultimate truth is a term with various meanings in Buddhism. What matters is whether the definition one has a liking of is something helpful in reducing troublesome qualities and increasi...
by Astus
Mon Jan 29, 2024 10:08 pm
Forum: Discovering Mahayana Buddhism
Topic: Two truths question
Replies: 21
Views: 1145

Re: Two truths question

I am drawn to the Buddhist teachers/teachings that see ultimate truth as having an effable and ineffable aspect. Most of them are like that, even some in Madhyamaka, like Bhavaviveka and Jnanagarbha. 'Ultimate truth is free of all conceptual projection. It is of two types: the ultimate truth that c...
by Astus
Mon Jan 29, 2024 2:51 pm
Forum: Zen
Topic: No-Self Concept
Replies: 19
Views: 1178

Re: No-Self Concept

Huangbo Xiyun put it this way (Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace, 1.4): 'Practitioners of the Way, have no doubt that the four great elements constitute the body, that these four great elements have no self, and that the self has no master. Know that this body has no self and no master. The five aggreg...
by Astus
Sun Jan 28, 2024 7:58 pm
Forum: Discovering Mahayana Buddhism
Topic: Two truths question
Replies: 21
Views: 1145

Re: Two truths question

From what I read online the Madhyamaka interpretation you present here isn't universally accepted by Buddhists. Some schools, Vajrayana Yogacara Zen for example, differentiate nontrivially between sunyata and tathata (with the latter leaning a bit towards woo-woo-ishness). True? I don’t see it with...
by Astus
Sun Jan 28, 2024 6:48 pm
Forum: Discovering Mahayana Buddhism
Topic: Two truths question
Replies: 21
Views: 1145

Re: Two truths question

Why include the unfathomable tathata with the fathomable sunyata/pratityasamutpada? Avoiding that seems like a good reason for having a level of the unfathomable above (alongside) the fathomable ultimate. Suchness is another term for emptiness. It is ineffable and inconceivable because there is not...
by Astus
Sun Jan 28, 2024 2:52 pm
Forum: Discovering Mahayana Buddhism
Topic: Two truths question
Replies: 21
Views: 1145

Re: Two truths question

Rick wrote: Sun Jan 28, 2024 12:35 am But there are Buddhists that posit a third truth, right? Not the middle truth of Tiantai, rather a kind of 'ultimate ultimate truth' — ineffable nondual tathata dharmakaya kind of non-thing?
It is the ultimate truth of emptiness that is also called suchness, and is ineffable and inconceivable.

Go to advanced search