"Which has primacy, Buddha or Dharma"?
Re: "Which has primacy, Buddha or Dharma"?
Please direct further discussion of Lotus Sutra to the new topic https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=36782 or the Nichiren subforum at large.
Happy Pride month to my queer dharma siblings!
What do you see when you turn out the lights?
What do you see when you turn out the lights?
Re: "Which has primacy, Buddha or Dharma"?
Unlocking now that I've moved out some of the off-topic discussion.
We've been off the rails for a bit, so I encourage folks who rejoin the conversation to return to the "which has primacy" discussion.
Happy Pride month to my queer dharma siblings!
What do you see when you turn out the lights?
What do you see when you turn out the lights?
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Realmwalker
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2021 11:58 am
Re: "Which has primacy, Buddha or Dharma"?
Which has primacy...
This might mean two things, to my sullen mind anyway.
Either, which is most important, or: which came first, like the chicken and the egg.
Before Gautama became the Buddha, he had first to attain the Dharma. To me Dharma principles are laws of harmony that are written in nature herself that one must recognize, and learn how to address and actualize with one's mind, body and speech. It is a matter of practicing a subtle form of physics on a personal level. Try it! Clear your heart of vileness and let your mouth not speak any disharmonious or untruthful thing. You attain a certain quality of being, for that is a law written in nature. Then think and speak vile things; your being will shudder with misery, as if you have held your hand in a candle flame and is inevitably burned. These are laws of nature, for by the power of cause and effect they shall inevitably lead to specific results, like with physics.
So I feel the Dharma is above Gautama and before the Buddha, but when Gautama became the Buddha... who knows how thorough his realization was/is?
Of the Dharma that he taught, he said they were but a handful of leaves compared to the amount of leaves of a great forest. Has he collected all the leaves? Has he mastered all the laws? Has he integrated them completely in his mind/body/speech, and that in an emancipated state in the face of all possible circumstances?
Some say Lord Buddha Shakyamuni and Lord Buddha Maitreya are still perfecting themselves, even now.
Realmwalker
This might mean two things, to my sullen mind anyway.
Either, which is most important, or: which came first, like the chicken and the egg.
Before Gautama became the Buddha, he had first to attain the Dharma. To me Dharma principles are laws of harmony that are written in nature herself that one must recognize, and learn how to address and actualize with one's mind, body and speech. It is a matter of practicing a subtle form of physics on a personal level. Try it! Clear your heart of vileness and let your mouth not speak any disharmonious or untruthful thing. You attain a certain quality of being, for that is a law written in nature. Then think and speak vile things; your being will shudder with misery, as if you have held your hand in a candle flame and is inevitably burned. These are laws of nature, for by the power of cause and effect they shall inevitably lead to specific results, like with physics.
So I feel the Dharma is above Gautama and before the Buddha, but when Gautama became the Buddha... who knows how thorough his realization was/is?
Of the Dharma that he taught, he said they were but a handful of leaves compared to the amount of leaves of a great forest. Has he collected all the leaves? Has he mastered all the laws? Has he integrated them completely in his mind/body/speech, and that in an emancipated state in the face of all possible circumstances?
Some say Lord Buddha Shakyamuni and Lord Buddha Maitreya are still perfecting themselves, even now.
Realmwalker