Where is Buddha Now?

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
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littlestar777
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Where is Buddha Now?

Post by littlestar777 »

Namaste to Buddha. How and where is Buddha now? Does he still teaching now?

I am trying to understand Nibbana and where Buddha is now.

What I understand is that Nibbana is a state rather than a location or place. This state has no physical body, no desire, no dukkha and no more incarnation.

Many have mentioned this state appears as in empty space but I would think the "empty" is a meaning of Buddhism that is 100% free from dukkha .

> Endless space is called in Atthasālini ajatākāsa, 'unentangled', i.e.
> unobstructed or empty space.

Why don't we realise space instead of Nibbana?
https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/ques ... of-nibbana
In Quantum Physics, a state is a source of energy so it's quantifiable and appears as a particle wave. An energy cannot be null or void state too as the law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed - only converted from one form of energy to another.

Wave–particle duality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave%E2%8 ... le_duality

Conclusion is can I say that Buddha is still teaching and around, appears as the supreme particle wave and possibly can be communicated via meditation? Any form of energy can be interfered/communicated/entangled with based on Physic theory ?

> The universe encompasses everything that exists, according to our
> current understanding: spacetime, forms of energy and the physical
> laws that relate them, history, philosophy, mathematics and logic.
> Buddhists refer to the Universe, both visible and invisible phenomena,
> as the Dharma.
The Origin of Meditation: Making Bonds with the Universe
https://www.meditationmag.com/buddhism/ ... s-universe


Anyone could verify my understanding above?
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Aemilius
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by Aemilius »

Buddha is Dharmakaya beyond space and time.

"Further the Lord taught on that occasion the following stanzas:

Those who by my form did see me,
And those who followed my voice
Wrong the efforts they engaged in,
me those people will not see.

From the Dharma should one see the Buddhas,
From the Dharma-bodies comes their guidance.
Yet Dharma's true nature cannot be discerned,
And no one can be conscious of it as an object."

Diamond sutra, tr. Edward Conze
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

Last I heard, God contacted him, suffering from a lot of unresolved anger and jealousy issues, passive aggressive stuff going on (there’s a book about it) and Buddha put him into a meditation retreat, and is helping him deal with self-grasping and ego attachment.
But that was a few years ago. Not sure where Buddha is now. I hear he has a place somewhere in Bhutan or maybe Sri Lanka.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

littlestar777 wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:44 am I am trying to understand Nibbana and where Buddha is now.
Nibbana/Nirvana means to extinguish, to extinguish or uproot the causes for continuous rebirth in a state of mind clouded by all manifestations of ignorance.

So, one has to ask, what exactly are these clouds obscuring? They obstruct pure awareness.

Conveniently, we might say, “pure awareness of the mind. But this implies a duality: a mind + something the mind possesses, as though they are two separate things. But that’s not really accurate. The mind’s true nature is free of obscurations. Without obscurations, mind, awareness, and objects of awareness are not different from each other.

A Buddha is one who has attained perfect realization of unobscured mind. So, distinctions such as here and there don’t apply any more. Sakyamuni Buddha, the one from India 2600 years ago, had that realization. So, if you ask where is he, you can look at it this way:

Suppose you have a tall brick wall that blocks the Sun every morning. Now, suppose you remove one brick from that wall so some of the sunlight is not obscured, and you see a little square of light reflected on the opposite wall.
In this analogy, Buddha is represented by the little square of light. Pure awareness (Which might be described by the term Dharmakaya) is just there, just like the Sun, regardless of whether there is a wall or a brick or no brick.
So, your very good question is like asking what ever became of that little square of light. It existed because the wall, and the brick removed.
The Buddha is a manifestation of pure awareness.

Sorry if that was really confusing.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
Archie2009
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by Archie2009 »

PadmaVonSamba wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:17 pm Last I heard, God contacted him, suffering from a lot of unresolved anger and jealousy issues, passive aggressive stuff going on (there’s a book about it) and Buddha put him into a meditation retreat, and is helping him deal with self-grasping and ego attachment.
But that was a few years ago. Not sure where Buddha is now. I hear he has a place somewhere in Bhutan or maybe Sri Lanka.
I heard these days God identifies as non-trinary.
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

Archie2009 wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:26 pm
PadmaVonSamba wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:17 pm Last I heard, God contacted him, suffering from a lot of unresolved anger and jealousy issues, passive aggressive stuff going on (there’s a book about it) and Buddha put him into a meditation retreat, and is helping him deal with self-grasping and ego attachment.
But that was a few years ago. Not sure where Buddha is now. I hear he has a place somewhere in Bhutan or maybe Sri Lanka.
I heard these days God identifies as non-trinary.
:rolling:
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
Schrödinger’s Yidam
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by Schrödinger’s Yidam »

:good:
I heard these days God identifies as non-trinary
Was that original? If so you deserve an award of some kind.
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

Schrödinger’s Yidam wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 1:53 am :good:
I heard these days God identifies as non-trinary
Was that original? If so you deserve an award of some kind.
Yeah that was hilarious!
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
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FiveSkandhas
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by FiveSkandhas »

PadmaVonSamba wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:17 pm Last I heard, God contacted him, suffering from a lot of unresolved anger and jealousy issues, passive aggressive stuff going on (there’s a book about it) and Buddha put him into a meditation retreat, and is helping him deal with self-grasping and ego attachment.
Rumor has it there have been some real heart-to-heart moments along the way.
a1a6d448673dd7e426bcf7f937b9a925.jpg
a1a6d448673dd7e426bcf7f937b9a925.jpg (90.91 KiB) Viewed 884 times
"One should cultivate contemplation in one’s foibles. The foibles are like fish, and contemplation is like fishing hooks. If there are no fish, then the fishing hooks have no use. The bigger the fish is, the better the result we will get. As long as the fishing hooks keep at it, all foibles will eventually be contained and controlled at will." -Zhiyi

"Just be kind." -Atisha
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FiveSkandhas
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by FiveSkandhas »

To answer the original post more seriously, I assume first of all that the poster is referencing "the historical Buddha" (Guatama Buddha) specifically rather then one of the numerous other Buddhas.

I will note in passing that I am not particularly fond of attempts to tie Buddhism in with quantum mechanics or other samsaric scientific theories. Scientific theories come and go but the Dharma is eternal. Scientific theories are open-ended, provisional descriptions of physical samsaric reality whereas the Dharma is not a falsifiable doctrine like the physical sciences. The Dharma is structured to help us attain liberation rather than to describe the nature of the universe. I have posted extensively about this elsewhere so I won't belabor the point.

To understand "where Buddha is," we need to have a grasp of the Trikāya doctrine, which teaches us that Buddha has three "bodies." Without going into too much detail, these are as follows:

Nirmanakaya: The physical, earthly body of the Buddha, which walked the earth and preached the Dharma. When Guatama Buddha achieved paranirvana (i.e., when he passed away), this body was no longer.

Sambhogakaya: The "enjoyment" or "reward" body: this is the hardest to grasp concretely in my opinion. It has been called a
"subtle body of limitless form". In this form Shakyamuni appears to Bodhisattvas and other beings in visionary-type experiences. Other Buddhas such as Amida Buddha or the Medicine Buddha are known to us in this form. The Sambhogakaya body can manifest in pure lands, which are special realms created to benefit beings. Akaniṣṭha is one special and particularly high pure land associated with this form.

Dharmakaya: This is absolute, ultimate reality, "Buddha Nature," emptiness (shunyata) itself, the enlightened mind, the basic ontological substrate from which all Buddhas emerge and to which they return. It is uncreated and empty of inherent existence. It is unfathomable conceptually and represents the ultimate nature of the Buddha, whereas the other two bodies are provisional manifestations. Etc etc etc.

So when asking "where's Buddha," we can say that his physical body has come and gone; his enjoyment body manifests itself in "higher form" so to speak; and his Dharmakaya body is stainless and eternal.

Hope this was helpful.
"One should cultivate contemplation in one’s foibles. The foibles are like fish, and contemplation is like fishing hooks. If there are no fish, then the fishing hooks have no use. The bigger the fish is, the better the result we will get. As long as the fishing hooks keep at it, all foibles will eventually be contained and controlled at will." -Zhiyi

"Just be kind." -Atisha
muni
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by muni »

Good morning,

"Where is Buddha Now" , this title is actually wonderful question.

Buddha means Awaken. Buddha is free from the habitual movie productions in our head, productions we believe are truth.
We use to say because language is limited; one can awaken, all of us can awaken , but actually when Awaken there is no "one on its on". Emptiness is not just empty, there is cognizance.

When a house is full of dust, the dust cannot be cleaned but the house can and then the dust isn't any longer. The house is like the Mind, but then without walls.

Buddha is Nirmanakaya, Sambogakaya, Dharmakaya. These are inseparable. Buddha/Awaken is not located but can manifest in different ways to help us out of our creating movies which causes us so much suffering.

Emptiness-appearances inseparable.
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Queequeg
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by Queequeg »

I'm pretty sure he's there somewhere.

Image
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
Schrödinger’s Yidam
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by Schrödinger’s Yidam »

Here.
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

This is actually a very good topic for discussion, because we imagine the ‘historical Buddha’ this guy who was a prince and meditated under a tree and taught Dharma for what…40 or so years? And we can picture that as his stream of consciousness, and then all of a sudden, “what happened to that stream of consciousness?”

It’s a good topic because it forces one to really examine what consciousness is. Is it like a faucet that can be turned on and off? Is there a single “thing” that is consciousness, or is what we experience a collection of functions?

Of course, people who already study these questions in the Buddhist context can easily come up with ‘test answers’ … different sensory consciousnesses, Alaya vijñana, and so on. Looking at the question from a rather ordinary position, “Where is Buddha now?” Is not that much different than, “where did I leave my phone?” and it makes the whole prospect of realization that more real.

The topic also addresses the nature of time itself. how does a Buddha’s awareness transcend our usual understanding of time?
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
Natan
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by Natan »

littlestar777 wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:44 am Namaste to Buddha. How and where is Buddha now? Does he still teaching now?

I am trying to understand Nibbana and where Buddha is now.

What I understand is that Nibbana is a state rather than a location or place. This state has no physical body, no desire, no dukkha and no more incarnation.

Many have mentioned this state appears as in empty space but I would think the "empty" is a meaning of Buddhism that is 100% free from dukkha .

> Endless space is called in Atthasālini ajatākāsa, 'unentangled', i.e.
> unobstructed or empty space.

Why don't we realise space instead of Nibbana?
https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/ques ... of-nibbana
In Quantum Physics, a state is a source of energy so it's quantifiable and appears as a particle wave. An energy cannot be null or void state too as the law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed - only converted from one form of energy to another.

Wave–particle duality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave%E2%8 ... le_duality

Conclusion is can I say that Buddha is still teaching and around, appears as the supreme particle wave and possibly can be communicated via meditation? Any form of energy can be interfered/communicated/entangled with based on Physic theory ?

> The universe encompasses everything that exists, according to our
> current understanding: spacetime, forms of energy and the physical
> laws that relate them, history, philosophy, mathematics and logic.
> Buddhists refer to the Universe, both visible and invisible phenomena,
> as the Dharma.
The Origin of Meditation: Making Bonds with the Universe
https://www.meditationmag.com/buddhism/ ... s-universe


Anyone could verify my understanding above?
There's a sutta on does the Buddha exist after death, not exist, both or neither?

Buddha said the question is beyond the scope of language.
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Where is Buddha Now?

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

FiveSkandhas wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 4:42 am
To understand "where Buddha is," we need to have a grasp of the Trikāya doctrine, which teaches us that Buddha has three "bodies." Without going into too much detail, these are as follows:

Nirmanakaya: The physical, earthly body of the Buddha, which walked the earth and preached the Dharma. When Guatama Buddha achieved paranirvana (i.e., when he passed away), this body was no longer.

Sambhogakaya: The "enjoyment" or "reward" body: this is the hardest to grasp concretely in my opinion. It has been called a
"subtle body of limitless form". In this form Shakyamuni appears to Bodhisattvas and other beings in visionary-type experiences. Other Buddhas such as Amida Buddha or the Medicine Buddha are known to us in this form. The Sambhogakaya body can manifest in pure lands, which are special realms created to benefit beings. Akaniṣṭha is one special and particularly high pure land associated with this form.

Dharmakaya: This is absolute, ultimate reality, "Buddha Nature," emptiness (shunyata) itself, the enlightened mind, the basic ontological substrate from which all Buddhas emerge and to which they return. It is uncreated and empty of inherent existence. It is unfathomable conceptually and represents the ultimate nature of the Buddha, whereas the other two bodies are provisional manifestations. Etc etc etc.

So when asking "where's Buddha," we can say that his physical body has come and gone; his enjoyment body manifests itself in "higher form" so to speak; and his Dharmakaya body is stainless and eternal.
The three kayas is really how one has to approach this question. Personally, I’ve always found any discussion of the three kayas to be somewhat vague and confusing, relying on English-language concepts to translate Sanskrit ideas. Particularly, as you say, the Sambhogakaya. Why did they choose the term “enjoyment?”

Anyway, I think there is a tendency to see the historical Buddha as one who sort of came up with a theory, like Einstein did with his theory of relativity, something that explains how everything works.

In a sense, yeah, that’s true insofar as it was he, and not the yogi next door. But just as with Einstein, he didn’t invent something that wasn’t already truth. And he didn’t “reveal” truths about anything that wasn’t already in plain sight. He just taught us how to see it.

Once you see it, interdependence and so on, you see it and you can’t ‘not see it’. And there have been many, many people over centuries, who have also attained the same level realization that ‘the awakened one’ attained. So, we should also inquire as to what happened to them as well.

The question is, I think, whether the mind of somebody who lived 2600 years ago but who became free from the bonds of samsara is still aware, active, still hanging around. Is it still active the way your mind and my mind are active (but without the confusion)?

Can you talk to buddha and buddha hears you, or is that merely an attempt at “Godifying” ? We’ve all seen artwork of the buddha as a giant as big as the sky, floating with beams of light everywhere.

So, I think that this is where the concept of Dharmakaya really plays a big part, in understanding the dynamics of buddhahood. It expresses the idea of a fundamental reality that simply includes everything just the way it is. In that way, it’s like sunlight. It’s just all over the place. In a metaphor I offered earlier, this is what I was trying to express.

Suppose you are in a light-proof house out on a sunny field or beach. The sun is there, it’s already there, everywhere, but you just don’t know it. That’s ignorance. The sunlight everywhere is like the Dharmakaya.

Then, suppose that from a wall in that house, a brick is removed, and on the opposite wall you now see a square of light. That light comes in from the sunlight outside. It penetrates your ignorance.

That square of light tells you that there is something beyond the darkness of this dark house if ignorance. It’s a manifestation, or you might say an extension, of what’s already out there that you just never knew about before. The area on the wall on which that light-square falls is like the Buddha. You see that square, and you can follow it back to its source, the hole where the sunlight is coming in. The Buddha is like that. He reflects the truth of what’s really outside the house of ignorance. It might have been you or me, but it was an ex-prince in India. So, where is that guy now?

Once you dismantle the house, there are no more walls. It’s just sunlight everywhere. Whatever was that specific part of the wall that reflected the sunlight is gone, but all the light is still there, everywhere. The Buddha’s mind still functions as Dharmakaya, you might say absorbed into it or at least inseparable from it.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
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