Apech

You might want to see what is under the bonnet though

Thank you. But why do you think Buddhist rebirth contradicts dependent origination?

Is the wheel of karma a potter's wheel? Cos I think I'm still stuck.

I'm struggling to understand why rebirth (in the buddhist sense and not reincarnation which is different) contradicts dependent origination. Please educate this dim cat.

Brain function (or the subtle energy field of it) , left and right, could with care be seen as an instantiation of yinyang especially as whatever you consider being the 'yang' side will have the seed of yin within it and visa versa.

The hierarchs of the Shang and Zhou projected the 'origin' back as the first ancestor of their lineage, so reflecting themselves in their image of the divine. These names have hung around and are now used by Chinese Christians and others for God and so on.

No it is far more subtle and profound than that. The Dao is both the origin of everything and also the 'way' by which they persist. It is not a person or being like a god (or indeed God) because to be a being implies name, function, designation and limit. Historically it is more the case that god worship emerges when humans fail to understand the Dao and see it as a power or being to be adored or implored for something. Having said that it was clearly the Bronze Age view that the world was filled with spiritual entities responsible for change - but that is more like polytheism than god as absolute.

100 likes (if I could)!

Quite a lot of Buddhism in the West (and possibly in the East also) is misunderstood and badly taught. Even some schools of Buddhism are taken over by a kind of negative dualism about life. 'Life is suffering' so try to avoid it or run away from it. Samsara is actually the very badly construed view of life which makes you suffer in the first place. That of chasing desires and false views of things. Waking up from this to see things as they really are makes you happy and contented - and very positive about life - having seen through the things that previously made you miserable and depressed.

The Dao can be 'known' or perhaps 'realised' in a sense beyond intellect or normal cognition.

No-one really knows - however it was usual in the ancient world to attribute texts to the most revered masters. For instance many texts are attributed to Lao Tzu apart from the TTC, even though they are written in different historical periods and must be by different people - its an honorific thing. But in most cases a key text is written by the named master and so it is likely a historical figure bearing that name did exist. If you look at it in terms of a lineage of teachings then any text which supports or transmits that teaching could be legitimately included in that corpus. What is important of course is the ideas and the spiritual energy in the system.

A noun. "Ouch you're standing on my tao!"

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Classic-Way-Virtue-Translation-Translations/dp/0231105819/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1536171225&sr=8-3&keywords=The+Classic+of+Way+and+Virtue

I don't usually answer with quotes so much but I was just reading this today.

lot's of duality?

Basta?

Just for info.

I kind of get what you are saying but I think you are conflating this kosha idea with yinyang and I'm not sure why. Yinyang are more fundamental than mental/emotional and manas is not particularly polarised in this way anyway but refers to the mind which sits behind sense perception and thought as a kind of 'self' as far as I understand it.

Yes.

In what way is manas equivalent to yin/yang?

That so called toy is a reverse engineered T34 tank. So much for Russian patents!

The aliens got it from alien aliens.