Simple_Jack

I personally stand by my post to you that this is irrelevant and meaningless to Dharmic traditions: http://thetaobums.com/topic/32820-debunking-a-creator/?p=502017 This may not be necessary considering that a creator god is not a determining factor for Samkhya, Jainism, Mimamsa, Vaishnavism, etc. I would also put forth the idea that monotheism didn't enter the cultural sphere of Chinese thought until Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity and Islam were introduced into China through the Silk Road.

Yes, just like appealing to the Vedas, the Torah, the Bible, the Koran.

If it weren't for these 'intellectuals' these traditions wouldn't have survived into modern times. Anyways, you can't conclusively prove this, since this is just more of the same anti-intellectualism that TTB's is notorious for.

Well the number of people he may have killed, if he had killed anyone at all, may be an embellishment to this story; including other areas of his story. Obviously, if you knew anything about tantric Buddhist hagiography: you would find a lot of similar questionable behavior from mahasiddha's, that are antithetical to both mainstream Brahmanic culture and Sravakayana. We can't accurately determine if this is true or not, we can only say that Tibetan Buddhism produced 'realized masters', who were educated and uneducated in Buddhist tenet systems. These are variables which are dependent on the conditions of each individual.

That is arriving at the conclusion. Please, don't ask me to elaborate further on the MMK, because I lack the extensive reading and re-reading of Nagarjuna's MMK in order to confidently present it accurately. Leave that to RongzomFan, since he's more educated in this area than me.

Clearly you are biased towards Namdrol and missing the point. Regardless of his level of experience or lack of it, when it comes to Buddhist discourse, translation and meaning of Buddhist terminology, etc.: he clearly knows more than any other person, including some other translators, on any forum he posts in.

There are conventional and ultimate levels to Nagarjuna's MMK. Madhyamika's do not assert or deny conventional appearances; ultimately conventional appearances are a product of deluded cognition.

Christianity, certainly, but as far as I know: Buddhism is the only religion that had spread into most of the known world peacefully. And theists on this board delete and move topics from the General Forum into the pit and the Buddhist sub-forum. Not everyone can be perfect like Jesus.

We're discussing religion here, which physicalist science currently lacks the means to quantify and considers in the realm of superstition.

So now we must define Nagarjuna's MMK within the framework of physicalist science? I thought this was a forum for "spirituality".

From what I have read of Loppon/Acharya Namdrol: its clear he knows his stuff better than anybody in every forum he posts in. Madhyamaka was a reaction against the crypto-realism of the [sarvastivadin] abhidharma-kosha. Which is based off the Prajnaparamita Sutras (only Edward Conze has translated a significant portion of them, but there are problems with his translations).

Looking at the example of India: many of its traditions were impacted severely negatively by the waves of Islamic invasions; which were responsible for wiping out Buddhism in its native country.

Either way, recorded history is not on the side of demonstrating the compassion of Islam.

Well, Buddha did extol the virtues of ahimsa, but even in the (Dharmaguptaka?) vinaya monks are allowed to defend themselves physically if need be. That whole issue is a complex stew of socio-economic and race/religious tensions. At the same time, I can see why the 969 movement would be worried about and could possibly be justified in their view of protecting their country from Islamification (by looking at the history of Indonesia or other parts of Southeast Asia).

You understand this could be seen as ironic, being that this is coming from an adherent of Islam, right? Recorded history, up to modern day events, are not on the side of demonstrating the compassion of Islam.

If Vajrahridaya were to post in this thread, there would've been twice the amount of double standards and logical fallacies, made by the theists in this thread. On top of that, there would've probably been some personal attacks made against him due to his claims of attainments; none of us posting in this thread would've been able to relate to his claims, because for us, they belong to the realm of superstition aka. religious doctrine. I think he was on the tier of the teachers, who posted on this forum regularly, such as Ya Mu, 5elementtao, Vajrasattva, etc.; with the exception that he's experienced all 8 rupa and arupajhana's. He would have been considered pretty accomplished, by the standards of any tradition, before and after his introduction to Buddhism.

Regardless, the criticisms you have previously presented in other areas of this forum, have revolved around double standards and e-prime.

Your criticisms of Buddhism are double standards which could also apply to the Vedas, the Torah, the Bible, the Koran.

That's a reasonable assessment unlike all of the other double standards you have presented.

You should consider reading Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural Systems by Joanna Macy. The author makes comparisons with the Buddhist model and the linear causality of both the West and India.

If I were you, I'd consider admitting to double standards.

That's fine, as long as Gatito admits of his biased criticism and double standards made towards Buddhism.

He can't because there's no such thing as "Direct Path" Advaita apart from contemporaries who were influenced by Ramana Maharshi.

Oh, so another double standard? Is the love, truth, beauty of Ramana and Rumi inherently superior to that of lowly scum like us?

Yes, just like your ad hominem's against me and RongzomFan http://thetaobums.com/topic/32820-debunking-a-creator/?p=502349 Good call - it keeps them away from the more enlightened parts of the forum Let them burn themselves out here http://thetaobums.com/topic/32820-debunking-a-creator/?p=502368 I think that they imagine that they're "earning merit" (or something like that)