konchog uma

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Posts posted by konchog uma

  3. Posted

    I looked up Biblical reincarnation but I find the evidence for it weak. No punch list for the Council at Nicea. No real scripture claim. Elijah the Prophet coming down as John the Baptist but the Bible says that each person shall see a bodily death. It was an interesting point of view anyhow.

     

    nonono there is no biblical reincarnation. Thats my point. It is taught in Jewish religion and mysticism (gilgulim) and was accepted by Christianity until the ecumenical council at Nicea in 325AD. At that point, they (bishops, cardinals, etc) changed the doctrine to suit their needs, and the bible accordingly reflects this. So there is no real scripture claim, while if you look up gilgulim you will find that it is part of Jewish thought, a "cycling of souls", a lack of eternalism and doctrine of cyclical change instead.

     

    Thanks for looking into it tho.

  4. Posted

    I don't think an article is valid evidence for the argument against Christ.

     

    It isn't. I agree wholeheartedly with those who say that the reality or fictitious nature of Christ is a pointless question to address at all. However the articles mentioned, much like a search for gilgulim, will bring up interesting facts that as rational people it is in our interest to entertain with an openminded attitude of inquisitiveness and humility. To dismiss them because they don't accord with one's faith is simply ignorant (literal meaning, an attitude of ignoring) and fundamentalist. I asked not because I wanted to create a standoff, but because you don't seem like an ignorant fundamentalist, and i was interested in opening a dialogue on those issues. I personally don't think the bible is a valid evidence for the argument for Christ, and anyone who does start to study the facts surrounding Christianity will likely soon conclude that something very different from the consensus church story was happening. So there are big questions like that. I know that people who pray in full belief to Christ can heal illnesses and have miraculous happenings, but I am not convinced that that is not the power of the mind. Healing illnesses and miraculous happenings occur in Buddhism too, where there is no emphasis on that sort of Deity or its manifestations, just the power of the awakened mind. If there is really nothing to offer except faith, and no article will even suffice as worthwhile to support the point, we can drop the subject. I don't want to pester people about their religions.. I just have a lot of questions that i don't ask ordinary Christians.

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    in my tradition we are taught to evaluate things critically and not take anything on blind faith, but only after evaluating it and holding it up to the light of logic, reason, and the greater good. Christianity hasn't withstood the test yet. But if that's your answer, maybe someone else could explain those things to us.

    • Like 2

  6. Posted · Edited by konchog uma

    I"m afraid that you would have to prove that the bible is the unedited word of God, and that God is infallible, and neither are really possible to do. Its possible to have faith in that, because we can't prove it, but it's not possible to prove it, hence the rub with science and the scientific method. I am not bringing it up to slam Christianity or your own experience, unlike many non-theists, i think religion has the potential to help people and that mystical experiences of a religious nature can happen and are valid. I'm curious do you have anything to offer that isn't personal opinion or based on faith.

     

    Its interesting because the whole power of the church and Christianity definitely came from somewhere... but there is the matter of the mithra/horus/krishna/dionysus similarity pointed out in the film zeitgeist and elsewhere.. and there is the matter of the political and vested interests of the Church and the mistranslations of the bible into the common versions now, like king james, and worse, obvious to any scholars of greek or aramaic, as well as editing out of certain select books, and also the discrepancies between the Jewish mysticism that Jesus would likely have been practicing and the modern take on it (for example YHWH was not masculine, and not anthropomorphized, and not considered a god or even God then, as far as i understand). So there is a lot to be questioned if this is the infallible work of some ultimate and supreme Deity and we are to accept it as such on blind faith.

     

    Its convenient to think that if i agree to the party line and invite this character into my heart and become "saved" from further inquiry, that i will live in heaven forever. But Christianity accepted reincarnation until the council of Nicea in the 4th century. (does that mean that Christ taught reincarnation? google "gilgulim") So these bishops and cardinals have been about altering the word of "God" (in quotes because so many different words and names get translated as "God" in the modern bible) for almost 1700 years... you can change a lot in that time.

     

    Anyway, if you or anyone else can address any of that factually or even scientifically, without faith or circular logic (the bible says god is perfect and god wrote the bible so it must be true, etc) that would be really interesting.

    • Like 2

  9. Posted

    All I'll simply say to this is that it just seems like there is so much anger that I've been seeing here lately. I didn't really see much when I first got here (which wasn't very long ago), but it seems like I've been seeing it a lot, even in just what seem to be normal discussions. I understand that some people feel very strongly about certain things, but I suppose I'm just a little surprised at just how quickly people can jump to insults with very little pressure, and most of the time it's not even over disagreements, but rather because someone who commented didn't say exactly what the other person wanted or expected them to say. I mean, I understand that this is the internet after all, but I am just a little disappointed that there would be so much anger on a forum that's supposed to focus on promoting peace and harmony.

     

    lol when i got here, people immediately mocked me for being Buddhist... that has diminshed, but i have to say that when i arrived at TTB i had a strong interest in daoism, but now its not as strong, while my dharma studies and activities have increased tenfold. To be fair i will say that my present decrease of interest in daoism is largely due to realizing that worthwhile lineage teachers are extraordinarily rare, and without one, i can't really do what i would like to do with it. I don't try to learn advanced yogas and alchemies from books lol. To be honest though, the same lack of interest is largely due to the incredible displays which are regularly seen here on TTB. I hardly post anymore except to sharpen my haiku skills. To be sure, most of the heart-open people here are quiet and don't post often. The empty pail makes the loudest noise.

    • Like 4

  11. Posted

    i love cemeteries, but have had some strange encounters. Mary Anne Wynkowski, who is a regular guest of George Noory on Coast to Coast AM and has demonstrated psychic proficiency and ability to communicate with the ghost realm in telephone encounters with callers-in to the show, says that graveyards are no more or less populated with spirits than your average main street or the deep woods. She says that most spirits just wander aimlessly and are more attracted to things that they had attachment to in life, like locations or people, than they are to their own graves or the graveyard. I don't personally get a lot of psychic activity in cemeteries, and I have reason to believe that she can actually see ghosts as plainly as day. So that's my 2c. On the other hand, I think perhaps other kinds of spirits like graveyards because they are serene and peaceful and "twilight" places having a foot in each world of life and death so are powerful in that way. I have had encounters with something or other in cemeteries, and personally love to walk in them, in daytime or night, but always carry a respect for the sanctity of them, and try to offer what i can to the spirits that are there, even if that just means picking up litter and doing things like that that they can't do. I just received chod empowerment 2 weeks ago, and am not practicing at night, or in graveyards, for the time being. I had some freaky encounters surrounding it already, so am sticking to daytime practice in consecrated spaces. I do think meditating in a cemetery might be great, but i suggest stopping to still your mind and ask the spirit of the place or the resident spirits there if they mind, and then waiting for some kind of answer (when in doubt, don't do it), and sticking to practices which are in keeping with the place, pacifying (and pacified) practices, nothing wrathful or powerful. so thats 4 cents. or more.

    • Like 2

  16. Posted

    Gongchig by Jigten Sumgon

    a root text of Drikung lineage written by lineage founder JS. 190 pith statements ("vajra statements") in the form of "it is a commonly held point of view that ...X... but here it is considered ...Y." illuminating common misconceptions and the points that make the Drikung unique.

     

    Prayer Flags by Jigten Sumgon

    vajra songs and mahamudra instructons.

     

    Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madhyamaka in the Kagyu Tradition by Karl Brunnholz

    finally.

  21. Posted

    I read Karl Brunnhoelzl say that traditionally the wisdom aspect is considered the feminine and the compassion aspect is considered the masculine, and it is the union of wisdom and compassion which produces enlightenment. For some reason I always thought it would be the other way around.

     

    wisdom is considered the wisdom of emptiness, and as such a formless and abstract concept, considered feminine. compassion (or skillful means) are considered an action or a doing, and as such a formed concept, so masculine. The whole duality, at the same time, places emphasis in the feminine as mystical and formless, and also emphasis on the need for union of both to achieve freedom. Hope that helps you parse it. Its tough to really think about gender distinctions in a concrete way without laxing into culturally embedded ideas about men and women and thereby our prejudices. I have to admit, i see women as more abstractly capable and formless in their mentality, and run into situations of myself and other men trying to think about things too much where women are just able to grasp the idea and throw away the verbal baggage it came in more easily. But thats just my own experience, not a law or anything. I wonder if there is a practical or genetic basis for the distinction between left brained rational men and right brained intuitive women. hmm

  22. Posted

    self-diagnosis and self-treatment are great if you can't afford an herbalist, but if you can, go see one. Kidneys are most vital.

     

    I use Chinese Foxglove (rheumania) and Fo Ti Tien for general kidney support, buy organic, and not from China!!! (duh)

     

    i like MountainRoseHerbs out of Eugene Oregon USA... www.mountainroseherbs.com

     

    also adaptogens, like reishi, and eleuthero are good to add, but i have been cautioned against combining Fo Ti and panax ginseng of any kind (not to be confused with eleuthero which is often called siberian ginseng but is not a true ginseng) because their effects counteract each other when taken together. (my teacher said take them 3 hours apart if at all).

     

    again, Kidneys aren't to be fucked around with, ask the teacher who gave you those practices about it, and go get a consultation from an herbalist who at least believes in qi if not understands five elements theory if you can.

    • Like 2

  23. Posted

    yeah according to the dharma, form doesn't arise from emptiness in a created way, but is emptiness (and emptiness is form). So in that sense, nothing arises from anything else in the way posited by the OP, and to that extent the original question is phrased incorrectly. If you ask "if" form arises from emptiness you will get different answers. But asking "how does it" assumes that it does, which is not a universal POV. lol not to be a dick, trying to help clarify, which can oftentimes obscure by mistake...

     

    Master Lao posited that from one came two, and so on, until the ten thousand things had manifested, and while the literal interpretation of that could be disputed, it does at first glance imply that things arose from a source which was other than itself, ultimately back to Tao which manifests spontaneously. This has led to a lot of conflation of Chinese Tao and western God which has nothing to do with Master Lao's POV as i understand it. Shakyamuni Buddha posited that things are not created by anything other than themselves, nor by their own nature, (nor by both or something that is neither) but are spontaneously uncreated and exist in an illusory state like a dream. Other lineage masters have posited different things, but the question that the OP is trying to ask has been on everyone's mind for a long time, and while there are several versions of the answer to it, nobody has really proven anything from a scientific point of view except to mention some indirect support like the first law of thermodynamics, which (if i remember) is that energy/matter is never created or destroyed. Also it has been posited (but of course not proven) that the sum total of all the energy in the universe is zero (taking into account matter and anti-matter, positive and negative energy, and so forth) so i personally, seeing the support from science math and logic, i take the point of view of Shakyamuni and company, hence the first two sentences of this post.