Post by brian on Aug 12, 2013 6:55:57 GMT 1
How many times have I heard people are afraid of the emptiness of life? That have a deep void in their hearts. They fear that life is meaningless and pointless.
Yet Buddhism embraces this emptiness, this void, this eternal vast space which represents Outer Space in the Universe. So they fill that empty void with drugs, alcohol, food, craving, materialism, distraction or whatever samsaric creation. It seems absolutely preposterous to the monotheistic mind to actually embrace this emptiness, this lonliness with a meditative pose. So they create fantasies to fill that gap within, namely God. This is understandable and no great revelation of course, but I think this reinforces the importance of the buddhadharma in today's world. People all WANT to be fulfilled but they are all pulling at strings if they don't know the Buddha's message.
I have heard many "New Age" speakers that are quite wise and compelling that have a good message that is VERY much like Buddhism, such as Eckert Tolle with his Power of Now and Dr. Wayne Dyer with his gracious love, but they don't seem to want to attribute this education from the Buddha but make as if they have found this knowledge all on their own. Basically Buddhism gets plaigerized and manipulated copiously in Western psychology. I see how Buddha and Buddhists get continuously ridiculed and undermined in many cultures and it is just water off our backs like no big deal, but if Muhammed gets humorously mocked, then all hell breaks loose, riots start and somebody dies. What is up with that? It seems that monotheistic believers are extremely attached to their superheroes Muhammed or Christ and get very easily offended when their icon's status is questioned quite legitimately. (especially from a true scientific/historical perspective). Yet Buddhists are cool to recognize that legendary folklore exists around the life of Buddha. It is his TEACHINGS that take the forefront of our religion, not the man himself which feeds egotistic comparison.
The Buddha mind is boundless, with the wind, in the atmosphere. The Buddha mentality is truly selfless. All other "gods" or prophets are terribly confined to great superstition and political history. It just is what it is. Who cares if someone gets offended? That is their delusional problem within, not mine. They will suffer nonetheless because suffering is inevitable without Buddha's wisdom anyway. Buddha is unique in his teachings which makes him quite simply...the ultimate emptiness holder.
Would just like your thoughts of emptiness in the Buddhist context being interpreted as nothingness or purposelessness in most other realms of thought. Because the notion of life or the very SELF being "empty" would be an aberration to most popular monotheistic ideology.
I just witness many people in America not taking anything said by a fat, do-nothing Buddha seriously while still clinging to outdated myths like Jesus actually raising from the dead. I think monotheism feeds our imaginative desires but does nothing to actually enlighten us. Emptiness is truth, not fantasies that cover it up.
Yet Buddhism embraces this emptiness, this void, this eternal vast space which represents Outer Space in the Universe. So they fill that empty void with drugs, alcohol, food, craving, materialism, distraction or whatever samsaric creation. It seems absolutely preposterous to the monotheistic mind to actually embrace this emptiness, this lonliness with a meditative pose. So they create fantasies to fill that gap within, namely God. This is understandable and no great revelation of course, but I think this reinforces the importance of the buddhadharma in today's world. People all WANT to be fulfilled but they are all pulling at strings if they don't know the Buddha's message.
I have heard many "New Age" speakers that are quite wise and compelling that have a good message that is VERY much like Buddhism, such as Eckert Tolle with his Power of Now and Dr. Wayne Dyer with his gracious love, but they don't seem to want to attribute this education from the Buddha but make as if they have found this knowledge all on their own. Basically Buddhism gets plaigerized and manipulated copiously in Western psychology. I see how Buddha and Buddhists get continuously ridiculed and undermined in many cultures and it is just water off our backs like no big deal, but if Muhammed gets humorously mocked, then all hell breaks loose, riots start and somebody dies. What is up with that? It seems that monotheistic believers are extremely attached to their superheroes Muhammed or Christ and get very easily offended when their icon's status is questioned quite legitimately. (especially from a true scientific/historical perspective). Yet Buddhists are cool to recognize that legendary folklore exists around the life of Buddha. It is his TEACHINGS that take the forefront of our religion, not the man himself which feeds egotistic comparison.
The Buddha mind is boundless, with the wind, in the atmosphere. The Buddha mentality is truly selfless. All other "gods" or prophets are terribly confined to great superstition and political history. It just is what it is. Who cares if someone gets offended? That is their delusional problem within, not mine. They will suffer nonetheless because suffering is inevitable without Buddha's wisdom anyway. Buddha is unique in his teachings which makes him quite simply...the ultimate emptiness holder.
Would just like your thoughts of emptiness in the Buddhist context being interpreted as nothingness or purposelessness in most other realms of thought. Because the notion of life or the very SELF being "empty" would be an aberration to most popular monotheistic ideology.
I just witness many people in America not taking anything said by a fat, do-nothing Buddha seriously while still clinging to outdated myths like Jesus actually raising from the dead. I think monotheism feeds our imaginative desires but does nothing to actually enlighten us. Emptiness is truth, not fantasies that cover it up.
