A Personal God?

[Vajradhara]

[quote author=AerylonBlackwolf

Where in Buddha's search for the ultimate truth ever tell him that the things he aspired for were of his own making? Just curious.

er... i'm not sure what you're asking here.... can you elaborate or clarify?

[Arch]

If Buddha was incarnated, where was he incarnated from if there is nothing after death? Or is this a mention towards the Hindi avatars of Vishnu, which sometimes include Buddha?
Sorry, I am lost on the Eastern thinking!

[ardenz]

Originally Posted by ;1210

I'm afraid I don’t understand the principle of God, let alone see the personal side. I've never been a great fan of the New Testament either. Does God have to be personal? I remember bill saying something about preferring to see the Goddess as a woman because it better expressed the feeling of love he got from God. Or did I read that wrong? I mean, does God have to be human? And if not in human form, what is god to you? I'm just asking around the question.

My experience has been of a "force". I don't see it as a person at all. I am neither an Atheist or Christian/Theist - I don't even like to call it spirituality in the New age sense - all these labels and history of religion has muddled what it it. Something is there underlying reality and science is grappling with it more than religion is these days ( I believe ) as discoveries are made that seem beyond our understanding of reality. Super strings/ Zero point field/quantum mechanics etc..

[paganprophet]

Sure glad I'm not a Buddhist! Brian's right. Gautama was depressed and his religion shows it. Life sucks! Don't think, be nothing and get it over with..

[Vajradhara]

Namaste Pagan prophet,

thank you for the post.

Originally Posted by paganprophet

Sure glad I'm not a Buddhist! Brian's right. Gautama was depressed and his religion shows it. Life sucks! Don't think, be nothing and get it over with..

whilst you are certainly entitled to your view, there is no manner by which you, or Brian, can establish this opinion

that you think that Buddha Dharma advocates "life sucks" displays a fundamental misunderstanding of the teachings. not only does life not "suck" this human rebirth is the best of all possible existences and this is made quite clear in the Suttas.

perhaps you are imputing your own views unto Buddhism?

moreover, you seem to be intimating that the Zen/Ch'an approach of "don't think, sit" is the only method of practice within the Buddha Dharma however, this is not so. there are, in the Vajrayana point of view, 9 distinct methods/modes of practice which are advocated within the Suttas that are equally capable of leading a being to the Other Shore.

if you'd like to know more about my religion, i invite you to come to the Eastern Thought section/Buddhism and ask any question that you may have

metta,

~v

[cyberpi]

Originally Posted by paganprophet

Sure glad I'm not a Buddhist! Brian's right. Gautama was depressed and his religion shows it. Life sucks! Don't think, be nothing and get it over with..

Paganprophet, your name is so interesting and since you claim to be a prophet, I'd like to ask you a pagan question: When King Arthur removed the sword from the stone, which was more valuable... the sword, or the stone. Please explain the reasoning to your answer.

[Francis king]

ur own personal jesus,
someone to hear ur prayers, someone who cares
ur own personal jesus,
someone to hear ur prayers, someone who's there
reach out n touch faith...

lol..

why can't we each have a personal God? if God is omnipotent and omnipresent, if God is formless, if God is neither male or female, then God for me might be a great wind which holds up a small bird, while for you he might be the bird itself, or a worm in the beak of the bird... some ppl would say that God is all these things; the wind, the bird and the worm, all at once...

it all depends on what u believe, I suppose.. many ppl feel that they have a personal relationship with their God, some ppl feel that God is unknowable to man...

makes me think of krsna, how he is sometimes a small cowherd boy, sometimes a fierce warrior, sometimes a fantastic lover, or a protective father, all at the same time- when he is God, he can be all things to all men at the same time without it conflicting...

there is a passage in the bhagavad gita, and arjuna is speaking with krsna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, and krsna has his two handed form, and arjuna asks to see krsnas real form, and so krsna obliges, and arjuna's little human mind almost snaps in two- to see krsna as a million gods and demons all at once! wow! arjuna is terrified, and asks Krsna to change bk, which he does...

the moral to the tale, I think, was that God appears to u in the form which u find most agreeable- to me God might be a small child to nurture, to u he might be a demon slayer, to another he may be the giver of boons, but don't be too quick to decide thats all there is to god, as god, by his nature, is a lot more than that...

[Tao_Equus]

Originally Posted by ardenz

My experience has been of a "force". I don't see it as a person at all. I am neither an Atheist or Christian/Theist - I don't even like to call it spirituality in the New age sense - all these labels and history of religion has muddled what it it. Something is there underlying reality and science is grappling with it more than religion is these days ( I believe ) as discoveries are made that seem beyond our understanding of reality. Super strings/ Zero point field/quantum mechanics etc..

Hi Ardenz and welcome to CR !!

I have recently had my claim of being a spiritual person mocked because I come from the same overal angle of contemplation as you. So it is heartning to find someone new on these threads with such close veiws.

Oftentimes science is so caught up in the competition of assuring its next years funding that it causes there to be a disharmony both within and between the disciplines. This makes it appear almost like a religion with many sects and branches. Science to my mind does now grapple with the fundamental questions of the how and the why far more than religion, it is just a shame that there are so few truly independant interdisciplinary spokespersons for it. Thankfully we now have the internet so likeminded people can begin to draw together the totality into a coherant whole. The internet is still so new. Yet so awesomely powerful. I hope this power opens a new age in honest contemplation and understanding.

TE

[Sunny C.]

I can't define God, so I try not to use that word. I thought for a while that I could borrow the word to try to express the object of my thoughts, but I just wind up talking past people.

[Tao_Equus]

Originally Posted by Sunny C.

I can't define God, so I try not to use that word. I thought for a while that I could borrow the word to try to express the object of my thoughts, but I just wind up talking past people.

I know that feeling. A word captures something, an object ,an idea , a principle or whatever. The totality of what God really is is beyond our scope to capture, and certainly far greater than any belief system is able to encompas. If we are lucky we do get the odd glimpse of a facet of it tho.

[ardenz]

Originally Posted by Tao_Equus

Hi Ardenz and welcome to CR !!

I have recently had my claim of being a spiritual person mocked because I come from the same overal angle of contemplation as you. So it is heartning to find someone new on these threads with such close veiws.

Oftentimes science is so caught up in the competition of assuring its next years funding that it causes there to be a disharmony both within and between the disciplines. This makes it appear almost like a religion with many sects and branches. Science to my mind does now grapple with the fundamental questions of the how and the why far more than religion, it is just a shame that there are so few truly independant interdisciplinary spokespersons for it. Thankfully we now have the internet so likeminded people can begin to draw together the totality into a coherant whole. The internet is still so new. Yet so awesomely powerful. I hope this power opens a new age in honest contemplation and understanding.

TE

hi Equus,

I have just finished reading Richard Dawkins " the God Delusion". I liked his scientific questioning of religion, but ultimately found him closed minded - absolutely NO god or any organising intelligence whatsover. I was accused of being a wishy washy agnostic or fence sitter and getting it from both sides on an Athiest vs Christianity forum.

It is so refreshing to see this forum here where different perspectives are accomodated.

[Snoopy]

Intolerance is always unwelcome, whoever is brandishing it; atheist or otherwise.

If you're being hit equally by both sides, then this can help to maintain your balance!

s.

[Tao_Equus]

Originally Posted by Snoopy

Intolerance is always unwelcome, whoever is brandishing it; atheist or otherwise.

If you're being hit equally by both sides, then this can help to maintain your balance!

s.

You cannot be wrong if you dont declare

[Snoopy]

Indecision is the key to flexibility

[Nick the Pilot]

Ardenz,

I am like you, neither a monotheist nor an atheist. Welcome to the club!