The Bible (or others) as book (physical object)

[Vajradhara]

Namaste PersonaNonGrata,

thank you for the post.

Originally Posted by PersonaNonGrata

selam vajradhara,

unfortunately i couldnt be in athens during the ceremonies. (because of my dear new career plan i have undertaken). but i always enjoyed greece as i really could see how turks would be if we have chosen to be an orthodox instead of muslims. (or was it girl that was in my car that thought that) and yeah enjoyed the ride as well, as i was accompanied with 2 girlfriends of mine )))

too bad that you couldn't see the ceremonies... but, congratulations on your new career path

i guess i'll start with richness regarding to your post. being a rich person is always debateable i think. am i rich? i dont know. am i hungry no? do i have somewhere to live yes.

i think that richness is very relative. i'm extraordinarly rich, if you compare me with a farmer in Uganda, for instance. i'm exceedingly poor if you compare me to a business owner. i'm being general here for our discussion. i know that there are rich farmer and poor buisness owners

hmm then
let me quote a fine quote from my grandad (rip, el-fatiha):
So there is this fisherman, he had a hut near the sea, cooking delicious fishes for himself and occasionaly for the adventourous visitors that came to nearby ancient village in the forest. One day a mr. rich was visiting the village and having heard of the fame of the fishes that our fisherman made, he made a visit to him.
After finishing the most delicious fish he has ever eaten, he turns to the middle aged fisherman and says "you know what why dont you open up an eating house in the village, you can do more business there".. Fisherman,not surprised, says "so?"
"So?" replies the Richie, "so you can expand your business, you can open up a new restaurant"
Again the old man (?) says, "yeas, and then what?"
"And then what?? You will be owner of a restaurant, if all goes well you can open a very nice restaurant in the city later, oh man you sure will earn more money than now"
"I see, then what, what will i do next?", he asks...
"So you'll have money. Even, you can buy a boat and sail and rest in the ocean"

The old fisherman smiles, and says "do you see the boat over there... " ok you get the idea right ?

crystal clear, mon ami

You are so true about not giving them away, and i can see that its actually none of my business to tell you what you should do with your valuable goods, but the thing is if we cant practise what we believe then beliefs seems so cheaty, right?

i don't know. there are some beliefs that are challenging for all beings and others that are easily accepted and implemented. i suspect, as with most things, it's very individual.

How are the budhist scripts anyway? The holy writings of budhism (in general as there are hundreds of sects inside Are the covers enriched with gold? Not being sarcastic, honestly

oh, i would imagine that some are. just like all religions.. you've got folks that enjoy putting time and attention into things that aren't all that important. my Suttas and Sutras, however, are all quite plain

[wil]

I've got a total of 10 versions of the bible...different wrappers, that is including my kids. Including some duplicate versions due to the parallel bibles...fav Llamsa...other books in the house include the gita, some vedas, the prophet, number of 'new age' from castenada and das, to redmund and ruiz. Modern eastern.. Dali LLama, Chopra, Dwyer, Covey, Hanh, Tolle, Yogananda... and there is a Quran and the Book of Mormon, and then the health books and business books, more fun books 'The Monk who Sold his Ferrari.." Not to forget the business books, entrepreneur stuff, marketing and motivational, architectural and construction....and everytime I fly I buy some adventure, spy, cops and robber intrigue...for some reason planes induce pulp fiction...

haven't got to the ebook age yet...

and with the cost of ink and printers, seems to me books are cheaper...especially from the resellers and overstocks...

[Vajradhara]

Namaste all,


well... this isnt' really the right place... but, since we are talking about books...

i had the chance to visit a rare and used book store in Maine a few weeks ago.. to my great delight, i found several classic books in pristine shape.

i picked up a "Nature of the Universe" by Holye, circa 1900.
a copy of "Origin of Species" by Darwin from 1889, a book of Lord Byron from 1879, a copy of a series of letters by Zen Master Haikiun from 1790 (this is a reprint of that text, circa 1900) and a few others... i think a Tenneyson book and something else.

they had a huge arrangement and supply.

i was really interested in the Jewish Talmud from the Babylonian Captivity circa 1880, but it was quite expensive as it spanned nearly 12 volumes.

anybody else interested in old and rare books?

metta,

~v

[dauer]

Old and rare books are awesome! Maybe it's because I come from a religion that first independently identified itself around the time that writing was starting to happen in the region, or maybe not, but in either case, I love old and rare books. I have a few, but mostly too esoteric to deserve mention. And going into a used bookstore is heaven. There's one book I want, a sci fi book, called the Songs of Muad'dib, that I've never found, but I don't think I've searched hard enough either. It's by Frank Herbert and I think is supposed to be something analogous to psalms as existing in the Dune universe.

Every week the library at my school gets new used books and I always look through and sometimes pick things up. A dollar a book, and they get good books too. Often out of print. Sometimes not.

Dauer

[arthra]

Well I do have several Bibles I like to use for reference as well as other Holy Books... I think of these books more as living entities in a way... Each time you read them they can have different significances and "speak" to you...to your soul. There's a reason the term "People of the Book" came about.

Any book that encourages reflection is more than a physical thing by itself I believe.

Also there are books that were once owned by friends and picking up one of these books previously owned by a friend is like visiting them. So i have an old Baha'i Prayer Book (1941) that was owned by a friend of mine who is in the spiritual world and so these memories and associations of him come back.

Of course I own several Baha'i Books.

Some of the best bound books I think are of the Qur'an so the workmanship and quality are usually the best.

Probably the oldest book I have is a book of poems by John Dryden and it is well over two hundred years old and has type set that resembles an early King James Bible. There's a miniature size book of Milton's Paradise Lost that's a few hundred years old and the interesting about it is that it's in such good condition... but reading these books is also a little like going back in a time machine... You can sort of visualize what the world was like two or three hundred years ago.

- Art