Manjusri

from JoeUser Forums
With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,



So, in the end, eternal impermanence, vast process. We are here in this form as "we" for a short period and then we, in this form, are not. The stuff of the we is always here in one form or another and in this sense there is no birth and no death in its original nature.



When we realize this we become fearless bodhisattvas.



Our consciousness can "see" this vast process, but that is not the same as attaining it. Our mind can wrap itself around the concept, but that is not it. Original nature has no "I". It is just Original Nature. Big Mind.



So, then, what does a fearless bodhisattva do?



As dualism arises, he cuts it through with his sword. Our image for this is Manjusri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, who wields a flaming sword. This sword is not our mind, but our practice. Manjusri is depicted seated in zazen. He also is sometimes depicted holding the dharma in his other hand.



As we experience non-dual life, the dharma itself, we are completely free. Knowing there is no birth, no death, just Universal process, we see a wrong, we right it. We see a need, we meet it. We offer ourselves to the Universe with deep compassion and great love. It is in this that we free other beings. This is our way, the way of the Mahayana.



Entering the Stream of Great Realization and staying there is selfish. We enter the stream and step out, keeping the sweat taste of the water in our mouth, but then moving along in the mud. As we do this, or should I say, the more we do this, the more we realize, mud and water are the same. Nirvana and samsara, heaven and hell, are the same. And as this realization becomes our own, there is no stream to enter, no entering, no leaving, no heaven, no hell, just this.



Be well.
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Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hello Sodaiho,

Not sure I even understand what you wrote here and what little I did understand I probably don't agree with....but just wanted to stop by and say HELLO!

I did want to ask a question tho, that came to mind as I read what you wrote....have you ever been at the bedside of a fellow Buddhist just before they died? If so, were you able to see any verification of what you believe in their passing?

One of the reasons I ask is because I was wondering how you can know for sure there is no hell and no heaven?

Just curious.

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hello KFC,

You are quite correct, we would disagree very much on this issue. I have been with death frequently. This is so difficult to explain. Death, hell, heaven, birth, all are ideas about something. They are not the thing itself. While people are 'born' and people 'die' in the relative sense, they do neither in the absolute sense. Let's take, for example, a notion you are familiar with: the soul. Let's assume that there is, indeed, a soul that migrates from one dimension to another after death. What then is death, really? Or birth? The thing itself, the soul, is and always will be, as you might say, residing with God.

The stuff of the universe I refer to in my post was, is, and always will be: it is matter and energy and, as such, cannot be created nor destroyed. What then is birth? What is death? It is only the birth and death of an ego that we fear. And this ego is nothing but a string of electrical impulses which, wehen conditionms are right, will stop flowing and come apart, returning to the universe from which they came.

We, the stuff of the universe, are forever. In such a case as this, an afterlife makes no sense whatever. Because there is no afterlife, there is just vast life in constant process.

Be well.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
"They are not the thing itself. While people are 'born' and people 'die' in the relative sense, they do neither in the absolute sense. Let's take, for example, a notion you are familiar with: the soul. Let's assume that there is, indeed, a soul that migrates from one dimension to another after death. What then is death, really? Or birth? The thing itself, the soul, is and always will be, as you might say, residing with God."

Jesus said that through him you could find eternal life. That, to me, means that the soul will go on forever with God, as you say, and always will be.

However, some people do not accept Jesus. Therefore, there must be an alternative to eternal life. The opposite of a soul going on forever is a soul that is destroyed, that does not continue on. The thing itself, for a non-believer, will not always be.

Also, I believe the soul itself is created anew for each person. God does not recycle souls. Therefore, this soul was not always, even if it always will be, which it might not.

I believe the soul is always in another "dimension," as you said. It doesn't migrate. It just is no longer held back by the physical realm, so we can just be in the spiritual realm, which was always there.

In summation, people are absolutely born and some absolutely die. Matter, energy, and the laws of physics only apply to the physical body, not the soul or the spirit. Therefore, an afterlife makes perfect sense.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Dear Jythier,

Show me one thing in the universe that is always the same. Eternal life as a changeless being, separate from others, is a myth. It is a convenient story we tell ourselves. When Jesus said what you say he said, my sense is that he meant his way, not him. personally. What is his way? It is the same as the Buddha way.

Be well.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top

Show me one thing in the universe that is always the same.


There's a lot of things that are unchanging....the sun rising in the east and setting in the west....day follows night, the miracle of birth, etc.

His way is the way of the cross so therefore it can't be the Buddha way.

He bears the scars of the marks of his mission. His mission is now our mission. We die to ourselves and live for Christ. That is his way.



Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hello KFC,

You are kidding, aren't you, about the sun, day following night, etc.? These things will all change in a dramatic way in some millenia or other. Jesus way was NOT the way of the cross. The cross only served to make him a martyr and later folks took it to mean the fulfilment of a poorly interpreted scripture. Jesus'way was his life, not his death. How Jesus lived and loved. His compassion and forgiveness, his willingness to be with lepers and other unsavory types. This was Jesus'way, a way sadly lacking today, in my opinion.

Die to yourself and live for Christ sounds an awful lot like the very meaning of Buddhist practice. Especially if the Christ, as in some theological circles, understood to be less the person of Jesus and more the Universal God, or an Infinite Reality.

My sense is that we should focus less on the scars and suffering of someone nailed up centuries ago and more with what that person had to teach us about how to live.

Be well.