#mahayana

[mahayanapilgrim]

Know your enemy

[renegade-hierophant]

Pratisara Mantra, 927 CE, found near Luoyang, China

[buddhistmusings]

Pay Attention to Bangladesh

My heart breaks today as I learn about the immense suffering that Hindus are being subjected to in Bangladesh.

There is a history of oppressing religious minorities in the country, including periods of immense ethnic violence, escalating to the point of potentially being labeled as genocide in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which are populated by groups of mostly Buddhist indigenous peoples called the Jumma. This is a label for a group of related tribes.

Both Hindus and Buddhists have faced violence in Bangladesh, this is nothing new, but since the fall of their government a few days ago, the violence has become much higher. Hindus in the country are being targeting especially strongly right now. People are being killed, their homes are being destroyed, people are being kidnapped, temples are being desecrated and destroyed, and at a pretty massive scale.

I see people celebrating the fall of this government, which I can understand on one hand, as it was repressive, but the lack of authority has allowed incredible violence to be carried out against Hindus.

Please, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Jain, or Jew, pray for an end to this. Whatever power you believe in, pray for the violence to end. Do what you can to spread the word about what is happening to my brothers, sisters, and siblings in Dharma.

May all beings be free from hatred and the causes of hatred. May all beings be happy and may all beings be free. Let none anywhere despise any being, let none deceive another. May peace and Metta extend outwards from myself to each and every person, barring none, and may all beings swiftly be free of all suffering. Namo Buddhaya, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Buddhaya.

[makapatag]

upaya-kaushalya is one of my favorite pieces of buddhist thought. so much so that i find myself inherently following down the mahayana path (or as i like to call it, the vehicle of the masses) instead of the theravadin path because of it (aside from my own leftist inclinations of course).

essentially, upaya-kaushalya, or just really upaya when i'm talking abt it with fellow mahayana friends, is expedient means. upaya-kaushalya means "skillful mean" or "clever mean." when i've heard my lama talk about upaya it almost always means skillful means.

essentially, upaya emphasizes multiple roads to enlightenment. something is upaya if it is done out of ignorance but out of conscious effort to achieve enlightenment. this means you can have multiple different ways or ideologies for reaching enlightenment, and each of them have differing levels of efficacy, but they're all moving you toward enlightenment anyway.

my favorite part about this is that it acknowledges something that a lot of reformed/institutional religions don't really want to in fear of losing power through relinquishing of hegemony, which is context. this is why buddhism managed to flourish in southeast and east asia despite those regions being famously riddled with local faith and superstition because buddhism straight up was just layered on top of it and they didn't say whatever they were doing was wrong. they said that whatever they were doing were more means potentially leading to enlightenment anyway.

kinda like "we want you out of suffering, but we can only help you if you want to help yourself. you'll get out of it though." (though of course in mahayana everyone is working directly for the liberation of all sentient beings and not just themselves)

of course a caveat with upaya then is that it can lead to dangerous situations where anything can be justified as leading to enlightenment, even harmful practices. this can be counteracted through rigorous ethical rhetoric and debate (which buddhists are not strangers to!)

more importantly it can also be counteracted by saying that upaya can only really be done if you have bodhicitta, or otherwise you are doing it out of wisdom and compassion. i think that's a good enough qualifier to root out harmful practices, while still keeping mahayana super contextual!

mahayana is a really non-invasive faith when following the precepts (have the followers been able to keep it that way? well, they're still in samsara and not in dharmakaya...)

[hermeticphoenix]

The Realm of the Bodhisattvas and Emptiness

The realm of the bodhisattvas is located in the higher regions of the spiritual universe. Unlike the realm of the deities, the realm of the bodhisattvas has very clear and pure energies. The same energy could make a person a thousand times more alive. It is also full of joy, celebration, wisdom, and compassion.

Bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism are believed to be entities who delayed Nirvana to help those who needed help. Each bodhisattva is unique and has specific goals. Some bodhisattvas focus on helping non-human entities in higher dimensions, while others incarnate physically in the human realm.

The realm of the bodhisattvas is vast, and each region has a lesson to share, even from the smallest plant to the largest landscapes. It may seem strange to many people, but you do not have to go to the bodhisattva realm to experience the same thing. We can learn from nature, for example, as physical human beings.

The bodhisattvas have radiant and pure energy, much different from that of a deity. They also have very light and airy bodies, but they can change their form, although they have an original form that represents their qualities. But even their original form is changing.

Bodhisattvas also have an interesting aspect, which turned out to be connected to emptiness. This is also written in the Heart Sutra. In the essence of wisdom, there is emptiness. It can be challenging to understand but it is also somewhat paradoxical to some extent. But the ultimate reality is indeed emptiness, and within this emptiness, everything is possible and has full potential.

Once, a bodhisattva came to me and shared an important message to purify one’s energy. The bodhisattva said to always speak the truth, but humbly; to do good things, but not expect anything in return, and to be generous, but not take it to extremes. To do positive actions, one must do it wholeheartedly, aligning the mind with the wisdom of goodness, regardless of who you are helping. But use discernment, a highly valuable trait, to know whether the act of helping would be beneficial to a situation and to know the right person, place, time, and which action to take.

After connecting with the bodhisattvas, one can experience a sense of bliss, peace, and complete contentment. The bodhisattvas are already satisfied, for they do not form any attachments to anything they do. They are compassionate, but they also recognize the role of karma in everyone’s lives. They are wise, but they do not adhere to limiting belief systems. If human beings learn the power of emptiness, they can easily reach their goals, understand their desires, and eventually reach a higher consciousness.

Disclaimer: The views presented in this article are based on a hermetic perspective and may vary from traditional Buddhist beliefs.

[acalarakta]

Early Buddhist depiction of a bodhisattva with lotus (padma) in hands.

[grayrazor]

The diversity of Buddhism is fascinating. All the way from “there are no gods, there are no miracles, there’s no such thing as an immortal soul, karma and reincarnation are just metaphors,”

to “Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha was one human incarnation of the omnipotent multiversal being Mahāvairocana who came to give supernatural powers to his Enlightened followers, one of whom, Amitābha, made a Pure Land where you can go after you die if you call upon his name.”

Granted you could also kind of say the same thing about Christianity, but that’s always been a lot more self-policing of deviance, after all if you think there’s only one truth you want to nail down what exactly it is. Groups like Gnostics or Unitarian Universalists have always been marginalized, with the possible exception of the Mormons, who were isolated enough to actually build up some population.

[veiledbyart]

I'm trying to draw more on a daily base (let's see how well I'll manage that) and ALSO give all my characters that are faceless currently some designs!

So here is one of the ancient (as in, ancient era) NPCs from my LoZ Campaign!

Don’t use or repost my art without permission.

[teenageascetic]

“When the holy Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara had truly grasped the transcendent wisdom, he realized that visible form is only illusion. The same applies to its perception, to its names and categories, to discriminative intellect and finally even to our consciousness. They are all illusion. With this realizaton he was beyond all sorrow and bitterness.

Disciple Sariputra! The material is not different from the immaterial. The immaterial and the material are in fact one and the same thing. The same applies to perception, concepts, discriminative thinking and consciousness. They are neither existing nor not existing.

Sariputra! All things therefore they are in themselves not good and not bad, they are not increasing and not decreasing.

Therefore one may say there are no such things as form, perception, concepts, thinking process, and consciousness. Our senses such as eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are misleading us to illusion; thus one may also say there is no reality in visible form, sound, smell, taste, touch and mindknowledge. There are also no such things as the realms of sense from sight up to mind, and no such things as the links of existence from ignorance and its end to old age and death and their end. Also the caturāryasatyāni are nonexistent, just as there is no such thing as wisdom and also no gain.

Because the holy Bodhisattva who relies on transcendent wisdom knows that there is no gain, he has no worries and also no fear. Beyond all illusion he has reached the space of highest Nirvana.

All Buddhas of the past, present and future, found highest perfect knowedge because they relied on transcendental wisdom.

Therefore we ought to know that the great verse of the transcendent wisdom is unsurpassed in its splendor, and that it appeases truly all pain. It reads:

GATE, GATE, PARAGATE, PARASAMGATE BODHISVAHA!”

-The Heart Sutra.

[mahayanapilgrim]

The Secret of a Full Life

The secret of a full life is to live and relate to others as if they might not be there tomorrow, as if you might not be there tomorrow. It eliminates the vice of procrastination, the sin of postponement, failed communications, failed communions. This thought has made me more and more attentive to all encounters. meetings, introductions, which might contain the seed of depth that might be carelessly overlooked. This feeling has become a rarity, and rarer every day now that we have reached a hastier and more superficial rhythm, now that we believe we are in touch with a greater amount of people, more people, more countries. This is the illusion which might cheat us of being in touch deeply with the one breathing next to us.

The dangerous time when mechanical voices, radios, telephones, take the place of human intimacies, and the concept of being in touch with millions brings a greater and greater poverty in intimacy and human vision.

~ Anais Nin

The Diary of Anaïs Nin

[renegade-hierophant]

The Four Encompassing Vows Masses of creatures, without bounds, I vow to save. Anxiety and hate, delusive desires inexhaustible, I vow to break. Dharma gates beyond measure, I vow to learn. Buddha’s Way, unsurpassable, I vow to accomplish.

[buddhistmusings]

Suffering, as a condition of reality, is unavoidable. It's simply not possible to live without suffering.

When you walk into the grocery store and there's a child crying, it's giving you a headache, you'd rather the child stop crying - this is suffering.

When you speak to another person who is just failing to understand what you're getting at - that's suffering.

Any dissonance between a desired and actual state is suffering. The unfortunate truth of reality is that we can not control all states we are subjected to. We can, however, manage our desires.

Some people think this must make life dull, but it does not. It enlivens those moments we previously found dull. Our morning tea becomes an exercise in beauty and gratitude, and our good mornings become an exercise in love and compassion. The birds singing in the trees become neighbors to us, and we no longer reach for the fly swatter simply because we hear a buzzing sound. We celebrate the joys of others and mourn their losses, but do so without without feeling pain - which empowers us to actually help relieve theirs.

This is just a taste of the freedom that the Buddha is talking about, and it takes work to achieve. We can all experience it at some level, though, whether we call ourselves Buddhist or not. It's the right and inheritance of all people, human or not, and wherever we go, it's there with us. Whether or not we think we are walking with peace, it's walking with us, and whether or not we think we're sitting with the Buddha, he's sitting with us.

[blue-lotus333]

The Buddha in different religions/beliefs. 

Firstly, who is the Buddha?: 

The historical Buddha was a prince named Siddhartha Gautama who lived 2500 years ago in what is today northern India/Nepal. He was born into a warrior clan known as the Shakya, which is why he is often called Shakyamuni, “Sage of the Shakyas.” He is the one to later abandon worldly attachments, become enlightened, and found Buddhism.

The Buddha in Hinduism.

Some Hindus consider the Buddha as the 9th avatar of Vishnu/Dashavatara, The Buddha was integrated into Vaishnavism, it was also believed the Buddha’s wife, Yasodhara, was the avatar of the wealth Goddess Lakshmi, though Buddhists deny this, so as other Hindus who identify the 9th avatar of Vishnu to another being who was also called “buddha”.

The Buddha in Christianity.

Called St. Josaphat (Budhasaf) of India, The story of St. Josaphat tells of a prince in India who is converted to Christianity by a monk, despite his father's attempts to prevent it. The monk and prince are later honored as saints in Christendom. The Buddha was honored as a Christian saint for about a thousand years, but this wasn't recognized until the mid 19th century.

The Buddha in Hellenism.

Buddhism had a big influence on ancient Greeks, in which they would identify Buddhist beings with Greek beings, the Greeks were also the first ones to make Buddhist statues. Heracules (or Zeus) was identified with The bodhisattva Vajrapani, whom was seen as Buddha’s protector. There also was a Syncretism between The Buddhist Goddess Hariti & Greek goddess tykhe.

The Buddha in Taoism.

Some Taoist believe that the Buddha was a reincarnation of Laozi, the founder of Taoism. Some also believe he was either on the same power-level as the Jade emperor, the Taoist king of heaven, or stronger than him. 'Buddha' is absorbed wholly into the Taoist cosmology, becoming another term used to describe the generative tissue at the source of all things in both the mental and physical realms.

The Buddha in Shinto.

Buddhism & Shinto are mostly seen highly entwined in Japan. The buddha is called Shaka in Japanese & was transformed into a powerful Japanese deity, whom coexisted with the Shinto gods. Buddhist temples were often attached to Shinto shrines. A Shinto temple would sometimes have a priest of that shrine read a Buddhist sutra in which Shinto events took place.

[practicalzen]

ZEN PRACTICE

For all of my adult life, Zen Buddhism has been the metaphor that resonated with me. I spent more than 10 years studying with Geshe Kaldan (a Tibetan teacher). However, for the most part, I communicated with him using Zen Buddhist terminology. He accepted this completely and the small differences between our approaches to the Dharma were never an issue. In fact, both of us enjoyed the interplay between the two traditions.

At this stage of my life and my practice, I find it very difficult to fault, or favor, any system (religious, political, or philosophical). Think about it. If a system is run by informed, well intentioned, compassionate, generous people, it will work. If a system is run by greedy, angry, dishonest people, it will not work. You can’t legislate honesty, compassion, or wisdom.

Zen Buddhism is not better than Christianity, or Islam, or Hinduism, or almost anything else you can name. The key is less the system and more the mind of the practitioner. If an individual is prepared to let go of biases, preconceptions, and selfhood, and tries to find the heart of compassion and the 'connection with life' that likely initiated the system, then that system will probably work for them.

When you come down to it, if a system disconnects you from people, from the world, and from life, then it will likely become a source of pain and distress. Simply consider how your beliefs make you feel. Do they make you angry, encourage greed, frighten you? Do they isolate you from people who don’t agree with you? Do they lead you to making decisions that hurt family and friends, people in general and this earth that we share? If they do, then you need to consider the nature of your beliefs and/or, perhaps, the nature of the system you have adapted.

As I have said, for me the Zen metaphor has been a consistent source of help throughout my life. Zazen, which is simply another word for 'sitting meditation', has always supported me and helped me grow – even in my stupidest, most deluded moments – and I have had, and still have, plenty of them.

In the beginning, my understanding of the word ‘practice’ was engaging in regular ‘sitting meditation’, but as I grew in my understanding of Zen and Buddhism, the idea of ‘practice’ grew with me. Now, everything in my life is part of my ‘practice’ – and, everything is connected to, and is an extension of, my ‘sitting meditation’.

It is easy to partition off our ‘spiritual life’ and isolate it from all of the rest of our life. However, if we examine things carefully, I think we will find that there are no partitions anywhere. When we cook, or clean, or perform our tasks at work, or interact with family, friends and acquaintances, we should act from a mind of compassion, generosity and understanding. When that is the case, it is possible to act skillfully. We will all still make mistakes, but the more mindfully and compassionately we act, the fewer the mistakes and the better we make the world.

The following video is an eloquent explanation of 'everyday' Zen.

[tracetheradianceback]