#what is buddhism

[monotheistreal]

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[astranauticus]

Director of the False Last Act

[rorah]

Dimitriverse here. And I'll use it as pretext to talk about Hopes. 'In this essay I will ☝️...'/j I must be one of the few - if not, the only one- (who's not on board with the anti-church propaganda |Just in case: I grew up in an atheist house| and not a Byleth hater either) who actually liked hopes because it supports and enhances houses narrative view (contrary to the common belief that it's the opposite).

Hopes shows a constant comparison between both games. And we know that this universe plays a lot with the parallels between different characters, and relationships. Both similarities and contrasts. Hopes is a contrast, seen from Shez's perspective.

It is established from the beginning that they only see the superficial positive qualities of the leaders, just like general tone presented of this game.

Here I'm going to focus mostly on AM's goal and its contrast in AG.

In AM Dimitri achieves redemption and benevolence through forgiveness and acceptance. These lessons he learns from Byleth - the teacher/ the guide/ the enlightened one (the class enlightened one is mea to alude that who have more knowledge and greater understanding of something, who also aludes to the original aspect of the game. Nirvana. The JP Byleth class) in an indirect way. Byleth in turn gets it from the goddess herself but also their life lessons/experience from GM, and the people surrounding them. WC is an important and crucial stage in Byleth's development, as is the interaction they have with the diverse students they tutor.

The role of Byleth goes beyond a mundane "self-insertion" of the player. Byleth is meant to be a bridge between that goddess and humans: the path to Nirvana.

Both forgiveness and acceptance are mentioned in the game but can go unnoticed due to the level of subtlety they are mentioned, but they are core elements in Buddhism such as compassion and wisdom that serve as a path to inner peace and freedom (specially for the leaders who rule over big factions of people), and breaks the chain/cycle of suffering, anger, revenge, resentment, among others.

And that reminds me of Arval's constant words: "the cycle of this world". What does Arval mean? The cycle of this world… said by an Agarthan "deity", whose only role in the game has been to generate constant conflicts between the inhabitants of Fodlan and beyond perhaps? so that they kill each other. I don't know Joe, something here smells weird -wink wink- (Not to mention it also emphasizes the qualities achieved through Nirvana)

It's Important to understand the importance of Forgiveness and everything involved in the act. Understanding forgiveness, as a spiritual practice, goes beyond simply letting go of resentment. It involves cultivating mindfulness and compassion towards oneself and others. Since the game has heavily references and basis from Buddhism you can grasp it from there (more than Christianity, I'm sure different faits have somewhat different or similar approach to some concepts). But need to mention the act is also applied from a physiological and neurological perspective (in case you're not much of a "fait" person like me. I still like the Buddhism take tho, from a philosophical standpoint💖).

Anyway, Dimitri AM manages to learn those lessons and is not just "to learn to live for himself", which is also important, but it is only possible to achieve it through the through the acts already mentioned: forgiveness, acceptance, compassion, etc. Acts that acts that are practiced externally towards others but which are mostly an act towards oneself. Compared to Dimitri AG where the path chosen is revenge.

Misfortune always dogs the steps of one who gives way to the desire for revenge.

Does he get the answers he thinks he wanted? Yes Did it satisfy him? A Dimitri fan knows it didn't. Can Dimitri's friends help him? No, because they're in a similar situation or under similar believes, and this game displayed it.

Sopilers: No, they won't get anything from getting revenge and certainly doesn't help to move on. Much less Dimitri, who's mental health has only been addressed at the end of a couple of supports. Is Shez a bad person? No! but they help no one and just goes along with whatever the leader says. Is Arval/Epimenides a bad entity? This is where I think, the original concept of the game is applied, the one mentioning. There's no good or bad, only a matter of perspective. But of course, that's something arguable and extense that deserves its own analysis.

At the end of all 3 routes, the war continues (despite having finished off Thales in AG) because the cycle continues. The cycle of anger, of suffering, of revenge, of prejudice, etc. And in my opinion, I think that's beautiful (the comparison, I mean). Thanks for coming to my Ted talk

[handweavers]

something that has interested me for years is the ways in which mysticism within religions allows for a kind of heretical or non-orthodox thought, and particularly within the context of christianity i find a lot of that heretical mysticism stumbles into the same epiphanies and ontologies that are found within south/east/asian religions as well as among contemporary medieval mystics studying kabbalah and sufi thought. i'm particularly fond of when christian mystics would stumble into nondualist belief, and how often nondualism is positioned as deeply unorthodox when it's possible to find mystics across time and space and culture who have arrived to similar conclusions, and the degree of spiritual and almost scientific honesty expressed by them within that belief. how much of their words still ring true, even with all we know now about the universe, because of their willingness to face the unknowable and the immense and sit with it simply because they understand it is sometimes all we can do

[meirimerens]

the pathologic Kin is largely fictionalized with a created language that takes from multiple sources to be its own, a cosmogony & spirituality that does not correlate to the faiths (mostly Tengrist & Buddhist) practiced by the peoples it takes inspirations from, has customs, mores and roles invented for the purposes of the game, and even just a style of dress that does not resemble any of these peoples', but it is fascinating looking into specifically to me the sigils and see where they come from... watch this:

P2 Layers glyphs take from the mongolian script:

while the in-game words for Blood, Bones and Nerves are mongolian directly, it is interesting to note that their glyphs do not have a phonetic affiliation to the words (ex. the "Yas" layer of Bones having for glyph the equivalent of the letter F, the "Medrel" layer of Nerves having a glyph the equivalent of the letter È,...)

the leatherworks on the Kayura models', with their uses of angles and extending lines, remind me of the Phags Pa Script (used for Tibetan, Mongolian, Chineses, Uyghur language, and others)

some of the sigils also look either in part or fully inspired by Phags Pa script letters...

some look closer to the mongolian or vagindra (buryat) script

looking at the Herb Brides & their concept art, we can see bodypainting that looks like vertical buryat or mongolian script (oh hi (crossed out: Mark) Phags Pa script):

shaped and reshaped...

[jewishboricua]

nobody can convince me that cultural christianity in western culture, particularly the USA, doesn't exist when i specifically remember one time me and my family used to go to this plant based restaurant a few years back, and i remember that the owner was openly Buddhist and had put Buddha as part of the logo for her restaurant, and then I had watched a show that had a segment about Buddha, which I found really cool, so I proceeded to tell my conservative Christian mother about what I learned, then she told me "that's nice honey, but I go here for the food, NOT the politics." with a passive aggressive tone, and i'm not gonna lie, i think it's FUCKED UP that being a part of a religion that isn't Christianity or even being atheist/agnostic is "too political" and is even considered "pandering to an agenda"

[velvetvexations]

if your brain isn't female, and your body isn't female, wtf about you is a woman? your soul? think hard, sir. die male

[akkivee]

all of humanity’s karma, bring it forth | offer it all up, from beginning to end | with my inner eye open, the lotus flower blooms

[pharawee]

I've been seeing some confusion about what it is that Phaya and Tharn have done in their past lives to deserve punishment now - or in what possible way they have wronged others and are now "reaping bad karma".

I've also seen the theory that the venerable Luang Por might be the reincarnation of the naga that wanted to be a monk... which is actually a really touching possibilty because the story about the naga monk does exist. You can find in in the Vinaya (Mv.I.63.1) but here is a condensed version:

... Once a Naga, a powerful serpent who can take the form of a human being, was mistakenly ordained as a monk. Shortly after, when asleep in his hut, the naga returned to the shape of a huge snake. The monk who shared the hut was somewhat alarmed when he woke up to see a great snake sleeping next to him! The Lord Buddha summoned the naga and told him he may not remain as a monk, at which the utterly disconsolate snake began to weep. The snake was given the Five Precepts as the means to attaining a human existence in his next life when he can then be a monk. Then out of compassion for the sad snake, the Lord Buddha said that from then on all candidates for the monkhood be called 'Naga' as a consolation. They are still called 'Naga' to this day.

*by Ajahn Brahm

So if the naga by following the Five Precepts is reborn as a human being he can then be a monk. 🥺🙏

As for Phaya and Tharn's karma - it's not so much that they've done something morally wrong. It's more that by their intentional actions they have wronged Chalothorn and this is what leads to the consequences we've seen. It makes more sense if you don't view karma as a direct result or as punishment/judgement, but rather as a cause and effect that's not really for us to understand.

I also think it's more important here that Chalothorn's continuous intentional actions are the cause of his own downfall (and that of Phaya and Tharn), while the venerable Luang Por states: "Remember, your [Phaya and Tharn's] good deeds and merits will always protect you."

[rinbylin]

okay... idk at all if this has been discussed or that I'm just stating the obvious. I'm posting any way to get more feedback.

so. can we be sure that the last boat scene even happened (in the way we saw it at least)

yeah the letter was delivered to the intended recipients. the letter also did say 李相夷绝笔 lit. the final writing by li xiangyi. there's a brief exchange between him and the assumed "boatman" asking him where he was going. and we see he spat blood while writing yeah but:

llh/lxy's eyesight had been failing for some time.

Professional Letter Writers are a thing in the past in service to people who can't write their own letters (idk enough to verify the historical accuracy in this specific context though)

what has been bugging me since forever is the manner of speech of the letter. yeah it's different from their everyday speech, but that's actually perfectly fine since this is A Letter so I'm good with it being more formal. but... there's something I just can't quite pinpoint. especially with the use of the 君 jun pronoun by llh/lxy to refer to dfs when there could be other pronouns with less connotations of intimacy (and scholarly/imperial court system) implied and still conveyed cordiality, marking a shift in their relationship. (I'm not well versed with wuxia as a genre enough to know what are the conventions. someone else who does can say something though.)

whatever these put together means (eg. he may not have written the letter personally, or he wrote it in a different situation from what we saw, etc etc.) alongside:

this scene existed only as part of a visualisation as the letter content is revealed to the audience (or assumed to be fdb reading the letter to dfs & guests of the wedding spectators of the duel)

the boat lxy/llh jumped on is not the same as the one he was writing the letter on - the boatman is also not on it despite the conversation at the beginning, but lxy/llh's dressing and hairpin are the same as the ones before he jumped. (the boatman delivered the letter so he's real though.)

also as @wonderfulnonsense happened to have just pointed out in the tags left in my other post: it's in fact the same boat he took to go fight dfs at donghai 10 years ago. (edit: or maybe it isn't? as pointed out by anon.)

if we viewed whatever we perceived in this scene as imaginary (not what actually happened), then the reading of it being a metaphor for lxy/llh being on his way to enlightenment just makes sense. (the boat being a carrier on his spiritual transformations.) especially when you consider that 彼岸 the other shore is another concept in buddhism to represent enlightenment, alongside the motif of lotuses. (credits to @markiafc for the buddhism reading - edit: mark's meta here) and then, consider the beach ending... yeah.

[monotheistreal]

Discover the essence of Buddhism in our newest video, 'What is Buddhism?'. Join us, as we navigate the core concepts of Buddhism, offering a comprehensive and accessible explanation in English. Explore the contrasts between Hinduism and Buddhism, solving the details of these ancient philosophies. Whether you're a spiritual seeker or simply curious, this video promises an insightful exploration. #BuddhismExplained #SpiritualJourney #Monotheist #buddhism #Religious #Explained #enlightenment #MonotheismVSpolytheism #trending #viral #buddha #explore #reels

[absolutely-flabbergasted]

Starting to think the people who "defend" the jedi order with "they're space buddhist!" don't actually know much about buddhism

[originalitysquared]

I think it's funny how people treat religion. You can't say that christians are oppressed without sounding like a weird American Evangelical. Isalmophobia is also hilariously American as Islam is such a HUGE religion elsewhere in the world. Someone will always bring up buddhism when speaking of the evils of religion as if Buddhists didn't also uphold societally expected norms. Like??? The only religion that is seemingly beyond reproach in modern consensus is Judaism and like??? Because they were murdered! Like! That doesn't make their religion any less patriarchal?!?!

Idk I find it so weird that huge fucking religions like Islam and Judaism are seen as "other" to Christians. Like people are so quick to try and split them up as something completely different. Bro they all talk about the same fucking guy. They all have similar fucking rules. Abrahamic religions literally rule the world.

So tired of people being ignorant.

[sherlockholmeshound]

whenever ppl try to come up with some version of 'romance and love isn't forbidden by the jedi, on this one novel-'

i'm just...

[river-in-the-woods]

Karma

I sometimes come across people who say they “don’t believe in karma.” I believe this stems from a misunderstanding of karma as a purely supernatural force.

Karma is not something you believe in: it is cause and effect, as real and insentient as the force of gravity. Karma is a shorthand for everything a being can experience and the causes that lead to these experiences.

You touch the fire and it burns you. That’s karma. Your karma is that you are a being of flesh and your body cannot tolerate certain elements.

Your family has a history of cancer, and you develop cancer. That’s karma. Your karma is that you carry the genetic inclination for certain diseases.

You encounter a challenge and overcome it against all odds. That’s karma. Your karma is that you had the skills and resources to achieve the outcome you desired.

When we observe certain phenomena in the world, we understand that this was possible because there was the necessary karma for it to occur - the necessary causes were present. Sometimes we label this as ‘bad’ karma or ‘good’ karma, purely because of how we perceive that experience. There will have been innumerable factors involved in that experience coming to pass. Hence, karma can be understood in a purely mundane context.

Since we spiritual practitioners tend to get involved with magic, gods, spirits and other realms, then naturally we observe that there are additional ways in which karma can work. Sometimes on a scale that is difficult to comprehend and spans lifetimes.

When we understand karma, that is, cause and effect, we come to understand some of the myriad of influences upon our experience. Sometimes we understand enough that we can change the karma that we have.

In my opinion, karma makes the most sense in the context of rebirth and spiritual inheritance: the idea that there is some continuity after death and the karma of one life can be inherited by another.

The way that I personally understand karma is that it is like an attunement, or a momentum. Every action, every thought, is like a movement that creates a gust of wind that pushes us toward a certain outcome. Repeated actions of a certain nature solidify this momentum, like gathering winds that create a storm, or trails of water that carve a riverbed into the earth.

Across lifetimes, this becomes especially powerful. We may find ourselves repeatedly experiencing certain themes in our lives. The same kinds of fortune and misfortune that come back in different forms, created by the momentum of our inherited karma. It takes persistent effort to escape what has been ingrained into our experience and go beyond what our past has shaped us to be.

Karma must also be understood in the context of interdependence. We do not exist in isolation, our own karma will impact the karma of others, and vice versa. Everything in the world has its own karma, a way it can influence other things: how we navigate these influences determines our fate.

Don’t be daunted by the enormity of it all. A ship that sails across the sea will not encounter every wave on the ocean, only the ones in its path. We have the choice to ride upon those waves, or we can learn to read the winds and waters and try to change our course.