Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 8, 2015 9:30 pm
Title: Re: Achieving Death
Content:
I apologize, among fellow practitioners or the informed this would not be an issue; among the uninformed or the uninitiated, I can see this would cause confusion. Astute observation!


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 8, 2015 8:14 pm
Title: Re: Achieving Death
Content:
Yes, of course, but notice I said buddhas and aryabodhisattvas: meaning their wisdom of the nonarisen nature of dharmas. To buddhas and aryabodhisattvas, phenomena are equivalent to illusions and therefore are empty. Conventional and ultimate exist as only mere designations for buddhas and aryabodhisattvas. It is from that perspective in which the Prajnaparamita Sutras employs its teachings.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 8, 2015 7:55 pm
Title: Re: Achieving Death
Content:
I could quote any number of passages, from a variety of Mahayana sutras, if you wish?  To summarize the point I made: samsara and nirvana are nonarisen, therefore buddhas and aryabodhisattvas do not abide in either samsara or nirvana. The Prajnaparamita Sutras, further state that nirvana is equivalent to an illusion, which means that buddhahood itself is equivalent to an illusion.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 8, 2015 5:54 pm
Title: Re: Achieving Death
Content:
I hope it's understood that this is an extreme in Mahayana doctrine; reading the "Perfection of Wisdom in 8000 lines", etc., completely turns the Hinayana notion of nirvana on its head.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 8, 2015 7:46 am
Title: Re: Achieving Death
Content:
I apologize because this is incorrect: buddhas possess a non-abiding nirvana, it's not until the eighth bhumi that a bodhisattva is said to have the freedom to choose their place of rebirth. Arya-bodhisattvas and buddhas are alike, in that they course in prajnaparamita, that is free from the extremes of samsara and nirvana.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 8, 2015 5:41 am
Title: Re: Achieving Death
Content:
Bodhisattvas on the pure bhumi's (8th-10th), as well as buddhas, have non-abiding nirvana.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 8, 2015 5:13 am
Title: Re: Achieving Death
Content:
Yet, arya-bodhisattvas voluntarily choose to be reborn in samsara. That freedom from involuntary rebirth is why the concept of non-abiding nirvana is central to Mahayana.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 8, 2015 1:01 am
Title: Re: On uprooting samsara
Content:
The bodhisattva vow consists of becoming a buddha to bring all sentient beings to the stage of buddhahood; not to be taken literally, but as an aspiration representing an ideal. The cycle of the arising, enduring, and destruction of the container universe is understood to be beginningless and endless in Dharma.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Dec 9, 2014 5:30 am
Title: Re: Judgement
Content:
These questions are better suited for a Western Philosophy forum than a forum for Dharma. An intended discussion on ethics in buddhadharma would need to address wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, its cause and its effect, in regards to meditative equipoise and so on. Inevitably, the place of upaya in Mahayana Buddhism would need to be addressed as well.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Dec 6, 2014 8:49 am
Title: Re: Zen smell, Zen stink and Zen pong
Content:
Bodhidharma hands Huike a copy of the "Lankavatara Sutra" in the prevalent version of his mind seal transmission. "Buddhist Dharma language" from the sutras is embedded within Zen literature which itself coincided with the cultural period of its development.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Dec 4, 2014 5:43 pm
Title: Re: Zen smell, Zen stink and Zen pong
Content:
It can favorably be argued that Mu Mutt wants this type of approach to Zen: a caricatured empty shell of "Zen".


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Dec 4, 2014 5:22 pm
Title: Re: Zen smell, Zen stink and Zen pong
Content:
It meets three major criteria for designation as a religion:

1. It has a mythology centered within "mind-to-mind" transmission tracing back to Shakyamuni Buddha.

2. A priestly class.

3. An infrastructure for a priestly community which disseminates this mythological transmission.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Dec 2, 2014 9:05 pm
Title: Re: Request for something super specific
Content:
This reminds me of "noting"/Mahasi style vipassana (not the counting per se, but the act of "noting" sense objects, etc.). Is this the method you've experimented with?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Dec 2, 2014 7:32 pm
Title: Re: what makes Buddhist deathlessness not eternalism?
Content:
https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=259832#p259832

https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=259875#p259875


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Dec 2, 2014 5:46 pm
Title: Re: what makes Buddhist deathlessness not eternalism?
Content:
Dzogchen has its own view and path; just as in Sarma schools (Gelugs differ on this), Mahamudra has its own view and path. Respectively, they are the definitive vehicle.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Dec 2, 2014 5:44 am
Title: Re: what makes Buddhist deathlessness not eternalism?
Content:
Being the reincarnation of a terton must have helped. His prior training and yogic accomplishments shouldn't be discounted either (he was likely the best candidate to be nominated as "head of the lineage").


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Dec 2, 2014 5:08 am
Title: Re: what makes Buddhist deathlessness not eternalism?
Content:
From what I recall, Dudjom Rinpoche was the first Nyingmapa to be appointed this position (I discerned at the time for political reasons).


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Dec 2, 2014 4:41 am
Title: Re: what makes Buddhist deathlessness not eternalism?
Content:
https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=34231#p34231

https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=107255#p107255

https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=65204#p65204


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Dec 2, 2014 3:25 am
Title: Re: what makes Buddhist deathlessness not eternalism?
Content:
What texts and who's commentaries are studied in Nyingma shedras?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Dec 2, 2014 1:10 am
Title: Re: what makes Buddhist deathlessness not eternalism?
Content:
I believe the Nyingmapas follow a standardized interpretation following that of Rongzompa, Longchenpa, and Mipham in that order.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Dec 1, 2014 9:48 pm
Title: Re: what makes Buddhist deathlessness not eternalism?
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Nov 28, 2014 10:59 pm
Title: Re: Sensing Chakra's & Energy Body
Content:
It may be a matter of emphasis between traditions....


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:44 pm
Title: Re: Emptiness and Depending Origination
Content:
Followed by:


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Nov 22, 2014 9:05 pm
Title: Re: Existence And Causation
Content:
Chandrakirti's sevenfold reasoning will be most helpful in this case: https://books.google.com/books?id=eih9v4ijswcC&pg=PA302&lpg=PA302&dq=chandrakirti+chariot&source=bl&ots=To7-w_nYfI&sig=i1v_16Zdtt0Xa0sDX4oNPivTdaU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KepwVNjCMYaegwSknYP4Cg&ved=0CBgQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=chandrakirti%20chariot&f=false


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Nov 22, 2014 8:34 pm
Title: Re: Renouncing Theravada
Content:
Tibetan Buddhist's largely ordain under the Mulasarvastivadan vinaya lineage, but you may encounter bhikshunis who have received full monastic ordination under the Dharmagupta vinaya. It's not quite clear from your inquiry, if you want to know which vinaya is most similar to the Theravadan, or what practice is most similar to Mahasi style shamatha-vipashyana. As to the latter, the most similar would be Sutra Mahamudra, but jhanas are not generally emphasized in Tibetan Buddhism; "access concentration" is sufficient enough to practice vipashyana in that tradition.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 17, 2014 12:13 am
Title: Re: Zen smell, Zen stink and Zen pong
Content:
Zen developed in cultures steeped in Confucian ideology: therefore its organizational structure, etiquette, etc. reflects wider cultural norms.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Nov 16, 2014 11:54 pm
Title: Re: Zen smell, Zen stink and Zen pong
Content:
Perhaps the answer lies at an intersection between these contradictions of Zen literature and the reality of Zen as its been passed down to us.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Nov 16, 2014 11:03 pm
Title: Re: Awareness of awareness
Content:
The inseparable clarity and emptiness of Dzogchen can be summarized as meaning: you cannot rid yourself of this clarity nor can this clarity be found.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Nov 8, 2014 9:54 pm
Title: Re: Tsongkhapa guru yoga question
Content:
Practice lineages, even of the same deity, aren't necessarily identical with one another. If you have an HYT empowerment from one of the other Sarma lineages (i.e. Hevajra, Cakrasamvara, Kalacakra, etc.), then you may only require lung from a guru to engage the practice of a deity, but even this is not always the case. In relation to your predicament: a Vajrayogini empowerment may suffice even if its not traditionally associated with Gelug.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Nov 7, 2014 10:29 pm
Title: Re: Tilopa's Six Advices
Content:
You need to receive an anuttarayoga empowerment (e.g. Cakrasamvara) and Mahamudra instructions from a guru.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Nov 7, 2014 8:40 pm
Title: Re: Tilopa's Six Advices
Content:
You need to view Tilopa's instructions through the lens of creation and completion stages.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Nov 4, 2014 12:39 am
Title: Re: Residing in the ground of being
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Nov 4, 2014 12:17 am
Title: Re: Residing in the ground of being
Content:
gzhan stong ≠ Dzogchen


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Nov 4, 2014 12:14 am
Title: Re: Residing in the ground of being
Content:
Dudjom Rinpoche does indeed subordinate the level of sutra view to Dzogchen view; bringing my preferences into the equation is a non sequitur.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 3, 2014 11:10 pm
Title: Re: Residing in the ground of being
Content:
It's not so much a case of uptightness, but determining for a fact that Dudjom Rinpoche subordinated sutra view to Dzogchen; which was proven with the quote I posted earlier.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 3, 2014 11:00 pm
Title: Re: Residing in the ground of being
Content:
Our preferential likes or dislikes should not be a decisive factor in determining Dudjom Rinpoche's reason for subordinating sutra to that of tantra.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 3, 2014 10:21 pm
Title: Re: Residing in the ground of being
Content:
Yes, of course, but you were making allusions to this pet theory you have been putting forth, that Dudjom Rinpoche's advocacy for his preferential sutra view, represents the equivalency of his stance on Dzogchen view.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 3, 2014 8:18 pm
Title: Re: Residing in the ground of being
Content:
Dudjom Rinpoche knew full well the delineations he was making. It's just a basic fact of Vajrayana to subordinate the views of sutra to that of tantra.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 3, 2014 3:20 pm
Title: Re: Residing in the ground of being
Content:
Dudjom Rinpoche had a preference for shengtong, but clearly, as was quoted in my post: he distinguishes the view of Dzogchen from sutra. He was an adherent of shengtong on the level of sutra only.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 3, 2014 6:34 am
Title: Re: Residing in the ground of being
Content:
https://books.google.com/books?id=LwS6RjZWd7QC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=the+eight+lower+levels+have+intellectually+fabricated+and+contrived+that+which+is+changeless&source=bl&ots=tbyMVuCagF&sig=ebWa6c8HCZ3Ld7Kso5Jgmd3dvNI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=awxXVIXNKsaaNoXSgrAC&ved=0CAsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20eight%20lower%20levels%20have%20intellectually%20fabricated%20and%20contrived%20that%20which%20is%20changeless&f=false

"In The Festival of Delight Dudjom Rinpoché explains that the Great Perfection is superior to the lower vehicles...In contrast, the eight lower vehicles of Buddhist teachings are based upon intellectual contrivance and fabrication. Dudjom Rinpoché explains this from the perspective of the Great Perfection:

The eight lower levels have intellectually fabricated and contrived that which is changeless solely due to fleeting thoughts that never experience what truly is. They apply antidotes to and reject that which is not to be rejected. They refer to as flawed that in which there is nothing to be purified, with a mind that desires purification. They have created division with respect to that which cannot be obtained by their hopes and fears that it can be obtained elsewhere. And they have obscured wisdom, which is naturally present, by their efforts in respect to that which is free from effort and free from needing to be accomplished. Therefore, they have had no chance to make contact with genuine, ultimate reality as it is (rnal ma'i de kho na nyid)."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2014 7:58 pm
Title: Re: Tendai vs. Gelug: Problems with Syncretization?
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2014 7:13 pm
Title: Re: Tendai vs. Gelug: Problems with Syncretization?
Content:
Despite Tsongkhapa's formulation of conventional and ultimate truths: I feel these differences, in terms of Gelug sutra view and meditation, in fact will not clash with that of Tendai kengyo. Tendai mikkyo is kriya tantra and yoga tantra, therefore any discrepancies with anuttarayoga tantra (or Gelug Mahamudra) would be irrelevant.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Oct 23, 2014 7:47 pm
Title: Re: Is Buddha different from a rock?
Content:
If you recall from this thread, Tom explains the emphasis of delineation for Gelug conventional and ultimate truths, and its connection to practice very well; it could prove beneficial in tying it all together:

https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=231054#p231054

https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=231129#p231129


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Oct 23, 2014 2:49 pm
Title: Re: Is Buddha different from a rock?
Content:
This applies to view and meditation for sutra and tantra.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Oct 22, 2014 3:54 am
Title: Re: Is Buddha different from a rock?
Content:
The basis for Buddhist philosophizing lies in Buddha's teachings of the skandhas, ayatanas, and dhatus; the hurdle lies in realizing the meaning of Buddhist philosophizing.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Oct 22, 2014 2:15 am
Title: Re: Help me out here - I've got some big gaps in my knowledg
Content:
There's a partial translation of Tsongkhapa's sngags rim chen mo, but I believe this would appeal mostly to Gelugpas: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-1-935011-01-9/great-treatise-on-the-stages-of-mantra. To reiterate, there are a plethora of tantric resources available online, although they are only relevant to one who has received the requisite empowerment(s) or are restricted.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Oct 21, 2014 8:01 pm
Title: Re: Is Buddha different from a rock?
Content:
Possibly studying the 12 links of dependent origination could prove beneficial for furthering your comprehension of Mahayana discourses:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.002.than.html


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:57 am
Title: Re: Help me out here - I've got some big gaps in my knowledg
Content:
It must be forewarned, that Tsongkhapa's lamrim chenmo reflects his "unique" articulations of conventional and ultimate truths, which diverges from the other Tibetan sects.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:38 am
Title: Re: Is Buddha different from a rock?
Content:
Do either apply? "Nonseparation" was being discussed was it not?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:07 am
Title: Re: Is Buddha different from a rock?
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:58 am
Title: Re: Is Buddha different from a rock?
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:26 am
Title: Re: Is Buddha different from a rock?
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:33 pm
Title: Re: Is Buddha different from a rock?
Content:
How does buddhanature, which you describe as synonymous with the brain, give rise to the self?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:56 pm
Title: Re: Help me out here - I've got some big gaps in my knowledg
Content:
You cannot go wrong with lamrim: especially with Tsongkhapa's lamrim chenmo


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:31 pm
Title: Re: Help me out here - I've got some big gaps in my knowledg
Content:
Did someone mention Gelug?  

Fortunately, FPMT has an extensive library of freely available resources online, but one of the primary resources for any Gelugpa would be lamrim (great, middling, and concise commentaries). You can find some recommendations I provided for a poster through the links in this thread: http://dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=77&t=17249


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:29 am
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
Yet you seem keen on validating a position not found in Buddhist sutras.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Oct 20, 2014 5:20 am
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
Do you accept the Buddhist doctrine of the two truths?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Oct 20, 2014 1:05 am
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
I'm afraid this is off the mark from how the "Tathagatagarbha Sutras" or Shengtong interpretations parse it.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Oct 19, 2014 11:28 pm
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
Are you sure you have the required knowledge in order to give an answer to his questions?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:25 pm
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
Refining one's knowledge of buddhadharma through internet forums is acceptable, but it is not entirely adequate. The most effective means is by receiving teachings and explanations from a teacher within a Buddhist lineage. A practitioner proceeds by hearing, contemplating, and meditating on these teachings.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Oct 19, 2014 7:58 pm
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
It's quite alright, if you're struggling to wrap your head around Buddhist concepts, as we've all been there and must begin from somewhere. I myself, like to deepen my understanding of buddhadharma by means of this forum, but if it weren't for my teachers, I would be utterly bewildered from all the new concepts and meanings I have learned over the years. There is no substitute for the benefits gained by having a teacher to guide one's understanding and practice of buddhadharma. Do you have a teacher in a Buddhist lineage?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Oct 19, 2014 2:13 am
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
http://bodhimarga.org/docs/Bodhicittavivarana_English.pdf

I fail to see how my inquiry should have elicited controversy on a forum for Mahayana Buddhism.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Oct 18, 2014 6:53 pm
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
Could the act of perception then be construed as the bearer of identity while its nature being likened to perceiving?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Oct 18, 2014 6:04 pm
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Oct 18, 2014 4:25 pm
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
Negation of extremes, as formulated in your quote, are a common device within the "Prajnaparamita Sutras"; indicating the mind's luminosity which is intrinsically pure of defilements.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Oct 18, 2014 6:16 am
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
Here derived from the term svabhava meaning an existent entity or established from its own side as Gelugpas say.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Oct 18, 2014 5:39 am
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
Can you provide examples?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Oct 18, 2014 4:48 am
Title: Re: So what is the Tathagatagarbha?
Content:
Indeed, a buddha's omniscient qualities are nonarising, synonyms denoting this absence of self-nature include signless, markless, wishless, etc. (per "Heart Sutra"). A bodhisattva must inevitably tread the Mahayana path, eliminating the two obscurations, only then can this culminate into the permanence, purity, bliss, true self of a buddha.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Oct 14, 2014 3:03 am
Title: Re: Mahayana Reading List
Content:
BTTS's most recent effort in translating the "Surangama Sutra": http://www.buddhisttexts.org/surangama.html. Tsongkhapa's "Lam Rim Chen Mo" and his commentary on the "Abhisamayalamkara" if acquiring it is not an issue: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0895819910?pc_redir=1411538238&robot_redir=1


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Oct 12, 2014 4:51 pm
Title: Re: Why Buddha rejected the concept of Higher Self
Content:
Buddha's teaching of dependent arising:

https://sites.google.com/site/rahulawhatthebuddha/the-first-noble-truth


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Oct 8, 2014 4:34 am
Title: Re: Concept-free Buddhism
Content:
Buddhadharma promotes to its practitioners to hear, contemplate, and meditate on its teachings, never to build an edifice of concepts for the mere sake of prapanca. It follows that realization proceeds from view as stated by the Buddha.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Oct 2, 2014 2:43 pm
Title: Re: Would someone explain a bit about dzogchen meditation ba
Content:
Of course, but being as it may, it has tantric methods.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Oct 1, 2014 9:55 pm
Title: Re: Would someone explain a bit about dzogchen meditation ba
Content:
Which employ methods working with tantric anatomy: https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=218399#p218399.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Sep 26, 2014 9:51 pm
Title: Re: Contesting constant non-dual awareness of Shakyamuni
Content:
Implicit within the usage of this term, is that it doesn't deviate from standard Buddhist teachings of sense consciousnesses arising concurrently with the meeting of a sense organ and sense object, so the issue inevitably boils down to accounting for the cognition of a buddha if they have exhausted the seeds for the arising of designable consciousnesses.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Sep 26, 2014 3:13 pm
Title: Re: Contesting constant non-dual awareness of Shakyamuni
Content:
So this has a correlation with the "reflexive knowing" of Buddhism? I came upon this thread on svasamvedana:

 https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=10147.

 Is it correct to make this connection?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Sep 25, 2014 10:55 pm
Title: Re: Contesting constant non-dual awareness of Shakyamuni
Content:
Malcolm, what's the original Sanskrit or Tibetan term that "non-dual awareness" is being translated from? Do you feel this is adequate? I can't help but feel this term renders a crypto-advaitan meaning onto Buddhist teachings of dependent arising.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Sep 12, 2014 9:26 pm
Title: Re: What is the Sutra that talks about what to trust
Content:
It seems you are thinking of the "Kalama Sutta": http://www.fakebuddhaquotes.com/do-not-believe-in-anything-simply-because-you-have-heard-it/. A very minor sutta in which its importance has been blown out of proportion by some audiences.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Sep 12, 2014 8:54 pm
Title: Re: Study Guides & Commentaries
Content:
https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=32 -- "Vimalakirti Sutra" translations and commentaries


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Sep 12, 2014 8:23 pm
Title: Re: Orthodox Mahayana Sutras
Content:
Newest translation of the "Shurangama Sutra" by BTTS: http://www.buddhisttexts.org/surangama.html


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Sep 12, 2014 2:56 am
Title: Re: Mo-ho-Chih-kuan forthcoming
Content:
Paul Swanson on translating the "Mo ho chih kuan": http://www.academia.edu/2195559/Some_Discoveries_Upon_Translating_the_Mo-ho_Chih-Kuan


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Sep 12, 2014 2:21 am
Title: Re: Orthodox Mahayana Sutras
Content:
Do see to it that you look into Zhiyi's "Mo ho chih kuan" when it is published.

https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16908


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2014 7:13 pm
Title: Re: Orthodox Mahayana Sutras
Content:
http://lirs.ru/lib/conze/The_Short_Prajnaparamita_Texts,Conze,1973,1993.djvu -- "The Short Prajnaparamita Texts"

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/resources/downloads/sutras/02Prajnaparamita/Astasahasrika.pdf&sa=U&ei=ptwRVIiQLabGsQSCgYKoCw&ved=0CAsQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNGx0uQ_e-TjREmjkoJNV9ngHrzjaw-- "Perfection of Wisdom in 8 Thousand Lines"

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://lirs.ru/lib/conze/The_Large_Sutra_On_Perfect_Wisdom,Conze,1975.pdf&sa=U&ei=3OURVNqBL-bziwKMn4CYAw&ved=0CAsQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNHpAL9VMqGlMZVD-C3rLYwIAVoWDA -- "Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom"


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:08 pm
Title: Re: Mixing Buddhist and non-Buddhist Practices?
Content:
https://books.google.com/books?id=eih9v4ijswcC&pg=PA302&lpg=PA302&dq=chandrakirti%27s+chariot&source=bl&ots=To62tWnXeN&sig=UWVN6n3MiUSyNJbiO-4gj07YAQ4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4ekAVPTQIdKlyASSnYHYBQ&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=chandrakirti%27s%20chariot&f=false


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Aug 29, 2014 2:09 am
Title: Re: Mixing Buddhist and non-Buddhist Practices?
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Aug 28, 2014 9:44 pm
Title: Re: Mixing Buddhist and non-Buddhist Practices?
Content:
Do read this essay as it is informative of the Buddhist view:

http://www.academia.edu/245588/Self-Awareness_without_a_Self_Buddhism_and_the_Reflexivity_of_Awareness


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Aug 28, 2014 7:53 pm
Title: Re: Hsu Yun and Chan
Content:
Have you considered receiving instruction from a living Chan teacher?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Aug 20, 2014 11:20 pm
Title: Re: Heart Sutra -- why study it?
Content:
Thus, all are contributing factors to creating positive imprints in the mindstream.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Aug 8, 2014 6:56 pm
Title: Re: Question about an analytical approach
Content:
It is best not to envision it as a linear progression, studying and meditating on one section of the lamrim, moving onto the next while leaving behind the previous teachings, but as a process of continual familiarization with the lamrim in its entirety.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Aug 8, 2014 5:10 pm
Title: Re: Question about an analytical approach
Content:
Individual progress differs due to many factors, it is best not to focus on a predetermined timescale, as this misses the mark. The magnitude of trust and effort, invested in the lineage [of teachings], precedes the development of signs [of accomplishment] on the [tantric] path; this is discussed between you and a guru.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Aug 6, 2014 5:55 pm
Title: Re: Question about an analytical approach
Content:
Another resource to check on:

http://www.jangchuplamrim.org/media/video/

http://www.jangchuplamrim.org/jangchup-lamrim/text-translations/russian/


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Aug 6, 2014 5:01 pm
Title: Re: Question about an analytical approach
Content:
When it concerns the object of negation, do not hesitate to ask any questions, to apply vipashyana you want to have a clear understanding. If you can understand English better than you can read it, then there are many lamrim audio/video teachings available to you over the internet; otherwise you have this: http://dalailama.ru/

On the other hand, this excerpt from a book will give you an example of the object of negation, to be applied with vipashyana: http://mandala.fpmt.org/archives/mandala-for-2013/october/the-easy-path/. I do not think this book is available in Russian, which is unfortunate because it is a commentary on the first Panchen Lama's lamrim teachings, from a well known Gelug Rinpoche.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Aug 4, 2014 7:01 pm
Title: Re: Question about an analytical approach
Content:
I do not know what tradition of Buddhism you adhere to, but if you are studying lamrim, then I assume it is one of the Tibetan Buddhist sects; lamrim is an excellent starting point. Seek to request instruction, on the finer points of Dharma, from a teacher at your local center. Failing that, attempt to have personal correspondences with a Khenpo or Geshe by whatever means of communication.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Jul 12, 2014 8:03 pm
Title: Re: Dzogchen & rainbow body
Content:
FYI:

https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=218399#p218399


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Jun 30, 2014 1:15 am
Title: Re: A Physicalist Theory of  Mind
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jun 29, 2014 9:32 pm
Title: Re: A Physicalist Theory of  Mind
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jun 29, 2014 8:20 pm
Title: Re: A Physicalist Theory of  Mind
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jun 29, 2014 12:57 am
Title: Re: A Physicalist Theory of  Mind
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Jun 28, 2014 8:24 pm
Title: Re: A Physicalist Theory of  Mind
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:39 am
Title: Re: Unreality of Thoughts
Content:
The ultimate, strictly according to the Prajnaparamita Sutras, cannot be attributed by the extremes of permanence and impermanence, being and nonbeing, and so forth.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jun 26, 2014 6:38 pm
Title: Re: Dr. Sanderson:  Phowa etc. are directly from Saivism
Content:
This alludes to the elements in their refined form? "Form" as in the elements which comprise the rupa skandha.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jun 26, 2014 6:21 pm
Title: Re: Dr. Sanderson:  Phowa etc. are directly from Saivism
Content:
Perhaps, this is alluding to the refinement of the elements or the elements in their refined form? Assuming, the categorical premise for "physical", refers to the rupa skandha, which the 5 elements comprise.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Jun 25, 2014 4:24 pm
Title: Re: amala-vijnana
Content:
"Amalavijnana", may very well be an intermediary device, not to be taken literally, an indication of the "revolution of the basis", completion of the bodhisattva path, hitherto the eight consciousnesses are transformed into the wisdoms of a buddha. At that time, all traces of the alayavijnana, are extinguished.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun May 4, 2014 10:28 pm
Title: Re: Gorampa & Tsongkhapa
Content:
It's clear he had a particular agenda by formulating the two truths the way he did, otherwise his critics wouldn't have rallied against his interpretations as a deviation from the source material. This agenda may have been multifaceted in its focus, but determining any prime motivations may prove elusive.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun May 4, 2014 9:39 pm
Title: Re: amala-vijnana
Content:
If it's any consolation, you can read more on the topic of Paramartha's "ninth consciousness", as discussed in this thread: https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=7126


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri May 2, 2014 10:36 pm
Title: Re: Gorampa & Tsongkhapa
Content:
Returning momentarily to my prior inquiry, while keeping your explanation in account, does this imply that Tsongkhapa's formulation of the two truths were a means to an end, an opposition to a normative he felt needed to be remedied?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri May 2, 2014 12:38 am
Title: Re: Gorampa & Tsongkhapa
Content:
Can those knowledgeable individuals, present your theories on the motivations for Tsongkhapa's peculiarities, in formulating the two truths? Was it simply as a means to engender a unique lineage for propagation to future generations? Circumstantial probability arisen from environmental elements during this period of Tibet's history?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:17 pm
Title: Re: Why did you choose Buddhism?
Content:
Dependent co-arising.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:49 am
Title: Re: Why did you choose Buddhism?
Content:
Nonconceptuality, takes on various roles and meanings in Buddhism, but nonconceptual states, absent of discriminative thoughts, are not an end in itself as this does not indicate the arising of insight according to the standards of Buddhism.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Apr 23, 2014 3:11 pm
Title: Re: Is "mystical union" a part of Buddhism?
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Apr 2, 2014 1:06 am
Title: Re: Bodhidharma statements on invoke the buddha ?
Content:
This must mean the entirety of the noble eightfold path is irrelevant, because the means it prescribes for the cessation of ignorance, aggression, and craving is:  right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Mar 21, 2014 2:54 am
Title: Re: Is all knowing state same as Higher Self?
Content:
A crucial tidbit, having to do with the tathagatagarbha sutras, that's being omitted from SOB's posts: permanence, bliss, purity, true self refers to the fruition of buddhahood; bodhisattvas still have to progress through the 5 paths of Buddhism.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Mar 21, 2014 2:45 am
Title: Re: Is all knowing state same as Higher Self?
Content:
Can also be translated as "pure perception" having to do with completion stage. The empty nature of appearances, are revealed in their intrinsic purity, as the inseparability of relative and ultimate truths; at least that's what we're supposed to be aiming for when doing creation and completion stage.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:54 am
Title: Re: Is all knowing state same as Higher Self?
Content:
Pure vision of the deity is free from the extremes of samsara and nirvana.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:24 am
Title: Re: Is all knowing state same as Higher Self?
Content:
You're misrepresenting my statement! Ultimately, dharmas are in a state of nirvana, as taught in Mahayana; differentiation of dharmas are their suchness because they are free from extremes. From the viewpoint of Mahayana, the nature of dharmas are unestablished, since they are empty.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:12 pm
Title: Re: Is all knowing state same as Higher Self?
Content:
Fundamentally, this is dualistic, from the Mahayana viewpoint.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:33 pm
Title: Re: The basis is one's unfabricated mind
Content:
'Self-reflexive knowing' in Buddhism has been brought up in the 'Early Buddhism and Mahayana' thread, but I think the context of this needs to be grounded in what is said in the Kalakarama Sutta:

https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=14040&hilit=reflexive+knowing&start=400

http://measurelessmind.ca/anattasanna.html

"Thus, monks, the Tathāgata does not conceive an [object] seen when seeing what is to be seen. He does not conceive an unseen. He does not conceive a to-be-seen. He does not conceive a seer. 

He does not conceive an [object] heard when hearing what is to be heard. He does not conceive an unheard. He does not conceive a to-be-heard. He does not conceive a hearer. 

He does not conceive an [object] sensed when sensing what is to be sensed. He does not conceive an unsensed. He does not conceive a to-be-sensed. He does not conceive a senser. 

He does not conceive an [object] known when knowing what is to be known. He does not conceive an unknown. He does not conceive a to-be-known. He does not conceive a knower."

You can also read this academic paper for more info: http://www.academia.edu/245588/SelfAwareness_without_a_Self_Buddhism_and_the_Reflexivity_of_Awareness


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:59 pm
Title: Re: question on rainzi statement
Content:
It reminds me of the Heart Sutra or the Diamond Sutra when I read that. Have you thought about posing this question to one of teachers over on zenforuminternational? I think it will be helpful to pose the question there: http://www.zenforuminternational.org/viewforum.php?f=32&sid=e61f66fc505278d22e88ac0cc7cddbc5


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jan 26, 2014 7:44 pm
Title: Re: "the Self is real" according to T. Page
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jan 26, 2014 3:10 am
Title: Re: "the Self is real" according to T. Page
Content:
If certain scholars were doing this decades ago, who's to say that some aren't doing this now?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jan 26, 2014 1:57 am
Title: Re: "the Self is real" according to T. Page
Content:
How do you feel about the statement that 'all dharmas are selfless/empty'?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:49 pm
Title: Re: "the Self is real" according to T. Page
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 23, 2014 10:00 pm
Title: Re: "the Self is real" according to T. Page
Content:
What about direct introduction? When someone receives empowerment, they also receive instructions on how to practice according to pure vision, in post-meditation, right?  

Aren't the tantras, of the Sarma schools, written from the POV of emptiness a la Madhyamaka?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 23, 2014 7:05 pm
Title: Re: "the Self is real" according to T. Page
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 23, 2014 6:11 pm
Title: Re: "the Self is real" according to T. Page
Content:
I would think so, otherwise Buddha wouldn't have stated, "He who sees Dependent Origination, sees the Dhamma; he who sees the Dhamma, sees Dependent Origination [MN 28.] "


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:12 am
Title: Re: "the Self is real" according to T. Page
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Nov 29, 2013 5:59 pm
Title: Re: Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness
Content:
But not the English translations that are currently available.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 25, 2013 6:44 pm
Title: Re: BASIS FOR KARMA / REBIRTH
Content:
These three articles will help in understanding the law of karma according to dependent origination:

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm

http://www.buddhanet.net/cmdsg/getting6.htm

http://www.buddhanet.net/cmdsg/kamma1.htm

All three are similar in content, but each explains the topic from slightly different angles, which could be helpful. Take notice, in the first article, of the authors views on the intermediate state (bardo) which are unique to the Theravadins. His views should not be held as exclusively representing the majority opinion, according to this article: http://santifm.org/santipada/2010/rebirth-and-the-in-between-state-in-early-buddhism/


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Nov 20, 2013 5:09 pm
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
The examples given by Malcolm can be understood in terms of potentiality in light of the dharmakaya i.e. emptiness as permanent. Especially when considering that purity, bliss, permanence, true self are the fruition of buddhahood.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Nov 19, 2013 1:11 am
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
It's basically saying do not seek tathata apart from or outside of the skandhas, dhatus and ayatanas.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:33 am
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
Are you aware of the message of that quote?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:14 am
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
I thought they were relevant...including the Shurangama Sutra quote.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 18, 2013 9:14 pm
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
How would they feel if you quoted this to them?   

https://books.google.com/books?id=LRvV8ZadHTIC&pg=PT26&lpg=PT26&dq=This+mind-essence+devoid+of+ground+and+root+Is+the+basis+of+all+phenomena.&source=bl&ots=LURxRrgebY&sig=EST3ytTlKpttu6R2ZPqtmFa4p9c&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sHmKUsyFJJOw4AP1iYDADA&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=This%20mind-essence%20devoid%20of%20ground%20and%20root%20Is%20the%20basis%20of%20all%20phenomena.&f=false

This mind-essence devoid of ground and root
Is the basis of all phenomena.
-- Guhyagarbha Tantra


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 18, 2013 8:24 pm
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
Shurangama Sutra:

Ananda, you have not yet understood that all the defiling objects that appear, all the illusory, ephemeral phenomena, spring up in the very spot where they also come to an end. Their phenomenal aspects are illusory and false, but their nature is in truth the bright substance of wonderful enlightenment. 

Thus it is throughout, up to the five skandhas and the six entrances, to the twelve places and the eighteen realms; the union and mixture of various causes and conditions account for their illusory and false existence, and the separation and dispersion of the causes and conditions result in their illusory and false extinction. 

Who would have thought that production and extinction, coming and going are fundamentally the eternal wonderful light of the Tathagata, the unmoving, all-pervading perfection, the wonderful nature of True Suchness! If within the true and eternal nature one seeks coming and going, confusion and enlightenment, or birth and death, one will never find them.

Nagarjuna's In Praise of Dharmadhatu, pg. 50, trans. by Karl Brunnholzl:

https://books.google.com/books?id=5sA53CndNqsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

A garment that was purged by fire
May be soiled by various stains.
When it's put into a blaze again,
The stains are burned, the garment not.

Likewise, mind that is so luminous
Is soiled by stains of craving and so forth.
The afflictions burn in wisdom's fire,
But the luminosity does not.

The abode of buddhadharmas
Fully bears the fruit of practice.
This fundamental change of state
Is called the "dharmakaya."

The sutras that teach emptiness
However spoken by the victors,
They all remove afflictions,
But never ruin this dhatu.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:40 pm
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
Tathagatagarbha/Buddha-Nature should be understood in terms of the potentiality for buddhahood. To keep this thread from devolving any further, I'm going to refer to Malcolm's comments on several Tathagatagarbha sutras, where the meaning is made clear:

https://dharmaconnectiongroup.blogspot.com/2013/06/subjectobject-duality-collapse.html

Were the Buddha to teach such a doctrine, it might be so. However, in the Nirvana sutra is states quite plainly the following:

That is called ‘Buddha-nature’ because all sentient beings are to be unsurpassedly, perfectly, completely enlightened at a future time. Because afflictions exist in all sentient beings at present, because of that, the thirty two perfect marks and the eighty excellent exemplary signs do not exist”.

Here, the Nirvana sutra clearly and precisely states that buddha-svabhava, the "nature of a Buddha" refers not to an actual nature but a potential. Why, it continues:

"Child of the lineage, I have said that ‘curd exists in milk’, because curd is produced from milk, it is called ‘curd’.

Child of lineage, at the time of milk, there is no curd, also there is no butter, ghee or ma.n.da, because the curd arises from milk with the conditions of heat, impurities, etc., milk is said to have the ‘curd-nature’."

So one must be quite careful not to make an error. The Lanka states unequivocably that the tathagatagarbha doctrine is merely a device to lead those who grasp at a true self the inner meaning of the Dharma, non-arising, the two selflessnesses and so on, and explains the meaning of the literal examples some people constantly err about:

"Similarly, that tathagatagarbha taught in the sutras spoken by the Bhagavan, since the completely pure luminous clear nature is completely pure from the beginning, possessing the thirty two marks, the Bhagavan said it exists inside of the bodies of sentient beings.

When the Bhagavan described that– like an extremely valuable jewel thoroughly wrapped in a soiled cloth, is thoroughly wrapped by cloth of the aggregates, ayatanas and elements, becoming impure by the conceptuality of the thorough conceptuality suppressed by the passion, anger and ignorance – as permanent, stable and eternal, how is the Bhagavan’s teaching this as the tathagatagarbha is not similar with as the assertion of self of the non-Buddhists?

Bhagavan, the non-Buddhists make assertion a Self as “A permanent creator, without qualities, pervasive and imperishable”.

The Bhagavan replied:

“Mahamati, my teaching of tathagatagarbha is not equivalent with the assertion of the Self of the non-Buddhists.

Mahamati, the Tathagata, Arhat, Samyak Sambuddhas, having demonstrated the meaning of the words "emptiness, reality limit, nirvana, non-arisen, signless", etc. as tathagatagarbha for the purpose of the immature complete forsaking the perishable abodes, demonstrate the expertiential range of the non-appearing abode of complete non-conceptuality by demonstrating the door of tathagatagarbha.

Mahamati, a self should not be perceived as real by Bodhisattva Mahasattvas enlightened in the future or presently.

Mahamati, for example, a potter, makes one mass of atoms of clay into various kinds containers from his hands, craft, a stick, thread and effort.

Mahamati, similarly, although Tathagatas avoid the nature of conceptual selflessness in dharmas, they also appropriately demonstrate tathagatagarbha or demonstrate emptiness by various kinds [of demonstrations] possessing prajñaa and skillful means; like a potter, they demonstrate with various enumerations of words and letters. As such, because of that,

Mahamati, the demonstration of Tathagatagarbha is not similar with the Self demonstrated by the non-Buddhists.

Mahamati, the Tathagatas as such, in order to guide those grasping to assertions of the Self of the Non-Buddhists, will demonstrate tathagatagarbha with the demonstration of tathagatagarbha. How else will the sentient beings who have fallen into a conceptual view of a True Self, possess the thought to abide in the three liberations and quickly attain the complete manifestation of Buddha in unsurpassed perfect, complete enlightenment?"

Thus, the Lanka says:

All yanas are included
in five dharmas, three natures,
eight consciousnesses,
and two selflessnesses

It does not add anything about a true self and so on.

If one accepts that tathagatagarbha is the alayavijnana, and one must since it is identified as such, then one is accepting that it is conditioned and afflicted and evolves, thus the Lanka states:

Tathagatagarbha, known as ‘the all-base consciousness’, is to be completely purified.

Mahamati, if what is called the all-base consciousness were (37/a) not connected to the tathagatagarbha, because the tathagatagarbha would not be ‘the all-base consciousness’, although it would be not be engaged, it also would not evolve; Mahamati, it is engaged by both the childish and Aryas, that also evolves.

Because great yogins, the ones not abandoning effort, abide with blissful conduct in this at the time of personally knowing for themselves…the tathagatagarbha-all basis consciousness is the sphere of the Tathagatas; it is the object which also is the sphere of teachers, [those] of detailed and learned inclinations like you, and Bodhisattva Mahasattvas of analytic intellect.

And:

Although tathagatagarbha
possesses seven consciousnesses;
always engaged with dualistic apprehensions
[it] will evolve with thorough understanding.

If one accepts that the tathagatagarbha is unconditioned and so on, and one must, since it is identified as such other sutras state:

"`Sariputra, the element of sentient beings denotes the word tathagatagarbha.
`Sariputra, that word ‘tathagatagarbha’ denotes Dharmakaya.

And:

`Sariputra, because of that, also the element of sentient beings is not one thing and the Dharmakaya another; the element of sentient beings itself is Dharmakaya; Dharmakaaya itself is the element of sentient beings.

Then one cannot accept it as the alayavijnana-- or worse, one must somehow imagine that something conditioned somehow becomes conditioned.

Other sutras state that tathagatagarbha is the citta, as the Angulimala suutra does here:

"Although in the `Sravakayana it is shown as ‘mind’, the meaning of the teaching is ‘tathagatagarbha’; whatever mind is naturally pure, that is called ‘tathagatagarbha’.

So, one must understand that these sutras are provisional and definitive, each giving different accounts of the tathagatagarbha for different students, but they are not defintive. Understood improperly, they lead one into a non-Buddhist extremes. Understood and explained properly, they lead those afraid of the profound Prajnaparamita to understanding it's sublime truth. In other words, the Buddha nature teaching is just a skillful means as the Nirvana sutra states

"Child of the lineage, buddha-nature is like this; although the ten powers and the four fearlessnesses, compassion, and the three foundations of mindfulness are the three aspects existing in sentient beings; [those] will be newly seen when defilements are thoroughly conquered. The possessors of perversion will newly attain the ten powers (44/B) and four fearlessness, great compassion and three foundations of mindfulness having thoroughly conquered perversion.

Because that is the purpose as such, I teach buddha-nature always exists in all sentient beings.

When one can compare and contrast all of these citations, and many more side by side, with the proper reading of the Uttataratantra, one will see the propositions about these doctrines by the Dark Zen fools and others of their ilk are dimmed like stars at noon.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Nov 16, 2013 8:07 pm
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
The Shurangama Sutra and the Brahmajala Sutta deals with the implications of views on practice. Particularly the former, which warns practitioners of reifying and clinging to experiential states of meditation. While not specifically addressing Advaita Vedanta: both of these texts cover similar views of consciousness.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Nov 15, 2013 11:56 pm
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
You should contemplate why the Advaitans would disagree on this point: since this actually exposes a fundamental divergence in view and practice. Don't be too hasty in concluding that both are the same because of superficial commonality of terminology.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Nov 15, 2013 5:17 pm
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
I'm aware of the heavy influence of Madyhamaka on Gaudapada and Shankara: scholars like Nakamura claim that much of the
later development of the Upanishads were influenced by Mahayana Buddhism. I'm talking less about philosophical discourse and more on the methodical application of the teachings. Go tell an Advaitan that cit is conditioned by certain factors of mentality (nama)  and materiality (rupa),  dependent on contact to give rise to the 6 sense media and to practice by being mindful of the arising and passing of each. You will either get a confused look, be laughed at or both.

I'm bringing this up since this board consists of Mahayana and Vajrayana members, which from my impression, may not be familiar with the above and could very well be holding eternalist views.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:31 am
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
Then you understand that both methodical approaches are predicated on an entirely different foundational basis, right?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Nov 14, 2013 11:32 pm
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
Are you familiar with the praxis of satipatthana in conjunction with the 4 noble truths &amp; 8 fold noble path + the 3 characteristics as described by the Buddha?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Nov 14, 2013 2:54 am
Title: Re: Peter Brown and Dzogchen
Content:
Intricacies of philosophical tenet systems aside: not to be overlooked is how the modality of practice determines the outcome of the perceptual application of the teachings.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:28 pm
Title: Re: Dzongsar Kyentse Rinpoche brief comment on Je Tsongkhapa
Content:
What are these 'certain viewpoints'?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Oct 14, 2013 4:13 pm
Title: Re: How to be mindful of thoughts and emotions?
Content:
First, you should start by familiarizing yourself with the prinicipal practice of satipatthana.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.22.0.than.html

Group that with the other 33 factors of awakening (along with the 3 characteristics) and you have the core path of practice of [sutrayana] Buddhism. It would also be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the Anapanasati Sutta as well. You could start by looking at the sister site dhammawheel.com. Since you're posting on a Mahayana forum: you might want to check out Zhiyi's material of the Tian'Tai sect for a look at how to apply shamatha-vipashyana in a Mahayana framework.

Hope this is helpful.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Sep 25, 2013 7:19 pm
Title: Re: Early Buddhism and Mahayana
Content:
Thank you for clearing that up.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Sep 25, 2013 7:10 pm
Title: Re: Early Buddhism and Mahayana
Content:
In non-dualist philosophies such as Kashmiri Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta respectively: Shiva and Brahman are beyond existence, non-existence, both existence and non-existence and neither existence nor non-existence.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Sep 25, 2013 6:19 pm
Title: Re: Early Buddhism and Mahayana
Content:
According to the Anuradha Sutta, this position is untenable:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.086.than.html

"What do you think, Anuradha: Do you regard the Tathagata as being in form?... Elsewhere than form?... In feeling?... Elsewhere than feeling?... In perception?... Elsewhere than perception?... In fabrications?... Elsewhere than fabrications?... In consciousness?... Elsewhere than consciousness?"

"No, lord."

"What do you think: Do you regard the Tathagata as form-feeling-perception-fabrications-consciousness?"

"No, lord."

"Do you regard the Tathagata as that which is without form, without feeling, without perception, without fabrications, without consciousness?"

"No, lord."

"And so, Anuradha — when you can't pin down the Tathagata as a truth or reality even in the present life — is it proper for you to declare, 'Friends, the Tathagata — the supreme man, the superlative man, attainer of the superlative attainment — being described, is described otherwise than with these four positions: The Tathagata exists after death, does not exist after death, both does &amp; does not exist after death, neither exists nor does not exist after death'?"

"No, lord."

"Very good, Anuradha. Very good. Both formerly &amp; now, it is only stress that I describe, and the cessation of stress."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Sep 25, 2013 5:32 pm
Title: Re: Early Buddhism and Mahayana
Content:
According to the Phagguna Sutta, this presupposition is an unskillful mode of investigation:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.012.nypo.html

"There are, O monks, four nutriments for the sustenance of beings born, and for the support of beings seeking birth. What are the four? Edible food, coarse and fine; secondly, sense-impression; thirdly, volitional thought; fourthly, consciousness."

After these words, the venerable Moliya-Phagguna addressed the Exalted One as follows:

"Who, O Lord, consumes[1] the nutriment consciousness?"

"The question is not correct," said the Exalted One. "I do not say that 'he consumes.'[2] If I had said so, then the question 'Who consumes?' would be appropriate. But since I did not speak thus, the correct way to ask the question will be: 'For what is the nutriment consciousness (the condition)?'[3] And to that the correct reply is: 'The nutriment consciousness[4] is a condition for the future arising of a renewed existence;[5] when that has come into being, there is (also) the sixfold sense-base; and conditioned by the sixfold sense-base is sense-impression.'"[6]

"Who, O Lord, has a sense-impression?"

"The question is not correct," said the Exalted One.

"I do not say that 'he has a sense-impression.' Had I said so, then the question 'Who has a sense-impression?' would be appropriate. But since I did not speak thus, the correct way to ask the question will be 'What is the condition of sense-impression?' And to that the correct reply is: 'The sixfold sense-base is a condition of sense-impression, and sense-impression is the condition of feeling.'"

"Who, O Lord, feels?"

"The question is not correct," said the Exalted One. "I do not say that 'he feels.' Had I said so, then the question 'Who feels?' would be appropriate. But since I did not speak thus, the correct way to ask the question will be 'What is the condition of feeling?' And to that the correct reply is: 'sense-impression is the condition of feeling; and feeling is the condition of craving.'"

"Who, O Lord, craves?"

"The question is not correct," said the Exalted One. "I do not say that 'he craves.' Had I said so, then the question 'Who craves?' would be appropriate. But since I did not speak thus, the correct way to ask the question will be 'What is the condition of craving?' And to that the correct reply is: 'Feeling is the condition of craving, and craving is the condition of clinging.'"

"Who, O Lord, clings?"

"The question is not correct," said the Exalted One, "I do not say that 'he clings.' Had I said so, then the question 'Who clings?' would be appropriate. But since I did not speak thus, the correct way to ask the question will be 'What is the condition of clinging?' And to that the correct reply is: 'Craving is the condition of clinging; and clinging is the condition of the process of becoming.' Such is the origin of this entire mass of suffering.[7]

"Through the complete fading away and cessation of even these six bases of sense-impression, sense-impression ceases;[8] through the cessation of sense-impression, feeling ceases; through the cessation of feeling, craving ceases; through the cessation of craving, clinging ceases; through the cessation of clinging, the process of becoming ceases; through the cessation of the process of becoming, birth ceases; through the cessation of birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of suffering."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Sep 25, 2013 5:07 pm
Title: Re: Early Buddhism and Mahayana
Content:
Honestly, I think you would be better off sticking to one of the other Indic traditions such as Advaita Vedanta or even Kashmiri Shaivism.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Sep 25, 2013 4:42 pm
Title: Re: Early Buddhism and Mahayana
Content:
I think it's a shame you would deny all others the possibility of becoming 'realized sages' since its inception from 2500 or so years ago.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Sep 25, 2013 4:29 pm
Title: Re: Early Buddhism and Mahayana
Content:
I'm not Malcolm, but if we go by what is expounded in the Kalakarama Sutta, then this author is interpolating eternalist notions onto Buddhist concepts.

Here's a PDF version [http://www.dhammatalks.net/Books12/Katukurunde-Nanananda-Bhikkhu_the_Magic_of_the_Mind.pdf]of a translation and commentary by Bhikku K. Nanananda called The Magic of the Mind: An Exposition of the Kalakarama Sutta. There's a clearer translation of a certain passage of this sutta, done by DW's very own Jnana, on his website called "Measureless Mind":

http://measurelessmind.ca/anattasanna.html

"Thus, monks, the Tathāgata does not conceive an [object] seen when seeing what is to be seen. He does not conceive an unseen. He does not conceive a to-be-seen. He does not conceive a seer. 

He does not conceive an [object] heard when hearing what is to be heard. He does not conceive an unheard. He does not conceive a to-be-heard. He does not conceive a hearer. 

He does not conceive an [object] sensed when sensing what is to be sensed. He does not conceive an unsensed. He does not conceive a to-be-sensed. He does not conceive a senser. 

He does not conceive an [object] known when knowing what is to be known. He does not conceive an unknown. He does not conceive a to-be-known. He does not conceive a knower."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:03 pm
Title: Re: Relation of 4NT & 8FNP to tantric grounds and paths?
Content:
I was looking for something like this.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jul 21, 2013 11:12 pm
Title: Re: Maha Bodhivastu Stupa Project
Content:
Auspicious indeed!!!


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Jul 19, 2013 2:35 am
Title: Relation of 4NT & 8FNP to tantric grounds and paths?
Content:
I was wondering whether anyone has come across any explanations of a correlation between the 4 noble truths and 8 fold noble path and how it fits into the grounds and path of tantra?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Jul 13, 2013 12:14 am
Title: Re: The Way of the Bodhisattva
Content:
As far as I know, East Asian schools don't give much importance to that text like the Tibetans do.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:36 pm
Title: Re: H.H. Luntok Tenpai Nyima Dzogchen Transm. 7-9-13
Content:
Good luck with that list of mantras.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Jul 9, 2013 4:01 pm
Title: Re: H.H. Luntok Tenpai Nyima Dzogchen Transm. 7-9-13
Content:
Which cycle of Dzogchen teachings was given? They never actually explained what was being transmitted.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Jul 3, 2013 11:48 pm
Title: Re: If samsara had a theme song...
Content:
This is a good one:

if (typeof bbmedia == 'undefined') { bbmedia = true; var e = document.createElement('script'); e.async = true; e.src = 'bbmedia.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(e, s); }https://phpbbex.com/ [video]


Many years ago today something grew
Inside of your mother... 
That thing was you
YOU
YOU YOU YOU YOU
Did she scream did she cry
Only those that are born are the ones that
Get to die
One more year closer to dying
Rotting organs ripping grinding
Biological discordance
Birthday equals self abhorrence
Years keep passing aging always
Mutate into vapid slugs
Doctor gives a new perscription
Bullet in a frak gun
One more year closer to dying
Plastic surgeons fuel the lying
You forget why you came in here
Your mind rots with every New Year
RSVP PLEASE
For the DETH of thee
You have little time
Happy Birthday
You're gonna die
Now you're old and full of hatred
Take a pill to masturbatred
Children point to you and scream
Because they will become that thing
One more year of further suffering
There's no point of frak bluffing
Open up your DETHDAY present
It's a box of frak nothing
RSVP PLEASE
For the DETH of thee
You have little time
And you're running out of life
Happy Birthday
Your Gonna DIE
DIE DIE
DETHDAY
BIRTHDAY
DETHDAY
DIE DIE
DETHDAY
BIRTHDAY
DETHDAY
RSVP PLEASE
For the DETH of thee
You have little time
And you're running out of life
Happy Birthday
You're gonna die


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Jul 3, 2013 6:52 pm
Title: Re: If samsara had a theme song...
Content:
I feel like this is fitting:

if (typeof bbmedia == 'undefined') { bbmedia = true; var e = document.createElement('script'); e.async = true; e.src = 'bbmedia.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(e, s); }https://phpbbex.com/ [video]


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:49 am
Title: Re: rangtong vs. zhentong
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:33 am
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:26 am
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:10 am
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
Who translated it?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:55 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
I went back and edited my post. NOT entire communities, but INDIVIDUALS who have posted within these forums have experience with both. Dharmaoverground is one such forum. I do not post in these forums by the way.



Anyways, just to add to the general discussion: Just because you prescribe to Buddhism, doesn't mean that you can't study other paths or use their methods. I see no reason for someone to limit themselves in such a way. 

Also, check out the 10 Ox Herding Pictures. That's another example of someone describing the stages of insights from this sect.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:12 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
You know, I've heard it said: People can have a genuine glimpse of enlightenment many times in their life, but not realize it. The analogy of the blind cat, bumping into the blind rat comes to mind. 

Anyways, a lot of the times I've seen people arguing that 'all paths lead to the same goal,' are usually the inexperienced.  It is very common in the spiritual field, to come across people who have experience of the "I AM." It is much, much more common to come across people who have realized Brahman, than an individual who has genuinely realized anatta. It is very, very uncommon to come across  an individual who has realization of emptiness. Believe it or not, there are individuals who post in some online communities made up of Buddhist practitioners, who really have experienced the difference between the realization of Atman/Brahman and anatta. Those are the people who have proven Shakyamuni's teachings for themselves and don't mind discussing the differences with other like-minded practitioners.

I think it's better to view the differences as a progression in the path, instead of disregarding it completely. The equality of the 'One Vehicle' in the Lotus Sutra comes to mind, in seeing all paths as progressing towards buddhahood. Also, I don't think realization should necessarily be looked at as a linear progression: Where one realization is 'higher' than the other, but as different aspects of the nature of mind. 

At the same time, I think we should remember the conditions which have led us to coming across the buddhadharma, by remembering that this is a path to be followed in the long haul. That progression can extend into multiple lifetimes (if the individual believes that rebirth is a possibility and doesn't already have direct experience of it.)

EDIT: Sentence structure(s)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Feb 13, 2013 8:46 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
Of course, Zen has koans which can lead one to certain realizations such as the experience of the "I AM," that Maharshi and Nisargadatta talk about (e.g. What was your original face before you were born?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Wed Feb 13, 2013 8:37 pm
Title: Re: rangtong vs. zhentong
Content:
Son of Buddha is just reading the "Brahma Net Sutra" too literally. Mahavairocana represents the dharmakaya, hence all buddha's share the same realization. Imputations of 'Oneness' and 'Manyness' are both extremes, which do not exist for buddha's (the relative and ultimate truths are teachings for deluded sentient beings.) This is addressed in Madhyamaka.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:23 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
In Mahamudra, the nature of thoughts is dharmakaya.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5w-wNj0D8C&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=thoughts+are+dharmakaya&source=bl&ots=mMYMBDTqAB&sig=SMOvwMv0yZ2eatIDIuUWtHr464U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=P1EZUcf1ELLO0QGj6oCACw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=thoughts%20are%20dharmakaya&f=false


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:48 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:33 am
Title: Re: rangtong vs. zhentong
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:24 am
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 8, 2013 9:59 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
Except that an adi-buddha is not a formless ground of existence, which phenomena originate from. Samantabhadra for instance, doesn't come out of the pralaya expressed in ignorance, but recognizes phenomena as the nature of mind.

Alayavijnana is a collection of momentary processes,  that are impermanent and differentiated into separate mind-streams (i.e dependently originated.)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 8, 2013 9:16 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 8, 2013 9:06 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
Advaita Vedanta borrowed heavily from Madyahmaka/Buddhism. 

Shankara composed some works in order to distance Advaita Vedanta from the claims of being a crypto-Buddhism (thanks in part to Gaudapada.) This link summarizes what he refutes: http://www.kamakotimandali.com/blog/index.php?p=1111&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

The rest of the post is Hindu nationalist propaganda.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Jan 29, 2013 6:33 am
Title: Re: What if transmission of Buddhism was egalitarian....
Content:
Good points, everyone!


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Jan 29, 2013 6:30 am
Title: Re: Health Impact of Celibacy
Content:
From what I understood: Aren't the methods of Vajrayana (such as karmamudra and jnanamudra,) for bringing the myriad afflictions of the three poisons, onto the path of transformation (in this case ordinary lust?)

As for the goal of Vajrayana: Is it not the cessation of ignorance, aggression and craving? 

EDIT: Sentence structure.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jan 27, 2013 8:11 pm
Title: Re: What if transmission of Buddhism was egalitarian....
Content:
Lol, that is true. What I should've stated was whether the Buddha's teachings could survive (without a lineage of patriarchs) or that it was necessary for the lineage of transmission to continue through a guru/disciple framework. I myself think that Buddhism wouldn't have been able to be transmitted otherwise (especially into East Asia.)

Now that I actually think about it, the whole premise of this thread is flawed, lol.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jan 27, 2013 2:54 am
Title: What if transmission of Buddhism was egalitarian....
Content:
Just want to spark a discussion on the pros and cons of transmission of Dharma, through a guru/disciple system; in comparison to more of a egalitarian way of propagating the Dharma to the next generation. 

Does anyone agree on the necessity of a guru/disciple transmission as a means for continuation of the teachings? As a way to insure that the next generation receives the correct or right teachings of the Buddha? 

What if the sangha itself have had served a greater role in the continued transmission of the Buddha Dharma? How would the propagation of the Buddha-Dharma fare, if it was transmitted exclusively through the community of practitioners?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:56 am
Title: Decline of Buddhism in India
Content:
If anyone could recommend any academic (or non-academic) books on the above, that would be greatly appreciated.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:14 am
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
All these sorts of issues with Buddhism's stance on any sort of eternalist/realist theme has already been brought up on this board. Just do a search and you'll find a thread that has already addressed it in some form.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:14 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:



Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:32 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
It's safe to say that the Buddha did not teach a fundamental and formless consciousness or "watcher," behind or apart from the 5 aggregates.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:36 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
The article above contains a flawed summary of the Mahayana schools of Nagarjuna and Vasubhandu. Other than that, it's still a good article for understanding the basic differences between Vedanta and Buddhism.

EDIT: Forgot to include the link again, lol.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:09 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
EDIT: Forgot the link.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Jan 18, 2013 7:58 pm
Title: Re: Advaitin vs. Buddhist takes on awareness/reality
Content:
Well, actually Adi Shankaracharya denies the possibility of individual alayavijnana's (which is a central teaching in Mahayana Buddhism,) in his "Brahmasutra-bashya." 

Basically, Advaita Vedanta teaches a shared "Universal Consciousness," where the Atman is not separated from nor different from Brahman. Brahman in this context: Is a universal ground of existence, where phenomena originate from.

Songhill summed it up correctly, by calling Advaita a monistic non-duality.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Nov 5, 2012 12:39 am
Title: Re: sunyata vs. anatta
Content:
I was just citing the source of where I got the quote from, since I remembered that thread.

The "Berzin Archives" are a good source of information, if you are familiar with the terms being used: http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/sutra/level4_deepening_understanding_path/path/eliminating_2_sets_obscurations.html


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Nov 4, 2012 10:07 pm
Title: Re: sunyata vs. anatta
Content:
Taken from this thread https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=6948&start=140:

Here is an excerpt from a Buddhist glossary site on the definition of twofold Emptiness:

Two emptinesses (二空) include (1) emptiness of self, the ātman, the soul, in a person composed of the five aggregates, constantly changing with causes and conditions; and (2) emptiness of selves in all dharmas—each of the five aggregates, each of the twelve fields, and each of the eighteen spheres, as well as everything else with no independent existence. No-self in any dharma implies no-self in a person, but the latter is separated out in the first category. Realization of the emptiness of self in a person will lead to attainment of Arhatship or Pratyekabuddhahood. Bodhisattvas who have realized both emptinesses ascend to the First Ground on their Way to Buddhahood.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Mon Oct 1, 2012 3:28 pm
Title: Master Nan Huai-chin dies at 94
Content:
I'm posting this for anyone who may be familiar with him or his works.

Homage to Nan Huai-chin!!! May your enlightened activities, continue to benefit sentient beings everywhere!!!



http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20121001000069&cid=1101

Noted master scholar Nan Huai-chin reported dead in China

    CNA
    2012-10-01
    16:09 (GMT+8)


Nan Huai-chin, right, meets with Chinese and Taiwanese officials. (Photo/Lee Chih-wei)


A noted scholar and prominent writer who came to Taiwan in 1949 but lived in China for the latter part of his life passed away at the age of 94 in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, an anonymous source said Sunday.

The source told CNA that staff at the Taihu Great Learning Center in Suzhou said that Nan Huai-chin, whose multi-disciplinary knowledge had earned him the title of master scholar, had died on Saturday. The school was founded by Nan in 2006.

School authorities declined to comment.

Nan was admitted to a hospital early last month suffering from pneumonia that was triggered by a bout of the flu. The school issued a statement Sept. 20 that said Nan was ill, that he needed rest and that he did not want to be disturbed.

Various China-based media have also reported on Nan's death.

Born in southeast Zhejiang province in 1918, Nan came to Taiwan in 1949 and taught at National Chengchi University and Chinese Culture University in Taipei and Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City. He moved to the United States in the mid- 1980s when former Taiwanese president Chiang Ching-kuo reportedly suspected him of possibly becoming the leader of a political group. He later moved to Hong Kong, where he remained until returning to China in 2004.

With his mastery of Buddhist traditions, Confucian and Taoist theories and practices, Nan was influential among academic, business and political dignitaries in both Taiwan and China.

Chiang Su-hui, chairwoman of the Hong Kong-based CS Culture Foundation and a student of Nan, said his death is a loss for the country.

She said Nan was so influential that former Chinese president Jiang Zemin also likes to read his works.

A diplomat stationed in Hong Kong from another Asian country who declined to be named said that although Nan remained low-profile when he lived in Hong Kong, his influence spread across the academic and business fields in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:22 pm
Title: Re: Could someone explain emptiness?
Content:
I personally don't agree, but I don't care to defend anyone here.

Can you post the thread you quoted Malcolm from, please?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:15 pm
Title: Re: Could someone explain emptiness?
Content:
Damn, I really am confused. Thanks for posting this (Malcolm isn't a Loppon for nothing.) Do you think it completely undermines the whole article? I'm guessing the answer would be yes, huh?

Also, I beg to differ that the blog is complete nonsense. It has a bunch of articles from different traditions and different masters (some of ChNN's stuff is on there) and from people in the real world who has direct insight into Buddhas teachings. Though, not everyone would agree, but whatevs.

Can you post a link to the thread you quoted from?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:29 pm
Title: Re: Could someone explain emptiness?
Content:
Saying things are an illusion is more akin to Hinduism.  A lot of translators for some reason translate in those terms (though not all of them do this.) How it should be looked at is illusion-like (or it is like an illusion.)

Another great article from the Awakening To Reality" blog. It's a long article:

https://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/search/label/Acharya%20Mahayogi%20Shridhar%20Rana%20Rinpoche

Madhyamika Buddhism Vis-a-vis Hindu Vedanta
Posted by: An Eternal Now
Comments: Thusness/Passerby recommended me this article, saying it is very good. (Comments continued in the comments section)

Article:

http://www.byomakusuma.org/MadhyamikaBuddhismVisavisHinduVedanta/tabid/76/Default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Madhyamika Buddhism Vis-a-vis Hindu Vedanta

(A Paradigm Shift)

Ācārya Dharma Vajra (Sridhar SJB Rana)

Published: Buddhist Himalaya

Many famous Hindu Indian scholars like Radha Krishnan, Svami Vivekananda and Nepalese scholars like Mr. Chudanath Bhattarai, Svami Prapannacharya have written that Buddhism is a reaction, a reformation of Hinduism. The Buddha tried to reform some of the malpractices within Hinduism, that is all. He never wanted to create a new religion. In short, according to these scholars, Buddhism is correct Hinduism without any malpractice and evils and what is now called Hinduism is malpractice and distorted form of the Veda-s.

There are three problems with this interpretation of the Buddha’s teaching. One is that if these authors really believe that the Buddha came to reform evils, malpractice and wrong interpretation of the Veda-s then why are they themselves still following these evils and malpractices and not practicing the Buddha’s teachings, the reformed form of the Veda-s? How warped and distorted are the minds of people who with one breath proclaim the Buddha as the great reformer of Hinduism and then turn around and call Buddhism (what Buddha taught) wrong. Some of these scholars have even gone to the extent of claiming that although the Buddha actually only wanted to reform the Veda-s, his disciples misunderstood him and created a new religion. How illogical to believe that the Buddha’s own disciples did not understand him whereas Hindu Svami-s and Pandita-s 2000 years later really do understand the his message.

The second problem with this interpretation is that it implies that the Buddha was a Hindu. Simply because Suddhodana was a king and therefore called a Ksatriya is absolutely no proof that he was a Hindu. If the Buddha was really a Hindu why did he not call himself the great Brahmin or Mahabrahman like the great Ksatriya Vishvamitra.? It is strange to call the Buddha a proponent of Brahmanism when he called himself the great Sramana or Mahasramana. Although a lot of research remains to be done about Sramanism, it can certainly be said that a Sramana is not a Brahmana. Sramanism is itself as old as Brahmanism. Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, also called himself a Sramana. If the Buddha was merely reforming the Veda-s, why did he not call himself a Neo-Vedic, Neo-Brahman or a true Brahman i.e. Mahabrahmana? Why did he call himself a Mahasramana?

I would like to ask those scholars and their followers these questions. Nowhere in the Hindu Shastras are Sramana considered as part of the Vedic fold. And the Buddha called himself a Mahasramana. It was the custom of India from ancient times to call kings Ksatriyas be they of the Sramana or of the Brahmana group, and even if Suddhodana was of the Brahmin school (of which there is absolutely no proof), the Buddha certainly did not seem to have taken after Brahmanism but rather after Sramanism. Sramanism cannot be called Brahmanism by any historical standard. The third problem is that the teachings found in Buddhism do not in any way appear as a reformation of Hinduism. Anyone who has studied Buddhism (if I am not talking about prejudiced Hindu oriented scholars) can see that there is a major paradigm shift between Hinduism and Buddhism, in fact, between all other religious systems and Buddhism. A paradigm shift cannot and should not be misconstrued as a reform. Reforms are changes brought about within the same paradigm. Paradigm shifts are changes in the very foundations. The very basics are completely different. In such cases, it is completely confused thinking to state that one paradigm is a reformation of another paradigm. So Sramanism is a system of religion based on a completely different paradigm to Hinduism and as such it would be a gross error to say Buddhism is a reformation of Vedic Hinduism. It is not a reformation, but a shift in paradigm. Even if the Vedic paradigm was the older, they are still different paradigms. But it is even questionable whether the Vedic paradigm is really older than the Sramana paradigm. After all, although Buddhism began with Shakyamuni, Sramanism is much older, and according to the findings of the Indus Valley civilization, was in the Indian sub-continent even before Brahmanism.

It is the purpose of this paper to show how Brahmanism and Buddhism are built on two totally different paradigms even though they share the same language. It is this sharing of the same language that has fooled most scholars, especially Hindu biased scholars who have therefore failed to be sensitive to the fact that these are two completely different paradigms with very little in common except the same cultural background, and their language, metaphor, analogy, and words. But as we shall see, the same analogies etc. express two different conceptual structures (paradigms). When we compare the Advaita Vedanta, especially as interpreted by Shankara and Madhyamika, be it the Svatantrika form of Bhabya or the Prasangika form of Candrakirti, the sharing of the same language, culture and analogies while talking about two different paradigms becomes obvious. Because of the use of the same language structure (be it Pali or Sanskrit) and the same analogies to express two different paradigms, many Vedantins or scholars of Buddhism with Vedantic backgrounds have been fooled into thinking that Buddhist Madhyamika is a re-interpretation of the Hindu Vedanta. Many think Buddhism is the negative way to the same goal (via negativa) and Hindu Vedanta the positive way (via positiva). One uses negation and the other affirmation but the Shunyata of Buddhism is a negative way of talking about the Brahma of the Vedanta.

The issue here is not via negativa or via positiva at all but rather two different paradigms, or two different goals based on two different paradigms, or two diametrically opposed answers to the burning issue of mankind developed out of diametrically opposed paradigms. In fact, the Buddha, after long years of Brahmanic as well as Sramanic meditation, found the concept of Brahma (an ultimately real, unchanging, eternal substratum to this ephemeral transient world) not only inadequate to solve the basic issue of humanity i.e. sorrow (dukha) and questioned the very existence of such an eternal substratum; but also declared that a search for such an imagined (Skt. Parikalpita Atma) Brahman was a form of escapism and therefore not really spiritual but spiritual materialism.

Since the concept of Brahma, the truly existent (Skt. paramartha sat) is the very foundation of Hinduism (as a matter of fact some form of an eternal ultimate reality whether it is called God or Nature is the basis of all other religious systems); when Buddhism denies such an ultimate reality (Skt. paramartha satta) in any form, it cuts at the very jugular veins of Hinduism. Therefore it cannot be ontologically, epistemologically, and soteriologically said that Buddhism reforms Hinduism.

The affirmation of a ground (Skt. asraya) which is really existent (Skt. paramartha sat) and the denial that such an existent (Skt. satta) can be found anywhere, within or without, immanent or transcendent, are two diametrically opposed paradigms- not simply variation or reformations of each other. The Webster Dictionary defines re-form: to amend or improve by change of form or removal of faults or abuse. The example I have given above of an eternal base without which Hinduism in its own language would be atheistic (Skt. nastik) and the denial (without any implied affirmation) (Skt. prasajya pratisheda) of such an eternally existing unchanging base by Buddhism cannot be said to be a reformation but a deconstruction of the very roots of the Hindu thesis. That is why Buddhism is not a reformation of Hinduism but a paradigm shift from the paradigms on which Hinduism is based.

Many Hindu scholars believe that without an ultimate eternal reality, there can be no liberation from the changing, transient Samsara; therefore even though the Buddha denied the ultimate reality, he could have meant only conceptually really existing reality, not the eternal ultimate reality which is beyond concepts. Otherwise, there cannot be liberation. The fault with this kind of thinking is that it is measuring the thesis (which is no thesis) of the Buddha (or interpreting the Buddha) from within the Hindu paradigm. Remaining within the Hindu paradigm, an eternal ultimate reality is a necessity (a necessary dead end as the Buddha saw it) for the soteriological purpose i.e. for liberation. Since according to the Buddha there is no Brahma - such a concept being merely an acquired fabrication (Skt: parikalpana) learned from wrong (Skt: mithya) scriptures, hankering after, searching for such a Brahma is a dead end which leads nowhere, let alone liberation. The Buddhist paradigm, if understood correctly, does not require an eternal something or other for liberation. In Buddhism liberation is not realizing such a ground but rather a letting go of all grounds i.e. realizing groundless. In fact holding on to any ground is ignorance, according to Buddhism.

So in the Buddhist paradigm, it is not only not necessary to have an eternal ground for liberation, but in fact the belief in such a ground itself is part of the dynamics of ignorance. We move here to another to major difference within the two paradigms. In Hinduism liberation occurs when this illusory Samsara is completely relinquished and it vanishes; what remains is the eternal Brahma, which is the same as liberation. Since the thesis is that Samsara is merely an illusion, when it vanishes through knowledge, if there were no eternal Brahma remaining, it would be a disaster. So in the Hindu paradigm (or according to Buddhism all paradigms based on ignorance), an eternal unchanging, independent, really existing substratum (Skt. mahavastu) is a necessity for liberation, else one would fall into nihilism. But since the Buddhist paradigm is totally different, the question posed by Hindu scholars: “How can there be liberation if a Brahma does not remain after the illusory Samsara vanishes in Gyana?” is a non question with no relevance in the Buddhist paradigm and its Enlightenment or Nirvana.

First of all, to the Buddha and Nagarjuna, Samsara is not an illusion but like an illusion. There is a quantum leap in the meaning of these two statements. Secondly, because it is only ‘like an illusion’ i.e. interdependently arisen like all illusions, it does not and cannot vanish, so Nirvana is not when Samsara vanishes like mist and the Brahma arises like the sun out of the mist but rather when seeing that the true nature of Samsara is itself Nirvana. So whereas Brahma and Samsara are two different entities, one real and the other unreal, one existing and the other non-existing, Samsara and Nirvana in Buddhism are one and not two. Nirvana is the nature of Samsara or in Nagarjuna’s words shunyata is the nature of Samsara. It is the realization of the nature of Samsara as empty which cuts at the very root of ignorance and results in knowledge not of another thing beyond Samsara but of the way Samsara itself actually exists (Skt. vastusthiti), knowledge of Tathata (as it-is-ness) the Yathabhuta (as it really is) of Samsara itself. It is this knowledge that liberates from wrong conceptual experience of Samsara to the unconditioned experience of Samsara itself. That is what is meant by the indivisibility of Samsara and Nirvana (Skt. Samsara nirvana abhinnata, Tib: Khor de yer me). The mind being Samsara in the context of DzogChen, Mahamudra and Anuttara Tantra. Samsara would be substituted by dualistic mind. The Hindu paradigm is world denying, affirming the Brahma. The Buddhist paradigm does not deny the world; it only rectifies our wrong vision (Skt. mithya drsti) of the world. It does not give a dream beyond or separate transcendence from Samsara. Because such a dream is part of the dynamics of ignorance, to present such a dream would be only to perpetuate ignorance.

To Buddhism, any system or paradigm which propagates such an unproven and improvable dream as an eternal substance or ultimate reality, be it Hinduism or any other ‘ism’, is propagating spiritual materialism and not true spirituality. To Hinduism such a Brahma is the summum bonum of its search goal, the peak of the Hindu thesis. The Hindu paradigm would collapse without it. Since Buddhism denies thus, it cannot be said honestly that the Buddha merely meant to reform Hinduism. As I have said, it is a totally different paradigm. Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism are all variations of the same paradigm. So truly speaking, you could speak of them as reformations of each other. But Buddhism has a totally different paradigm from any of these, not merely from Vedic- Hinduism.

This leads us naturally to the concept of the Two Truths (Skt. satyadvaya). Both Hindu Vedanta and Madhyamika Buddhism (and for that matter all forms of Buddhism) use this concept to clarify its paradigm. But again the same words point at two different paradigms. First of all the concept of the Two Truths clearly stated as in Buddhism comes into Hinduism only after Sankaracharya (7th / 8th century) whereas the Buddha himself used these words. But even though Sankara copied the use of these words from Buddhism and also copied many other conceptual words from Nagarjuna to elucidate his Vedantic paradigm, the paradigm that he tries to clarify with these words is different. In many places these conceptual wordings and analogies are forced to produce the meaning that is required for the Veantic paradigm. In the Vedantic context, the Relative Truth (Skt. samvritti satya) is that this Samsara is an illusion and the Ultimate Truth (Skt. paramartha satya) is that there is an ultimately existing thing (Skt. paramartha satta) transcending / immanent in this world. The relative truth will vanish like a mist and the transcendent and immanent Brahma will appear as the only Truth, the world being false. To sum it up, the Vedantic Ultimate Truth is the existence of an ultimate existence or ultimate reality. Reality here is used as something which exists (Skt. satta).

However, the Buddhist Ultimate Truth is the absence of any such satta i.e. ultimately existing thing or ultimate reality. That is the significance of Shunyata - absence of any real, independent, unchanging existence (Skt. svabhava). And that fact is the Ultimate Truth of Buddhism, which is diametrically opposite to the Ultimate Truth of the Hindu Brahma. So Shunyata can never be a negative way of describing the Atman - Brahma of Hinduism as Vinoba Bhave and such scholars would have us believe. The meaning of Shunyata found in Sutra, Tantra, Dzogchen or Mahamudra is the same as the Prasangika emptiness of Chandrakirti i.e. unfindability of any true existence or simply unfindability. Some writers of DzogChen and Mahamudra or Tantra think that the emptiness of Nagarjuna is different from the emptiness found in these systems. But I would like to ask them whether their emptiness is findable or unfindable; whether or not the significance of emptiness in these systems is also not the fact of unfindability.

Some Shentong scholars seem to imply that the Shentong system is talking about a different emptiness. They say that the Buddha Nature is not empty of qualities, therefore the Buddha Nature is not merely empty, it also has qualities. First of all the whole statement is irrelevant. Qualities are not the question and the Buddha Nature being empty of quality or not is not the issue. The Buddha Nature is empty of real existence (Skt. svabhava). Because it is empty of real existence, it has qualities. As Arya Nagarjuna has said in his Mulamadhyamika Karika: “All things are possible (including qualities) because they are empty.” Therefore the whole Shentong / Rangtong issue is superfluous. However, in Shentong, the Buddha Nature is also empty and emptiness means unfindability. In short, the unfindability of any true existence is the Ultimate Truth in Buddhism, and is diametrically opposed to the concept of a truly existing thing called Brahma, the ultimate truth in Hinduism.

Now let’s examine the Relative Truth (Skt. samvritti satya). In Hinduism, the Relative Truth is the fact that this world is an illusion (Skt. maya), it has no existence. In Buddhism, Samsara is interdependently arising. It has relative existence (Skt. samvritti satta) according to Tsong Khapa or it appears conventionally according to Gorampa Senge and Mipham. It is like an illusion (Skt. mayavat). Like all illusions, it appears interdependently based on various causes and conditions (Skt. hetu-pratyaya). It may be like an illusion but it is the only thing we have, there is nothing behind it or beyond it which can be called an ultimate thing or reality. The Ultimate Reality or Truth or fact in the Buddhist sense is the mode of existence of this illusion like Samsara i.e. (Skt. nihsvabhava) empty of real existence. So here too we find two different parameters to two different paradigms.

Now let us investigate some of the words used by both paradigms. One word that has created great confusion is ‘non-dualism’. First of all Hindu Vedanta is ‘Advaita’ and the Madhyamika Buddhism ‘Advaya’. Although they are sometimes used interchangeably by both systems, their meanings are as used in the two paradigms differ. In Hindu Vedanta, non-dualism (advaita) means one without a second (Skt: dvitiyam nasti, Chandogya Upanishad). What is the meaning of this? That there is only Brahma which really exists, nothing else really exists. In other words - the world does not exist at all, it is only an illusion. The true English word for this is ‘monism’ according to the Webster Dictionary: the view that there is only one kind of ultimate substance. Since, as we have seen already that there is no such kind of ultimate substance in Madhyamika Buddhism the meaning of non-dualism (advaya) cannot be like in Hinduism. The Madhyamika scriptures very clearly defines advaya as ‘dvaya anta mukta’ i.e. free from the two extremes. The extremes are ‘eternalism’ into which the Hindu Vedantic Brahma falls and ‘nihilism’ into which many materialistic systems like Charvak fall. But it goes deeper. Non-dual knowledge (Skt. advaya gyana) is the state of mind which is soteriologically free from grasping at the two extremes of knowing in terms of ‘is’ and ‘is not’ and ontologically free from being ‘existing’ or ‘non-existing’. ‘Advaita Gyana’ is however the knowledge of the one and only truly existing substance or reality called Brahma in Hinduism. It could also be called by any other name. Even if the Brahma is defined as beyond ‘is’ and ‘is not’ as in the Yogavasistha, it is only a roundabout way of saying that there is an ultimate reality, Brahma, which is beyond concepts of ‘existing’ and ‘non-existing’ and therefore it still falls within Eternalism. There is also the use of ‘free from existence and non-existence’ in Buddhism and ‘beyond existence and non-existence’ in Hinduism. ‘Beyond’ implies a third something which is neither, but ‘free’ does not necessarily imply a third something which is neither. Some Shentongpas define the Buddha Nature (Skt. Tathagatagarbha) exactly like the Brahma of the Vedanta without realizing it and even claim it to be a higher mediator’s view which is not accessible to lower class logicians etc.

Perhaps it is most apt now to talk about two other words used commonly by both paradigms: ‘Nisprapanca’ (Tib: thro-me) and ‘Avikalpa’ (Tib: Tog- me). ‘Nisprapanca’ means non-fabricated and ‘Avikalpa’ means non-conceptual. In the context of Hinduism, it is the Brahma (the ultimate reality, the ultimate real, the ultimate existing) which is beyond concepts and non-fabricated. It also means a non-fabricated and non-conceptual knowledge of that Brahma. When I am using ‘Ultimate Reality’ as a synonym for the Brahma, I am using reality to mean something that exists as per the Webster’s Dictionary. I am aware that reality also connotes ‘fact’ i.e. truth and with such a meaning could be used in Buddhism to mean Ultimate Fact/Truth. But as one of its connotations is ‘existing’, it is hazardous to use the words ‘Ultimate Reality’ in any Buddhist context and it is always safer to use the words ‘Ultimate Truth’ instead. Some English translations of Dzogchen, Mahamudra etc. have used the words ‘Ultimate Reality’ for Co-emergent Wisdom (Skt. sahaja jnana / Tathagatagarbha) rather indiscriminately without the authors even realizing that the use of such lax wording brings them not only dangerously close to Vedantins of one form or another, but also they are actually using Buddhist texts to validate the Vedantic thesis. If some of them object that their ‘Ultimate Reality’ is empty while the Hindu ‘Ultimate Reality’ is not; the Hindus can ask, “then how is it an Ultimate Reality in the sense of Ultimate Existing”? To avoid this confusion, it is safer and semantically closer to the Buddhist paradigm to use only ‘Ultimate Truth’.

Now coming back to ‘Nisprapanca’ and ‘Avikalpa’, as for Buddhism, the first verse of Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamikakarika makes it clear that it is the ‘pratityasamutpada’ i.e. the interdependent origination which is nisprapanca and beyond concepts and it is the wisdom that realizes this that is ‘Nisprapanca’ and ‘Avikalpa’. No Hindu Vedantin would agree that the Brahma is interdependent origination or interdependently originated. The same can be said of words like ‘acintya’ (inconceivable), ‘anupamya’ (inexpressible) or ‘apratistha’ (non-established) etc. for which we need not write separately. This naturally leads us to three crucial words and concepts used in the two paradigms: Emptiness, (Skt. Shunyata), Interdependent Origination (Skt. pratityasamutpada) and Brahma (the infinite, eternal, unchanging, truly existing, non-conceptual, unfabricated reality). Many Hindu writers from the 5th/6th centuries onwards until today have tried to show that the Brahma and Shunyata mean the same thing. The Yogavasistha (7th/8th century) has even very explicitly stated that the Brahma and Shunya are the same reality (Chapter 3/5/5-6). Modern authors like Dr. Radhakrishnan, Svami Vivekananda and Vinova Bhave have also tried to show that they mean the same reality. Je Tsong Khapa says in his ‘Pratityasamutpada Stuti Subhasita Hridaya’ - “whatever is dependent on conditioned is empty of real existence”. This statement makes it clear that dependent origination and Shunyata are two labels for the same condition - two sides of the same coin. Now I would like to ask these Hindu authors “Is Brahma (which according to them is the same as Shunya), dependently originated or origination?” Even here in the two words there is a difference. The Brahma can never be a dependent origination because it is a really existing thing. I am sure no Hindu would like to say this of the unchanging eternal independent Brahma. On the other hand, the significance of Shunyata is ‘dependant origination’ or ‘nisvabhava’ (non real existence). The Tathagatarbha, Mahamudra, Rigpa (Vidya) etc. cannot also be empty but not nisvabhava. Such as definition of Shunya (as not nisvabhava) would not only contradict the entire Buddhist paradigm but also would force such so-called Buddhist writers to fall into the ‘all-embracing’ arms of the Vedantin Brahma. If Rigpa, Mahamudra etc. is described without the correct emptiness, then such words as Mahamudra, Dzogchen, Rigpa, Tathagatagarbha are only new names given to the ancient concept of Brahma as found in the Upanishads (some of which are up to 600 years older than the Buddha). Such misconceptions of Ultimate Realities come not from Buddhist but actually from the Hindu Brahma in the garb of Buddhist scholar monks.

Some Buddhist writers give lame excuses about meditative experiences and theory being different. I would like to reiterate that such a meditative experience is not Buddhist but Hindu because it fits perfectly with the Hindu theory of reality. If meditative experiences are going to be different from the theory on which they are based, that would be tantamount to saying that the base has no relation to the path and fruit, or that path is one and the actual experience of the fruit (meditative experience) is another. At least the Hindu base-path-fruit is more consistent. They do not begin with non-real existence and end up with some kind of subtle existence. The Buddhist meditation experience must coincide with its base (basic paradigm). Yes, there is a shift from conceptual to non-conceptual during meditation, but that does not necessitate a shift from non-real existence to real existence. If reality is conceptually non-real existent, it does not become real existent non-conceptually. The true Buddhist meditative experience is ‘non real existence’ not ‘real existence’. Some may say that ‘non real existence’ is only a concept. But the same can be said of ‘real existence’. Since Brahma is ‘real existence’ by itself, independent etc. it cannot be a synonym for Shunyata. Some Shentong Buddhist writers who have not studied Hindu philosophy well enough try to give invalid excuses by implying that the Atma/Brahma of Hinduism is imagined, fabricated, whereas the Shentong Tathagatagarbha is non-conceptual (eg. Jamgon Kongtro Lordo Thaye - Gaining Certainly About The View; 5.2.4.2.). If one has read the Vedanta Shastra, one finds that the Atma (self) of the Hindu is also free from mental elaborations, like the Tathagatagarbha. So the crux of the different lies in Emptiness, not in non-elaboration, non conceptual, luminous etc. The Atma of the Vedanta is also not accessible to inferior logicians and not negated by logic because it is uncreated, unconditioned, self existing, self-luminous and beyond concepts. So just stating that the Hindu Atman is fabricated and our Tathagatagarbha is not, does not really solve anything. The Atma is what remains after everything else that is not it, has been negated. Last of all, the Atman is not the ego (Ahamkar, Tib. ngak dzin) which is what the Shentong logic negates.

Another word that has confounded many Hindu Svamis is ‘unborn’ (Skt. ajat), ‘unproduced’ (Skt. anutpada). In the context of the Hindu Vedanta, it means that there is this Ultimate Reality called the Brahma which is unborn i.e. never produced by anything or at any time, which means it always was. A thing or ‘super thing’ even a ‘non-thing’ that always existed and was never ever produced at any period in time which is separate from this born, illusory Samsara. In the Buddhist context, it is the true nature of Samsara itself which although relatively appears to be ‘born’, ultimately is never born. Advayavajra in his Tatvaratnavali says, “The world is unborn says the Buddha”. As Buddha Ekaputra Tantra (Tib. sangye tse tsig tantra) says, the base of DzogChen is the Samsara itself stirred from its depth. Since the Samsara stirred from its depth is interdependently originated, i.e. not really originated i.e. unborn and since Samsara is only relatively an interdependently originated thing but ultimately neither a thing nor a non-thing (bhava or abhava) that truly exists, the use of the word ‘unborn’ for Brahma (which is definitely not Samsara) and for Samsara itself in Buddhism are diametrically opposed. The true meaning of unborn (anutpada) is dependently originated (pratityasamutpanna), which is as already mentioned, the meaning of a nisvabhava (non-real existence) or Shunyata (emptiness). None of these can be a synonym for Brahma or anything that has kind of ultimate real existence, even if it is called Tathagatagarbha. There is no acceptance of an Ultimate Existence in any Buddhist Sutra. It is interesting that an exact word for Ultimate Existence (Skt. paramartha satta) in Tibetan Buddhism is very rarely used. It shows how non-Buddhist the whole concept is. One has to differentiate between existence (Skt. satta) and truth (Skt. satya) although they are so close and come from the same root in Sanskrit. Even in the Ratnagotra there is one single sentence (Skt. Yad yatra tat tena shunyam iti samanupasyati yat punartravasistam bhavati tad sad ihasthiti yathabhutam prajanati): “whatever is not found, know that to be empty by that itself, if something remains, know that to exist as it is).” This statement is straight out of the Vaibhasika Sutras of the Theravada (Sunnatavagga) and Sautrantika Abhidharma Samuccaya. It seems to imply an affirming negative. First of all, this statement contradicts the rest of the Ratnagotravibhaga if it is taken as the ultimate meaning in the Sutra (as the Shentongpas have done). Secondly, since it is a statement of the Vaibhasika school (stating that an ultimate unit of the consciousness and matter remains), it cannot be superior to the Rangtong Madhyamika. Thirdly, its interpretation as what remains is the ultimately existing Tathagatagarbha contradicts not only the interpretation that is found in other Buddhist sutras as “itar etar shunyata” (emptiness of what is different from it) but also the Shentong interpretation of Tathagatagarbha contradicts all the other definitions of the Tathagatagarbha found in the Ratnagotravibhaga itself.

This brings us to the word ‘Nitya’ i.e. eternal or permanent. The Hindu use of the word ‘Nitya’ for its ultimate existing reality, viz. Brahma is ‘Kutastha Nitya’ i.e. something remaining or existing unchangingly eternal, i.e. something statically eternal. Whatever the word ‘Nitya’ is used for, the Ultimate Truth in Buddhism, the Great Pandita Shantarakshita has made it very clear in his Tatvasamgraha that the Buddhist ‘Nitya’ (permanent) is ‘parinami nitya’ i.e. changing, transforming, eternal, in another words dynamically eternal. The Buddhist ‘Nitya’ is more accurately translated in English as eternal continuum rather than just eternal. I would like to remind some western translators of Nyingma and Kagyu texts that it is either the view of Shantarakshita’s Svatantrika Madhyamika or the Prasangika view that is given during the instruction of ‘Yeshe Lama’ as the correct view of DzogChen.

Now finally I would like to show how the same analogies are used in the Vedantic Hinduism and Buddhist Madhyamika to illustrate different thesis. The most famous analogy in both Vedanta and Madhyamika is that of the snake seen in the rope. In Vedanta you have the famous Sanskrit verse ‘rajjau sarpa bhramanaropa tadvat Brahmani jagataropa’ i.e. as a snake is imputed / superimposed upon a piece of rope so is the Samsara imposed upon the Brahma. Only the rope or the Brahma is real the snake, Samsara is unreal and does not exist at all. They are only illusions. If one studies this analogy, one realizes that it is not such an accurate analogy. The rope is not eternal like Brahma. Furthermore the rope is not unconditioned (Skt. asamskrita) like Brahma, so it is not really a good example or the proof of a truly existing independent Brahma. It is a forced analogy, and rightly so, because it is a Buddhist analogy squeezed to give a Vedantic meaning.

As for Buddhism, the rope stands for interdependent origination (pratityasamutpada) for which it is a good example being itself interdependently arisen from pieces of jute etc., and the snake imputed upon it stands for real existence, which is imposed on the interdependently existing rope appearance. Here it is the rope that is the true mode of existence of Samsara (unlike the snake representing Samsara in Vedanta) and the snake is our ignorance imputing Samsara as really existing instead of experiencing it as interdependently arisen. This interdependence or emptiness is ‘parinami nitya’ i.e. an eternal continuum and this is applicable to all phenomena. Of course, this interdependence is the Conventional Truth whereas nisvabhavata which is synonymous to emptiness is the Ultimate Truth in Madhyamika. Although interdependence is itself conditioned, in reality it is unborn and empty; its true nature is unconditioned. But this is not an unconditioned reality like Brahma but an unconditioned truth i.e. the fact that all things are in reality empty, unborn, uncreated. Likewise the mirror reflection analogy is used to show that just like images which have no existence at all appear and disappear on the permanent surface of the mirror so too Samsara which is an illusory reflection on the mirror of Brahma appears on the surface of the Brahma and disappears there. In Buddhism this metaphor is used to show that Samsara is interdependently arisen like the reflection on the mirror. The mirror is only one of the causes and conditions and no more real than the other causes and conditions for the appearance of the reflection of Samsara. Here too the mirror is a very poor metaphor for the Brahma, being itself interdependently arisen like the reflection on it. Actually such analogies are good examples for interdependent origination (Skt. pratityasamutpada) and not for some eternal Brahma. The mirror Brahma metaphor is only a forced one. The same can be said of the moon on the pond analogy and the rainbow in the sky analogy.

In conclusion, I would like to sum it up by stating that Buddhism (especially Mahayana / Vajrayana) is not a reformulation of Hinduism or a negative way of expressing what Hinduism as formulated. Hinduism and Buddhism share a common culture and therefore tend to use the same or similar words. They do share certain concepts like Karma and re-incarnation, although their interpretations differ. The Hindu concepts of Karma and therefore reincarnation tend to be rather linear whereas the Buddhist concept is linked with interdependent origination (Skt. pratityasamutpada). The Theravada concept of interdependent origination (Skt. pratityasamutpada) is also rather linear but the Mahayana / Vajrayana concept is more non-linear, multi-dimentional, multi-leveled, interdependent, inter-latched. But all similarities to Hinduism end there. The Shunyata of the Buddha, Nagarjuna, Candrakirti is by no accounts a negative way of describing the Brahma of the Upanishads – Samkara - Vidhyaranya groups.


I would like to dedicate this article for the long lives of Ven. H. E. Urgyen Tulku, H. E. Chobgye Trichen, H. H. Sakya Trizin Rinpoche and Ven. Karma Thinley Rinpoche and to the 17th century Siddha Vajracharya Surat Vajra of Nepal, Tache Baha. May his lineage be re- instated.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:24 pm
Title: Re: Could someone explain emptiness?
Content:
Even on an intellectual level: Understanding Right View is paramount, since it is our View that dictates our experience and where we ultimately end up in the spiritual path.  

I know I've been quoting from this blog all day, but it's a really good source for understanding Buddhism (and the other wisdom traditions of the world.)

https://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/search/label/Alex%20Weith

The suggestions that I have received were to acquire 'right view'. The mind needs to acquire some form of conceptual model that allows it to accept the possibility of its own non-abiding ungraspable empty nature. Right view is therefore required to facilitate the shift of perspective from "I am Awareness, everything is in me" to "nothing whatsoever is me or mine, all dharmas are empty".

A good start would be Walpola Rahula's classic "What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada". It can be completed by "The Way to Buddhahood: Instructions from a Modern Chinese Master" by Ven. Yin-shun. A great autoritative summary of the Mahayana path. Then, based on a solid understanding of the core insights of Buddhism, Dakpo Tashi Namgyal's "Clarifying the Natural State" (if still in print, or anything from the same great 16th century yogi) will be the best introduction to the Mahamudra and indirectly to the the sem-de series of Dzogchen.

The logical progression is therefore:

- Advaita Vedanta
- Pali Buddhism
- Mahayana Buddhism
- Mahamudra, Dzogchen

If we skip Pali and Mahayana Buddhism and jump directly to Mahamudra or Dzogchen, the risk is to interpret Mahamudra or Dzogchen as a Buddhist version of pop-neo-advaita, equating emptiness and rigpa with awareness.

This is very common nowadays and some Western lamas seem to encourage this trend to water-down the Dzogchen teachings, as always in order to appeal to a larger public. Business is business.


.............


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:42 pm
Title: Re: Buddhist or not - poll
Content:
IMO,  when it comes down to it: If an individual accepts the basic tenets of the four noble truth's,  noble eightfold path,  the three dharma seals (or four depending on if you want to go by the four seals model,) dependent origination and the middle way (also rebirth and the twelvefold chain of dependent origination, mofo's!!)....Then they are practitioners of the Buddha-Dharma regardless if they identify with a superficial label of 'Buddhist' or not. The commonality between us as practitioners (I think) is just that.

We are children of the unsurpassed Dharma of the Conquerors; following in the footsteps of those who's aim was annihilation of suffering. The path as traveled by the Victorious Ones of the three times, I pay homage!!


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:03 am
Title: Re: Is the Sikh religion influenced by (even based on) Dzogchen?
Content:
To virgo: 

Sikhism being influenced by Dzogchen...that's questionable, but maybe. As for being based on Dzogchen: Definitely not.

Advaita Vedanta,  also uses a lot of similar terminology as Buddhism (such as unborn, undying, freedom from birth and death, etc.,) yet is still based around an eternalist/theistic framework.

Also, it doesn't even take that someone has experiential understanding in order to come to the conclusion that Sikhism is as theistic as any of the other traditions categorized under the umbrella term "Hinduism." Just take a look at any website dedicated to Sikhism; such as this website here http://www.realsikhism.com/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:47 pm
Title: Re: Buddhist or not - poll
Content:
Whooo! First vote for no!!!!


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:47 am
Title: Re: merit vs wisdom
Content:
Wait, Stream-Entry 1st bhumi??? Are you guys going by some other scheme that I'm not aware of? Because in Hinayana a Stream-Enterer would be Sotapanna, Once Returner would be Sakadagami and Anagami a Non-Returner; with the last being Arahant....Is this some sort of 'Mahayana' take on the Hinayana scheme?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:55 pm
Title: Arhat From The Perspective Of Mahayana
Content:
Taking this from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arhat_%28Buddhism%29#In_the_early_Buddhist_schools

In the early Buddhist schools
 
A range of views on the relative perfection of arhats existed amongst the early Buddhist schools. In general, the Mahāsāṃghika branch, such as the Ekavyāvahārikas, Lokottaravādins,[9] Bahuśrutīyas,[10] Prajñaptivādins, and Caitika[11] schools, advocated the transcendental and supermundane nature of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and the fallibility of arhats.[12] The Caitikas, for example, advocated the ideal of the bodhisattva (bodhisattvayāna) over that of the arhat (śrāvakayāna), and they viewed arhats as being fallible and still subject to ignorance.[13]
 
According to A.K. Warder, the Sarvāstivādins held the same position as the Mahāsāṃghika branch regarding arhats, considering them to be imperfect and fallible.[14] The Kāśyapīya school also held the doctrine that arhats were fallible and imperfect, similar to the view of the Sarvāstivādins and the various Mahāsāṃghika sects.[15] The Kāśyapīyas believed that arhats have not fully eliminated desires, that their "perfection" is incomplete, and that it is possible for them to relapse.[16]

Can anyone explain the specifics on how the Hinayana Arhats are "fallible and imperfect" and "possible for to relapse?" 

My main source of information (on how Yogacara makes the distinction) is from Tsongkhapas Ocean of Eloquence translated by Gareth Sparham. In it (if I remember correctly) they differentiate the difference of the attainments of the Arhat, in contrast to bodhisattvas on the pure gounds and that of buddhas in these ways: That the  alaya-vijnana has "ceased" for the (post-learner) arhats and they are no longer subject to the 7th consciousness taking the alaya as its objective support (and are hence always in samadhi.)  Though, Yogacara says that the continuum of the klista manas for the arhats cease while in nirodhi samapatti (9th jhana of cessation.) Yet, they say that bodhisattvas on the pure grounds (8th bhumi and up) the continuum of the seeds of the 7th consciousness cease entirely in both the absorption and post-absorption period.  While of course for buddhas, the alaya is "overturned" or "transformed" into the wisdoms of a buddha.

So if anyone could help clarify (and correct) the specifics for me, it would be greatly appreciated.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:59 am
Title: Proponents of Shentong in different sects?
Content:
I read Banned Books in the Tibetan lands (https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=3992) and that article mentions banned books of various teachers: I was wondering if anyone could verify that there were indeed proponents of Shentong in the other four sects? Could anyone list some names from each sect?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:49 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
One more question: 

If there was no tantra that teaches a ninth-consciousness, then where was the source of this Chen individual getting his ideas about tantra teaching a ninth-consciousness? Do you think it was from the Chinese? Because I am not aware of any of the Chinese sects teaching this either.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:46 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:43 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Lol, I thought of it as a rather funny joke. It would be something though if I actually did something like this....Though how to make the sound stand out and to make it unique and refreshing compared to the rest of the bands in this genre would be more of a challenge....


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:26 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
No, this is the reason it was rejected by Bhavaviveka.[/quote]

I see. So this was comepletely of his own invention then?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:24 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Was Paramarthas source from any of the sutras?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:22 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
I see. Based on the above response from namdrol: This was something that was spread from an individual to China, but as far as I know this wasn't taught in any of the Tibetan schools. From what I've read they all only recognize alaya-vijnana.

Where is the source of that above quote?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:06 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hmm...Ok, thank you for responding.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:05 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Thank you. I came up with it based off a day dream I had at work, about starting a progressive death metal band with female vocals. The songs subject matter would've been based off of the buddhadharma; hence "Lotus"...With the inclusion of female vocals making it "Bitch." This may or may not be offensive to women.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:54 pm
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
So the actual act itself has no significance whatsoever? You haven't read about this or seen it referenced somewhere or heard anyone say anything about him doing this? 

The number nine: What is it's significance in Tibetan Buddhism (if oyu know anything about this?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:49 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Where was the source of this theory? As in where did he learn of this? Or was it something he came uup with by himself?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:46 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Is that the only person in the sinosphere to teach this? Anyone in any of the Tibetan sects teach this?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:43 pm
Title: Re: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Maybe someone could give an explanation of how it fits with the rest of the qouted section?

The qouted section from the second part is this:

"For every movement of the ocean and every movement of the world, for every spinning of the planet, there spins your heart. Every cell within your heart is an expression of the great rhythms that move through and understand and create the very nature of the world in which we live, the nine great rhythms the twenty one hours, the clock that ticks our bodies through life. Understanding the great cycles of movement and change within our hearts, we begin to live in harmony with the way in which the world moves. The cycles of man and the cycles of of the planet are different. We need to learn to bring them together and find ways to understand their unison."

From the fifth part is this:

"There is one mind and three bodies, the phyiscal body, the body of thought, and the body of mind, and these three are interconnected. by understanding these three, you will understand the way in which the great archetypal energies move together to make the material forms. The energies of Wind and Bile and Phlegm, that which moves through all things, that which uprises and motivates, that which adheres and slows, all these are working together as the result of thoughts and karma, all manufacturing a process we call reality. The understanding of this is simple if you remove the obstacles of your heart. 

First, place your hands upon the bones of the body; there you will understand the the structure of the mind. then place your hands upon the heart and you will understand the structure of the organs. Then place your hands upon the skin and feel the nine levels; there you will understand the nature of connection. Look at the tongue and the eyes and the lobes of the ears; there you eill understand the process of cause and effect. look at the urine and you will will discover the digestive nature of consciousness. Listen to the expressions of the heart in the wrists and neck, the thighs and ankles, and you will discover the rhythms of the heart as expressed through the eight processes of the mind. Listen to the occupation of space and how the moves in it and you will understand the nautre of how we build our lives."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:14 pm
Title: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Does anyone know who or what sect has taught or teaches about the amala-vijnana ("stainless" consciousness?) 

As far as I know there was only one individual who taught this; an Indian by the name of Paramartha (499-569.) Also apparently the Nichiren sect teaches this, according to this website I found while doing an internet search of the subject: https://www.sgi.org/buddhism/buddhist-concepts/the-nine-consciousnesses.html Is that a legitimate source for what the Nichiren sect teaches? Because I thought it was based off the Lotus sutra and from reading the Lotus sutra:  I didn't see any mention of an amala-vijnana?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:05 pm
Title: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hi:

This is second hand info, that I got from someone...So I just want to see if anyone knows anything about Chogyam Trungpa ever holding a nine point vajra with his right finger and thumb, on some sort of "9th point" while giving lectures or whatever? What is the significance of this act and the number nine in Tibetan Buddhism (if the information I received is credible info?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Title: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Hi:

I don't know if this should be in the Bon thread or not, but thought I'd post it here because it's relation to Dzogchen...

I have a few questions regarding this tantra http://bon-encyclopedia.wikispaces.com/file/view/TheFloweringLightTantra.pdf: 

In the tantra there is mention of "heart;" in this tantra what is the context of this "heart?"

In the second part of the tantra there is mention of the "great nine rythms." What is this referring to?

Also in part five there is mention the "nine levels." What is this referring to? There is also mention (in part five of the tantra) of "the eight processes of mind." Is this referring to the eight consciousnesses?

Just out of curiosity: What does the Nyingma sect think of this tantra?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:24 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Was Paramarthas source from any of the sutras?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:22 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
I see. Based on the above response from namdrol: This was something that was spread from an individual to China, but as far as I know this wasn't taught in any of the Tibetan schools. From what I've read they all only recognize alaya-vijnana.

Where is the source of that above quote?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:06 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hmm...Ok, thank you for responding.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:05 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Thank you. I came up with it based off a day dream I had at work, about starting a progressive death metal band with female vocals. The songs subject matter would've been based off of the buddhadharma; hence "Lotus"...With the inclusion of female vocals making it "Bitch." This may or may not be offensive to women.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:54 pm
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
So the actual act itself has no significance whatsoever? You haven't read about this or seen it referenced somewhere or heard anyone say anything about him doing this? 

The number nine: What is it's significance in Tibetan Buddhism (if oyu know anything about this?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:49 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Where was the source of this theory? As in where did he learn of this? Or was it something he came uup with by himself?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:46 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Is that the only person in the sinosphere to teach this? Anyone in any of the Tibetan sects teach this?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:43 pm
Title: Re: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Maybe someone could give an explanation of how it fits with the rest of the qouted section?

The qouted section from the second part is this:

"For every movement of the ocean and every movement of the world, for every spinning of the planet, there spins your heart. Every cell within your heart is an expression of the great rhythms that move through and understand and create the very nature of the world in which we live, the nine great rhythms the twenty one hours, the clock that ticks our bodies through life. Understanding the great cycles of movement and change within our hearts, we begin to live in harmony with the way in which the world moves. The cycles of man and the cycles of of the planet are different. We need to learn to bring them together and find ways to understand their unison."

From the fifth part is this:

"There is one mind and three bodies, the phyiscal body, the body of thought, and the body of mind, and these three are interconnected. by understanding these three, you will understand the way in which the great archetypal energies move together to make the material forms. The energies of Wind and Bile and Phlegm, that which moves through all things, that which uprises and motivates, that which adheres and slows, all these are working together as the result of thoughts and karma, all manufacturing a process we call reality. The understanding of this is simple if you remove the obstacles of your heart. 

First, place your hands upon the bones of the body; there you will understand the the structure of the mind. then place your hands upon the heart and you will understand the structure of the organs. Then place your hands upon the skin and feel the nine levels; there you will understand the nature of connection. Look at the tongue and the eyes and the lobes of the ears; there you eill understand the process of cause and effect. look at the urine and you will will discover the digestive nature of consciousness. Listen to the expressions of the heart in the wrists and neck, the thighs and ankles, and you will discover the rhythms of the heart as expressed through the eight processes of the mind. Listen to the occupation of space and how the moves in it and you will understand the nautre of how we build our lives."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:14 pm
Title: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Does anyone know who or what sect has taught or teaches about the amala-vijnana ("stainless" consciousness?) 

As far as I know there was only one individual who taught this; an Indian by the name of Paramartha (499-569.) Also apparently the Nichiren sect teaches this, according to this website I found while doing an internet search of the subject: https://www.sgi.org/buddhism/buddhist-concepts/the-nine-consciousnesses.html Is that a legitimate source for what the Nichiren sect teaches? Because I thought it was based off the Lotus sutra and from reading the Lotus sutra:  I didn't see any mention of an amala-vijnana?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:05 pm
Title: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hi:

This is second hand info, that I got from someone...So I just want to see if anyone knows anything about Chogyam Trungpa ever holding a nine point vajra with his right finger and thumb, on some sort of "9th point" while giving lectures or whatever? What is the significance of this act and the number nine in Tibetan Buddhism (if the information I received is credible info?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Title: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Hi:

I don't know if this should be in the Bon thread or not, but thought I'd post it here because it's relation to Dzogchen...

I have a few questions regarding this tantra http://bon-encyclopedia.wikispaces.com/file/view/TheFloweringLightTantra.pdf: 

In the tantra there is mention of "heart;" in this tantra what is the context of this "heart?"

In the second part of the tantra there is mention of the "great nine rythms." What is this referring to?

Also in part five there is mention the "nine levels." What is this referring to? There is also mention (in part five of the tantra) of "the eight processes of mind." Is this referring to the eight consciousnesses?

Just out of curiosity: What does the Nyingma sect think of this tantra?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:24 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Was Paramarthas source from any of the sutras?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:22 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
I see. Based on the above response from namdrol: This was something that was spread from an individual to China, but as far as I know this wasn't taught in any of the Tibetan schools. From what I've read they all only recognize alaya-vijnana.

Where is the source of that above quote?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:06 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hmm...Ok, thank you for responding.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:05 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Thank you. I came up with it based off a day dream I had at work, about starting a progressive death metal band with female vocals. The songs subject matter would've been based off of the buddhadharma; hence "Lotus"...With the inclusion of female vocals making it "Bitch." This may or may not be offensive to women.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:54 pm
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
So the actual act itself has no significance whatsoever? You haven't read about this or seen it referenced somewhere or heard anyone say anything about him doing this? 

The number nine: What is it's significance in Tibetan Buddhism (if oyu know anything about this?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:49 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Where was the source of this theory? As in where did he learn of this? Or was it something he came uup with by himself?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:46 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Is that the only person in the sinosphere to teach this? Anyone in any of the Tibetan sects teach this?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:43 pm
Title: Re: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Maybe someone could give an explanation of how it fits with the rest of the qouted section?

The qouted section from the second part is this:

"For every movement of the ocean and every movement of the world, for every spinning of the planet, there spins your heart. Every cell within your heart is an expression of the great rhythms that move through and understand and create the very nature of the world in which we live, the nine great rhythms the twenty one hours, the clock that ticks our bodies through life. Understanding the great cycles of movement and change within our hearts, we begin to live in harmony with the way in which the world moves. The cycles of man and the cycles of of the planet are different. We need to learn to bring them together and find ways to understand their unison."

From the fifth part is this:

"There is one mind and three bodies, the phyiscal body, the body of thought, and the body of mind, and these three are interconnected. by understanding these three, you will understand the way in which the great archetypal energies move together to make the material forms. The energies of Wind and Bile and Phlegm, that which moves through all things, that which uprises and motivates, that which adheres and slows, all these are working together as the result of thoughts and karma, all manufacturing a process we call reality. The understanding of this is simple if you remove the obstacles of your heart. 

First, place your hands upon the bones of the body; there you will understand the the structure of the mind. then place your hands upon the heart and you will understand the structure of the organs. Then place your hands upon the skin and feel the nine levels; there you will understand the nature of connection. Look at the tongue and the eyes and the lobes of the ears; there you eill understand the process of cause and effect. look at the urine and you will will discover the digestive nature of consciousness. Listen to the expressions of the heart in the wrists and neck, the thighs and ankles, and you will discover the rhythms of the heart as expressed through the eight processes of the mind. Listen to the occupation of space and how the moves in it and you will understand the nautre of how we build our lives."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:14 pm
Title: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Does anyone know who or what sect has taught or teaches about the amala-vijnana ("stainless" consciousness?) 

As far as I know there was only one individual who taught this; an Indian by the name of Paramartha (499-569.) Also apparently the Nichiren sect teaches this, according to this website I found while doing an internet search of the subject: https://www.sgi.org/buddhism/buddhist-concepts/the-nine-consciousnesses.html Is that a legitimate source for what the Nichiren sect teaches? Because I thought it was based off the Lotus sutra and from reading the Lotus sutra:  I didn't see any mention of an amala-vijnana?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:05 pm
Title: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hi:

This is second hand info, that I got from someone...So I just want to see if anyone knows anything about Chogyam Trungpa ever holding a nine point vajra with his right finger and thumb, on some sort of "9th point" while giving lectures or whatever? What is the significance of this act and the number nine in Tibetan Buddhism (if the information I received is credible info?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Title: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Hi:

I don't know if this should be in the Bon thread or not, but thought I'd post it here because it's relation to Dzogchen...

I have a few questions regarding this tantra http://bon-encyclopedia.wikispaces.com/file/view/TheFloweringLightTantra.pdf: 

In the tantra there is mention of "heart;" in this tantra what is the context of this "heart?"

In the second part of the tantra there is mention of the "great nine rythms." What is this referring to?

Also in part five there is mention the "nine levels." What is this referring to? There is also mention (in part five of the tantra) of "the eight processes of mind." Is this referring to the eight consciousnesses?

Just out of curiosity: What does the Nyingma sect think of this tantra?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:24 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Was Paramarthas source from any of the sutras?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:22 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
I see. Based on the above response from namdrol: This was something that was spread from an individual to China, but as far as I know this wasn't taught in any of the Tibetan schools. From what I've read they all only recognize alaya-vijnana.

Where is the source of that above quote?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:06 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hmm...Ok, thank you for responding.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:05 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Thank you. I came up with it based off a day dream I had at work, about starting a progressive death metal band with female vocals. The songs subject matter would've been based off of the buddhadharma; hence "Lotus"...With the inclusion of female vocals making it "Bitch." This may or may not be offensive to women.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:54 pm
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
So the actual act itself has no significance whatsoever? You haven't read about this or seen it referenced somewhere or heard anyone say anything about him doing this? 

The number nine: What is it's significance in Tibetan Buddhism (if oyu know anything about this?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:49 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Where was the source of this theory? As in where did he learn of this? Or was it something he came uup with by himself?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:46 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Is that the only person in the sinosphere to teach this? Anyone in any of the Tibetan sects teach this?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:43 pm
Title: Re: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Maybe someone could give an explanation of how it fits with the rest of the qouted section?

The qouted section from the second part is this:

"For every movement of the ocean and every movement of the world, for every spinning of the planet, there spins your heart. Every cell within your heart is an expression of the great rhythms that move through and understand and create the very nature of the world in which we live, the nine great rhythms the twenty one hours, the clock that ticks our bodies through life. Understanding the great cycles of movement and change within our hearts, we begin to live in harmony with the way in which the world moves. The cycles of man and the cycles of of the planet are different. We need to learn to bring them together and find ways to understand their unison."

From the fifth part is this:

"There is one mind and three bodies, the phyiscal body, the body of thought, and the body of mind, and these three are interconnected. by understanding these three, you will understand the way in which the great archetypal energies move together to make the material forms. The energies of Wind and Bile and Phlegm, that which moves through all things, that which uprises and motivates, that which adheres and slows, all these are working together as the result of thoughts and karma, all manufacturing a process we call reality. The understanding of this is simple if you remove the obstacles of your heart. 

First, place your hands upon the bones of the body; there you will understand the the structure of the mind. then place your hands upon the heart and you will understand the structure of the organs. Then place your hands upon the skin and feel the nine levels; there you will understand the nature of connection. Look at the tongue and the eyes and the lobes of the ears; there you eill understand the process of cause and effect. look at the urine and you will will discover the digestive nature of consciousness. Listen to the expressions of the heart in the wrists and neck, the thighs and ankles, and you will discover the rhythms of the heart as expressed through the eight processes of the mind. Listen to the occupation of space and how the moves in it and you will understand the nautre of how we build our lives."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:14 pm
Title: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Does anyone know who or what sect has taught or teaches about the amala-vijnana ("stainless" consciousness?) 

As far as I know there was only one individual who taught this; an Indian by the name of Paramartha (499-569.) Also apparently the Nichiren sect teaches this, according to this website I found while doing an internet search of the subject: https://www.sgi.org/buddhism/buddhist-concepts/the-nine-consciousnesses.html Is that a legitimate source for what the Nichiren sect teaches? Because I thought it was based off the Lotus sutra and from reading the Lotus sutra:  I didn't see any mention of an amala-vijnana?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:05 pm
Title: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hi:

This is second hand info, that I got from someone...So I just want to see if anyone knows anything about Chogyam Trungpa ever holding a nine point vajra with his right finger and thumb, on some sort of "9th point" while giving lectures or whatever? What is the significance of this act and the number nine in Tibetan Buddhism (if the information I received is credible info?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Title: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Hi:

I don't know if this should be in the Bon thread or not, but thought I'd post it here because it's relation to Dzogchen...

I have a few questions regarding this tantra http://bon-encyclopedia.wikispaces.com/file/view/TheFloweringLightTantra.pdf: 

In the tantra there is mention of "heart;" in this tantra what is the context of this "heart?"

In the second part of the tantra there is mention of the "great nine rythms." What is this referring to?

Also in part five there is mention the "nine levels." What is this referring to? There is also mention (in part five of the tantra) of "the eight processes of mind." Is this referring to the eight consciousnesses?

Just out of curiosity: What does the Nyingma sect think of this tantra?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:24 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Was Paramarthas source from any of the sutras?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:22 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
I see. Based on the above response from namdrol: This was something that was spread from an individual to China, but as far as I know this wasn't taught in any of the Tibetan schools. From what I've read they all only recognize alaya-vijnana.

Where is the source of that above quote?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:06 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hmm...Ok, thank you for responding.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:05 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Thank you. I came up with it based off a day dream I had at work, about starting a progressive death metal band with female vocals. The songs subject matter would've been based off of the buddhadharma; hence "Lotus"...With the inclusion of female vocals making it "Bitch." This may or may not be offensive to women.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:54 pm
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
So the actual act itself has no significance whatsoever? You haven't read about this or seen it referenced somewhere or heard anyone say anything about him doing this? 

The number nine: What is it's significance in Tibetan Buddhism (if oyu know anything about this?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:49 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Where was the source of this theory? As in where did he learn of this? Or was it something he came uup with by himself?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:46 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Is that the only person in the sinosphere to teach this? Anyone in any of the Tibetan sects teach this?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:43 pm
Title: Re: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Maybe someone could give an explanation of how it fits with the rest of the qouted section?

The qouted section from the second part is this:

"For every movement of the ocean and every movement of the world, for every spinning of the planet, there spins your heart. Every cell within your heart is an expression of the great rhythms that move through and understand and create the very nature of the world in which we live, the nine great rhythms the twenty one hours, the clock that ticks our bodies through life. Understanding the great cycles of movement and change within our hearts, we begin to live in harmony with the way in which the world moves. The cycles of man and the cycles of of the planet are different. We need to learn to bring them together and find ways to understand their unison."

From the fifth part is this:

"There is one mind and three bodies, the phyiscal body, the body of thought, and the body of mind, and these three are interconnected. by understanding these three, you will understand the way in which the great archetypal energies move together to make the material forms. The energies of Wind and Bile and Phlegm, that which moves through all things, that which uprises and motivates, that which adheres and slows, all these are working together as the result of thoughts and karma, all manufacturing a process we call reality. The understanding of this is simple if you remove the obstacles of your heart. 

First, place your hands upon the bones of the body; there you will understand the the structure of the mind. then place your hands upon the heart and you will understand the structure of the organs. Then place your hands upon the skin and feel the nine levels; there you will understand the nature of connection. Look at the tongue and the eyes and the lobes of the ears; there you eill understand the process of cause and effect. look at the urine and you will will discover the digestive nature of consciousness. Listen to the expressions of the heart in the wrists and neck, the thighs and ankles, and you will discover the rhythms of the heart as expressed through the eight processes of the mind. Listen to the occupation of space and how the moves in it and you will understand the nautre of how we build our lives."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:14 pm
Title: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Does anyone know who or what sect has taught or teaches about the amala-vijnana ("stainless" consciousness?) 

As far as I know there was only one individual who taught this; an Indian by the name of Paramartha (499-569.) Also apparently the Nichiren sect teaches this, according to this website I found while doing an internet search of the subject: https://www.sgi.org/buddhism/buddhist-concepts/the-nine-consciousnesses.html Is that a legitimate source for what the Nichiren sect teaches? Because I thought it was based off the Lotus sutra and from reading the Lotus sutra:  I didn't see any mention of an amala-vijnana?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:05 pm
Title: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hi:

This is second hand info, that I got from someone...So I just want to see if anyone knows anything about Chogyam Trungpa ever holding a nine point vajra with his right finger and thumb, on some sort of "9th point" while giving lectures or whatever? What is the significance of this act and the number nine in Tibetan Buddhism (if the information I received is credible info?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Title: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Hi:

I don't know if this should be in the Bon thread or not, but thought I'd post it here because it's relation to Dzogchen...

I have a few questions regarding this tantra http://bon-encyclopedia.wikispaces.com/file/view/TheFloweringLightTantra.pdf: 

In the tantra there is mention of "heart;" in this tantra what is the context of this "heart?"

In the second part of the tantra there is mention of the "great nine rythms." What is this referring to?

Also in part five there is mention the "nine levels." What is this referring to? There is also mention (in part five of the tantra) of "the eight processes of mind." Is this referring to the eight consciousnesses?

Just out of curiosity: What does the Nyingma sect think of this tantra?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:24 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Was Paramarthas source from any of the sutras?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:22 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
I see. Based on the above response from namdrol: This was something that was spread from an individual to China, but as far as I know this wasn't taught in any of the Tibetan schools. From what I've read they all only recognize alaya-vijnana.

Where is the source of that above quote?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:06 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hmm...Ok, thank you for responding.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:05 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Thank you. I came up with it based off a day dream I had at work, about starting a progressive death metal band with female vocals. The songs subject matter would've been based off of the buddhadharma; hence "Lotus"...With the inclusion of female vocals making it "Bitch." This may or may not be offensive to women.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:54 pm
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
So the actual act itself has no significance whatsoever? You haven't read about this or seen it referenced somewhere or heard anyone say anything about him doing this? 

The number nine: What is it's significance in Tibetan Buddhism (if oyu know anything about this?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:49 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Where was the source of this theory? As in where did he learn of this? Or was it something he came uup with by himself?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:46 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Is that the only person in the sinosphere to teach this? Anyone in any of the Tibetan sects teach this?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:43 pm
Title: Re: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Maybe someone could give an explanation of how it fits with the rest of the qouted section?

The qouted section from the second part is this:

"For every movement of the ocean and every movement of the world, for every spinning of the planet, there spins your heart. Every cell within your heart is an expression of the great rhythms that move through and understand and create the very nature of the world in which we live, the nine great rhythms the twenty one hours, the clock that ticks our bodies through life. Understanding the great cycles of movement and change within our hearts, we begin to live in harmony with the way in which the world moves. The cycles of man and the cycles of of the planet are different. We need to learn to bring them together and find ways to understand their unison."

From the fifth part is this:

"There is one mind and three bodies, the phyiscal body, the body of thought, and the body of mind, and these three are interconnected. by understanding these three, you will understand the way in which the great archetypal energies move together to make the material forms. The energies of Wind and Bile and Phlegm, that which moves through all things, that which uprises and motivates, that which adheres and slows, all these are working together as the result of thoughts and karma, all manufacturing a process we call reality. The understanding of this is simple if you remove the obstacles of your heart. 

First, place your hands upon the bones of the body; there you will understand the the structure of the mind. then place your hands upon the heart and you will understand the structure of the organs. Then place your hands upon the skin and feel the nine levels; there you will understand the nature of connection. Look at the tongue and the eyes and the lobes of the ears; there you eill understand the process of cause and effect. look at the urine and you will will discover the digestive nature of consciousness. Listen to the expressions of the heart in the wrists and neck, the thighs and ankles, and you will discover the rhythms of the heart as expressed through the eight processes of the mind. Listen to the occupation of space and how the moves in it and you will understand the nautre of how we build our lives."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:14 pm
Title: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Does anyone know who or what sect has taught or teaches about the amala-vijnana ("stainless" consciousness?) 

As far as I know there was only one individual who taught this; an Indian by the name of Paramartha (499-569.) Also apparently the Nichiren sect teaches this, according to this website I found while doing an internet search of the subject: https://www.sgi.org/buddhism/buddhist-concepts/the-nine-consciousnesses.html Is that a legitimate source for what the Nichiren sect teaches? Because I thought it was based off the Lotus sutra and from reading the Lotus sutra:  I didn't see any mention of an amala-vijnana?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:05 pm
Title: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hi:

This is second hand info, that I got from someone...So I just want to see if anyone knows anything about Chogyam Trungpa ever holding a nine point vajra with his right finger and thumb, on some sort of "9th point" while giving lectures or whatever? What is the significance of this act and the number nine in Tibetan Buddhism (if the information I received is credible info?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Title: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Hi:

I don't know if this should be in the Bon thread or not, but thought I'd post it here because it's relation to Dzogchen...

I have a few questions regarding this tantra http://bon-encyclopedia.wikispaces.com/file/view/TheFloweringLightTantra.pdf: 

In the tantra there is mention of "heart;" in this tantra what is the context of this "heart?"

In the second part of the tantra there is mention of the "great nine rythms." What is this referring to?

Also in part five there is mention the "nine levels." What is this referring to? There is also mention (in part five of the tantra) of "the eight processes of mind." Is this referring to the eight consciousnesses?

Just out of curiosity: What does the Nyingma sect think of this tantra?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:24 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Was Paramarthas source from any of the sutras?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:22 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
I see. Based on the above response from namdrol: This was something that was spread from an individual to China, but as far as I know this wasn't taught in any of the Tibetan schools. From what I've read they all only recognize alaya-vijnana.

Where is the source of that above quote?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:06 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hmm...Ok, thank you for responding.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:05 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Thank you. I came up with it based off a day dream I had at work, about starting a progressive death metal band with female vocals. The songs subject matter would've been based off of the buddhadharma; hence "Lotus"...With the inclusion of female vocals making it "Bitch." This may or may not be offensive to women.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:54 pm
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
So the actual act itself has no significance whatsoever? You haven't read about this or seen it referenced somewhere or heard anyone say anything about him doing this? 

The number nine: What is it's significance in Tibetan Buddhism (if oyu know anything about this?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:49 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Where was the source of this theory? As in where did he learn of this? Or was it something he came uup with by himself?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:46 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Is that the only person in the sinosphere to teach this? Anyone in any of the Tibetan sects teach this?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:43 pm
Title: Re: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Maybe someone could give an explanation of how it fits with the rest of the qouted section?

The qouted section from the second part is this:

"For every movement of the ocean and every movement of the world, for every spinning of the planet, there spins your heart. Every cell within your heart is an expression of the great rhythms that move through and understand and create the very nature of the world in which we live, the nine great rhythms the twenty one hours, the clock that ticks our bodies through life. Understanding the great cycles of movement and change within our hearts, we begin to live in harmony with the way in which the world moves. The cycles of man and the cycles of of the planet are different. We need to learn to bring them together and find ways to understand their unison."

From the fifth part is this:

"There is one mind and three bodies, the phyiscal body, the body of thought, and the body of mind, and these three are interconnected. by understanding these three, you will understand the way in which the great archetypal energies move together to make the material forms. The energies of Wind and Bile and Phlegm, that which moves through all things, that which uprises and motivates, that which adheres and slows, all these are working together as the result of thoughts and karma, all manufacturing a process we call reality. The understanding of this is simple if you remove the obstacles of your heart. 

First, place your hands upon the bones of the body; there you will understand the the structure of the mind. then place your hands upon the heart and you will understand the structure of the organs. Then place your hands upon the skin and feel the nine levels; there you will understand the nature of connection. Look at the tongue and the eyes and the lobes of the ears; there you eill understand the process of cause and effect. look at the urine and you will will discover the digestive nature of consciousness. Listen to the expressions of the heart in the wrists and neck, the thighs and ankles, and you will discover the rhythms of the heart as expressed through the eight processes of the mind. Listen to the occupation of space and how the moves in it and you will understand the nautre of how we build our lives."


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:14 pm
Title: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Does anyone know who or what sect has taught or teaches about the amala-vijnana ("stainless" consciousness?) 

As far as I know there was only one individual who taught this; an Indian by the name of Paramartha (499-569.) Also apparently the Nichiren sect teaches this, according to this website I found while doing an internet search of the subject: https://www.sgi.org/buddhism/buddhist-concepts/the-nine-consciousnesses.html Is that a legitimate source for what the Nichiren sect teaches? Because I thought it was based off the Lotus sutra and from reading the Lotus sutra:  I didn't see any mention of an amala-vijnana?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:05 pm
Title: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hi:

This is second hand info, that I got from someone...So I just want to see if anyone knows anything about Chogyam Trungpa ever holding a nine point vajra with his right finger and thumb, on some sort of "9th point" while giving lectures or whatever? What is the significance of this act and the number nine in Tibetan Buddhism (if the information I received is credible info?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Title: Questions on The Flowering Light Tantra
Content:
Hi:

I don't know if this should be in the Bon thread or not, but thought I'd post it here because it's relation to Dzogchen...

I have a few questions regarding this tantra http://bon-encyclopedia.wikispaces.com/file/view/TheFloweringLightTantra.pdf: 

In the tantra there is mention of "heart;" in this tantra what is the context of this "heart?"

In the second part of the tantra there is mention of the "great nine rythms." What is this referring to?

Also in part five there is mention the "nine levels." What is this referring to? There is also mention (in part five of the tantra) of "the eight processes of mind." Is this referring to the eight consciousnesses?

Just out of curiosity: What does the Nyingma sect think of this tantra?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:24 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Was Paramarthas source from any of the sutras?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:22 am
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
I see. Based on the above response from namdrol: This was something that was spread from an individual to China, but as far as I know this wasn't taught in any of the Tibetan schools. From what I've read they all only recognize alaya-vijnana.

Where is the source of that above quote?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:06 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Hmm...Ok, thank you for responding.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:05 am
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
Thank you. I came up with it based off a day dream I had at work, about starting a progressive death metal band with female vocals. The songs subject matter would've been based off of the buddhadharma; hence "Lotus"...With the inclusion of female vocals making it "Bitch." This may or may not be offensive to women.


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:54 pm
Title: Re: Random question on Chogyam Trungpa
Content:
So the actual act itself has no significance whatsoever? You haven't read about this or seen it referenced somewhere or heard anyone say anything about him doing this? 

The number nine: What is it's significance in Tibetan Buddhism (if oyu know anything about this?)


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:49 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Where was the source of this theory? As in where did he learn of this? Or was it something he came uup with by himself?


Author: Lotus_Bitch
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:46 pm
Title: Re: Ninth-Consciousness: Who Teaches This?
Content:
Is that the only person in the sinosphere to teach this? Anyone in any of the Tibetan sects teach this?


