Buddhism

[Jen]

Do we have any Buddhists here at the coven?
I was bought a book for my birthday called "The Buddhist in Your Mirror" which I read in a couple of days.
It was very interesting stuff and resonated a LOT with my own beliefs and practices.
Of course, omitting all that karma rubbish.
Whilst my path has always been very eclectic (even from the beginning) I have picked up a lot of Buddhist tendencies along the way - without even realising it!
If anyone here practices or has studied Buddhism I'd be very interested to hear your input.

[kolohe]

I like a lot of the Buddist teachings too. Buddhism has some very good teachings as far as dealing with suffering and difficult people, I think some of the teaching re. detachment and dissolving the ego are a little too much for me anyway, will probably be staying attached to my ego, lately have been a little side tracked with Huna (ancient Hawaiian teaching)- they teach that the ego is your original self- sort of your inner child- it's okay to be kind to it and even indulge it occasionally, but you don't let it run the show.

[watershield]

I think that many people have some understanding of basic buddhist concepts, but most don't realize that there are several types of buddhism being practised.
Indian, Tibetian, and Asian buddhism all have a number of similarities, but day to day practises vary.
And of coase, like any organized belief system, there are variations within each of the "major traditions".

Indian Buddhism is the oldest form, followed by Tibetian.
Tibetian is interesting as they have incorporated a certain degree of, what can only be discribed as magic, into some of their practise / ritual.

Regardless of the tradition however, if we can filter out the politics and dogma, is the concept of seeking the middle way. A balance with the universe, with our surroundings and most importantlt, within ourselves.

I read something a long time ago and at times use it as a focal point in meditation....
I am an individual and the centre of the universe. You are an individual and the centre of the universe. Being at the centre, we both occupy the same space at the same time. If we can achieve our inner balance, we will experience that we are all in truth, one and the universe is us.

[kolohe]

Tibetans and Southeast Asians hold the oldest lineages. Only a few remote areas practiced any form of Buddhism at all in India between 1200s and 1800s.

Middle Way is about avoiding extremes- I don't think that we necessarily find balance by suppressing extreme emotions- the most beautiful harmonies explore, express and integrate the highs and the lows.

[PaganOne]

Sept 26, 2008 8:15:46 GMT 1 Jen said:

I was bought a book for my birthday called "The Buddhist in Your Mirror" which I read in a couple of days.
It was very interesting stuff and resonated a LOT with my own beliefs and practices.
Of course, omitting all that karma rubbish.

lol... I don't do karma either.

In my Kundalini yoga practice, I am becoming aware of the similarities between Buddism and my magick practice. My yoga instructor is an Ascenionist and drives me half insane with all the crap that entails. We're always surrounding ourselves with white light preparing for 2012.

[watershield]

As far as where is started have a look at the time line chart
You may need to copy and paste into the addy line:

buddhism.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=buddhism&cdn=religion&tm=129&gps=144_819_1276_590&f=00&tt=14&bt=0&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/b_chron-txt.htm

Siddhartha Guatama was a wealthy Indian Prince, who in time attained enlightenment and transcended to become Guatama Buddha, the original Buddha. Lasha didn't became the home of the 5th Dalai Lama until the mid 1600's relocating from Cambodia. And would follow that this is when the Tibetian tradition of Buddism begines.

[kolohe]

That's like saying there were no Christian before there was a Pope. Of course Buddha was Indian, my point was there was virtually no Buddhism in India til it came back from other place- mostly Southeast Asia last 200 years, to say the oldest tradition is Theraveda would be correct. Tibetans place much importance of lineage and Tibetan teacher lineages go further back than other forms. Do you need me to explain lineage to you? I would guess it's the same as in Wicca but maybe Gardner made something else up.

[kolohe]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobsang_Gyatso,_5th_Dalai_Lama

Here is link to 5th Dalai Lama- I just skimmed thru it but don't even see a Cambodian connection, he was from Tibet and student of Tibetan traditions.

[watershield]

LOL....not the Pope, Jesus.
india.mapsofindia.com/the-country/ancient-history/origin-of-buddhism.html

It really doesn't matter where it was founded, but the above link makes some interesting reading.
Also found it interesting that Buddhism spread from Indian to China and Japan long before it went into Tibet. And it was actually the emperor of Chine that appointed the 5th Dalai Lama to that position and made him priest to the court.

[kolohe]

Well I would say the Dalai Lama would be an equivalent to the Pope and Buddha would be an equivalent to Jesus, so the comparison stands, there was of course no Buddhism of any sort before Buddha.

Chinese do observe lineage too. I am certainly not a Buddhist or Buddhist scholar, but I do try make sure I get information from legitimate sources.

With the prevalence of pop Buddhism knowing a little history is a good filter when people seem to speak authoritatively about it. Westerners have assumption that since Buddha was an Indian prince, there must be a very old established tradition of "Indian Buddhism"- that's inaccurate though. It originated In India, spread to other areas, almost completely disappeared from India for hundreds of years and began to become more popular again there in 1800s.

So Buddha wasn't a Buddhist, Jesus wasn't a Christian, Laozi wasn't a Taoist...something to think about for those who get dogmatic about religious teachings.

[Jen]

I'm re-reading Siddhartha at the moment - read it a while back but I want to refresh my memory.

Kolohe - I'm interested in these Huna teachings - I shall have to google it.

[kolohe]

This is a good site for some basic info on Huna- a good explanation of what I attempted to post about with the selves and role of ego.

www.huna.us/basichunacourse.htm

[Jen]

Fascinating. Great link.
Thanks.

[Heka]

I think the tibetan buddhism is the most interesting. Ive been quite interested in buddhism for some time. I own a singing bowl, a bell and dorje and a set of tingshaws, plus a set of mala beads, and my most wanted book for ages! has been the tibetan book of living and dying.

Im also very interested in hinduism as well.