Another piece of data that sometime being used to argue that the Buddha is not omniscience due to having admitted Devadatta into the Sangha. How is this episode relate to the Buddha’s omniscience? This is because if the Buddha is all-knowing he would have foreseen that accepting Devadatta into the Bhikkhu community will created schism; Devadatta would stir the Sangha, create disputes and division among the peaceful community. Further, the result of that Devadatta would suffer in hell for eons due to his wicked act.
For this Nāgasena in the Milinda Pañha (Questions of King Milinda) answered out of great compassion the Buddha has accepted Devadatta into the Sangha. On the contrary, if Devadatta did not joined the Order he would still committed
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“And Devadatta’s sorrow. O king, was mitigated. For Devadatta at the moment of his death took refuge in [the Buddha] for the rest of his existences…After he has suffered the […] purgatory he will be released, and will become a [Pacceka-Buddha] under the name of Athissara. P171
After all, Buddhism does not teaches determinism. Even when the Buddha in the early Buddhist suttas is said to have the ability to know sentient beings future birth. However, it is stated that in the context only according to their karma (action). In other words, it is to says the Buddha have knowledge of what is experienced but not what that is not yet done. Just as the Milinda Pañha said:
“Yes, O king, the Buddha was omniscient. But the insight of knowledge was not always and (consciously) present in him. The omniscience of the Blessed One was dependent on reflection. By reflection he knew whatever he wanted to know.”
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This also could happened because as other scenarios illustrated earlier show that there are things the Buddha is unaware of.
From the above cases, evidence suggest that the Buddha is asarvajña, which is not all-knowing. Nevertheless, one could argue still, that this does not means the Buddha is not omniscience. First of all, what does it means to claims omniscience and how can one verified this? Further, how could a person who has not experienced omniscience be expected to explain or prove it? Even when looking at accounts that are recorded in scriptural, we can only speculate or make assumption and guesses. Alternatively, one might be able to verified sarvajña by attach a certain contexts to the word. But, this is not the full meaning of the word itself. In other words, this type of omniscience can be view as reservation. This lead to the next section looking at the categorical answer to the question: was the Buddha sabbaññu
...is wound was healing, his pain was dispersing; his Self had merged into unity" (111). He now understood that all things are in harmony, heading towards the same goal and he therefore knew he had no reason to mourn over his son. Siddhartha had then completed his search for inner direction and attained Nirvana through experiences of the mind, body, and spirit.
The word “ Awareness” is talked heavily all through this book. For Buddhists, this is probably the most important aspect in their religion. Unlike the other books I have read, this book left out a lot of elements like ritual, prayer, clothing, and all of the trappings of religion. I really do not agree with this part of the book. I find this part of religion interesting
...tood the material world and therefore couldn’t unify with it. To achieve nirvana he had to understand the different opinions and lifestyles of everyone so he could understand and accept the unity of the universe. In the moment that Siddhartha reaches enlightenment the narrator describes it as, “Siddhartha ceased to fight against his destiny...belonging to the unity of all things.” This means that he achieved inner peace by accepting and understanding everything, and he did this by participating in the many different worlds around him. The present moment contains a concentration of experiences that would take several lifetimes to undergo. Siddhartha knows not only that he himself is always the same despite the changes in his life but also that he is the same as all others in the world.
Walking into the Hall of the Buddhas, there was a sense of peace and guidance lingering inside me. The seated Bodhisattva, of the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534), CA.480, from the Yungang, Cave xv, Shani Province, made of sandstone, guarded the entrance. At first, I thought it was a time to be disciplined, but the transcending smile from the statue was a delicate fixed gesture that offered a feeling of welcome. It was not a place to confess your wrongdoings; neither was it a place for me to say, “Buddha I have sinned.” It was a room to purify the mind, the mind that we take for granted without giving it harmony. There was a large mural decorating the main wall called “The Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru”(916-1125). I sat down wandering if the artist of the portrait knew that his work would one day be shared on this side of the world, in my time. Much like Jesus Christ and his followers, the mural is a painting of healers and saviors. It was a large figure of the Buddha of medicine, (Bhaishajyaquru) surrounded by followers of Bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara, and Mahosthamaprapta with twelve guardian generals who have pledged to disseminate the Buddha’s teaching (Tradition of Liao 916-1125, Metropolitan Museum wall plaque).
"You know, my friend, that even as a young man, when we lived with the ascetics in the forest, I came to distrust doctrines and teachers and to turn my back to them. I am still of the same turn of mind, although I have, since that time, had many teachers. A beautiful courtesan was my teacher for a long time, and a rich merchant and a dice player. On one occasion, one of the Buddha’s wandering monks was my teacher. He halted in his pilgrimage to sit beside me when I fell asleep in the forest. I also learned something from him and I am grateful to him, very grateful. But most of all, I have learned from this river and from my predecessor, Vasudeva. He was a simple man; he was not a thinker, but he realized the essential as well as Gotama, he was a holy man, a saint" (141).
“In the West, we think of each human life as solid and discrete, beginning at conception and ending at death. The Buddhist view is of waves appearing and disappearing endlessly on a great ocean of life energy. When cause and effect combine in a certain way, a wave arises, appearing...
It is held that when the would-be Buddha entered his mother's womb, there appeared an "unlimited and glorious radiance, surpassing even the majesty of the devas."5 This light was so powerful that the dark...
"The Dhammapada: Socrates & Buddha Vs. Desire — The League of Ordinary Gentlemen." The League of Ordinary Gentlemen. Web. 05 July 2011. .
...s a diversion for the evils of the world that way Hinduism can remain pure. The Buddha is seen as a possible avatar of Vishnu, who was brought to lead the critical and condemning Hindu’s away from Hinduism. (Mittal and Thursby 81) This rejection is the major reason why Buddhism and Hinduism are two separate religions. The different beliefs and ideals certainly further the separation, but had Hindus accepted the Buddha’s teachings, the relationship between Buddhism and Hinduism might have been very different.
My commentary has been focused on how the Heart Sutra explains the ultimate truth about emptiness. There are many other commentaries on this important text. However, if one wishes to become enlightened, we should be recall the worlds of the Buddha when he advocates for insight through direct experience. Buddhism has a long tradition of scholarship, as the commentaries and interpretations of the Heart Sutra demonstrate, but even scholarship is empty and we must not forget the need for direct experience on which insight is also dependent. Wisdom is perfected through practice, not intellectual understanding alone.
An Indian Nietzsche could easily have given Buddhism pride of place in the hierarchy of dangerous, life-denying institutions to discredit. Buddhism has perfected nihilism, but this is not a perfection to be desired.
The Buddha was not a God, and he made no claim to divinity. There is no
He talks about how people shouldn't be spreading rumors because they spread fast. In the words of Buddha in the famous Kalama Sutta states “Do not believe anything on account of rumors or because people talk a great deal about it” Buddha was a very wise man and he thought that you shouldn't believe things that have been told around and the Buddha was a very independent man so he learned everything about meditation and his
Eastern enlightenment religions have been gaining popularity throughout the western world for the past few decades, with many people attracted to a "different" way of experiencing religion. As with many other enlightenment religions, Buddhism requires disciples to understand concepts that are not readily explainable: one such concept is that of no-self. In this essay I shall discuss the no-self from a number of modern perspectives; however, as no-self is difficult to describe I shall focus on both the self and no-self. Beginning with psychological aspects, and neurophysiological research on transcendental meditation, I shall discuss the impact of modern brain science on our understanding of the self and transcendence. Next I will outline the relationship between quantum physics and non-locality, as this gives a western scientific explanation for no-self. Returning to the original source of Buddhism, I will briefly outline the discussion between Siddhartha and Vaccha regarding atman, then discuss the mind and no-self and their relationship to liberation. Finally I will summarize a few issues that the western mindset may face approaching this topic.
The world owes its origin to the Absolute. Both of them felt the need of a link between Brahman and the world. Sankara calls this link Iswara, and Aurobindo, the Supermind. Both consider the universe as the play of joy, a spontaneous activity of God. The creation of the world is a creation out of bliss, by bliss and for bliss. Brahman is both immanent and transcendent. But there are also differences between Sankara and Aurobindo. The Brahman of Sankara is indeterminate, unknowable and static whole, while the saccidananda of Aurobindo is both static and dynamic, being and becoming, consciousness and force. The Absolute is “not a rigid indeterminable oneness, not an infinity vacant of all that is not a pure self-existence.”3 It is an integral absolute. It is pure existence and at the same time movement, process and energy. For Sankara, the transcendental Brahman can not be thought to evolve in the world process and therefore becoming is an appearance and not a