saralynn - 17 August 2010 06:10 PM

BTW, a few years ago I went to an event at the Museum of Natural History.  It consisted of a bunch of Buddhists creating ealaborate designs in sand and then, of course, erasing it.  What amused me is that they all, without exception, were wearing huge complicated watches.

Life is funny, isn’t it?

Those are tibetans.  Not much at all to do with the Buddha’s teachings there.  A very poor assimilation of a very few of the Buddha’s teachings into a huge complex wilderness of superstitions.

I have seen one xtian evangelist refer to the tibetan religion(s) as “the Anti-Buddhism”.  I don’t disagree.

saralynn - 18 August 2010 05:15 AM

Seems like Jesus wasn’t alone in the miracle department.  Personally, I think the Buddha had more flair for the dramatic…........  (Wikipedia)

The “Buddhism” section of WIKIpedia is under the almost exclusive control of adherents of the tibetan religions, who spend a prodigious amount of time and effort portraying all of “Buddhism” there from their own perspective.  It is sad but not surprising that you found a bunch of horseshit miracle stories there, as the tibetan religions would fall apart without them.

J Kapp - 18 August 2010 09:33 AM

The Tipitaka is 50 volumes of over 12,000 pages costing over 2,000 dollars.

The Majjhima Nikaya and the Samyutta Nikaya are plenty.  Both are available in English now, for less than $100 nowadays.

Ecurb Noselrub - 18 August 2010 10:59 AM

J Kapp - 17 August 2010 03:15 PM

So, don’t take it from me Bruce; listen to the good ol’ Christians.

I accept the historicity of Bud and Jesus…..

Everyone I have ever seen trying to cast doubt on the actual existence of the man we call Buddha eventually admitted they were bullshitting and didn’t actually believe what they were arguing.  No surprise here.

saralynn - 19 August 2010 04:58 AM

J Kapp,  I actually know quite a bit about Buddhism and have great respect for it.  However, I have ceased to believe in the concept of “enlightenment” as a permanent state of being.  .

Perhaps learning that this claim of “Enlightenment(TM) is a later invention not of the Buddha’s will give you cause to celebrate, then.