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Anonymous Wrote:
On Apr 26, 11:02 am, edspyhill01 <...@gmail.com
Ed, it was a good article thanks for sharing that. I find it
interesting that there were no representations of the Buddha before
the Greeks. Greeks were the ones who introduced the first statues and
artistic representations of the Buddha.
Perhaps one day the west will come to terms with the profound effect
of Buddhist thought on the essential foundations of Greek philosophy
and Christianity.
Socrates, and Plato, obviously were trying to wrap their heads around
Buddhist thought, rather unsuccessfully I might add.
Scorates seems to have feebly tried to expound the Buddhist doctrine
of Emptiness.
"Platonism" is a term coined by scholars to refer to the intellectual
consequences of denying, as Socrates often does, the reality of the
material world. In several dialogues, most notably the Republic,
Socrates inverts the common man's intuition about what is knowable and
what is real. While most people take the objects of their senses to be
real if anything is, Socrates is contemptuous of people who think that
something has to be graspable in the hands to be real.
The origins of Greco-Buddhist art are to be found in the Hellenistic
Greco-Bactrian kingdom (250 BCE- 130 BCE), located in today’s
Afghanistan, from which Hellenistic culture radiated into the Indian
subcontinent with the establishment of the Indo-Greek kingdom (180
BCE-10 BCE). Under the Indo-Greeks and then the Kushans, the
interaction of Greek and Buddhist culture flourished in the area of
Gandhara, in today’s northern Pakistan, before spreading further into
India, influencing the art of Mathura, and then the Hindu art of the
Gupta empire, which was to extend to the rest of South-East Asia. The
influence of Greco-Buddhist art also spread northward towards Central
Asia, strongly affecting the art of the Tarim Basin, and ultimately
the arts of China, Korea, and Japan.
Menander I Soter "The Saviour" (known as Milinda in Indian sources)
was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom in northern India and
present-day Pakistan from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC. He is one of
the the first historical Westerners documented to have converted to
Buddhism along with Demetrius I of Bactria, and Agathocles of Bactria.
(Sanskrit: Mahadharmaraksita) is said to have come from
"Alasandra" (thought to be Alexandria of the Caucasus, the city
founded by Alexander the Great, near today’s Kabul) with 30,000 monks
for the foundation ceremony of the Maha Thupa ("Great stupa") at
Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, during the 2nd century BC:
"From Alasanda the city of the Yonas came the thera ("elder") Yona
Mahadhammarakkhita with thirty thousand bhikkhus." (Mahavamsa, XXIX
[4])
These elements tend to indicate the importance of Buddhism within
Greek communities in northwestern India, and the prominent role Greek
Buddhist monks played in them, probably under the sponsorship of
Menander.
"King of the city of Sâgala in India, Milinda by name, learned,
eloquent, wise, and able; and a faithful observer, and that at the
right time, of all the various acts of devotion and ceremony enjoined
by his own sacred hymns concerning things past, present, and to come.
Many were the arts and sciences he knew--holy tradition and secular
law; the Sânkhya, Yoga, Nyâya, and Vaisheshika systems of philosophy;
arithmetic; music; medicine; the four Vedas, the Purânas, and the
Itihâsas; astronomy, magic, causation, and magic spells; the art of
war; poetry; conveyancing in a word, the whole nineteen. As a
disputant he was hard to equal, harder still to overcome; the
acknowledged superior of all the founders of the various schools of
thought. And as in wisdom so in strength of body, swiftness, and
valour there was found none equal to Milinda in all India. He was rich
too, mighty in wealth and prosperity, and the number of his armed
hosts knew no end." (The Questions of King Milinda, Translation by T.
W. Rhys Davids, 1890).
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On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:39:25 -0700 (PDT), Learnwell <...@gmail.com
And here is an article I read in the LA Times yesterday.
http://articles.latimes.com/p/2009/04/25/news/me-dalai25
I think the most intriguing part was in the first several paragraphs.
This IS taken slightly out of order, though it is not taken out of
context, you can read the article yourself;
“Therefore, this crisis is good,” he added with a laugh, “because it
reminds people who only want to see money grow and grow that there are
limitations. . .
. . .The Dalai Lama’s remarks followed the first of two sold-out
public lectures in the university events center Friday on “the nature
of mind.” That discourse, delivered from an ornate wooden couch with
ocher robes draped over his bony shoulders and with his legs folded
beneath him, drew an audience of 4,800 people.
Tickets, which had sold out within two hours, ranged in price from $20
to $40. Scalpers fetched up to $600 per ticket, university officials
said."
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Anonymous Wrote:
On Apr 26, 3:39 pm, Learnwell <...@gmail.com
Is there a point you are trying to make with these quotes?
Tashi
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On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:05:35 GMT, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
If the writers characterize Theravadins as hinayana, they are liars.
Shame on them. Regards, daveA
--
Very easy guitar music, solos, duets, exercises. Intermediate guitar
solos, theory, banjo, harmonica. Free download of technical exercises
worth a lifetime of practice. Compare Segovia's scale set with DGT:
http://www.openguitar.com/scalescomparison.html
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On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:51:49 -0700 (PDT), edspyhill01 <...@gmail.com
On Apr 27, 9:05 am, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
How about a little compassion for someone who is not a Buddhist and is
not writing an article about the history of Buddhism but about a
museum show of Buddhist art and sculpture. You sound like a nasty
christian who wears Buddhism like a shirt.
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On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:13:15 -0700 (PDT), Dicerous <...@gmail.com
On Apr 27, 6:51 am, edspyhill01 <...@gmail.com
that'd be me ed!
David
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On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:51:47 -0700 (PDT), edspyhill01 <...@gmail.com
On Apr 28, 12:13 am, Dicerous <...@gmail.com
Heh?
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Anonymous Wrote:
On Apr 27, 7:05 am, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
Relativity; a straw can only be called long in relation to a short
one.
Tashi
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On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:15:37 GMT, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
Honor. At the previous Buddhist convocation, Tibetan and Mahayanas
*promised* to stop it. The hinayana sect disappeared over 1500 years
ago. daveA
--
Very easy guitar music, solos, duets, exercises. Intermediate guitar
solos, theory, banjo, harmonica. Free download of technical exercises
worth a lifetime of practice. Compare Segovia's scale set with DGT:
http://www.openguitar.com/scalescomparison.html
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Anonymous Wrote:
On Apr 27, 2:15 pm, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
You have to be kidding. Theravadas don't even recognize Tibetan or
Mahayana Buddhism to be valid.
Tashi
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On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:05:41 GMT, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
That is absolutely not so. It is true that there is no mutual
ordination, but where is there ever any? The tenets do not vary.
daveA
--
Very easy guitar music, solos, duets, exercises. Intermediate guitar
solos, theory, banjo, harmonica. Free download of technical exercises
worth a lifetime of practice. Compare Segovia's scale set with DGT:
http://www.openguitar.com/scalescomparison.html
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On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:26:46 -0700 (PDT), edspyhill01 <...@gmail.com
On Apr 29, 8:05 am, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
The finger that points to th emoon is not the moon.
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On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:44:42 -0700 (PDT), edspyhill01 <...@gmail.com
On Apr 27, 4:15 pm, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
Been to Thailand lately?
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On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:59:08 GMT, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
Thailand has Mahayana, Theravada, and Tibetan Monks and many Hindus.
There are no Hinayanas. daveA
--
Very easy guitar music, solos, duets, exercises. Intermediate guitar
solos, theory, banjo, harmonica. Free download of technical exercises
worth a lifetime of practice. Compare Segovia's scale set with DGT:
http://www.openguitar.com/scalescomparison.html
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Anonymous Wrote:
On Apr 29, 5:59 am, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
I've been to Thailand twice in the past couple of years. I can tell
you DaveA Thailand protects their own Buddhist traditions and do not
allow Tibetan, Zen, or Mahayana at all! There are about 20% Musliums
there, and some Hindu construction workers, but they do not allow any
other Buddhist traditions to set up shop in Thailand.
Tashi
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On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:45:39 GMT, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
s/2/47219628-305f-11de-88e3-00144feabdc0.html
s/2/4926cb96-305f-11de-88e3-00144feabdc0.html
My point is that there are no Hinayana. Hinayana is today a pointless
insult. It is harsh, false, not beneficial speech, and it does not
befit monks of any lineage to use it. daveA
--
Very easy guitar music, solos, duets, exercises. Intermediate guitar
solos, theory, banjo, harmonica. Free download of technical exercises
worth a lifetime of practice. Compare Segovia's scale set with DGT:
http://www.openguitar.com/scalescomparison.html
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Anonymous Wrote:
On Apr 30, 6:45 am, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
I understand your point. However, to deny that from around the 2nd
century BC the term had no relevance to shaping Buddhist thought is
untrue. In any facet of life, some people have a small mind, and some
people have a large mind, this is true in Buddhism, Christianity,
Islam, and politics.
Your understanding of the terms Mahayana and Hinayana are more
reactionary than scholarly, and dare I say rather small minded. What
you don't understand is the fact that Hinayana is part of Mahayana.
Without the basis of Hinayana it is impossible to to practice
Mayahana. Without a firm grasp of arithmetic, it is impossible to
understand Algebra. It's not that arithmetic is bad, in fact, in many
ways it's more profound.
Your mistake is you believe the only authentic teaching of the
Buddha is in the Pali Canons, and you don't accept the Mayahana
teachings. The truth is, all the teachings of the Buddha were written
down long after his paranirvana. Some were for public consumption, and
others were highly secretive.
The great Buddhist Saint Atisha said; I've never broken my Hinayana
vows, on rare occasion I've broken my Mayahana vows, but every moment
I break my Varjayana vows.
Hinayans vows deal with physical limitations, Mayahana deal with
mental formations, and I don't want to get into the Varjayana aspect.
At death one leaves ones physical body behind, but the mental
formations, and habitual thought patterns carry over and form the
basis for ones next life. It's likened to a dream. At night we dream
of what we did that day, we have no control over it other than
developing positive actions during the day. After death the mind
continues to dream according to our previous actions in this life. Our
mind has no control, it's like a feather blown about by the wind of
good or bad actions or Karma. The Mayahana vows are mental vows, and
are taken with us after death, Hinayana vows limit all bodily actions,
but after death we have no body.
Tashi
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On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:11:25 GMT, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com
Lord Buddha rejected the very idea of "authenticity". The basic teaching
is the same regardless. Differences are the worries of monks, not the
laity. Beliefs are the worries of the superstitious, not I. daveA
--
Very easy guitar music, solos, duets, exercises. Intermediate guitar
solos, theory, banjo, harmonica. Free download of technical exercises
worth a lifetime of practice. Compare Segovia's scale set with DGT:
http://www.openguitar.com/scalescomparison.html
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Anonymous Wrote:
On Apr 30, 1:11 pm, David Raleigh Arnold <...@openguitar.com DaveA where do you come up with this stuff?
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