bodhigirlsmiles Posted October 25, 2008 Report Share Posted October 25, 2008 hello everyone. i am brand new here, and i wanted to send a warm greeting out and tell you a little about myself. i was born in the united states to tibetan parents. i have been a follower of buddhism my whole life. i have always been curious about lds people and have admired you from afar. i cannot claim to know a lot about who you are and in what you believe, but from the little i have read, i find you to be a remarkable people with values similar to my own. i was very excited when i discovered this lovely website! i hope that this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship and hope, in time, we can understand more about each other and what we believe. i bid all of you the warmest of greetings. may buddha shin with compassion upon you today and every day. :) if any of you have anyquestions at all about buddhists or our beliefs, even mundane everyday things, please feel free to ask me. i am not easily offended. i am sure i will have many questions for you as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palerider Posted October 25, 2008 Report Share Posted October 25, 2008 welcome to the site....:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodhigirlsmiles Posted October 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2008 welcome to the site....:)thank you very much....i appreciate that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maya Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 Hi smiles and welcome. I am from Norway. When I was in school I made a long study on religions in Japan. there was some buddhists too. I have alwasy been interested in different religions and I can see so much incommon with otehr religions, one thing there and other here. Enjoy the site! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemidakota Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 Welcome to the forum.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodhigirlsmiles Posted October 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 i have had a number of people ask me what my beliefs are on buddhism as well as to describe the concepts of karma and nirvana. i will attempt to do so here.... karma, i think, is one of buddhism's most misunderstood concepts and teachings. first off, karma is neither good nor bad; it is not the result of action, and it isn't one's fate. such misconceptions are obstacles in understanding the dharma (or buddha's teaching) concerning the continuing of the individual creation process through intention, volition and action. science's law of cause and effect is a close parallel to the buddhist "law" of karma, but it isn't exactly the same either. the biblical, "whatsoever a man shall soweth so shall he also reap," isn't either, although it is in the same ballpark. in order to fully understand karma, it is necessary to first understand buddhism's response to the age old question, "who am i?" five khandhas, or aggregates, constitute a "human" or a "being", according to buddha's teaching. the first is our body or form, with its four elements of solidity, fluidity, heat and motion, including sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, etc.). the second is our sensations or feelings (about things). the third, our perceptions. the fourth, our mental formations or the mulling over in our mind, the choosing and intent of the action we take. the fifth is our consciousness or awareness. these five "parts" if you will of a being are constantly changing; none are permanent. there is no permanent "self' in buddhism, only this unbroken chain of aggregates, this evolutionary continuity of existence. when the body "dies," it is the first aggregate of organic matter that is dead. the other four cannot experience death, because they are not material in nature. they are the unseen and intangible essences, sometimes called energy or spirit. some religions might refer to them as the soul, but in buddhism the idea of a permanent, unchanging soul or spirit, is rejected. so what, then, causes us to change? it is our intention, volition and action. just as the seed we plant and nourish in the earth grows into its intended and resulting flower or fruit, so we grow into the result of the seeds "inside" us that receive our nourishment. we have many kinds of both positive and negative seeds in our "store consciousness." some are inherited from our ancestors or from previous existences. choosing which seeds to nourish creates who we are to become. because we control our decisions and actions, we also determine our destiny. by deciding what we do, we are deciding who we are to be. this process of choosing and doing is called karma. karma is not something that someone has, because there is no someone. according to buddhist teachings, what is mistaken for a "someone" is this ever-changing process. in short, karma is who and what each of us is. it is the answer to the question, "who am i?" the answer: "i am karma." now for the concept of nirvana.... nirvana can be literally translated as "extinction", "blowing out", "freedom from desire", the absence of dukkha or to cease. but those words or phrases do not really explain nirvana. in fact, it is a concept that is almost unexplainable. frustrating, right?!?! a scholar by the name of sayadaw u. dhammapiya, ph.d once said, "no buddhist tradition draws a definate conclusion for the meaning of nirvana." he goes on to say that, "no single expression in any language can fully cover the true meaning of nirvanic experience without practice." i believe it is only through sincere meditation that nirvana can be fully or truly understood. trying to explain nirvana is a little like trying to explain the taste of salt to someone who has never tasted it, or trying to explain a color to someone who is and was born blind. i think you would agree that it is difficult, if not impossible! clever answers may be given to the question, what is nirvana. answers may be explained in glowing terms, but no words can really give us an answer. nirvana is beyond words, logic and reasoning. it is, perhaps, easier to speak of what nirvana is not. it isn't nothingness or annihilation of self, because the dharma teaches there is no self to be annihilated. in our attempt to explain it we use words which have limited meanings. it isn't heaven; it isn't purgatory or hell; it isn't pure land, and it isn't the end. nirvana is the absolute reality, which is realized through the highest mental training and wisdom. the buddha said: "it occurred to me....that this dhamma i have realized is deep,k hard to see, hard to understand, peaceful and sublime, beyond mere reasoning, subtle and intelligible to the wise....hard, too, is it to see this calming of all conditioned things, the giving up of all substance of becoming, the extinction of craving, dispassion, cessation, nirvana." from this it is clear that even the buddha himself thought that the extinction of desire (nirvana) is difficult to see, difficult to understand. interestingly, one doesn't have to die to experience nirvana. most of us have already had momentary glimpses of it. i am partial to this quotation from the famous lebanese-american writer kahlil gibran: "yes, there is a nirvana: it is in leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem." so we go through life collecting both good and bad karma, reflective of our decisions. while it is true that the accumulation of any karma, both good as well as bad, will prevent us, ultimately, from achieving the state of nirvana, i do not believe that the good will hinder us along the path. good karma works to negate the bad, acting as a kind of counterbalance. buddhists hold that the retributive process of karma can span more than one lifetime. rebirth, or reincarnation, has always been an important tenet in buddhism; and it is often referred to as walking the wheel of life (samsara). It is the process of being born over and over again in different times and different situations, possibly for many thousand times. as long as there is delusion, greed, and aversion, and as long as passions are not extinguished, we generate karma. Because we eventually accumulate unmaterialised karma in this or in a past lifetime, there is a next lifetime in which the accumulated karma will take form. only when all accumulated karma is realised and the generation of new karma is calmed, one can enter the stream that leads to nirvana. this process continues until nirvana is reached, which signifies the cessation of rebirth and, hence, suffering. it is notable that this also entails the avoidance of "good karma". once the stream that leads to nirvana is entered, creating wholesome karma is not an object anymore. although wholesome karma leads to entering the stream, it does not necessarily lead to nirvana, only the extinguishment of all karmic forces will lead to nirvana. i'm sure i have been as clear as mud........but i hope that answers your question at least a little.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainofGold Posted November 1, 2008 Report Share Posted November 1, 2008 Hello and welcome to the site. Hope you like it here. I enjoyed reading about your religion. I learned a little about it. Have never heard a lot about it before. Thanks for sharing Rain:p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodhigirlsmiles Posted November 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2008 Hello and welcome to the site.Hope you like it here. I enjoyed reading about your religion. I learned a little about it. Have never heard a lot about it before. Thanks for sharingRain:pthank you for your kind words. i am glad you enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pam Posted November 2, 2008 Report Share Posted November 2, 2008 Welcome to the site. I find it interesting to learn a little bit more about your religion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maya Posted November 3, 2008 Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 It is so interesting and so different... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MormonMen Posted November 4, 2008 Report Share Posted November 4, 2008 Welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodhigirlsmiles Posted November 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2008 It is so interesting and so different...so different?? how so? i'm just teasing you. ask me anything though....:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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