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THE GNOSTIC WAY :: RELIGIONS / 'BELIEF SYSTEMS' / HISTORIC SPIRITUAL MASTERS :: OTHER RELIGIONS & 'BELIEF' SYSTEMS
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Buddhism, Nihilism, and Gnosis
by theeternaliam on Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:04 am
I got this from wikipedia
Quote:
"any enduring essential nature (i.e., fullness) would prevent the process of dependent origination, would prevent any kind of origination at all, for things would simply always have been and always continue to be."
Pleroma, I feel, could be inserted for "fullness". This comes from an article on Sunyata, which means emptiness, the emptiness of phenomena.
Quote:
"the Buddha and Nirvana, unlike compounded conditioned phenomena, are not empty of intrinsic existence, but merely empty of the impermanent, the defective and the Self-less.
In the "Srimala Sutra" the Buddha is seen as empty of all defilement and ignorance, not of intrinsic Reality. The "Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra" supports such a vision and views Ultimate Emptiness as the Buddhic cognition ("jnana") which perceives both Emptiness and non-Emptiness, wherein "the Empty is the totality of Samsara and the non-Empty is Great Nirvana". The Buddha in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, further, indicates that to view absolutely everything as empty is an unbalanced approach and constitutes a deviation from the middle path of Buddhism:
"The wise perceive Emptiness and non-Emptiness, the Eternal and the Impermanent, Suffering and Bliss, the Self and the non-Self. ... To perceive the Emptiness of everything and not to perceive non-Emptiness is not termed the Middle Way; to perceive the non-Self of everything and not to perceive the Self is not termed the Middle Way.""
This last quote kinda reminds me of the Gnostics view on Christs' suffering. He was dying on the cross, but also above the cross laughing. In my recent experience, something similar occurs. I suffer the burden of worldly psychic energy, but at the same time recognize the illusion of it and the True Permanence underlying it. I think, to the degree of how much I remember Truth, effects the degree of how I experience/perceive personal pain. I believe it's The Lord's Grace that sends forth the reminders of True Permanence, and I pray that all God's children shall receive His Grace and Remember.
Quote:
"" ... by cultivating extreme emptiness and continually considering things to be empty, one will behold the utter destruction of all phenomena. Though Liberation is not empty, one will see and think it to be empty. Thus, for example, having thought hail-stones to be jewels, one comes to think that real gems are empty [śūnya]. Likewise, you too think of phenomena which are not empty [aśūnya] to be empty [śūnya], for viewing phenomena as empty, you dissolve into emptiness (śūnya) even those phenomena which are not empty. Some phenomena are empty [of existence] and some phenomena are not empty [of existence]. Just like the hail-stones, the billions of kleshas [mental and moral afflictions] are empty [of existence], like the hail-stones, those phenomena appertaining to ignorance are empty [of existence] and swiftly fade away. Like the real beryl gems, the Buddha is eternal. Liberation is like the real beryl gems.""
This last quote explains the problem of Nihilism(something I've dealt w/ lately), and also explains the problem of materialism. Nihilism may cause one to perceive the Fullness as empty, Love as Empty, Good as Empty. In my opinion, this is why Good/God is all that Is. To quote ACIM "Nothing Real can be threatened, Nothing Unreal Exists, Herein lies the Peace of God".
The problem w/ (some...I guess)materialists is they perceive emptiness as all there is, and Fullness as empty. Wonder why Nihilistic feelings consequently arise. This, in my opinion, is one of the grand Archonic tricks. That the temporary phenomena of the world is Real and Truth does not exist. Fortunately, though, anyone Graced with the Light of Mind can realize this very easily.
One more quote on emptiness, by the Dalai Lama, this time
Quote:
""One of the most important philosophical insights in Buddhism comes from what is known as the theory of emptiness. At its heart is the deep recognition that there is a fundamental disparity between the way we perceive the world, including our own experience in it, and the way things actually are. In our day-to-day experience, we tend to relate to the world and to ourselves as if these entities possessed self-enclosed, definable, discrete and enduring reality. For instance, if we examine our own conception of selfhood, we will find that we tend to believe in the presence of an essential core to our being, which characterises our individuality and identity as a discrete ego, independent of the physical and mental elements that constitute our existence. The philosophy of emptiness reveals that this is not only a fundamental error but also the basis for attachment, clinging and the development of our numerous prejudices. According to the theory of emptiness, any belief in an objective reality grounded in the assumption of intrinsic, independent existence is simply untenable. All things and events, whether ‘material’, mental or even abstract concepts like time, are devoid of objective, independent existence. To intrinsically possess such independent existence would imply that all things and events are somehow complete unto themselves and are therefore entirely self-contained. This would mean that nothing has the capacity to interact with or exert influence on any other phenomena. But we know that there is cause and effect – turn a key in a car, the starter motor turns the engine over, spark plugs ignite and fuel begins to burn… Yet in a universe of self-contained, inherently existing things, these events could never occur! So effectively, the notion of intrinsic existence is incompatible with causation; this is because causation implies contingency and dependence, while anything that inherently existed would be immutable and self-enclosed. In the theory of emptiness, everything is argued as merely being composed of dependently related events; of continuously interacting phenomena with no fixed, immutable essence, which are themselves in dynamic and constantly changing relations. Thus, things and events are 'empty' in that they can never possess any immutable essence, intrinsic reality or absolute ‘being’ that affords independence.""
I propose(and I'm sure I'm not the first) that God is the Enduring Reality,Immoveable,Unchangeable, Not Dependent on "other", and Buddhists must also realize this(but, perhaps, they don't name it, more likely for the better)
A recommended book on this subject, one that I'm sure has altered or perhaps helped to establish, my world-view is called The Experience Of Nothingness.
_________________
Quote:
"any enduring essential nature (i.e., fullness) would prevent the process of dependent origination, would prevent any kind of origination at all, for things would simply always have been and always continue to be."
Pleroma, I feel, could be inserted for "fullness". This comes from an article on Sunyata, which means emptiness, the emptiness of phenomena.
Quote:
"the Buddha and Nirvana, unlike compounded conditioned phenomena, are not empty of intrinsic existence, but merely empty of the impermanent, the defective and the Self-less.
In the "Srimala Sutra" the Buddha is seen as empty of all defilement and ignorance, not of intrinsic Reality. The "Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra" supports such a vision and views Ultimate Emptiness as the Buddhic cognition ("jnana") which perceives both Emptiness and non-Emptiness, wherein "the Empty is the totality of Samsara and the non-Empty is Great Nirvana". The Buddha in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, further, indicates that to view absolutely everything as empty is an unbalanced approach and constitutes a deviation from the middle path of Buddhism:
"The wise perceive Emptiness and non-Emptiness, the Eternal and the Impermanent, Suffering and Bliss, the Self and the non-Self. ... To perceive the Emptiness of everything and not to perceive non-Emptiness is not termed the Middle Way; to perceive the non-Self of everything and not to perceive the Self is not termed the Middle Way.""
This last quote kinda reminds me of the Gnostics view on Christs' suffering. He was dying on the cross, but also above the cross laughing. In my recent experience, something similar occurs. I suffer the burden of worldly psychic energy, but at the same time recognize the illusion of it and the True Permanence underlying it. I think, to the degree of how much I remember Truth, effects the degree of how I experience/perceive personal pain. I believe it's The Lord's Grace that sends forth the reminders of True Permanence, and I pray that all God's children shall receive His Grace and Remember.
Quote:
"" ... by cultivating extreme emptiness and continually considering things to be empty, one will behold the utter destruction of all phenomena. Though Liberation is not empty, one will see and think it to be empty. Thus, for example, having thought hail-stones to be jewels, one comes to think that real gems are empty [śūnya]. Likewise, you too think of phenomena which are not empty [aśūnya] to be empty [śūnya], for viewing phenomena as empty, you dissolve into emptiness (śūnya) even those phenomena which are not empty. Some phenomena are empty [of existence] and some phenomena are not empty [of existence]. Just like the hail-stones, the billions of kleshas [mental and moral afflictions] are empty [of existence], like the hail-stones, those phenomena appertaining to ignorance are empty [of existence] and swiftly fade away. Like the real beryl gems, the Buddha is eternal. Liberation is like the real beryl gems.""
This last quote explains the problem of Nihilism(something I've dealt w/ lately), and also explains the problem of materialism. Nihilism may cause one to perceive the Fullness as empty, Love as Empty, Good as Empty. In my opinion, this is why Good/God is all that Is. To quote ACIM "Nothing Real can be threatened, Nothing Unreal Exists, Herein lies the Peace of God".
The problem w/ (some...I guess)materialists is they perceive emptiness as all there is, and Fullness as empty. Wonder why Nihilistic feelings consequently arise. This, in my opinion, is one of the grand Archonic tricks. That the temporary phenomena of the world is Real and Truth does not exist. Fortunately, though, anyone Graced with the Light of Mind can realize this very easily.
One more quote on emptiness, by the Dalai Lama, this time
Quote:
""One of the most important philosophical insights in Buddhism comes from what is known as the theory of emptiness. At its heart is the deep recognition that there is a fundamental disparity between the way we perceive the world, including our own experience in it, and the way things actually are. In our day-to-day experience, we tend to relate to the world and to ourselves as if these entities possessed self-enclosed, definable, discrete and enduring reality. For instance, if we examine our own conception of selfhood, we will find that we tend to believe in the presence of an essential core to our being, which characterises our individuality and identity as a discrete ego, independent of the physical and mental elements that constitute our existence. The philosophy of emptiness reveals that this is not only a fundamental error but also the basis for attachment, clinging and the development of our numerous prejudices. According to the theory of emptiness, any belief in an objective reality grounded in the assumption of intrinsic, independent existence is simply untenable. All things and events, whether ‘material’, mental or even abstract concepts like time, are devoid of objective, independent existence. To intrinsically possess such independent existence would imply that all things and events are somehow complete unto themselves and are therefore entirely self-contained. This would mean that nothing has the capacity to interact with or exert influence on any other phenomena. But we know that there is cause and effect – turn a key in a car, the starter motor turns the engine over, spark plugs ignite and fuel begins to burn… Yet in a universe of self-contained, inherently existing things, these events could never occur! So effectively, the notion of intrinsic existence is incompatible with causation; this is because causation implies contingency and dependence, while anything that inherently existed would be immutable and self-enclosed. In the theory of emptiness, everything is argued as merely being composed of dependently related events; of continuously interacting phenomena with no fixed, immutable essence, which are themselves in dynamic and constantly changing relations. Thus, things and events are 'empty' in that they can never possess any immutable essence, intrinsic reality or absolute ‘being’ that affords independence.""
I propose(and I'm sure I'm not the first) that God is the Enduring Reality,Immoveable,Unchangeable, Not Dependent on "other", and Buddhists must also realize this(but, perhaps, they don't name it, more likely for the better)
A recommended book on this subject, one that I'm sure has altered or perhaps helped to establish, my world-view is called The Experience Of Nothingness.
_________________
The follower of knowledge learns as much as he can every day;The follower of the Way forgets as much as he can every day.By attrition he reaches a state of inaction
Wherein he does nothing, but nothing remains undone.
To conquer the world, accomplish nothing;
If you must accomplish something,
The world remains beyond conquest.
Wherein he does nothing, but nothing remains undone.
To conquer the world, accomplish nothing;
If you must accomplish something,
The world remains beyond conquest.
noetic science
by sopherim7 on Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:47 am
hi theeternaliam, very interesting.......you are discusing phenomenology and noetic science.... this makes me excited here is a site thats loaded wth info to feed your brains and your soul..have you heard of indigo children? i believe you are an indigo{not a child thou
}you will find that this site may enable you with the info provided and will aid you in your research and study .
http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Phenomenology_-_Transcendental_phenomenology_after_the_iIdeeni_1913/id/1843639
i really believe these subjects go hand and hand with GNOSIS.
