@ekklesiagora
Freelance writer. Non-sectarian Nichiren/Zen Buddhist. Advocate of universal basic income, universal healthcare, and land value tax. Interested in libertarianism, anarchism, and democratic socialism.
My latest blog post, which argues for the authenticity of Mahayana as a true expression of Buddhism and against the idea of Theravada/Pali texts as representative of "original Buddhism."
ekklesiagora.medium.com/original-bud...
Abhinavigupta and Adi Shankara
What if the act of creation was the suicide of God?
"You've been asking me for several years to talk about Stephen Wolfram's theory of everything. I haven't done that because I don't understand what he's doing. But recently, I've realized that I don't know what I'm doing either."—Sabine Hossenfelder
"When one is studying the Lotus Sutra, unless one also studies the sutras that were preached prior to it, one can never hope to understand its true significance."—Nichiren
I think I'd enjoy studying and meditating most of the day but I don't think I'd like the whole not being able to garden thing. Also, not sure they would let me bring my wife to the monastery with me...idk how that's gonna work. (2/2)
I could get by on one meal a day before noon, especially if there is lots of food. There's a fairly large and devout Thai Buddhist community here, so the monks get wonderful food from the community every day. Seems somewhat less ascetic than other Buddhist traditions. (1/2)
It's hard to understand this priest's accent. I heard him say something about smashing a pair of underwear with a hammer and eating a hamburger. There's no way that's actually what he was saying during today's dharma talk.
Them: "I gained so much insight into the nature of reality from reading that essay."
Me: "The essay I wrote as a joke, that wasn't supposed to be taken seriously?"
Thinking about becoming a Theravada Buddhist monk for the food.
3d printed a statue of Jesus and Buddha.
Also, there's the non-violence related teachings of Christ and a lot of early Christian sects (e.g. Ebionites, Elcesaites, Manichaeans, Nazoraeans) practiced vegetarianism. Augustine and Origen both suggest that vegetarianism may have been more common than not among early Christians.
In the earliest times, "orthodoxy" and "gnosticism" were taught side-by-side in the same churches. One was the exoteric teaching and the other was the esoteric doctrine. If we assume that both actually came from Christ, then there's a case to be made for Christ as a bodhisattva or buddha. (5/5)
Even some of the "orthodox" Church Fathers like Pantaenus, St. Clement, and Origen believed in reincarnation. Reading Dionysius and the apophatic theology of the early Church as referring to Dharmakaya/sunyata is reasonable too. (4/5)
So, basically, if you take hesychasm and gnosticism as representing the historical teachings of Jesus, then Jesus' doctrine was basically an independently discovered form of Buddhism. Jesus can be read as a bodhisattva or buddha. (3/5)
Gnostic Christianity had a non-theistic cosmology (the ultimate reality is Bythos/Sige [the Abyss/Silence]). The creator is a "blind god," which can be interpreted like Dawkin's "blind watchmaker," just a metaphor for natural processes. And it had a concept of rebirth/reincarnation. (2/5)
It depends on what you mean by "Christianity." There's traditions from the early Church, like hesychasm and gnosticism that resemble Buddhism. Hesychast meditation in Eastern Christianity is very similar to my current Buddhist practice, mindfulness plus mantra chanting. (1/5)
Also, the fairy I saw when I was a kid was there. Apparently, it was actually just a whooly aphid. Smh. Ruining my childhood with this hypnotic recollection of memories shit.
Unless I was an elephant in a previous life and my guardian angel is a luminous flying squid that doesn't know how to communicate with me, I think past life regression might be bullshit. My guardian angel being a luminous flying squid that can't communicate actually makes a lot of sense though.
Why let them post the question if no one is allowed to seriously answer it?
Someone asked if Buddhism and Christianity are compatible on a forum. My reply was blocked because, apparently, you aren't allowed to examine the teachings of Jesus and Buddha and compare them to see whether or not they are compatible; that's against forum rules. So why let them post the question?
I'm gonna write a story about how I was a potato in a past life.
Is it offensive to depict Jesus carrying the Flying Spaghetti Monster? I made the Flying Spaghetti Monster biblically accurate.
DoD doesn't even know it's own name and they spelt furry wrong.
Why do psychics and past life regression people never be like "yo, in a past life, I was a potato"?
