Anyone else here Buddhist?

[shitmymonksays]

Is anyone here a Buddhist? Which branch, and why? Have you met Buddha in a dream? I am NKT Buddhism. I have had two dreams where I asked for Buddha to appear: 1. I'm outside, realize I'm dreaming, and ask for B to appear. He does. He throws me a football (yeah it was superbowl season) and it lands at my feet and cracks open. It is full of nectar so I drink it. The end. 2. I'm outside, like a picnic area with lots of people and rolling green hills. I realize I'm dreaming. I ask for B to appear. She appears in the distance from a ball of light - 8ft tall, two arms on each side, golden skin, light around her. She's beautiful! She walks towards everyone, like a purposeful warrior. We all start to prostrate to her (foreheads to the ground). She walks past me, and a rush of air blows past me as she does. I feel a hand on my lower back. I look to my left and there is an old chinese woman monk. She's so old she can't prostrate fully, so she was using my back to balance herself. The end.

[DrunkenArse]

I'm an incredibly bad, secular Theravada Buddhist. I've never met or sought to meet Buddha in a dream but I guess Theravada places more emphasis on the philosophy and Mahayana places more emphasis on the personality.

I listen to Nirvana? No I'm not a Buddhist though.

[shitmymonksays]

I listen to Nirvana? No I'm not a Buddhist though. Awesome.

[shitmymonksays]

I'm an incredibly bad, secular Theravada Buddhist. I've never met or sought to meet Buddha in a dream but I guess Theravada places more emphasis on the philosophy and Mahayana places more emphasis on the personality. Alas, wikipedia was not able to enlighten me on the difference - ha! Looks like Thervada doesn't believe in all these other deities and incarnations of Buddha; also differs on (I think) the object of negation for meditation on emptiness.

[ThePreserver]

I haven't been able to decide if I preferred Theravada or Mahayana, so I take some from each. Basically Theravada is "The Little Boat" where only those who realize they are on the path to enlightenment are "on the path." Mahayana is "The Big Boat," meaning we're all in the boat together, whether we realize it or not. And no, I haven't had any dreams with Buddha, nor have I had any with any religious figure.

[Emecom]

I try to practice Buddhism but I wouldn't really classify myself as belonging to a branch (mostly because I don't really know what they are or the differences) I mostly just believe in the basic Buddhist principles. But I have never sought Buddha in a dream, tho I may now try

[kidjordan]

I've read a fair amount about Buddhism. Being an empiricist, I've decided to meditate regularly in order to help me out with LDing and to test some of the claims made by Buddhists. All in all, I'm Buddh-ish.

[Philosopher8659]

To claim a religious belief is the claim that man does not equal man. There is one religious source that claims one should not respect persons, regardless of stature--which would even apply to God, and that is in the Judeo-Christian Scripture--however, I do not think any of those understand or practice it, otherwise they would not claim to be either the one or the other. There are passages in the text that actually test for that fault.

[StonedApe]

Alas, wikipedia was not able to enlighten me on the difference - ha! Looks like Thervada doesn't believe in all these other deities and incarnations of Buddha; also differs on (I think) the object of negation for meditation on emptiness. In Therveda, the purpose is to be free from suffering. In Mahayana the purpose is to free all beings from suffering. I don't claim to be either, but I can definetly see both strands of thought in my mind. Sometimes I feel very altruistic, other times I don't give a fuck about anybody. You could probably call me a zen buddhist, but I don't label myself as one. I meditate daily and with a zen sangha.

[Taosaur]

I've never taken Refuge, but certainly recognize Sakyamuni as The Awakened One and derive my spiritual practice, such as it is, from introductory training in Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhism and Taoist Tai Chi Chuan. I've never sought or encountered any Buddha in a dream. As I understand it, the difference between Theravada and Mahayana (which includes Vajrayana) is primarily that Theravada is more conservative, trying to emulate as closely as possible the sangha as it existed in Sakyamuni's time and recognizing as canon only those suttas/sutras seen as coming from that time. It is practiced primarily in Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, and Thailand. Mahayana Buddhism includes numerous schools recognizing a variety of divergent texts and practices, and mostly owing their differences to more recent enlightened masters than the historical Buddha, but who can also trace their lineage of teaching back to Sakyamuni (with some exceptions). Mahayana includes the Vajrayana schools of the Himalayas, Chan or Zen in China and Japan, Pureland Buddhism also in China and Japan, and a host of others. Many Mahayana lineages include the idea of the bodhisattva, a being on the doorstep of nirvana with the ability to return to samsara again and again to help others achieve liberation.

[StonedApe]

To claim a religious belief is the claim that man does not equal man. There is one religious source that claims one should not respect persons, regardless of stature--which would even apply to God, and that is in the Judeo-Christian Scripture--however, I do not think any of those understand or practice it, otherwise they would not claim to be either the one or the other. There are passages in the text that actually test for that fault. I'm kinda curious what this has to do with budhism. As I understand it budhism isn't really a belief structure, it's just a way of being honest with yourself and really connecting with the truth of your own life. Any beliefs come from observations, which isn't really true of religous metaphysical belief.

[Emecom]

Could any of you recommend good books to read that explain certain Buddhist philosophies?

[sloth]

I like Buddhism. I am AS Buddhist as I am anything else. ...that's not really saying much.

[FallenAwake]

Could any of you recommend good books to read that explain certain Buddhist philosophies? I'm enjoying The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche so far. The link is the full book in pdf. You might search the site as well. It seems they publish many books online for free, thought I haven't explored much. Edit: Oh, and I practice aspects of Buddhism, though I hesitate to call myself a Buddhist.

[StonedApe]

Could any of you recommend good books to read that explain certain Buddhist philosophies? Gom by Gelek Rimpoche is really good, it has a good foundational explanation of meditation practice.

[Taosaur]

Could any of you recommend good books to read that explain certain Buddhist philosophies? Philosophies are somewhat irrelevant to Buddhism, or at least not central. They're something to be overcome through practice. For a recommendation, however, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche does a great job of getting across the basic views of life, death and human interaction as well as introducing some powerful practices. It was easily the single most influential text in my early explorations.

[saltyseedog]

I don't think I'm Buddhist, I think I'm more of a sorcerer. I wouldn't want to label myself anything though. I don't want to be any physical thing. I see my self as a soul.

[DarkMind]

Buddhist from Singapore here :-)

[Goodfellow]

I pretty much agree with all buddhist philosophy, but I'm not sure if I'd describe myself as a buddhist, as I don't believe in reincarnation, and I don't really think it really matters what you label yourself anyway. It's only a concept after all ;D I meditate for an hour or two every day and have read a fairly large amount of books on meditation, mindfulness, and buddhist thought. I met the buddha once in a dream. I became lucid in my kitchen, and willed the buddha to appear behind me. I turned around and he was there in his classic lotus position. At this point the dream started to fade, and I find that tactile sensations in dreams help to stabilise them, so I grabbed at the nearest thing... which happened to be buddha's face xD He didn't seem to mind though. He actually felt like a marble statue. So when the dream is stable, I ask him "What is enlightenment?" and he doesn't say anything. Which seemed more profound than unhelpful, and reminded me of this quote which I love: "It is always there, right where you are. If you seek it, obviously you do not see it."

[DrunkenArse]

Forgot about this thread. I'd been meaning to come back and discuss the differences between theraveda and mahayana. For the time being, I'll just post this poetry I found the other day: Greater vehicle, lesser vehicle, No matter! All vehicles will be towed away at owner's expense. Also, I missed the reference request. The experience of Insight by Joseph Goldstein is very good but gets into spooky supernaturalism a little bit. Take it seriously or read past it to get the good stuff. Either way, It's where I got the above quote from. It deals with the Vipissana approach to meditation. Also, Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist is a very informative read but not a good introduction or major earth-mover. After recounting his time as a Tibetan monk and a Korean Zen monk, he ends up going through the Pali Cannon with the intention to sort the stuff that could have been said by any wondering, Indian ascetic contemporaneous with the Buddha from the stuff that speaks with a 'unique voice'. He ends up concluding that the Buddha was founding a 'culture of awakening'. He can be accused of cherry-picking the stuff that speaks to him and ignoring the rest but, as he points out, does anybody do anything different when approaching a religious text?

[Original Poster]

While I wouldn't call myself a follower of any particular faith Buddhism definitely has a lot of great wisdom to offer.

[tommo]

Fuck, I thought Phil was back. Just an old thread....

[MaxZ]

I study the esoteric core of all religions. I meditate and enjoy the wisdom of both Theravada and Mahayana. As for your question, two nights ago I prayed that the Buddha would help me attain lucidity. In my dream I went into my bathroom and found a small carving of Buddha(there isn't one in real life). I picked it up and held it, but failed to gain awareness.

[DrunkenArse]

Buddha says it's for you to gain lucidity through right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. He already did.