On the post, "Is the Buddha's EMPTINESS the Brahmin's BRAHMAN?" i received some beautiful comments.
Jon said, My answer to the question is "yes," to both! It is Nothing, and it is also Something, and it is also, not figuratively, but very literally, Everything.
How does Something come from Nothing? It does not make sense to the mind. It cannot be described except as metaphor, because it is the essential Mystery.
All manifestations, worlds, galaxies, subatomic particles, birds and trees, rocks and buildings, Zen and Sadiq and Jon and Tiel, come from it, and are nothing but it, although all manifestations are unique and constantly changing.
Tat twam asi--You are that! Its words manifest in the heart as It talks to itself.
Only It is, and even it isn't!
In persons, it is personal.
In religions, it is God.
In the Universe, it is infinity.
In Itself, it is emptiness.
Even in everyday life, emptiness--though nothing at all, is seen in many different ways: the capacity of a bowl to filled, the distance you can drive before you run out of gas, the space a decorator works with in interior design, the room that allows all things to be in space-time.
Also Zen says, I think the reason that Buddha doesn't accknowledge God (directly) is that he was sort of an anti-establishment kind of fellow to begin with in that he neglected his householder status to seek enlightenment, and also because even in the scriptures it states that all ritual and action can only take you so far, and worship can only take you so far, and the whole point is to realize God as Self, but in worship, and in the name Brahmin it is easy to it is easy to think of it as something other than the Self. I think ultimately Buddha was a jnani and in order to take away all distractions from that path for his followers, he eliminated much of the ritual and worship and downplayed the idea of God in order to reduce the sense or thoughts of a separate 'I'.
Tiel Aisha Ansari said... Even if the concepts of emptiness and brahman were fundamentally different, it's not surprising that Gautama would describe it in similar language to the Vedas. After all, that is the culture in which he was raised, and as a noble prince he certainly was familiar with Vedas and associated literature
Jon said, My answer to the question is "yes," to both! It is Nothing, and it is also Something, and it is also, not figuratively, but very literally, Everything.
How does Something come from Nothing? It does not make sense to the mind. It cannot be described except as metaphor, because it is the essential Mystery.
All manifestations, worlds, galaxies, subatomic particles, birds and trees, rocks and buildings, Zen and Sadiq and Jon and Tiel, come from it, and are nothing but it, although all manifestations are unique and constantly changing.
Tat twam asi--You are that! Its words manifest in the heart as It talks to itself.
Only It is, and even it isn't!
In persons, it is personal.
In religions, it is God.
In the Universe, it is infinity.
In Itself, it is emptiness.
Even in everyday life, emptiness--though nothing at all, is seen in many different ways: the capacity of a bowl to filled, the distance you can drive before you run out of gas, the space a decorator works with in interior design, the room that allows all things to be in space-time.
Also Zen says, I think the reason that Buddha doesn't accknowledge God (directly) is that he was sort of an anti-establishment kind of fellow to begin with in that he neglected his householder status to seek enlightenment, and also because even in the scriptures it states that all ritual and action can only take you so far, and worship can only take you so far, and the whole point is to realize God as Self, but in worship, and in the name Brahmin it is easy to it is easy to think of it as something other than the Self. I think ultimately Buddha was a jnani and in order to take away all distractions from that path for his followers, he eliminated much of the ritual and worship and downplayed the idea of God in order to reduce the sense or thoughts of a separate 'I'.
Tiel Aisha Ansari said... Even if the concepts of emptiness and brahman were fundamentally different, it's not surprising that Gautama would describe it in similar language to the Vedas. After all, that is the culture in which he was raised, and as a noble prince he certainly was familiar with Vedas and associated literature
COMMENTS