If you want to proselytize find a street corner somewhere. I will defend your right to hold to your beliefs. I will your right to express your beliefs as your beliefs.That is not what you have done here.
Who created God?
- Thread starter muhammad_isa
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Well, as a Catholic, I'd have to acknowledge Pure Land Buddhism, a school of Mahayana Buddhism centred on Buddha Amitābha – the Amida Buddha as the Japanese known him. That promises 'salvation' ...
Yahweh kid
I am blessed!
But the question is, which faith promises eternal Salvation?.... I just thought since you are knowledgeable, you might know..... tx
Yahweh kid
I am blessed!
Interesting..... "In Mahayana Buddhism, achieving Nirvana involves imitating the Buddha's path by cultivating the bodhisattva ideal" To me that is not a promise that you will have "Nirvana" (I don't think they actually believe in eternal Salvation) without you doing something and so by following that path a person will never know whether he has done enough to reach "Nirvana".
"Amida Buddha"....... to attain Nirvana you still have to do something, right? It is based on how good of a person you are, or maybe how good of a follower of the faith you are...
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Same with Christianity.
Rebirth in a 'Land of Bliss', much the same idea as I imagine most Chistians have of Heaven.
Same with ...
Same ...
Yahweh kid
I am blessed!
What do we have to do to receive the Gift of Salvation in Christianity?
"8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the "Gift of God"— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast."
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What does one have to do receive the Gift of Salvation in Amida Buddhism?
To paraphrase:
"It is in the gift of the Amida Buddha that you have been saved, through faith – exemplified by the recitation of the Nembutsu, that is "Recollection (Mindfulness) of the Buddha" – and this grace is not from ourselves, it is the Gift of the Amida Buddha, and not by works, so that no one can boast ..."
I'm not being argumentative, I'm showing that the same religious principle present in St Paul's teaching is there in its Buddhist context.
You and I happen to believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ as "the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6) ... others believe otherwise.
To paraphrase:
"It is in the gift of the Amida Buddha that you have been saved, through faith – exemplified by the recitation of the Nembutsu, that is "Recollection (Mindfulness) of the Buddha" – and this grace is not from ourselves, it is the Gift of the Amida Buddha, and not by works, so that no one can boast ..."
I'm not being argumentative, I'm showing that the same religious principle present in St Paul's teaching is there in its Buddhist context.
You and I happen to believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ as "the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6) ... others believe otherwise.
Yahweh kid
I am blessed!
Did Amida also sacrifice himself to pay for his devotees iniquities? Jesus cleanses us from our inequities by His Blood, so that we may be in the presence of our Holy Righteous Loving God. I guess the place promised to the devotees of Amida is not necessarily Holy.... not sure..... if so could it be a place shared with evil souls.
Nice to get to know about similar faiths... You think Christianity might have copied Amida Buddhism?
talib-al-kalim
Well-Known Member
Salvation from what actually? ( I have an answer but I leave you with the question)
Yahweh kid
I am blessed!
If you believe in the afterlife, you might also believe there is a place for those who love God the Creator and those who does not or that there are good and evil after death, maybe light and darkness..... we find good and evil in this world, so for me it is easy to believe there could be good and evil after this life. I am not a good person, so a righteous judge has to send me to an unholy place(jail) where I will have to spend my eternity with other sinners ...... a criminal cannot make himself free of his iniquities... the only faith that makes sense to me, is Jesus Christ who are sinless, who came to earth in the flesh and sacrificed His life so that my life could be set free from eternal darkness. Salvation...
In a sense. He could have gone on, but chose to wait until everyone else had gone on to enlightenment first.
No, it is the Pure Land, there is no sin there.
Absolutely not.
I think Jesus Christ is the Person of the Logos of God. The Logos establishes the template of salvation/deliverance in all its forms ...
Yahweh kid
I am blessed!
I Do not understand....he chooses to wait? so he does not have enlightenment? How does his waiting make his devotees righteous?
So what prevents sinning in the "pure land"? Who is the king of the pure land? Who created the pure land?
I agree, Christianity makes way more sense to me.
To what is "this" referring?"8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the "Gift of God"
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru.
Of course, I know - We do not need any salvation according to 'Advaita', the non-dual philosophy of Hinduism. We are none other than what constitutes the universe, Brahman. What salvation do we need? Need for salvation is a fetter to the mind.
Sankaracharya (8th Century) said:
"na me dvesha ragau na me lobha mohau
na me vai mado naiva matsarya bhavah;
na dharmo na chartho na kamo na mokshah
chidananda rupah shivo'ham shivo'ham.
aham nirvikalpo nirakara rupo
vibhut vatcha sarvatra sarvendriyanam;
na cha sangatham naiva muktir na meyah
chidananda rupah shivo'ham shivo'ham."
I have no hatred or dislike, nor affiliation or liking,
I do not have any pride, nor envy;
I have no duty, nor any purpose, nor any desire, not even for salvation.
I am a form of eternal and auspicious bliss. (Verse 3)
I am without alternative, without any form
I am the essence all those everywhere which have sense organs;
I have neither any attachment to the world nor for salvation
I am a form of eternal and auspicious bliss. (Verse 6)
Nirvana Shatakam - Shivoham Shivoham Lyrics and Meaning - Six verses to salvation
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru.
Yes, I believe in after life, not in reincarnation. Our molecules leave the body and join millions of living and non-living things. Our molecules have reincarnated in other forms.
No, I do not believe in any such place. Those who do not believe in God, the atheists, can also be good people. I do not think that you believe that all atheists are evil. I am fairly a normal social person in spite of being an atheist.
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru.
In 'Advaita' Hinduism, enlightenment is instantaneous when you understand that you are what makes up the universe, realize the all things, living or non-living, are no different than you; and what constitute you is the same as what constitutes even a stone. Don't you have carbon, calcium. phosphorus, sulphur, potasium, sodium, magnesium, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen etc. in your body?
Social sense, all places. Sin is when you pain others, merit is when you help others (Paropakāram punyāya, pāpāya parapēdanam)
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Yahweh kid
I am blessed!
Thank you for your view on the matter....
I have no hatred or dislike, nor affiliation or liking......I have no duty, nor any purpose, nor any desire.......I am without alternative, without any form......... you believe this to be true?
Yahweh kid
I am blessed!
this....Salvation
He transcends enlightenment, and has has created a place for them to become righteous.
Because of the nature of the Pure Land – it is an intermediate place, free from suffering and ignorance, and land of spiritual light, if you like, in which there is no darkness, and no sin.
When you ask 'who is the king' and 'who created' you're trying to see a Buddhist teaching in Christian terms – it won't work.
My Christianity makes more sense to me in light of what I have understood from other teachings.
@Aupmanyav declares himself an atheist Advaita. I would declare myself a Christian Advaita – to be more precise, I'm a Christian monist, but not a pantheist – I can accept a qualified panentheism.