April 8----Hanamatsuri

MerryMagdalene

In honor of Hanamatsuri, the birth of the Buddha (563 years Before Christ), here is a favorite quote from Siddartha by Hermann Hesse in which the title character, Siddartha, addresses the Buddha:

"....You have learned nothing through teachings, and so I think, O Illustrious One, that nobody finds salvation through teachings. To nobody, O Illustrious One, can you communicate in words and teachings what happened to you in the hour of your enlightenment. The teachings of the enlightened Buddha embrace much, they teach much----how to live righteously, how to avoid evil. But there is one thing that this clear, worthy instruction does not contain; it does not contain the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced----he alone among hundreds of thousands.... That is why I am going on my way----not to seek another and better doctrine, for I know there is none, but to leave all doctrines and all teachers and to reach my goal alone----or die."

~Merry

Satanus

Who was it said, 'if you see buddha on the road, kill him'?

S

MerryMagdalene

Not sure... was that a book title?

~Merry

kls

I'm just trying to figure out how to say,,,,Hanamatsuri.

Satanus

It is a book title. But, i thought that it preceded the book. I could be wrong.

S

MerryMagdalene

Thanks for posing that question, S, I have thus learned that your quote is a traditional Buddhist "saying."

From The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chodron comes this:

Everybody is guilty of it. It's what is called fundamental theism. You want something to hold on to, you want to say, "Finally I have found it. This is it, and now I feel confirmed and secure and righteous." Buddhism is not free of it either. This is a human thing. But in Buddhism there is a teaching that would seemingly undercut all this, if people would only listen to it. It says, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill the Buddha." This means that if you can find Buddha and say, "It's this way; Buddha is like this," then you had better kill that "Buddha" that you found, that you can say is like this. Contemplative and mystical Christians, Hindus, Jews, people of all faiths and nonfaiths can also have this perspective: if you meet the Christ that can be named, kill that Christ. If you meet the Muhammad or the Jehovah or whoever that can be named and held on to and believed in, smash it.

Now we get to the interesting part. How do you do that? Although this approach sounds pretty aggressive, when we talk this way, we're actually talking about the ultimate in nonaggression. People find it quite easy to have beliefs and to hold on to them and to let their whole world be a product of their belief system. They also find it quite easy to attack those who disagree. The harder, more courageous thing, which the hero and the heroine, the warrior, and the mystic do, is continually to look one's beliefs straight in the face, honestly and clearly, and then step beyond them. That requires a lot of heart and kindness. It requires being able to touch and know completely, to the core, your own experience, without harshness, without making any judgment.

~Merry

Satanus

Yes, go beyond belief. Smash all your beliefs. I don't know.... If you believe in no thing, can you function? Can you work? Just thinking in type, here.

Thanks for finding that context. I was also looking for it's origin. In the process, i found something that said that it's meaning is that the answer is found within, not outside oneself. I know james thomas always syas this, most of my own methods have gone like that. That is, there is no god, no angels that can be percieved externally. Kind of dissapointing, really.

S

Bas

damn...I missed his birthday...well, happy belated birthday Buddha<----whole lot of candles on this one

ps Merry thanks for the info, i find it very "enlightening"b

Bas

do you have more for us Magdalene? It's addictive

Bas

(he who has smashed budha mohammed, christ....well hell everybody, and I'll keep killing them, but they keep coming back too, please smash me )

April 8----Hanamatsuri

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