Ken Kubos said:
Andy -
Buddhism has a mug the inscription is: "WAKE UP"
Apparently you are still "ASLEEP".
Apparently, your eyes are closed.
Quoted message said:By way Buddhism said GOD doesn't exist.
Apparently, Buddha's choice was to deny the truth.
Quoted message said:Vipassana, or insight meditation, emphasizes a calm, centered awareness of
mind and body leading to a fresh perspective on oneself, others, and life.
With practice, the sources of internal and external conflict, confusion, and
psychological and physical suffering are understood, seen through, and
transcended. As mental peace is refined, warmth, kindness and compassion
towards oneself and all beings naturally arise from these profound
realizations uncovered by the practice. Dissatisfaction, anger, fear,
restlessness and greed drop away. The sense that there is not enough time,
peace, love and harmony begins to evaporate and is replaced by the
experience of a purposeful, balanced, and fulfilled life.
It remains my choice to place my hope in the LORD instead of what Buddha
has fabricated.
Quoted message said:Actually, in truth there isn't anything to human beings.
Correct.
Quoted message said:Whatever we may be
it's only in the realm of appearances.
In truth, we are nothing without the LORD.
Quoted message said:If we take away the apparent and see
the Transcendent we see that there isn't anything there.
Without the LORD there is no vision.
Quoted message said:There are simply
the universal characteristics -- birth in the beginning, change in the
middle and cessation in the end.
Without the LORD, there can be only death (cessation in the end).
Quoted message said:This is all there is.
In truth, there is eternal life for those who place their faith in the
LORD.
Quoted message said:If we see that all
things are like this then no problems arise. If we understand this we will
have contentment and peace.
- Ajahn Chah
Outward contentment and outward peace are meaningless.
Quoted message said:An important question is, "Why should manifested life at different stages of
evolution emerge out of the Absolute Reality which is infinite?"
There is no evolution (i.e. origin of new species through **random**
natural selection events).
Indeed, nothing is random (Proverbs 16:33).
Quoted message said:The answer
is that manifested life arises out of the impetus in the Absolute to become
conscious of itself.
- Meher Baba
Answers to flawed questions arising from false premises are meaningless.
Quoted message said:You live in illusion and the appearance of things.
Those who walk with Christ live lives filled with truth. The LORD gives
them the living water that dispels all illusion and gives eternal life
(John 4:10-14).
Quoted message said:There is reality, but you
do not know this.
Those who have been given the LORD's gift of truth discernment know the
truth.
Quoted message said:When you understand this, you will see that you are nothing.
When you are able to discern the truth, you will see that the LORD is
everything...
"I am the way, the truth, and the life..." -- LORD Jesus Christ
Quoted message said:And being nothing, you are everything.
Without the LORD, you will remain nothing.
Quoted message said:That is all.
- Kalu Rinpoche'
Nothing is nothing. The LORD is all.
Quoted message said:The only way to bring peace to the earth is to learn to make our
own life peaceful.
Without the LORD, there can be no peace.
Quoted message said:No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly.
The LORD remains forever sovereign.
Quoted message said:When we know this,
we become free.
- Buddha
The freedom that arises from self-worship is a false one.
Quoted message said:Karma means you don't get away with anything.
- Buddha
The LORD's judgment means you don't get away with sinning.
Quoted message said:"Reality is an Illusion"
"And the basic idea of being reborn is that you erase the memory.
Everyone is interconnected, and you're working out your karma with people -
so you get erased, but all of the work left undone has to be completed."
- Uma Thurman
The LORD's will be done.
Quoted message said:Meditation is not thinking about things.
- Joseph Goldstein
Prayer is the merging of one's small will with the LORD's infinite will.
Quoted message said:Wisdom is very different from intellectual ability.
- David F. Vennells
The LORD is the source of all wisdom.
Quoted message said:Be Happy. Stop Thinking.
- Buddha
Surrender to the LORD and receive His peace which passes all
understanding.
Quoted message said:Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something.
What you know you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire
life. But there's something wrong with the world but you don't know what it
is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind. It's driving you mad.
You want to Wake Up! I want to free your mind. All I'm offering is the
truth.
- The Matrix ( Morpheus in the Movie)
"I am the way, the truth, and the life..." -- LORD Jesus Christ
Quoted message said:"Then the Lord said to the monks: 'Now monks I declare to you: all
conditioned things are of a nature to decay - strive on untiringly.'
These were the Tathagata's (Buddha's) last words."
"Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water
welling up to eternal life." -- LORD Jesus Christ
Quoted message said:Rick Strassman, M.D., DMT The Spirit Molecule, 2001
ISBN 0-89281-927-8
Mystical States Pg. 234-235
In order to establish the close similarities between spiritual experience
and what is possible with the spirit molecule, I will first review briefly
the features of a mystical experience.
The three pillars of self, time, and space all undergo profound
transfiguration in a mystical experience.
There no longer is any separation between the self and what is not the self.
Personal identity and all of existence become one and the same. In fact,
there is no "personal" identity because we understand at the most basic
level the underlying unity and interdependence of all existence. Past,
present, and future merge together into a timeless moment, the now of
eternity. Time stops, inasmuch as it no longer "passes." There is existence,
but it is not dependent upon time. Now and then, before and after, all
combine into this exact point. On the relative level, short periods of time
encompass enormous amounts of experience.
As our self and time lose their boundaries, space becomes vast. Like time,
space is no longer here or there but everywhere, limitless, without edges.
Here and there are the same. It is all here.
In this infinitely vast time and space with no limited self, we hold up to
examination all contradictions and paradoxes and see they no longer
conflict. We can hold, absorb, and accept everything our mind conjures up:
good and evil, suffering and happiness, small and large. We now are certain
that consciousness continues after the body dies, and that it existed long
before this particular physical form. We see the entire universe in a blade
of grass and know what our face was like before our parents met.
Extraordinarily powerful feelings surge through our consciousness. We are
ecstatic, and the intensity of this joy is such that our body cannot contain
it - it seems to need a temporarily disembodied state. While the bliss is
pervasive, there's also an underlying peace and equanimity that's not
affected by even this incredibly profound happiness.
There is a searing sense of the sacred and the holy. We contact an
unchanging, unborn, undying, and uncreated reality. It is a personal
encounter with the "Big Bang," God, Cosmic Consciousness, the source of all
being. Whatever we call it, we know we have met the fundamental bedrock and
fountainhead of existence, one that emanates love, wisdom, and power on an
unimaginable scale.
We call it "enlightenment" because we encounter the white light of
creation's majesty. We may meet guides, angels, or other disembodied
spirits, but we pass them all as we merge with the light. Our eyes now,
finally, are truly open, and we see things clearly in a "new light."
The import and momentousness of the experience stands alone in our history.
It may serve to focus the rest of our life toward the completion, filling
out, and working through of the insights obtained.
Thank you for sharing your beliefs.
Truth is independent of euphoric states of mind.
It remains my choice to continue walking with the LORD Almighty, Whom I
love with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Thankfully, faith in
Him is all that is required for salvation and eternal life. The
sovereign LORD remains kind, just and right and His people look forward
to spending the rest of eternity with Him:
http://tinyurl.com/bgdch
Would be more than happy to "glow" and chat about this and other things
like cardiology, diabetes and nutrition that interest those following
this thread here during the next on-line chat (12/08/05):
http://tinyurl.com/cpayh
For those who are put off by the signature, my advance apologies for how
the LORD has reshaped me:
http://tinyurl.com/bgfqt
In Christ's love always,
Andrew
http://tinyurl.com/b6xwk