afterlife

[hades]

so it seems that the buddha taught/believed that there was life after death (rebirth) that it is shaped by karma, and that to break through the cycle of rebirth is the main point of life.....he talked about his memories of past lives and what not
this teaching is taken seriously by many schools of buddhism, for example the tibetans...so its not something i just arbitrarily interpreted...


but this is nonsense


so if the buddha was wise or enlightened why is he preaching bullshit?

[Kevin Solway]

. . . so if the buddha was wise or enlightened why is he preaching bullshit?

As with all religions, people interpret the teachings in their own mindless way. The Tibetans are no different.

The teaching of rebirth is not meant to be taken literally. Or rather, it is not meant to be interpreted in the simplistic way that literalists interpret it.

Since no thing is the same for two consecutive moments, things are dying and being reborn each moment. That is the essence of the teaching on rebirth.

The rest of the teachings on rebirth, such as the multitude of "realms of existence" (hells, animal realms, etc) are poetic expressions describing cause and effect, and psychological states.

[Matt Gregory]

The very first sutta in the Sutta Pitaka (Brahmajala Sutta) discounts any view of life after death held by the Buddha in the section on wrong views.

'There are, monks, some ascetics and Brahmins who proclaim a doctrine of Conscious Post-Mortem Survival, and do so in sixteen different ways. On what basis?

'They declare that the self after death is healthy and conscious and (1) material, (2) immaterial, (3) both material and immaterial, (4) neither material nor immaterial, (5) finite, (6) infinite, (7) both, (8) neither, (9) of uniform perception, (10) of varied perception, (11) of limited perception, (12) of unlimited perception, (13) wholly happy, (14) wholly miserable, (15) both, (16) neither.

'These are the sixteen ways in which these ascetics and Brahmins proclaim a doctrine of conscious post-mortem survival. There is no other way.

And he goes on to describe views on Unconscious Post-Mortem Survival, and Neither-Conscious-Nor-Unconscious Post-Mortem Survival. I'd type out the whole thing but it's really long.

Edit: I found it on the net: Brahmajala Sutta

[LooF]

concept of afterlife comes because humans require meaning while they live

but that reallly doesnt mean there isnt one ,,

[David Quinn]

That is true. But looking at it realistically, there is just as much chance of a human surviving death in some fashion as there is of a cloud surviving its own disintegration.

There is an excellent discussion in the Buddhist sutras which articulates the enlightened understanding of reincarnation:

http://members.optushome.com.au/davidqu ... adanta.htm


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[LooF]

so buddha say identity is not self ._.

or was it just the brahman?

i think it is


did buddha ever figure out why things are?

[bert]

so buddha say identity is not self ._.

or was it just the brahman?

i think it is


did buddha ever figure out why things are?

Buddha says that he must negate the Self.
The fool(buddha) lacks understanding of his own nature.

eastern spiritists say that the inner being conquers the outer.
A civil war!
Is there anything more ridiculous?

[LooF]

inner = kings

outer = citizens

i think he means inner rules outer ?