The Temptations of Mara


Oneness


This post has been edited by nash_ph_41: Dec 15 2018, 10:59 PM

you just go read and research la , got stark difference between the two in terms of Boddisatta path.

This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Oct 3 2018, 08:02 PM

1) pls spoonfeed us the answer lah, instead of we research
[/QUOTE]Among there is hundred of sutra or mantra, there must be a beginning where this sutra being start destroy or vanish from humankind. But why start with this sutra first rather than other?[QUOTE]

2) But i would say, this sutra is a candidate for first destruction, because the mahayana introduced idol worshipping. All those who made a vow to destroy its source, would have almost wipe clean all traces of idols in kushan empire (afghanistan etc) alas their job is incomplete

3) https://personal.carthage.edu/jlochtefeld/b...nchi/intro.html
When the Sanchi stupa was built, the Buddha was not portrayed in human form. Maybe he was seen as having transcended human understanding, or maybe the early Buddhists wanted to underline that he had transcended the condition of birth-and-death that marks embodied existence. Whatever the reason, in this early artwork the Buddha was portrayed by certain fixed symbols, each of which represents one of the pivotal events in his life. These symbols are: Lotus or Elephant (Birth) Tree (Enlightenment) Wheel (Preaching the First Sermon) Stupa (Parinirvana)

4) https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/a-kushan-b...dian-sculpture/
The sculpture produced at Mathura in this period, however, marked an important phase in the development of Buddhist art. There was a shift from the architectural relief in favour of the freestanding stele or statue. Of specific concern to the Melbourne Bodhisattva is the appearance of the earliest anthropomorphic representation of the Buddha Śākyamuni and bodhisattvas, spiritually advanced beings capable of attaining bodhi (enlightenment), both of which appear for the first time early in the Kushān period

The emergence of the concept of the bodhisattva in early Buddhist thought and practice is central to this problem. The background to this must be sought in the developing schism between the original Hīnayāna (‘Lesser Wheel’) and the ‘reformist’ and popularist Mahāyāna (‘Greater Wheel’) sects.16 The emphasis shifted from the historic personage of the Buddha Śākyamuni to the concept of Buddhahood as a state to be strived for by all, aided by the intervention of bodhisattvas. The seeds of the Mahāyānist concept of bodhisattva are to be found in the Hīnayāna Jataka stories, moralistic accounts of the historic Buddha’s previous lives as a bodhisattva and the selfless deeds he performed in his kindness to all living creatures. The word ‘bodhisattva’ recurs repeatedly in this context and such stories found visual expression in the relief sculptures on the stūpa railing at Bharhut, around 100 B.C.

Two inscriptions are particularly helpful in attempting to date the emergence of the bodhisattva as an object of worship. The first appears on a silver scroll excavated at Taxila, which A. L. Basham maintains cannot be later than the second half of the 1st century A.D.19 This inscription refers to a private bodhisattva chapel (Bosisatvagaha). The second inscription was found at Govindnagar in Mathura in 1976. It is a dated inscription on the excavated base of a now lost image, which describes the figure as ‘Amitābha Buddha’.20 R. Sharma equates the inscription date to A.D. 106. In addition there is the case recently presented by P. Pal for dating the Ahicchatra Maitreya (fig. 10) to A.D. c.82, on the basis of stylistic parallelism, which would make it the earliest known representation of the bodhisattva in India.

[quote=nash_ph_41,Oct 3 2018, 05:03 PM]
I'm adopting way of Bodhisattva .sos
This is my daily practice everyday.
Uphold 5 percept
Adapt vegetarian lifestyle (without 5 pungent)
Recrite and chant sutra,mantra and Buddha name.
Shurangama mantra is my uphold most.

On Buddhism practice, prolonged with the sutra we read and understand, the most essential is experience by ourself the path that Buddha show us. Some practice meditation,some use sutra and mantra.just try to search way of cultivation that suit to us.

All this practice should be help daily,just like having meal everyday.By the time accumulated and practice you would feel they joy and blissful upon this.

Many bless.

[/quote]

5) thanks for sharing on Bodhisattva and at least we are doing something, as none of us will be around by year 2100



Whoever was the monk during that time, kushan/afghanistan etc area was a serene peaceful sight to meditation. Above pictures the view from bamiyan cave. Such a masterful carving creation of the statue from the bamiyan cliffs

6) https://www.unbelievable-facts.com/2018/04/...-new-finds.html
The destruction of the statues revealed 50 caves behind them, and the caves contained a number of important discoveries including the world’s oldest oil paintings. The caves had been used as homes for monks. In the caves, scientists found oil paintings. They are the oldest oil paintings ever discovered, and they date from hundreds of years before oil paint was used in Europe. Another important discovery found in the caves was a translation of the original Sanskrit Pratītyasamutpāda Sutra. This is a document that spells out the basic beliefs of Buddhism. It was written on birch bark. It’s the first time a sutra was found inside an Afghan Buddha statue.

7) http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub8/entry-5452.html
To the north-east of the royal city there is a mountain, on the declivity of which is placed a stone figure of Buddha, [p.51] erect, in height 140 or 150 feet. Its golden hues sparkle on every side, and its precious ornaments dazzle the eyes by their brightness. To the east of this spot there is a convent, which was built by a former king of the country. To the east of the convent there is a standing figure of Sakya Buddha, made of metallic stone (teou-shih), in height 100 feet. It has been cast in different parts and joined together, and thus placed in a completed form as it stands.

8) Sutra on Dependent Arising (Skt. Pratītyasamutpāda-sutra) http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=S...pendent_Arising
All phenomena originate from causes,
The Tathagata has taught these causes,
And also that which puts a stop to these causes,
This too has been taught by the Great Shramana.

9) These words were used by the Arahat Assajī (Skr: Aśvajit) when asked about the teaching of the Buddha. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Dharma_Hetu
The Bukit Meriam inscription from Kedah includes two additional lines. The inscription is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Other similar inscriptions were found in the Kedah region.[5]

Ye dharmma hetuprabhavā hetun-teṣān-Tathāgata āha,
teṣān-ca yo nirodha evam-vādi Mahāśramaṇaḥ

Ajñānāc-cīyate karmma, janmanaḥ karmma kāraṇam
jñānān-na cīyate karmma, karmmābhāvān-na jāyate.

The additional lines can be translated as
Through ignorance karma is accumulated, the cause of birth is karma.
Through knowledge karma is not accumulated. Through absence of karma, one is not reborn.

tsk tsk tsk.

Everything wanna spoon-feed, must have a bit of effort mah.

So respond on the first enquiry.From my personal perspective,I always view all teaching of Buddha as one regardless which section you all adapt(Theravada, Mahayana).Just choose the method suit you most.At the end of period all of
sentient being will reach enlightenment.

Regard on inquiry of shurangama sutra,as I'm not familiar with English terminology in Buddhism, I try to explain with my own own word and support a link for you all as references.

On going to path of enlightenment, for the beginner or even old practicion will face a new type obstacles to go through.Each of us have different type of challenges. While this sutra kidna a mirror and explained details regardless situation we facing.

You may called it book of Dummy to enlightenment path.
The sutra desribe from physical and emotion till consciousness and derive several level like what you u face during meditation state,food,karma and etc

Why it get destroy first?
As the dharma ending period which we are going right now, a true practitioner getting lesser and lesser.Ppl tend not going a hardships way to achieve certain state.Some easily to give up in middle.Therefore Buddhist practitioner starting suspicious with the guideline highlight in sutra. They doubt that is the effective way and start to reject.

While this declining situation start with you never heard this sutrs name, then doubt it and reject it. Another issues is the mantra state in this sutra which view by realm of MARA as powerful weopan that need to destroy no matter what course.

sos


This post has been edited by nash_ph_41: Oct 4 2018, 04:20 PM

The Ariyas attainments will be lost first , then the texts.

This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Oct 4 2018, 01:53 PM

Perhaps there is some one still exist but blend in society and teaching secretly.people may get lucky if meet one of them.Maybe they in asestic form or normal people form.

Or someone hidden some where and waiting someone.
For eg: Ven. Uruvela MayaKashya who waiting next Buddha.

This post has been edited by nash_ph_41: Oct 4 2018, 04:24 PM

There are still Ariyas around in the world today.

This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Oct 4 2018, 02:09 PM

Absolutely agree.that why I say there people is fortunate to meet a real one.

Many bless.

where to find? google search, none turned up, no clue kah

There is something can't search from internet.

In places where the people follow the 8-fold path, keeps the precepts well, practice meditation - there you will find them.

Even you, my friend, can become Ariya yourself given the right practice

Very happy state - even the lowest Sotapanna (stream-enterers), will know by direct knowledge that the doors of hell, animal wombs, demons and ghosts are closed forever for them.

This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Oct 4 2018, 04:51 PM

Let's all wish we will reach that stage one day

If I am not mistaken, Sanskrit is a written language in Ancient India and Pali is a sub-dialect, spoken by the Buddha and his contemporaries.

Sanskrit is like Mandarin, Pali is like Hokkien.

Scholars generally agree that Pali was the language spoken and used by the Buddha himself.

Theravada uses the Pali Canon (Tipitaka - three baskets of collections ).

The Mahayana earlier sutras - has Pali Canon preserved which is known as Agama Sutras

Agama sutras preserved in Mahayana sutras

Mahayana uses Sanskrit and has additional sutras not found in Pali Canon.

It shows there wasn't really Theravada or Mahayana in the earlier days of Buddhism, just one Dhamma , agreeable by all earlier Buddhists. The differences happened much later, initially there were some disagreement on the interpretation of the Vinayas (rules for monks / nuns). Later, it got more serious when the groups don't sit together anymore. (Schism in Buddhism).

This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Oct 5 2018, 08:25 AM

Oneness


This post has been edited by nash_ph_41: Dec 15 2018, 10:59 PM

can i be spoonfed the places/temples in malaysia/singapore where 8 fold path are being followed

since sotapanna only got 7 rebirths, means high chance they won't see maitreya

"Sotapanna : the 'Stream-winner', is the lowest of the 8 noble disciples (s. ariya-puggala). Three kinds are to be distinguished: the one 'with 7 rebirths at the utmost' sattakkhattu-parama : the one 'passing from one noble family to another' (kolaṅkola), the one 'germinating only once more' (eka-bījī). As it is said (e.g. Pug. 37-39; A. III, 87)"

the british did a lot to collect all the info and piece together everything, karma does work in a strange way
even as buddhism dissapear from its country of birth, but because british colonise india
theoretical buddhist text would match practical places that was mentioned
however, the same can't be said for the kushan/mahayana who transform buddha worship from a symbol to an idol
britain could not fully colonise afghanistan and much research could not be done to match theory into practice

1) http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nuristan
NURISTAN (Nurestān), the “Land of Light,” a region to the northeast of Afghanistan, imbedded in the Hindu Kush valleys to the south of its main ridge. It was earlier known as Kafiristan (Kāferestān), land of the non-Islamic. Until the winter of 1895/96 the population of the region still preserved its old culture with roots in the very distant, pre-Christian, past. The people had succeeded in holding on to their ancient beliefs and “primitive” traditions while surrounded by a hostile Islamic world until the end of the 19th century. The temples, shrines, and cult places with their wooden effigies and multitudes of ancestor figures went up in flames, and only a few effigies were saved as trophies.

2) https://thewire.in/history/how-british-orie...-indian-history
Sir William Jones, alongside his day job as a judge in Calcutta, Jones studied and mastered Sanskrit, rescued it from a narrow Brahmin monopoly, translated its classics and used the language to unlock the glories of our long forgotten Hindu and Buddhist past.

3) https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...en-7468480.html
James Prinsep produced the biggest breakthrough in Indian historiography, the deciphering of the long-forgotten Brahmi script and through it the discovery of the Mauryan empire that had united the subcontinent in the 3rd century BC.

4) The discovery of the Buddha’s Indian connections was again the work of dedicated British explorers. In the late 1790s, a British naturalist, who had heard reports in Burma that the Buddha was a Bihari, tracked down the Bodh Gaya Buddhist ruins. In the following decades, the Buddha’s Indian roots were confirmed by the excavation of a series of mysterious, dome-like stupas. First came the discovery in 1818 by a British General, Mark Taylor. Sanchi had long lain buried in forests, thus escaping destruction by either the Brahmanical Hindu revival that wiped out Indian Buddhism or by the Muslim invasions that shattered so many temples. The stupas became the focus for further excavations by the man regarded as the father of Indian archaeology, Lieutenant Alexander Cunningham of the Royal Engineers.

5) https://www.tripadvisor.com.my/ShowUserRevi...ya_Pradesh.html
Of these the most remarkable is a large stone bowl, now lying on a small mound between the two principal Topes. The size of this bowl agrees so closely with that of the golden vessel, in which Asoka dispatched the "cutting" of the great Bo-tree to Ceylon, that it seems highly probable the Sanchi bowl must once have held a sacred tree. The name of Sanchi, or Sachi, is most probably only the spoken form of the Sanskrit Santi, the term Santi-sangham (the Santi community) can be found used in the inscription on the southern pillar of the Great Tope. The Chinese also transcribed santi by sa-chi, for they say that it signifies " silence, repose."

6) https://www.history.upenn.edu/coursepages/h...rial/sanchi.htm
The monastery at Sanchi was originally constructed by Bimbisara, king of Magadha and contemporary of the Buddha. It owes its present form to renovations by Ashoka and the later Shunga kings who through their support and patronage established Stupa worship as an institution in Buddhism.

7) https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/10/13/t...cture-in-india/
During the Satavahana period, the local population donated money for the establishment of the stupa to attain spiritual merit. Devotees who donated money towards a sculpture would often choose their favorite scene from the life of the Buddha and then have their names inscribed on it.

8) https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Sanchi_inscri...Chandragupta_II
The text is in Sanskrit and translation "Perfection has been attained! To the community of the faithful in the holy great vihâra of Kâkanâdabôta, -in which the organs of sense (of the members of it) have been subdued by the virtues of (good) character, religious meditation, and wisdom; which . . . . . . . . . . . . deeds of the very highest religious merit; which has come together from the four quarters of the world; (and) which is the abode of most excellent Shramanas,-having prostrated himself in an assembly of five persons, Amrakârdava the son of Undâna,-whose means of subsistence have been made comfortable by the favour of the feet of the Mahârâjâdhirâja, the glorious Chandragupta (II.); who is publishing in the world the amiable behaviour of the virtuous people who are the dependents (of the king); who has acquired banners of victory and fame in many battles; (and) who is an inhabitant of (the town of) Nashtî . . . . . . in the Sukuli dêsha,-gives (the village or allotment of) Îshvaravâsaka ……..purchased with the endowment of Maja and Sharabhanga and Amrarâta of the royal household, and (also gives) twenty-five dînâras. (Line 7.)-From [the interest of the dînâras] given by him,- with half, as long as the moon and the sun (endure), let five Bhikshus be fed, and let a lamp burn in the jewel-house, for the perfection of all the virtues of….the familiar name of Dêvarâja, ……. Of the Mahârâjâdhirâja, the glorious Chandragupta (II.); and with the other half, which is mine, let the same number of five Bhikshus be fed, and (let) a lamp (burn) in the jewel-house

Maximum 7 rebirths in deva or human realm. A sotapanna can take rebirth in Tusita heaven as a deva to meet Lord Metteya who is currently there now.

The chief lay disciple of the Buddha, Anathapindika who is a Sotapanna , upon death took rebirth as a deva in Tusita heaven. He came back that very night to pay respect to the Buddha , illuminating the entire Jeta grove with heavenly light.



This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Oct 10 2018, 08:19 AM

I have no idea the sotapanna 'maximum 7 rebirths in deva or human realm' but would you plan to go ahead with nirvana or wait maitreya?
Does it mean anathapindika did not attain nirvana?

Anathapindika has attained the lowest state of enlightenment but not yet final Nibbana, but he would be destined to attain in within 7 lifetimes.

Well, one should strive to attain Nibbana asap. For us worldlings, our future births are not certain, and we don't even know what sort of evil karma that is walking behind us.

A being is only totally safe when he has at least attained Sotapanna, for gates of hell, animal wombs, demons and ghosts are closed for him.. forever.

This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Oct 10 2018, 12:16 PM