Transcendal buddhism (experience based) and intellectual buddhism (debates).

Got a difference. Many love debates.

For those who love debates, can refer you all to the debates between King Milinda (greeco-roman king) and Arahant Nagasena. Can google them. He humiliated many monks due to the monks' inability to answer most of his intellectual questions until few arahants have to ascend to the Travatimsa to enlist the help of the deva Mahasena. Interesting chronicles.

There is another famous debate between a group of christian priests and monk in Sri Lanka in the 19th century (during the onslaught of Christendon into buddhist lands), and apparently the monk won the debate , and it reignited nationalism and pride among the sri lankans to their buddhist tradition. I cannot find the details of the debate, maybe someone can help.

This post has been edited by soul2soul: Aug 19 2010, 02:07 PM

It's the same my friend. My muslim friend told me got christians group came to him and told him Allah in the Islam is the same as the Bible. THey use this as a trick to convert muslim.

I somehow feel he is not serious, although I got some answers to his questions...

Ok enough about other religion. Is there anything about buddhism you like to know?

If you want to debate some more, there is a good thread in RWI. The trolls there are definitely more terror. I kalah to them kao kao

This post has been edited by soul2soul: Aug 19 2010, 02:28 PM

That was my approach. So what do you want to know?

Show me some maturity first, then maybe I will answer you.

Well, the last I remember the Christians went to the East and pillaged their wealth in the name of their Jesus. The INquisition and the Crusades were waged in the name of their Lord.

Islamic conquest , in the name of their Lord too.

There hasn't been any war waged in the name of the Buddha, although buddhists do engage in war. That is to say " Fight the infidels in the name of the Buddha" - it's unheard of.

But yes, at the end it's the human nature that brought down the good name of their religions.

now that's trolling

There you go.

Loving-kindness (metta) - who got do?

Fighting between Mahayana and Theravada in Sri Lanka? I think you should a bit on the civil war there.. it was India which was already hindu (mahayana already extinct in india at that time , driven up north ) taht invaded Sri Lanka, causing the order of the Nun of Theravada to be lost.

Mahayana never actually reached Sri Lanka.

OK, the statue showed us that Mahayana buddhism did reach Sri Lanka but how do you draw conclusion that there was a war between Theravada sect and Mahayana in Sri lanka from that statue alone?

Kindly provide links of the war, all I read is just civil war, and invasion from India which wiped out most buddhist monks at that time, that they needed to import the Monks from burma to reintroduce the THeravada lineage there.

THere was definitely an ethnic wars in Sri lanka at that time, and we can surmise that the Sinhalese held on to their Theravada tradition , and the invaders from India might have come from another ethnic group from HIndu-Mahayana background.

Actually, by 10th century, buddhism was almost non-existent in India already. Some scholars put the type of buddhism in india at that time was a more like "hinduism" more to buddhism. Mahayana buddhism which emerged at 100CE probably had already found it ways northward to Tibet and China, leaving behind India to their slowly declining buddhist practices.

The invasion of the arabs in the 10th century and coperation with local hindus opposed to the Buddha's teaching sealed the demise of Buddhism in INdia. Unfortunate.

This post has been edited by soul2soul: Aug 19 2010, 03:50 PM

here: http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2007/2/12560_space.html

This is an opinion from a reader whom I suspect could be the Tamil who would write anything to discredit the Sri Lanka Sinhalese government which waged a war against the local Tamil Tigers. Possible for the local sinhalese to resist outsiders in the similar manner in their treatment to the Mahayana. Possible, but more ethnic driven than religious war in my opinion.


http://sigiriya.org/89.htm

This link shows us that Mahayana buddhism definitely reach Sri Lanka, but what about the history of war between Theravada and mahayana? was there a Theravada Army vs Mahayana army?

AFAIK, even the Mahayana concur that there has never been a war fought between the different buddhist sect, and this is the first i have heard.

This post has been edited by soul2soul: Aug 19 2010, 04:07 PM

I think it's more to the Ethnicity problem where the local Sinhalese were Theravada and they may have tried to resist the outsiders who might have been hindu-mahayana. ANyway, looks like a ethnic war rather than a religious war.

But then, Sri Lanka is the cradle of Theravada buddhism> without them, Burma and thailand will not be a theravada country today.

hard to verify. What exactly happened in INdia also at that time that caused the decline of buddhism was also not well understood. Some scholars said that the local Buddhism in India evolved slowly , incorporating more and more of Hinduism practices until the end there wasn't anything that is buddhist anymore. The Islamic invasion in the 10th century also destroyed many records in the buddhist universities, and sealed the end of buddhist era there.

sad.... many monks were killed at that time. Surely the people who commit such acts will be in Avici already

I read there were some political motive behind it. The local tribes opposed to Buddha's teaching also colluded with the invaders to put the final nail to the coffin.

But we should be glad, that buddhism was able to propagate beyond the shores of INdia (nortwards to china/tibet) and southward/eastwards to Sri Lanka/southeast asia.

THere is no Mantra in Theravada Buddhism, but there are chants called Parittas which are basically the quotes of the words of the Buddha recorded in the sutta. The monks will sometimes chant these Parittas to offer protection, but the actual working of paritas are the reflection in the mind of the person who recite or hear it. Arahant Nagasena noted that certain parittas recited at the shrine of the great arahants (where the relics are located) , if accompanied by Saddha (faith) , certain miracles may happen.

For example, in times where a person encountered a lot of hatred in daily life, he may visit a monk to seek advice. The monk may recite the Loving Kindness sutta (metta) , which is actually the words of the Buddha himself . Normally, in temples, the translation of the Paritta (recited in Pali) will be given to the devotee so that he will understand what the monks is reciting.


Hope this helps

This post has been edited by soul2soul: Aug 20 2010, 10:18 AM

They actually got afinity to buddhism, it's just that their fear of God is so entrenched in their psyche. Take quite a courage to break from that fear, no offence. Being there done that.

Yep, do you know that the hindu mantra also start with "ohm" ?


Ohm is a Sanskrit term that means complete, finished or done if I am not mistaken.



This post has been edited by soul2soul: Aug 20 2010, 10:34 AM