the wu liang yi jing said that ' ah nan zun ze' was a man with super memory and he recall all the buddha's teachings among some great number of buddha's followers, and the buddha said to him, when you recall these teaching, you said ' it is that i heard from buddha ' , before he continue with the teaching content, so the other followers can know that the teaching is not his own teaching. anw i think he was the cousin of buddha gautama if remember correctly. how super is super, how accurate is accurate, how real is real, unless we reach the state of buddha or bodhisatva, i guess we can't go back and check if this really happen.

true.
that's the reason why i ask why buddhism shifted or expand to something else such as the songs i heard in Subang center , the band of singers really singing to the tune of Sunday Chapel.  Well i been to Chapel before not because i want to.. but because it's part of the high school curricullum back than and i will never miss those hymm still ringing loud in nightmare...   Maybe , im wrong here because buddhism encourage exploring the new ground and creativity .. not just sticking to one old tradition. Is this expectation from the original buddhism studies?

My point earlier, those are not "buddhism". It was never infused. If it was, there will never be superstition in it's sub parts.

I know it is hard to understand what I'm trying to convey. This is a very huge misconception that is driven into the bones and flesh of many chinese. I was fortunate that my first few comic books during my very younger days were chai zi chongs short comics + actual text of Dao De Jing, and zen buddhism of the 六祖, I never had that misconception at all.  Yes, these comics are awesome. Kids should read these.

If I recall correctly , the burning of paper money was originate from China. An invention of a paper businessman.

I read it somewhere in a Buddhist Magazine.

thinking of it, what happen to those smart scholars like confucious and other king's men in the palace, do they buy this story ? Why there's no smart people around that challenge him before lies became truth to the point of no return?

i have to agree with you that i have seen medium perform on behalf of deity like dato kong and ji kong. they do have super natural power that could read your past action and what u did in the past . by reading their birth of date , they could point to your destiny and read your luck and even alter it with a stroke of a brush. i have seen how they could predict someone is having affair with another woman etc...that's a bit terrifying

Seriously??? Is that the origin of burning hell papers too?

Just curious, why chinese have this idea that everyone will go to the underworld after they die and they burn "hell currency" for them?

Greetings and Happy New Year everyone !

First of all , just like to introduce myself. I am a Sarawakian born Malaysian Malay Muslim.
I am of mixed parentage , my father is a Perak Malay of Indonesian origins (Javanese + Banjar) and my mother is of Filipino-Spanish (formerly Catholic from Manila). I consider myself a liberal and my faith is Islam (by choice only later in my 20's,although legally I have no choice/pun intended).I am 29 now by the way. Having relatives from various religions ; muslim(mostly) , buddhist , christians (catholic mostly) I grew up to respect all religion that instill moral values. I've even gone through a phase where I had kept my heart close to socialism and sympathized for communist struggles. In my opinion religion is something people shouldn't argue about. It's something between an individual and God. I respect Mahayana/Theravada Buddhism because I consider it my cultural heritage. Malays were once buddhist/hindhus before the whole nation converted post-Parameswara's era.

I'm actually here to seek some help and not debate about religion. about 4 years ago I visited the Borobudur temple in Central Java.
I bought four beautiful statuettes ; meditating buddha ; head of buddha ; borobudur temple ; elephant buddha. They were carved from volcanic stone.

Two years ago it dawned upon me that having these statuettes around may upset some family members. I can consider myself almost a non-practising muslim
although I do go to the mosque for Friday prayers every now and then. Because of my liberal ways many started to question my faith. Due to my accepting nature and non-aggressive ways some may think that I am an apostate / godless communist. Relatives from both muslim and catholic side do not really like me having
these statuettes around.

Today I feel that to avoid family ties from being severed , I need to find a place where these statuettes will be appreciated/respected and safe. I could not bring my heart to crush these beautiful art pieces because I have so much respect for buddhism. As someone also mentioned in the forum , I too believe that buddha could have been a prophet of God for Asia , as it was mentioned in the quran that there were thousands of 'nabi' in the world but only a handful of Messengers.
Who are we to say that Buddha's englightenment was not the will of God ?

Can anyone advise me on how I can go about finding a place for these statuettes ?
I've thought of approaching Mahayana temples but I fear it may be too sensitive.

is not about work hard for millions of years...it is about enlightment at the point of time...
some ppl achieve, as u mention millions of years
while some ppl juz need 1 span of life times....and it is vary.

since everyone is buddha juz they not knowing it and need guidance from god....and buddhism is not religion btw.

I've never really believed in a supreme entity as our creator but rather as we are all part of something bigger and everything is interconnected somehow.

But as long as moral values are in place in human society i feel that everyone should have a freedom to practice religion so long as it doesn't provoke violence.

I find religion is a part of what defines cultures of the world and makes the world beautiful but everyones so busy fighting over whose belief is right.

zstan, u're very knowledgeable. can i join your class/center/school of thought/guru/dharma activities? where?

on a nother note, someone mentioned about how kechara is. here's my 2 cents, it is very engaging, they r an active organization constantly spreading dharma with such skilful means via its impressive 13 departments. u can find their main office in dataran prima, somewhere thereabouts. ayam impressed with their dedication to their teacher HE Tsem Tulku Rinpoche and to Buddhism.

Are you a vegetarian Buddhist? Heard of Tibetan Buddhism or Lamaism?

It is divided into two sects: the Red Hat and Yellow Hat Buddhism.  The Buddhism is quite militant, not the passive type.

In Mongolia, the Yellow Hat Buddhism is dominant because of direct influence from Tibet.

Buddha himself was an agnostic. He was a moral man with humility. Later, people divinized him and attribute supernatural miracles to him.

Yes that's true. I was talking about the most famous two because they both clashed militarily before, then the Yellow Hat achieved victory and began proselytizing in Mongolia.

Before converting to Islam, the Uyghur belonged to one of Buddhism sect too.

One question, I heard during the Tang Dynasty, one emperor sent a monk to India to obtain the Sutras. Is it  a true story?

oh crap

but how does one live without any sexual outlet?

About Jhanas , I heard sex destroys it and it's very  hard to maintain.

I heard that Jhanas is very hard to maintain. Must nurse like a baby. Break a bit of precept or indulge in some sensual pleasures, it's gone.

Fighting caused death and misery to the people. They are not fighting ghost, but real people, sir. Buddha never condoned spilling the blood of anyone, let alone an innocent.

Religion is superflous I think. Even the open mindedness of Buddhism can transform into bigotry.

So, the monk really went to India and brought back the scriptures, then translated all of them?

Ok so u c, Tao teaching is another part of continent and both seem no influence of each other during different time am I right?

Just finish reading the Tripitaka. Theravada Buddhism is the origin of Buddhism right, what about Mahayana , it.s has been manipulated?

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file...150&sec=central

is this a religion practiced or just a traditional custom? if a chinese practice buddhism or tao, does all this meant anything to them? one has to separate tradition and religion all totally right? if a family reunion is a tradition than it's a not a religion. if u read the article , there's a union of traditional custom + religion in it. Seem like it becoming more of a compulsory practice every year .

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Added on January 21, 2012, 6:35 pmsometimes i really hate these people for f our mind up.

Hi There,

Am a buddhist but did not know that this forum exist in Lowyat. LOL.

Any way, Saddu Saddu saddu to you brother for keeping this forum active and sharing.

Will be visiting Sri lanka next month, any suggestion as to buddhist places places to visit ? Plan to go to Anuradhadura and Polonnaruwa which are recommended by the Sri lanka tourism.

Anu suggestion would be welcome.

Metta

Sunshine

halo, me 1st time here

my question
Is corruption or giving commission is a sin?