RELIGION AND SCIENCE

Bomjon, aka Palden Dorje

In 2006, Discovery Channel showed a 45-minute documentary about Ram Bahadur Bomjon.

Ram was filmed continuously for 96 hours, day and night, "during which time he did not change his position and did not drink any fluids or eat any food."

Discovery Channel's commentator concluded: "After 96 hours of filming, Ram has defied modern science by continuing his meditation and remaining alive."


Buddha Boy

The Christian mystics, and Buddha, and some scientists who study quantum physics - all have had similar ideas about consciousness.

According to 'Quantum physics' a solid-looking wall is nothing but empty space, held together by 'a string of energies'. (Syntagma)

If you bang your head against the wall, you will get hurt.

Unless you are able to have an out of body experience, and are in the form of a spirit or ghost?

According to Buddha, everything is of one substance.

"That substance ...is sometimes known as spirit or, in modern times, consciousness." (Syntagma)

"When we see houses and fields in dreams, we think of them as being external objects that are not created by the mind, even though they are nothing other than projections of our mind.

"All that we see when we are awake is also nothing other than a creation of the mind." [xviii]

According to the Buddhists, "things ultimately have no independent substance."

Things with no independent substance cannot have "conflicts or antagonisms" - Śūnyata.

This may sound weird.

But, according to the Buddhists, "describing this non-dual experience in words is not really possible, as language is based on duality and contrasts." - Buddhism)

According to the Taoists, everything in the universe is single whole, but composed of opposites.

Taoists try to avoid the extremes and attempt to balance yin and yang in everything they do.

NIRVANA?

1. Is it selfish to leave this world and go to 'heaven'?



What about the suffering people left behind?



For the Buddhist, there is Samsara, this world of suffering.



And there is Nirvana, which is free from suffering.



In Samsara, beings "wander through the impermanent and suffering-generating realms of desire..." (Nirvana)



Some Buddhists think that Samsara is a place, but, most see it as a process or state of mind..



So, it is not selfish to leave Samsara, if it is a state of mind.



Buddhists believe that we create our own individual worlds, and when we die we create a new world and move into it.



Many Buddhists see Nirvana not as a place, but as a state of mind.







2. Is there a creator God?



Buddha kept a noble silence on the question of God and on many other questions.



Buddha argued that "there is no apparent rational necessity for the existence of a creator god because everything ultimately is created by mind." (Buddhism and evolution - Wikipedia)



"In Buddhism, the universe comes into existence dependent upon the actions (karma) of its inhabitants. Buddhists posit neither an ultimate beginning or final end to the universe, but see the universe as something in flux, passing in and out of existence, parallel to an infinite number of other universes doing the same thing." (Religious cosmology - Wikipedia)



3. How do we achieve Nirvana?



It depends on effort.



It means getting rid of anger, greed, lust, delusion...



4. What is Nirvana like?



"It is outside of all conceivable experience." (Nirvana - Wikipedia)



"The consciousness is released, and the mind becomes aware..."



5. Nirvana seems different from Samsara?



The difference between Nirvana and Samsara is only accurate "on the conventional level."



"All phenomena are empty of an essential identity, and therefore suffering is never inherent in any situation." (Nirvana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

GOD

Did God create mosquitoes?

Is there an old man in the sky who created the universe?

Su writes in her blog about "the child in a burn ward screaming, screaming, screaming."

Su refers to Eastern religions and the value of 'Stepping out of mind.....god willing'.

Nina refers to the cruel 'plantation owners' of this world.

Nina refers to the Taoist view of things in 'a select destiny'.



Is there an old man in the sky?

The Jewish, Christian and Moslem religions think so.

The Jewish, Christian and Moslem religions have their origins in Zoroastrianism, which began in Iran, around the 6th century BC .

(Influence of Zoroastrianism on Judaism and Christianity - (CAIS)©)

In Zoroastrianism (Zoroastrianism)a:

There is a God who is the Creator and who is all good.

There is an evil force who will ultimately be destroyed.

There is a saviour who will save the world.

In Zoroastrianism we find the equivalents of baptism, communion, guardian angels, heaven, worship on Sunday, the celebration of Mithras' birthday on December 25th, celibate priests who mediate between man and God, and the Trinity.

(Influence of Zoroastrianism on Judaism and Christianity - (CAIS)©)

People in countries influenced by Buddhism, such as Thailand and Indonesia, often seem happier than most.

BUT, what if the Zoroastrians have not got it quite right?

The Buddhists believe in some kind of life after death, but they keep a noble silence on the idea of God.

The Taoists refer to some kind of divine force called the Tao, but they say that it cannot be described in words.

It is difficult to imagine an old man in the sky designing this world on his design board.

It is difficult to imagine him designing a world in which one creatures survives by eating another creature.

So, maybe there was no Bible-style creation.

Maybe things have always existed.

Maybe there is a mysterious something which nourishes us.

Maybe we reap what we sow.

Maybe what we are now is due to what we thought in the past.

Maybe what we will become is what we are thinking now.



We quote from: 'a select destiny' (Deep Into Artlife West - blogspot)

"Something we cannot define with science and logic is happening here, a grand design, some not-of-this-world intention we are simply not at the rightful stage of development to comprehend regardless of our effort.

"I believe this makes us a unique product of evolution to remain invincible in the face of pure unadulterated evil where vast and continuing material loss strips us to the lowest category of Earthly life and it has no influence at all, we go on in trust, always looking forward, accepting each test as triathlon athletes determined to pass and not just well, but intact, because in spite of the incessant repeats, it makes the good, the pure, the honest, the natural reverent and holy, gifts from somewhere else reminding us the world we desire really does exist and one day we are destined to reach it."

~~

Reincarnation, the story of a scottish child, Part 2 - YouTube

Reincarnation, the story of a scottish child, Part 3 - YouTube

Reincarnation, the story of a scottish child, Part 4 - YouTube

Reincarnation, the story of a scottish child, Part 5 - YouTube




Old man in the sky?

Anonymous comments:

In both Islam and Judaism, the Creator is neither male nor female, neither begets nor is begotten.

Is not corporeal in the human sense, but rather is the all-encompassing and all-pervading sentience and ultimate creator of things. Any corporeal references are purely metaphorical.

~~

Religions that believe in God?

Anonymous comments:

There are obvious similarities with certain aspects of Buddhism and Vedantic Hinduism.

In particular, Nirvana and Samsara are analogous to Paradise and the unenlightened worlds (this world, various hells).

Also Brahman patently shares the same properties as the One Creator of Judaism, Islam and Christianity: eternal, self-sustaining, transcendent, the Ultimate Reality, the Supreme Consciousness.

Even the concept of karma has analogues in monotheism.

All good eminates from the Creator; evil is what we ourselves create and inflict upon ourselves. As you sow...

Reincarnation is also not so simple.

The scriptures of the monotheistic religions mention instances in which prophets are returned to this world subsequent to their exit from it.

The prophet Yeshua is the canonical example.

As for the pains and evil of this world, they are not inflicted for sadistic reasons but as a trial. To separate the wheat from the chaff...

~~

RUSSELL TARG

Russell Targ

Russell Targ is controversial.

According to Targ:

"Heaven and Hell are available for the asking, but no experience can take place in our lives except in our consciousness...

"A master told his student: 'You don’t have to look for God. God is here now.'" -

Russell Targ.

Targ worked for the CIA.

How does a laser physicist working for the CIA find his way to a spiritual awakening? -

On the Consciousness Frontier with Russell Targ.

Targ's work for the CIA involved 'remote viewing' (eg. seeing into the future)

According to the Washington Post of August 7, 1977, top 'Scientologists' were at one time in charge of all Remote Viewing and other related CIA mind control operations at Stanford Research Institute under the auspices of CIA MK-ULTRA.

(See the Washington Post article of August 7, 1977, Psychic Spying? by John L. Wilhelm regarding the connection between the Stanford Research Institute, CIA mind control operations via MK-ULTRA and the Church of Scientology.)

Targ may have given up all links to the CIA and become 'spiritual'?

Views on Targ are mixed. (MK-ULTRA SubProject 130: Personality Theory (ACIM, Unity Church ...)





Esp And Psychic Spies Explained Russell Targ, Phd

LIFE IS A MYSTERY

Ian Stevenson (Wikipedia) who studied reincarnation

Life is a mystery.

"Several years ago, when my daughter was just over three years old, my husband and I were watching a TV show about 9/11...

"My daughter, who was coloring nearby, looked up when the screen showed a plane hitting one of the World Trade Center buildings.

"She said to us, 'I died there.'

"Then she just went back to coloring like she hadn't said a word.

"We had never talked to her about the concept of death, and had never discussed 9/11 with her.

"Since then she has not said anything else about it, but now if something comes on TV about 9/11, she says, 'I don't want to watch this.'" (I Died on 9/11)



Is it possible to explain the existence of evil?

In Taoism, the idea is that if an object has a 'front' it must also have a 'back'.

In a created world there are opposites, yin and yang, which are actually part of a whole.

Waves cannot exist without troughs.

In order for 'compassion' to exist, there must be 'suffering'.

In Taoism, yin and yang (+1 -1) arise together from an initial peacefulness or emptiness (0), and continue in existence until peacefulness is reached again.

Imagine a stone thrown onto peaceful water, creating temporary waves and troughs.

Buddhists believe that you cannot have 'nirvana' without its opposite 'samsara'.

'Samasara' is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

'Nirvana' is a blissful state where one has ceased to exist as an individual, and where one is free from delusion and suffering.

Budhists do not believe in the 'old man in the sky' type of God.

Buddhists believe that we are responsible for what happens, be it 'good' or 'evil'.

Buddhists concentrate on learning ways to end suffering, escape from samsara and enter nirvana.

For some Hindus, human souls have always existed and were thus not created by God at some time in history.

Human souls are responsible for their 'level of enlightenment'.