Ask a Bodhisattva Anything

Originally posted by vedatruth
Buddha became what he is not by telling the world about his 'enlightenment' but by solving real people's real problems.

Enlightenment is not like a degree you get in college and then strut to your employers.

People will not believe you. And people have every right not to believe you.So many of so called godmen are out there just to deceive.

The issue is proof. And proof comes only after people have tested you,

My friend, if you do not feel you are enlightened, by what right are you questioning anyone? Doesn't it take one to know one?

With Love,

Your Brother

Originally posted by IAMIAM

Originally posted by Bluesma
If this person was what he says he is
He wouldn't be saying it

If he wasn't the person who came up with that saying, he would not be saying it. He is not that person. He is his own person having a similar experience. Let him walk his path, as you would like to walk yours.

With Love,

Your Brother

Nobody can stop him from walking his path. But when he declares something to the world, we have to test him.

Originally posted by vedatruth
Nobody can stop him from walking his path. But when he declares something to the world, we have to test him.

How does one who is unenlightened test one who is?

With Love,

Your Brother

reply to post by IAMIAM


You are not understanding what is being said. Enlightenment is not something to be grasped or claimed. Most likely if someone is shouting about finding enlightenment, they are confused or deluded and they do not fully understand what they are claiming. You can't find something that isn't missing.

Originally posted by Redeemer
You are not understanding what is being said. Enlightenment is not something to be grasped or claimed. Most likely if someone is shouting about finding enlightenment, they are confused or deluded and they do not fully understand what they are claiming. You can't find something that isn't missing.

You are enlightened then?

If you say no, then how can YOU define it?

I am not asking to belittle your opinion but to enlighten you to my confusion.

With Love,

Your Brother

reply to post by Buddha1098

It didn't occur to me that using the Term Boddhisattva would be offensive to Buddhists because I cannot be offended any more. I appologize if I offended you.

Cheer up. I’m not a Buddhist. Though if you came to my country and walked about claiming to be a bodhisattva, you would probably lose all your teeth, have several limbs broken and have to spend a few days in hospital. And in gaol too, if you persisted in your claims. Where I live, it doesn’t pay to insult Buddhism.

But none of that speaks to my business on this thread. Redeemer has it right; your claims are not only false and absurd, they are dangerous, because there are plenty of people who will take them seriously and be lost or injured as a result. Indeed, it is patent that many already have swallowed your claims, and there is at least one person on the thread who is now clasped with you in an embrace of mutually-reinforcing delusion. You call yourself a bodhisattva, but you are here in the world spreading falsity and error. That is not the work of a bodhisattva; it is that of an asura.

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reply to post by EmeraldGreen

you do wrong! at the Very least OP is humble.

Do you think it is humble to claim, falsely, to be a bodhisattva, to be enlightened, to be privy to insights others do not possess? It seems your concept of humility is badly in need of revising.

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reply to post by Bluesma

If this person was what he says he is
He wouldn't be saying it

Absolutely right!

Originally posted by IAMIAM

Originally posted by Redeemer
You are not understanding what is being said. Enlightenment is not something to be grasped or claimed. Most likely if someone is shouting about finding enlightenment, they are confused or deluded and they do not fully understand what they are claiming. You can't find something that isn't missing.

You are enlightened then?

If you say no, then how can YOU define it?

I am not asking to belittle your opinion but to enlighten you to my confusion.

With Love,

Your Brother

I can't say much on the subject without confusing people. The thing is you can't define it, therefore to claim that you have discovered,understood, realized,or became enlightened is nonsense. This is not an opinion.

Originally posted by Astyanax
Do you think it is humble to claim, falsely, to be a bodhisattva, to be enlightened, to be privy to insights others do not possess? It seems your concept of humility is badly in need of revising.

Are you accusing my Brother of being a liar by claiming to have insights others do not possess?

I could dispute your claim simply by asking his favorite number.

Do YOU not have insights others do not?

With Love,

Your Brother

Originally posted by IAMIAM

Originally posted by Bluesma
If this person was what he says he is
He wouldn't be saying it

If he wasn't the person who came up with that saying, he would not be saying it. He is not that person. He is his own person having a similar experience. Let him walk his path, as you would like to walk yours.

With Love,

Your Brother

I have not issued any command to him
As you have me.

I have not made any effort to repress him from stating what he percieves
As you have me.

I have stated what I percieve
As he has

In doing so, I walk my path
and I shall continue

Originally posted by Redeemer
The thing is you can't define it, therefore to claim that you have discovered,understood, realized,or became enlightened is nonsense. This is not an opinion.

You can't define it my friend. This does not mean that others cannot define it. You can only set limitations on yourself.

With Love,

Your Brother

Originally posted by IAMIAM

Originally posted by Redeemer
The thing is you can't define it, therefore to claim that you have discovered,understood, realized,or became enlightened is nonsense. This is not an opinion.

You can't define it my friend. This does not mean that others cannot define it. You can only set limitations on yourself.

With Love,

Your Brother

If others could define enlightenment, we'd all be better off. Think about that before you belittle everything I've studied.

Originally posted by Redeemer
If others could define enlightenment, we'd all be better off. Think about that before you belittle everything I've studied.

Before you accuse me of belittling everything you have studied, know that I consider you as enlightened as the Buddha, the op, myself, and all others.

Enlightenment to me is the realisation that my view is NOT the only view of this cosmos, and while mine might guide me straight and true, it is in listening to others and seeing through their eyes that I will gain the greatest view of all. All are Buddhas to me.

With Love,

Your Brother

Originally posted by IAMIAM

Originally posted by Redeemer
If others could define enlightenment, we'd all be better off. Think about that before you belittle everything I've studied.

Before you accuse me of belittling everything you have studied, know that I consider you as enlightened as the Buddha, the op, myself, and all others.

Enlightenment to me is the realisation that my view is NOT the only view of this cosmos, and while mine might guide me straight and true, it is in listening to others and seeing through their eyes that I will gain the greatest view of all. All are Buddhas to me.

With Love,

Your Brother

edit on 21-9-2011 by IAMIAM because: (no reason given)

I appreciate your understanding but please know that some of us have a lot of work to do before we are free of our desires and our egos. I am far from being free of these things and when one claims that they are enlightened, people will flock to them and may be filled with false hopes, they may depend on others that do not have the means to help them when they should be their own lights. It is not skillful to do this and can cause more suffering , even if it isn't intentional.

reply to post by Astyanax


Let's be clear with our intentions. Why am I posting? To discuss the Dharma with self-realised beings. Why was buddha posting? Because he is a bodhisattva compelled by profound insight & open hearted sensibility (attributes you evidently lack) to liberate all sentientbeings from their suffering. Why are you posting?

Originally posted by IAMIAM

Originally posted by vedatruth
Nobody can stop him from walking his path. But when he declares something to the world, we have to test him.

How does one who is unenlightened test one who is?

With Love,

Your Brother

And you become 'enlightened' by just claiming you are?

Yes a non-enlightened person can test an enlightened person. This is what happens in the real world.

May be not in a world of drug-addicts.

reply to post by IAMIAM

I am not your brother. You and I share a species and very little else. For this I am profoundly thankful to whatever gods may exist. I do not like you.

Are you accusing my Brother of being a liar by claiming to have insights others do not possess?

Yes.

I could dispute your claim simply by asking his favorite number.

Really? Would it make any difference whether he answered truthfully or not? Would it even matter?

Do YOU not have insights others do not?

That is none of your business, neither is it relevant to the topic under discussion here.

With Love

Save your love for your significant other. It is wasted on me. Cant of any kind almost always is.

I did not come here to argue but rather to stop a series of misunderstandings and confusion before they unfold and cause a domino effect of headaches. The op has left and possibly realized that he was deluded. I am asking politely for a moderator to close or lock this thread if it is their will.

How do you feel about that spiritual fire waiting to claim as many as possible?

reply to post by EmeraldGreen

Let's be clear with our intentions. Why am I posting? To discuss the Dharma with self-realised beings. Why was buddha posting? Because he is a bodhisattva compelled by profound insight & open hearted sensibility (attributes you evidently lack) to liberate all sentientbeings from their suffering. Why are you posting?

Because I have finished my work for the day and have nothing to do until an appointment in the late afternoon.

Originally posted by Redeemer
I appreciate your understanding but please know that some of us have a lot of work to do before we are free of our desires and our egos. I am far from being free of these things and when one claims that they are enlightened, people will flock to them and may be filled with false hopes, they may depend on others that do not have the means to help them when they should be their own lights. It is not skillful to do this and can cause more suffering , even if it isn't intentional.

If you see work that needs to be done my friend, then do it. I am not looking for flaws, I am sharing the experience.

Life is suffering.

Why?

Because we will not listen to each other long enough to solve the problems which bring our own suffering.

Don't be Buddha, be YOU. Then you will be enlightened.

With Love,

Your Brother