Ask a Bodhisattva Anything

Originally posted by Astyanax
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.

If they did that to someone why would they be bothered about Buddhism? Because that's about as far away from being Buddhist as you can get. They sound more like Mara's troops than people who practise Buddhist teachings.

Originally posted by Astyanax
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.

As you wish my friend. Be safe on your journey.

Originally posted by IAMIAM

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

I am doing my work as you speak. I am trying, hopefully not in vain, to clear up the confusion that this thread may have caused. The "ask a bodhisattva anything" business, needed to be put down before people sought answers from someone who was confused. The blind leading the blind is never good. I don't need to be anything by the way.

Originally posted by vedatruth

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.

You haven't answered the question my friend. How?

With Love,

Your Brother

So the OP made a proclaimation, isn't that what the negative are doing as well, proclaiming their negative thoughts? A light can be overshadowed but once the light is out there is no shadow. One cannot exist without the other, this is the way it is. Do whatever you need to do to get past your negative comments, for it is only you that is held up by them.

Feels Good

Peace to all

Originally posted by Astyanax
The OP is not at all enlightened; he has merely allowed his desire to run away with his belief, just like any other Western consumer.

And why lecture someone about offending Buddhists when you're basically just offending every Buddhist in the west there in one sentence? Many who've trained for years under respected Buddhists from the east and been accepted by them?

Not wanting to offend you, but some of what you're saying there is definitely off.

Bodhisattva:
Would you take me by the hand?
Would you take me by the hand?
Can you show me The shine of your Japan?
The sparkle of your china?
Can you show me?

reply to post by robhines

If they did that to someone why would they be bothered about Buddhism?

You would have to ask them; in doing so, you may wish to consider that what is peddled as Buddhism to Westerners is primarily the philosophy of the Buddha, together with some instructions as to life-rules and meditative practice. This is not Buddhism any more than the Nicene Creed and the Ten Commandments are Christianity.

Like all religions, the reality of Buddhism is the daily practice of certain rites, the worship of a deity (though he is called a man) through prostrations, chanting, the offering of flowers, light and other sacrificial goods, the petitioning of gods or bodhisattvas for favours, and all the rest of the mumbo-jumbo. None of this has anything to do with the way of the Buddhist monk who has renounced the world to seek enlightenment; it has everything to do with the practice of Buddhism as a religion by the laity.

Never forget the reality of societies that call themselves Buddhist: Cambodia, with its infamous killing fields, the home of a genocide exceeded in thoroughness only by Hitler’s; Burma, where ethnic strife and tyranny have stalked the land since long before Britain granted it independence in 1947; Laos, Asia’s poorest and most benighted country; Bhutan, where a dominant minority is trying to enforce linguistic hegemony over the rest of the nation by an act of legislative fiat; Thailand, a society in permanent denial that was held precariously together by its monarch but is now falling to pieces because that monarch is dying; Sri Lanka, where a generation-long ethnic war was prosecuted with brutal ferocity by a Buddhist majority against a non-Buddhist minority, and was finally brought to an end in a holocaust in which tens of thousands of innocent non-Buddhist civilians were massacred.

Buddhism is not the benign faith most Westerners imagine it is.

Originally posted by Redeemer
needed to be put down before people sought answers from someone who was confused. The blind leading the blind is never good.

How do you know he is confused? He did not say he was confused, he said he was enlightened. Now you come to save the blind from the blind while proclaiming to be blind.

Originally posted by RedeemerI don't need to be anything by the way.

Yes you do. If you did not need to be anything, you would be nothing. You have free will you know.

The question then becomes what do you want to be, then be it.

With Love,

Your Brother

Originally posted by Buddha1098


I answer how I know I'm Liberated earlier in the thread. I also no longer call myself enlightened after an actual Buddhist scholar corrected me.

I think you need to change the title of this thread. You are misleading people.

Its strange. You really have tapped into something. I have been visiting this site for years. Many people come on here making ridiculous / self delusionary claims. Some are aliens, some are christ, some are the anti-christ, spirits, demons, messangers of impending doom, werewolves, vampires, saviours, the list is endless.
Everytime the community turn on the claimant. Questioning their credentials. Criticizing the outrageous claims. But by choosing 'Bodhisattva' you really have tapped into a different angle. I guess it shows how desperate people have become that they believe this fantasy you have created for yourself.

a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment being. You say above that you are no longer enlightened. You need to change the title of the thread and stop misleading people.

i think you should maybe do little research on what enlightenment is. it will clear up the confusion. you could then decide if you want to pursue that kind of life choice.

there is kinda of a 'catch-22' with things like being enlightened or being crazy. hmm, maybe i have cracked this one right there.

(anyway for future reference emotions tend to be based on projections and exaggeration, not on objectivity or wisdom. not very buddha)

if you not interested in facing the truth and changing the title of this thread you could edit your name in here; en.wikipedia.org...

To be honest I can see both sides of this to some extent now. I can see how the original poster saying he's a Bodhisattva and Enlightened is going to wind some people up, but there's no need for some of the abuse and snide comments he's been getting.

Originally posted by IAMIAM

Originally posted by Redeemer
needed to be put down before people sought answers from someone who was confused. The blind leading the blind is never good.

How do you know he is confused? He did not say he was confused, he said he was enlightened. Now you come to save the blind from the blind while proclaiming to be blind.

Originally posted by RedeemerI don't need to be anything by the way.

Yes you do. If you did not need to be anything, you would be nothing. You have free will you know.

The question then becomes what do you want to be, then be it.

With Love,

Your Brother

It is apparent that he was confused because he retracted his statement and left, did he not? Trying to be things just gets you in trouble, nobody said there wasn't free will. I don't want to be anything. I am content with just being and if you don't understand that then I am deeply sorry.

what is your enlightened feelings on the subject of the golden ratio? yeah a bit cryptic but it is a question.

Originally posted by Redeemer
It is apparent that he was confused because he retracted his statement and left, did he not? Trying to be things just gets you in trouble, nobody said there wasn't free will. I don't want to be anything. I am content with just being and don't understand that then I am deeply sorry.

So the crowd picks up stones and shames my Brother into retracting his words and fleeing and you think this is a good thing?

My friend, I would not let such things occur to you if you came forth with personal insight. How else can we get any grasp of understanding if we do not value the views of all?

There is a lesson in even the most arrogant, which the OP certainly did not present himself as.

This is just my view though. I understand yours because I have walked through it. If you would like to share sometime, I am a u2u away.

With Love,

Your Brother

I am ashamed of the tone of your wrong wishers. please reconsider your thread was going so well I would like to express my gratitude for all the enlightened responses you gave I am sincerely humbled. I wish for you & other more "impressionable" souls to never at all be allowed to be discouraged & that we embrace every opportunity for compassionate wisdom & insight to be discussed & shared radiating timeless compassion & auspicious good fortune in as you say all pursuits (all becomes spiritual once enlightened ) so that sentient beings are never unsatisfied with the abundance of heartfelt existence & that we flourish together into unity consciousness instead of descending into destructive misleading delusional nefarious jealous poisoned doubting of our own essential goodness & purity ... we know it is a lot easier than it sounds because the world is still suffering & confused even thousands of years after the buddha taught.. so we should not neglect or allow this auspicious momentum to be undermined any longer!!! Namaste to all seekers & timeless souls.. never allow irreverent semantics to dispel sattvic goodwill , we are united .. so may it be.

reply to post by IAMIAM


iamiam: OP has not answered any of my questions. You can check.

I can ask him real questions about spirituality, if he only cares to reply.

It is not difficult to test.

You may not have the knowledge, but do not assume others do not.

You may be surprised to see wisdom in the most unexpected places.

reply to post by vedatruth


gold turns into beutiful jewellery after facing a great deal of fire.

the same is true of prophets.

nobody takes a prophet seriously for a fairly long time. Look at Jesus.

Buddha was lucky to take birth in Bharat (amcient India). Otherwise people would have killed him.

Originally posted by vedatruth
You may be surprised to see wisdom in the most unexpected places.

Remember my friend, I did not say you were not enlightened, therefore, I expect wisdom from you.

There is wisdom in a stone.

With Love,

Your Brother

I will say this once and if you have the ability to listen then please do so. The Dalai Lama will not even claim himself enlightened. No one should ever make such a claim unless they wish to face what comes with it. An enlightened being does not need to tell you they are enlightened. The sky does not need to tell you that it is the sky. These things just are and will always be. Telling people you are enlightened does not help them, it does not end suffering, it is not of any benefit. Enlightened beings function and do their work without making these claims, just as the earth turns and the stars shine without telling you what they are. Be your own lights and your own guides more than anything. Only you can save your self from your self.

Originally posted by Astyanax
Buddhism is not the benign faith Westerners think it is.

But it's not what you described either. I don't pretend I know exactly what it is but I've meditated a decent bit over a decade now and read quite a few sutras and tried to apply what they're saying. (I like meditating though and aren't trying to be Buddhist, just to clear that up.) I think your main misconception here is that some guys are going around 'peddling' Buddhism to the west. Do you realise how many sutras we have translated into english now? From Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan, Zen, all different types of Buddhism.

There's a lot of teachings to work with and a lot of monks have come over to the west because to them there's no separation between east and west. Just because it started in the east it doesn't mean that it can't be taught to people in the west or that westerners are doing it wrong. And if that really was the case there'd be no point in doing anything because it'd mean that the teachings of the Buddha weren't good enough to teach to half of the planet.

There's a lot of genuine Buddhism being learnt, basically because we have plenty of translations, many that have been done by monks, and teachers.

As a quick example here's a huge part of the Pali Canon : www.accesstoinsight.org...

With respect I just think you've got things a bit backwards and it's not respectful to western Buddhists, because you seem almost completely unaware of how much of Buddhism some of them actually understand. I get that many of them think they know Buddhism and haven't got a clue, but not all of them.