Rational Nation USA

 

Buddha  (Siddhārtha Gautama) insisted he was human and that there is no almighty, benevolent God. He preached that desire was the root cause of suffering and that people should seek to eliminate desire. He was born in present-day Nepal roughly 500 years before  Jesus Christ  (Jesus of Nazareth). Christ was born in Bethlehem in present-day Palestine. He was a Galilean Jewish Rabbi who was regarded as a teacher and healer in Judaea. Christians believe that he was the Messiah promised in the  Old Testament  and that he was the son of God. In fact, the  Christian  concept of  God  is a holy trinity: God (the Father), Christ (the Son) and the holy Spirit. Comparison chart Buddha versus Christ comparison chart Buddha Christ Died c. 483 BCE (aged 80) or 411 and 400 BCE, Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, today in India 33 AD, Jerusalem Born c. 563 BCE, Lumbini, Sakya, Nepal Approx. 07-04 B.C. Islam Islam does not mention the Buddha. In Islam as opposed Chri...

It is believed that the whole universe, in its most fundamental form, is made up of vibrating, pulsating energy. Vibration produces sound and AUM is considered the  humming sound  of this cosmic energy. AUM is said to be the primordial creative sound from which the entire universe has manifested. Without using any jugglery of heavy and fancy spiritual words, I would straightaway like to answer  in simple words – 1. OM is a word while AUM is the sound of this very word OM i.e. Om is an auspicious word which should be pronounced as AUM (AAAUUUMMM )while chanting. AUM in itself is just the sound ,not any word. Further,theoretically speaking  , English Alphabet ‘O’ is spelled as a symmetrical combination (diphthong) of A & U in sanskrit and hence AUM. To feel the   play of vibrations, chant AAAUUUMMM. 2.Regarding mystics about AUM, when you pronounce AAAUUUMMM continuously ,you can very well feel the upward surge of energy as explained in one of my earl...

 

 

  America, the country I was born in and have loved for nearly 70 years is becoming unrecognizable. It is becoming, at an ever accelerating pace, but a shell of its former self. One political party, under the stewardship and direction of  Donald J. trump, continues to move the party deeper and deeper into lies, conspiracy, and ignorance. As a result the country is slowly becoming destabilized and will become ripe for the picking by agressive and violent authoritarians within our own country. The liberties and freedoms this democratic republic allegedly stood for (until now) are slowly and steadily being challenged and even limited in red republican (aka trumpublican) states. As the more extreme elements in the republican (aka trumpublican) party gain confidence their efforts to restrict civil and human freedoms will increase in intensity. America should be ashamed of the post WW II generation. That generation,  known as baby boomers, grew up spoiled to the hilt as well as...

  The three marks of existence are Buddhism’s basic description of reality. These three simple truths, which characterize all things, are surprisingly transformative. They are: Impermanence   (Pali:  annica ): This truth is the foundation of Buddhism. The Buddha said that all compounded phenomena disintegrate. All things are made of parts, and all things fall apart. Another, blunter, way to put it is that everything dies. All of samsara is an attempt to deny this reality. Suffering   ( dukkha ): Every experience is marked by some quality of suffering, whether it’s extreme pain or a background sense of unease. As long as we struggle to maintain a sense of solid self, our lives will be marked by stress and fear. Our struggle will always be unsuccessful because of… Non-Self : ( annata ): There is no solid, separate, single self. We have no core. We are simply the product of multiple causes and conditions. Impermanence describes how things are; non-se...

  Buddhists take refuge in three different expressions of awakened mind: buddha, dharma, and sangha. Each of these is a precious and necessary element of the Buddhist path, and so they are called the three jewels. 1. Buddha: The Teacher This refers, first, to the historical Buddha, the original teacher. He was not a god but a human being like us, and his example shows us that we too can follow the path to enlightenment. More broadly, the buddha principle refers to all teachers and enlightened beings who inspire and guide us. 2. Dharma: The Teachings The Buddhist dharma starts with the fundamental truths that the Buddha himself taught—the four noble truths, the three marks of existence, the eightfold path, etc.—and includes the vast body of Buddhist teachings that have been developed in the 2,600 years since then. It’s worth noting that the Sanskrit word  dharma  also means a thing or object in the conventional sense. In either case, the word denotes a basic law or truth o...

    The Eightfold Path The eightfold path, although referred to as steps on a path, is not meant as a sequential learning process, but as eight aspects of life, all of which are to be integrated in every day life. Thus the environment is created to move closer to the Buddhist path. The eightfold path is at the heart of the middle way, which turns from extremes, and encourages us to seek the simple approach. The eightfold path is Right Understanding, Right Intent, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. No doubt all of you are aware of the moral codes in other religious groups such as Christianity, the Jews, and Muslims. While there is a degree of correspondence across these groups, the interpretation of the code in each philosophy is different. In the example of the Ten Commandments, there is an authoritarian feeling of decree, of a direct order that these be fulfilled. In Buddhism, the eightfold path is meant as ...

  While perusing for basic information on Buddhism we ran across the following article on Basic Buddhism and felt it worth reprinting here today. Buddhism: An Introduction Buddhism is a major global religion with a complex history and system of beliefs. The following is intended only to introduce Buddhism's history and fundamental tenets, and by no means covers the religion exhaustively. To learn more about Buddhism, please look through our  Web Resources  section for other in-depth, online sources of information.   Siddhartha Gautama: The Buddha Historians estimate that the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, lived from 566(?) to 480(?) B.C. The son of an Indian warrior-king, Gautama led an extravagant life through early adulthood, reveling in the privileges of his social caste. But when he bored of the indulgences of royal life, Gautama wandered into the world in search of understanding. After encountering an old man, an ill man, a corpse and an ascetic, Gau...