Mr. MEOWGI said 'death is an illusion' I know what an illusion is and I don't understand that statement. So if he or someone else understands or has a viewpoint let it fly... I believe there is a resurrection, a judgment and a literal place of eternal existance.
Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face Do You Realize - we're floating in space - Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know You realize that life goes fast It's hard to make the good things last You realize the sun doesn't go down It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
Awesome. (you inspired me so here goes) And if God isn't dead And He's not in my head And passion wore thorns And love was adorned On crosses and tombs And heaven made room For those who believe And Jesus received Children who trusted While old men lusted And illusion grew sober And hell ran over And the Son was dead And turned around and said I am the way and truth Follow me.
Cut and paste work version: A wave in the sea, seen in one way, seems to have a distinct identity, an end and a beginning, a birth and a death. Seen in another way, the wave itself doesn't really exist but is just the behavior of water, "empty" of any separate identity but "full" of water. So when you really think about the wave, you come to realize that it is something that has been made temporarily possible by wind and water, and is dependent on a set of constantly changing circumstances. You also realize that every wave is related to every other wave." -Sogyal Rinpoche Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh, June 4th, 2002 (This talk uses Christian language too because he spoke before a mixed group) By reading this youll get a good idea of the Buddhist faith concerning life and death. The teaching of the Buddha is that life is available only in the here and now. If you are not capable of dwelling in the here and now you cannot be in touch with all the wonders of life that are available inside of you and around you. According to that teaching, the Pure Land, Nirvana, the Kingdom of God, is available in the here and the now. Because we keep running, that is why we are not in the position to get in touch with the Kingdom of God, the Pure Land of the Buddha, the foundation of our true being, Nirvana. That is why it is very important to learn how to stop, to establish ourselves in the present moment, in the here and the now, in order for touching life to become possible. When someone has arrived, when someone is home, you can see it. She is no longer in a hurry. She moves around very peacefully. She is a happy person. She is no longer running after something. That is why I have said that from time to time we should ask ourselves the question, "Have I arrived? Am I home?" That helps us to practice arriving and feeling at home. In the tradition based on the teaching and the practice of the Lotus Sutra, people speak of two dimensions the ultimate dimension and the historical dimension. The first dimension is called the historical dimension. [The second] is the ultimate dimension. Everything has the two dimensions. When you look at a wave on the surface of the ocean, you can see the form of the wave. We look at the wave in space and time. The historical dimension has to do with space and time. Space and time are not two separate entities. Space is made of time, and time is made of space. The word "historical" means time, and time includes space. The wave seems to have a beginning and an end. It is situated in time. That is why a wave should have a beginning and an end, a birth and death. The wave can be high or low. The wave can be this way or the other way. Many notions can be ascribed to the wave, like the notion of birth and dying, the notion of high and low, the notion of beginning and ending, the notion of coming and going, the notion of being and non-being. Being a wave you are subject to these notions because we are looking from the historical dimension. We see that being a wave you are subject to being and nonbeing. You are there but later on you will not be there. You are subject to have a beginning and to have an end. You have come from somewhere and you will go somewhere. That is the historical dimension. All of us belong to the historical dimension. Even when we speak of the Buddha Shakyamuni, or we speak of Jesus, we see that all of them have that historical dimension. Jesus was born in Bethlehem and he was crucified. The Buddha was born in Lumbini and he died in Kushinigara and it all belonged to the historical dimension. But they also have their ultimate dimension, like the wave. The wave, although it is a wave, is at the same time water. The wave doesnt have to die to become water. She is water right in the present moment, so the ultimate dimension of the wave can be touched. When speaking of water, you dont speak in terms of being and nonbeing, coming and going. You are talking about the wave. That is why we need these notionsthe wave being there, and no longer being there. The wave has come from somewhere, and the wave has gone somewhere. The wave has a beginning, and the wave has an end. The wave can be high, low, more, or less beautiful than other waves. The wave can be this or that. The wave can have birth and death. But the wave possesses within herself the ultimate dimension: water. When she recognizes that she is water, she loses all her fear and she gets away from all these notions. Then you are able to touch your nature of no birth, no death, no coming, no going. You are no longer afraid of death. Our practice is like the practice of the wave. While living the life of a wave, we try to realize that we are also water and we should be able to live the life of water. That is the essence of the practice, because if we know our true nature of no coming, no going, no being, no nonbeing, no birth, no death, then we can dwell in the ultimate dimension, the Kingdom of God. Nirvana becomes available in the here and now. You dont need to die to touch Nirvana. Its like the wave. The wave does not have to die down in order to become water. She is water right now. We are dwelling in our true nature. We are dwelling all the time in Nirvana. That is a realization that the wave is the water. Our true nature is the nature of no beginning, no end, no coming, no going, no birth and no death. When we speak of Jesus Christ, we speak of him as the son of man and the Son of God. The son of man is his historical dimension. The Son of God is his ultimate dimension. We all are like the Buddha. We are all like Jesus. We have our historical dimension, but we also have our ultimate dimension. Practicing deeply enough, we touch our ultimate dimension and we all lose our fear. The Lotus Sutra reveals to us that path of practice also. In the ultimate dimension, we are already the water. The wave is already the water. In the ultimate dimension, we are already our true nature, the nature of no birth, no death. We are already Buddhas. In the historical dimension it seems there are things that we have to do. "I still have many things to do before I die." We speak like that because we are dwelling in the historical dimension. When I was in Holland last year a journalist came and asked, "Thay you are now over 70. What do you want to do before you die?" I didnt know how to answer her because she didnt have that background of practice and teaching. Really I dont feel that there is anything I have to do before I die because I dont see that I will die. I enjoy everything I do since I began the practice. I really didnt see that there is anything I have to do before I die. The things I want to do I have always been doing. In the context of ultimate dimension you cannot answer that question. How do you communicate that to her, a journalist who has not studied and practiced meditation? The best you can do is to smile, to look at her and smile. In the historical dimension it seems there are things that you have to do, but in the ultimate dimension there is nothing to do. Non-action becomes understandable. I wrote when I was thirty: "The work of building will take ten thousands of lifetimes. But dear one, look! That work has been achieved ten thousand lives ago." [Vietnamese words] The work is the work of many lifetimes, but if you look deeply, that work has been achieved a thousand lifetimes ago. That is speaking in terms of the ultimate dimension. There is nothing for you to do. Enjoy! You are already in Nirvana. You are already a Buddha. The wave does not have to sit to become water. She is water right here and right now. What is essential is that she realize she is water. She doesnt have to go anywhere, to look for anything. That is the dimension of non-action. You dont have to do anything. You are already what you want to become. A wave is willing to become water. She doesnt have to become water. She is water right now. Do you need to become a Buddha? Do you need to run after Nirvana, complete enlightenment? In the ultimate dimension you dont have to do anything. In the historical dimension, yes, it seems that there are things that you have to dobuilding a sangha, establishing a practice center, organizing a retreat. Theres a lot of things to do. But if you realize that you are in that ultimate dimension, you do these things very relaxingly and joyfully, with no worries at all. You are acting very deeply but you act as if you dont act. You are very active, but everything you do comes from pure joy, pure achievement. That is what it means to be acting the non-acting action. You do everything, but you seem to be not doing anything at all. You are so relaxed. You enjoy every moment because you are acting out of non-action, from a base of non-action. You are not rushing. You are not running. I think many of us have some experience of this. Practice the practice of non-practice. There are those of us who practice with a lot of forms. We make people around us irritated because of our practice. We burn incense. We produce a lot of smoke. When we walk, we really practice. We become very irritating because we dont know the practice of non-practice. There are those of us who practice but no one knows that we are practicing. We just live our lives very joyfully, very beautifully. What did you look like before you were conceived?
Then stop using the word illusion and use the word transition. Also consider this- Waves are created by winds and earth's movements, they are revealed by power and depth, they are governed by physics and they follow absolute laws. Waves make no choices and listen to no voices, they do not decide and they cannot abide, they are non-moral and never creative, no guilt or no blame they don't need a name and last but not least- We only see their effect on the water- they are not water. Jesus said it this way- You see the wind blow and you hear its sound but you do not know where it came from or where it goes. I don't think you have answered the question. I'll take that as a - I don't know.
When I die, I'll go before Krom's throne, and he will ask me The Riddle of Steel.....and if I don't know it, he'll cast me out of Vahalla Krom can kick Odin's A$$ BTW
You better practice... Here is The Riddle of Steel: Two warriors met in battle One was good and the other evil One died and the other alive One bled the other lied One returns and one fled One King and one god One and only one can be The answer if you see.
