This reminds of what Gregory Schopen, professor of Buddhist Studies at UCLA and an eminent scholar of early Buddhist history once told me - that the alleged Kapilvastu area during 5th-6th century BC was most possibly a malarial swamp. And it would be hard to imagine it even being a habitable area in the first place.
Who Was the Buddha?
11–20 of 176 posts
Re: Who Was the Buddha?
#12> the modern mindfulness movement, inherited from fairly recent Burmese innovations I had not heard that. I had understood it to have something to do with interest in Zen, which had a revival in the West starting in the mid 1900's. But I admit I don't really know anything about it. Does someone have a reference?
I don't have the answer to your question, but I don't see the connection between mindfulness and Zen to be as direct as you're suggesting. I've been highly influenced by a lot of the mindfulness writing out there, but Zen actively turned me off for a long time, because it's a lot of "deep" paradoxical puzzle/koan things, anecdotes that make no sense, emphasis on "enlightment" etc. Contrast that with a lot of modern d…
Mindfulness is just a tool to train the mind. What you use that for is up to you.
Zen employs mindfulness as well as other tools for spiritual cultivation.
Re: Who Was the Buddha?
#13> the modern mindfulness movement, inherited from fairly recent Burmese innovations I had not heard that. I had understood it to have something to do with interest in Zen, which had a revival in the West starting in the mid 1900's. But I admit I don't really know anything about it. Does someone have a reference?
Zen and Vipassana are the two major Buddhist practices which had revivals in the 20th century and gained popularity in the west. Vipassana was originally popularized amongst westerners by S. N. Goenka[1] who was a Hindi expat in Burma, where he learned the practice. Many of his western students went on to be prominent teachers[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._N._Goenka [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego…
It's interesting to me that the thesis of Suzuki's 'No Mind' is that what marks the beginning of Chan as a separate tradition and lineage is a de-emphasis or some might say rejection of meditation. This distinction was certainly lost in the West and mostly lost in translation to Zen in Japan (a cursory glance at Suzuki's books prior to No Mind suggests this was relatively new information to him).
Re: Who Was the Buddha?
#14The article is correct in that Buddha being a prince is a myth. The Pali canon (Tripitaka) does not assert he lived in a palace, depending on the translation used. It states he was born in bhavana (Sn. 685) which has in the past been translated as palace but it simply means a place. When Buddha talks about his fathers abode he just refers to a house or mansion or family complex, using the word nivasana (A.I 145) whic…
The article is correct in that Buddha being a prince is a myth. The use of the word myth in connection with religion always fascinates me. The entire concept of religion generally depends on myths. recursive use of myth in myth. Generally I have to read these sentences as in my opinion because the 'factual' quality of statements regarding the ur-myths of religion is usually not quantifiable, its all contextually defi…
When I say myth, I mean in the sense that it’s not actually supported by the Tripitaka, which is the first complete written account of Buddha’s teachings by a lineage of his original monastic order (mostly confirmed by historical evidence where it exists) to survive as written to the present day, and considered canonical Buddhist teaching.
It is most definitely quantifiable whether something is or is not written in the Tripitaka. That is why it remains important and historically significant.
Re: Who Was the Buddha?
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting. Reminds me of a similar example with Jesus, commonly thought to be a carpenter, but who was really a tektōn (At least according to the Gospel of Mark) which could be translated as carpenter or stonemason. Most houses in Israel at the time would appear to have been made of stone, and therefore stonemason seems like it’d be a more appropriate translation.
I've always been confused by the English definition of "carpenter". I always thought it was originally something like "woodworker" or a furniture smith, but it appears that most native speakers understood "carpenter" to mean "house builder". I wonder if at some time the same occupation referred to both or if I simply grew up misinformed?
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Re: Who Was the Buddha?
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting. Reminds me of a similar example with Jesus, commonly thought to be a carpenter, but who was really a tektōn (At least according to the Gospel of Mark) which could be translated as carpenter or stonemason. Most houses in Israel at the time would appear to have been made of stone, and therefore stonemason seems like it’d be a more appropriate translation.
I've always been confused by the English definition of "carpenter". I always thought it was originally something like "woodworker" or a furniture smith, but it appears that most native speakers understood "carpenter" to mean "house builder". I wonder if at some time the same occupation referred to both or if I simply grew up misinformed?
Carpentry is the construction of things by joining wood pieces together. Woodworker is more general and would include things like finishing, or carving solid objects out of wood, or any kind of wood work really.
Furniture, frames for houses, and so on, are typically considered carpentry. Etymologically it comes from a Latin word meaning a wagon maker.
In contemporary English, at least in North America, it's mostly used to describe those involved in the construction of things like wooden buildings, particularly the structural components like frames and roofs. But it hasn't completely supplanted the broader sense.
Re: Who Was the Buddha?
#17You.
Re: Who Was the Buddha?
#18> the modern mindfulness movement, inherited from fairly recent Burmese innovations I had not heard that. I had understood it to have something to do with interest in Zen, which had a revival in the West starting in the mid 1900's. But I admit I don't really know anything about it. Does someone have a reference?
Zen and Vipassana are the two major Buddhist practices which had revivals in the 20th century and gained popularity in the west. Vipassana was originally popularized amongst westerners by S. N. Goenka[1] who was a Hindi expat in Burma, where he learned the practice. Many of his western students went on to be prominent teachers[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._N._Goenka [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego…
> S. N. Goenka[1] who was a Hindi expat in Burma
He was born in Mandalay, Burma and grew up there. I wouldn't call him an Indian expat in Burma, more like Burmese-Indian.
Re: Who Was the Buddha?
#19The article is correct in that Buddha being a prince is a myth. The Pali canon (Tripitaka) does not assert he lived in a palace, depending on the translation used. It states he was born in bhavana (Sn. 685) which has in the past been translated as palace but it simply means a place. When Buddha talks about his fathers abode he just refers to a house or mansion or family complex, using the word nivasana (A.I 145) whic…
The article is correct in that Buddha being a prince is a myth. The use of the word myth in connection with religion always fascinates me. The entire concept of religion generally depends on myths. recursive use of myth in myth. Generally I have to read these sentences as in my opinion because the 'factual' quality of statements regarding the ur-myths of religion is usually not quantifiable, its all contextually defi…
It turns out that myths are an incredibly powerful vessel to preserve and transmit information. Especially before we had widespread access to printing presses, books, and libraries
Re: Who Was the Buddha?
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Zen and Vipassana are the two major Buddhist practices which had revivals in the 20th century and gained popularity in the west. Vipassana was originally popularized amongst westerners by S. N. Goenka[1] who was a Hindi expat in Burma, where he learned the practice. Many of his western students went on to be prominent teachers[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._N._Goenka [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego…
> S. N. Goenka[1] who was a Hindi expat in Burma He was born in Mandalay, Burma and grew up there. I wouldn't call him an Indian expat in Burma, more like Burmese-Indian.
Good point.