« Are Buddhism and Taoism akin to Sant Mat? | Main | Religion doesn't add anything to human experience »

October 06, 2010

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Even the idea of 'time' can be shown to be a non-absolute property that is intrinsically dependent upon physical relationships in the universe. For an excellent, rigorous demonstration of this concept, check out Julian Barbour's "The Nature of Time," written for one of FQXi's essay contests (it won first prize):
http://www.fqxi.org/community/essay/winners/2008.1

While much of Buddhist poetry is quite beautiful in its reflections on emptiness, and points to something we need to understand in order to be more skillful in the world, the tendency to tell folks they "are nothing" is misconstruing what the Buddha taught, and in ways that are potentially dangerous. If I am "nothing" then so are you, so there's no basis for concern over what I do to you. The Buddha didn't say there was nobody home at all, he simply denied that the sense of self we have as our default position has any permanent, separate, unchanging essence to it -- he also said that the separate self is the basis of our problems and we can do without it. That isn't the same as saying people "are nothing". Because we are something -- that is changing, interconnected, ephemeral -- morality matters.

'course I realize you were quoting a Sufi master not a Buddhist poet... I know very little about Sufi schools of thought so no comment there. It just reminded me of all the times I've heard "no do-er" poetry coming out of Buddhism.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Your Information

(Name is required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)

Welcome


  • Welcome to the Church of the Churchless. If this is your first visit, click on "About this site--start here" in the Categories section below.
  • HinesSight
    Visit my other weblog, HinesSight, for a broader view of what's happening in the world of your Church unpastor, his wife, and dog.
  • BrianHines.com
    Take a look at my web site, which contains information about a subject of great interest to me: me.
  • Twitter with me
    Join Twitter and follow my tweets about whatever.
  • I Hate Church of the Churchless
    Can't stand this blog? Believe the guy behind it is an idiot? Rant away on our anti-site.