XPost: talk.religion.buddhism, alt.zen, alt.philosophy.zen   
   XPost: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy   
   From: kimmerian@fastmail.fm   
      
   oxtail :   
      
   > Your interpretations are reasonable enough in your limited contexts.   
      
        Not according to you.  You tried every which way you could   
   think of to deny the Buddha affirms the existence of "the   
   next world" in the Apannaka Sutta, even though he states "there   
   is actually the next world," calls that proposition "true   
   dhamma," labels it "right speech," etc.  You couldn't have been   
   more wrong.   
      
        Similarly, the Lotus Sutra pictures the Buddha teaching to   
   escape both this world -- which he compares with a burning   
   house -- and rebirth in the next one.  The same theme you tried   
   to remove from the Apannaka Sutta.   
      
   > But, if you don't mind, I would like to look at them in the broader   
   > contexts.   
      
        Your "case by case" approach disappears just as quickly as   
   Tang's serenity.   
      
   > Isn't it the case that life does not have to be full of suffering   
   > regardless of whether there is the next world or not?   
      
        In the Sakalika Sutta the Buddha is said to suffer greatly   
   even after awakening.  And "in the broader contexts" he   
   teaches escape from birth and rebirth:  a judgment against life   
   even if there's just one.   
      
   -- Catawumpus   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)