bc445459
XPost: talk.religion.buddhism, alt.zen, alt.philosophy.zen
XPost: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy
From: daletx@gnusguy.com
Jigme Dorje wrote:
> On Aug 12, 1:18 pm, Julian wrote:
>> On 12/08/2010 17:42, DT wrote:
>>
>>> Well, here's a question for you, or Jigme, or whoever.
>>> If somebody were to ask me for a brief synopsis of the New Testament, or
>>> of Jesus' teachings, I'd tell 'em to read Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the
>>> Mount.
>>> Is there a comparable portion of the Lotus Sutra that might hit all the
>>> high points,
>> No (imo)
>>
>>> or do I need to just start at the beginning and go through
>>> all 28 chapters?
>> You might as well, but you can skip nearly half of each chapter
>> since often the prose is repeated as verse.
>>
>> ps.
>> Nichiren followed the T'ien-t'ai line in emphasising
>> ch. 2 Expedient Means
>> and, particularly, the "jewel"
>> ch.16 The Life Span of the Tathāgata
>
> Expedient means? That's ALL it's about.
>
> I'll save you the trouble of reading it. Here's the Cliff Notes
> version, which I call "Lotus in a Nutshell":
>
> The Buddha admits that everything he's told us up to now has been just
> a pack of lies. Now he's decided to come clean.
>
> But first, he makes a bunch of excuses for all those lies. It seems he
> did it for our own good because we were too childish to understand for
> real, and he just wanted to save our sorry asses.
>
> So the real truth is: I wasn't really a man who became enlightened.
>
> I was an immortal god all along, deserving of your worship. I'm only
> telling you this now because you're so much better than all those
> other uncomprehending dolts.
>
> A beautiful story with a special appeal to triumphalist egotists.
And then every chapter repeats itself all-singing, all dancing?
This is sounding more and more like I'll go read something else...
DT
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
