truth_seeker

hey truth-seeker.. what's the real difference between meditating and praying?

its kinda more formal, prayer that is

Wake up around 6am, think about dreams, etc, go to class at 8:30, leave school at 3:45pm , surf the web, study,meditate, pray, sleep

Giving blood can save lives, so I would say its good

our languages are from dualistic experience, can we such grasp the nature of God?

Mayne its like 2 sides of a coin, like energy and matter, wave and particle

In handreading there are certain lines, called marriage lines, so if you have those , most astrologers would read them this way.

But I dont believe in such things, as we do have karma, we can change it.

There is shurely life everywhere, not only life as we know it, but lifeforms we cant imagine, not depending on the same elements as we do. Also life based on energy etc.

Bodhidharma (also known as Pu Tai Ta Mo in Sanskrit and Daruma Daishi in Japanese) was an Enlightened Buddhist Master who is credited with reviving Buddhism in China and founding martial arts.

Bodhidharma began his life as a royal prince in Southern India in the Sardilli family in 482 A.D. In the midst of his education and training to continue in his father's footsteps as king, Bodhidharma encountered the Buddha's teachings. He immediately saw the truth in Lord Buddha's words and decided to give up his esteemed position and inheritance to study with the famous Buddhist teacher Prajnatara. Bodhidharma rapidly progressed in his Buddhist studies, and in time, Prajnatara sent Bodhidharma to China, where Buddhism had begun to die out, to introduce the Sarvastivada sect Buddhist teachings to the Chinese. Bodhidharma arrived in China after a brutal trek over Tibet's Himalayan Mountains surviving both the extreme elements and treacherous bandits.

Upon arrival in China, the Emperor Wu Ti, a devout Buddhist himself, requested an audience with Bodhidharma. During their initial meeting, Wu Ti asked Bodhidharma what merit he had achieved for all of his good deeds. Bodhidharma informed him that he had accrued none whatsoever. Bodhidharma was subsequently unable to convince Wu Ti of the value of the teachings he had brought from India. Bodhidharma then set out for Loyang, crossed the Tse River on a leaf, and climbed Bear's Ear Mountain in the Sung Mountain range where the Shaolin Temple was located. He meditated there in a small cave for nine years.

Bodhidharma, in true Mahayana spirit, was moved to pity when he saw the terrible physical condition of the monks of the Shaolin Temple. The monks had practiced long-term meditation retreats, which made them spiritually strong but physically weak. He also noted that this meditation method caused sleepiness among the monks. Likening them to the young Shakyamuni, who almost died from practicing asceticism, he informed the monks that he would teach their bodies and their minds the Buddha's dharma through a two-part program of meditation and physical training.

Bodhidharma created an exercise program for the monks which involved physical techniques that were efficient, strengthened the body, and eventually, could be used practically in self-defense. When Bodhidharma instituted these practices, his primary concern was to make the monks physically strong enough to withstand both their isolated lifestyle and the deceptively demanding training that meditation requires. It turned out that the techniques served a dual purpose as a very efficient fighting system, which evolved into a marital arts style called Gung Fu. Martial arts training helped the monks to defend themselves against invading warlords and bandits. Bodhidharma taught that martial arts should be used for self-defense, and never to hurt or injure needlessly. In fact, it is one of the oldest Shaolin axioms that "one who engages in combat has already lost the battle."

Bodhidharma, a member of the Indian Kshatriya warrior class and a master of staff fighting, developed a system of 18 dynamic tension exercises. These movements found their way into print in 550 A.D. as the Yi Gin Ching, or Changing Muscle/Tendon Classic. We know this system today as the Lohan (Priest-Scholar) 18 Hand Movements, the basis of Chinese Temple Boxing and the Shaolin Arts.

Some historians dispute the date, but legend states that Bodhidharma settled in the Shaolin Temple of Songshan in Hunan Province in 526 A.D. We do know the first Shaolin Temple of Songshan was built in 377 A.D. for Pan Jaco, "The First Buddha", by the order of Emperor Wei on the Shao Shik Peak of Sonn Mountain in Teng Fon Hsien, Hunan Province. The Temple was for religious training and meditation only. Martial arts training did not begin until the arrival of Bodhidharma in 526 A.D. Bodhidharma died in 539 A.D. at the Shaolin Temple at age 57.

Bodhidharma was an extraordinary being who remains an example and an inspiration to practitioners today. He is the source of many miraculous stories of ferocity and dedication to the Way. One such legend states that Bodhidharma became frustrated once while meditating because he had fallen asleep. He was so upset that he cut off his eyelids to prevent this interruption in meditation from ever happening again. Yet another legend states that Bodhidharma meditated for so long that his arms and legs eventually fell off. This is a reminder of the true dedication and devotion necessary in meditation practice. The Bodhidharma doll was developed as a symbol of this dedication. In Japan and other parts of the world, when someone has a task they wish to complete, they purchase a red Bodhidharma doll that comes without pupils painted on the eyes. At the outset of the task one pupil is colored in, and upon completion, the other pupil is painted. The dolls and the evolution of martial arts and meditation, are a continuous reminder of Bodhidharma's impact on Buddhism and martial arts

Christanity has no base for violence, islam does. Mohammad led wars, and so did the sahabas ( his companions) . Jesus did not. Nor did his apostles. Jesus did not stone the adulteress, mohammad did. Christianity was seriously abused, the priests used the ignorance of the common people to get money and land and kept them stupid, the bible was not available in the peoples languages , only in latin, also mass was in this language only.

As for me , I would not attend some women only camp and the price is a bit high for 4 nights

US $260 before August 13

US $280 after August 13

This is from http://www.sarbloh.info/htmls/sikh_nirmala.html

It is said that once Akali Nihang Guru Gobind Singh Ji asked his court Pundit Ragunath to teach his Sikhs Sanskrit, but, the Brahmin refused saying he could not teach the Sikhs Sanskrit. His reason was that Sanskrit was the sacred Sanatan Hindu language of the Hindu demigods, and because there were amongst the Sikhs individuals belonging to low castes, he could not teach them.

This reaction prompted the Guru to send the above-mentioned Sikhs in guise of Sadhus to Banares. There, they learned all manner of ancient Indian Sanskrit knowledge. When they came back they founded the Nirmala order of Sikhs with the blessings of the Guru.

The real problem is that muslims rarely openly admit, that some of their brethren do wrong, like I was told how the CIA did 9-11 or the berg video is a fake. But then you get also those who are actually in favor of such things. Islam got some serious proplems.

Found this really interesting:

Everyone is familiar with the Shema, the Jewish Pledge of Allegiance: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deut. 6:4).

"Oneness" is crucial to a proper understanding of God. In fact, Maimonides writes that the highest level of wisdom a human being can attain is to comprehend the oneness of God.

Why is "God's oneness" so central to our belief? Why do we declare the Shema twice each day and aspire to say these as the last words before we die? Does it really matter whether God is one and not three?

ATTACHMENT VS. AUTONOMY

Before the creation of the world, only God existed. There was no separate entity in any form.

Even after creation, everything in the world remained part of God.

The only difference is that through the miracle of creation, God gave each human being free will. With this, we have the unique ability to think for ourselves and to act upon those thoughts. It's as if from within God, we maintain a certain autonomy.

Through the miracle of creation, God gave each human being free will, a certain autonomy.

Yet we're still part of God. Because that's all there is.

So what was the purpose of making us a separate entity from God?

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (18th century Italy) explains in his famous book "Path of the Just": The purpose of creation is to earn pleasure. The ultimate pleasure is attachment to God. Where is this pleasure most manifest? In the eternal World of Souls, where we have absolute clarity of God's unity, and recognize that we are totally attached to Him, as we always have been.

The autonomy of this world -- free will -- can mislead a person into thinking there is something else outside of God. Therefore it is a constant, lifelong challenge to overcome this illusion -- and see that the only existence is God. That God is one.

EVIL IS NOT INDEPENDENT

Constant Mitzvah #2 -- "Don't believe in other gods" -- spoke about the Yetzer Hara, our self-destructive inclination to move away from God. We said that it is a mistake to follow the Yetzer Hara, because it is an illusion, a temporal gratification that is ultimately dissatisfying.

This mitzvah of "God is one" goes much further. If the Yetzer Hara exists, it must also be part of God. And if it's part of God, it is by definition good. Which begs the obvious question: How can the Yetzer Hara be good?

Think of an athlete, a world-class high-jumper. When the coach raises the bar, is he trying to make life difficult -- or is he drawing out the athlete's potential? Of course the coach wants the athlete to succeed! And if he's a good coach, he knows the right time and amount to raise the bar. Of course, the athlete might fail to clear that height. But the coach knows that with enough concentration and effort, the athlete will succeed.

The coach knows that with enough concentration and effort, the athlete will succeed.

Since the purpose of creation is to earn eternal pleasure, the purpose of the Yetzer Hara must be to enable us to earn additional pleasure. So although the Yetzer Hara seems to be pulling us away from God, it actually provides opportunities to grow closer. Evil gives you another struggle for truth -- so you can take pleasure in that discovery.

Without "challenge," there is no appreciation in doing the right thing. Instead, you're just doing what you'd naturally do anyway. All the challenges, all the nuisances, are only designed to bring out the best in you -- not hinder you.

It is an axiom of Jewish thought that God never gives you a challenge which is too difficult.

Learn to read life's messages properly. When your Yetzer Hara comes and tells you to sin, he's really saying, "Here's a challenge. Let's see you overcome this one!"

GOOD AND EVIL ARE THE SAME DIRECTION

We misunderstand evil because we take it seriously. We think it's an independent voice. But that's an illusion.

For example, what if you say, "I'd really like to learn Torah today, but I have a headache which prevents me from learning."

This is a misunderstanding of "God is one." Is the headache a nuisance that blew in from Mars? Of course not! This headache was especially designed to bring you closer to God -- no less than prayer, charity, or any other mitzvah opportunity.

So why a headache? There are many different aspects to spiritual growth, and there's a certain lesson that a headache is coming to teach you. Part of your job is to figure out what that lesson is.

Everything in life is part of the same system, stemming from the same source, with the same purpose. Obviously, there are different pieces to the puzzle, different spiritual muscles which need to be flexed and exercised. But "bad" and "good?" It all has the same goal.

In the times of the Temple, a person who emerged from a difficult situation -- e.g. someone who was sick and then got better -- would bring a "Thanksgiving Offering." We could understand thanking God for getting better, but God is also the one who made us sick in the first place!

For that we are thankful, too. As difficult as it may seem at the time, the sicknesses and ordeals was somehow what this person needed in the overall scheme of life. Because of that ordeal, he is now a stronger person, a wiser person, a more compassionate person.

Because of that ordeal, he is now a stronger person, a wiser person, a more compassionate person.

We humans tend to look for the easy route, happy to find an excuse to "give up." A headache makes it harder to concentrate -- so we think that gives us an excuse to stop. But really, since it's all part of "God is One," it's an opportunity to take on a new challenge.

This applies as well to setting goals in life. Of course we need to set milestones in order to make meaningful progress. But we mustn't set these plans in stone. They should be flexible enough to accommodate new challenges. That's God's way of steering and guiding us. He may "change the weather" to make sure we're heading in the right direction. But if plans are so clearly defined that they can't accommodate changes, that's a lack of belief in "God is one."

We must constantly battle the illusion that the forces of good and bad are fighting each other. In reality, every occurrence in life is all pointing in the same direction. "Bad" is a challenge which brings us closer to God -- by giving us the chance to make the right choice and earn that closeness.

OTHERS ARE ALSO OUR RESPONSIBILITY

The Talmud asks: "Why was Adam was created alone? So that every person should say, 'The whole world was created just for me.'"

Isn't that a bit egocentric?

On the contrary. It is a recognition that everything in the world -- including the needs of every other human being -- was created for you. If someone needs help, it is part of your challenge. Everything on earth, including all the problems, as well as the beauty, offers new opportunity. All of it was tailor-made by God.

Every experience you encounter is something that you need to learn from, at the time you need it most. Look around at absolutely everything and ask, "What is this saying to me? Why was this sent as part of my road to perfection?"

If God is giving you many responsibilities at the same time, then you have to figure out which one He wants you to choose. What's the proper balance? The dilemma itself was sent by God, in order to help you grow. It's not the result of some opposing force that's getting in your way. It's not that there are different aspects of life and we have to learn to compromise one for another: "I would have liked to, but..." There is no such thing. You're given the whole array of possibilities, and based on your capabilities, there is one clear answer for you.

The key is to be objectively honest with yourself, and not choose physical or emotional comfort over facing the challenge.

Here's an example. We say: "I know I ought to learn Torah and help others, but if I do, I won't be able to earn a living." Are you saying there are different forces? Let's put it all into the equation: God has given you the responsibility of supporting a family; God has given you the responsibility of helping repair the world; God has given you the responsibility of getting to know Him through His Torah.

Now how do you manage all that? What does God want you to choose? And in what proportion and when? Those are your questions.

We say the Shema twice each day to review the concept of "God is one." That's because we have to live with this reality 24 hours a day -- and fight the constant temptation to say: "I'd like to learn, but I'm tired. I'd like to do this mitzvah, but I'm not feeling well."

"God is one" demands that we put everything, including the headache, into the equation, and work out the right approach. We don't lead dual lives, one for ourselves and one that's religious. It's all one.

EVEN DEATH CAN BRING YOU CLOSE TO GOD

The Talmud tells the amazing story of Rebbe Akiva. Almost 2,000 years ago, the Romans tried to obliterate Judaism and made the study of Torah illegal. Rebbe Akiva could not bear the idea of abandoning Torah, so he gathered together his disciples and taught them Torah.

The Romans arrested Rebbe Akiva and executed him by brutally tearing the skin off his body with iron forks. As he was being tortured, Rebbe Akiva joyously recited the Shema -- "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One."

His bewildered students asked, "Rebbe, how can you praise God amidst such torture?"

Rebbe Akiva replied: "All my life I believed that a person has to give 100 percent to God. Now that I have the opportunity, I joyously perform it!"

Didn't Rebbe Akiva want to live? Certainly "dying" is not the goal of life! We seek to become closer to God -- and once you're gone, you can't achieve any more. It would seem that death is one aspect of life that moves us in the opposite direction. Everything else can be seen as a challenge, an opportunity, a way of getting closer to God. Except death. Death stops the growth process. You've only reached the level you've attained during your lifetime -- and that's it for eternity.

So if there's one thing a person should not want, it's death. That's why Rebbe Akiva's students were puzzled. They asked, "Rebbe, we understand the power of dying in sanctification of God's Name. But where does the joy come from? There's nothing left of you to grow!"

There's no question that Rebbe Akiva wanted to live, and that he appreciated life more than we ever will. Yet Rebbe Akiva was teaching his students that even though it seems death goes against the whole growth process, sacrificing even the growth process for God is in itself the highest level of growth! Are you willing to give up all those opportunities to come close to God simply because that's His will? This gets you as close as you can get. You're actually moving at hyperspeed in the right direction.

Sacrificing even the growth process for God is in itself the highest level of growth.

When something stops us from learning or growing comfortably, we are tempted to view it as emanating from another source. But Rebbe Akiva taught us a key lesson in "God is one." Regardless of circumstances -- even if it makes it more difficult to learn, to grow, and to be aware -- it is still an opportunity, another step in coming closer to God.

Of course, a headache is different than dying. But philosophically, it's the same concept.

WITH GOD IS ONE, THERE'S NOTHING TO FEAR

In the afternoon service on Shabbat, we say, "You are one, and Your Name is one, and who is like Your people Israel." This prayer speaks about the End of Days, when the Jewish people will be united, working in harmony for one goal, and when all humanity will recognize that everything comes from God.

In daily life, we're often torn because one day we're moving in one direction, and the next day another. But how about when we see the singular purpose to everything? The prayer tells us the result of this exalted state is Menuchat Shalom -- total tranquility. Peace of mind.

We get caught off-guard with different challenges than we expected. That's when we start picking up the wrong messages. But if you know the truth, you won't fear any surprises. If you know that whatever "gets in your way" is all part of God's plan, then actually nothing can get in your way.

This outlook brings a deep sense of security. If you know that everything God sends is for your good, then there is nothing to fear.

King Solomon says there's only one thing to fear: Forgetting the oneness of God.

The Shabbat prayer also speaks about Menuchat Emet V'emunah -- true peace and security. On Shabbat, we step back from our daily efforts to shape the world -- and instead let things flow in their natural order. That is when we most intensely perceive that God created the world and there is one purpose to everything.

The clarity of "God is one" gives us this peace of mind seven days a week. Of course, we still have to struggle to figure out what's right, and then we have to find the strength to stand up for that. But at least we don't feel like we're fighting against some outside force. Your goals can never get derailed because "things didn't work out." There's simply no such thing. Difficulties are merely a new challenge in your journey toward perfection.

The only possible setback is self-imposed -- by not focusing on how the challenges are sent by God to guide us.

So why is "God is one" so important? Because in reality, there is nothing else. God is everything.

http://www.aish.com/spirituality/foundatio..._God_Is_One.asp

there is a difference between people who can tell you about yourself and those who see the future. Time is relative , so its not impossible to notice events that currently take form, but that does not mean it has to happen 100%

For me, I would not work in a liquor shop or a tabacco shop, or a meat shop, but if those items are not the main source of income in the shop, like in a supermarket, and I only handle them packed, no problem

Revelations are like russian dolls, with many layers. But science is system of belief too, they make models and hope to describe reality. If the bible says earth is the center, well for us it is, dont we say the sun is rising, yet its the earth that turns. Also we as spiritual beings influence the universe, which is seen in quatum physics, the observer changes the outcome of an experiment. Conciosness is the center of the multiverse in a way.

Essay

The Hindu devotees of Imam Hussain

A case of cross-veneration

by Yoginder Sikand

One of the most important events in early Muslim history was the battle of Karbala fought in 680 CE in which Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet through his daughter Fat-ima and her husband Imam Ali, was slaughtered along with a small band of disciples in a bloody battle against Yazid, a tyrant who had usurped the Muslim caliphate. The slaughter of Ali is one of the pivotal events that led to a divide between the ‘mainstream’ Sunni and Shi’ite communities, with the latter ascrib-ing special importance to the family of Ali. This event occurred in the Islamic month of Muharram, and it is for this reason that this month is observed with great solemnity in many parts of the Muslim world.

What is particularly striking about the observances of the month of Muharram in India is the prom-inent participation of Hindus in the rituals. This has been a feature of popular religion for centuries in large parts of India, and continues even today, albeit on a smaller scale. In towns and villages all over the country, Hindus join Muslims in lamenting the death of Hussain, by sponsoring or taking part in lamen-tation rituals and tazia processions. In Lucknow, seat of the Shia na-wabs of Awadh, prominent Hindu noblemen like Raja Tikait Rai and Raja Bilas Rai built Imambaras to house alams, standards represent-ing the Karbala event. The non-Muslim tribal Lambadi community in Andhra Pradesh have their own genre of Muharram lamentation songs in Telugu. Among certain Hindu castes in Rajasthan, the Karbala battle is recounted by staging plays in which the death of Imam Hussain is enacted, after which the women of the village come out in a procession, crying and cursing Yazid for his cruelty. This custom is known as pitna dalna. In large parts of north India, Hindus believe that if barren women slip under an alam moving in a procession they will be blessed with a child.

Perhaps the most intriguing case of Hindu veneration of Imam Hus-sain is to be found among the small Hussaini Brahmin sect, located mostly in Punjab, also known as Dutts or Mohiyals. Unlike other Brahmin clans, the Hussaini Brah-mins have had a long martial trad-ition, which they trace back to the event of Karbala. They believe that an ancestor named Rahab traveled all the way from Punjab to Arabia and there developed close relations with Imam Hussain. In the battle of Karbala, Rahab fought in the army of the Imam against Yazid. His sons, too, joined him, and most of them were killed. The Imam, seeing Rahab’s love for him, bestowed upon him the title of sultan or king, and told him to go back to India. It is because of this close bond between their ancestor Rahab and Imam Hussain that the Hussaini Brah-mins got their name.

After Rahab and those of his sons who survived the battle of Karbala reached India, they settled down in the western Punjab and gradually a community grew aro-und them. This sect, the Hussaini Brahmins, practised an intriguing blend of Islamic and Hindu prac-tices, because of which they were commonly known as ‘half Hindu, half Muslim’. A popular saying about the Hussainis has it thus:

Wah Dutt Sultan,

Hindu ka dharm

Musalman ka iman,

Adha Hindu adha Musalman

(Oh! Dutt the king

With the religion of the Hindu

And the faith of the Muslim

Half Hindu, half Muslim)

Dutt = Hussaini Brahmin

But there is also another version of how the Dutts of Punjab came to be known as Hussaini Brahmins. One of the wives of Imam Hussain, the Persian princess Shahr Banu, was the sister of Chandra Lekha or Mehr Banu, the wife of an Indian king called Chandragupta. When it became clear that Yazid was adamant on wiping out the Imam, the Imam’s son Ali ibn Hussain rushed off a letter to Chandragupta asking him for help against Yazid. When Chandragupta received the letter, he dispatched a large army to Iraq to assist the Imam. By the time they arrived, however, the Imam had been slain. In the town of Kufa, in present-day Iraq, they met with one Mukhtar Saqaffi, a disciple of the Imam, who arranged for them to stay in a special part of the town, which even today is known by the name of Dair-i-Hindiya or ‘the Indian quarter’.

Some Dutt Brahmins, under the leadership of one Bhurya Dutt, got together with Mukhtar Saqaffi to avenge the death of the Imam. They stayed behind in Kufa, while the rest returned to India. Here they built up a community of their own, calling themselves Hussaini Brahmins, and although they did not convert to Islam they kept alive the memory of their links with Imam Hussain.

The Hussaini Brahmins believe that Krishna had foretold the event of the Imam’s death at Karbala in the Gita. According to them, the Kalanki Purana, the last of eighteen Puranas, as well as the Atharva Veda, the fourth Veda, refer to Imam Hussain as the divine incarnation or avatar of the Kali Yug, the present age. They hold Imam Ali, Imam Hussain’s father, and son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Muham-mad, in particular reverence, refer-ring to him with the honorific title of Om Murti.

The Hussaini Brahmins, along with other Hindu devotees of the Muslim Imam, are today a rapidly vanishing community. The younger generation abandoning their an-cestral heritage, often now seen as embarrassingly deviant. No longer, it seems, can a comfortable limin-ality be sustained, and ambiguous identities seem crushed under the relentless pressure to conform to the logic of neatly demarcated ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ communities. And so, these and scores of other religious communities that once straddled the frontier between Hinduism and Islam seem destined for perdition, or else to folkloric curiosities that tell of a bygone age, when it was truly possible to be both Hindu as well as Muslim at the same time.

http://www.himalmag.com/2002/may/profile.htm

lalleshvari

I based my judgement not only on those lectures, which I heard long before you posted them here at http://shiasource.com/Lectures/Modarresi.a...leText=Lectures

but on other articles of him as well.

I was also not refering to any "imposed" dress, but equal opportunity

in things like political leadership, from which he says , females are barred.

I dont see dress as so important, its only superficial.

Strange how Shia girls don't feel tempted to become Sikhs...

He´s sexist, and , if I remember right, against irfan.

Teaching with an Open Hand (from The Dhammapada, by Eknath Easwaran, pg 41)

“Perhaps,†a disciple suggested discreetly on another occasion, “these are matters which the Blessed One himself has not cared to know.â€

The Buddha did not answer, but smiled and took a handful of leaves from the branch of a tree under which they sat. “What do you think,†he asked, “are there more leaves in my hand or on this tree?â€

“Blessed One you know your handful is only a small part of what remains on the branches. Who can count the leaves of a shimshapa tree?â€

“What I know,†the Buddha said, “is like the leaves of that tree; what I teach is only a small part. But what I offer, I offer to all with an open hand. What do I not teach? Whatever is fascinating to discuss, divides people against each other, but has no bearing on putting an end to sorrow. What do I teach? Only what is necessary to take you to the other shore.â€

Malunkyaputra (from The Dhammapada, by Eknath Easwaran, pg 39ff)

The Buddha’s penetrating insight attracted many intellectuals, one of whom, Malunkyaputra, grew more and more frustrated as the Buddha failed to settle certain basic metaphysical questions. Finally he went to the Buddha in exasperation and confronted him with the following list:

“Blessed One, there are theories which you have left unexplained and set aside unanswered: whether the world is eternal or not eternal; whether it is finite or infinite; whether the soul and the body are the same or different; whether a person who has attained nirvana exists after death or does not; or whether perhaps he both exists and does not exist, or neither exists nor does not. The fact that the Blessed One has not explained these matters neither pleases me nor suits me, I will give up spiritual disciplines and return to the life of a layman.â€

“Malunkyaputra,†the Buddha replied gently, “when you took to the spiritual life, did I ever promise you I would answer these questions?â€

Malunkyaputra was probably already sorry for his outburst, but it was too late. “No Blessed One, you never did.â€

“Why do you think that is?â€

“Blessed One, I haven’t the slightest idea!â€

“Suppose, Malunkyaputra, that a man has been wounded by a poisoned arrow, and his friends and family are about to call a doctor. ‘Wait!’ he says. ‘I will not let this arrow be removed until I have learned the caste of the man who shot me. I have to know how tall he is, what family he comes from, where they live, what kind of wood his bow is made from, what fletcher made his arrows. When I know these things, you can proceed to take the arrow out and give an antidote for the poison.’ What would you think of such a man?â€

“He would be a fool, Blessed One,†replied Malunkyaputra shamefacedly. “His questions have nothing to do with getting the arrow out, and he would die before they were answered.â€

“Similarly, Malunkyaputra, I do not teach whether the world is eternal or not eternal; whether it is finite or infinite, whether the soul and the body are the same or different, whether a person who has attained nirvana exists after death or does not, or whether perhaps he both exists and does not exist, or neither exists nor does not. I teach how to remove the arrow: the truth of suffering, it’s origin, it’s end, and the noble eightfold path.â€

Where did I say anything about sects in my post?

And wahabi are not accepted by all sunni.

And shurely Islam does not advocate equal opportunity.

Or equal participation in religion.

Imam Ali to his friend:

O Kumayl ! Those who amass wealth, though alive, are dead to realities of life, and those who achieve know- ledge, will remain alive through their knowledge and wisdom even after their death, though their faces may disappear from the community of living beings, yet their ideas, the knowledge which they had left behind and their memory, will remain in the minds of people". ...

.....But this earth will never be without those persons who will prove the universality of truth as disclosed by Allah, they may be well-known persons, openly and fearlessly declaring the things revealed to them or they may, under fear of harm, injury or deaths hide themselves from the public gaze and may carry on their mission privately so that the reasons proving the reality of truth as preached by religion and as demonstrated by His Prophet may not totally disappear. How many are they and where could they be found? I swear by Allah that they are very few in number but their worth and their ranks before Allah are very high. Through them Allah preserves His Guidance so that they, while departing, may hand over these truths to persons like themselves. The knowledge which they have acquired has made them see the realities and visualize the truth and has instilled into them the spirit of faith and trust. The duties which were decreed as hard and unbearable by them. They feel happy in the company and association of things which frighten the ignorant and uneducated. They live in this world like everybody else but their souls soar to the heights of Divine Eminence. They are media of Allah on this earth and they invite people towards Him. How I love to meet them O Kumayl ! I have told you all that I have to say, you can go back to your place whenever you like".

Here is the artist, Mahmoud Farshchian, whose pics are in the Imam Ali thread.

http://www.farshchian.org/images/picpage.htm

Jesus through Sikh eyes

by Nikky Singh

My earliest memories are etched with the physical beauty of Jesus Christ. His blond hair and blue eyes were so different from all the people that I knew in India. I attended a convent school where we recited "Our Father" during the morning assembly, and we took courses on Moral Science. Most of all I loved going into the Convent where we sang psalms and collected beautiful images of Christ, and of Our Lady of Fatima, after whom my school was named.

At home of course it was a different matter. It was a Sikh household in which the centre of life was the Guru Granth. The holy book is regarded as the divine revelation and utmost respect is paid to it. As children we'd help our parents dress the Book in silks and brocades. It was put on a pedestal while we sat on the floor in front. We recited its passionate poetry patterned on the raga system of ancient India. At home we heard bout the life of the Ten Sikh Gurus who did not look like Jesus Christ.

And yet life was not schizophrenic, for the two worlds with their different languages, different histories, different images and different styles of worship co-existed colourfully. Together they became an essential part of my psyche. The "question" of identity never came up: just as I knew my name, I knew I was a Sikh. But that did not stop me from participating excitedly in the religious space created by my Catholic teachers: it was mysterious and enchanting in its own way. I can still feel the fervour with which I would sing "The Lord is my shepherd nothing shall I fear" - in spite of my desperately poor musical talents! But when I came to finish High school in America, I saw Christ pervading the fabric of western society and my own tradition extremely distant. As the only "brown" student in an all "white" girls' school, I became more conscious about my identity. I recall reading Walt Whitman's "Passage to India," and beginning my journey home. This American poet, who viewed himself in the role of Christ, impelled me to explore my Sikh heritage. Ironically then, the more I grew up in a Christian environment, the more consciously Sikh I became with the result that Jesus of my childhood imagination got blurry and lost. Growing up in postcolonial Punjab, I did not think very deeply about the Sikh Gurus, and now that I am living in this part of the world, I must admit that I didn't think very seriously about Christ. So to look at Christ from a Sikh perspective today is indeed an interesting and challenging assignment. As I try to do so the figure of Jesus from the multidimensional world of my childhood resurfaces - giving me much joy and enrichment.

Who is Jesus Christ? I see him as a wonderful parallel with the person of Nanak, the first Sikh Guru. There is no direct connection between Christ and the Sikh Gurus. They do not intersect each other. The two form separate and distinct temporal and spatial points in our history, but when we look closely at them, they illuminate each other. By looking at them as parallel phenomena, we not only learn more about the founders of Christianity and Sikhism, but we also get a better sense of ourselves, of our neighbours, and of the world we live in. Both Christ and Nanak are remembered in almost identical ways. Churches resound with hymns like "Christ is the light of the world," and Sikh Gurdwaras with "satgur nanak pragatia miti dhundh jag chanan hoia -- as Nanak appeared, mist and darkness disappeared into light." The powerful and substanceless light used across cultures and across centuries reveals the common patterns of our human imagination.

Jesus and Nanak ushered a way of life that was illuminating and liberating. It is interesting that both claimed they had no control over their speech. Spontaneously, effortlessly, they revealed what they were endowed with. According to the gospel of John: "I do not speak of my own accord... what the Father has told me is what I speak" And Guru Nanak, "haun bol na janda mai kahia sabhu hukmao jio - I don't know how to speak, I utter what you command me." In each case, then, the Divine is the Voice.

Their message too bears a striking resemblance. Against ceremonial rituals and orthodox formalities, both Jesus and Nanak directed their followers to the human condition. For them cleanliness did not reside in external codes and behavior; it was an inner attitude towards life and living. Just as Christ denounced the superiority of all those who walked about in long robes, Nanak denounced those who wore loincloths and smeared themselves with ashes.

Most importantly, both Jesus and Nanak showed us the path of love. In the Gospels Jesus says, "The greatest commandment of all is this - love your God with all your soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself." In the same vein, the Sikh Gurus applauded love as the supreme virtue, "sunia mania, manu kita bhau." Bhau or love is passionate and takes lovers to those depths of richness and fullness where there is freedom from all kinds of prejudices and limitations. But we need to put their words in practice. Love for the Divine would open and expand us towards our families and neighbours; it would enable us to cast aside racism, sexism, and classism so prevalent in our contemporary society. We need to remember their message of love for all our "neighbours" - high and low, black and white, men and women too. In fact Christ revealed himself first to Mary. Throughout his ministry, he healed and helped women, and reminds us of "mother's joy" that a human being has been born into the world. The Mother is an important figure in Sikh scripture, for the transcendent One is both father and mother, and Guru Nanak repeatedly points to the womb in which we are first lodged. Mother's body and joy, and the earth, our common matrix to which we all equally belong, are celebrated throughout the sacred scripture of the Sikhs. But of course, memory is selective and the patriarchs with their access to the words of Christ and Nanak have remembered, interpreted, and kept them for themselves. It is important that each of us begins to see the Christian and Sikh scriptures from our own eyes and experience their rich legacy.

So, who is Jesus Christ for me, a Sikh? In my mind he is an enlightener, and though I may not see him as one of the Ten Sikh Gurus, he is a distinct and vital parallel who continues to play a very significant role in my life as a Sikh. In a way, I trace my happiness and at-homeness in contemporary America because he opened me up to another mode of spirituality at a very young age. He did not take anything away from my being a Sikh. In fact, Jesus Christ concretised the message of Guru Nanak: "Countless are the ways of meditation, and countless are the avenues of love." (Japji, 17). Jesus has been a wonderful mirror who in his unique form and vocabulary promoted my self-understanding. The image of Christ imbedded in my childhood has made the verses of the Gurus alive for me. I can see and feel what Guru Nanak meant: "Accept all humans as your equals, and let them be your only sect" (Japji 28), or Guru Gobind Singh: " manas ki jat sabhe eke paihcanbo - recognise the single caste of humanity." However, it also complicates the situation. Coming from the pluralist tradition of Sikhism where the holy book contains not only the verses of the Sikh Gurus but also of Hindu and Muslim saints, and where the Ultimate is received in a variety of perceptions and relationships, I do have problems with the exclusivism of Jesus. The Sikh Gurus reiterate that Allah and Ram are the same, so is the Muslim Mosque and the Hindu Temple. Emerging historically and geographically between the eastern tradition of Hinduism and the western faith of Islam, Sikhism whole-heartedly accepts both eastern and western perceptions of the Divine, and their various modes of worship. But when Christ alone is declared the Omega Point, or Baptism the exclusive way to the Kingdom of God, then where do I stand? As a Sikh I have no place.

Personally, I find it hard to understand how the God of Genesis becomes the biological father of Christ in the Gospels. According to Genesis, God creates the earth, animals, Adam and Eve - but he remains distant and far away. How can this totally transcendent God become the Father of Christ? How can he beget Jesus? Now Guru Nanak is not viewed as an incarnation of the Divine; rather, he is an enlightener whose inspired poetry becomes the embodiment of the Transcendent One. I guess the issue of incarnation really troubles me as a Sikh. Creation in Christianity is modelled on a distant artist, more in the sense of a commander-in-chief, rather than on the biological mother who actually bodies forth her offspring. The Virgin Birth of Christ sends negative messages about our bodies, our world, and of our selves. Now that I think of it, saying "Our Father" in a language that was not my mother tongue did not make me any less committed to Sikhism. But it has left an indelible paternal figure in my imagination, which - in spite of all my Sikh and feminist mental footnotes - still dominates. I sometimes wonder how my world would have been shaped had I attended a Hindu school and visited goddess' Kali's temple which was close to my home! In postcolonial Sikh society it was safe and secure to go to Convent schools and even attend Catholic services because it was all very "distant." But the Hindu tradition so close geographically, historically, anthropologically, and psychologically, was all too dangerous and threatening.

I find similar fears and phobias now circulating in our contemporary western society. As our world is getting to be a smaller and smaller place we are getting more and more afraid of losing our self, of losing our "identity." So instead of opening ourselves up and appreciating others, we are becoming more narrow and insular. Our tunnel vision makes us grope in darkness. How can we remain afraid and threatened by each other's religions? It is not a matter of simple tolerance, and it is not simply mastering facts and figures about other religious traditions, and it is certainly not about converting and conversions from one faith to another. As Jesus resurfaces in my mind, I realise the beauty and power of his personality for me, and I realise the urgency of breaking our narrow mental walls. Just as he entered the imagination of us Sikhs in far away India, Sikhs and others have to enter into the imagination of people here in the West. We have to see the "light" that Jesus and Nanak ushered in for us.

So many Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, Middle-easterners have made their homes here, but how little we know about each other's spiritual worldviews! We may sit in the same classroom, work in the same office, and fly in the same planes, but we remain segregated at a fundamental level. During the first waves of migrations, the racial policies pretty much forced into homogenising matters, and in recent waves, sacred spaces and sacred times are confined to ethnic ghettos and left to their individual communities. The result? We are impoverished. We have lost out on the extremely rich arabesques of images, languages, metaphysics, rituals, music, and poetry and many other wonderful resources of our global society. Sadly, even after century and a half, we are far from fulfilling Walt Whitman's exhortation:

Lo, soul, seest thou not God's purpose from the first?

The earth to be spann'd, connected by network

The races, neighbours, to marry and be given in marriage,

The oceans to be cross'd, the distant brought near,

The lands to be welded together.

[Passage to India!]

We may have triumphed in producing physical and technological networks, but we have failed in creating mental and spiritual links. We need to "weld together." We need to experience the fullness of humanity and the transcendence of the Divine. Together, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Jains, men and women, we should relish the plurality and diversity of our human culture. It is more than a coincidence that Christians and Sikhs celebrate the birth of their communities on the first day of spring - called Easter in northern Europe and Baisakhi in India. Our joint celebration of the annual renewal of life carries on the legacy of Jesus Christ and Guru Nanak.

Nahj al-Balagha (Sermons, Letters, Sayings of Imam Ali)

http://al-islam.org/nahj/

some zen stories

Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung. The other monk asked him, "Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know it's nature is to sting?"

"Because," the monk replied, "to save it is my nature."

A Zen Master lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening, while he was away, a thief sneaked into the hut only to find there was nothing in it to steal. The Zen Master returned and found him. "You have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as a gift." The thief was bewildered, but he took the clothes and ran away. The Master sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, " I wish I could give him this beautiful moon."