Thanks Bill - that's pretty much what I said in a previous post, except that I forgot to add that Barry seems to know next to nothing about Buddhism, Theravada, Mahayana or Tibetan Tantric. In a subsequent post from Barry, he put forth the theory that the Jews died in the holocaust due to their past karma as individuals souls.
Years ago this idiot Barry blamed the WTC attack on the Jews as an "inside job" because as he claimed, there were no Jews inside the WTC at the time of the attack. This guy is just an idiot. "According to what I've read, in Buddhism, particularly in Mahayana, rebirth has to do with consciousness which evolves from a stream of consciousness, thus avoiding the pitfall of dualism. At death there is a dissolution of the aggregates (skandhas). The new person is not a soul-monad arising from the previous individual, but the new person's consciousness is simply a causal continuum from the universal stream. It's all about an evolving consciousness conditioned by the actions in a previous life (karma). The whole point of attaining enlightenment in Buddhism is the elimination of rebirth which for all humans involves repeated birth, suffering and death." ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <emptybill@...> wrote : “But as for trying to link the notion of God to reincarnation, that's your hangup, not mine. Millions of Buddhists believe in reincarnation without having to believe that there is a God. The two concepts are not related in any way.” “Just to follow up, Buddhists can believe in reincarnation without even the notion of "self," much less the notion of God.” Your claim about Buddhism/God/Reincarnation is only valid for the Theravadin tradition, which also disbelieves in a bardo/antarabhâva of any kind. According to them, the collection of aggregates known as a human being ceases at death and reassembles as another collection solely by karma. This occurs either in a subtle realm (think reformulated puranic cosmography) or on earth. However, there is no “self” to this collection at all – just a flow (santana) of forces and mental impressions. Karmic forces rule all and are considered inescapable except by the four (4) levels of liberated arahants. According to this teaching, “you” cannot be reborn because this “you” is only like the swirling funnel shape of water draining down a sink – a temporary form without any real substance. As you already know, Buddhists believe in many devas (not “gods”) although they are considered samsara-bound denizens reborn in a higher realm with vastly expanded powers. These “shining ones” are still constrained by and ruled over by our old friend “karma-phala” (results of action). What Buddhists deny is the existence of an “Ishvara or all-ruling creator-God” as found in theistic Hinduism or in the three murderous Semitic traditions. However when you get to Tantric Buddhism, you get something much different. Think Tantric Buddhists deny a soul? Try saying “indestructible bindu in the heart” along with the Dalai Lama. This bindu/thigle is described as the unity of consciousness and prana that incarnates and is then reborn in another body/realm after death. Guess what. An “indestructible living bindu of awareness” is just another name for a soul. “The most important channel is the central one called 'central channel', which runs in a straight line from the crown of our head down to an area in front of our spine, and along several focal points known as Chakras, or energy wheels. Each one serves a different function in the practice of Tantra. The most important Chakra is the one located at the level of the heart, because the heart Chakra is the home of our very subtle mind, This very subtle mind has been with us from conception, for lifetimes without beginning. As the fundamental consciousness abiding at our heart center throughout this life, the very subtle mind is sometimes referred to as our Residential Mind. It is actually our original, fundamental Nature, which can only be realized upon awakening.” http://www.buddhistdoor.com/OldWeb/bdoor/0606/sources/teach103.htm http://www.buddhistdoor.com/OldWeb/bdoor/0606/sources/teach103.htm More significantly, Buddhism has no explanation for why karmic causality should involve moral reciprocity. Action and reaction are considered strictly mechanistic. If I join ISIS and murder hundreds in the name of Allah and his Prophet, then it simply “happened” - just like a fiery meteor lighting up the night sky for a brief moment. It does not and cannot have any moral significance and there is no reason why this should affect me in the future. By the way, this is one reason that many educated Hindus do accept the idea of Ishvara – seeing Ishvara as the moral controller of karma.
