Is there a mahayana thread?

Bodhicitta bodhisattva

>>40600489 (OP)
words and forms are transcient dude
mahayana
this-yana
that-yana
all outside paths whereas the stillness you find yourself in needs no path. It maybe you simply want to be comforted with lots of enligtened shiny buddhas lifelessly smiling at you when your own beating living heart is suppressed.

Bodhicitta cultivation

why did they depict buddhas with long ear lobes and a spike in their head ?

>>40603189
I could be wrong but the long ear lobes are a sign of wisdom and the spike is just an adornment.

>>40603189
the earlobes means renunciation. jainism does that too with their iconography. both the buddha and mahavira used to be princes and usually they weared heavy earings wich represent richness and royalty. the earlobe without the earing means that you left that life of attachment behind

>>40600489 (OP)
>Mahāyāna (/ˌmɑːhəˈjɑːnə/ MAH-hə-YAH-nə; Sanskrit: महायान, pronounced [mɐɦaːˈjaːnɐ], lit.'Great Vehicle'; Chinese: 大乘; Vietnamese: Đại thừa) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India (c.1st century BCE onwards).

Sounds complicated. God is not complicated. God is that which makes possible both complication and non-complication.

I'm big into the Mahayana but I want to be Zen. I gather that Zen advocates Mahayana Sutras. The only Zen (Chan) I know is Platform Sutra & also Alan Watts. I'm working my way thru the Avatamsaka Sutra right now. It's 1500 pages. I was going to study the Nirvana Sutra for a long time but I saw the siddhi I'd receive from studying it in a dream and noted it wasn't meant to be.

Any recommendations after I've read:
Diamond Sutra
Platform Sutra
800 Line Prajnaparamita
Exalted Sublime Golden Light
Lotus Sutra
Nirvana Sutra
Avatamsaka Sutra
Queen Srimala of the Lion's Roar

Any other Sutras I might be after?

>>40603860
Brahma Sutras?

>>40603878
Why would you suggest a Hindu Vedantist text when they are looking for Mahayana and Zen Buddhism?
Is it just because it has Sutra in the name?

>>40603878
Oh very intriguing. My very first bonafide spiritual experience was unity with the Brahman. It was actually very difficult for me to give up unity with the Brahman upon becoming a Buddhist. I was coping in the Brahmaloka for some time. But it's not Buddhism is it?

See I received something from a Buddha when I was understanding the Nirvana Sutra, which advocates for a Void-Self (thus-like Buddha-Nature). I wondered why we don't just say it's Atman and he's unified with Brahman.

The revelation I received is that Buddha took the "path down." Whatever Buddha gave me this was using my love for Heraclitus, "the Path up and the path down are one and the same."

The path up is Self is Brahman (God). The path down is Self is Void (Buddha). Maybe you don't trust that I learned this from a Buddha, and I hardly do because the Diamond Sutra states you cannot hear Shakyamuni in a voice, but it is coherent theology, which I did NOT come up with myself.

>>40603903
It's not an insult when I call you a 'hylic'.

It is only a description.

You appear to think human cultures of worship have any bearing on the Divine.

I don't judge for that. I simply notice.

>>40603937
Well I'm kind of a Purist so I'm glad he stood up 4 me. When it comes to theology I only consume on a certain path and when it comes to fiction I have a fixed canon. Not sure if Brahman is the right path for me now, since that's where I come from

Does anyone know the details of the Vedic Brahman/Buddhist Brahma distinction? It's kind of ironic to teach anatta and then have the distinction of making Brahma a person

>>40603919
>using my love for Heraclitus, "the Path up and the path down are one and the same."
This is indeed how the heavens are arranged according to my understanding -- from the One to the Many and back again...

>The path up is Self is Brahman (God).
The higher you go, the more your Self-Concept coincides with that of God, yet all along who you *really* are is your essence...

>The path down is Self is Void (Buddha).
No, the path down is into the maya of the Many.

>>40603984
>When it comes to theology I only consume on a certain path
OK
>and when it comes to fiction I have a fixed canon.
Everything observable is fictional.

>>40603937
You can't answer a simple question, and need pretention and ego to cope.
Just observing your post.

Stop looking to language for spirituality. Words aren’t as important as what they’re pointing toward.

Language can be a trap. Language can be a place where you hide insecurity.

>>40603984
Are you thinking that Brahma and Brahman are the same?
Brahma is a deva. A soul exactly like you in a powerful body. You have been Brahma before.
Brahman is the eternal, traitless, undifferentiated oneness from which all manifestation arises.
They are very very different.
It's like thinking the man named Godel is the same as the western concept of God just because the words have similar spelling.

Bodhicitta cultivation

>>40603189
The earlobes symbolise the accumulation of wisdom from previous lives. the spike symbolises knowledge

>>40603860
I think at that point, you should focus on reciting the Heart Sutra and doing Shikantaza.

B o d h i c i t t a

>>40606206
The Buddhist Brahma is a derivation from Vedic Brahman, you are certainly wrong about this

Mara made Mahayana

>>40607119
>>40606465
Pretty based listen to this guy he keeps saying the important part.

Wisdom and compassion were always the key. Compassion is the great driving force, its depth is beautiful and endless. The Buddha so constantly taught on great compassion and great wisdom alongside each other.

>>40600489 (OP)
There is now!

>>40607327
>The Buddhist Brahma is a derivation from Vedic Brahman
Whee do you get this from? It's stupid to think a derivation from something means the original is wrong in any way, but I have never heard of Buddhists talking about "Brahma" as if it were Brahman.

>>40603860
>I saw the siddhi I'd receive from studying it
You get siddhis for studying a sutta?