How Indian artists transformed the Buddha’s absence into presence

Re:How Indian artists transformed the Buddha’s absence into ... by rhuru on Monday August 21, 2023 @05:26AM (#37207130)

The central teaching of Buddhism revolves around one single concept 'nirvana'. In this state you become one with all, rather you understand your true nature as the supreme self. While Hindus described this state as basically "everything", buddha and later many prominent buddhists described it as "nothingness" which appears as inconsistent with each other and hence folks might see Buddha as some kind of rebel. Buddha and Buddhists talk about "un-atman" and Hindus talk about "atman".

There is one major difference between Buddhism and some schools of thought in Hinduism like Yoga or Bhakti. While Yoga and Bhakti insist that a 'deity' helps you make the progress much faster on path of self realization, Buddha did not explicitly support this. He instead focused on more inward looking approach of meditation and contemplation (which is a subset of Vedanta philosophy in Hinduism). This is often seen as Buddhism being an atheistic philosophy by Hindus.

Both Hinduism and Buddhism allow its followers to embed this central concept into various other "decorations" and "facades". Which may involve supernatural elements. But they are mostly irrelevant for you to be either Hindu or Buddhist. This is in stark contrast to Islam, Judaism and Christianity where some central core beliefs absolutely require you to believe in supernatural elements.

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Re:How Indian artists transformed the Buddha’s absence into ... by denton-scratch on Monday August 21, 2023 @06:58AM (#37207802)

> understand your true nature as the supreme self

This is nonsense. Buddhism regards the "self" as not really a thing; rather, a bunch of aggregates that beings mistake for a thing. The idea of a "supreme self" is Atman, which nearly all Buddhists regard as illusory. The word generally occurs in Buddhist literature in the form "anatta", or no-self. Clinging to the idea of a self is considered a mistake, and the root cause of dukkha, or suffering.

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Re:How Indian artists transformed the Buddha’s absence into ... by blueprint on Wednesday August 23, 2023 @12:11AM (#37231787)

you the real mvp. Thanks for what you're doing. Though may I caveat your description? The self may be a thing but it is not what we colloquially call a self. It doesn't exist independently - in the sense people think self means. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have existence and even undergo reincarnation too.

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Re:How Indian artists transformed the Buddha’s absence into ... by dharmach on Monday August 21, 2023 @07:17AM (#37207965)

>>While Hindus described this state as basically "everything", buddha and later many prominent buddhists described it as "nothingness" which appears as inconsistent with each other

Similar are thoughtless (awareness) and mindfulness. Both may appear contradictory on the first glance but are same thing. These concepts are not easy to describe so often they are expressed multiple ways.

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