what are the *MUST HAVE* books for learning the religion? i've been into buddhism but want to try a couple other things on for size. feel free to list any other religions and their respective "bibles"
Printable View
what are the *MUST HAVE* books for learning the religion? i've been into buddhism but want to try a couple other things on for size. feel free to list any other religions and their respective "bibles"
nvm i got em'... the books of the vedas, right?
oh nvm... well if you want to learn about Buddha's Techings than check out THE HEART OF THE BUDDHA'S TEACHING by: THICH NHAT HANH :thumbsup: :rasta:
read the code of manu
p.s. we live in the same city ganja
neat-o... what part of town do you live in? I live on the NW side.
Hinduism is just like all the other religions in my opinion. It is based on the worship of the heavens.....the stars....astrotheology. For example the earliest hindu god was called Rain who was said to impergnate mother earth. Back then you would pray to the heavens for rain to impregnate mother earth because without it( the rain) ...obviously... nothing would live.
If you want to check out more stuff to do with astrotheology and the impact it still has today have a look into the following.
Saturn......in the ancient world the colour of saturn was black and it was said to be a judge type 'character'. Mybe why judges wear black today? .
In the islamic world green is used in alot of their flgs symbols etc. Along with the crescent. Thing is in the ancient world green was the colour of venus which is seen as a crescent.....things to check out there.
In the ancient world the shadow on the sun dial would stop moving on the 23rd of of december.......but on the 25th the shadow starts to move again... GODS SUN would start moving again. Gods Sun was born....is it any surprise that christmas day is when it is.
In the bible it says something along the lines of 'the final battle will be fought in the air' translated correctly from ancient greek 'air' mean 'aquarius'. We are now very close to the age of aquarius and some people are predicting big changes very soon, wars to end all wars etc, wether this will happen or not is still to be revealed but it interesting all the same taken in context of what is going on today.
You also have the 12 tribes of israel ... could this have any link to the 12 houses of the zodiac?.
There are hundreds of examples.... but dont listen to me. Do a google search .
I'm not exceptionally well versed on Hinduism, but I really don't like the cast system (ie the untouchables) where you're supposed to look down your nose and not help the disadvantaged because it's just karma punishing them for evil deeds in their past lives. I think this is one of the big reasons the Sikh (sp?) religion was develped. they have this thing where food is sacred and they're not supposed to turn down any hungry person for a meal.
personally, I like the buddhist concept of karma a lot more because it's not some universal judge that punishes and rewards people. Rather, it believes the state of mind a person dies with determines the karma that will be passed on to the next life. a person who is evil and negative will influence the next life as such, and a person pure of mind, peacefull, and good willed will influence the next life in such a possitive way.
I use the term "the next life" instead of "your next life" because there's a common misconception towards buddhism that "you" are reborn when in fact there is no permanent self. the whole deal is that the essence or your consciousness joins and influences the consciousness of the next person born to create the new human being.
now there are theories about coming back as different species, or in different realms of existence, but this is more from taoist and confucianist influence combined with buddhism in cultures that had these 2 as their prior religions. well, except the coming back as different species thing, that's debated amount different buddhist sects, and who really knows.
You have to have a good teacher.
interesting post, mrdevious, just one little problem... Don't call Confucianism a religion, it's more like a code of ethics and behaviour; there's no faith involved whatsoever. I might say the same thing about Daoism, but I'm not 100% sure :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by F L E S H
yeah I know it's no really a religion, but heck, some people dont' consider buddhism a religion (or taoism, as you said). I'm just talking about the prominant philosophies in general, just didn't bother to distinguise between the technical titles and such.