Compatibles::The Christ & The Buddha

Treasure Beach Forum: TB Runnin's: Compatibles::The Christ & The Buddha
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Z on Sunday, April 08, 2012 - 11:32 am: Edit Post

The Christian holiday of Easter Sunday...a celebration of the "Risen"...Springtime Renewal into the Light after a darker, self-denying, contemplative 40 days of Lent...believe it or not!

The word "Easter" and most of the secular celebrations of the holiday come from pagan traditions. Anglo Saxons worshipped Eostre, the goddess of springtime and the return of the sun after the long winter.
According to legend, Eostre once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning it into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could still lay eggs, and that rabbit became our Easter Bunny.
Eggs were a symbol of fertility in part because they used to be so scarce during the winter. There are records of people giving each other decorated eggs at Easter as far back as the 11th century.


Buddhists celebrate the birthday of Buddha today.
Gautama Buddha was born Prince Siddhartha in India, in the sixth century B.C.E., and his parents were told by mystics that he would grow up to be either a great political leader or a supremely enlightened teacher.

He was raised in luxury, married, and fathered a son, but when he was 29, he wanted to see the world outside the palace walls. He began taking short trips outside the palace, where he encountered suffering for the first time. He was amazed at how serene people managed to be in the midst of all their pain and sickness, and so he traveled the land for six years, studying meditation and living the life of an ascetic.

When he was 35, he outlined the basic tenets of Buddhism, its "four noble truths."
They are:
1) The nature of life is suffering;
2) Suffering is caused by human cravings;
3) There is relief from suffering in the state of Nirvana, which is attainable; and
4) Nirvana is attainable by following an eightfold path to self-improvement & enlightenment.


SOURCE: The Writers Almanac


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By z-bates on Sunday, April 08, 2012 - 07:45 pm: Edit Post

Happy Easter and the joyful discovery of hidden colourful eggs...Pagan stories, beliefs & mythologies informing religions that follow and survive into Modernity... amazing coverts...while in awe of the observations of natural phenomenon.

Video LINKS:

Pagan Influences on Religion:
www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=CkkLmxHrIe8&feature=endscreen

Egypt's Influence on Religion:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHoDpQaYXw4&feature=related


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By z-bates on Monday, April 09, 2012 - 04:34 pm: Edit Post

A little spelling mistake or inadvertent slip of the "tongue" in that last posting...meant to write "amazing converts". not coverts...the idea being that as a species, we seem to really need our spectacles (an extension of entertainment & awe), even in our worship and ecstatic spirituality.

In memory of a Holy Week (Semana Santa) spent in Seville, Spain...the grandest spectacle of its kind in the world celebrating the Passion(pain/suffering) & Re-surrection of the Christos, here is a view from the past.
The Andalucian city of Seville is noted, among other details, for its Afro-Moorish remnants/influences, and the sinuous, driving rhythms of the flamenco.

Youtube LINK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GId0PL51C3c