Buddhism

[Woebot]

But not usually this kind of Buddha:

View attachment 6815

which seems to be a remarkable parallel evolution to the suffering Christ seen in Catholic iconography.

that is an interesting parrallel yes BUT the only thing about that is that that predates any of his illumination - so it doesn't necessarily have a central place in the narrative. it's more of a cautionary tale.

he got fucked up like that meditating in a cave for six years. went for a wash in a river and was so weak he couldn't get out. is discovered by the maid sujata who gives him rice milk - he recovers then BOOM. figures out the middle way.

when i was in bihar i went to the cave where he got that skinny! - his ascetic phase - in the dungeshwari hills. it's very weird that you can walk into the actual space and sit in it. i mean this predates the virgin birth and crucifixion and where are those places? here's one of the photos i took:

 

[Woebot]

Oh yeah, big time - it represents a phase of his life in which he practiced extreme asceticism, starving himself almost to death, before realising that this is not in fact the route to enlightenment.

What does an emaciated Buddha statue represent?

Answer (1 of 4): A very central Buddhist teaching is “The Middle Path”, i.e. not going to either extreme. It is written that in his quest for Enlightenment, Prince Sidharta (before he became Gautama Buddha) starved himself to the point of eating just a few sesame seeds a day, and thus he became ...

www.quora.com

yes precisely. sorry missed this.

 

[Woebot]

right beside it -in this tiny space - there's a mahakala altar

 

[Woebot]

that priest was on his mobile phone the entire time. perfectly good reception - lol.

 

[Woebot]

I have a long standing interest (and practice) related to Indian religions as well - I'm such a cliche sometimes - but like Smashy and Nicey's work for charity, "I don't like to talk about it"

not cliched at all danny. and very sensible. the whole claiming of attainments thing is strictly barf 🤢🤮

i did use a mala for a bit - which would qualify as practising i suppose - but not any more.

it's all good. still very interested in the whole thing.

absolutely view chenrezig as some kind of viable strange attractor ❤. ཨོཾ་ མ་ ཎི་ པད་ མེ་ ཧཱུཾ་ (amazing that unicode contains sanskrit!)

am conscious that the very mention of it in this context might be a massive turnoff - but that never stopped me hoarding NDW or Country Rock LPs.

 

[woops]

crucifixion and where are those places?

There are 2 rival sites for the crucifixion and rolling back the stone etc. in Jerusalem. So you have options for pilgrimage

 

[Woebot]

There are 2 rival sites for the crucifixion and rolling back the stone etc. in Jerusalem. So you have options for pilgrimage

i know there's a mooted place for his birthplace in Bethlehem too. but nothing definitive.