Question about Buddha:

I think the point isn't to learn self-control, but to experiment with self-control. The technique of Buddhism is experimental in this way, not a set of rules written in stone, but a technique to gain insight into self-nature. Buddha experimented with indulgence, and also with asceticism, deciding in the end that a middle path was best. That's why he is seen in sculpture as sometimes thin to the point of starvation, sometimes fat and smiling. Buddha asks that you try to see past your immediate desires in an attempt to discern what is it that desires, and why. Not to figure out intellectually, but to let your mind tell you, to let it settle on a way of thinking more beneficial to the organism. Before enlightenment, you are divided, there are desires, and there is the desire to control the desire; after enlightenment, you are of one mind. If people didn't have some dissatisfaction with the status quo, I don't think they would have an interest in Buddhism. So they are coming to Buddha with a problem, and he says, OK, try this.
 
Have you ever read Siddhartha, he is not 500+ pounds, in fact he is living off of 1 grain of rice a day and barely has to breathe. So that too me sounds like ultimate self control.
 
First, I would suggest reading Siddhartha, as cotton mentioned.

Second, I doubt the pictures are actual correct representations of him.
 
do you think that the buddha's doctrin would be better preserved than other divine/sacred teachings without the interference of an authoritarian oligarchy such as the roman empire.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top