I’m sure I could interpret a rationalist message from that quote, in the same way that I could derive a reasonable moral system based solely on the Book of Revelations. But that doesn’t imply that my reading is intended by the author, or a plausible reading of the text.
Maybe the real issue is that it takes background knoweldge to know what the quote means within Buddhism? Without that background knowledge the sentence doesn’t convey much meaning.
If you find the truth, continue the search for it regardless.
Forget about arriving at the truth, rather practice the methods that brings you closer to truths.
The intended meaning has something to do with the Buddhist concept that the practice of Buddhism (basically meditation) is the realization of Buddhahood, and instead of accepting any Buddha you meet, you must simply continue your practice.
Lin Chi
I’m sure I could interpret a rationalist message from that quote, in the same way that I could derive a reasonable moral system based solely on the Book of Revelations. But that doesn’t imply that my reading is intended by the author, or a plausible reading of the text.
In this case it does seem plausible that a rationalist message was intended.
Maybe the real issue is that it takes background knoweldge to know what the quote means within Buddhism? Without that background knowledge the sentence doesn’t convey much meaning.
The Buddha
God
:)
I’ve heard this quoted a lot, but I can’t find the original source.
I’m surprised to find anything on the source of a joke, but this thread suggests it originated some time in the 1960s.
My impression was that Desrtopa was making an atheist jest.
(In the Recent Comments sidebar, this looked like:
which is rather different!)
I saw that, and it ruins the joke a bit. Sigh.
FWIW, I really like Nietzsche.
Prepend ‘God’ with hyphens. “Nietzsche is dead. --God” works with or without the line break.
That wouldn’t be the kind of thing Buddha used to say.
If you find the truth, continue the search for it regardless.
Forget about arriving at the truth, rather practice the methods that brings you closer to truths.
The intended meaning has something to do with the Buddhist concept that the practice of Buddhism (basically meditation) is the realization of Buddhahood, and instead of accepting any Buddha you meet, you must simply continue your practice.
By the way, Sam Harris wrote an essay starting with this quote, called ‘Killing the Buddha’.
http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/killing-the-buddha/
Didn’t we do this last month ?
Apparently the Buddha has reincarnated, so we need to kill him again. It’s like playing the World of Warcraft.