From: Zenarchy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Tue Dec 08 1998 - 17:25:28 MST
Anders posted,
> "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard
> it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and
> rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it
> is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in
> anything merely on the authority of your teachers and
> elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been
> handed down for many generations. But after observation and
> analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and
> is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then
> accept it and live up to it."
> - Buddha
I'll drink to that, and add to it Buddha's last words to his brother
Ananda,
"Be a light unto yourself." That sums it up for me.
To live as a _Buddhist_ carries with it all the ugliness committed by
followers.
To live as a _Buddha_ means to light the way for yourself as you light
the lamps of others.
In ordinary conversation, I've called myself a Buddhist about as often
as I've felt like a nut. To make people to think of me as a nut, I only
have to call myself a Buddha. If I want people to remember me, I'll have
to win Pascal's Wager -- the hard way. Thanks to Eliezer, Anders, and
Max for a stimulating exchange.
-zen
PS: "If you see the Buddha on the highway, kill him!"
--Sosan, Third Patriarch of Zen
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