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RE: My top 5 books on Buddhism
Thank for the compliments. I know you voted for my witness. This appear on Steemd. This is what brought me to your blog. I'm now following you.
I never heard of Loren. I'll check it out.
Doesn't Buddhism come from Hinduism? What I read from Hinduism was pretty deep, in particular The Yoga Sutras Of Patanjalin. I recommend it if you haven't read it.
Have you ever experience psychoactive substances? I had very profound experiences with magic mushrooms.
I also had very intense experiences with meditation but I don't meditate regularly anymore. I sometimes have spontaneous trance from time to time. They don't last longer than a couple seconds but are very enjoyable.
Hey @teamsteem great to hear from you again! Yes, Hinduism and Buddhism do share a lot of similarities. The end goal of both religions is liberation from the cycle of reincarnation, but the main point on which they differ is that all forms of Hinduism recognise the existence of the soul, called the atman, whereas Buddhism does not.
In all Hindu religious traditions the soul, the atman, is identified with God, either as part of an impersonal divine consciousness, brahman, or a supreme, personified deity, such as Shiva or Vishnu.
Buddhism takes the absolute opposite view. In the Buddhist analysis existence has three fundamental characteristics, impermanence, suffering, and lack of inherent existence, or self. In Sanskrit this is anatman, no-self.
The point of enlightenment in Hinduism is the of the merging of the divine light within all of us into the ocean of the divine consciousness. In Buddhism is it emptiness, nothingness.
This may seem frightening, but the Buddhist path is much more powerful. Emptiness is a void which you must stare into, and which destroys everything that you are to finally, and completely tear out the root of craving and attachment, and leave you with only peace and stillness.
There is no end point, no end place in Buddhism. It gives you absolutely nothing to cling on to. Nirvana itself only means extinguishing, like the flame of a candle burning out once the wax has all been used up. What happens to the flame when it's gone?
I have experimented with magic mushrooms myself in the past, and had an incredible peak experience that felt like enlightenment at the time. Honestly though, eating a strict, raw, mono fruitarian diet gives you the same high, even better actually. It's honestly like being on psychedelic drugs all the time!
I do also meditate, and my diet helps a lot with that too. When you eat a very clean and pure diet, it becomes very easy to still the mind, for anyone. It happens naturally. Eating a diet of even very light, healthy cooked food unsettles the mind. I notice the difference immediately, it's like night and day.
I know what you mean about the trance, I've fallen into it myself from time to time. I do find myself wanting to recreate that experience again though, and getting attached to it, when really there should be no end goal in meditation, other than to just be still and peaceful.