h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Avalokitesvara...
Om mane padme hum

Ah, that'll be His Holiness The Dalai Lama then...

I think the right explanation is that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an emanation of the Buddha of Infinite Compassion.

The mantra being - Om mane padme hum

Emanation or incarnation, Peaceful?

Hello again, I think he refers to himself as an emanation. Perhaps because he is addressing westerners.

Avalokitesvara is a meditational deity - and that is not a simple matter with the tibetan buddhists. [To understand about it one has to study, to undergo a sort of initiation, and I don't know if I will ever get that far.] It's like considering one of Buddha's aspects.

He is one of the Buddhas of the West.

I remember Joseph Campbell speaking of Avalokitesvara in his series "Transitions of myth through time". He made many concepts somewhat comprehensible to western thinking. Unfortunately, he died in the 1980's.

I was reading this:

http://www.go.com/?win=_search&sv=M6&lk=noframes&nh=10&ud9=IE5&qt=Avalokitesvara&oq=&url=http%3A//www.shingon.org/deities/jusanbutsu/kannon.html&ti=Shingon+Buddhist+Intl.+Institute%3A+Kannon+Bosatsu&top=

Good to see you, Peace!

Thanks for the link - I have an image of Kannon which a cousin brought back from Japan.

Avalokitesvara once shed a tear - and the female Buddha-Bodhisatva [sp] Tara was born. She also represents Infinite Compassion and is an interesting meditational deity. Because, although some schools teach that it's best to be reborn as a man, to be able to reach enlightenment -- Tara vowed always to be reborn as a woman

A short form of her mantra is - Om tare tuttare ture svaha -

That's really interesting, Peace...I believe that anything incarnated in flesh is subject to yin-yang. Why shouldn't there be a female representation as well as male in everything?

Ox,
thank you again for the link - I was only able to open it today, and still have to read up on it.

Avalokitesvara is 'my favourite' Buddha The 'observer of the world's sounds' - as people do like to think 'the gods' are really listening

As for Tara -- she was probably the original Earth Goddess - Pacha Mama and all the representations she has in all cultures.

So - "Metta" - which means loving-kindness,
and all the best,
PE

I just looked up both words in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, and amongst the various other meanings, it says of 'emanation' "A person or thing produced by emanation from the Divine Essence.", whilst for 'incarnation', is included "a living type or embodiment (of a quality, etc.)." So philologically (is that the correct term for the study of words?) speaking I guess they would both be adequate descriptions of Avalokitesvara.

Another concept is the idea of 'rebirth' - which the tibetan buddhists tend to prefer to 'reincarnation'.

I understand they are saying that it's not the same person [personality] which comes back to live another life.

I don't understand that idea very well, but I'm trying to be patient about it. If there is a good "answer" to it, I believe I'll understand it some day

The concept of death-rebirth, or particular person/god dying and being resurrected (not only in Christianity) is a recurring theme in religion/lore. I had a long chat with a visiting relative about the early hunter-gatherer cave and plain dwellers and the mother goddess era of 'worship'. Great thing, this human condition.

I like the fact the Tibetan Buddhists seem to be able to find the incarnations of the Dalai Lama when he is still a child. Such a graceful walk with life!

I understand that amongst other things, one of the tests they use to find out if the child is the true reincarnation of a Lama is that he can recognise objects owned in his previous incarnations, and people too. I've also heard a similar theory that when child prodigies such as Mozart exhibit extraordinary skills at a very young age, they are simply remembering things from their previous incarnation.

It is one way of explaining a lot of things...I guess I was a dullard in my last life or a wandering hob

It isn't important what or who you are (were) in Buddhism - the only important thing is that you somehow become "aware" - which, of course, will help you to become "awake"

We are all buddhas right now - we just don't know it

If we could begin to understand this life a little better, perhaps we wouldn't be happier about it. But we could, at least, help to make it a better world.

Just remembered to tell you this:

A Swiss train station - I was going to Zurich, and it was one of those grey foggy days when the light is slightly blinding - inside the station, equally difficult to see well - as it was dark inside, it took some time to focus properly.

A Tibetan Buddhist Lama was sternly addressing a small boy who seemed to be about four years old, the boy was a westerner. Lamas are a common sight in this particular train station. But not young children in their company.
The logical deduction is that the child had been 'recognized' as the rebirth of a lama. The lama had to be an 'accomplished practitioner' - someone who had been able to grasp some of the basic concepts of Buddhism, and who still had a lot to teach.
But, as a westerner myself, it was not easy to understand how a child had to be submitted to such a difficult and different life-style. Why should he be separated from his family?
There is an Internet site which describes how Lama Osel - a Spanish boy, is growing up. He adapted quite well. People who knew the lama from his 'previous life' - "recognize" him - by the way the now adolescent boy acts and speaks.
This blending of Eastern and Western cultures is not an easy process, it is part of the 'ebb and flow', it has happened before, it will happen again. Difficult, but both cultures have much to learn from each other. - One 'transgresses' too much, the other 'adheres to rules' in a somewhat rigid manner. Their meeting is a middle path

This is a site I like to visit every once in a while - sometimes it takes months before I remember it, but it's always been there, which is somehow reassuring.
There is a nice image of the Buddha, reflected in a body of water.
An obvious image, but an effective one.

[Broken link removed by Moderator]?
The Dhammapada Random Quote Server

this is the random quote I found this time:

Quote 334 of 393:
"When a bhikkhu is restrained of tongue, quotes wise sayings, and is peaceful, expounding both letter and spirit - his speech is good to hear."
From The Bhikkhu.

Perhaps being aware of our true natures would allow us to fully enjoy the time spent while just BEING ourselves, not just the "I wish I was I wish I had" comparative lifestyle. I know that every time I let myself lapse into regret or the "if I had only done such and such" type of reasoning, I always end up depressed and miserable and a good deal of time can pass before I'm dealing efficiently with day to day life.

I feel like a dog chasing his own tail everytime I catch myself drifting into such thought patterns. The point, for me, is to still that whining, childlike voice inside and let my intuition and life experience deal with everyday choices.

So...if we become "aware"...what happens when you become "awake"?

I imagine that - in theory, at least - one becomes enlightened

But I also imagine that it will still take me a few million years to achieve that

(though I do already have insomnia...)

*wishing I had a smiling buddha face as well as a *