Kenya: Buddha's Relics in Country Awaken My Spirituality
My parents happily let her follow her own path to spirituality and she would always try to explain to me the fundamental principles in her calm, patient way. When I couldn't understand her she would tell me when it was time I would - at which point I sort of wrote her off as somewhat cuckoo.
So imagine my surprise when I heard that very special Buddhist relics tour was coming to Kenya. I felt I owed it to her soul to take interest. My friend Kunjan had already been and he wouldn't stop raving about it, so I begged him to accompany me as it was too daunting for the unbeliever in me!
Kunjan explained to me that there was a reason I was going- and I looked at him like he was barking mad. I couldn't understand his belief that the proverbial 'HE' had called me hence my path there was so easy!
Keeping my prejudice to my mind I decided to take a flying leap into Buddhist spiritualism with my heart and it is the single decision in my life I will forever cherish. We were met immediately by Nisha Manek and her brother Raj Manek from USA who had had a hand in bringing the relics to Kenya.
Nisha explained to me that the 'Maitreya Project Heart Shrine Relic Tour' was a collection of more than 1,000 sacred relics of the Buddha and other Buddhist Masters touring the world. These relics after their tour will be enshrined inside the heart of a magnificent Maitreya Buddha statue being built in Kushinagar, India.
Funds collected from the tour will go towards building this magnificent shrine/statue.
Which made me ask- what on earth is a relic and why must I ululate in joy to see this? According to Raj, when a spiritual master is cremated, beautiful, pearl or crystal-like objects are found in the ashes. The Tibetan call these ringsel. These ringsel are special as they hold the essence of the qualities of the spiritual masters. Their inner purity appears in the form of relics. True spiritual teachers do not generally discuss their own attainments but the relics are physical evidence that the teacher attained qualities of compassion and wisdom before death.
It is believed that your most inner wishes are granted when observing the relics in a respectful manner. And you can bet I had a gazillion! The relics provided a unique opportunity to make a spiritual connection with enlightened beings. These masters deliberately chose to leave these relics behind so that we can create the causes for our own happiness. Just by being in their presence you are bound to feel healed, inspired and at peace.
Who Was Buddha - News
Nisha explained to me that the 'Maitreya Project Heart Shrine Relic Tour' was a collection of more than 1000 sacred relics of the Buddha and other Buddhist Masters touring the world. These relics after their tour will be enshrined inside the heart of a
After meeting a Buddhist monk and hearing the preaching of the Buddha, I felt I was not leading a pure Buddhist life. I decided to quit the army to be a monk. "But living a monk's life was not enough," said Sanghasena, who is from Timisgang in Ladakh.
New York Congressman Charlie Rangel can't decide which religious teachers to invoke, and he keeps waffling about whether he actually knows what they would say, but it's pretty clear to him that whatever the faith,
The compassion of the Buddha and personal suffering combined to script a religion of pain and redemption for journalist-politician-writer Arun Shourie, who recalls the trauma of bringing up his disabled son and taking care of his ailing wife in his new
BEIJING - As part of a plan to raise $3 billion to turn Buddha's birthplace in Nepal into a Mecca for Buddhists, a Hong Kong-based transnational foundation signed a memorandum last Friday with a United Nations agency that
From Bamiyan Afghanistan to Buduruwagala in Sri Lanka
Neither chronicles nor stone inscriptions provide any information on the exact period of these east-facing statues. However, it has been determined that they date back to the 10th Century and the Mahayana Buddhist Doctrine, and belong to the latter period of the Anuradhapura Kingdom. It is believed the Buddha statue was created during the reign of King Valagamba. The name Buduruwagala means "stone images of the Buddha," and at 51 feet here stands the tallest in Sri Lanka and perhaps in the world, since the Bamiyan figures no longer exist in Afghanistan. The sculpture at Buduruwagala is in lower relief unlike the other comparable Buddha statues in the country at Aukana (46 ft), Saseruwa (36 ft) and Maligawila (36 ft) and for all of which it may have served as a model. At Buduruwagala the Buddha statue is in the centre with groupings of three figures on each side. Only the portion above the waist is finished, the lower part being in rough condition. The raised right hand shows the fingers in abhaya mudra position, the posture of kindness and freedom from fear. What remains of the his robe‹fragments of the original stucco and the traces of orange colour‹suggest the images were all once painted. The central figure in the group of three to the Buddha's right still retains much of its white finish. This is the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara who, in Buddhist mythology, granted succour to the helpless, and was named God Natha during the Kotte Period. The lower part of the figure is clothed with a robe and ornamentation, and in the centre of the crown is a figure of the Buddha in meditation. This visit to Buduruwagala also helps me connect the research I did during three longs winters in Kabul 1993-96 on Faxian, Xuanzang, and Yijing who were among hundreds of Chinese monks who made pilgrimagesmto India andf sometime sri Lanka, during the first millennium CE. The detailed accounts of their journeys make them more famous than others. These travel records are important historical resources for several reasons. First, they provide meticulous accounts of the nature of Buddhist doctrines, rituals, and monastic institutions in South, Central, and Southeast Asia. Second, they contain vital information about the social and political conditions in South Asia and kingdoms situated on the routes between China and India. Third, they offer remarkable insights into cross-cultural perceptions and interactions.
RT @: There was this young hermit who everyone kept mistaking for Gautama Buddha. Pissed off, he yelled to someone, "Buddha hoga tera baap!"
RT @: There was this young hermit who everyone kept mistaking for Gautama Buddha. Pissed off, he yelled to someone, "Buddha hoga tera baap!"
RT @: There was this young hermit who everyone kept mistaking for Gautama Buddha. Pissed off, he yelled to someone, "Buddha hoga tera baap!"
There was this young hermit who everyone kept mistaking for Gautama Buddha. Pissed off, he yelled to someone, "Buddha hoga tera baap!"
Guess who can't provide "one link" that proves there was a "historical, non-supernatural Buddha"? That's right - @. | Who Was Buddha - Bookshelf
Subtle Wisdom
WHO WAS BUDDHA r Shakyamuni Buddha was born in a small kingdom in what is now Nepal in the sixth century BCE Although the date of his birth is uncertain, ...Buddha, A Story of Enlightenment
That was Buddha's last word for the night. He folded his robes around him and lay on the ground. The five monks had learned that he had no concern for where ...The doctrine of the Buddha, the religion of reason and meditation
The book deals with Truth as the theme and basis of the doctrine of the Buddha.The naked Buddha speaks, your questions about Buddhism answered
1 Who was the Buddha? No writing by a Buddhist should be started without some reference first to the person we call the Buddha. ...Awakening the Buddha within
Some 2500 years ago, the Buddha left his wife, his infant son, his home, his family, his extraordinary royal wealth, and his safe, secure, and luxurious ...Detect News Directory
Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Some Hindu texts say that the Buddha was an avatar of the god Vishnu, who came to Earth to delude beings away from the Vedic religion.[51] ...
Buddhism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the eyes of Nagarjuna the Buddha was not merely a forerunner, but the very ... The term for anybody who has achieved nirvana, including the Buddha, is arahant. ...
Buddha: Biography from Answers.com
Buddha (South and Central Asian mythology) Gautama Siddartha ( c . 563–479 BC ), the prince from present day Nepal who became the Buddha, the
About Buddha
Features the life and teachings of Buddha.
What Is a Buddha - Who Was the Buddha
The Buddha is pictured in many ways, and the word Buddha is used to mean many things. Just who or what is a Buddha?