Varna or caste only makes sense if you live up to the duties of your Varna. Otherwise you're no better than the Hebrew if you think you're special by the merit of your birth.
The same can be said if you think you're special for being "The White Aryan Race" but you're a white trash loser with no virtues or discipline.
If your interest in ancient paganism is purely political, then the discovery of actions that are immoral by modern standards is sure to offend. Lefty pagans try to downplay the folkishness and the homophobia, while right wing pagans try to deny the unusual sexual practices of the ancient world.
The past is a foreign country and you might not like everything you see there.
Something I see a lot is elevating good material conditions to be the same as achieving spiritual realisations or enlightenment.
I too want to see good material conditions come into fruition, I want to see the end of tyranny that is the ones who own the banks, the media and our politicians. I too want to see such people face justice.
I too want to secure the welfare and future of my race, I want to see the return to an organic world view in accordance with all that which is good.
But these are not causes for enlightenment or spiritual realisation, they are not bad. Good material conditions can be an environment conducive to making progress on the path to liberation. This is not a concern if you’re a peasant, if you’re a commoner, a noble or someone in general who’s primary concerns is that of the world. It is not wrong to not desire enlightenment or not having religious matters as your primary concerns.
But you’re simply not on the path to liberation if your heart’s inner most desire is just for good material conditions. No, you are not going to reach enlightenment by “psychologically identifying yourself with the Aryan race” or your blood somehow being a meritorious trait in how spiritually realized you are. The world itself is not the issue, but rather your attachment to it as everlasting or your fear of losing it.
The reality of impermanence can be quite terrifying, don't take anything for granted and make the best of your precious human rebirth. 🐴⚡️☸️
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I’m writing this because although I have converted to Buddhism, the religious customs and traditions of my ancestors is still a subject that I’m passionate about. I believe that the doctrine of impermanence, compassion for every sentient being that have been my own mother, the five precepts and so on can syncretise with European culture and be brought into the Buddhadharma. 🐴⚡️☸️
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The Four-line Exercise Dedication Prayer
May this training be conductive,
To realize the unsurpassable state of Buddhahood,
And, having done so through my effort,
May I establish all beings into that very state.
End notes on the subject of Animal Sacrifice.
I'm perfectly aware that my wording and examples are a bit exaggerated. I just want to prevent TG mfs from thinking they're qualified and have what it takes to take the life of another sentient being just because they have read about religion and culture in pre-christian Europe or seen HBO Vikings or whatever.
Life is a precious thing, dont take it lightly.
I think its safe to assume that both kinds of sacrifices occurred in ancient Europe, one that is a cruel display of power, and another where you simply dedicate the life of the animal to the divine and use what you can.
I thought I should write something on the subject of animal sacrifice and Buddhism.
I personally don’t have an issue with animal sacrifice, in the sense that you dedicate the life of the animal to something greater. It is more ethical and inclined towards Dharma unlike the modern meat and diary industry.
I think the issue lies in the theology of the one conducting the animal sacrifice, if you believe that the deity would need the blood from countless lives to be satisfied then you’re worshiping demons. No deity will need offerings to sustain themselves, only demons and spirits would demand sacrifices to be made for them.
Although the consumption of meat and animal products is not forbidden, it is suggested that we should refrain from killing. It is a virtuous aspiration to eat that which doesn’t demand the killing of another sentient being, but meat consumption is still widespread in countries where Buddhism is prevalent or is the dominant religion.
I agree with the sentiments of both Hammer and Vajra, and Elders: Buddhism can absolutely work harmoniously with folk religion, folk interests and the various pantheons of gods, but Buddhism should be thoroughly understood on its own terms, especially if one takes ordinations and initiations, such as Refuge and Abhisheka.
Buddhism is clear: in order to attain the unsurpassable, utterly perfected, complete awakening, one must develop total renunciation of the ordinary activities, and ordinary gods of samsara.
Where people misunderstand is in thinking that renunciation ultimately means rejection, this is not so.
First, one has to understand that Buddhism posits at the very outset total personal responsibility for one's entire experience of all phenomena.
That's tough.
Everything wrong with the entire universe is your personal responsibility.
So what are you going to do?
The Hinayana teaches you to take refuge in a qualified guide, the Buddha, an effectual path, the Dharma, and the Order of committed brethren who have likewise undertaken the same path. Having done that, you learn the precepts in order to create space between you and the stimuli of your negative behaviours, and in that space to begin to study and practice.
The Mahayana teaches that, once you have some stability inside yourself, you can no longer disengage from samsara but must learn to engage as a Bodhisattva: with wisdom and love. By practicing the six paramitas you learn the benefits of putting others before yourself, and come to understand the empty nature of phenomena directly.
Emptiness requires study and practice to understand. It is not intended to be taught to those without inner stability and devotion towards the Buddhadharma. It is not nihilism, it does not deny that things exist. It is the recognition of interdependent arising, and the two levels of truth. The relative truth is established by perception and convention, the ultimate, while possessing experiential qualities, has no definable essence, and is thus beyond concept. The later Mahayana sutras also make it clear that this can be seen as fundamental Buddha nature, as it is the very realisation of non-dual emptiness that gives rise to the Buddhas with their wonderous qualities.
The Vajrayana teaches that based on love and emptiness, you can perceptually transform any and every experience that exists into the nature of enlightenment. This is by no means easy, which is why it is the most esoteric path, requiring initiation and guidance of a qualified Guru.
In this way, you don't actually need to part from daily life, nor do you deny the existence of gods, spirits, heavens, hells, but you see through and past them.
You can interact with gods, with families, clans, races, and local traditions, but, as a Bodhisattva, a hero, your goal is not to enthrone outer forms of tradition, but to transcend them, and benefit all beings in doing so.
The discipline of Hinayana, the expansive love, and view of emptiness, of the Mahayana, and the transformation of body, speech and mind of the Vajrayana, are all methods to actually reach the goal and become the Supreme Conqueror of all phenomena. They are not dogmas. They are not attacks on paganism born of sectarianism.
Buddha explicitly stated that his teachings should not be taken on blind faith, but should be investigated and considered by those who wish to understand. It's up to you whether you decide to take this path or not, but try to investigate it honestly, rather than trying to plunder what you can to serve a personal ideology.
So you love your people, that's fine, help them, but don't be partial and don't be attached. So you love the gods, fine. Respect them, make offerings to them, but don't take them as your guides to enlightenment without first fully investigating their qualifications.
So you don't want to be Buddhist, fine, but don't be surprised when faithful Buddhists want to present their forthright understanding of their own doctrine, according to their study and practice of the traditional scriptures and methods.
The religious right-wing have to ask themselves if what they want is merely a mundane sense of identity, or if they want spiritual nourishment and ultimately illumination?
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Debate with Egbert Moray-Falls on Dharmic worldview, Paganism, Folk culture, and theism. A continuation and elaboration with answers to my Rant: Buddhism =/= Life denying, Atheistic, anti-Local culture. Hammer and Vajra
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I agree with this message in essence, but I would have worded it differently. I will post my take on this subject later today.
🐴⚡☸️
There is a very specific problem with this attitude, namely that without spiritual attainment, no matter what historical sources one has, one is only making things up.
Having approached the issue of spirituality through the lens of the decline of the West, and Traditionalist notions of initiation, and Perennialism, it is natural that there is a desire to re-create European spirituality.
However, having recognised the need for initiation into a living tradition, if one is not willing to completely give up one's petty attachments to cultural particularity, whether it can outwardly be used skilfully or not, one cuts oneself off from the possibility of attainment that could actually have the potential to spiritually revive the West, in whatever form.
This is not to say that I argue for "Asian washing", it is to say that I believe in enlightenment, and deluded clinging to a dead history, combined with the shocking arrogance to think one can chop up and cherry pick a real spiritual path to one's own personal liking is nothing but an obstacle to the very rekindling that one seeks.
Indeed, I do think that syncretism can and will be skilful Dharma, now and into the future, but, to my limited perception, many currently engaged in it are in no position to be successful, because they act from a position of attachment and aversion rather than genuine Bodhicitta, and they think they can have the spiritual future they desire without giving up their own harmful attitudes.
Further, I say this as someone who fully desires the kind of Western revival as others who are exploring syncretism, however, as a practitioner, when I compare myself to the great masters of past and present, I see clearly my own inability to bring about benefit without first totally submitting myself to the path, not only for this lifetime, but for countless lifetimes, as long as it may take.
It is easy to ridecule feminist and secular Buddhists, and queer pagans, while thinking "I am based", but it is much harder to actually address one's own attachment to self identity.
"...rather than perpetuating your own and others’ suffering by allowing yourself to be taken in by the ways of saṃsāra, based as they are upon deluded attachments and aversions, instead consider carefully what the best way to use your life might be.
"The true goal of the Bodhisattva is to free all beings from saṃsāra, but to be able do that he must first free himself; and to free himself from saṃsāra he first has to understand clearly what is wrong with it. As it is said:
"Whatever is born will die,
Whatever is gathered will be dispersed,
Whatever is joined together will come apart,
Whatever goes up will fall down."
These faults apply both to the traditions and people of the West, and also to the outer form of Dharma in general. That is why it is so imperative that we practice true Dharma earnestly now, while we still have the chance, and why we must avoid the trap of our own daydreams about a particular outcome in the particular corner of samsara in which we were born.
Hot take: Conan the Barbarian was on his way to Enlightenment.
"I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."
"In short, attaining and bringing to completion all the bodhisattva deeds, and, likewise, attaining and bringing to completion the perfections, levels, forbearances, concentrations, superknowledges, retentions of teachings heard, dedications, aspirational prayers, confidence to speak, and all the qualities of a buddha are contingent upon the guru. The guru is the root from which they arise. The guru is the source and creator from which they are produced. The guru increases them. They depend upon the guru. The guru is their cause."
Bodhisattvapiṭaka
Western game devs: ALL RELIGION IS EVIL!!!!11!!!
Asian game devs: Meditate to Buddha to heal🙏🏻🗿
I thought I should write something on the subject of my concerns with the religious right-wing.
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I would like to give a shoutout to a friend of mine, he writes stuff on the subject of occultism in Thailand but also the esotericism present in the Theravada tradition. He is a practitioner of these traditions, so it's not written by an outsider peeking in. He is the real deal. /channel/Esoteric_Theravada
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Something that bothers me about the current state of Paganism is that I’m under the impression that a lot of pagans are putting their time and effort into reconstructing something from a time so long ago that they no longer have a living connection to it. Rather than focusing on maintaining the paganism that we still have.
I’ll take Sweden as an example because this is where I’m from and this how it was seen prior to industrialisation and modern archaeology. The ones who built the mounds of old, the dolmens and various stone structures that we find in the landscape were titans, elves, dwarves etc and the same goes for the findings of this time which is referred to as “forged by dwarves”. The way they lived is from a time so long ago that it’s basically mythological time, we no longer have that lineage.
We don’t have a living spiritual connection to the ones who did the blots at Uppsala temple, that lineage of paganism has been severed and there is no honest way of bringing that back unless the gods themselves were to reveal the religion and the mysteries to someone.
What we do have however is a “paganism” that is more spirit oriented, such as making offerings to the dead in exchange for their service for the living, observing taboos to ensure harmony between the world of the living and the ancient ones, various folk customs that have endured even though there’s a bit of Christianity layered on top of it.
Young RW guys will talk about "Tradition" and "Esotericism" > You point towards the direction of living Tradition and Esotericism > They scatter like frightened deers.
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"Animal sacrifice is trad and based!!!"
Although this pic is applied to Hindu practices in Nepal and India, something similar also took place in Ancient Europe. There are accounts of horses being buried alive with the fallen warrior and cats being buried alive for the purpose of getting a guardian for your property.
"You may pursue worldly fame and gain, but unless you follow the teachings of the Buddha, such activity will only be the cause for throwing you back into further samsara. So adhere to the teachings of the Buddha!”
"You may gather wealth and possessions, but only the two accumulations can be enjoyed after death. So gather the two accumulations as much as you can!”
"You may consume all kinds of delicious food, but unless you adhere to the nectar of the innate nature, it all turns into a heap of filth. So drink the nectar of the profound instructions!”
- Guru Rinpoche
This may be hard for some followers on here to follow along with, especially if Buddhism isn't something you are strong in. However, I figured some of you might enjoy the discourse, and the rest might enjoy my take on how to bring folk religion up within a dharmic approach. This is all in the spirit of debate and no insult is intended toward any party. I highly suggest people actually follow these channels for Dharmic understanding. I thank all of those involved for challenging me and bringing up great points for debate whereby we all may learn.
/channel/EgbertMorayFalls
/channel/vajrarastra
/channel/vajrazoomer
/channel/MosMithraici
Egbert have brought up some of the things I wanted to say, but he worded it better than I could so I’m not going to repeat things that have already been said.
I’m happy that people take the initiative to get initiated into Esoteric Buddhism. To participate in it’s depth and possibilities for you as a practitioner. However, getting into Esoteric Buddhism should be done on its own terms, as a Buddhist you place the doctrine on the top of your hierarchy. That is emptiness, impermanence, compassion for all sentient beings and so on, and only secondary can we be concerned with giving life to what remains of Pagan Europe.
We shouldn’t turn to the Dharma just to use it as a tool to justify Paganism, to resurrect the religious customs of the worldly aristocrats, commoners and peasants of ancient Europe. As if Buddhadharma were to be left behind once you have the paganism that you desire, which would be a foul insult to a very rich ancient religious tradition that have persisted through countless hardships and trials.
We can only make serious efforts with syncretism once we have years if not decades of mastery in the tradition we wish to use as a means by which we can give life to Pagan Europe.
I want to clarify a little about what I said above. In the third paragraph, based on the post I was responding to, I said "having recognised the need for initiation into a living tradition". Therefore, unless one is convinced of that point, the rest is largely irrelevant.
Then I suggested that, in order to open oneself up to the possibility of attainment, one must give up one's attachments to cultural particularity. Notice that what must be relinquished is not cultural particularity itself, but rather the attachment to that.
In the fifth paragraph I explicitly endorse syncretism as skilful means, but clarify that proper practice and proper motivation are the necessary prerequisites for the success of such means.
The rest of what I said merely lays out basic elements common to many esoteric paths: worldly impressions are impermanent and illusory, and the goal of practice is to liberate oneself for the sake of benefiting all others. If one cannot accept these premises one cannot begin to practice.
I say "many esoteric paths" because I want people to realise that this is not a matter of Buddhist dogmatism, it concerns the very essence of all spirituality, and that the result is neither a particular religious structuring of society, nor magic powers, but the actual experience of true reality that enables one to be of genuine benefit.
The reason I felt it necessary to write such statements is because I see people taking on vows, commitments, and initiations while seemingly failing to engage in the basic foundations. If one has recognised the spiritual malaise of the present, and has gone on to take vows and initiations, one must realise that one's own ideas are not sufficient to gide one towards a path to liberation, and that far from benefiting self and other, one's delusions are harmful to oneself and everyone around one.
It is with that understanding that I recommend putting off the desire to act on the yearning for syncretism, or cultural adaptation, until one has begun to successfully tame one's mind and negative mental patterns. Furthermore, to be humble in this endeavour, and not to assume that one is capable of what one is not.
My goal is not an Asian washed Buddhist west. It is a Western Canon and ritual path that reflects each groups expression but connects by to its original Indo-European understanding to rekindle the flame where it had its own paths similar to Buddhism, it's own Arya Dharma expressed through Folk religion restored to its proper place/throne.
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