[Buddha-l] Re: Meditating Buddha

[Benito Carral]

On Friday, January 20, 2006, Stefan Detrez wrote:

> First, you suggest that enlightenment is some sort of
> 'mood'  you  can  plunge  yourself into, which is not
> exactly  characteristic  of  the  permanent nature of
> Nirvana.

   Not  at  all,  I say that the Buddha "natural" state
was deep jhana.

> Second,  an  all-time  meditating Buddha would not be
> very   socially  active  and,  especially,  not  very
> succesful in the proselytical sphere.

   I  don't  think  that  the  Buddha was worried about
being  socially  active.  He  spent most of his time in
deep  jhana  and  also spent some time teaching. And it
seems that he was wise enough to do it.

> Third, you assume that the Buddha spreads the Dharma,
> 'because he feels like it'.

   Again, not at all, I'm afraid that you have not read
my  message.  As I said, the Buddha "natural" state was
deep  jhana  and he went out of it from time to time to
teach  his disciples. At first the Buddha was not going
to teach but someone convinced him otherwise.

   For  the  Buddha  and his followers, the goal was to
stop  the  rebirth  cycle,  this  life  was  a  painful
consequence  of bad karma, so they didn't feel any need
of  going  around enjoying the show. Life was a kind of
purgatory  and  arhats  were happy because knew all was
over for them.

   Of  course,  Westerners  don't  tend  to  like to be
remembered  of  this  and  are  trying  to rewrite what
Buddhism is.

   Best wishes,

   Beni