In early June (2012), the Rakhine State of Western Myanmar saw extensive violence and rioting between ethnic Burmese Buddhists and their ethnic Rohingya Muslim neighbours that was so destructive in its viciousness, that tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims were forced from their homes, and to flee for safety to neighbouring countries.
Category: Buddhism
Exploring the philosophy (and practice) of Early and Later Buddhism.
The Fabrication of Burma in the Western Mind
Burmese Buddhists living in the Rakhine State view themselves as ‘ethic’ inhabitants of Myanmar, and state that Islamic militants regularly attack their villages and Buddhist temples, carrying-out acts of rape, torture and murder. The point of this activity is to ‘cleanse’ the area of the ethnic Burmese and their Buddhist culture.
The Material Basis of Buddhist ‘Consciousness’ (Vijnana)
Instead, the Buddha reiterated that different types consciousness arises out of specific material conditions, and that without the presence of these specific material conditions, the different types of consciousness do not arise. The concept of Buddhist consciousness does not constitute a theistic ‘atma’, or ‘soul’ that stands in opposition to the material world, but is in fact a product of conditions arising out of the material world.
Email: Buddha, Nagarjuna, Plotinus and the World of Matter (6.9.2017)
Dear N Thank you for your very interesting Plotinus quotation and Nagarjuna-related question. The tetralemma of the Indian Buddhist monk Nagarjuna states: 1) All exists.
The Buddha’s Material Mind
Given that the Buddha’s theory of mind is purely materialistic (with conscious awareness being a special arrangement of matter due to the evolutionary process as described by the Buddha in the Agganna Sutta), why is Buddhism still often misrepresented as a ‘religion’?
The Connection Between the Perception of Inner and Outer Space
Today, through the use of advanced technology and mathematics we know that this is scientifically correct. This would suggest that Democritus had an experience no less important than the enlightenment of the Buddha, as it radically redefined humanity’s perception of reality and existence, and yet generally speaking, there are no temples containing statues of Democritus, or people applying a meditative method to replicate his mode of thought.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 