[Buddha-l] Re: Pennsylvania and crying Buddhas

[Benito Carral]

On Thursday, October 6, 2005, Jamie Hubbard wrote:

>> I  don't  know many buddhas who are comedians. Well,
>> now that I mention it, I don't know many buddhas.

> So,  I  take  it that you know some Buddhas--how many
> Buddhas do you know?

   I'm  an  ironic,  so  I  was  writing  following  my
non-buddha nature. Maybe I have met a few buddhas in my
life  and  I  have failed in recognizing them, and it's
quite  probable  given  that  I don't consider myself a
buddha.  What  I  know  that  I have met are some quite
special  individuals  as  the  late Jydin or Thich Nhat
Hanh?

> BTW, I am entirely serious about this-- I am offering
> a  seminar on "Buddhahood 101" next semester, and the
> question  of  just what constitutes Buddhahood is the
> entire  topic, all of which is somewhat in service of
> answering the question of whether or not anybody is a
> Buddha these days.

   It's  a  quite  interesting  question  and  I'm  not
specially  original  here.  Some  times I'm in an early
Buddhist  mood  and  would say that a buddha is someone
who  has  fully  transformed  greed  in non-attachment,
hatred  in  peace, and stupidity in wisdom. Other times
I'm  in a Prajnaparamita-Chan mood and would say that a
buddha  is  someone  who knows that there is no one who
helps  nor anyone to be helped but ceaselessly tries to
help  everyone to live in a peaceful way. I love family
life  so  I  think  Vimalakirti is closer to my idea of
buddha than the Old Indian guy. Anyway, when everything
else falls apart, I think that the Old Indian guy's way
is one of the best. My two cents.

   Best wishes,

   Beni