[Buddha-l] Re: Where does authority for "true" Buddhism come from?

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Jim Peavler schreef:

>
> On Feb 4, 2006, at 7:47 AM, Erik Hoogcarspel wrote:
>
>>
>> Something real can only exist in time. So time must be real. Only  
>> the present moment exists however. The past is only what we  remember 
>> and the future is what we expect to happen. Time without  past and 
>> present cannot exist, therefore time doesn't exist, so  nothing exists.
>> In a more positive way several philosophers (a.o. Eliade, Husserl  
>> and Bourdieu) have stressed that we make time by thinking back and  
>> thinking ahead. So we do indeed dream our lifes (together).
>>
>
> Time is the thing other than distance and energy that changes when  
> two or more bodies move in relation to each other. If there were only  
> one body or if nothing moved there would be no time. (Maybe, if the  
> universe is actually one thing as its name implies, there is no time  
> for the universe.)
>
> Oh dear! Now I am completely confused!
>
Mister Confucius is a guru from a different sect, so don't go there.
A possible solution is to make  a difference between official time, 
which is a convention and the product of clocks and watches and 
experienced time. Physics is concerned with official time. This is 
however quite different from the time we experience ourselves. This is 
defined by the Buddha in the 4NT as suffering. For Buddhists there's a 
excellent way to study experienced time: by doing meditation. I suppose 
we all have found out that time plays some funny tricks when the mind 
calms down (a strong joint sometimes has similar effects).

-- 


Erik


www.xs4all.nl/~jehms