[Buddha-l] A friendly Quaker-Buddhist debate

[S.A. Feite]

On Jun 10, 2011, at 5:33 PM, Curt Steinmetz wrote:

> It is a common misconception that the Buddha himself decided that he was 
> enlightened, and that that was that.
> 
> In fact, the Buddha sat at the feet of the two (count 'em, two) 
> different gurus, both of whom "certified" that he had learned everything 
> they had to teach. But even after that he went and practiced austerities 
> until he had managed to reach the point where he was about to physically 
> die, and he was able to see in his own mind that he had no fear of 
> physical death or attachment to his body at all. But even after that he 
> continued meditation practice until he reached the point where he was 
> finally "almost there", by his own estimation. And then at that point 
> Mara let him have it with everything all at once. And then the Buddha 
> called upon the Earth Goddess, and She obligingly obliterated Mara and 
> his demon hordes, AND THEN, well, as the old saying goes, a miracle 
> occurred (http://ofgodandlogic.com/morality/miracle/images/math.gif).
> 
> So if we are to follow the Buddha's example properly, we should first 
> get the approval of TWO living masters and (very politely) reject them 
> both as insufficient, and then practice austerities to the point of 
> death, and then practice meditation until the Gods Themselves show up 
> and do terrible battle right there in front of us.


Great answer!