Nalanda University reopens after hundreds of years!

[DesiGuy]

Well then you are not meeting the right kind. Buddha may or may not have been a reformer considering 99% of the philosophical base of Hinduism and Buddhism are same and how the people of these 2 faiths practice it is also similar as has been proved by this thread even to this date.

There were many many reformers in Hinduism all along since Hinduism is not a static religion.

Just out of curiosity, Ancient Buddhism which is theravada...isn't it closely related to vedanta? one of many branches of thoughts in hindusim?

 

[Indrani]

Those peaceful debates might have taken place when Buddhism had royal patronage but as soon as it ceased the brahmins might have started using violence to take revenge in Buddhists whose philosophy deprived them of their previous status.That may or may not be the case but there was a possibility.so to dismiss someone's claims of brahmans harassing Buddhists is not so fair.That argument indeed has solid case

That is such a dishonest argument. There is no proof whatsoever. You cannot just bring in all sorts of claim and pass it off as learned truth just to suit your political bias. You can as well say the Martians have come to earth and ate up all the Dinosaurs. There is a possibility of that having happened so to dismiss our claims of Martians eating up Dinosaurs is not fair.

 

[Daedalus]

Then get drunk more often.
It seems to be good for you!!!

I want to but im trying to cut down now, its been over a month since my last drink.
I am also avoiding getting drunk with my gujju friends, one of them is a kongressi and very religious.

 

[dravidianhero]

So with NO proof that Brahmins started killing Buddhists when royal patronage ended, you're ready to believe in the story.

In case you didn't notice, Shankaracharya winning debates against Buddhist scholars meant that Brahmins were capable of preserving their importance and role in society through their intellect too.

I am neither believing it nor denying it;all I am saying is that there was scope for violence and the so called Marxist historians might not be totally wrong .

 

[Indrani]

Roman kings converted to Christianity long time after people first started converting.later on those very kings contributed to the spread of christianity;why couldn't the same have happened in case of Buddhism

That is what happened. It was with Ashoka that Buddhism began to become popular, not before him.

 

[Gibbs]

You're welcome.
Discussions like this are very refreshing even enlightening without getting into the realm of bigotry and dogmatism.
And we have so many great contributors like @Chinese-Dragon, @Gibbs and @Nihonjin1051 (among others) helping us to learn something.

Like wise.. It's a refreshing thread sans the usual rhetoric and abuse you confront in a religion based subject matter.. By Buddhists and non Buddhists alike.. Very interesting insights to a major philosophy of mankind

 

[Indischer]

I am neither believing it nor denying it;all I am saying is that there was scope for violence and the so called Marxist historians might not be totally wrong .

History ain't a Religion for me. So no acceptance sans proof, sorry.

I don't care what any historian has to say in this matter. Unless they show me proof of alleged violence perpetrated by Brahmins against Buddhists/Shaivites against Vaishnavites and vice verse, I'm not going to pay heed to their opinions.

 

[Gibbs]

So are Japanese Buddhists vegetarian?

Buddhists are not vegetarian.. Only monks and nuns are.. Buddha never preached vegetarianism

 

[dravidianhero]

History ain't a Religion for me. So no acceptance sans proof, sorry.

I don't care what any historian has to say in this matter. Unless they show me proof of alleged violence perpetrated by Brahmins against Buddhists/Shaivites against Vaishnavites and vice verse, I'm not going to pay heed to their opinions.

OK brother;no problem

 

[Indrani]

Just out of curiosity, Ancient Buddhism which is theravada...isn't it closely related to vedanta? one of many branches of thoughts in hindusim?

I am not very well versed in the Buddhist school of thoughts. To me the Mahayana and Vajrayana seem more close to Vedanta.

 

[Yogijaat]

I am neither believing it nor denying it;all I am saying is that there was scope for violence and the so called Marxist historians might not be totally wrong .

yaar even brahmins did shastrarth with each other and sometimes they even taken samdhi after loosing the debate.

 

[DarkSeid]

Buddhists are not vegetarian.. Only monks and nuns are.. Buddha never preached vegetarianism

not Sri Lankan monks
and Dalai Lama Says Eating Meat Not Always Against Monk’s Principles

 

[Indrani]

OK brother;no problem

Koenraad Elst: The Buddha and Caste

 

[kṣamā]

I am relay flabbergasted. I have been a half a decade on this forum, never before I had seen a thread with such harmony. Truly PDF sans trolls is a place for intellectuals.

I may be hailed as a troll but here is my take on Hinduism. If it offends you please excuse me. I think our ancestors where great philosophers and thinkers. As rightly said by some one before Hinduism/Buddhism have great ideas but they are too deep to swallow. Now I ask how will a highly educated man pass on his knowledge to common folks ?? He definitely have to water down these ideas to bite sizes for the common joeys. Hence they became avid story tellers. They created heroes and villains. they created avid romantics between those heroes and their loved ones. They created every single aspect that would capture the minds of the common folks.

But they where cleaver in these stories they embedded their years of learning, those lessons that will teach humans to live a full life. But the folks where indeed very crude. Like the audiences of today's movies they started looking up to the actors and forgot the story. Slowly and steadily the fan following started to worship these actors (quite literally) . And look what we have now. We have the actors but we hardly notice the subtle story.

Donn believe me ? Fair enough. The Ramayana is a great example. It portrays how a family should be. What a man should and should not do. What a wife should and should not do. If you look at the story and forget about the actors, one can notice that it teaches us how small things can have grave and great consequences. It tries to teach us by making the actor act mistakes on their behalf and let the audience witness the consequences of those mistakes. There is a boat full of teachings which we can take away from it. But alas a few intellectually challenged minds emphasize on actors and not on what they try to teach us.

Mahabharata takes on a direct approach. It gives us Bhagwat Gita. And I dare not say about it. It has more than enough to question our daily doings.

But if these are not enough ask these questions:-
1. Is it biologically possible to have an elephant head on a human body ?? Or was the narrator of the story trying to tell that there was a boy who had memory (Brain) as big as an elephant ?? Actor in question is our beloved Ganesha.

2. Is it even possible to have a person with 10 heads ?? Or was the narrator of the story trying to describe a person with an intellectual powers of 10 ordinary people ?? Or that person can think in 10 different mind set ?? Actor in question is the wise Ravana.

As for me I am an atheist. But I embrace the ideas of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. I do not blindly follow faith, but question what is said.

 

[Soumitra]

Sabharwal said there were two reasons for starting on a small note as she wanted the students and teachers to settle down, and that Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj would be visiting on September 14.
"We have decided to have a big function when Swaraj visits NU on September 14. By that time things will settle down and the media glare will also decrease to some extent," Sabharwal added.

I would have liked Modi or Dr. Kalam to inaugrate it on September 5 (Gurutsav )