For those of you who believe in some type of afterlife be it Hell, Heaven, or some form of reward or punishment what do you beleive it takes to get there? Do you nescisarilly have to believe in that specific religion or will just overall being a good person get you there? Would an overall bad person who believes in that religion go to the paradise or a good person who doesn't believe?

Firstly, Nirvana is not Heaven. Nirvana is a state in which a soul becomes one with everything, essentially deifing himself. Heaven is where devote monotheistic folk end up if they say the hail mary before bed.

Basically, you get to Heaven by worshipping and acknowledging God. You can be the best damned person in the world, but still end up in hell if you doubt an omniscient being. Nirvana you reach upon death and complete enlightenment. Basically, you get the mansion when you realize you don't need it.

If you do not reach Nirvana after death, depending on how good a being you were, you would either advance or descend the caste system. You know, go from human to dog if you took the priest's mother out to dinner and never called her back, or from dog to human if you never once licked another dog's anus.

Taoism says you will reach one afterlife shared by the good and the evil.

Hmmm...can't think of any more.

quote:Originally posted by VictimKing:



Hmmm...can't think of any more.

And Tupac believes in "Thug Mansion", where gangsters live out their inexistence partying, smoking, and raping.

quote:Originally posted by Xerxes89:

And Tupac believes in "Thug Mansion", where gangsters live out their inexistence partying, smoking, and raping.

True visionary...

what was that about 40 wives and bowls and bowls of hashish?

You'll reach Nirvana once you stop thinking of enlightenment as a thing, and think of it as your state of being.

quote:Originally posted by Rizzo in a box:

You'll reach Nirvana once you stop thinking of enlightenment as a thing, and think of it as your state of being.

How can you reach something that is both boundless, and yet, nowhere at once?

Also, Nirvana is beyond the polarities of state and non-state. Nirvana shouldn't even be seen as an objective, because you'll be lost in the fog of your own unguarded thoughts. Many Zen masters tell their disciples to forget about what they think they know of enlightenment due to it's obstruction of progress.

What should be reached for is the peeling of this egotistic onion, layer by excrutiating layer. The less layers, the less woeful your existence will be. http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif)

[This message has been edited by NurotiK_SykotiK (edited 12-30-2006).]

quote:Originally posted by VictimKing:

Firstly, Nirvana is not Heaven. Nirvana is a state in which a soul becomes one with everything, essentially deifing himself. Heaven is where devote monotheistic folk end up if they say the hail mary before bed.

Basically, you get to Heaven by worshipping and acknowledging God. You can be the best damned person in the world, but still end up in hell if you doubt an omniscient being. Nirvana you reach upon death and complete enlightenment. Basically, you get the mansion when you realize you don't need it.

If you do not reach Nirvana after death, depending on how good a being you were, you would either advance or descend the caste system. You know, go from human to dog if you took the priest's mother out to dinner and never called her back, or from dog to human if you never once licked another dog's anus.

Taoism says you will reach one afterlife shared by the good and the evil.

Hmmm...can't think of any more.

As stated earlier, Nirvana is not a "state" cannot be categorized and is beyond intellctualization or concepetual thought.

The literal meaning of which is "to extinguish [desires]."

That which transcends the mundane and "enters" nirvana is not a soul. The concept of the ego-soul doesn't coincide with Buddhist doctrine as a reality (assuming that you meant nirvana in Buddhist context). From a traditional standpoint, the soul is the most subtle, permanent, and indestructible part of an individual. If anything that composes the human being is to realize nirvana, it would be consciousness in junction with a multitude of mental devices used to increase awareness, virtue, and sensitivity to the mind.

There are two types of nirvana. The first nirvana is realization attained while still alive (there are many varying degrees). The second is parinirvana which can only be realized at death, but the individual will have to have attained complete enlightenment in life.

If nirvana isn't attained in life or upon the advent of death, an individual's stream of consciousness will be transferred to another life. That succeeding life depends on the build-up of past karma. Particularly, the psycho-emotional processes that occur in someone's mind before death have a great impact on their next destination. There are an infinite number of destinations, but there are particular categories. There are three realms a being can be born into: form, formless, and sense. There are also five different types of forms you could be reborn as: deva, asura, human, animal, hell-being. All of the aforementioned are impermanent and your stay in each particular area depends on karmic influence.

Bah, I'm tired and probably didn't articulate my points well. Who gives a fuck, I'm going to sleep.

quote:Originally posted by NurotiK_SykotiK:

How can you reach something that is both boundless, and yet, nowhere at once?

Also, Nirvana is beyond the polarities of state and non-state. Nirvana shouldn't even be seen as an objective, because you'll be lost in the fog of your own unguarded thoughts. Many Zen masters tell their disciples to forget about what they think they know of enlightenment due to it's obstruction of progress.

What should be reached for is the peeling of this egotistic onion, layer by excrutiating layer. The less layers, the less woeful your existence will be. http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif)



Heh, that's basically what I was trying to say.

NurotiK_SykotiK +1