Re: CHAT: Homo Sapiens (was: fiery spirits)

At 19:59 26.10.2003, Ray Brown wrote:

>To my Buddhist feelings
>some non-human beings, and certainly the
>Bodhisattvas and the (lower-case) gods, would.)
>
>Were not Bodhisattvas once members of the human race
>just like most of those Christian revere as saints.
Certainly one or several human births is a require-
ment on the path to becoming a bodhisattva(*), while
being a Bodhisattva is not a requirement for being
regarded as a saint (aarya).  Certainly an aarya is
usually expected to be on the road to becoming a
bodhisattva, but then so is everyone who has taken
the Refuge.  I have some trouble nailing down exactly
what makes a being qualify as aarya, but it seems
certain that arhats as well as bodhisattvas count as
aaryas, while not all arhats are bodhisattvas.

I'm not even sure that the great ones who wrote the
revered texts, canonical or not, had the exact relative
semantics of these terms worked out.  A true bodhisattva
probably and a buddha certainly would have it sorted out,
but I hope they would regard these semantic distinctions
less important than saving suffering beings!

(*) While it is necessary for an aspiring bodhisattva
to have been human at some point, having been male is
not a necessity.  There is a story where the godess and
bodhisattva Taara brings this point home to some male
chauvinist clergymen!

/BP 8^)
--
B.Philip Jonsson mailto:melrochX@melroch.se (delete X)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__
                A h-ammen ledin i phith!                \ \
     __  ____ ____    _____________ ____ __   __ __     / /
     \ \/___ \\__ \  /___  _____/\ \\__ \\ \  \ \\ \   / /
     / /   / /  /  \    / /Melroch\ \_/ // /  / // /  / /
    / /___/ /_ / /\ \  / /'Aestan ~\_  // /__/ // /__/ /
   /_________//_/  \_\/ /Eowine __  / / \___/\_\\___/\_\
Gwaedhvenn Angeliniel\ \______/ /a/ /_h-adar Merthol naun
  ~~~~~~~~~Kuinondil~~~\________/~~\__/~~~Noolendur~~~~~~
|| Lenda lenda pellalenda pellatellenda kuivie aiya! ||
"A coincidence, as we say in Middle-Earth" (JRR Tolkien)