I also have this idea in my head that good and bad deeds influence your energy body, and you get angel wings or a beastly look (hooves, hairy legs, claws and fangs). And I swear I saw wings on ER medics. And I think that when a man with sins approaches such an angelic person, his demonic appearance manifests and can be seen… I just don’t understand why there are no angels in Asian cultures. There, saints (bodhisattvas) have multiple hands to help all in need, not wings. Maybe these hands are similar to wings..
Before I discovered Hinduism, I thought that it was the Buddha who introduced the ideas of karma and reincarnation. However, he actually took them from Hinduism. The Buddha himself contributed his own insights – that the root of suffering lies in desires, and by escaping from desires, one becomes happy. But here’s my question: is that even possible through an act of will? I mean, if you try to force yourself to “stop wanting,” aren’t you just suppressing that energy and ending up wanting it even more?
So the ideas of reincarnation and karma are eternal… they have existed and will continue to exist for as long as humanity itself exists, while the ancient teachings are merely the written records that have survived to our time.
And Buddhists and Hindus do think about monotheism. And monotheists think about reincarnation and karma.
What I mean is that we need to separate the eternal Dhamma (reincarnation and karma), which is universal, and the ideas introduced by the Buddha, which are essentially his personal vision.
The analogy with reincarnations as dominoes is interesting – when they are lined up in a row and the first domino falls on the second, and so on – that is samsara. And no questions arise when it is a closed circle, i.e., if the end is the beginning.
But if the circle is broken by Nirvana (Moksha), then a question immediately arises – one that the Buddha refused to answer: if someone who has completely paid off their karma has no more bad karma and has attained Nirvana (timelessness), then what initiates a new cycle of samsara? Where does the karma for a new life come from?
I’m studying ancient philosophy now. It’s interesting that in the 5th-4th centuries BCE, ideas that would later appear in world religions and political systems had already been articulated.
For example, Plato’s idea of the Demiurge as a creator is quite close to the biblical narrative – in both a man was first created after a women. He also had his own version of a socialist system, according to which the ruling class (philosophers and warriors) should own no property, money, or families – neither men nor women. The lower classes, however, may have all these things.
It’s also interesting that Pythagoras believed in reincarnation and was a vegetarian for that reason. The first recorded idea of saṃsāra and karma appeared in Upanishads in India earlier, in the 8th century BCE.
It’s also worth noting that the Christian ethic of humility was preceded by the ideas of the Stoics, who taught that an ascetic life elevates the spirit.
In short, the Buddha Gautama said that the Dhamma (the teaching) has always existed, and the role of past and future Buddhas is to rediscover the eternal teaching for people who have forgotten it.
Observed: a security guard from a provincial town with delusions of grandeur. He claims he is God because he sold his soul to the devil and will become God after death. No real achievements, does not study, unskilled labor, drinks alcohol, uses substances, watches TV. I met him because he left a profile on an asexual dating site. It turned out he lied for unclear reasons and is actually a regular sexual person. Blocked.
From GPT chat:
Important point:
Grandiose delusions often arise in people who:
feel inner helplessness,
experience strong frustration,
live in limited conditions,
have a chronic sense of unfulfillment.
The mind compensates:
“Right now I am nobody, but actually I am chosen.”
This is not anger or stupidity – it is the psyche’s way of coping with pain.
About Christianity… they obey miracles – virgin birth and resurrection from dead…. why not to obey Motherhood as self-sacrifice and a moral person who died for own faith… why do they need to invent these miracles?
