Actually #100, I think... Edition!Christian Esotericism is the inner and/or mystical aspect of the Christian Religion, it includes:>Christian Gnosis (Clement of Alexandria)>Desert Fathers Spirituality (Evagrius Ponticus)>Catholic Contemplative Tradition (Bonaventure)>Hesychasm (Gregory Palamas)>Chivalry (Wolfram von Eschenbach)>Christian Alchemy (George Ripley)>Rhineland Mysticism (Meister Eckhart)>Christian Cabala (Johannes Reuchlin)>Paracelsianism (Paracelsus)>Rosicrucianism (Robert Fludd)>Christian theosophy (Jakob Böhme)>Martinism (Louise Claude de Saint-Martin)>Swedenborgianism (Swedenborg)>Magical Idealism (Novalis)>Romanticism (Baader)>Anthroposophy (Rudolf Steiner)>Sophiology (Sergei Bulgakov)>Christian Hermeticism (Valentin Tomberg)>Fourth Way (Boris Mouravieff)>Christian Traditionalism (Jean Borella)And much more, so let's continue to talk about it!>Resources (WIP)https://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/cp.htmhttps://jacobboehmeonline.com/https://archive.org/details/awakening-to-divine-wisdom-christian-initiation-into-three-worl-nodrm_202202/mode/1uphttps://janelead.org/resources.htmlhttps://archive.org/details/bookofcontemplat00unde/https://archive.org/details/rudolf-steiner-book-collection/https://swedenborg.com/bookstore/free-ebooks-downloads/https://www.giffordlectures.org/books/theosophy-or-psychological-religionhttps://www.gornahoor.net/?page_id=47https://archive.org/details/meditations-on-the-tarot/https://files.catbox.moe/8n4061.djvu (Meditations on the Tarot)https://eliasartista.substack.com/https://passtheword.org>Best Biblehttps://catenabible.com/mt/1
>>38907117Previous thread >>38826602
>>38905615Right after I finished deleting the last of my pirated movies and TV shows, years and years of content I had pirated, there was one image left in my hard drive that I don't remember saving there. It was pic related, I think it's God's way of saying, "Good job."
>>38907117
>>38905451>Are you ex-Buddhist anon?That was a different ex-Buddhist anon, apparently there's two of us here. I agree with what he said, though. There's some value in some Buddhist teachings but ultimately it's dragged down by delusion and hatred of all life.It's sad seeing it kind of catch on with some Christians, but I understand why it does.
>>38907498Buddhism is a mind virus honestly. It makes you "lesser". I spent a long time thinking it was expanding my views when it fact it was disintegrating them. When I realized Christ was the Truth, it felt like being alive again.
>>38907720>I spent a long time thinking it was expanding my views when it fact it was disintegrating them. When I realized Christ was the Truth, it felt like being alive again.This aligns 100% with my experience, too. If there's one thing I have to thank Buddhism for, it's that through it I carved myself out into a near-empty vessel, which in a way prepared me to receive Christ. On my way out of Buddhism I was completely spiritually dead except for my desire for truth and that gut feeling that things should be better than they are, and that's when He reached out to me (or maybe I should say, when I realized He was there).
>>38907815>that's when He reached out to meWe've had similar experiences, huh. I can't really pinpoint a "moment" where I realized Christ's presence, it was progressive and I can't even say what exactly triggered this change, but I felt guided towards Him and before I knew it, it had become evident.I agree with you that emptiness can help in ridding you of some unwanted ideas, but it can also have adverse effects precisely because Buddhism trains you to deconstruct and atomize everything. It has no Logos.
>>38907900Love is what will get you back to Christ
When I was ~12 years old, I had a dream where, during a storm, the earth opened up and I was swallowed up, along with (if I remember correctly) some young teachers and coaches. I believe there were 4-5 of us in total.We found ourselves in a golden labyrinth, full of horrors and holy relics alike. I remember a series of challenges, like a swarm of insects (perhaps locusts?) and tests of our morality. I don't remember the specifics (honestly the fact that I remember anything about it at all is kind of tripping me up...), but only 3 of us made it to the end.In the end, we were purged of our sins and, so long as we lived a holy path free of mortal sin through the remainder of our lives, we would be taken directly to Heaven on death.One of the three of us immediately went to sin to cope with the trauma from the experience. The other two of us were optimistic and had redoubled our relationship with God.It wasn't until nearly 15 years later that I came across depictions of Purgatory as a labyrinth, and only today did I hear of the story of Sir Owain in St Patrick's Purgatory, which has a very similar premise to my dreamI knew the dream was important and wrote the details down when i woke up... but can't remember where I wrote them.Did I experience something real here?? Or is this pure coincidence?
>>38907900It was a gradual buildup of being drawn towards Christ for me, too, but there was a moment where I became certain of it. I don't know when exactly the buildup itself started, I would have to say somewhere between the first time I read through a good amount of the Bible in an attempt to find "ammunition" against it and feel like I had verified my shallow conceptions of Christianity as a Buddhist. Even when I was a Buddhist I got watery-eyed through the first Gospel I read. After that I went through a brief period of interest in Gnosticism because much of it appeals to the same kind of person that Buddhism does, ie:>can't believe in or comprehend a purely good creator god/can't reconcile God in the OT to Jesus in the NT>believes the material world is inherently bad because of aging, illness and death but not connecting this to The Fall>believes they have to make progress purely by their own effortsGnosticism itself didn't really stick with me but it did more firmly lodge Jesus in my mind. The Gospel of Thomas in particular served as a kind of weird bridge between Buddhism/Gnosticism and Christianity proper for me.>but it can also have adverse effects precisely because Buddhism trains you to deconstruct and atomize everything. It has no Logos.Oh definitely. I still have this "chronic doubt" or cognitive dissonance of a sort because of my time in Buddhism. As an example, I'm fully ready to be martyred for Christ if necessary, but at the same time I have an extremely difficult time mentally "registering" the concept of Heaven/New Earth/eternity. Maybe that's normal, though.
>>38908024Nice dream Anon, may God guide you on the correct path as he is trying with dreams
>>38907950A funny thing happened right when I started finding my way to Christianity, where I was walking on the street and wondering about whether it was true or not, and suddenly I stumbled upon a billboard with a picture of a fish on it, which said (translated to English) "he will save you". Never saw that advertisement again.
>>38908047>coincidenceNothing is a coincidence anon i hope you understand that
>>38908046I'd love to find similar examples. When I heard the story of Owain, it blew my mind... I think I need to go back and re-read PurgatorioI want to learn more about what I experienced, and what it may mean
>>38908068you will learn more with more dreams
>>38908034I'm still reading through the OT. What are your favorite parts?I agree with you, there's an emotional quality to the Gospels that I haven't found anywhere else. At best, Buddhism has been intellectually gratifying; interesting, but never truly moving. Jesus' life and death, on the other hand, have to be purposefully disregarded/mocked in order for that emotion to be toned down, if that makes sense.I was (still somewhat am) interested in Gnosticism too, for the reasons you stated. Also the metaphysics and cosmology being particularly interesting. All in all though, Sophia's mistake and the Fall are very similar and can be conceptually reconciled, I think.>"chronic doubt"Yeah. Are you actively fighting against it?>Maybe that's normalMaybe. I feel the same. It's very hard for me to visualize these things. I have intuitions, or impressions, but they fail to capture the grand scheme of things. I guess that's why they're called mysteries.>>38908059Yeah, my rational mind immediately went "nah bro this is a coincidence" and at that moment, as if to make fun of that thought I just had, I saw a car with a 777 on its plate. I don't usually experience synchronicity type events like this, so I'm definitely thinking it was meaningful.
This dream was probably 15 years ago. I need to research with the information that i was given, which i was too young to understand the importance of studying
>>38908083>I saw a car with a 777 on its plateThis is divine intervention, God might want something from you
>>38908088I'm not sure what. This happened not too long ago, like 3 weeks tops, since then I've tried to pray, reading the Bible, and I'm going to attend mass soon and try to talk to a priest in order to get baptized. But I don't know what God could want from me.
>>38908094God want a lot of stuff usually and will give you a set of tasks once you get enlightened
>>38908109>once you get enlightenedWhat does that mean? Baptized?
>>38908112talking freely with the holy spirit
>>38908133I'm still far from that, I think.
>>38908135You might get there at some point, just be good
Is this thread plagued by Satanists like you faggots do when there's a Satanism general up? Yeah that's right didn't think ao
>>38908083>I'm still reading through the OT. What are your favorite parts?I haven't gotten back to the OT yet, I decided I should read through all of the NT first this time. I did re-read Genesis though, because I always loved it even as a Buddhist (and Proverbs, which I probably liked for its practicality) and Genesis 3:15 is something I think about a lot, now that I know what it's referring to.>Jesus' life and death, on the other hand, have to be purposefully disregarded/mocked in order for that emotion to be toned down, if that makes sense.Absolutely. One of the things that lead me of Buddhism was realizing I can't just dismiss all such stories of self-sacrifice as ultimately illusory and meaningless anymore.>I was (still somewhat am) interested in Gnosticism too, for the reasons you stated. Also the metaphysics and cosmology being particularly interesting. All in all though, Sophia's mistake and the Fall are very similar and can be conceptually reconciled, I think.I'm going to have to read through the Nag Hammadi library again once I'm better versed in Christianity, but to me it seems like a mixed bag, some things can be reconciled by shifting terminology slightly and then other things seem to be just completely bizarre and out of place.>Yeah. Are you actively fighting against it?Yes, I've been trying to work more on faith from the heart, rather than just faith from the head. I think I've neglected the heart during my time as an atheist and as a Buddhist.
>>38908185>lead me of Buddhismlead me out of Buddhism*
>>38908185>Genesis 3:15Haha. I liked how it was referenced in the Passion movie. But man, all the subtle allusions to Christ in the OT are insane. Abraham meeting Jesus, the tabernacle foreshadowing the Son of Man, it all comes together.>stories of self-sacrifice as ultimately illusory and meaninglessYeah that's why I think it's demonic. The system will have an effect on your mind, but it leads to death. The most pernicious thing about Buddhism is that it works.>other things seem to be just completely bizarreDepends on the texts. Some are more grounded, others are a metaphysical mess full of extremely strange symbols and events. The Hypostasis of the Archons for example, or the Books of Jeu/Bruce Codex are pure schizoposting from antiquity. On the other hand the Gospel of Philip, Thunder Perfect Mind and the Song of the Pearl are interesting, quite beautiful even. The last one isn't in the Nag Hammadi though I think, and it's even praised by some Orthodox churches today due to being easily reconciled with Christian doctrine.>faith from the heartIt's difficult. As you say, we've learned to rationalize things and kinda mute the heart.
>>38908185>I can't just dismiss all such stories of self-sacrifice as ultimately illusory and meaningless anymore.Self-sacrifice is the very essence of Buddhism. It is amazing that people can become so attached to Buddhism and also completely miss such an obvious and fundamental point. It's great that Christ taught you to appreciate the importance of self-sacrifice, but don't misunderstand the Buddhists when you oppose them, or you will expose Christianity to ridicule.
>>38908544Explain what you mean by self-sacrifice, and explain how I am wrong and what you believe to be right.
>>38907197>>38907230>>38907272I love those.
>>38908616Sacrifice comes from the Latin sacra + facere, "to make holy," thus anything united to the Cross of Christ, the true sacrifice, is made holy and pleasing to God. It is the Cross itself that reveals the deeper meaning. Self-sacrifice is the complete and final surrender of oneself to the will of God: "into Thy hands I commend my spirit."Buddhism teaches that in order to be happy, you ought to renounce everything. In this respect it does not differ from Christianity. In order to lose everything you must lose yourself, inasmuch as yourself is something; and in order to lose yourself, you must also lose everything, inasmuch as there remains no one to whom everything would be available. It might be said that if Buddha was enlightened under the bodhi tree, Christ was enlightened from all eternity, because His enlightenment is one with His generation by the Father. A sincere Buddhist ought to be able to recognize the truth of this.
>>38908826>Self-sacrifice is the complete and final surrender of oneself to the will of God...There is no equivalent of the Christian God in Buddhism. Now my knowledge of Hinduism is weak, so I apologize if I'm wrong as to what Brahma is, but my understanding is that he's the creator deity of Hinduism. When Buddhism approaches the idea of a creator deity, it does so in two ways. The first is "don't ask, don't think about it, that's a distraction from the path" in regards to anybody asking how the universe was formed, or if there is or isn't a creator god, etc. The second is denying that Brahma is a creator deity, and asserting that "someone" reincarnated as Brahma one day. Brahma wanted to share existence with others, and as he was thinking that thought, more "someones" reincarnated into his realm as devas, so Brahma assumed he created them. Buddhism states Brahmas are born, die and reborn. I'm working from memory here and I can find the suttas for you if you want, though it's always a pain trying to navigate the Pali Canon.>Buddhism teaches that in order to be happy, you ought to renounce everything. In this respect it does not differ from Christianity...That's a gross over-generalization that makes the two sound closer than they really are. Jesus says you must be willing to sacrifice what you have to follow Him, and gain eternal life in paradise, the restored creation. Buddha says you must extinguish all passion and desire, so that you can never exist ever again. God says all that He created is good. Buddha compares creation to a burning house, a mountain of bones, or feces under his fingernail.>A sincere Buddhist ought to be able to recognize the truth of this.If there were a way to reconcile Buddhism and Christianity, I would have found it. There are enough like you who try to but do so unconvincingly, or who have a naive and shallow view of what Buddhism is truly about that I feel the need to do what I can to better represent the truth.
>>38909021>There is no equivalent of the Christian God in Buddhism. Now my knowledge of Hinduism is weak, so I apologize if I'm wrong as to what Brahma is, but my understanding is that he's the creator deity of Hinduism.The Creator, according to the Christian conception, in Hinduism is named Ishvara. Brahma is one aspect of Ishvara. God's attributes are reflected in His angels. Thus, the angel that reflects His eternal fecundity is very close in concept to Brahma. So much for the second piece of advice that you mention. As to the first, the same advice is offered to the reader in the Cloud of Unknowing, in which instance it is a matter of words versus things. The thought of God is put under the divine gloom inasmuch as that thought is not identical to Him and therefore ultimately unworthy of the soul's love. This is mystical prayer.>That's a gross over-generalization that makes the two sound closer than they really are.I did specify in precisely what respect they were the same, it was not a generalization. When God says that all He created is good, this is because He is the being of all that He created. At other times He speaks on the utter vanity of this world and sounds more like the Buddha. It is possible to affirm both because of the darkness of the intellect that has issued from original sin. It is also due to original sin that the spirit is subjected to all passion and desire. Extinction as the Buddhists understand it could only come by God's grace because it is the loss of this grace that has resulted in the illusion of "existence" (which is not the same as being).>If there were a way to reconcile Buddhism and Christianity, I would have found it.There is no way to reconcile them and no point in trying. I am not trying to harmonize them, I just don't see the same contradictions you do. The promises of Christ are fundamentally uninteresting to Buddhists because their understanding of the Gospel is shallow or nonexistent and not for ideological reasons.
>>38909131>There is no way to reconcile them and no point in trying. I am not trying to harmonize them...Then what is your purpose with these posts? What you write sounds very much typical of those who approach a religion with the intent to syncretize, reading into them things that are agreeable while being blind to or dismissing major differences.
>>38908826If there is no God in Buddhism, or God is irrelevant to Buddhism, then the kind of sacrifice you describe does not exist within Buddhism. Love, compassion and mercy - which were what drove God to send His only Son to sacrifice Himself to save mankind - do not truly exist within Buddhism, which claims that all such things are mere illusions and without any inherent existence, value or meaning. Therefore, there is no self-sacrifice in Buddhism, and Buddhism actively mocks Christ's sacrifice.
>>38909215When translating from Greek to Latin, does the translator read into the Greek the Latin words that are agreeable while dismissing the major differences between them? No, because translation is not a sentimental process. Its aim is to take just what is there and make it intelligible. The student of Eastern traditions faces an analogous task. Whence this obsession with agreement or disagreement? The faith is not my personal opinion, it is not what I would prefer to believe. I believe it because God has revealed it. Therefore I don't feel any motive to emphasize either the differences or the similarities between the deposit of faith and any other tradition. However, when someone makes an overall misrepresentation of Buddhism because that emphasizes the contrasts between truth and error, that is absurd. You cannot uphold the truth by distorting it.>>38909393Exhibit A. Imagine a Buddhist claiming that *compassion* is without value! Gtfo.
>>38909436>Exhibit A. Imagine a Buddhist claiming that *compassion* is without value! Gtfo.Please stick to your naive, surface level, cherry-picked interpretation of Buddhism, as I fear that I might lose a brother in Christ (were it possible) if you were to actually study or practice it for very long.
>>38907117Don't forget Christian Identity. Here's a good book about it:>Who Is Esau-Edom?https://archive.org/details/who-is-esau-edom
>>38909473>I fear that I might lose a brother in ChristThis is really the heart of the matter in my opinion. I feel no attraction to Buddhism, but seeing as you once practiced it, it is reasonable to suppose that you still do. But Christian spirituality is complete in itself. What is incomplete is our personal understanding of it. If in the face of our own stupidity we waver in our certainty that it is the ultimate truth, then and only then does it seem a danger to draw attention to anything in any other tradition that might seem meritorious. So the fact that compassion is central to Buddhist practice is now superficial and naive. The possibility, for instance, that Buddhists really benefit from the practice of compassion precisely because of the compassion of Christ is literally unthinkable in such a frame of mind.
>>38909570Buddhist "compassion" is not compassion, for reasons I have already stated.
>>38909654You say that love, compassion, and mercy drove God to sacrifice His only-begotten Son, but let's be clear. Nothing caused God to love His handiwork, to have compassion and mercy on them. God is infinite and therefore beyond the limitations of any principle that you can name. The compassion of creatures is not like the compassion of God. Thus it is not only Buddhist "compassion" that is not compassion. All human "compassion" is not compassion. That is what the Church teaches. Therefore if the Buddhists say that human compassion is illusory, they are exactly correct. If they say that divine compassion is illusory, they are wrong, and they have probably confused the concept of God with His essence.
>>38909683Speak less, say more.
>>38909708Improve your attention span
