5. AD1452-1519,達文西(Leonardo da Vinci):「人類是一切動物的主人,因為殘忍的程度超過任何動物,人的身體已經成為埋葬動物的墓地。」他是義大利文藝復興三大巨匠之一,對繪畫、雕刻、建築,甚至於自然科學,都表現不凡的天才。此外,他也是位素食主義者,任何一條小生命都不忍奪取。代表作有〈蒙娜麗莎的微笑〉、〈最後的晚餐〉等名畫。
6. AD1817-1862,梭羅(Henry David Thoreau):「不吃葷是人類進化的宿命,如同野蠻人接觸文明後,不再吃人肉一樣。」他是美國詩人、散文作家及自然學者。鼓勵人簡化生活,將時間保留來深入生命,品味人生。其思想、行為對美國社會影響很大。代表作有《湖濱散記》一書。
8. AD1856-1950,蕭伯納(George Bernard Shaw):「人像禿鷹一樣以肉維生,無視眾生的痛苦,把動物用來消遣或謀利,我們怎能期望世界可以達到和平?」他是愛爾蘭劇作家、評論家、社會主義者。為人幽默,創意十足,他的長壽及非凡的才華都反映出,不吃肉確實有很多好處。曾獲得AD1925年諾貝爾文學獎。代表作有《人與超人》、《華倫夫人的職業》等書。
非要考察真相,你就考察考察吠陀經與婆羅門教對原始佛教的深刻影響。直到今天,印度教徒仍然把佛教視為自己的一個分支。我去的印度教寺廟裡就供奉著佛陀。作者: 信仰平等 時間: 2011-5-6 07:47
The Vedas: Soil of Buddhism
By Harischandra Kaviratna
In ancient cultures, such as that of the Indo-Aryans or the Druids, literacy and education were not considered of general major importance, because they were not regarded as means to acquire material prosperity but merely as instruments to realize spiritual illumination and religious insight. And indeed, throughout the centuries mystics of both East and West have attained enlightenment and union with supreme Reality not through scholastic study, not through dialectic discourses, but through self-negation and intuitive, direct comprehension. Rarely have those of great intellectual stature penetrated to the deepest esoteric truths embedded in the symbology of scriptural texts. With this in mind, we can better understand the conviction of the Brahmins that the sacred knowledge would be perverted when put into writing; the Vedas had to be heard. Yet, at the same time, in favoring the age-old method of orally instructing their pupils, they caused the complete neglect of the written word, which did not re-emerge before the sixth century BC at the dawn of the new intellectual epoch in India.
Throughout the Buddhist canon we come across passages which presuppose the existence of that very ancient religious tradition known as the Vedas, in which even the Great Mendicant (Buddha) had acquired perfect mastery under the renowned sage Visvamitra. Yet the source of this literature, if it can be called such in the modern sense of the word, is shrouded in mystery. Professor Maurice Winternitz writes in A History of Indian Literature:
Vedic literature led us well-nigh into "prehistoric" times; and for the beginning of epic poetry, too, we had to dispense with all certain dates. It is only with the Buddhist literature that we gradually emerge unto the broad daylight of history, and we have seen that the darkness of the history of the Vedic and epic literature is somewhat illuminated by this light.
Buddhism, in the eyes of many European scholars the most fragrant flower of Indian thought, sprang from the tired soil of the Vedic religion. Although its system of philosophy differs vastly in some of its cardinal tenets from Brahmanism, any critical student is fully aware that Buddhism has absorbed many of the teachings of the earliest Upanishads. For a fuller understanding of Buddha's spiritual teachings, a study of the atmosphere in which they developed, at the convergence as it were of Vedic and non-Vedic streams, is almost indispensable.
The sacred tradition of the Vedas was already in the possession of the Aryans when they came from Europe many, many millennia ago. Its purely mystic religio-philosophy was not only closely related to that of their relatives in Iran (where it took the form of the Avesta), but is also similar to the Eleusinian and Orphic creeds of the Western Aryans who migrated to and established their cultural empires in Greece, Central Europe and the Emerald Isle. However, the seeds of degradation had been planted in the Aryan religion before that great family divided for reasons still unknown.
The Vedas are the supreme authority for all orthodox schools. Six systems (Samkhya, Yoga, Vedanta, Mimamsa, Nyaya, and Vaiseshika) belong to the Astika Darsana, the term Darsana literally meaning "vision," vision of the Absolute Truth. On the other hand, Charvaka (materialism), Jainism and Buddhism, for instance are termed Nastika, i.e. not based on the Vedas. Each of the four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Saman and Atharvan) is again divided into four sections, namely, Samhita (collection of hymns), Brahmanas (treatises on sacrifices and rituals), Aranyakas ("forest books" for hermits about sacrifices and contemplation), and the Upanishads, dealing with deeper metaphysics and theosophical speculations. Classical writers from the fifth millennium BC to the first century AD such as Manu, mention only the first three Vedas, and it seems fairly certain that the Atharvan originally was independent from the threefold knowledge or trayi.
Orthodox Hindus hold that the Vedas existed even before the creation of the world, co-eternal with Brahman. In The Cultural Heritage of India Swami Shri Madhavananda aptly observes:
. . . by the word "Veda" which literally means knowledge, no books are primarily meant, but the sum total of the knowledge of God, which concerning itself as it does, with abstract principles, is necessarily eternal. Just as gravitation existed before Newton, and would have remained just the same even if he had not discovered it, so these principles existed before man, and will remain for ever. Their connection with man is that they were revealed to certain exceptionally gifted persons called rishis or sages, who visualized them and handed them down through a succession of disciples.
It seems safe to assert that the hymns were collected and codified by these rishis somewhere near the present Punjab more than six thousand years ago, and gathered into the Rig-Veda Samhita, the world's earliest masterpiece. It is a voluminous work, its bulk comparable to the Iliad and Odyssey combined. Its 1017 original hymns, systematically arranged in ten mandalas and containing over ten thousand stanzas in all, are addressed to terrestrial and celestial devas or divinities, whose characteristics were somewhat modified when the Aryans, after their successful invasion of India, arrived in their new surroundings in Aryavarta (country of the Aryans).
This fertile plain, extending from the glittering snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the fragrant Vindhya ranges, and from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal, inspired their poets to sing of its picturesque countryside and scenic beauty. For instance, one seer-poet, in simple and charming style, depicts the Sindhu (Indus) as outstanding among all the rivers that run through Aryavarta to the sea:
The sound rises up to heaven above the earth; she stirs up with splendor her endless power. As from a cloud, the showers thunder forth, when the Sindhu comes, roaring like a bull. . . .
Sparkling, bright with mighty splendor she carries the waters across the plains -- the unconquered Sindhu, the quickest of the quick, like a beautiful mare -- a sight to see.
Rich in horse, in chariots, in garments, in gold, in booty, in wool, and in straw, the Sindhu, handsome and young, clothes herself in sweet flowers.
The Aryans, having learned from the native inhabitants the cultivation of rice paddy and other grains, soon became the wealthiest people of the then-known world, with time for recreation, for arts, for philosophy and reflection. Consequently, most of the hymns of the Rig-Veda are not just odes to the beauty of nature, but are musings about a transcendental reality beyond the visible natural phenomena. In the ninth mandala of the Rig-Veda we come across the following hymn:
O Pavamana, place me in that deathless undecaying world, wherein the light of heaven is set and everlasting luster shines;
Make me immortal in that realm where dwells the King Vivasvan's son, where is the secret shine of heaven, where are those waters young and fresh.
Make me immortal in that realm where they move even as they list, in the third sphere of inmost heaven where lucid worlds are full of light;
Make me immortal in that realm of eager wish and strong desire, the region of radiant moon, where food and full delight are found;
Make me immortal in that realm where happiness and transports, where joys and felicities combine and longing wishes are fulfilled.
It is said that the rishis, while in a spiritual trance, came in direct contact with the devas of whom they sang and whom they considered as expressions of the cosmic intelligence, manifestations of the immanent divine principle. Thus they conceived of nature as a living organism controlled by conscious, intelligent entities.
To denote these deities, the poets coined a special appellative term, deva, for which there is no adequate equivalent in modern European languages. It literally means the "shining one" or the "donor." The rain, therefore, is a deva, because it gives nourishment to all life on earth. Sun, moon and stars are devas, because they shed cosmic light throughout the solar system and universe. The Ganges, Indus and Sarasvati are deified rivers, because they irrigate the arable lands of Aryavarta. In addition, many gods of the pluralistic pantheon had been great heroes, warriors and philanthropists, who later were regarded as devas for their valor, patriotism and benevolence. Indra, the Maruts, Vayu and Matarisvan are some of these deified beings, sublimated into prominent rank among the gods.
The religion of the Vedas is neither naturalism nor anthropomorphism, neither polytheism nor monotheism, but is a unique mysticism, a synthesis of all the prevalent religious cults known to the ancient Aryans. After they entered the fertile Punjab valley and established their permanent home in Northern India, one of their first concerns was to collect and codify their holy tradition, the Vedas, which were at that period scattered over different parts of Aryavarta, preserved by the various families. The disdain of the Aryans for alien cultures and religious cults directly contributed to the purity in which the Vedas were held, no outside influence marring their pristine beauty, and hardly any foreign divinities finding a place in their early pantheon.
The Vedic pantheon is a complicated one, deserving separate treatment. For the time being the following general picture must suffice. The rishis divided the universe into three spheres or lokas, namely, Dyurloka or the celestial world, over which Savitri, the solar deity, presided; Antarikshaloka or the intermediate sphere, supervised by Indra; and Bhurloka or the terrestrial world, under the reign of Agni (Fire). However, when esotericism was ousted by exotericism, symbolism by ritualism, idealism by sacerdotalism, this early spiritual concept soon dwindled into a polytheistic sacrificial creed. The three spheres of the vertical universe of the original Vedic sages was believed to be the abode of thirty-three gods: the eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Adityas, Dyaus (Zeus) and Prithivi (earth). Later 3,339 gods and goddesses were assigned to these spheres, and finally their number was increased by some authorities to 330,000,000! Commentators like Sayana (14th century) and others who deeply reflected on this subject, believed that these gods were the personifications of the innumerable virtues and qualities of the eternal divine principle.
When at last the cultural life of the Aryans became completely dominated by the priesthood, the emergence of a ritualized form of religion was inevitable. The Brahmin priests made every effort to persuade the masses that the only way to salvation was through sacrifice. So the triumphant and haughty Aryans, ever coveting more cattle, gold and sons, began to employ professional hymnologists, specialists in phonetics and other branches of literary arts, to address long chants to the gods and goddesses that they might shower upon them prosperity and longevity. Animal sacrifice, introduced during the Epic period, received more and more emphasis. In due course it would stir feelings of opposition which ultimately would result in a definite schism in the ceremonial Vedic religion, and in the birth of the tradition of nonviolence, but for centuries it held its central place in the Brahminical worship. A second, new Veda, called Yajurveda, delineating the execution of sacrifices and various other rituals, was soon formulated; in it we find, partly in prose and partly in verse, hymns addressed to the sacred utensils and other objects used. A third Veda, the Samaveda, comprising the specific lyrical incantations which were to be uttered at particular occasions, was also added, with most of its hymns taken from the early Rig-Veda.
The extremely complicated ceremonial system compelled the priests to acquire perfect mastery of their tradition, for the exclusiveness of their class, in which lay the safeguard of their power, demanded rigid rules of behavior and stringent methods of learning. Only warriors, Brahmins and merchants were entitled to study, or even hear, the Vedas, and thus were considered to be "twice-born," while all other classes were called sudras. The establishment of the hereditary right to perform sacrifices gradually paved the way for the caste-system. Ruling princes and great landlords paid for the education of Brahmin youths who dedicated themselves to the priesthood. These young men had to undergo arduous training, primarily intended to bring about inner and outer purification. Truthfulness, forbearance, purity and uprightness were ideally some of the cardinal moral virtues which an orthodox Brahmin had to cultivate. Hypocrisy and dishonesty were regarded as unpardonable sins. Their deep conviction that they represented the divinities in this world and thus had to endeavor to live a life of godliness, kept the spiritual culture of the officiating Brahmins strong through many centuries.作者: 信仰平等 時間: 2011-5-6 08:10 本帖最後由 信仰平等 於 2011-5-6 08:11 編輯
原始佛教的重要儀軌rainy season retreat 就是直接承襲婆羅門教的。
An Excerpt from Darsan : Seeing the Divine Image in India by Diana L. Eck
This brief book provides a poignant overview of the importance of this spiritual practice in India.
"A common sight in India is a crowd of people gathered in the courtyard of a temple or at a doorway of a streetside shrine for the darsan of the deity. Darsan means 'seeing.' In the Hindu ritual tradition it refers especially to religious seeing, or the visual perception of the sacred. When Hindus go to a temple, they do not commonly say, 'I am going to worship,' but rather, 'I am going for darsan.' They go to 'see' the image of the deity — be it Krsna or Durga, Siva or Visnu — present in the sanctum of the temple, and they go especially at those times of day when the image is most beautifully adorned with fresh flowers and when the curtain is drawn back so that the image is fully visible. The central act of Hindu worship, from the point of view of the lay person, is to stand in the presence of the deity and to behold the image with one's own eyes, to see and be seen by the deity. Darsan is sometimes translated as the 'auspicious sight' of the divine, and its importance in the Hindu ritual complex reminds us that for Hindus 'worship' is not only a matter of prayers and offerings and the devotional disposition of the heart. Since, in the Hindu understanding, the deity is present in the image, the visual apprehension of the image is charged with religious meaning. Beholding the image is an act of worship, and through the eyes one gains the blessings of the divine.
"Similarly, when Hindus travel on pilgrimage, as they do by the millions each month of the year, it is for the darsan of the place of pilgrimage or for the darsan of its famous deities. They travel to Siva's sacred city of Banaras for the darsan of the Lord Visvanath. They trek high into the Himalayas for the darsan of Visnu at Badrinath. Or they climb to the top of a hill in their own district for the darsan of a well-known local goddess. The pilgrims who take to the road on foot, or who crowd into buses and trains, are not merely sightseers, but 'sacred sightseers' whose interest is not in the picturesque place, but in the powerful place where darsan may be had. These powerful places are called tirthas (sacred 'fords' or 'crossings'), dhams (divine 'abodes'), or pithas (sacred 'benches' or 'seats' of the divine). There are thousands of such places in India. Some, like Banaras (Varanasi), which is also called Kasi, are sought by pilgrims from their immediate locales.
"Often such places of pilgrimage are famous for particular divine images, and so it is for the darsan of the image that pilgrims come. The close relationship between the symbolic importance of the image and the symbolic act of pilgrimage has been explored in a Western context by Victor and Edith Turner in Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture. In the West, of course, such traditions of pilgrimage were often attacked by those who did not 'see' the symbolic significance of images and who, like Erasmus, denounced the undertaking of pilgrimages as a waste of time. In the Hindu tradition, however, there has never been the confusion of 'image' with 'idol,' and in India, pilgrimage is the natural extension of the desire for the darsan of the divine image, which is at the heart of all temple worship.
"It is not only for the darsan of renowned images that Hindus have traveled as pilgrims. They also seek the darsan of the places themselves which are said to be the natural epiphanies of the divine: the peaks of the Himalayas, which are said to be the abode of the gods; the river Ganga, which is said to fall from heaven to earth; or the many places which are associated with the mythic deeds of gods and goddesses, heroes and saints.
"In addition to the darsan of temple images and sacred places, Hindus also value the darsan of holy persons, such as sants ('saints'), sadhus ('holy men'), and sannyasins ('renouncers'). When Mahatma Gandhi traveled through India, tens of thousands of people would gather wherever he stopped in order to 'take his darsan.' Even if he did not stop, they would throng the train stations for a passing glimpse of the Mahatma in his compartment. Similarly, when Swami Karpatri, a well-known sannyasin who is also a writer and political leader, would come to Varanasi to spend the rainy season 'retreat' period, people would flock to his daily lectures not only to hear him, but to see him. However, even an ordinary sannyasin or sadhu is held in esteem in traditional Hindu culture. He is a living symbol of the value placed upon renunciation, and he is a perpetual pilgrim who has left home and family for a homeless life. Villagers are eager for the darsan of such a person, approaching him with reverence and giving him food and hospitality. In The Ochre Robe, Agehanada Bharati writes, 'There is absolutely no parallel to the conception of darsan in any religious act in the West . . .'
"In popular terminology, Hindus say that the deity or the sadhu 'gives darsan ' (darsan dena is the Hindi expression), and the people 'take darsan' (darsan lena). What does this mean? What is given and what is taken? The very expression is arresting, for 'seeing' in this religious sense is not an act which is initiated by the worshiper. Rather, the deity presents itself to be seen in its image, or the sadhu gives himself to be seen by the villagers. And the people 'receive' their darsan. One might say that this 'sacred perception,' which is the ability truly to see the divine image, is given to the devotee, just as Arjuna is given the eyes with which to see Krsna in the theophany described in the Bhagavad Gita."作者: 信仰平等 時間: 2011-5-6 08:22
太搞笑了。因為素食來自外教就不提倡?照你這麼說,佛教應該剔除輪迴,業力,涅磐等重要概念,因為這些玩意是佛教從婆羅門教繼承來的。作者: Dhammapala 時間: 2011-5-6 09:39 回復 信仰平等 22樓 的帖子
作者: 信仰平等 時間: 2011-5-6 10:41
如果我沒記錯的話,我看的一本西方上座部佛教徒寫的佛陀傳記The Life of the Buddha: According to the Pali Canon里記述了佛陀從婆羅門承襲雨季安居的經過。作者: 信仰平等 時間: 2011-5-6 13:10
「也有一些穆斯林學者認為佛陀也是真主派來教化人類的先知。」
「Everyone fears punishment; everyone fears death,
just as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill.
Everyone fears punishment; everyone loves life,
as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill."作者: chico 時間: 2011-5-10 00:27 回復 信仰平等 53樓 的帖子