Even though the Tibetan Book of the Dead is considered a classic, I had a hard time relating to it. Whenever one gets into deities and hungry ghosts (etc.), my gut response is where's the evidence? Fortunately, Buddhism doesn't depend on such beliefs, but is mainly a process whereas one may be able to eliminate/ameliorate suffering in ones self and others, which is what the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path is all about. Even though I'm sure your familiar with them, I'll post them below for others to see.

Of the various Buddhist scholars that I have much respect for, one of them is Steven Batchelor who authored "Buddhism Without Beliefs". Essentially he states that, over time, many different items became attached as dharma that probably was not in the original message from the Buddha, and it appears that many Buddhist scholars tend to agree. Therefore, I more tend to emphasize the most basic teachings, which are found in the FNT and the EP as found below.


-- quoted from OMF International

(Please note that the word "appropriate" is often considered a more correct rendition of the word "Right" that is used above)

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Yep, I do believe we understand each other better. No worries and nice talking with you.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

The point i was trying to make, metis, is that these are not actually hungry ghosts, deities, and demons, etc., they are illusions of the experiencer's own mind:
That is the bottom link which i posted earlier..... you did actually *click* on it, didn't you??


Peace, Love, & Light

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The Peaceful Place: http://www.agedhippy.plus.com/

"An object is perceived, or not perceived, according as the mind is, or is not, tinged with the colour of the object. "
Patanjali - Sutra 4:17

OK, I see, and I certainly have no difficulty with what you say here-- the human imagination can be very vivid at times.




No, I didn't because I already read the book. However, I'll return back a bit later this morning to check out all your links. Sorry about that.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

OK, I finally got around to reading your link dealing with the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and since it was quite a while back when I read the book, I very much appreciated the refresher course.

As I mentioned before, I'm not one who tends to very easily accept teachings based on faith-type issues, and when it comes to things like rebirth/reincarnation, bardo, karma, etc., I tend to do a lot of questioning. However, at the same time, "questioning" is not the same as "answering". IOW, I don't know if these entities exist, and in no way am I going to tell anyone that somehow they're deluded if they believe in them-- what do I know?

BTW, thanks also for the Tree of Life link, which I had not seen before, so I bookmarked that for future use.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

I think that the explanation there about sums it up, i also may well be wrong.

The Tree of Enlightenment was my introduction to Buddhist thought.... admittedly, it is a bit heavy in places, but well worth the reading - in my opinion.


Peace, Love, & Light

__________________

The Peaceful Place: http://www.agedhippy.plus.com/

"An object is perceived, or not perceived, according as the mind is, or is not, tinged with the colour of the object. "
Patanjali - Sutra 4:17

Oops, I wrote Tree of Life didn't I? OK, so I screwed up AGAIN! If you want a much more complete list of my screw-ups, you can talk to my wife.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Ihave....she told me.

I find it absolutely amazing, just how much one person can remember.


Peace, Love, & Light

__________________

The Peaceful Place: http://www.agedhippy.plus.com/

"An object is perceived, or not perceived, according as the mind is, or is not, tinged with the colour of the object. "
Patanjali - Sutra 4:17