Path: typhoon.sonic.net!feed.news.sonic.net!sfo2-feed1.news.digex.net!intermedia!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: paulhume@lan2wan.com (Paul Hume) Newsgroups: alt.magick Subject: Re: Bodhisattva vow Date: 21 Dec 2001 09:30:10 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 29 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.107.93.163 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1008955810 478 127.0.0.1 (21 Dec 2001 17:30:10 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 21 Dec 2001 17:30:10 GMT Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick:281202 John - Thanks very much for the detailed summary. My understanding of the Bodhisattva Vow mostly comes from my "Buddhist connection" (ie. my wife took refuge a year or so back (g)). She's in Drikung, hence Vajrayana. > Some other forms of Buddhism, Vajrayana in particular, have a > different system, since someone advanced on the path may control the state > of their rebirth, they could be anyone. Last century several westerners have > been recognised as reincarnations of Tibetan Buddhist monks (all men as far > as I know) ... An American woman was recognized a few years back, Jetsunma Ahkoen Lhamo, by HH Penor Rinpoche, in the Nyingma lineage. > Paradoxically, if you find yourself convinced you've taken this vow > in a past life, the odds are that you haven't. Buddhists of this type are > more concerned with the futures of the people around them than their own > pasts. Essentially the likelihood of your being concerned about yourself and > your own history is quite slim. Excellent point. There is certainly a strong "there I was minding my own business when I felt compelled to do something for the benefit of all sentient beings" aspect that runs through a lot of the personal histories of the various bodhisattvas. Regards, Paul