Meister Eckhart

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
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DooDoot
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Re: Meister Eckhart

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Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:51 pmOne thing you can give Christians credit for is that they don't have any sacrifice of animals or humans, unlike, say, Hinduism or the Aztec creed.
You reckon? All of those Inquisitions & colonialist genocides don't count?
Kim OHara wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 12:10 pm...although I'm not sure that your substitution is very convincing in Theravada terms. (It works better in Pure Land, where "other power" is central.)
In Theravada, another power is also central, namely, the Nirodha Dhatu. If there was not another power causing defilements to dissolve, there would be no path to Nibbana. You are giving the impression of saying the Theravada Path is "self-generated" by the power of the personal "self" (which sounds like New-Age-Foo-Foo). A river that flows to the ocean flows due to the power of gravity. The Stream to Nibbana is similar.
Last edited by DooDoot on Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Manopubbangama
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Re: Meister Eckhart

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DooDoot wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:54 pm
Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:51 pmOne thing you can give Christians credit for is that they don't have any sacrifice of animals or humans, unlike, say, Hinduism or the Aztec creed.
You reckon? All of those Inquisitions & colonialist genocides don't count?
Nope, its not a ritual sacrifice.

The inquisitions were to keep the faith pure from anything outside of the Latin Rite, and the colonialist genocides had the priests often protecting the colonial subjects from the ravaging conquistadors.

Also, of worthy mention, the Greek rite never had any such issues, they even had "pagans" preaching revival of the old gods in Constantanople without much fuss.

It appears the Greeks were more passionate about their chariot races than theology.
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Re: Meister Eckhart

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Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:58 pmthe colonialist genocides had the priests often protecting the colonial subjects from the ravaging conquistadors.
Debatable. More like converting the left-over subjects after the ravaging conquistadors.
Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:58 pmThe inquisitions were to keep the faith pure from anything outside of the Roman Rite...
Sure, of which Meister Eckhart was one of those impure victims.
Last edited by DooDoot on Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.
There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

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Re: Meister Eckhart

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DooDoot wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:00 pm
Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:58 pmthe colonialist genocides had the priests often protecting the colonial subjects from the ravaging conquistadors.
Debatable. More like converting the left-over subjects after the ravaging conquistadors.
Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:58 pmThe inquisitions were to keep the faith pure from anything outside of the Roman Rite...
Sure, of which Meister Eckhart was one of those impure victims.
Dostoevsky had a good snippit on the inquisitors in the Brothers Karamazov.

He was no fan of the jesuits or the latin rite, as it had come to be.

I'm guessing that with time all bureaucratic priestly castes grow extremely corrupt and fickle.
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Re: Meister Eckhart

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Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:03 pmI'm guessing that with time all bureaucratic priestly castes grow extremely corrupt and fickle.
If we read the New Testament, composed by authors connected to the Apostles of Jesus, do we read teachings like those of Meister Eckhart? Not really, unless interpreted with a Buddhist periscope. Its seems Meister Eckhart was a heretic. Its seems Jesus by his own design was meant to be a Personal God (rather than the impersonality Meister Eckhart was preaching).
There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

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Re: Meister Eckhart

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DooDoot wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:04 pm
Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:03 pmI'm guessing that with time all bureaucratic priestly castes grow extremely corrupt and fickle.
If we read the New Testament, composed by authors connected to the Apostles of Jesus, do we read teachings like those of Meister Eckhart? Not really, unless interpreted with a Buddhist periscope. Its seems Meister Eckhart was a heretic. Its seems Jesus by his own design was meant to be a Personal God (rather than the impersonality Meister Eckhart was preaching).
If you read Plotinus, I think its a good place to start to understand M.E.'s theology. Just as good a place as any other I can think of. Either way it all goes back to Alexandrian guilds of late antiquity.

Regarding your comment about the inquisition, food for thought - he appeared before their meeting, they talked it over, and they absolved him of anything after he apologizing for appearing to have deviated from dogma. This all in a society without habeaus corpus.

Would modern day ruling classes of Western Europe forgive someone so easily for saying something like "gay sex is unnatural and unhealthy?"

Of course they woudln't, they would use all their powers in their disposal to burn such a man at the stake. To coin a new verb they would Jan-Hus him.


Just food for thought when we are comparing the Papist inquisitors to the moral-relativist inquisitors.
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Re: Meister Eckhart

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Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:13 pmRegarding your comment about the inquisition, food for thought - he appeared before their meeting, they talked it over, and they absolved him of anything after he apologizing for appearing to have deviated from dogma. This all in a society without habeaus corpus.
Are you sure? I thought he died the day before the inquisitors made their verdict.
In later life, he was accused of heresy and brought up before the local Franciscan-led Inquisition, and tried as a heretic by Pope John XXII. He seems to have died before his verdict was received

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meister_E ... bilitation
There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

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Re: Meister Eckhart

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DooDoot wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:16 pm
Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:13 pmRegarding your comment about the inquisition, food for thought - he appeared before their meeting, they talked it over, and they absolved him of anything after he apologizing for appearing to have deviated from dogma. This all in a society without habeaus corpus.
Are you sure? I thought he died the day before the inquisitors made their verdict.
In later life, he was accused of heresy and brought up before the local Franciscan-led Inquisition, and tried as a heretic by Pope John XXII. He seems to have died before his verdict was received

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meister_E ... bilitation
He did but the verdict was to absolve him, at least according to what I remember in my studies of his works.

He was a very conservative guy, he wasn't like Giordano Bruno or Jan Hus or even Martin Luther.
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Re: Meister Eckhart

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Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:19 pmHe was a very conservative guy, he wasn't like Giordano Bruno or Jan Hus or even Martin Luther.
Sure. Possibly he needed to make his mystical teachings a bit closer to the Bible.
Manopubbangama wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:13 pm Would modern day ruling classes of Western Europe forgive someone so easily for saying something like "gay sex is unnatural and unhealthy?"
The suttas are silent on homosexuality. The suttas merely say it is a duty of parents to assist find a suitable marriage partner for their children when their children come of age. So if a child is gay, it appears to suttas might possibly support the idea of gay marriage? Who knows? :shrug:
There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

https://soundcloud.com/doodoot/paticcasamuppada
https://soundcloud.com/doodoot/anapanasati
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