Sunday, January 05, 2014

Philosophical Post

I read this article, stumbled upon it by the Yahoo front page. Clicked the thumbnail photo and read about the archaeological discoveries of how Buddha was born earlier than once believed. After about 3 decades of research the team calculated that Buddha was born around 623bc. (Snippet of the article below)
             "Also, the inscriptions at Bodhgaya (where the Buddha achieved enlightenment) reveal a thriving culture of tree worship, which suggests continuity," he added.
Much of what is known about the Buddha's life has its origins in oral tradition. The earliest decipherable written records in the region, the inscriptions of India's Buddhist emperor Asoka, are dated about 250 BC.
Prior to this discovery, most scholars said that the Buddha -- who renounced material wealth to embrace and preach a life of non-attachment -- lived during the fourth century BC, founding a religion that now counts 500 million followers.
Buddhists in Nepal and Sri Lanka, however, have always believed that the sage was born around 623 BC, a date that now seems more accurate.
"It's one of the great puzzles, this discovery reveals the endurance of oral traditions," Coningham said.
"This is one of those very rare times when tradition, belief and archaeology all come together." 
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I found this year of being born either correct or conflict to the original belief through Buddha knowledge is irrelevant. The core beliefs and studies of Buddhism is not changed. A year of when Buddha was born doesn't seem to be necessary. Just as the actual birth date of when Christ was born...was it actually on December 25th? Who really knows. It is still a belief in the miracles that religion is based around and the stories passed down to new generations. I believe in many versions to be all of one actual story in history of time. My father, Kenny King was very wise and studied the various religions. He started writing a book of his separated beliefs and philosophy he had studied in all religions. Back in the late 80's he even became a part of a group in Huntington Beach, CA practicing Buddhism. A group of Monks all lived together in this community and would wake up each morning at the crack of dawn to meditate with the sun rising. The start of their new day, and living as one together. My daddy, Kenny, followed this group for a while and even went as far as shaving his head. Anyway, getting off track here with a memory. This article I found more interesting with reading the comments below by fellow readers. Here is one that strikes my interest. It was almost as if my father is here in spirit and guiding me to fall upon this morning of enlightenment.  
I woke up today, with my usual routine of feeding our dog, letting him out and then hopped onto the computer, to actually check some lotto numbers online from last Fridays drawing (today is now Sunday). I still have not checked the numbers, for I found this article (or so the article found me) and immediately began to blog about it instead. So here is the article for you to interpret how you want... but read the comments more importantly. Below, just one of the 1,061 comments posted.... I came across this enlightenment in the comment section of an article about Buddha.
 The persons handle is LUCKY so this he/she quoted:
 "The more we have the more we gain, if we keep minus thing out of our life just because religion we will be lost a lots in live, Don't compare your religion to another, practice good what ever you believe , Don't talk bad about other religion because when you do that you already practice your religion wrong. Be good with other, live for the present, you can not fixing your pass, don't know your future yet so enjoy every minute of your life, that should . be a Philosophy to any religion . PEACE" -Lucky (unknown 01/05/2013 AD)
DON'T COMPARE YOUR RELIGION TO ANOTHER, PRACTICE GOOD WHAT EVER YOU BELIEVE. DON'T TALK BAD ABOUT OTHER RELIGION BECAUSE WHEN YOU DO THAT YOU ALREADY PRACTICE YOUR RELIGION WRONG!... ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF YOUR LIFE BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW THE FUTURE YET...WHAT IT HOLDS FOR US IS UNKNOWN. IT MAY BE PLANNED OUT BUT PLANS CHANGE AND THE TIME ESCAPES US. LIVE FOR TODAY, AND TREASURE THE MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES OF OUR YESTERDAYS. 
Oh how I wish with my whole heart, my father, Kenny, could be with me once again to be able to know him now as an adult and talk for endless hours philosophically. I would love for him to have finished writing his book. Maybe some day I will take on the rest of his book and try my best to put the pieces together and publish it. It would be challenging but in life we face challenges and live through these. 
Peace be with YOU (the reader of this blog post) today and always. Feel the senses around you and be more in-tune with what is around you.