Tibetan book of living and dying

羽衣甘蓝

These days I am reading a book on Buddhism called Tibetan Book of Lving and Dying, which almost converted me several days ago. I, however, haven't finished reading it till now, not for lack of time, but for annoying doubts.

1 S8 @3 Q# o" I' j+ e2 DWhat is belief? http://dict.cn explains it as "any cognitive content held as true". Longman dictionary puts it as "the feeling that something is definitely true or definitely exists". "Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe"(John. 20:29).

8 K0 b  f, }/ W) D" X6 a4 N* O8 aOnce in a cafe on campus of BLCU, I chatted with the shop owner,who was a pious muslim. He told me something that I hadn't known before about the Koran, making it clearer to me that how deeply and widely this classic was misunderstood. He believed that Islam was a way of life.  
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. L  g6 H) `5 WI found that many people didn't consider what they believed as one of the religions. To an atheist, those beliefs are all religions.  To a theist, his or her belief is the truth, while other beliefs are religions. I guess that is why some textooks on etiquette tell people not to talk about religious issues or beliefs with strangers, which is advisable. Well, of course, that depends on whom you talk to and what attitudes you hold. A right person and a right attitude, maybe also a right mood, a talk on life itself can be a really good topic. People would get a chance to see the sparkles of the other party's intelligence and maybe also the deepest conflict (or peacefulness?) inside.
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I guess I will finish reading this book and finally stop talking about life.

billzhao

good point!
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I totally agree with you on the attitude towards other people and their beliefs/intelligence.

lhnjk0107

very good
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[ 本帖最后由 billzhao 于 2009-4-26 21:01 编辑 ]