One day, a lady attended a class by Maitreya.
Unknown to the student, she was speaking to the Future Buddha.
"I almost couldn't make it for class today ........."
"Oh! Why?" asked Maitreya.
"My sister asked me to go for chanting ........."
"Chanting? What's the occasion ?"
"7th Month ........."
"7th Month? What chanting is that?"
"You know there's this Earth Buddha that's in-charge of Hell?'
"Di zang wang pusa ........."
"Yes."
"But what for? When there isn't one?"
"You can't say that ........."
"Why not? When it's True."
"You have a religion?"
Maitreya nodded her head.
"What's your religion?"
"Buddhist."
"Then you should know."
"Of course I know. That's why I say there isn't one."
"How do you know there isn't one?"
"You go meditate and you'll know for yourself."
"You mean I meditate I'll know?'
"Yes."
"But you must be very high level then you'll know ........."
"How much do you know about Buddhism/Buddha's Teachings?"
"Not much ........."
"Let me ask you : If i say salt is sweet, would you believe me?"
"Of course not."
"Why not?"
"Cos it's not true!"
"Likewise, when something is true, I'll say it's true;
When something is false, I'll say it's false.
If there's a dizangwangpusa, I'll say there's a dizangwangpusa.
But if there isn't one, I'll say there isn't."
"You can't say that. They say that dizangwangpusa is here to help until Maitreya, the Future Buddha comes along/appear, then he'll go ......... it's written in the sutras, the temples are teaching it."
"Of course dizangwangpusa has to go when Maitreya comes along - cos Maitreya will debunk the myths and fallacies that such a being, and many others as well, exist."
"How do you know?"
"Because I AM Maitreya."
"Being open does not mean accepting others' beliefs/teachings -
Being open means accepting what you thought/accepted/believed to be the truth,
Is ACTUALLY UN-true."
"Let go of your past beliefs and practices and follow in my footsteps, my way - should you want to gain Nibbana -
For this is the only way - There's NO other way."
- The Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya 122
"Several passages [§87] emphasize that the experience of stream-entry reinforces one's conviction that the True Dhamma is fully expressed only in the Buddha's teachings.
This point will come as a surprise to many people who are aware of Buddhism's long history of tolerance toward other religions, and who assume that the enlightened attitude toward alternative teachings is to endorse the statement that many roads lead to the top of the mountain.
This assumption, though, is based on a confusion between "tolerance" and "endorsement."
As we have already noted, from the streamwinner's point of view the Noble Eightfold Path is the ideal expression of the way to Awakening.
To endorse any other path to the same goal would be to concede that the noble eightfold path either lacks something essential or contains something superfluous.
The Buddha is quoted as saying that any other supposed path to Awakening would by definition be WRONG: Wrong view, Wrong resolve, Wrong speech, etc.
To try to get results from such a path, he says, would be like trying to squeeze sesame oil out of gravel or to churn butter out of water [MN 126].
He did not deny that other teachings, advocating virtue and concentration, can lead one to states of great peace or to rebirth in the higher heavens, BUT if one views those attainments as equivalent to nibbana, ONE IS SUFFERING FROM WRONG VIEW.
To hold to that wrong view puts the total release to be found with nibbana beyond reach.
This unwillingness to endorse other paths, however, does not necessarily lead to intolerance.
Buddhism's basic premise is the principle of Kamma, that happiness and suffering are the results of one's own past and present actions.
The noble eightfold path grows out of this principle as the most skillful mode of action for escaping from the cycle of kammic retribution and attaining the Deathless.
Other paths are either INCOMPLETE expressions of the noble eightfold path or are based on other principles.
For example, they may state that there is a being who can sidestep the law of kamma and provide for one's happiness without one's having to master the skills of the noble eightfold path,
Or that certain ritual actions or words can provide a similar shortcut to happiness.
People who follow either of these two latter beliefs could well feel threatened by outsiders who do not share their beliefs, for the outsiders are in effect denying the existence of a shortcut on which the insiders are placing their hopes. This explains why such people have often been intolerant of outside views.
But because the principle of kamma is a teaching of full personal responsibility, No one who believes in kamma will feel threatened by people who teach shortcuts around kamma.
Buddhists who have yet to attain stream-entry may waver in their conviction — as the path can seem long and arduous, and the results slow in coming — and this is one reason why they are encouraged NOT to associate with anyone who rejects the principle of kamma.
But those who have had their first taste of Awakening can in no way be persuaded to doubt the principle, for they have seen that the Deathless can be touched only through a process that requires the utmost skill in mindfulness and discernment applied to the processes of one's own mind.
Their attitude toward other teachings is that of a skilled artisan toward those with lesser skills, or of a woman who has learned how to extract sesame oil from sesame seeds toward those who are still trying to extract it from gravel:
She will want to teach them the right way if they are willing to listen,But if they are unwilling, she will tolerate their ignorance and hope that someday they will be ready to learn.
- http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/wings/part3.html#part3-a- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Wings to Awakening
"Deep, Vaccha, is this phenomenon,
Hard to see, Hard to realise, Tranquil, Refined, Beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced (only) by the Wise.
For those with other views, other practices, other satisfactions, other aims, other teachers.
It is difficult to know."
- The Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya 72
"It is useless pretending to forget the power of KAMMA,
Or pretending that one is superior to The Buddha.
One who does so is sure to be cornered by his own foolish pretensions and assumptions."
- Venerable Ajahn Mun
**Note : Pureland/Amitabha etc teachings came much later - in and from China - AFTER 6/7th century - under the mahayana discipline.
The Buddha did NOT teach them.
