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Hi Thomas, if you are interested, a couple of Theravada Suttas on this, quite fundamental. Links:- https://suttacentral.net/mn63/en/sujato?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN7_51.html It is a strange thing to me...

I realise that this can seem a "get out" clause, but I find from experience that conclusions are inimical to what Buddhists call the "holy life" - the so called "silence of the Buddha" on all metaphysical questions. The Dharma is the Middle Way, not a position between two extremes but a...

Hi, you forgot Joshua 10:11, surely worth a mention.... "And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the LORD threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of...

Yes, I'm familiar with Marco Pallis. I've read his essay that you mention. I also have a small of library of the Perennialists but often find them a bit heavy going. The essay, as I remember it, revolved around the "touching the earth" mudra, of reception (begging bowl) then the giving back to...

Well, you are asking Thomas, but as the instigator of this thread ( which in essence spoke of the problematic side of Universalism - and nowhere mentioned Taoism) I'll step into the free for all! I'd say that it is an ever present concept because it is not recognised that ethics (genuine...

Anyway, having received much TLC from my loving wife of 45 years, and feeling a bit brighter, another adaptation of previous musings. Another poem of Dogen:- In the heart of the night, Moonlight framing A small boat drifting, Tossed not by the waves Nor swayed by the breeze The meaning of...

Just thinking of a life of anticipations and epitaphs which I often seem to be lost in, Dogen once wrote this little haiku:- Even in Kyoto Hearing the cuckoo cry I yearn for Kyoto I think that "true self" and "false self" can become a worthless game of hide and seek. There is another poem by...

Thank you talib-al-kalim for your analysis of various biblical passages. As I am not a believer in any particular book, such analysis is lost on me. If you go back to my OP you will see that in essence it was about what I considered "problematic" in Universalism. I'm more into an eschatology...

After speaking of rambling and not knowing what I'm going to say until I've said it, I have to admit that this particular post has been lifted from elsewhere. It's just that I drifted onto James Joyce on another thread and it jogged my memory. Well, whatever, with a couple of alterations...

In as much as the word "Gospel" means "Good News" I would suggest it sits very well with Universalism. However, if you are implying that it diminishes any need for evangelisation I would suggest that it is a misunderstanding. In fact, Universalism raises the bar in as much as most versions...

Thanks Thomas. From my own reading the teaching of apokatastasis was quite widespread in the early Christian centuries. Just how widespread seems still to be the subject of study, even dispute. But many scholars argue that it was in fact the dominant tradition. St Augustine changed all that, a...

Thanks for the welcome. We can keep going around in circles. Does a moment ever come when repentance becomes an impossibility? If the causal basis of "salvation" is the very nature of God (Grace) who IS Love, and whose mercy "endures forever", and we are made in the image of God - therefore...

Hi again, I think that we do need to consider each and every mention of "eternal" in the entire NT, of every mention of "hell" or punishment. It then becomes obvious that poor/questionable translation from the original Greek is an issue. According to respected Bible Concordances there is only...

Given the various books I have read on Universalism, which deal in depth with the original Greek in which the Christian New Testament was originally written, such is deemed not to be so. Much of the "never ending" (in fact virtually all of it) stuff is mistranslation.of the Greek words which...

Obviously not much to do with Love (which "keeps no record of wrongs")

As I see it it is understandable to want some sort of "discipline" to be built into Reality - which issues in ethics as some sort of by-product. I tend to go for "we ARE our karma" rather than some "higher power" over-seeing the operation. But surely any "penalty" should be remedial and of...

"Similar World's" run a suitable kitchen!

We'll have to see about that! I am the master of the ramble! I tend to find myself in McDonald's with a white coffee and it all comes pouring out (the words that is, not the coffee!) I find it therapeutic and I often don't really know what I am going to say until I have said it. As far as...

Thanks, yes, I have his "That All Shall Be Saved" which comes across as pretty definitive! Early on I liked what he said about the Buddhist bodhisattvas.