Lord_La_forge

Yes, you gut it. Sutras are older than buddhism itself, as are the shramanas. Buddhist sutras contain the teachings of Buddha (discourses attributed to the Buddha or one of his close disciples). The theravada buddhist believe, the Pali canon (which is the oldest sutra, ment to be used to reach enlightment) is nothing less than the words of Gautama himself. Other schools are more sceptical, as it was written long after Buddhas death. Sutra writing is a common learning procedure: you copy the script of a teaching several times to memorize it's content. Shramanas are not directly linked to buddhism, they are ascets leaving their families and society to finally leave this world through meditation and other practices. Some buddhists were also wandering around, and founding their own schools following a quite similar lifestyle. Boddhidarma was one of these wandering monks, who actually founded chinese buddhism and shaolin kung fu. The whole system is a bit complicated, though you must see, that 'buddhism' is more like a philosophy and not a real religion. The word 'buddhism' itself is a western creation, there was no definition like this before. Following the Inner Path was a quite common practice even before Buddha arrived and reformed it a bit, and shramanas also lived that way. To be a buddhist only means, that you walk this Inner Path with the help of his teachings. I don't think modern Buddhism influenced shramanas in any ways, though I never met one in person and I don't know much about them.

I've studied Shaolin kung-fu for about 10 years, and mostly I've met warrior monks. In the buddhist school there were guest teachers from Tibet and so on.. Buddhism monasticism is different in many things: first of all, they don't really have a hierarchy, rather they respect the old and more experienced monks. There are some limitations before one reaches the age of about 18-20 and becomes a fully ordained monk. Lamas are also 'ranked' monks,but they are respected as 'great teachers', somekind of gurus. Things are decided and discussed on huge meetings, where everyone has a word. It is of course regulated by the monastry rules. This is the basis, but buddhism has alot of variatons accross the globe. Traditions may also vary with theravada, mahayna teachings. Buddhism was transformed alot during it's 'travels'. In Thailand for example, hierarchy does play a major role in the monastic life. Let me quote from wiki here: "Modern Thai monks are ranked according to their ability to pass examinations in Buddhist doctrine and the Pali language, and are appointed to successively higher positions in the ecclesiastic hierarchy on the basis of these exams" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_monasticism The cause of this diversity is, as you probably know, the tolerance and adaptivity of buddhist missions and teachings. Buddhist missionaries never really converted people, they rather melded into the local religions or even goverment systems, as you can see in Thailand. Ironically, it almost disappeared from India, as it was not even nearly that 'colorful' and entertaining as hinduism with all it's gods and demons and who know what else As all organizations, the buddhist church also has it's problems. We know some flaws of the Vatican.. well Buddhism has some idiots too. Corruption, monks striving for power, fights among different schools yeah they all have that. But hey, that's life You can't blame Jesus or Buddha for that. Buddha actually forbid to write down his words, now we have monastries full with sutras (that's actually a good thing of course, but an interesting thing to think about) As a plus ( I know you didn't ask, but one of my favourite topics) there is a HUGE:) misunderstandment in the heads over here in the West. BUDDHIST DO EAT MEAT! Face it! I know, there are monastries and maybe even countries, where it is forbidden to them, but still. Buddha himself did eat meat, and I'm sure he loved it! He loved good meals.. But it's also obvious, that He respected that gift much more, then we do nowadays. Humans consume their enviroment, and that's not quite easy to face. Buddha himself needed 6 years to learn that. Not directly relevant, but this lovely man could help understand it: Don't care about the title of the video though, it's dumb Some comments are quite good however.

All gaming forums share the same fate at the end

I'm not exactly an "active" buddhist, but I might answer some questions here. I was studying in a Buddhist School for a year, before I went for graphics. I also met some monks and a Lama during my martial artistic years

Good news! I was a fan of the figures too, also loved the cartoon. And ninjas... go figure

I"ve got a MVP friend at Microsoft, he tested it for some time now and it seems like it's the best OS since XP. He can be trusted so, I'll eventually buy Win7 (he stopped me from getting Vista back then )

Congratulations again to your success! Can you tell us how you guys found the idea? Was there some old game similar to this? How did you come up with the control system and the basic concept anyway?

MC Hammer Vader Busts a Move!!! http://www.break.com/index/mc-hammer-vader-busts-a-move.html

Hey all. Just got back from Imagine Cup 2009, in Cairo. It was really amazing! Sandly we didn't make it to the finals, maybe next time. If you guys want to chech some of my photos there, I have them on Facebook. Those of you guys I know now for years should find me on FB under the name Thomas Fogarasy. Check me as your friend, and don't forget to write you SWR nickname.

HAN SOLO P.I.

I've just read somewhere, that Assasins Creed 2 now has 450 people wokring on it. I'm quite unsatisfied with the prequel, but the concept and the atmosphere was perfect.

Thanks! I can't give out any details yet. It's a humanitarian online aid tool, kind of a website. I'm doing design, layout and some concept too. Details here: http://imaginecup.com/Competition/mycompetitionportal.aspx?competitionId=19 I'll try to stay out of trouble Tex! Of course it depends on how strong the ale is you can get in Cairo

With some of my friends, we've won the Microsoft Imagine Cup finals here in Hungary ( in Software design) That means, my team will represent the country on this event in Cairo in july! Even if we don't win anything, we'll get 7 days vacation in a luxury hotel, trip included Watch out Egypt, here comes the ninja!

I havn't mentioned I'm an artist at a game company? Ha .... ahh, in that case. Guess what?! I'm an artist at a smallish Melbourne game company called Firemint Congrats Krytos, one of my dreamjobs you have Didi you work Flight Control too? I've read it's a huge success. Tell us about you work!

Sure: http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2681/eulogofogarasyqv5.th.jpg

Sure, here are the finalists. http://www.eulogo.magyarorszag.hu/competition_hun/index.html Sadly, i didn't make it to the best 30, though most of us agrees in school, that a lot of the logos listed here are utterly crap. You also need some luck I guess

Jaheld is lurking on MSN messenger sometimes. Otherwise, I think he is still active on the site called B3ta. I didn't see him for ages on SWR

It was pretty hard actually. I've made some logos with animals on it (lion for belgians, bull for Spain, deer for Hungary), I guess they were alright, but we don't have any feedback from the jury yet.

That's terrible, are you still okay? Just remember to keep posting here frequently, if you still can do that. I think we are all a bit worried now on SWR.

You want something completely random? HERE YOU GO!!! http://qdb.hu/files/8810_71.swf don't forget to turn sound on

Ackbar! The Star Wars Talk Show http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1897626

28 here. Must be because of martial art experience and "use one of them as a weapon"

Jar Jar is the tumor of SW. It infested the whole SW universe Sometimes I really think, GL gave birth to him with this exact purpose!

HOLLLY SHH... Guys, we have a belgian onboard! Welcome!! Another proof, SWR is a global success. I think we should randomly open some nationality threads here. Any asian members lurking around? Or even... ladies? So I've heard, belgian beer is must be one of the best in Eu. Sadly, it's not something that we could use for this logo (well, who knows?) The atomium is quite the thing I need, but I have to find something similar in Spain and in Hungary too. Thanks for your help!

??? http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/konfus/a035.gif Oh it is! Isn't it? Anybody knows anything new about G.I. Joe?