this is implied by the
if “you”, “me” and the “thathagata” just equate to “the five aggregates” and “the five aggregates” just equates to “suffering” then “tathagata” equates to “suffering”.
Do you see that?
yes, that is @Sunyo 's position and the position of many Theravadins, see the excellent
for more information.
yes, that is a logical consequence of the view.
this is less clear, first of all, given that the Theravadin believes that there is no one who is trapped in the first place, escape does not apply, this is a logical consequence of their view.
this is sort of the same as the last question.
I think that this would be true for both the Therevadin and the “EBT’er” for a “thing” to escape there must be some sort of “thingyness” by which that thing could be pointed to, but the Buddha cannot be pointed to by gods or men.
again, yes. This is the orthodox Theravadin position.
In order to prosecute this sectarian view the Therevadins downplay the undeclared points, the danger gratification escape suttas, and any number of other ideas and arguments in the ebt that don’t support thier sectarian position.
They also overplay much rarer ideas and arguments, like SN22.85 and SN5.10 and SN44.10 that do occur in some EBT, but more rarely and more often without parallels.
See for example my thread
Basically this board seems to ebb and flow in it’s perspective, when I joined a couple of years ago it was actually quite full of interesting perspectives and detailed textual explorations from both the Theravadin and many other perspectives.
Because of the historical fact that the monastic scholar that built the site that this discussion board is for is actually ordained into the Theravadin lineage there is always going to be a core representation of this viewpoint here, while unfortunately, many of the researchers with different perspectives have drifted away, with some telling me in private that the constant prosecution of the Theravadin position has contributed to this.
I tenaciously refuse to leave, mostly because this is the only buddhist forum i know that uses discourse and i can’t stand having to click into pre-defined subcategories on forums, but also because I find it invigorating to argue with people who hold a different perspective to mine as it forces one to improve their argumentation.
That said it can get depressing. and sometimes leave one with the feeling of talking to brick walls, so it’s important to take breaks and remember that there is a bias here, as i say mostly simply by historical happenstance, and that other perspectives should be sought out when necessary.
Hope you stick around!
Metta.
(Edited to remove an “unfortunately” which made it sound like i thought it unfortunate that Therevadins where here, what i meant was its unfortunate some non-Therevadins have left)