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The starting point of Buddhism is the idea that everyone begins in a state of ignorance. It is our ignorance that creates tanhā and dukkha, and it is the cessation of tanhā and dukkha that brings about wisdom and enlightenment. But ignorance, by its nature, comes in a multitude of forms. Your ignorance is not the same as my ignorance, his ignorance is not ...
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The important thing is to start training.
Don't dwell on the past.
Angulimalla killed a bunch of people and still managed to not let it stop him from reaching Arahantship and your past should't be turned into a hindrance for you.
Angulimalla did stop doing stuff he would later regret and just trained.
If instead he thought 'i must make amends for ...
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If there are overlaps, what are possible explanations?
It's natural that when you learn something new, you compare it with what you know already.
Not just "compare", but "see parallels" and "see contrasts" and "try to integrate with".
I'm not sure whether it's possible to do otherwise, but there are one or two mistakes to beware of.
One is to assume that ...
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There are two levels of Teaching, for the common people, and for professional seekers of Nirvana.
To first, Buddha taught no-nonsense ethics, chastity etc. Sex for procreation, faithful marriage, these kinds of things. Going mostly by his basic principle of "what leads to peace and harmony is good, what creates causes for potential conflict is bad" - ...
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In a very meaningful sense, every action of the Buddha whether of body, speech, or mind was upaya: skillful means. What's more, every utterance of the Buddha was an approximation of the truth when heard, understood, and conceptualized by sentient beings. This is necessarily so because all conceptualizations are mere approximations and are by nature deceptive ...
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Talia, there is no 'sin' in breaking a promise made with pure intentions of keeping it. (In fact, if someone promises with all his heart to kill me, I hope he breaks it!)
Even for monastics, like me, we occasionally have to break our promise or agreement to do something (such as accepting a invitation to a meal or to give a talk) when something else more ...
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Should I judge the efficacy of Samadhi based on the ethical qualities of the meditator?
No, you cannot do this. Jhana only temporarily suspends the 5 Hindrances / defilments. So when it is suspended the meditator may act more ethically than otherwise. Also, when not in Jhana sometimes hindrances may arise them he might be less ethical than when the ...
answered Aug 28 '19 at 16:50
Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena
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You can judge the efficacy of the samadhi (and the rest of his practice, including ethics/ virtues/ sila) based on how the meditator reacts to things that he does, and to things that happen to him.
If someone scolds him and this makes him wallow in depression, then he has not progressed on the noble path compared to one who gets over it quickly.
If he does ...
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As far as I understand, one of the main purposes of the eight factor of the Path (samma samadhi) is to clean the mind from impurities.
All factors of the N8P have the same purpose, they just operate on the different levels of coarseness. Their purpose is to first reduce and then completely eliminate creation of causes for the arising of dukkha. Generally ...
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Right immersion (sammāsamādhi) requires right view. Without that right view, we step off the Noble Eightfold Path very early on (AN4.208):
And who’s bad?
It’s someone who has wrong view, wrong thought, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, wrong immersion, wrong knowledge, and wrong freedom.
This is called bad.
...
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But, how important and relevant is the behavior of the meditator (towards others and in general) as a factor to check whether his/her meditation style is right or wrong?
It probably says more about their sila habits. This is of course related to other practices (like panna or samadhi) as well.
Regarding your question, we ultimately need to be "a light ...
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In order to serve as a reference for any trans/queer/non-binary and gender non-conforming folks on the Bodhisattva path here, looking to see how Buddhism interacts with their gender identity, it would be beneficial and more precise to add that Buddhism 100% allows all beings to be what they already are. When I entered the stream I had already had one ...
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Quoting from The Pāṭimokkha Rules
Translated & Explained
by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
The non-offense clauses state that there is no offense for a bhikkhu who acts unintentionally, not knowing, or without aiming at death. In the Vinita-vatthu, unintentionally is used to describe cases in which a bhikkhu acts accidentally, such as dropping a poorly held stone,...
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It's a good intention to desire to make a livelihood that does neither harm one self nor others, and conscience is very importand toward path and beyond.
As for how to use it all the way to highest liberation, best to get known the talk by the Sublime Buddha to his Son Ven. Rahula.
Mudita
[Note that this is not given for trade, exchange, stacks... but for ...
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There is a difference between the ideas of apology and revelation or confession. When we in the west read in the suttas about some person recognizing his mistake, we should not be thinking he is apologizing. The idea is that by confessing ones understanding that one has made a mistake and that one understands the nature of that mistake one has made the ...
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My personal opinion is that a "sincere" apology has two essential components:
"I see that what I did was wrong (regrettable)", or possibly, "My offence was unintentional"
"I will not do it again"
Conventionally you'd accept a sincere apology, meaning, "they have said they will not do it again, and I believe that ...
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This is an interesting question. Is morality objective?
I recently watched a video where Tovia Singer, an orthodox Jewish rabbi, claimed that he once debated with an atheist. The atheist apparently stated that he did not need God and he is aware by himself that murder, theft and other immoral actions are wrong. To this, the rabbi responded that humans were ...
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Western culture contradicts alot with respect to traditional eastern culture. At the time of Lord Buddha, celibacy was practiced with couples until marriage (it is still practiced in the present albeit not so commonly), which brings us to the 3rd precept of 'Abstaining from sexual misconduct' (mostly is translated to abstaining from adultery) but sexual acts ...
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The purpose of the precept is to protect you and lift you up in terms of virtue (sila).
Undertaking the first precept of not killing is about changing YOUR state of mind.
It's so that YOU become compassionate, wishing for happiness of other beings, and not have violent and harmful tendencies.
Cultivation of virtues also has the effect of freedom from ...
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If it gets out of hand i consider whether they are fit to talk to. If they are unfit to talk to, not up to sutta standards i don't talk to them at all or i narrow the range of communication.
"Monks, it's through his way of participating in a discussion that a person can be known as fit to talk with or unfit to talk with. If a person, when asked a ...
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There is no prohibition for laypeople to involve farming activities. There are some wrong livelihoods for a layperson, but farming is not one of them.
Theravada monks are prohibited from involving in any farming activity.
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As a lay person, I grow food both hydroponically and in the garden. I also study the suttas and have found nothing contrary to these practices. Indeed, I have found quite the opposite. The following quote from the Buddha resonates totally with "No-Dig" in permaculture
MN81:18.12: He’s put down the shovel and doesn’t dig the earth with his own ...
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Not everything is caused by karma. Some things are caused by other reasons, like the weather. The Sivaka Sutta talks about this. There's a summary at the bottom:
Bile, phlegm, and also wind,
Imbalance and climate too,
Carelessness and assault,
With kamma result as the eighth.
To quote the sutta in detail:
“Some feelings, Sīvaka, arise here originating ...
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There is a HUGE difference between Tantra sex and sex cults. Tantric sex is for one purpose only. That is that the union of two people becomes a microcosm of union with the universe, a state of enlightenment. The entire motivation is love and compassion And desire for enlightenment to serve all.
There is no lust.
Sex cults thrive on lust. Orgasm is for ...
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As I see it, conscience is a natural expression of human awareness; it is, in a way, enlightenment personified. Buddhist practice is meant to develop our sense of awareness (or being-ness), and the natural outcome of that practice is that we become more and more attuned to the natural expressions of conscience. This is not a binary equation, this is the ...
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