13
votes
What do you wish you knew when you started down the path of buddhism?
I am a Tibetan Buddhist, and have been for about 50 years.
I don't really know if I can help with that question - but maybe so.
Here are some things that might of use to a beginner.
Learn to develop ...
- 542
12
votes
How is forgiveness defined in Buddhism?
You said, "Forgiveness means if anybody do some harm to you you don't react and just try to pretend like it never happened to you."
This is called "Kshanti-paramita", the perfection of patience.
In ...
- 57.6k
8
votes
Accepted
What does Diamond Way Buddhism say about obstacles at times of becoming more conscious?
There is a saying in Zen:
When we love them flowers wither; when we hate them creepers bloom.
Meaning, the more you like something, the more your mind gets sensitive to losing that. And the more ...
- 57.6k
6
votes
Accepted
What are the rotating cylinders in monastries, and why are they there?
These are Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheels and they often have 'Om mani padme hum' engraved on them:
According to Tibetan Buddhist belief, spinning a prayer wheel is just as effective as reciting the ...
- 1,822
6
votes
Text request--Tibetan Buddhism
The Gelug tradition expounds on the following five types of meditation.
You find here teachings (for free) related to Tsongkhapa's Middle-Length Lam Rim. They must cover the first, second and third ...
- 5,206
6
votes
Who is really suffering in Hell and Enjoying in Heaven?
From Milindapanha:
-- “What is it, Nàgasena, that is reborn?”
-- “Mind and matter (namarupa).”
-- “Is it this very mind and matter that is reborn?”
-- “No, it is not, but by this mind and ...
- 57.6k
6
votes
Concept of "gods" in Vajrayana Buddhism
In Tibetan Buddhism, a God is merely a sentient being that is subject to suffering. Gods have afflictions such as ignorance, anger, attachment and so forth. They have mistaken consciousnesses, and so ...
- 5,206
6
votes
Accepted
How to find the right Dhamma teacher
At this point I venture to say that the school one picks is largely irrelevant. It's much more about the teacher's ability to connect the map of the teaching with the jungle of your immediate living ...
- 57.6k
6
votes
Heterosexual attraction in rebirth process?
Detailed description of the rebirth process appeared in the Garbhāvakrānti Sutra and the Abhidharmakośa, with the former being written first. AFAIK, both of these texts are significant in Tibetan ...
- 398
5
votes
Accepted
What is the truth that you deny?
The word, as spelled in english, is "gak-cha," and it refers to the object whose existence we deny.
The idea is that things, including our selves, do not exist "out there, independently," or "from ...
- 66
5
votes
How is a Dalai Lama chosen? And can it be a woman?
The reincarnation of a lama isn't chosen or elected. He or she is found.
Man or woman
Historically the Dalai Lama has always been a man, but it has been my understanding that there is no rule that ...
- 1,479
5
votes
Pāramitāyāna and Tantrayāna
The quote is more or less true. The position that Tibetan Buddhism distinguishes between pāramitāyāna and tantrayāna is accurate. Pāramitāyāna is most often translated 'perfection vehicle' or 'sutra ...
- 5,206
5
votes
Looking for a clear explanation of "interdependent origination" in English (one that doesn't rely a lot of Buddhist terminology)?
The Wikipedia entry on dependent origination is pretty good and simple. Similarly there is a good essay called Dependent Arising by Piya Tan.
In simple terms this is as follows:
When the cause is ...
5
votes
How to find the right Dhamma teacher
I would recommend you to pick the tradition closest to the original teachings of the Buddha and try to find a good teacher within that tradition. Trying many traditions would probably lead you to ...
- 25.7k
5
votes
How to find the right Dhamma teacher
The Dhamma of the Buddha is the right dhamma teacher; as stated in the Pali suttas.
I have set forth the Dhamma without making any distinction of esoteric and exoteric doctrine; there is nothing, ...
- 39.4k
5
votes
What are the differences between Zen Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism?
From my experience, the biggest diff is in the amount of rational explanation.
Tibetan teachers and texts are much more inclined to giving a step by step logical rational reasonable conceptual ...
- 57.6k
4
votes
Accepted
What is a wrathful Buddha?
Wrathful Buddhas (or wrathful gurus for that matter) are not actually angry, in the way untrained people are. In Vajrayana before we even reach highest tantra, we learn to transmute emotions. If you ...
- 57.6k
4
votes
Accepted
"When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the dharma will come to the land of the red faces"
There is no identified scriptural source for this, which is meant to be from one of Padmasambhava’s terma texts. The earliest version of this apocrypha appears in the US in the 1980s, suggesting that ...
- 131
4
votes
Within Tibetan Buddhism, are the Lamas always the same "soul"?
Actually, the person is empty of inherent existence. It is also empty of being a car or a boat, and so forth. However, a person is not empty of being a person. In the same way, John is empty of ...
- 5,206
4
votes
Accepted
Can Buddhism be "modernized" by discarding the supernatural mythological content?
Here's a quote from Science at the Crossroads by Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama,
Because of this methodological standpoint, I have often remarked to my Buddhist colleagues that the empirically ...
- 45.7k
4
votes
Training with both Zen and Rimé
The traditional view on this is negative. One explanation I heard, is that a particular teaching is like a raft made of simplifications and approximations - which has all kinds of holes and ...
- 57.6k
4
votes
Accepted
To what level can be said that Buddha 'followed' the dzogchen?
Dzogchen is the understanding that enlightenment can't be found outside a person
Not the best definition - most other schools would agree with this - doesn't make them Dzogchen.
Dzogchen (Dzog-pa ...
- 57.6k
4
votes
Accepted
What is Lo Jong mind training?
lo= mind, and jong=learn, train, purify. It is a combination of pithy instructions for training the mind on the Buddhist path, particularly for those who have taken bodhisattva vows, but can be used ...
- 758
4
votes
Does "Connected Causes" mean the same thing as Dependent Origination?
In discussing things with people it helps to use the terminology they use. So even if 'connected causes' is a better way to explain 'dependent origination' - the latter has become a common phrase in ...
4
votes
When is an ideology a religion and not just philosophy, or a way of living?
Buddhism is not ideology, not religion, not philosophy and not even a way of life.
Instead, Buddhism is a methodology that ends suffering & problems.
In MN 29, while Buddhism is described as ...
- 39.4k
4
votes
Why people in our realm are so fundamentally different?
The truth is, we don't all live in the same world. The world you perceive is a projection of your mind, so what you see largely depends on your energy which in its turn depends on your karma. ...
- 57.6k
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