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People continue to discuss, explain, and distill Buddha's teachings of 2500 years ago, and this seems both very positive and inevitable. However, one bemoans the fact that, for so many people, they want to improve on them by adding complexity, and their own, supposedly advanced, spin.
It is probably inherent in human nature. People just want to be personally prominent. The allure of prestige is so strong, and the satisfaction of creating something unique and lofty bolsters the self.
Here we have a tremendous effort to remember and then finally record the words of the Buddha, creating a set of sutras that are agreed to be the most accurate in existence. Now, can we all agree these are the basis of Buddhism? No.
Take Buddhism to China and Japan, pretty soon they have their own sutras, popped out of the ether, with new teachings. Ha! Do you really think China or Japan wants to adopt an Indian teaching? Got to improve on that. The 8-Fold Path to Enlightenment? Not important because Enlightenment is transmitted directly from one who has it. Oh, yea, and we are already Buddha. Sitting meditation isn't really necessary. Really a Buddha isn't all that great, bodhisattvas are way bettter.
Or lets make a ton of rituals and chanting of mantras of prime importance. Never mind that Buddha advised not to be attached to rituals.
Nowadays, we still discuss if there is a soul or not, pretending Buddha did not answer that question. Is Nirvana a noun or a verb? Whose opinion do you agree with? Funny, if we are Buddhists why don't we read what Buddha had to say about Nirvana instead of asking each other? Not with faith, but with the simple and sincere effort to try to understand. Modern day commentators make their name by criticizing other commentators, and not in an entirely scholarly way, by trying to destroy them and their motives (Peacock vs Buddhaghosa). It's sad.
Endless parsing of words, and attempts by people to take Buddhism to the next level, rather than understand it as Buddha taught.
Too smart by half.
#5255985 Buddhism Today - Too Smart By Half
Posted
on 2012-04-28 09:08:51
#5209763 Tsunami Warning Issued For Thai Coastal Provinces Following 8.9-Scale Quake I...
Posted
on 2012-04-11 16:42:53
Looking over patong bay now... All the boats heading out of bay!
#5189871 Buddhism And Equality
Posted
on 2012-04-04 08:01:27
I don't see where Buddhism is responsible for creating a hierarchy of elitism, as you say. Monks don't demand they have the most comfortable seats. They live lives of austerity. It is just that this society respects them greatly for their model lives, and demonstrate this respect by showing monks deference. The Thai people enjoy this.
It is, of course, true that we are all equal human beings at our core, but this is apart from the human relationships in life as we actually live it. Should a child demand to be the equal of his parent? The idea that all people are equal is hardy part of life in Thailand, which is very class-conscious. Powerful and rich people are always given additional signs of respect, compared to a Burmese laborer, as an extreme example. The "wai" has many levels of respect, depending on age and other factors. Women are second-class citizens too, an obvious fact-of-life in Thai society.
The idea you express that everyone is equal, while at first appearing to be an ultimate truth, can be seen as only applying in this world under certain circumstances, for example, in a vote among citizens. Non-citizens are not equal to them in this case, and we expats are not equal to Thais in many respects. None of this is Buddhism.
According to my Thai wife, if you did sit down with the monks, no one would have said anything. Everyone would assume that you didn't understand Thai society, and that would be that. It wouldn't matter one way or the other if you are Buddhist or not, and who could know anyway? If a Muslim sat down, especially a Muslim clergy, no one would think twice about it. However, a woman could not sit there mainly because of the Buddhist rules about women not touching monks, which has to be prevented. This is considered dangerous to a monk's goal of a pure mind, free of carnal desire. Every Thai woman knows this, and why, and it is not a reason for resentment on their part.
It is, of course, true that we are all equal human beings at our core, but this is apart from the human relationships in life as we actually live it. Should a child demand to be the equal of his parent? The idea that all people are equal is hardy part of life in Thailand, which is very class-conscious. Powerful and rich people are always given additional signs of respect, compared to a Burmese laborer, as an extreme example. The "wai" has many levels of respect, depending on age and other factors. Women are second-class citizens too, an obvious fact-of-life in Thai society.
The idea you express that everyone is equal, while at first appearing to be an ultimate truth, can be seen as only applying in this world under certain circumstances, for example, in a vote among citizens. Non-citizens are not equal to them in this case, and we expats are not equal to Thais in many respects. None of this is Buddhism.
According to my Thai wife, if you did sit down with the monks, no one would have said anything. Everyone would assume that you didn't understand Thai society, and that would be that. It wouldn't matter one way or the other if you are Buddhist or not, and who could know anyway? If a Muslim sat down, especially a Muslim clergy, no one would think twice about it. However, a woman could not sit there mainly because of the Buddhist rules about women not touching monks, which has to be prevented. This is considered dangerous to a monk's goal of a pure mind, free of carnal desire. Every Thai woman knows this, and why, and it is not a reason for resentment on their part.
#5047556 Making Merit
Posted
on 2012-02-11 21:37:01
rockyysdt, on 2012-02-10 15:32:56, said:
Xangsamhua, on 2012-02-10 13:23:03, said:
rockyysdt, on 2012-02-10 12:03:52, said:
Hi X.
Many Buddhist misuse the word kharma , using it to describe ones destiny: Oh, it's my Kharma.
This can lead people to become fatalistic.
lsn't kharma an action and Vipaka the fruits of the action?
I wasn't aware that thought itself is negative kharma.
Many if not all are capable and do have dark thoughts as well as positive and neutral thoughts.
Isn't the trick, to observe them as they arise and pass, and that the concern is ending up with a chain of thoughts due to poor mindfulness and by acting on such thoughts?
Many Buddhist misuse the word kharma , using it to describe ones destiny: Oh, it's my Kharma.
This can lead people to become fatalistic.
lsn't kharma an action and Vipaka the fruits of the action?
I wasn't aware that thought itself is negative kharma.
Many if not all are capable and do have dark thoughts as well as positive and neutral thoughts.
Isn't the trick, to observe them as they arise and pass, and that the concern is ending up with a chain of thoughts due to poor mindfulness and by acting on such thoughts?
Hello Rocky
I'm confused about karma and vipaka. I know karma is meant to be action, but one talks about karmic effects, which I now learn are vipaka and are different and able to be separated in time from the original action. Why did I not know about vipaka? I've read a lot about Buddhist thought, practice and history in the past three years, since I finished my Catholic theology studies, and had some knowledge prior to then. I'm not a beginner, but here comes vipaka out of the blue. I've obviously been studying the wrong materials. Perhaps I should spend more time in Access to Insight, but the material I have read there has left me a bit cold. Sorry.
If karma as action produces a karmic effect (from the action, i.e. vipaka), then there must be something in the action that does so. Is it like firing a high-powered rifle on a rifle range? When I pull the trigger the next thing I know is that the target has been hit. The target is a long way from me and I have no awareness of the bullet passing through the air. It's just "bang!", then "thwack" way off in the distance, but the effect is entirely a product of my pulling the trigger. So with karma, both cause and effect are inherent in the action, initially potentially and then, if the action is completed, in actuality.
So with thought, or intention. Mere thought would have no karmic effect. If I think "mmm, I wouldn't mind getting into bed with her", but then let the thought go, as one does most of the time, then I can't see any karma being accrued, unless one takes declarations such as the sermon on the mount (commiting adultery with the eyes) literally. However, if I form an intention to get the young lady into bed with me then karma is present - an intention is a mental action - the intention both constitutes and accrues karma. It has a karmic effect.
But my grasp of the philosophy is shaky. If in fact an intention is not an action of a mental kind; if the action/karma takes place only in some physical or mediating form to do good or harm, e.g. helping an old lady across the road (good), telling lies about someone to others (malicious gossip - bad), then I would need to concede the point. But one thing I believe is constant in Buddhadharma is that the "thought" or the intention is where karma has its roots. Action follows thought, or at least proceeds from a mindset that gives rise to that action. As it says in the Dhammapada, and we all know it:
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage... If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. (Max Muller)
Or you may prefer Thanissaro Bhikkhu's version: Phenomena are preceded by the heart, ruled by the heart, made of the heart. If you speak or act with a corrupted heart, then suffering follows you — as the wheel of the cart, the track of the ox that pulls it.
You're very right.
It can be quite confusing.
It's true that our mindset can control our being.
A speaker I was listening too went further.
She said that we can't control what pops into our heads as our thoughts are random.
Through lack of awareness, attachment or clinging to these thoughts will lead to problems.
There's no doubt in my opinion, our need for regular sitting and mindfulness practice.
These cultivate concentration and awareness allowing us to view our thoughts without attachment.
They will eventually fade away leaving us in the present.
Everything depends on everything else.
The speaker went on to describe that attempting to eliminate evil thoughts is itself desire and results in clinging and attachment.
She went on to say that we can achieve wise thoughts for others without desire or clinging by practicing Metta towards those who are the subject of your thoughts.
The semantic and vocabulary conundrum here is not much different than the previous grammar lectures: they are off point.
Call it "Twiddle-dee and twiddle-dum", "toe-may-toe or toe-ma-toe", or "ham with mustard, without mustard, or mustard on the side", the point is there are consequences for your good, neutral, and negative actions, whether words, thoughts and actions.
Merit is the consequence of the positive actions.
#5034090 Making Merit
Posted
on 2012-02-06 15:24:26
Xangsamhua, on 2012-02-02 20:27:37, said:
From the moment of arising, an intention or action (kamma) produces vipaka. There are not two events or processes, kamma + vipaka, nor are there two movements or phases within the one process. They are simultaneous, two aspects of the one event.
Not according to PA Payutto, author of Good, Evil and Beyond: Kamma in the Buddha's Teachings (where vipaka is translated as 'fruition') or Phra Bhasakorn Bhavilai, author of the easier-to-read Karma for Today's Traveler, which even contains a chart showing demonstrating the potential time gaps between kamma and vipaka.
Much time can elapse between kamma and vipaka, eons even.
One simple explanation from Ven Mahasi Sayadaw:
Quote
Karma is action, and Vipaka, fruit or result, is its reaction.
Just as every object is accompanied by a shadow, even so every volitional activity is inevitably accompanied by its due effect. Karma is like potential seed: Vipaka could be likened to the fruit arising from the tree – the effect or result. Anisamsa and Adinaya are the leaves, flowers and so forth that correspond to external differences such as health, sickness and poverty – these are inevitable consequences, which happen at the same time. Strictly speaking, both Karma and Vipaka pertain to the mind.
As Karma may be good or bad, so may Vipaka, - the fruit – is good or bad. As Karma is mental so Vipaka is mental (of the mind). It is experienced as happiness, bliss, unhappiness or misery, according to the nature of the Karma seed. Anisamsa are the concomitant advantages – material things such as prosperity, health and longevity. When Vipaka’s concomitant material things are disadvantageous, they are known as Adinaya, full of wretchedness, and appear as poverty, ugliness, disease, short life-span and so forth.
As we sow, we reap somewhere and sometime, in his life or in a future birth. What we reap today is what we have sown either in the present or in the past.
The Samyutta Nikaya states:
"According to the seed that’s sown,
So is the fruit you reap there from,
Doer of good will gather good,
Doer of evil, evil reaps,
Down is the seed and thou shalt taste
The fruit thereof."
Karma is a law in itself, which operates in its own field without the intervention of any external, independent ruling agency.
http://www.buddhanet...ing/karma.htm#2
http://www.buddhanet...cmdsg/kamma.htm
http://www.amazon.co...i/dp/9746568469
#5034674 Thai Immigration Arrest 65-Year-Old British National On Child Abuse Charges
Posted
on 2012-02-06 18:53:26
cdnvic, on 2012-02-06 18:34:59, said:
Keep your posts civil. Obscene and rude replies will be removed.
#5005518 Ordanation Chant
Posted
on 2012-01-26 02:41:54
Thanks for the comments guys.
Today I spent time with the #2 Monk at my temple and he told me not to worry and that I only needed to remember the first paragraph the rest I would be prompted/helped through.
He was confused at the amount my Abbott expected me to remember but as Fabianfred said I guess if I was able to remember it all it would reflect well back on him. There are 2 of us ordaining, the other is a young Thai guy who has been studying the chants for over a month now and still struggles remembering most of it.
After the frustration of yesterday I am now looking finally forward to Sunday!
Today I spent time with the #2 Monk at my temple and he told me not to worry and that I only needed to remember the first paragraph the rest I would be prompted/helped through.
He was confused at the amount my Abbott expected me to remember but as Fabianfred said I guess if I was able to remember it all it would reflect well back on him. There are 2 of us ordaining, the other is a young Thai guy who has been studying the chants for over a month now and still struggles remembering most of it.
After the frustration of yesterday I am now looking finally forward to Sunday!
