Search found 11 matches
- Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:05 am
- Forum: Ordination and Monastic Life
- Topic: Monastic Alms Round in the West
- Replies: 36
- Views: 9371
Re: Monastic Alms Round in the West
I tried, with limited success, to institute an alms round in Minnesota, USA in 2010 after returning from Myanmar, where I had ordained the year before. This is an account: Before I left Myanmar, Ashin Paññasīha had onced admonished me, “When you go back to America you should continue to do alms roun...
- Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:47 pm
- Forum: Dhammaduta (Dhamma propagation)
- Topic: Those Self-Absorbed Buddhists
- Replies: 15
- Views: 6449
Re: Those Self-Absorbed Buddhists
key indicator of spiritual progress: humility. But whence this idea that the "key indicator" of spiritual progress is humility?? I don't recall reading anything to this effect in the suttas! "Humility" is a bit ambiguous in English and it was my interlocutor's word-choice. It is...
- Sat Dec 16, 2017 5:17 pm
- Forum: Dhammaduta (Dhamma propagation)
- Topic: Those Self-Absorbed Buddhists
- Replies: 15
- Views: 6449
Re: Those Self-Absorbed Buddhists
Thanks for the many comments. Let me correct a possible misperception concerning my story. The talk I was giving was to a very open-minded Christian audience, with a great deal of curiosity and no evidence of hostility toward Buddhism. Almost all of my Christian friends are like this. The seminary s...
- Fri Dec 15, 2017 1:54 am
- Forum: Dhammaduta (Dhamma propagation)
- Topic: Those Self-Absorbed Buddhists
- Replies: 15
- Views: 6449
Those Self-Absorbed Buddhists
I recently posted a short reflection on my blog about how the propagation of Buddhism to the west is progressing. I thought I would drop it here in the Dhammaduta section as well, in the hope that it might be helpful. It begins: A few months ago I gave a talk to some seminary students who wanted to...
- Tue Dec 12, 2017 11:59 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Stephen Batchelor's “After Buddhism.” Yale University Press, 2015
- Replies: 25
- Views: 7442
Re: Stephen Batchelor's “After Buddhism.” Yale University Press, 2015
I am a latecomer to this tread, and only recently read this book. But I have recently posted a critique of some of Batchelor's points, so let me give a link to this here. I feel the main arc of this book has not been addressed in other reviews. It has to do with the nature of the Buddhist community:...
- Tue Oct 24, 2017 9:36 pm
- Forum: Early Buddhism
- Topic: Early Buddhism resources
- Replies: 181
- Views: 282938
Re: Early Buddhism resources
I would like to recommend my own introductory textbook, Buddhist Life / Buddhist Path: the foundations of Buddhist based on earliest sources . I have taught a course on early Buddhism for many years, initially making use of Bhikkhu Bodhi's In Buddha's words , but in need in something more concise. A...
- Sun Jan 11, 2015 5:03 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Why arūpa is translated as "formless" ?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 2211
Re: Why arūpa is translated as "formless" ?
We drive on a parkway, yet park in a driveway (at least in the States).
- Fri Jan 17, 2014 8:24 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Response from member of the Burmese Sangha to U Wirathu
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1936
Re: Response from member of the Burmese Sangha to U Wirathu
The international press tends to be driven more by sensationalism that fairness. "Religious violence" gets good press, while attempts at reconciliation go unheard. There has been a response by the Burmese Sangha against the statements of U Wrathu and the 969 movement that has been largely ...
- Sat Sep 07, 2013 5:59 pm
- Forum: Lounge
- Topic: Alchoholic Buddhists
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3036
Re: Alchoholic Buddhists
One might think of Buddhism as Samsarics Anonymous. I have found that people who have successfully given up alcohol, that one rather vexing part of samsara, find it easy to appreciate that Buddhism is about giving up the rest.
- Fri May 03, 2013 5:49 pm
- Forum: Connections to Other Paths
- Topic: Genocide in Burma: Monks and Perpetuation of Violence
- Replies: 146
- Views: 49519
Re: Genocide in Burma: Monks and Perpetuation of Violence
A number of people involved in this thread have suggested that while some monastics in Burma have advocated violence few have condemned it. I want to point out the following recent statement by Ashin Nyanissara (Sitagu Sayadaw's): https://www.facebook.com/notes/%E1%80%9E%E1%80%AE%E1%80%90%E1%80%82%E...
- Mon Oct 25, 2010 7:51 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: What if everyone in America becomes Buddhist?
- Replies: 25
- Views: 6046
Re: What if everyone in America becomes Buddhist?
My own impression of Buddhism is that it has maintained its integrity remarkably well over the centuries and as it has spread to new lands, in spite of many cultural accretions and most remarkably in spite of not having a common scriptural foundation. The essence of Buddhism is the same in Tibet, in...