Search found 67 matches

by Heavenstorm
Tue Feb 02, 2010 8:41 pm
Forum: Connections to Other Paths
Topic: Renouncing Bodhisatta Vows
Replies: 39
Views: 9751

Re: Renouncing Bodhisatta Vows

Aloka wrote:However I'm keen not to become a brainwashed parrot concerning these matters.
Neither am I. I'm just like to present the opposite side of the argument for the sake of completeness. People finding them hard to believe are always felt free to discount them.
by Heavenstorm
Tue Feb 02, 2010 8:21 pm
Forum: Connections to Other Paths
Topic: Renouncing Bodhisatta Vows
Replies: 39
Views: 9751

Re: Renouncing Bodhisatta Vows

Just to clarify, I was interested in reading what you had to say but perhaps I should mention that I am an offline Vajrayana practitioner of many years, currently very interested in learning more about Theravada. Actually I don't feel fear or speculate about if I will go to the Hell Realms because ...
by Heavenstorm
Tue Feb 02, 2010 8:00 pm
Forum: Samatha Bhāvana
Topic: Do you have to abstain from sex to achieve jhana?
Replies: 76
Views: 25273

Re: Do you have to abstain from sex to achieve jhana?

Recently someone suggested that a meditator must abstain from sex in order to gain jhanic concentration. I've been reading a lot about jhana lately and have not come across anyone suggesting that. Could anyone shed some light and explain whether the Buddha ever said this? Its half correct. In a ret...
by Heavenstorm
Tue Feb 02, 2010 3:35 pm
Forum: Classical Theravāda
Topic: Insight development VS cula-sotapanna fixed destiny
Replies: 11
Views: 4085

Re: Insight development VS cula-sotapanna fixed destiny

2. When insight develops to paccaya pariggaha nana, one becomes a cula-sotpanna of a fixed destiny, which means that s/he’s assured of not being reborn in the four lower realms and (if I’m not mistaken) assured of becoming a sotapanna in the same life. This would seem to imply that insight can be d...
by Heavenstorm
Tue Feb 02, 2010 2:50 pm
Forum: Samatha Bhāvana
Topic: Do you have to abstain from sex to achieve jhana?
Replies: 76
Views: 25273

Re: Do you have to abstain from sex to achieve jhana?

Recently someone suggested that a meditator must abstain from sex in order to gain jhanic concentration. I've been reading a lot about jhana lately and have not come across anyone suggesting that. Could anyone shed some light and explain whether the Buddha ever said this? Its half correct. In a ret...
by Heavenstorm
Tue Feb 02, 2010 2:46 pm
Forum: Connections to Other Paths
Topic: Renouncing Bodhisatta Vows
Replies: 39
Views: 9751

Re: Renouncing Bodhisatta Vows

But here on the web, one sees all sort of scary things... A further comment after my remark about Vajra Hell is that the different realms can be interpreted as ever changing mental states...for example we can even be in several realms mentally in the course of one day due to fluctuating thoughts an...
by Heavenstorm
Tue Feb 02, 2010 2:35 pm
Forum: Connections to Other Paths
Topic: Renouncing Bodhisatta Vows
Replies: 39
Views: 9751

Re: Renouncing Bodhisatta Vows

Vow to whom?. To Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. From my understanding, its a ceremony thingy in which the practitioners will visualize the Arya beings in front of them and voice out and repeat the vows three times in front of them. And usually a Mahayana master will take charge of the ceremony. But sinc...
by Heavenstorm
Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:16 pm
Forum: Connections to Other Paths
Topic: Renouncing Bodhisatta Vows
Replies: 39
Views: 9751

Re: Renouncing Bodhisatta Vows

Another thread made me wonder, what are the Theravada and/or Mahayana views on someone who renounces the path of a Bodhisatta in order to practice for Arahantship. Is this mentioned at all in the Suttas of either tradition? Simple answer, in Theravada, there is no big doubt as one could still becom...
by Heavenstorm
Mon Feb 01, 2010 3:55 pm
Forum: Theravāda for Beginners
Topic: Meditation and My Questions of Christian Belief
Replies: 11
Views: 2996

Re: Meditation and My Questions of Christian Belief

What I want to know, is will meditation help me to resolve my belief issues one way or the other? I ask because I keep hearing claims of people who say how meditating has brought them insights they had never experienced before meditating. When it comes to meditation, its always better to have an ex...
by Heavenstorm
Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:03 pm
Forum: Connections to Other Paths
Topic: Do the heaven/hell realms hurt credibility of the dhamma?
Replies: 70
Views: 19628

Re: Do the heaven/hell realms hurt credibility of the dhamma?

I've tried to believe in an afterlife for the sake of Buddhism. I wanted the philosophy to fit well without stress, worry, or doubt. But I can't make myself believe in something that even M-Theorists would reject. Although I never like M theory, it actually support the idea of "parallel univer...
by Heavenstorm
Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:45 pm
Forum: Early Buddhism
Topic: Debating the Buddha
Replies: 18
Views: 9011

Re: Debating the Buddha

Vedantas too like to proclaim their own victories and how their fore fathers like Adi Shankara defeated and "annihilated" the "misguided" schools of Buddhism from India. On the other hand, Theravadins' cousins, Mahayanists have a couple of "historical records" on the re...
by Heavenstorm
Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:33 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The path of the Bodhisattva in Theravada Buddhism
Replies: 61
Views: 17138

Re: The path of the Bodhisattva in Theravada Buddhism

I am now wondering how far i can take my satipatthana practice? Can and should i practice satipatthana at all? How do i cultivate the parami of wisdom without attaining sotapanna? Hi there, as far as I know, Buddhist masters and teachers in Theravada and Mahayana comment on the necessity of the cul...
by Heavenstorm
Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:59 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The path of the Bodhisattva in Theravada Buddhism
Replies: 61
Views: 17138

Re: The path of the Bodhisattva in Theravada Buddhism

Now the fourth qualification is making the aspiration for Buddhahood in the presence of a living Buddha. Does this mean that those who aspire for Buddhahood and are practicing the Bodhisattva path today are practicing in vain? I can't really answer that question. But according to historical records...
by Heavenstorm
Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:32 pm
Forum: Theravāda for Beginners
Topic: Tathāgatagarbha & Buddha-dhatu (Discovering Theravada vers.)
Replies: 32
Views: 10477

Re: Tathāgatagarbha & Buddha-dhatu

And indeed this does become a problem, which is why I think people studying Mahayana should have some background in Theravada first. Agree. But unfortunately, its not the trend in the world's today. I'm amazed by the fantasy stuffs that are coming from some of their mouths. And some stuffs that som...
by Heavenstorm
Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:32 pm
Forum: Connections to Other Paths
Topic: Tathāgatagarbha & Buddha-dhatu (DFFA version)
Replies: 36
Views: 11534

Re: Tathāgatagarbha & Buddha-dhatu

And indeed this does become a problem, which is why I think people studying Mahayana should have some background in Theravada first. Agree. But unfortunately, its not the trend in the world's today. I'm amazed by the fantasy stuffs that are coming from some of their mouths. And some stuffs that som...