Greetings everyone, I will be traveling to Bangkok very soon and I would like to ask what is the proper procedure for donating alms-food to a monk on the street? Do I just walk up to them? What should I say to a monk if I'm interested in donating alms-food to him? Also, what kinds of food/things am ...

Does anyone know what term Buddhists used to refer to themselves during the ancient and medieval time periods? I imagine that "Buddhist" must be a relatively recent term coined by Westerners during the Colonial era.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu. His essays and Dhamma talks turned me into a Buddhist.

Supranormal powers when extended beyond the "earth" scope will be very difficult to verify through conventional means. Yes, that's true. Furthermore, in no case do I think it's at all possible to empirically prove the accuracy of one's own psychic powers or the knowledge of Awakening itse...

If John Doe, the arahant lives in California and has never physically been to Kenya, Africa nor Brazil, South America, and if he sees John Smith dies in Brazil and reborn in Kenya, the only way to verify with 100% accuracy thru "conventional means" is to fly over to both countries and con...

In the Pali Canon, it is stated that the Buddha and subsequent arahants acquired tevija or the threefold knowledge upon gaining Awakening. Aside from the knowledge of Nibbana itself, the Buddha and subsequent arahants attained knowledge of (1) their own past lives (2) the death and rebirth of beings...

Hi Dhammakid, I know how you feel. I've been going through the same problems with guilt as well. Here's some things I try to keep in mind when I'm overcome with feelings of guilt: (1) Imagine if you could remember all of your past lives for several aeons back. You would probably remember a countless...

Hi dcs. There is a concept known as 'the special quality of non remorse', which is a fancy way to say the moral person has no cause for abject mental turmoil. It is mental trumoil that you call obsessive introspection, and it is trumoil that makes meditation so unpleasent. And this turmoil can be r...

Thank you all for the advice. I do not meditate regularly, but I think now would be a good time to start...I realize that I have the opportunity to meditate in this lifetime and I should not let it go to waste. I was hoping someone could give me advice on two more issues: (1) I've never really lived...

Greetings Everyone. I am a Buddhist. 26 years old. I've been a long time reader of this forum and I've learned a lot about Buddhism from your in-depth discussions. I've finally decided to introduce myself because I nearly killed someone with my car today and I just wanted to talk to someone about it...