Search found 766 matches

by lostitude
Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:57 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
Replies: 41
Views: 777

Re: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"

For if form were self, it wouldn’t lead to affliction. And you could compel form: Rūpañca hidaṁ, bhikkhave, attā abhavissa, nayidaṁ rūpaṁ ābādhāya saṁvatteyya, labbhetha ca rūpe: ‘May my form be like this! May it not be like that!’ ‘evaṁ me rūpaṁ hotu, evaṁ me rūpaṁ mā ahosī’ti. But because form is...
by lostitude
Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:21 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
Replies: 41
Views: 777

Re: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"

]Not exactly. It is a good point because there is no logical fallacy in the statement. If there is no one to own anything, then nothing can be owned. Does that follow? If there is no one to see the colour blue, then the colour blue cannot be seen? The absence of self would appear to have the same r...
by lostitude
Sat Mar 23, 2024 5:52 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
Replies: 41
Views: 777

Re: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"

Well that’s a very good point. Much better than trying to persuade people that they don’t own their body because they can do nothing against illness and old age. I am honestly quite suprised to be the only one having an issue with such an argument. Is it a good point because you accept that the con...
by lostitude
Sat Mar 23, 2024 4:15 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
Replies: 41
Views: 777

Re: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"

You have provisional ownership of your body, not permanent. Did you ever do a long sitting meditation and when you tried to get up found you had numb and 'dead' legs that made it hard to feel and move them? The body here shows its lack of true ownership even briefly. I disagree. Sometimes in winter...
by lostitude
Sat Mar 23, 2024 2:43 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
Replies: 41
Views: 777

Re: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"

But ownership can only be of a self, of which there are none. Well that’s a very good point. Much better than trying to persuade people that they don’t own their body because they can do nothing against illness and old age. I am honestly quite suprised to be the only one having an issue with such a...
by lostitude
Sat Mar 23, 2024 2:11 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
Replies: 41
Views: 777

Re: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"

... "to have something for oneself, at one’s disposal, and be able to use or enjoy it". ... it might well happen that circumstances change and it's not there for you any more. And it's not up to you. So do you really posess it or can this fact change on its own? Yes, when something you us...
by lostitude
Sat Mar 23, 2024 1:38 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
Replies: 41
Views: 777

Re: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"

Thanks everyone for your contributions. I still feel there is a linguistic issue here. The verb own, as a synonym of possess, means To have rightful possession of (property, goods or capital); to have legal title to; to acquire a property or asset. . It’s the same in my language (French) where possé...
by lostitude
Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:36 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
Replies: 41
Views: 777

Re: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"

I'm adding the quote for context: "If this body is really mine, it will obey my commands. when I say "don't get old" or "I forbid you from getting hurt!" does it listen to me? No! It doesn't care about my opinion at all. We are only tenants, not owners of this "house&qu...
by lostitude
Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:26 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
Replies: 41
Views: 777

"If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"

Hello, I keep running into this statement in Ajahn Chah's teachings. I don't understand the logic. To me this sounds like a logical fallacy, because it doesn't matter what kind of thing you own, it just does not follow that said thing will 'obey your commands', especially if it's not even a being of...
by lostitude
Wed Dec 27, 2023 10:01 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Keeping a cool head in times of hatred
Replies: 14
Views: 740

Re: Keeping a cool head in times of hatred

Thank you all for your really helpful answers! It’s really nice to have such a group to turn to when things get confusing.
by lostitude
Sun Dec 10, 2023 3:13 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Keeping a cool head in times of hatred
Replies: 14
Views: 740

Keeping a cool head in times of hatred

Hello, I feel terribly upset by the current news of daily atrocities over the last two months. If I were upset by misfortunes happening to me, I would not hesitate to refer to Buddhist teachings on how to deal with that. But in the case of other people being slaughtered and hundreds of thousands los...
by lostitude
Wed Aug 30, 2023 11:58 am
Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
Topic: social anxiety
Replies: 16
Views: 2591

Re: social anxiety

In a recent talk Ajahn Brahm described how he helped someone with a debilitating anxiety. Roughly: First he asked where the anxiety manifested. A few days later he got an answer. Then he asked for a detailed description of it, how it felt etc. Where was it worst. A few days later the answer came. H...
by lostitude
Fri Jan 20, 2023 10:44 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Exact process of remembering past lives
Replies: 61
Views: 3076

Re: Exact process of remembering past lives

When you are checking your own contradiction then you use the accusation of condescend that yourself chose to start writing in this thread: "Frankly this is about as compelling as the story of Eve being created from Adam’s rib" ... "So basically the scriptures say that Buddha accesse...
by lostitude
Thu Jan 19, 2023 11:17 pm
Forum: Pāli
Topic: Pali Resources
Replies: 115
Views: 226204

Re: "There is a book" new learners book(s) for pāḷi by J. R. Bhaddacak

I have just seen this relatively new aid for learning pāḷi, you may be interested as well. The first volume is about how to say things in pāḷi and second is about how to read pāḷi texts. "I write this book with a hope that it can be an easy starter to Pāli studies which I wish it had been my f...
by lostitude
Thu Jan 19, 2023 11:06 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Exact process of remembering past lives
Replies: 61
Views: 3076

Re: Exact process of remembering past lives

note how you try to solve the contradiction using "mind" when you writes "yet a tree is displayed in your mind". I think you're just missing the point of the metaphor. Saying 'a tree is displayed in your mind' is similar to saying 'a tree is displayed on your screen' in the comp...