Dhamma Wheel

I could be wrong, but the issue here seems to arise from a pretty Western notion for the culmination of religious life. The life of a Christian is meant to result in "being saved" by someone else, placing the savior role in someone else's hands. No. In Christianity, you still save yourself, by pick...

Indeed. It seems to be a situation which is hypothetical (i.e. highly unlikely to arise) as well as based on a misconception. Whether it's a rule in the folk vinaya, or the actual Vinaya, my point was that there is a culture of an absence of any real-world concern among religious/spiritual people. ...

Which monk? How do you know what qualms he has or has not got? Are monks actively forbidden from saving me from drowning? It's been addressed earlier in the thread: https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=31727&start=20#p469033 As for the qualms: monks sometimes talk about that in the Dhamma t...

From what you say here and above about finding women repugnant, It sounds like you have done a lot of reading of vinaya and commentaries, and not actually lived with monks, or talked to many monks about what they actually do think. I'm female. How much do you think I can talk to monks? If I want to...

Sam Vara wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:57 pm

A monk has no qualms about letting you die, even if he could help you; for example, if you're drowning and he could save you.
Are you okay with that? Can you respect him all the same, knowing that he could let you die, given that the monk's rules make that allowance for him?

JamesTheGiant wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:32 pm

This thread has now gotten way off topic, and has become sexist. Back on topic!

It's still about respect for monks. In this case, about how a woman can or should respect a monk. Esp. if she knows he despises her (kind).

DNS wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:24 pm

Some men will have sex with any beautiful woman,

The operative term being "beautiful".

binocular wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 26, 2018 5:40 pm

Virgo wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:29 pm

Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday

Aww, you got me there! This will be hard to top!

Well, in sociological terms (i.e. Erving Goffman, etc.) a monastery is a classic "total institution". It's meant to be. Outside of that, certain forms of Buddhism retain elements of "traditional authority", but I have heard that even that is fading in the countries where monastic authority was once...

Aren't men supposed to be strong, invincible? No. Men are as fragile and subject to Saṃsāra as much as anyone. I'll believe that when I see it. I have no estimation of my own attractiveness, I do know as a matter of guarding monks, it is considered to be moral not to touch them in Thailand, for exa...

I'm not Asian, I've got default respect for a monk and have no difficulty offering homage to them ideally, but I have an entirely different concern to think about. I'm a woman, and monks have a vow of celibacy to keep. While I do not think I'm anything appealing (because I have veeeeeery little sen...

Sam Vara wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 23, 2018 4:59 pm

Yes, that's a good point. I suppose the Catholic Church would represent the last remnants of this type of authority in parts of Europe.

It looks like some Buddhists are aspiring to that type as well, making Buddhism a total institution.

There is a true story where a couple just got married. Soon after marriage, the wife is diagnosed with certain illness by the doctor. To make it short, because of the illness, the wife is not allowed to have sexual intercourse. The husband, however, got permission from his wife that, if needed, he ...

Therefore the attitude of looking down on sangha is not a matter of western or eastern cultures, but a common self centered ego, whether easterner or westerner. Is it even possible for Buddhist monks to not feel like people are looking down on them? Is it even possible for Buddhist lay people to no...

1) Traditional authority. Applied to the sangha, this is when people offer them respect and tend to accept their advice because it is the customary way of doing things; people cannot or are reluctant to do things differently because it is what they are used to. I have known Sri Lankans and Thais to...

In Western cultures, respect has to be earned. We might show respect to a person for their learning, knowledge, sports achievements, etc but only when we see such achievements and knowledge for ourselves, not simply from a title. I think that in Western culture, there are big differences in this re...

Make sure you get your health back in order, and then find a better job.
Good luck!

Ven. Bodhi's translations are not that rarely more readable than Ven. Thanissaro's. But Ven. Bodhi's political stances, and esp. his stance on killing makes everything else that he says and his translations dislikeable for me.

Anyway, my point was that one of the main problems of dhamma propagation I see in the West, amongst "converts", is the desire to go straight to the "higher learning" and skip the basics . I'm not convinced that that it is particularly effective in the long term. I think there's a reason for this. S...

does anybody else have trouble paying respect sufficiently to sangha. Absolutely. For me, the biggest issue is that monks can sometimes be too friendly to lays, or appear too lay-like. For example, when they make references to secular literature and films, music videos, especially when they do so i...