Dhamma Wheel

Yes, I know what apologetics is, thanks. I'm asking for specific examples of Buddhist apologetics, to see if they are "alien". The Milindapanha is given as an example, and that is quite accessible to Westerners. So what are the other examples that are less accessible and truly "alien"? What are tho...

What you did was to take your own unfortunate experience and claim that it was "usual". I'm happy to substitute a different word if it does more justice to that process. What you (and several others) are doing is taking your own standards of sensitivity and assume them to be universal, and then you...

The hierarchical arrangement of the contents of Buddhism is unavoidable, but the difficulty in understanding the scope compounds when people try to find out how to structure it to best understand it, i.e. what is essential? All of it? Part of it? This school? That school? Half the battles we witnes...

samseva wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:50 pm

So you can read the minds of people you haven't met?

Jesus. Just listen to what they say. Listen to/read the OP, for example. It's quite revelatory to actually listen to/read what people say, you know. That way, you can discover what they think! It's a revolutionary idea, yes ...

That's why I often comment about your generalising. Then I should often comment about your lack of sensitivity. And what I do is not generalizing; generalizing would be to take a small number of examples of something and unduly assume that all members of the category are like that. I don't do that....

Sam Vara wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 8:54 pm

Had the setting not been multicultural, I would not have been able to learn them.

In your particular situation, yes, but not generally or necessarily.

Could you provide some examples of what you mean by "Buddhist apologetics"? Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apologetics Listen to prett...

Is it really usually done with "authoritarianism and intense contempt", or is that merely something you may have experienced and are generalising from? Of course, such things may exist, but I've been practising for a long time now in a wide variety of contexts and not only have I not seen this, I'v...

Buddhism is a blemish on Dhamma, but within that blemish is access. Access to the "right" things. Buddhism is the attempt by the lineage to preserve the Dhamma, often failing to understand that any attempt to preserve or protect or describe - no matter how accurate - is going to be a layer to wade ...

Sam Vara wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 7:53 pm

1) A technique of Samatha meditation
2) A nifty 3-minute mindfulness exercise, courtesy of Rewata Thero
3) How to pronounce kiṇāti like a shopaholic Sri Lankan post-doc researcher.

How was a multicultural setting relevant to learning these things, other than accidentally?

But i still fail to understand why any of the above is considered a hindrance to understand Buddhism. To understand that, I think one needs to understand that 1. Asian Buddhist apologetics is specific, and 2. the majority of Buddhist apologetics (East or West) is Asian. Namely, Asian Buddhist apolo...

JamesTheGiant wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 7:43 pm

Is to wake up the monks who fell asleep.

Talk about falling asleep at the wheel!

I am trying to understand this whole discussion. Could anyone please help me understand what does the word "westerners" mean in the context of this thread? People who were not born and raised in traditionally Buddhist countries; peple who were born and raised in Europe, in the Americas, Africa, Aus...

Sam Vara wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 7:38 pm

I learnt a huge amount.

Could you list three most important things you've learnt in those exchanges?

My experience has been different; I see plenty of interaction between white, black Americans and Asians in the temple and elsewhere, but then again I live in a very diverse city where it is "majority minority" (all the minority groups added together are over 50% of the population). I'm sure they in...