So? Jhana in and of itself is not something exclusive to just Buddha's disciples. The Buddha before discovering His Dhamma already learned and attained high-level Jhanas from His outsider-teachers.
Search found 6105 matches
- Mon Apr 01, 2024 3:56 am
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Worldly Right view with effluent?
- Replies: 9
- Views: 200
Re: Worldly Right view with affluent?
- Mon Apr 01, 2024 3:37 am
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
- Replies: 445
- Views: 75049
Re: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
Santa has suggested that in order to be qualified to criticise Bodhi I need to go to Ukraine to get myself shot in the head and paralysed. No reasonable discussion seems possible with him as he seems merely to be intent on shutting it down with bullying and abusive speech. Wrong, I did not suggest ...
- Mon Apr 01, 2024 3:28 am
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Worldly Right view with effluent?
- Replies: 9
- Views: 200
Re: Worldly Right view with affluent?
Do we find any of the views in Brahmajala Sutta as the worldly right view with affluent? If not why? They're wrong views as per Maurice Walsh's note on DN1: Brahmajāla Sutta: The Supreme Net (What the Teaching is Not). The monks observe the wanderer Suppiya arguing with his pupil about the merits o...
- Mon Apr 01, 2024 1:33 am
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
- Replies: 445
- Views: 75049
Re: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
Not complicated at all. Being formally "a buddhist" doesn't make you wise or even moral person. Majority of buddhists in "traditional" countries don't understand their own religion deep enough and don't have desire to do so. It is very superficial. That's why we see such atrocit...
- Sun Mar 31, 2024 11:20 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
- Replies: 50
- Views: 1083
Re: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
But that’s because you already accept the idea that "self" (or ownership, for that matter) implies 100%, absolute, control. To me this is completely arbitrary and no one should have any specific reason to believe this spontaneously because it is not something that common sense dictates, o...
- Sun Mar 31, 2024 10:29 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
- Replies: 50
- Views: 1083
Re: "If we owned our body, it would obey our every command"
But then that’s the exact problem I was talking about: you arbitrarily decide on an impossible definition, only to remark that nothing can ever tick the boxes of your definition. Not to mention that if nothing is self, then you have never experienced it, so you wouln’t know what or how it’s really ...
- Sun Mar 31, 2024 5:58 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
- Replies: 445
- Views: 75049
Re: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
I didn't ignore this fact. You've just brought it up. And since you have let's remember that the Buddha gave a very clear answer - those who die in combat, without even necessarily killing, go to the lower realms. Encouraging others to kill others in combat is thus doubly reprehensible. And also le...
- Sun Mar 31, 2024 2:57 am
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
- Replies: 445
- Views: 75049
Re: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
It's one thing to be grateful to the officer for saving your life, it's another to condone, especially as a monk, that it's fine to kill under certain conditions. As a monk it's better not to give any opinion about such hairy topics. If you find that hypocritical then that is ok. People live differ...
- Sat Mar 30, 2024 10:24 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: What is this knowledge for?
- Replies: 22
- Views: 506
Re: What is this knowledge for?
Yes, it is a good point. There are some satanic religions in the world too. Some people covert the quite innocent religions to satanic purposes as well. You can even use Buddhism for Satanic purposes. People get satisfaction from using Satanic rituals. Can we call it happiness? That's why happiness...
- Sat Mar 30, 2024 9:41 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: What is this knowledge for?
- Replies: 22
- Views: 506
Re: What is this knowledge for?
Agree. Maybe many billions of humans have some religion. Religion must be bringing some happiness to them. Even if religion is based on ignorance it brings happiness at least short term. Not sure about that. Just like the knife analogy mentioned before , whether religion brings happiness or sufferi...
- Sat Mar 30, 2024 4:33 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
- Replies: 445
- Views: 75049
Re: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
What if a police officer confronts an active shooter who is not hypothetically killing people but actually in the process of shooting and killing people? Wouldn't the police officer be "compelled to shoot a killer to spare the lives of innocent people"? Your example hasn't gone far enough...
- Sat Mar 30, 2024 3:57 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
- Replies: 445
- Views: 75049
Re: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
He clearly recommends killing in certain circumstances to be "commendable". He says enlisting to kill in war is karmically justifiable. The Buddha says no-one should ever kill, and that it is precisely the karmic effects of killing that make it so totally unjustifiable. Remember, if you d...
- Sat Mar 30, 2024 4:52 am
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
- Replies: 445
- Views: 75049
Re: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
... If you can't see how your quote, far from providing exonerating context, actually further condemns Bodhi in the eyes of people who actually take the Buddha's teachings seriously, your eyesight seems to me beyond repair. Well, you're the only person so far who consistently puts words into Ven. B...
- Fri Mar 29, 2024 4:14 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
- Replies: 445
- Views: 75049
Re: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
And to be fair to Ven. Bodhi, it's important to provide the full context of his quotes: In time of war, I would argue, the karmic framework can justify enlisting in the military and serving as a combatant, providing one sincerely believes the reason for fighting is to disable a dangerous aggressor ...
- Thu Mar 28, 2024 4:22 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda discussion
- Topic: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
- Replies: 445
- Views: 75049
Re: Bhikkhu Bodhi on War and Thanissaro's rebuttal
And to be fair to Ven. Bodhi, it's important to provide the full context of his quotes: In time of war, I would argue, the karmic framework can justify enlisting in the military and serving as a combatant, providing one sincerely believes the reason for fighting is to disable a dangerous aggressor a...