Consistently, over and over, you use Bhante's terrible "not-self strategy" to argue for some kind of existing self, a self which also changes as you think this dodges the anicca critique. It's disturbing if you aren't honest enough to admit this, or alternatively if you aren't self aware ...

I think there is an issue when the "the buddha never said no-self, it's not-self" argument becomes a way to sneak an atta in somewhere. Let's assume good faith arguments from others :smile:. I don't think all of the 'not-selfers' are doing that. As to your other post, yeah I don't really ...

To me, this doesn't seem like such a critical distinction No self will lead to the realm of Nothingness Hence it does not lead to Nirvana I will respond to you this one time. You didn't read my post carefully. Even if we believe the view of no-self leads to nothingness, if a 'no-selfer' practices d...

All you have to do ToVincent is cease trying to build an abstract philosophical system out of the Dhamma and cease looking for dubious translations to support that enterprise. Instead accept the standard ones and simply practice it. Speaking of which--in terms of actual practice I wonder how much t...

Hi Assaji, Q. What is the meaning of nimitta ? A. “Cause” ( kāraṇa ) is the meaning of nimitta. As the Buddha taught: “Monks, all vicious unskillful modes of conduct arise with a cause (nimitta)” [AN 2.78]. This is the meaning of “cause.” I'm a little confused by this. Perhaps I'm missing something...

We can recognize temporal strata without needing to throw away anything. Knowing the temporal strata of a text helps us put it into context and understand more clearly what the concerns of the specific text is, and how those may be aligned or misaligned with the intent of the earlier teachings. None...

BrokenBones wrote: ↑Wed Mar 09, 2022 10:37 pm I think you'll find the pupil finds a teacher and not vice versa... not that your advice isn't good... just a bit presumptuous.

The second part of my post was meant for people in general who are reading this thread. If you already approach things that way then that’s excellent IMO.

I'm in with a shout then 😅 Heh, you still have to put in the careful work. Put aside your personal biases and school affiliations, put aside your personal assumptions and beliefs, put aside what “seems obvious” to you, take a few deep breaths and open up the suttas. Pick one passage and read it slo...

Vajrayana and Mahayana at least, take very little time and energy for any average intelligent person to sort out and see that they differ greatly from EBT. Theravada LBT (Vism., later Abhidamma), it seems to take quite a bit more intelligence for people to sort through LBT Theravada's false claims ...

Ceisiwr wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 4:11 pm I think it's because form can't be said to be wholesome or unwholesome.

That seems like a reasonable explanation from the abhidhamma's perspective.

Please stick to answering the questions I asked. If they can’t be answered without the commentary then please use the earliest strata of abhidhamma/commentary available to address them. (For example does the vibhanga, patisambhimagga, petakopodesa, or other such earlier works help us here?) I should...

In the Dhammasaṅgaṇī what is going on with the exclusion of the form khanda, and the inclusion of only the mind and mind objects in the kusula sections? The text has "on that occasion the khandhas are four, and the sense spheres are two", and this is even for the kamavacara which "has...

Ceisiwr wrote: ↑Tue Mar 01, 2022 9:29 pm Not all non-duality ends in monism. .

Not two, not even one.

In Venerable Sujato's translation of SN 26.1 we find the following “Yo kho, bhikkhave, cakkhussa uppādo ṭhiti abhinibbatti pātubhāvo, dukkhasseso uppādo, rogānaṁ ṭhiti, jarāmaraṇassa pātubhāvo. “Mendicants, the arising, continuation, rebirth, and manifestation of the eye is the arising of suffering...

One can be in this kind of luminous mind perpetually, even within your usual mundane environments. This understanding is in line with the Thai Buddhist monk, Ajaan Mahā Boowa who had a similar outlook to the luminous mind. It fits quite well with my understanding, too. Some questions about this lum...