Search found 1256 matches

by Polar Bear
Tue Jul 16, 2019 12:11 am
Forum: Ordination and Monastic Life
Topic: Mom dejected about my decision to ordain
Replies: 42
Views: 6705

Re: Mom dejected about my decision to ordain

I would also like to be able to teach her Dhamma properly because I think she might get something out of it, and we all know that's a better reward than anything else I could give her, and also a better use for my life. But I just can't feel at ease knowing that I'm causing her to suffer so much, e...
by Polar Bear
Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:48 pm
Forum: Ordination and Monastic Life
Topic: Mom dejected about my decision to ordain
Replies: 42
Views: 6705

Re: Mom dejected about my decision to ordain

I think the OP’s intention to renounce is admirable and his reflection on the uncertainty of the time of death as a motivator to ordain sooner than later is the kind of thinking the Buddha encouraged. I think the advice to finish a degree is pragmatic but it isn’t the kind of advice you would find i...
by Polar Bear
Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:49 pm
Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
Topic: Thankfulness
Replies: 9
Views: 1944

Re: Thankfulness

Also, here’s a list of talks on gratitude from Audio Dharma

https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/?search=Gratitude+
by Polar Bear
Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:46 pm
Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
Topic: Thankfulness
Replies: 9
Views: 1944

Re: Thankfulness

Something else you might read:

Gratitude in the Buddha’s Teaching Compiled with the assistance and guidance of Venerable Nyanadassana Thero; Mahinda Wijesinghe.

And

The Lessons of Gratitude by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

:anjali:
by Polar Bear
Sun Jul 07, 2019 5:25 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Request for Metta
Replies: 13
Views: 1626

Re: Request for Metta

May you be happy, may you be from suffering, may you be well! May whatever sorrows you’re feeling now fade away swiftly, and only peace remain.

You’ll be my neutral person in the meditation I’m about to do shortly :meditate:

:anjali:
by Polar Bear
Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:32 am
Forum: Ordination and Monastic Life
Topic: Monks talking about their sex lives before they ordained
Replies: 30
Views: 6139

Re: Monks talking about their sex lives before they ordained

Quite right too. But guys, input here please. Are all men that shallow? Maybe I should shave my head and go live in a cave. But only if I can take my phone, PS4 and tv with me. Well, what do you expect, anyone short of Sotapanna is still a potential Mara agent, exactly like how Morpheus explained i...
by Polar Bear
Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:28 am
Forum: Sīla
Topic: Rains Residence 2019
Replies: 5
Views: 1359

Re: Rains Residence 2019

Hi James Do you know Bhante Jinalanra Bhante Jinalankara? Yes I know him, I stayed for 4 months in the Bodhinyanarama monastery when he was there, before he moved to a smaller vihara then started Dhamma Gavesi. He helped when I asked him for recommendations for good Sri Lankan monasteries to ordain...
by Polar Bear
Wed Jul 03, 2019 3:00 pm
Forum: Ordination and Monastic Life
Topic: Monks talking about their sex lives before they ordained
Replies: 30
Views: 6139

Re: Monks talking about their sex lives before they ordained

Trying to show that one was normal could be due to ego or it could be done to assure those listening that their advice and lifestyle is relevant to them. If people think that all monks are asexual or never had much of a sex life then they may think the ideal of celibacy in Buddhism is just a fringe ...
by Polar Bear
Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:23 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The most influential modern theravada books written
Replies: 17
Views: 2406

Re: The most influential modern theravada books written

That's great that you had such a direct path to the Buddha's teaching. I stumbled through philosophy then Alan watts/Eastern mysticism then Zen then vajrayana, then finally therevada I stumbled through western philosophy simultaneously with Buddhism. I knew a small amount about Buddhism and eastern...
by Polar Bear
Sat Jun 29, 2019 4:38 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The most influential modern theravada books written
Replies: 17
Views: 2406

Re: The most influential modern theravada books written

What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula- ^ I saw it in a library when I was 19 or something, checked it out on a whim and the book is what got me into Buddhism; largely because I thought it was cool and edgy that Theravadins/Buddhists-generally considered it delusional to believe in a soul. In the ...
by Polar Bear
Fri Jun 28, 2019 4:20 am
Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
Topic: Levitation during meditation
Replies: 41
Views: 39705

Re: Levitation during meditation

The suttas describe the ability to fly through the air in a cross legged position like a winged bird. I’d like to see someone at least fly higher and farther than the Wright Brothers first flight. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=like+a+winged+bird+site%3Awww.dhammatalks.org%2Fsuttas&kj=%23f0f0f0&k...
by Polar Bear
Fri Jun 28, 2019 3:29 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: 99.9% of Theravada is primitive, false
Replies: 22
Views: 4271

Re: 99.9% of Theravada is primitive, false

The Pali Suttas recognize their own unreliability: Furthermore, take another teacher who is an oral transmitter, who takes oral transmission to be the truth. He teaches by oral transmission, by the lineage of testament, by canonical authority. But when a teacher takes oral transmission to be the tru...
by Polar Bear
Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:03 am
Forum: Wellness, Diet & Fitness
Topic: Drinking Water in South & Southeast Asia
Replies: 14
Views: 4416

Drinking Water in South & Southeast Asia

In October, I’m going to be heading off to Sri Lanka and after that India and Southeast Asia and I’m interested in finding ways to drink water safely without buying plastic water bottles. Anyone here have any experience with filter bottles they liked or stories of horrible illness I should be warned...
by Polar Bear
Wed Jun 19, 2019 1:21 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Do the suttas ever specify...
Replies: 12
Views: 2150

Re: Do the suttas ever specify...

I think people may have mostly meditated with their eyes open back in the day. If your eyes were closed, it wouldn’t be amazing to not see anything while meditating. Once it so happened that Āḷāra Kālāma, while traveling along a road, left the road and sat at the root of a nearby tree for the day’s ...
by Polar Bear
Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:26 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Where is the line between Buddhism and Dhamma?
Replies: 53
Views: 7345

Re: Where is the line between Buddhism and Dhamma?

Is might be better to speak of lines and not a line. Buddhism as it is now in its vast scope from Theravada to Pure Land and Vajrayana contains many ideas that are not found in the early texts. To go through all of these differences would take a series of tomes which I don’t plan to write. It is cle...