Some nice sankharas he's got there. Don't we all. Stuff he's afraid to give up, and the suggestion of it makes him get hostile. Shrug.

I don't mean to sound dismissive of the topic, merely contributing a reaction.

Who was himself well enough versed in the suttas, if I'm not mistaken. But of course every tool has its proper place and eventually things will need to develop a dimension beyond theory and literature. If that is what you mean to state then I have no disagreement. The majority of our real practice i...

While I'm sure your intentions were good I'm not really surprised. It's more of a study guide than something that's good to present aloud to people who don't know anything about the subject.

I find the literal interpretation of that to be a bit silly.

However, what can happen which is not so deadly or brain-damaging, is that the breath becomes so calm that it is effectively unnoticeable.

The end of experience only seems sad from the standpoint of grasping.

I tend to not engage the idea because I have no basis for anything but pure speculation on it. But to be honest, I can't help but feel like no rebirth is more likely, and so my actions and thoughts are conditioned by that perceived likelihood, for better or worse. I realize that this is my condition...

I'm rolling my eyes at the screen as hard as I can but it isn't doing anything!

I thought the point was that vitakka and vicara on proper objects (satipatthana, the breath, brahmaviharas, whatever) results in the abandoning of unwholesome qualities and hindrances and such which then results in the development of piti-sukha. Not that pleasure is the direct goal and result and pu...

If nothing has objective significance, then how could the Buddha teach universal principles? Do you disagree with the Buddha? When he laid down the precept not to kill, was that only applicable to you, or to everyone? Even if you say, he said it applies if you want to attain nibbana, did he ever te...

This reasoning is more demonstrable than reasoning that giving your mother flowers is a nice thing. You have to actually draw on mor assmptions to make tha decision. You think the flowers things is easier because you already implicitly accept the argument I am giving. I say implicit. Somehow you th...

But existence is something which is currently not explained through logic by any other system. Aristotle is unique in this manner. You don't seem to get that just having an explanation is worthless if it can't be demonstrated to have any reality to it. The fact is that Buddhism take a lot for grant...

Ha, yeah, samsara it is.

When the Buddha said, "When this is, that is; from the arising of this comes the arising of that." That is logic. He was reasoning. Sure. And this relatively straightforward reasoning can be confirmed for one's own with observation. And can then be seen to directly apply to the real-world...

The thing that strikes me is that, even if you have a metaphysical explanation for things that makes sense to you personally, that makes no steps towards actually showing that it is true. I question the apparent obligation to have an explanation. Maybe we can't always get what we want. Science doesn...

Whoa.

Guys, I think I just became a Christian.

Can someone direct me to the nearest church?