I know I have posted already a lot of questions this week, I hope I don't bother anyone with it. But there is no Sangha where I live, nor do I know anyone who is interested in Buddhism, so I find this a great place to ask questions, because I get good answers here... Since last year I decided to be...

Hi there! I got a (apparently) very simple question: The 5 aggregates and the 5 Clinging-Aggregates: What's the difference? :coffee: At times it may be more helpful to read "upadana-khandha" as fuel-aggregates, rather than "clinging aggregates", specifically if one wishes to tak...

I would like to know the relationship between Kamma and dependent origination. A person has told me Kamma is the driving force behind dependent origination, but I don't think so. I think it is obviously a result of dependent origination, but not the ultimate push behind it. I always thought ignoran...

And of course Bareau's 1955 Les Sectes Bouddhiques Du Petit Vehicule . In particular, three main lines: Sarvastivada, Vatsiputriya / Sammitiya, and Mahasamghika. That would cover most of the Buddhist tradition over that time. Please explain how the Buddha's teachings or his close commentators explai...

Thus, it is quite incorrect to claim that "it is a Mahayana imposition", for it most certainly is not. And in fact, by so claiming, you have further confused the issue. Moreover, the so-called Diamond sutra merely mentions these systems, but does not "explain" them at all. It do...

Buddha-fields are also Mahayana impositions Hm, I could swear I saw the term "buddhafield" somewhere in Visuddhimagga, though it’s likely the term is used in a different sense than in Mahayana. In the Visuddhimagga, the Apadana, and Theragatha too. The sense is different from that of late...

Actually, the Buddha did not describe the horizontal "dimensional-width" of the cosmos. The chiliocosms were explained in later doctrinal formation of the Mahayana, specifically the Diamond Sutra . So, chiliocosms and and greater world-systems should not be considered Theravada or traditi...

... Edit: This is the thread I was speaking of: http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3064&hilit=historical+buddha&start=140" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; You'll find a post of mine in a similar vein (if not more friendly and humble than I am these d...

Astronauts who passed out from heavy G's experienced these same things; this would suggest, as it has to NASA, that these experiences in fact have nothing to do with death. It happens when the brain is under severe stress and all but shuts down for a time. As Pim van Lommel's studies have shown, th...

As the Buddha explained to King Pasenadi, Your majesty, as a layman enjoying sensuality; living crowded with wives and children; using Kasi fabrics and sandalwood; wearing garlands, scents, and creams; handling gold and silver, it is hard for you to know whether these are arahants or on the path to ...

Technically, Theravada could be considered a form of Mahayana. Spoken like a Mahayanist, but Theravada is not a form of Mahayana. Tilt, I don't know of any Mahayana practitioners who would call Theravada "technically" a form of Mahayana. Please don't lump the bizarre statements of one per...

.... If you want a look at mahayana buddhism as its actually practiced today, get some information on chan buddhism. Chan is chinese mahayana buddhism, usually found in the wild with chinese pure land buddhism, which encourages devotional practices. By number of adherents chan is probably the bigge...

I know the Buddha broke down the caste system, and I wanted to know what the Buddha might have said about racism that people can apply in the modern day. It may be rather an over-statement to say that "the Buddha broke down the caste system". For a start, he lived in an area that didn't r...

Yeah, well, it can be without doubt shown that there were Mahayana bits and pieces in the Theravadin history of ideas, but that, even taking all of the above to account, is a long, long way from finding within the mainstream Theravada anything that looks like the Mahayana bodhisattva path structure...

Yeah, well, it can be without doubt shown that there were Mahayana bits and pieces in the Theravadin history of ideas, but that, even taking all of the above to account, is a long, long way from finding within the mainstream Theravada anything that looks like the Mahayana bodhisattva path structure...