However, I still believe, that questioning for reasons is an unavoidable by-product of accepting western disciples. It can make it very difficult to overcome doubt and develop faith -- I personally struggle with it constantly. I also believe, that it might be more difficult for western people to sh...

What pegembara said...

See:
https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/bu ... _quest.htm
https://suttacentral.net/thag7.4/en/suj ... ript=latin

Why does Nanavira bring in Inertia? Can you clarify? The subject of inertia and designation is about characteristics of namarupa, and the subject of SN22.94 is 5 aggregates, not namarupa. To answer Pulsar, "inertia" is one way of translating paṭigha https://suttacentral.net/define/pa%E1%B...

And something quite human becomes visible when I hear this talk: the Ajahns assertion, that in his time at Wat Pa Nanachat, such questioning for a reason why to do things a certain way never happened. I have read enough accounts of people who also were there, at exactly his time, and the questionin...

Hi, Did Mingun Sayadaw, Aletawya Sayadaw or Theelon Sayadaw taught the "Falling & Rising Technique"? Hi JohnSo, You might start with the Wikipedia article and the links there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahasi_Sayadaw and on Bhikkhu Pesala's site: http://www.aimwell.org/index.html ...

Again, I'm not sure how this is implied from what I said. In other places I have described how (in small ways in my case..) virtue can become the obvious choice, due to being aware of the downside ("danger") of the actions and the advantages of not avoiding them. That’s the early part of ...

Or do you mean about training westerners? If it's that, then yes you need to have the support. But mostly you have to have the patience and commitment to train people. Like they are infants trying to learn to walk. .... Thanks Bhante, that's very helpful. And you're right, in any training scenario,...

Thank you for the considered post. If I'm understanding you correctly, you are saying that one needs to look deeply into the motivation and the interpretation of Dhamma rather than the surface appearance of the practice. When it comes to discernment, the only intention that matters is the one behind...

The difference here is in how and why one pays attention to the object: either one tries to concentrate on the object itself in order to become not unaware of something else, or one uses the object as an anchor to be not swayed and to get not involved in whatever appears - thoughts, visions, sounds...

But westerners who want to ordain in a western-language setting are picking their monasteries for a wide variety of reasons only one of which has to do with that teacher. So we get Ajahn Martin's experience of being devoted to his own teacher but being surrounded by his own students who don't have ...

Hi SDC, The question of whether or not an instruction is capable of leading an ordinary person towards the right view is a reasonable one to ask, but a disqualification has to be rightly framed. As we’ve already noted, this dhammic/adhammic distinction puts the emphasis in the wrong place, but there...

Goofaholix wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2024 7:39 pm I'm not sure who posted that, it wasn't me.

Sorry, I mangled the post and left out your sentence.... Now fixed, I hope.

I think it’s a case of being careless or not knowing where right/wrong, skillful/unskillful apply, which is always on the level of the view. Those distinctions are what are going to be either understood or not, i.e. that is where the Dhamma is going to be discerned or not. Putting the distinction o...

Afaik the Buddha didn't provide much detail on the day to day workings and etiquette at a forest monastery, which is what Ajahn is talking about here, of course following the Buddhas teaching is a given. What is clear is that practising according to the suttas and vinaya involves living in a commun...

Not sure why you dhammas are 'reified' in Abhidhamma. Is a response required to this? It seems completely obvious to me as someone who has read Abhidhammattha Sangaha, Visuddhimagga and Buddhism In Daily Life by Nina Van Gorkom. I'm sure you've read those and many more. Perhaps the quotes from Ven ...