Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

Solitary Buddhist is a person with no access to a Buddhist temple, no access to a teacher (even by Skype), no access to a sangha, and one who is almost completely self taught Buddhist (through internet and books.)

A solitary Buddhist may or may not have attended a retreat but if they have attended more than two retreats or more than 20 days it disqualifies them .. because they have come into contact with other Buddhists and hence are not solitary/isolated anymore (e.g someone who stays in Hebrides near Scotland but attends four, one week long retreats in Sussex every year is not a solitary Buddhist).

I personally live in Calcutta, about 1,000 miles from nearest Buddhist (in Bangkok). All my understanding of Buddhism is from books, YT videos, this forum and blogs. There are no serious Buddhists in my city. I am completely alone in my practice.

Please share your story here as an inspiration for rest of us solitary Buddhists.

Itivuttaka: The Buddha’s Sayings
The Section of the Threes

92. The Hem of the Robe

This was said by the Lord…

“Bhikkhus, even though a bhikkhu might hold on to the hem of my robe and follow close behind me step by step, if he is covetous for objects of desire, strongly passionate, malevolent, corrupt in thought, unmindful, uncomprehending, unconcentra­ted, of wandering mind and uncontrolled faculties, he is far from me and I am far from him. What is the reason? That bhikkhu does not see Dhamma. Not seeing Dhamma, he does not see me.

“Bhikkhus, even though a bhikkhu might live a hundred leagues away, if he is not covetous for objects of desire, not strongly passionate, not malevolent, uncorrupt in thought, with mindfulness established, clearly comprehending, concentrated, of unified mind and controlled faculties, he is close to me and I am close to him. What is the reason? That bhikkhu sees Dhamma. Seeing Dhamma, he sees me.”

Though closely following behind,
Full of longings and resentment,
See how far away he is—
The desirous one from the desireless,
One unquenched from the quenched,
A greedy one from the one without greed.

But a wise person who by direct knowledge
Has fully understood the Dhamma,
Becomes desireless and tranquil
Like a calm unruffled lake.

See how close he is to him—
A desireless one to the desireless,
One quenched to the quenched,
The greedless one to the one without greed.

https://suttacentral.net/en/iti92

If he attends the Dhamma Wheel forum he is not a lonely Buddhist.

I personally live in Calcutta, about 1,000 miles from nearest Buddhist (in Bangkok). All my understanding of Buddhism is from books, YT videos, this forum and blogs. There are no serious Buddhists in my city. I am completely alone in my practice.

You live in India, the land of the Buddha.

Try to approach these Buddhists who are not serious in your city, at least it will be less lonely.

I'm not very social myself. But in order not to be too alone I go to "spiritualist groups" (Spiritist centers, Tibetan Buddhist center and try to go to the catholic church at the weekend).

Just a few tips Are not very serious.

No_Mind wrote: Please share your story here as an inspiration for rest of us solitary Buddhists.

You are an inspiration to those of us who are lucky enough to practice with others. How many of us would still be practising if we were in your more difficult situation?

No_Mind wrote:I personally live in Calcutta, about 1,000 miles from nearest Buddhist (in Bangkok).

That's not quite true, there's quite a few Buddhist or Insight Meditation centres in India, even Calcutta;
http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/province. ... nce_id=335
http://www.insightmeditation.org/world-wide-centres
https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/locations/directory#ganga

No_Mind wrote:Solitary Buddhist is a person with no access to a Buddhist temple, no access to a teacher (even by Skype), no access to a sangha, and one who is almost completely self taught Buddhist (through internet and books.)

A solitary Buddhist may or may not have attended a retreat but if they have attended more than two retreats or more than 20 days it disqualifies them .. because they have come into contact with other Buddhists and hence are not solitary/isolated anymore (e.g someone who stays in Hebrides near Scotland but attends four, one week long retreats in Sussex every year is not a solitary Buddhist).

I personally live in Calcutta, about 1,000 miles from nearest Buddhist (in Bangkok). All my understanding of Buddhism is from books, YT videos, this forum and blogs. There are no serious Buddhists in my city. I am completely alone in my practice.

Please share your story here as an inspiration for rest of us solitary Buddhists.

I do not consider myself as a solitary Buddhist as I have access to internet resources. I have never attended a retreat or never observe the Uposatta save I participated a school program. (The difference is I wore white clothes instead of the school uniform)
I have many temples around me but I go to a temple just to give some donations or as a recreation activity.
Having said these I spent most of my waking hours contemplating Buddha Dhamma.

I Consider myself solitary, though that may soon be coming to an end. I usually have to drive an hour to the temple, and the hours that they keep makes it difficult for me to attend, with work and such. I usually go about once a month, or when I run into something that I really don't understand about the Dhamma. The rest of 30 days of the month, I am alone in practice.

There's a stage that you go through where you benefit from attending monasteries and discussing dhamma but eventually you develop enough understanding to be fully occupied with your mindfulness practice every moment of the day and there's no need to be asking questions, so it's solitary practice by choice as you have more than enough raw material to cope with. Once you've internalised dhamma principles you don't need the external structures for support so much. On the other hand the frustration beginners feel is due to a sense of imbalance between understanding and experience.
There is a centre in Myanmar which has all the training facilities a lay meditator needs, it would benefit your understanding to spend some time there:
http://www.paaukforestmonastery.org

Does not seem that Calcutta is bereft of Dharma temples:

https://rangandatta.wordpress.com/2016/ ... -calcutta/

Calcutta is also where the only known copy of the Code Sutta is located.

Sam Vara wrote: You are an inspiration to those of us who are lucky enough to practice with others. How many of us would still be practising if we were in your more difficult situation?

I am not worthy of this praise. I will try and live up to it in future.

Goofaholix wrote:

No_Mind wrote:I personally live in Calcutta, about 1,000 miles from nearest Buddhist (in Bangkok).

That's not quite true, there's quite a few Buddhist or Insight Meditation centres in India, even Calcutta

Will wrote:Does not seem that Calcutta is bereft of Dharma temples:

https://rangandatta.wordpress.com/2016/ ... -calcutta/

There is a Goenka center about 20 miles from where I live. It is the only vipassana centre in Calcutta. But I doubt if a Goenka vipassana centre can be called a Buddhist Sangha. Students are taken through basics of Buddhism (bare bones basics .. say a page long intro to Buddha's life and very basic teachings of 4 NT) but the training itself is secular. There are no monks ..

There is a tiny Theravada Buddhist community in Calcutta (about 500 strong .. they are Bengalis from Assam state*). They have a tiny Buddhist temple to attend to their religious needs as a Buddhist. Every Buddhist temple in the world where Mangala Sutta is chanted in the evening does not discuss paticcasamuppada or Kamma Vibhanga Sutta!! Very few do.

In same way, there are nine Hindu temples in New York but that does not mean the priest will be able to guide you to understand the Advaita Vedānta. The priest would know how to perform puja of Ganesh, Shiva and Krishna.

About a mile from my home there is a Nichiren temple .. but the Japanese monks there do not speak .. (nor am I interested in Nichiren).

There are large number of members of an international Buddhist organization who gather together and chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. But they are clueless about anything to do with Buddhism .. anything.

*few from this community have become monks after doing M.A in Pali from Calcutta University (I mean they have become scholar monks) .. but stay at monasteries in Thailand or Sri Lanka because the scope of learning Buddhism is greater there.



On a different note -- I think it is high time Western Buddhists introduced terms to indicate different categories of Theravada monks. Some Westerners assume all monks are same but that is not so. 99% Buddhist monks (Bhadanta or Bhante) are plain monks or priests .. stay at a temple/monastery, perform Buddha Vandana, can perform rituals .. but do not meditate or understand theoretical analysis of Dhamma.

Hinduism made this distinction long back. A purohit is the ritual guy, a pandit is the theory guy (well versed in Sanskrit, Vedas, Upanishads), a sadhaka or yogi is the meditation guy. The three roles may or may not overlap depending on personal inclinations but purohits generally do not have any understanding of philosophical segments of Hinduism or meditation.

On a different note -- I think it is high time Western Buddhists introduced terms to indicate different categories of Theravada monks.

Good idea. But how and who is going to decide this?
Hypothetically can you put us into these categories?
For example who I will be, assume I am a monk?

SarathW wrote:

On a different note -- I think it is high time Western Buddhists introduced terms to indicate different categories of Theravada monks.

Good idea. But how and who is going to decide this?
Hypothetically can you put us into these categories?
For example who I will be, assume I am a monk?

That is for you to define.

You may be all three.

All I wanted to say is even seasoned Western Buddhists like Goofaholix and Will have trouble understanding that a Buddhist temple does not necessarily mean there is someone there who can at least say the name of 12 Nidanas let alone explain them .. (not to sound snide Will and Goofaholix). Converse with a random monk in Bangkok and ask what is said in MN 55 .. let me see how many can answer (no offence to Bhantes)

No_Mind wrote:Solitary Buddhist is a person with no access to a Buddhist temple, no access to a teacher (even by Skype), no access to a sangha, and one who is almost completely self taught Buddhist (through internet and books.)

Hi No_Mind,

Hmm... I haven't thought about learning from a teacher through Skype.
I'm a solitary Buddhist. And also a closet Buddhist. Sometimes I think whether I can be a Buddhist without taking refuge formally.
I feel it would be easier to learn and practice if there is a community around.

Please share your story here as an inspiration for rest of us solitary Buddhists.

Whatever I learned is from Internet resources and e-books.

Had I been born a century ago this wouldn't have been possible. Historical accounts say that people traveled all the way from Sri Lanka to India or from India to Sri Lanka, from Japan to China, from China, Korea etc. to India traveling mostly on foot to study Buddhism, some even died during the journey. At times the situation was very unstable and there was rampant violence and lawlessness. Some other times there was persecution or monks had flee or those who remained gave up their beliefs. Most of the renowned ancient sites are still in ruins.

Today most of the teachings is translated into English and provided for free online. I think we are in a comparatively better situation now and I feel grateful that I encountered Buddhism.

I'm not the perfect lay Buddhist. I try to follow whatever I can.
I read a set of five verses that inspire me to practice.

These were written by Nāgārjuna in his letter to a King.
Not sure if it is ok to post them, if it is a violation of ToS I'll delete them.

Many things can damage your life: it’s more impermanent than a bubble on a river, tossed by the wind. Any respite (from death) you may have –to breathe in (after) breathing out, and to awaken from having fallen asleep – that’s utterly amazing.

bahubādhaṃ tu jīvanaṃ vāyūdbhūtajalabudbudavadanityaṃ ca /
āścaryaṃ jāgarteḥ kṣaṇamidaṃ niḥśvāsocchvāsanidrābhyaḥ //

Since even more difficult than the meeting of a turtle and the hole in a solitary yoke located on the ocean is the attainment of a human state from that of a creeping creature, make that (attainment) with human faculties be fruitful through practicing the hallowed Dharma.

mahārṇavayugacchidre hi kūrmagrīvārpaṇācca mānuṣaṃ janma /
tiryagādisudurlabhaṃ saphalīkuru saddharmābhyāsānnarendra //

(Now,) you possess the four great wheels: you live in a land that’s conducive (for Dharma), you rely on hallowed beings, by nature you’re prayerful, and in the past, as well, you’ve built up positive force.

pratirūpadeśavāsaḥ satpuruṣasamāśrayaḥ śubhapraṇidhānaṃ ca /
svakīyapūrvakuśalaṃ hyetaccakracatuṣkaṃ hi vidyate tvayi //

What need to counsel (you) more, Fearless One? The (most) important advice that’s of benefit is this: tame your mind! The Vanquishing Master (Buddha) has proclaimed, “Mind is the root of (all preventive measures) of Dharma.”

cittaṃ hi dharmamūlaṃ bhagavatoktamatastadapi sādhu damayecca /
bho nirbhaya, kiṃ bahunā kathanena yato 'yameva hitopadeśaḥ //

Whatever guidelines there are for you in those words would be difficult even for a monk to carry out perfectly. (So, try to make as) the essential nature of your conduct whatever (aspects) of these (that you can), and by entrusting (yourself) to the good qualities (coming) from that, make (this) lifetime meaningful.

yanmayopadiṣṭaṃ tatsaprayāsairapi bhikṣubhirduḥsādhyam /
caryāguṇān sevasva śikṣāmācara jīvanaṃ ca kuru sārtham //

No_Mind wrote: Hinduism made this distinction long back. A purohit is the ritual guy, a pandit is the theory guy (well versed in Sanskrit, Vedas, Upanishads), a sadhaka or yogi is the meditation guy. The three roles may or may not overlap depending on personal inclinations but purohits generally do not have any understanding of philosophical segments of Hinduism or meditation.

I think in Buddhism the monks have also gone into these 3 distinct roles with many just specializing in one of the three and some doing well in all three. A monk at an urban temple might mostly focus on pastoral duties, making him more of a ritual monk. Another at a rural retreat center might be more of a yogi, great meditator. And another monk who does great translation work, writing Dhamma books, might be a scholar-monk. In some cases a monk does all three roles.

Lay people don't do pastoral duties (normally) but can still work hard to get accomplished at Sutta studies and meditation practice.