jameswang wrote:Turmeric wrote:ManEagle wrote:I do wish they'd hurry up and get this Dhammajayo business sorted out soon. Just recently my wife has taken to chanting whenever she can. And she's got hold of some annoying YT video from Dhammakaya with chanting at twice the normal speed. Sounds like Pinkie & Perky chanting. It's driving me bloody mad! Apparently it's necessary to get as many chanting rounds in per hour because this is going to help their beloved abbot! (Or is it ex-abbot?). My mind boggles at some of the utter tosh they're being fed by the temple and its disciples.
Your wife is doing a good thing and you should try to avoid hurting her by making her lose faith. If you love her then you should encourage her to meditate more, go to the temple more, and chant more.
Anyways. For everyone here. Here is a cool preaching from Phramongkulthepmuni the founder of the Dhammakaya lineage
We are not stupid people who cannot tell the difference between what's right and what's wrong!
Ahem... By quoting this, you seem to imply ManEagle is too stupid to tell the difference.
Look, I don't want to be your enemy. I think you're a nice person. Let's try to discuss this without being disagreeable.
Consider a scenario where ManEagle's wife is doing all the same: going often to Wat Dk, donating lots of money, chanting often, then beginning to chant twice the speed believing that would help the abbot, etc.
All the same,
except the 'spaceship' stupa has a big cross on top, looking suspiciously Christian, and people worship it of course, and the abbot is wears a similar big cross. Plus, the name of the place is ChristKaya. In other words, it seems more like a strange Christian cult;
but all else the same: The abbot preaches the same idea of Nirvana, the same idea of heaven, the same idea of donating as much as possible so that one can be super-rich the next life; the temple ground has a credit union to borrow money from to donate to the temple; the monks march on red carpet through the city carrying big umbrellas they don't use; you can even buy from the temple special 'golden' hammers to knock on heaven's door if it's closed, etc.
Would you still encourage people to go?
Just take time to think about it.
Someone brought this up to me so i decided to come back and reply to this real quick.
First off. none of this justifies the dictator harassing us. You seem to have stopped trying to accuse us of breaking 300 random crimes. And i doubt a forest monk would willingly turn himself in knowing the dictator was going to disrobe him and appoint his own pawn to run his temple (again, the junta told reuters they will do this).
Second. I think a huge problem with this thread is misinformation and ur claims are evidence of such. Ill try not to be disagreeable as well and i cant blame you for not knowing anyways.
1. Im not sure how a cross would make a difference but, the abbot teaches the same thing about Nirvana as the rest of the Dk tradition. True self. It is the minority, but still common among other theravada traditions.
2. Again, the central teaching of Dk is meditation, not giving. Even when giving they tell you to purify the mind b4. They do not encourage giving away all your money. It is the same as most other temples, the only difference is probably the scale and frequency of the fundraising.
3. The credit union is near the temple. not on, and only there because its a big place. there are schools and restaurants near the temple also. you think vatican city has no banks nearby? and it is not for loans to make donations. Despite the fact that ppl did that in the Buddhas time our abbot said not to take out loans to make donations. Maybe ppl do that, but i dont know of any and its taught there not to do that.
4.Those arent even umbrellas, i guess i cant blame you for not knowing that since u got ur info from online and on this forum rather than direct experience such as myself. so for the record. Those are tents, and they do use them. they sleep in them once they reach their destination.
5. The hammer is not to break down the gates of heaven. that was something somebody made up (probably on here). Its a commemorative gift for contributors to symbolize that they helped "build" the temple.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my corrections of your statements.