Choosing a Monastery

Discussion of ordination, the Vinaya and monastic life. How and where to ordain? Bhikkhuni ordination etc.
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by tiltbillings »

convivium wrote:true. kagyu, etc is concerned with the creation of the subtle bodies, varjrasattva, etc. for the bodhisattva path. http://sacred-sex.org/buddhism/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And this has what to do with "Choosing a Monastery?"
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
convivium
Posts: 577
Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 7:13 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

there are tibetan monasteries. eventually many these monks might marry, or maybe conduct practices in secret. i really don't know much more about it.
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by tiltbillings »

convivium wrote:there are tibetan monasteries. eventually many these monks might marry, or maybe conduct practices in secret. i really don't know much more about it.
This seems to be coming out of left field. What does have to do with this thread?
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
convivium
Posts: 577
Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 7:13 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

i suppose i was trying to answer your question:
So, you are looking at the Theravada as a "foundational" practice in preparation for?
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by tiltbillings »

convivium wrote:i suppose i was trying to answer your question:
So, you are looking at the Theravada as a "foundational" practice in preparation for?
So, basically, your real interest is in Tibetan Buddhism.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
convivium
Posts: 577
Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 7:13 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

to the extent that mahayana/tibetan buddhism contains and fits into therevada, and has practices that assist in samatha, and discernment. what will come beyond, if anything, i don't know.
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by tiltbillings »

convivium wrote:to the extent that mahayana/tibetan buddhism contains and fits into therevada, and has practices that assist in samatha, and discernment. what will come beyond, if anything, i don't know.
Tibetan Buddhism does not contain Theravada nor does it fit into Theravada.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
convivium
Posts: 577
Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 7:13 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

Exoteric traditions are more solid and balanced since they mostly work with the perceptions and energies of the physical plane. So even though it is not uncommon to be visited with various astral experiences during advanced stages of Zen or Vipassana meditation, the emphasis of such schools is to continue grounding back to this earth--to the sights, sounds, tastes and thoughts that comprise ordinary experience. The drawback is that the primal energies that underpin the physical world are only indirectly addressed.

Esoteric traditions, on the other hand, determine to apply themselves directly to the forces that underlie ordinary existence. They reach for the essential nature of the experience of living which manifests as subtle energy and consciousness. The drawback is that similar to reaching too far, too fast, into the psyche as for the fast traditions, esoteric work can reach too far, too fast into subtler fields of energy. This can manifest variously as, for instance, unwanted communication with other beings, energetic imbalances of the body and mind, and uncontrolled effects on the environment and other beings.

The confluence of Buddhism and other mystical teachings in the West is resulting in a blending of these various approaches to spirituality. It is likely that, along with the aforementioned paths, a blending of them which puts emphasis somewhere in between along both axes of the above table will develop as a useful approach for those who wish to remain in a regular lifestyle. http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~greg.c/tibet.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


to an extent i'm interested the "esoteric," but the "exoteric" has been working fine. that these practices and perspectives are always mutually exclusive is a question that still comes to mind.
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by tiltbillings »

convivium wrote:
Exoteric traditions . . .


to an extent i'm interested the "esoteric," but the "exoteric" has been working fine. that these practices and perspectives are always mutually exclusive is a question that still comes to mind.
Kind of hard to take that quote and website seriously: http://www.leavingsiddhayoga.net/emperors.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
convivium
Posts: 577
Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 7:13 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

absent of the scandal, what aspect of that quote doesn't conform with your understanding?
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by tiltbillings »

convivium wrote:absent of the scandal, what aspect of that quote doesn't conform with your understanding?
The scandal points to a serious lack of balance.

When you start getting one school of Buddhism saying this or that about another so as to make one look good and the other "foundational" or whatever subsumptive, triumphalist, supersessionist set of terms they might pop out (such as hinayana), it is hard to take them seriously. And I do not exclude any school in that observation.

Also, the Buddha did not teach with a closed fist.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
convivium
Posts: 577
Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 7:13 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

what do you think of the exoteric vs esoteric dichotomy ^?
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by tiltbillings »

convivium wrote:what do you think of the exoteric vs esoteric dichotomy ^?
Not much. It was manufactured well after the death of the Buddha.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
convivium
Posts: 577
Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 7:13 am

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

Tibetan Buddhism does not contain Theravada nor does it fit into Theravada.
What are the main dissonances you see of Tibetan and Therevada traditions that they are incompatible, and do not contain eachother?
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
User avatar
jcsuperstar
Posts: 1915
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 5:15 am
Location: alaska
Contact:

Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by jcsuperstar »

those two schools have quite a few differences any casual glance should revel them. heres a couple; different ideas about the "goals" of buddhism, different definitions of what a buddha is, different definitions of what an arahant is, different definitions of what a bodhisatta is, different ideas as to what the buddha actually taught.
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ

the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
Post Reply