gendun wrote:Well as my Vajrayana teacher says "the "appeal to authority fallacy" is itself a fallacy in regards to the Buddha's Dharma ".
But in any case I was not making any such appeal.
I am new to the Theravada. The retreat I mentioned above sparked my interest in the Theravada.
I am clueless concerning the Theravada application of the precepts.
I was merely pointing out what appears to be anomaly between the absolutist view you gave above, ( which you are now modifying ) and what I encountered in a real life situation with experienced Theravada teachers.
Well fallacies can still (and do) happen. What some anonymous Vajrayana teacher has to say about them is not really relevant.
You were making such an appeal here by calling for someone who “knows” what they are talking about to clarify without knowing my background with pali or monastic settings, while pointing out what you thought was a difference between mala in the pali and malas being discussed.
I think perhaps we need a Pali scholar able to distinguish between a flower garland and a japa-mala.
I am sure they exist on the forum.
Providing further information is not modifying anything. As the question stood to malas being included in the precept they clearly do, hence it breeches the precept. This is a matter of fact regarding their inclusion. Not dealing with the interpretations some may or may not have.
But what does your real life experience mean here?
gendun wrote:HERE is the post I refer to. There seems to be no qualifiers here regarding different groups .
You state quite clearly that they ( malas ) " do break the precept ".
I knew what post you were referring to as you quoted it earlier.
I am solely dealing with the rule not interpretation.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill