Search found 20 matches

by SittingSilent
Fri Nov 29, 2013 1:43 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness
Replies: 95
Views: 14866

Re: Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness

I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the discussion of non-self. It has really given me lots to read and ponder. I've enjoyed checking out some great links. I do want to add that I do consider myself a compassionate person in addition to dealing with my own issues. In fact, it seems that ...
by SittingSilent
Wed Nov 27, 2013 3:07 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness
Replies: 95
Views: 14866

Re: Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness

anjali wrote: your sense of me-ness is a direct experience of emptiness.

So, my sense of having a self, is all part of the experience of non-self, perhaps one of those five things someone else mentioned?
by SittingSilent
Wed Nov 27, 2013 2:30 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness
Replies: 95
Views: 14866

Re: Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness

What then is this "real nature" you speak of? And mind? I read a lot about mind in Pema Chodron's books.
by SittingSilent
Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:37 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness
Replies: 95
Views: 14866

Re: Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness

In response to anjali: I guess I would consider my "self" to my sum total of life experiences, thoughts, emotions, etc. But if I'm understanding correctly, it's not that there is no me, such that I don't exist, but rather there is nothing strictly identifiable as me, because the whole &quo...
by SittingSilent
Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:37 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness
Replies: 95
Views: 14866

Struggling with the Concept of No/Non-Self/Emptiness

I'm returning to Buddhist philosophy after being away for quite sometime due to feeling unable to come to terms with the whole concept of non-self/no-self/emptiness. I don't really fully understand it and what I do understand of it I guess I find very scary. I could use a very good explanation witho...
by SittingSilent
Tue Nov 26, 2013 5:46 pm
Forum: Introductions
Topic: Reintroducing Myself, Have Been Away a Long Time
Replies: 3
Views: 1256

Reintroducing Myself, Have Been Away a Long Time

Hello, I've been away from the forums for quite a long time exploring a fair number of faiths of the world on my journey and have found my way back to Buddhism and back to the forums. I have found myself disenchanted by other spiritual paths and am hoping that Buddhism can provide for me what others...
by SittingSilent
Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:36 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Why not Theravada
Replies: 99
Views: 27674

Re: Why not Theravada

Or if you don't like this mystical stuff, study Madhyamaka's 'vajra sliver' reasoning which is most powerful atheism on the planet. "Center of the Sunlit Sky" is the best book on that. You've been promoting that book in response to several different threads recently, and I use the word pr...
by SittingSilent
Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:42 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Why not Theravada
Replies: 99
Views: 27674

Re: Why not Theravada

I am a beginner, but I am leaning towards Mahayana Buddhism as opposed to Theravada Buddhism simply because of the Bodhisattva role that exists in Mahayana Buddhism. Personally, I do not see how one can truly try to follow the intent of the Buddha's teachings and NOT try to eliminate suffering of al...
by SittingSilent
Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:20 am
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Are humans today dumber than those in the past?
Replies: 13
Views: 3423

Re: Are humans today dumber than those in the past?

I think the problem here is all of us posters have varying operational definitions of intelligence. If we could at least agree on what we're talking about by :quoteunquote: intelligence, that would be a good place to start!
by SittingSilent
Sun Nov 25, 2012 5:37 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Are humans today dumber than those in the past?
Replies: 13
Views: 3423

Re: Are humans today dumber than those in the past?

Sittingsilent, I'm very sceptical. 'If you take Jung, Freud, Binet (developed the first IQ test), Myers and Briggs, and so many other people who enjoy sorting the diversity of human experience into slots of their own devising, those who conduct these tests and believe in their efficacy, fall headlo...
by SittingSilent
Sun Nov 25, 2012 3:09 am
Forum: Introductions
Topic: Hello!
Replies: 22
Views: 6025

Re: Hello!

Thanks for the well wishes. My recovery has been a more or less journey that has been something I travel along most of my life. I have accepted the reality that I am not one of those people that can take his health for granted. Until my camera makes itself known to me, I will describe the necklace a...
by SittingSilent
Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:14 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Elevated C02 impairing cognitive abilities.
Replies: 5
Views: 1715

Re: Elevated C02 impairing cognitive abilities.

I don't know about what you've learned, but I've always been taught to be super cautious to be drawing vast long=term conclusions from a single study. Results must be repeated over time and with different populations for a start and then we can start worrying a little.
by SittingSilent
Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:10 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Are humans today dumber than those in the past?
Replies: 13
Views: 3423

Re: Are humans today dumber than those in the past?

Actually, from the standpoint of psychology, yes, humans get more "intelligent" on a consistent basis as evidenced by the fact that the norms for intelligence tests such as the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale has to be renormed so that the average IQ remains 100 repeatedly. If they don't...
by SittingSilent
Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:22 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: How do I find a teacher?
Replies: 6
Views: 1986

Re: How do I find a teacher?

:oops: I have Asperger's Syndrome, a variant of autism, and when you said "Calling the Lama from Afar" I was picturing that you were wanting me to call up every teacher and speak to each one and interview them. After re-reading the sentence about seven times, I'm guessing that's not what y...
by SittingSilent
Tue Nov 20, 2012 6:31 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: How do I find a teacher?
Replies: 6
Views: 1986

How do I find a teacher?

I live in a very small town far from any Buddhist centers (about 2.5 hours from the nearest Buddhist center, further from others). I was wondering how I would go about finding a teacher? I'm going in January to one week of a dathun which is all I could afford and is also what I thought would be a go...
by SittingSilent
Tue Nov 20, 2012 3:06 am
Forum: Introductions
Topic: Hello!
Replies: 22
Views: 6025

Re: Hello!

I'm sorry to all those who were thinking of me that I disappeared last year. :oops: I was in the hospital undergoing electro-convulsive treatments for depression and apparently the memory of having posted seems to have been erased at the time. However, in my current seeking of Buddhist knowledge I h...
by SittingSilent
Mon Dec 26, 2011 5:41 pm
Forum: Introductions
Topic: Hello!
Replies: 22
Views: 6025

Re: Hello!

:thanks:
I would greatly appreciate it. I am trying to learn how to do the practice myself as well, however I have a ways to go in terms of understanding the language and techniques.

E
by SittingSilent
Sun Dec 25, 2011 8:40 pm
Forum: Introductions
Topic: Hello!
Replies: 22
Views: 6025

Re: Hello!

It is great to see such a welcome. Sorry I haven't jumped in much, I've been in the hospital for much of the month of December, and am currently. On a positive note, my mother gave me a beautiful lapis lazuli silver Medicine Buddha necklace today for the holiday (she follows the Christian faith, so ...
by SittingSilent
Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:38 pm
Forum: Introductions
Topic: Hello!
Replies: 22
Views: 6025

Re: Hello!

Thank you all for the kind welcome! I look forward to learning more and meeting others!
by SittingSilent
Thu Nov 24, 2011 10:51 pm
Forum: Introductions
Topic: Hello!
Replies: 22
Views: 6025

Hello!

Greetings to all! I am a 25 year old guy living in the northeast United States. I have been interested in Buddhism since I was a teenager but have found myself drawn to learning more about it more recently partly as the result of some health issues and existential ponderings. I don't know very much ...

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