Search found 121 matches

by Dhammanando
Wed Mar 27, 2024 4:04 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: What did Indian Buddhists call themselves?
Replies: 11
Views: 525

Re: What did Indian Buddhists call themselves?

Śakyaputra or "son of the Śākyas" seems like it would refer more to the Buddha himself than his followers. At least, shAkya'i sras po does. Yes, it's the Buddha who's the "Son of the Shakyans", while his followers are Śākyaputrīyas (Pali Sakyaputtīyas ) "followers of the So...
by Dhammanando
Wed Mar 06, 2024 1:22 pm
Forum: Engaged Buddhism
Topic: Buddhism Green Anarchism: Opinions?
Replies: 69
Views: 3004

Re: Buddhism Green Anarchism: Opinions?

I am sure Sukhavati is a green, anarchist Buddhist realm. Except for the long-term imprisonment inside lotus buds in the two lowest of Sukhavati's nine levels (the levels prescribed for those who only just scraped in via deathbed repentance). Though there are a few dissenting voices, the consensus ...
by Dhammanando
Tue Mar 05, 2024 3:56 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Silly but persistent pop-culture myths about Buddhism.
Replies: 26
Views: 972

Re: Silly but persistent pop-culture myths about Buddhism.

Does anyone know if this myth has a particular origin? I don't know of its initial origin but in the English-speaking world there's a long history of saying such things. In Victorian and Edwardian times it was rather common among non-Buddhist writers who were well-disposed towards the Buddha but no...
by Dhammanando
Wed Dec 13, 2023 3:17 am
Forum: Dying and Death
Topic: Reincarnation cases not following the Buddhist model
Replies: 230
Views: 13677

Re: Reincarnation cases not following the Buddhist model

Where this seems to conflict with the ‘Buddhist model’ is that any notion of the same person indicates the existence of the atman or a permanent consciousness, which is the opposite of what the Buddhist teachings say. What do you think? It would conflict with how Buddhists are wont to express these...
by Dhammanando
Fri Dec 08, 2023 10:22 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: what sustains a bodhisattva?
Replies: 68
Views: 2894

Re: what sustains a bodhisattva?

I wonder if the bodhisattva path is mentioned at all in for example the Mahavibhasha? Yes, most of the bodhisattva-related content in the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya is actually taken from the Mahāvibhāṣa. E.g., the Mahāvibhāṣa is the source of Vasubandhu's claim that our Buddha first made a vow before a ...
by Dhammanando
Mon Dec 04, 2023 12:31 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: what sustains a bodhisattva?
Replies: 68
Views: 2894

Re: what sustains a bodhisattva?

I don’t think that extension is necessarily fair. For example in a Mahayana context it is stated that Devadatta is a bodhisattva, which certainly would not be found in ‘hearer’ sources as best as I know. In Pali sources (the Milindapañha and Dhammapada Commentary) Devadatta is a pratyeka-bodhisattv...
by Dhammanando
Fri Dec 01, 2023 11:19 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Source of the Test the Dharma like a Goldsmith quote
Replies: 6
Views: 540

Re: Source of the Test the Dharma like a Goldsmith quote

In that passage, you see the Dharma equated to gold and false teachings equated to counterfeit gold. Combine that with understanding how goldsmiths/merchants check for real gold or refine it, and you get the familiar simile. The Sanskrit parallel to the Saddhammapaṭirūpaka may well have been the so...
by Dhammanando
Fri Dec 01, 2023 1:02 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Source of the Test the Dharma like a Goldsmith quote
Replies: 6
Views: 540

Re: Source of the Test the Dharma like a Goldsmith quote

I am asking for a sutra source, since Śāntarakṣita is attributing it as buddhavacana I've seen this question raised many times on many Buddhist forums over the years, but nobody was ever able to supply a truly relevant citation from any sūtra. All the proposals turned out to be red herrings: usuall...
by Dhammanando
Tue Nov 21, 2023 9:05 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Buddhist Doctrine of Karma
Replies: 15
Views: 915

Re: Buddhist Douctrine of Karma

SvatahSiddha wrote: Mon Nov 20, 2023 5:07 pm Do you know of any compilations of the doctrinal differences found?
I don't think there's yet any wholly comprehensive work on this, but Roger Jackson's Rebirth: a guide to mind, karma and cosmos in the Buddhist world (Shambhala 2022) covers more ground than most.
by Dhammanando
Sat Oct 21, 2023 7:16 am
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Monasteries in the EU that accept married lay people
Replies: 2
Views: 354

Re: Monasteries in the EU that accept married lay people

Me and my wife live in Spain. We are wondering if there are monasteries, especially Theravada, in the EU, who accept a married couple to come and live there as lay people. We can work in the monastery / work outside of it and support it. Maybe. It depends what you mean by "live there as laypeo...
by Dhammanando
Fri Aug 04, 2023 3:28 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Would Mahayana Buddhist ethics be too extreme?
Replies: 37
Views: 3035

Re: Would Mahayana Buddhist ethics be too extreme?

Nikaya schools do have bodhisatta path and a basic framework even though they did not emphasize on it and lack the specifics on how to go about it when compared to voluminous details given in Mahayana. Not surprisingly, that results in the discrepancy between ratios of bodhisatta aspirants and not ...
by Dhammanando
Wed Mar 08, 2023 4:24 am
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Keeping AIs honest
Replies: 83
Views: 7594

Re: Keeping AIs honest

Did GPT get all (some/most) of the following right? No, for the words... The Buddha did not deny the existence of any and all forms of "self" in an absolute sense. Rather, he taught that there is no permanent, unchanging, or independent self or soul that exists as a separate entity from t...
by Dhammanando
Wed Mar 08, 2023 4:06 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Towards a Sanskrit Canon/Tripitaka?
Replies: 58
Views: 3094

Re: Towards a Sanskrit Canon/Tripitaka?

This is a Theravāda Vinaya rule, and it prohibits not Sanskrit (which would be absurd in light of the versatility and usefulness of Sanskrit in South Asia) but chandaso āropemā. Buddhaghosa defines this as follows "Chandaso āropemā ti vedaṃ viya sakkatabhāsāya vācanāmaggaṃ āropema" trans....
by Dhammanando
Wed Mar 08, 2023 12:32 am
Forum: Games & Humour
Topic: Daily Laugh Thread
Replies: 848
Views: 263134

Re: Daily Laugh Thread




by Dhammanando
Wed Feb 15, 2023 1:36 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Samyaksamadhi vs Samyaksambodhi
Replies: 9
Views: 609

Re: Samyaksamadhi vs Samyaksambodhi

Is samyaksamadhi a kind of synonym of samyaksambodhi? In another much-iterated formula, the ten "dharmas of an adept" ( aśaikṣa dharma ), right samādhi is the condition for right knowledge ( samyag-jñāna ), which in turn is the condition for right liberation ( samyag-vimukti ). It's these...
by Dhammanando
Wed Feb 15, 2023 1:49 am
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Human-like beings in Buddhist cosmology
Replies: 21
Views: 2205

Re: Human-like beings in Buddhist cosmology

One note, if it's of interest to anyone, is that I believe according to Mipham, although human beings typically are womb born, they can be born of any of the 4 types of birth. I believe this was universally accepted by Indian Buddhists. Which would seemingly imply that human is not equal to homo sa...
by Dhammanando
Mon Jan 23, 2023 3:57 am
Forum: Lounge
Topic: nirvana mathematically not possible
Replies: 50
Views: 2696

Re: nirvana mathematically not possible

This is true supposing a finite number of outcomes, including nirvana. You can't guarantee that if there are also an infinite number of outcomes besides Nirvana. Why would it make any difference whether the possible outcomes besides Nirvana were finite or infinite? Suppose the end-of-life outcomes ...
by Dhammanando
Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:46 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Sutra on the Concentration of Sitting Meditation
Replies: 10
Views: 5701

Re: 2 traditions of Sravaka meditation: Kumarajiva and Buddhaghosa

Leo Rivers wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 10:16 pm 2 traditions of Sravaka meditation: Kumarajiva and Buddhaghosa

This paper attempts to do a comparative study between Kumarajiva's Zuo chan san mei jing (坐禪三昧經, Sitting Meditation Samadhi Sutra) and Buddhaghosa's.
The link is to an abstract. Do you know if the paper itself is online?
by Dhammanando
Sun Jan 01, 2023 11:33 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Why do Americans say "Boo-da", even top academics & ordained masters?
Replies: 11
Views: 1181

Re: Why do Americans say "Boo-da", even top academics & ordained masters?

Another half-baked theory could be the influence of Spanish in America. It's basically the de facto second language of the U.S. Lately I've been watching the YouTube videos of phonetician Geoff Lindsey. In one of them, Who pronounces foreign words like PASTA right? he inadvertently answers the ques...
by Dhammanando
Thu Dec 29, 2022 11:30 am
Forum: Sūtra Studies
Topic: Best current translation of the Lankavatara
Replies: 18
Views: 1979

Re: Best current translation of the Lankavatara

Maybe it is difficult to find because it is housed in some Japanese website somewhere and I am just searching for the english title? A pdf of it used to be housed on a Russian site, with the accompanying blurb: Работы Гисина Токивы (Gishin TOKIWA) Профессор Гисин Токива восстановил по санскритской ...

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