On needing a shower after logging on.

[dharmagoat]

Seconded.

An environment like Dharma Wheel reflects back the state of our own mind. Where some may see a sewer, others may see a garden...

[underthetree]

Seconded.

An environment like Dharma Wheel reflects back the state of our own mind. Where some may see a sewer, others may see a garden...

...or a compost bin.

[Lhug-Pa]

Seconded.

An environment like Dharma Wheel reflects back the state of our own mind. Where some may see a sewer, others may see a garden...

...or a compost bin.

Or a combination of all three.

[dharmagoat]

There is the blatant and unreformed sexism and chauvinism to a degree currently and happily rare in modern society.
There is the equally blatant racism.
There is the remarkable degree of homophobia.
There is the credulous acceptance of medieval cosmology.
There is the anti-science and anti-western bias.

You will also find the antitheses of these, and people presenting views all-around and in-between.

[Thrasymachus]

Actually this forum taught me a valuable lesson. I think Buddhism is attractive for Westerners, because it creates an artificial Shangri-la alternative, much like say Hollywood does, from the grind of what it takes to survive in Westernized societies. If you everyone here trained like Usain Bolt do you think we could all become as fast as him? Of course not. But for some reason most the posters here seem to have a fundamentalist Buddhist attitude that the artificial constructs, not inherently real of nirvana and liberation are real or could be achieved. This allows them to dismiss the real world as mere "samsara", and dismiss other approaches that a fundamentalist Buddhist viewpoint does not really countenance.

I think you missed the bus entirely. Ideals are not real and societies that have dedicated themselves much more earnestly to monastic Buddhism and fundamentalist Buddhism, erected social systems that were inimical to their purported ideals.

[catmoon]

Heavens to Betsy, its a feeding frenzy.

All that has happened is someone has expressed their frustration with samsara. We are not under attack here and have not been harmed. Indeed, if we start looking into the OP, seeking the causes of the complaints, its not hard to see that there is some substance to them. It could be of great benefit to examine this carefully.

Simon E is not alone in these sentiments. Similar complaints have recently been made publicly (i hope memory serves here) by Norwegian, Treehuggingoctopus, Tobes and probably others, while still more users are voicing these complaints by filing formal reports. It is getting very improbable that all these users are on a wild goose chase.

So, making allowance for the natural exaggerations that go along with frustration, I think Simon E has done us a service rather than harm. At the least I would hope no one else is going to insinuate that he sees garbage because his head is full of garbage. It is also possibe that a man may see garbage because there is, in fact, some litter on the ground.

[Indrajala]

This thread has outlived its usefulness.

People have expressed their opinions, so please forever hold your peace.