Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
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tigerh98
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by tigerh98 »

What do you mean? :shrug: :techproblem: :spy:
JKhedrup
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by JKhedrup »

I don't mean I think you are the same person,you just have a similar zeal. It's not necessarily a negative comment, some of Light Samurai's posts were fun.
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tigerh98
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by tigerh98 »

:spy:im a serious poster! :spy:
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Qing Tian
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by Qing Tian »

I have to ask... well, I don't really... but anyway, have you ever visited another country - specifically one that isn't English speaking?
“Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.”
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tigerh98
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by tigerh98 »

Yea the country i was born in Cuba when i was 2 years old than i came to the USA i learn about lots of countries in a scientific way on the internet 8) ps. Ive visited cuba like 5 times
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Qing Tian
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by Qing Tian »

Okay, this is going to sound harsh but please try to understand it before reacting. You visited as a child.

As an adult, travelling alone to a unfamiliar foreign country for the first time is exciting and scary. Especially when you know nobody on the ground. This is magnified if the language and culture are unfamiliar. This is for those travelling as a tourist. Going somewhere like that to live is a lot more problematic. As a tourist you know that you will be leaving, probably shortly. As a resident you know that you are staying and all the frustrations are staying with you. It's hard work.

Also, I do not think that a monastery is going to baby you through cultural acclimatisation.

Frankly speaking, if you are determined to go all monastic then you would be advised to get educated well beforehand (as Indrajala and others have already pointed out), and maybe try a retreat or two at a local centre.

A word of caution: entering a monastery should not be viewed as a means of escape or a way of hiding from the world.
“Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.”
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tigerh98
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by tigerh98 »

Im not useing buddhism as a way to escape the world i just belief theres a problem in samsara/rebirth.Are there buddhist collages were i live?I would like to know alot more abot buddhism/my beliefs so when i become a monk ill be one that knows everything about buddhism!
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rory
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by rory »

You know nothing about buddhism, since you don't meditate or go to a dharma center. It's just vain talk.
Why don't you go to a dharma center where you live. There are plenty in Florida.
gassho
rory
Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu
Chih-I:
The Tai-ching states "the women in the realms of Mara, Sakra and Brahma all neither abandoned ( their old) bodies nor received (new) bodies. They all received buddhahood with their current bodies (genshin)" Thus these verses state that the dharma nature is like a great ocean. No right or wrong is preached (within it) Ordinary people and sages are equal, without superiority or inferiority
Paul, Groner "The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture"eds. Tanabe p. 58
https://www.tendai-usa.org/
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tigerh98
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by tigerh98 »

I am a buddhist thats thats a false concept to be a buddhist u dont need to meditate an i dont go to dharmacenter well becouse mon tru fri i goto school --_-- im going search for dharmacenters and buddhist collages and get buddhist items that will inprove my understanding about buddhism like books and vice versa
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rory
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by rory »

Buddhists meditate to purify their minds; your ideas are so ignorant they are riduculous....I suggest you stop posting and read the Dhammapada, it's free on the internet. And you can go to a Dharma center on the weekend or after school. Stop the excuses.
gassho
rory
Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu
Chih-I:
The Tai-ching states "the women in the realms of Mara, Sakra and Brahma all neither abandoned ( their old) bodies nor received (new) bodies. They all received buddhahood with their current bodies (genshin)" Thus these verses state that the dharma nature is like a great ocean. No right or wrong is preached (within it) Ordinary people and sages are equal, without superiority or inferiority
Paul, Groner "The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture"eds. Tanabe p. 58
https://www.tendai-usa.org/
uan
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by uan »

rory wrote:Buddhists meditate to purify their minds...

many Buddhist don't meditate. I don't think that's the litmus test to be a Buddhist, to consider oneself to be a Buddhist, to consider someone else a Buddhist or even to understand Buddhism.

that's just my opinion, ymmv.
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tigerh98
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by tigerh98 »

Im with what uan said ^ :thumbsup:
KonchokZoepa
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by KonchokZoepa »

uan wrote:
rory wrote:Buddhists meditate to purify their minds...

many Buddhist don't meditate. I don't think that's the litmus test to be a Buddhist, to consider oneself to be a Buddhist, to consider someone else a Buddhist or even to understand Buddhism.

that's just my opinion, ymmv.

even though meditation is very essential to buddhism.
If the thought of demons
Never rises in your mind,
You need not fear the demon hosts around you.
It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned,
there are neither buddhas or demons.
He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue,
will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion.
Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

-Milarepa

OMMANIPADMEHUNG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls6P9tOYmdo
JKhedrup
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by JKhedrup »

Tiger I am just going to lay out the reality as I perceive it, regarding monastic life. Of course this is subjective but others will tell you similar tales I think. Come this December I will have been a monk for 9 years. If I had to divide up that time, about 6 years of it would be in the Tibetan tradition, 2 years in Theravada monasteries of the Thai tradition, and about a year at Chinese institutions- one in Taiwan, one in the West.

The first years were extremely difficult and I could barely scrape together enough support for visas and plane tickets. I did not have the luxury of picking and choosing where I wanted to be- I took offers from anywhere that would have me. Finally since completing translator training the last two years I have been working as a translator for a fantastic geshe, so I have been fortunate. My situation is never completely stable though and if centres cannot support a translator and geshe due to financial problems I might end up washing dishes somewhere for a couple of months.

A big part of monastic life, and Asian culture, is respect for your elders and submission to authority. You will find this at all Thai, Tibetan and Chinese monasteries, but it is most pronounced at Chinese monasteries. People will be telling you what to do, and you will be expected to do it- without question. As the years go by you earn your seniority and your right to an opinion- again, true in most traditions but especially in Chinese Buddhism with the heavy influence of Confucianism. If you question authority you will make things very hard for yourself.

Also, in Chinese culture filiality- devotion to one's parents, is also very important. If you told a traditional Chinese person your parents don't know that they are talking about and you won't listen to them when they tell you to go to school, you would be seen as disrespectful and stubborn- not monk material.

So if you want to make it in a Chinese monastery, start being able to listen to your elders now, and be willing to sometimes not express your opinion. Of course, if you don't want that, remain a layperson with all the freedoms that allows.
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tigerh98
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by tigerh98 »

I have no problem when im a monk following the rules of the temple but now i do like school and i will allways be like that
JKhedrup
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by JKhedrup »

From your posts here you don't really seem like someone who can fit into an authoritarian system. I am just telling you the reality of what the system is like. If you don't like submitting to the authority of a modern American high school, I don't think you will like the much stricter, less open and top-down structure you find in Chinese monasteries.
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tigerh98
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by tigerh98 »

Why u say chinese monastery i dont know what tradition thats for me yet. Your wrong about thinking that i would not be a able to follow athority in a temple by just the way im acting in school-_- :crazy: :smile:
uan
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by uan »

tigerh98 wrote:I have no problem when im a monk following the rules of the temple but now i do like school and i will allways be like that
Tiger, I feel you - "rules, I don't need no stinking rules!" :)

But one of the most important lessons you will learn as a monk is how to stay present in the moment while in a state of equanimity. I know several high lamas who spent 20 years in Chinese prisons. Everything is relative, but I'd say it's a safe bet to say that it was worse for them than school is for you now. Yet these same lamas continued their practice and incorporated their conditions in the moment as part of their practice. And despite having just cause, they never hated their captors. (And we are talking beatings, deprivations, and hardships we've never experienced in our own lives)

Ajahn Brahm talks of his own training as a young monk, being sleep deprived, mediating on very small platforms (enough to sit on) high in trees throughout the night, where falling asleep had huge consequences.

It's understandable you don't like school. I hated high school (did much better with college). Yet you need to finish high school while getting the most out of it. You could consider it your first real world practice - finding a way to stay in the moment in a situation you don't like and making the best of it. School just is. Nothing to like, nothing to not like.
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tigerh98
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by tigerh98 »

:thanks: :twothumbsup: :good: :bow: i feel you :smile:
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rory
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Re: Becomeing a buddhist monk in china

Post by rory »

this conversation is pretty useless as tiger has no desire (though he has the time and ability) to go to either a dharma center to practice and start meditating on his own. We shouldn't encourage his delusions if he has no desire to practice.
gassho
Rory
Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu
Chih-I:
The Tai-ching states "the women in the realms of Mara, Sakra and Brahma all neither abandoned ( their old) bodies nor received (new) bodies. They all received buddhahood with their current bodies (genshin)" Thus these verses state that the dharma nature is like a great ocean. No right or wrong is preached (within it) Ordinary people and sages are equal, without superiority or inferiority
Paul, Groner "The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture"eds. Tanabe p. 58
https://www.tendai-usa.org/
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