Search found 233 matches

by kausalya
Sat Nov 27, 2021 6:33 pm
Forum: Gelug
Topic: Changing tradition and Guru yoga
Replies: 14
Views: 6262

Re: Changing tradition and Guru yoga

I still keep the samayas and vows taken with my previous guru but i didn't speak about my change with them. Do you know how to manage this situation? Should i retake the initiation with the tradition i'm following right now? Is there a reason why you aren’t talking to your current guru about the ch...
by kausalya
Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:21 pm
Forum: Ethical Conduct
Topic: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?
Replies: 13
Views: 4228

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Queequeg wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:28 pm A traveler asks the gas station attendant, "Where does this road go?"
Attendant replies, "The road don't go nowhere. Where do you want to go?"
Love it. I never used to understand ko-ans like this... :jedi:
by kausalya
Tue Apr 07, 2020 1:56 pm
Forum: Nichiren Shu
Topic: Thematic interpretation of NMRK (thought exercise for deeper study)
Replies: 4
Views: 4950

Re: Thematic interpretation of NMRK (thought exercise for deeper study)

I generally find thought exercises quickly become a trap. Which is not to say I'd suggest they are inappropriate, since such efforts move towards clarity, but that the trouble comes with attempts to refine and redefine to be a better understanding- it turns into more grasping at views. The goal see...
by kausalya
Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:20 am
Forum: Mahamudra
Topic: What if seeing a lama as pure was less about lifting a lama up and more about bringing purity
Replies: 36
Views: 19020

Re: What if seeing a lama as pure was less about lifting a lama up and more about bringing purity

Something often glossed over in these conversations is that some lama's are ACTUALLY pure. So sometimes it is a matter of seeing accurately. And so, in those cases, seeing fault and criticizing actually is just the dirt on your own glasses. Having a lama that’s without fault is a true gift because ...
by kausalya
Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:06 am
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Sri Kalachakra–Shiv Nataraj, any link in imagery?
Replies: 2
Views: 1150

Sri Kalachakra–Shiv Nataraj, any link in imagery?

I apologize for the flood of material from me at the moment. I'm experiencing some cognitive dissonance from VajraSattva retreat, and I am convinced I have to write everything down that I've absorbed over the last 10 years :ugeek: If you kind folks will humour an old fool, I was wondering—has anyone...
by kausalya
Tue Apr 07, 2020 7:54 am
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Vajrasattva
Replies: 6
Views: 1550

Re: Vajrasattva

My guru does 1 long mantra for every 2 prostrations. If you are frustrated by lack of progress, there are creative ways to add visualizations for the full purifying effect to ripen sooner. I'm in retreat on Vajrasattva now, and I would say, don't get carried away thinking it's not enough. The job of...
by kausalya
Tue Apr 07, 2020 7:49 am
Forum: Dying and Death
Topic: What happens after suicide?
Replies: 40
Views: 9949

Re: What happens after suicide?

Do you know many people that have had insight into the dependently originated nature of phenomena because they have died of cancer(for example)? So where is the guarantee (where is your proof) that a long and tortuous death is better (or more beneficial) than a quick one by one's-own-hand? We have ...
by kausalya
Tue Apr 07, 2020 7:41 am
Forum: Nichiren Shu
Topic: Thematic interpretation of NMRK (thought exercise for deeper study)
Replies: 4
Views: 4950

Thematic interpretation of NMRK (thought exercise for deeper study)

Funnily enough, I'm in the midst of a solitary VajraSattva signs retreat organized by my refuge preceptor, and I began thinking about how I would personally condense the message of the Lotus Sutra's exhortation in my own words/language. Here's what I came up with, so that anyone interested in pickin...
by kausalya
Mon Apr 06, 2020 6:03 pm
Forum: Mahamudra
Topic: What if seeing a lama as pure was less about lifting a lama up and more about bringing purity
Replies: 36
Views: 19020

Re: What if seeing a lama as pure was less about lifting a lama up and more about bringing purity

I would say that it should be less about lifting the lama up and more about bringing purity to your mind. Shaun :namaste: Depends on how you look, too. Why can't you imagine both happening simultaneously? My life tells me that there is equal blessing for teacher and students if samaya is maintained...
by kausalya
Mon Apr 06, 2020 5:23 pm
Forum: Dzogchen
Topic: What makes the dream world "just" like the waking world ?
Replies: 13
Views: 3400

Re: What makes the dream world "just" like the waking world ?

Could you (or anybody) please provide only one source? I mean, it is better to have a clear source and context. Otherwise one will be discussing about apples and the other one answers about oranges. My personal opinion is that this relates to the way we plant seeds during the day, and karma ripens ...
by kausalya
Mon Apr 06, 2020 5:11 pm
Forum: Jodo Shin Shu
Topic: C.S. Lewis and Shin
Replies: 76
Views: 18066

Re: C.S. Lewis and Shin

In case you're interested, there was a definite step I just discerned preceding the development of greater confidence in the Pure Land path. That is, I recalled an instruction from my teacher, which I remember as: "look for the intention to act". The whole purpose of my effort, as I see it...
by kausalya
Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:28 pm
Forum: Dying and Death
Topic: What happens after suicide?
Replies: 40
Views: 9949

Re: What happens after suicide?

Thus suiciders would have less chances and time to learn the deeper impact lessons during life that could lead to liberation, thus more like getting stuck in the loop of life and death, than compared to cancer or other possible death outside of one's own direct control. Do you know many people that...
by kausalya
Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:24 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: PTSD and Mahayana Buddhism
Replies: 51
Views: 7116

Re: PTSD and Mahayana Buddhism

LastLegend wrote: Mon Apr 06, 2020 6:37 am Perfect original wisdom allows to have views without issue?
Thanks for the nudge. I would say, the answer is Eventually. This is because views are given the proper context in which to inter-operate as part of a tangible harmony, rather than conflict with each other, as they normally do.
by kausalya
Mon Apr 06, 2020 3:15 am
Forum: Jodo Shin Shu
Topic: C.S. Lewis and Shin
Replies: 76
Views: 18066

Re: C.S. Lewis and Shin

Oh, sure, I see what you mean now. But that is really getting an insight into our own ignorance, and in that case I totally agree with you. :twothumbsup: I'm glad! I'm doing my best with the equipment I've got, we could say. My framework is Tibetan rather than Japanese because that's the teacher I ...
by kausalya
Mon Apr 06, 2020 2:53 am
Forum: Jodo Shin Shu
Topic: C.S. Lewis and Shin
Replies: 76
Views: 18066

Re: C.S. Lewis and Shin

I had thought that as karma means 'intentional action', then the doctrine of karma would require free will. In other words, if our actions were determined by factors we have no control over, then we couldn't be regarded as responsible for them. So in my view, I think Buddhist teachings do presume m...
by kausalya
Mon Apr 06, 2020 2:27 am
Forum: Jodo Shin Shu
Topic: C.S. Lewis and Shin
Replies: 76
Views: 18066

Re: C.S. Lewis and Shin

The key point about Pureland is 'reliance on the vow of Amida Buddha' rather than 'taking charge' or 'being in control'. It's more creating a space or a clearing to enable the 'power of the Vow' to do its work in us. From a paper on How is Shinjin to be realised? : The point of receiving Amida's gr...
by kausalya
Sun Apr 05, 2020 7:57 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: PTSD and Mahayana Buddhism
Replies: 51
Views: 7116

Re: PTSD and Mahayana Buddhism

How do you explain individual me versus you? Obviously even you is no self and I is no self, yet you is not me. :mrgreen: Knowing this, put the focus on other beings, & the knot of suffering will be cut. Not really cut off but karma is clearly understood? Yes. To understand something is to poss...
by kausalya
Sun Apr 05, 2020 7:44 pm
Forum: Dying and Death
Topic: What happens after suicide?
Replies: 40
Views: 9949

Re: What happens after suicide?

Let old age & illness naturally take it course, in order to learn the lesson about death and impermanence sufferings be known in full, in order to not repeat the horribly futile loops of samaric reincarnations of life and death again and again. Experiencing suffering per se does not necessarily...
by kausalya
Sun Apr 05, 2020 6:37 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Arya Sanghata Sutra (or which is more powerful: good or bad karma?)
Replies: 5
Views: 1280

Re: Arya Sanghata Sutra (or which is more powerful: good or bad karma?)

I've recently started reciting the Arya Sanghata Sutra, after reading this as a recommendation on Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Online Advice Book. Reading, reciting or hearing it recited can clear away karma even from committing the Five Great Offences. I'm curious about the part where the Buddha talks abo...
by kausalya
Sun Apr 05, 2020 6:22 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: PTSD and Mahayana Buddhism
Replies: 51
Views: 7116

Re: PTSD and Mahayana Buddhism

The teachings in the Dhammapada use conventional terminology in order to instruct on behavior. The term “self” is used precisely because that is what is experienced. Sakyamuni Buddha ate food because of the demands of the aggregate human body. Are you saying that the aggregate human body is the “se...

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