Dharma Wheel

Personally, I don’t think there’s a contradiction with being a materialist and practicing the buddhist teachings. When the Buddha taught, almost all of the examples of things he used to ‘make his argument’ concerned the material world, physical phenomena. He advised people not to accept the teachin...

No, as in "No, modern schools of Mahayana Buddhism do not adhere to the opinion that external objects do not exist." Malcolm in his laconic manner has not mentioned the rest of the tetralemma... Things exist. Things do not exist. Things both exist and do not exist. Things neither exist nor do not e...

Thank you. Are you saying that in order to be a Buddhist, you cannot be a materialist and you can not believe in a naive objective reality? If you think consciousness is an epiphenomenon of matter, then that's going to get in the way of practicing Buddhism. There are some "Western Buddhists" who th...

Schrödinger’s Yidam wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:36 pm This is why!

https://twitter.com/NathanBrandWA/statu ... 4521373698

The mudra for that teaching starts with the welcoming gesture, and as easily as a strong man bends his arm, the hand is brought up to cover the face.

Here is an article that is a pretty good summation of yogacara. It’s not as simple as “objects do not exist”. I’m not even sure it’s accurate to say that yogacarans (mind-only school) think that everything is just a figment of the imagination: https://www.lionsroar.com/dharma-dictionary-yogacara/ ....

Does this mean that modern Mahayana Buddhists of all schools do not adhere to the Yogacara point of view, according to which external objects do not exist? Thank you I don’t think Mahayanists reject yogacara. It’s part of the whole philosophical structure. Something I have mentioned a few times is ...

Garfield renders karuna as "care". I like that sense of intimacy. The word compassion to me has a bit of a abstracted feeling - something you feel for someone suffering you see on the news half a world away, or the homeless person you pass some coins to and quickly move away from. I imagine Avalokit...

Great bodhisattvas are said to be able to appear as buddhas in order to approach and teach beings. What is the difference between a bona fide buddha and a bodhisattva who appears as a buddha? Is there any difference? I assume by great bodhisattvas we are talking about tenth stage bodhisattvas, in w...

Great bodhisattvas are said to be able to appear as buddhas in order to approach and teach beings.

What is the difference between a bona fide buddha and a bodhisattva who appears as a buddha? Is there any difference?

Tathagatagarbha --- womb or embryo? It is disputed whether buddha-nature is identical to Tathagatagarbha. Perhaps they both describe the same thing from different angles? Tathāgatagarbha needs no cultivation... only uncovering, as it is already present and perfect in each being. (Remember the Sutra...

A lord lolling on his pillows and a peasant plowing their fields are both "already Buddhas" so each just needs to "recognize" his current perfection, and no change to the social architecture is necessary. It's an interesting line of thought. In order to recognize, no change is necessary, but once r...

All sentient beings have buddhanature. They all can awaken. Not necessarily in this life, or even in this world. But certainly in this life with the right opportunities and effort.

Thank you for posting this.

If I follow you, I think that's right. Alayavijnana is defiled. It's the seed from which samsara springs. Manas Vijnana (7th), observing the expressions of the alaya conceives a notion of self. As I understand, alaya is known only through it's appearances and can't be know directly.

Just thinking of the logistics... would you try to light all of these at once? By my napkin calculation, if you could light 60 candles a minute, it would take you like 28 hours. I remember visiting a temple in China where someone was making offerings and the entire floor of the chamber was covered w...

LastLegend wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:11 pm

Queequeg wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:09 pm

LastLegend wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 2:57 pm

What are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

Nothing you can understand!

Well, with you, that goes without saying.

LastLegend wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 2:57 pm

Queequeg wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 2:51 pm

LastLegend wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:44 am
Does OP want to pursue enlightenment?

He's asking in a Buddhist forum, so we can presume he's soliciting a Buddhist perspective on his dilemma. If all he wants is tips on being a rapture engineer, there are better places.

What are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

He can make a choice. Of course, the Buddha gave advice not only to monastics, but also to laypeople with lower aspirations (basically for a happy re-birth, not necessarily for final liberation). But the very essence of the Buddha´s teaching is the gradual transcendence of the senses, not their gra...

My son is of that age where when he goes to a friend's birthday party, well, back in the pre-covid days there were birthday parties... I digress... the kids get a goody bag of candy and trinkets (I really hate this custom - we end up with lots of useless plastic toys that either don't work out of th...

Nobody addressed this. It never made much sense to me how Buddhism apparently finds it totally acceptable to assume the definition of "individual minds" while going on and negating the existence of any such thing as jiva, atman and the like. Buddhism does not define “individual minds” as such, but ...