Dharma Wheel

Go take a basic Mahayana Buddhism course or read a book focusing on dependent origination or emptiness, then you will have your answer. There is no "whole" of anything because there are not edges or delimiters to anything. Nothing can be a "whole" or a "part" ultimately, any edges, walls, beginning...

My question is although the whole is made of parts, and is seen as not inherently existing because it is a composite that is basically empty, on what level must we understand the whole that the parts work so diligently to create? Is there no merit to what this is? Or is the merit given as the expla...

My understanding (via various teachings I've had on this) is that on a basic level the Four Opponent powers are what purify, understanding the mechanism of how is not that difficult, just read them: http://www.dharmaling.org/en/glossary/56-four-opponent-powers I mean I don't know the technical expla...

http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/

You can find different sangha here, most meeting virtually right now I'm sure.

Thanks much for the help, I ordered Diamond Healing for now.

Nihilism is the notion that nothing exists, no form of Buddhism teaches that nothing exists.

This is just a typical and somewhat yawn-inducing "Atmanyana" type argument - "I feel stuff so I must be real in the way I think I am", it's a terrible argument and easily deconstructed by simple analysis of mental phenomena. A variation I've seen is that memories feel like they have continuity and ...

Hoping Malcolm or someone else might be able to help here. I'm taking a class essentially on "alternative" frameworks to pyschotherapy. Half of it is good, some information on Ayurveda and a little on TCM. The other half is almost unbearable new age nonsense, seriously it's bad. I'm wondering if a k...

Mine is just a Chenrezig statue I like.

For years I had Mr. Furious from Mystery Men as my Avatar, I might go back to that, I always identified with the character.

I met someone who was interested in developing a meditation practice, and who also had interest in taking psychedelics. I wanted to warn her not to take drugs because I believe it could not only be harmful to her physical health, but also impede her meditation practice. Does anyone know how drugs h...

Is there a Teaching about the various Bodhisattva Vows carrying over? Yes, the bodhisattva vows are the only vows that one carries from one life to the next. Thank you. Much like this, so does being a Buddha :smile: , of course. This is a basic fundamental truth that must be understood by all in Me...

Not really. Once I know the dream was not real it just makes me sad. The happiness wasn’t real, it just appeared as such. Once is happy in a dream because they don’t know it’s a dream, once they do any feelings about it evaporate. Fear goes away, at least in my case (once unfortunately, too many ni...

It happens a lot in the Zen forum, as well. Moderation is hard, and very time consuming. Vajrayana is the default here. It is what it is. Thread locking is the easiest, so it's the most prevalent. I agree completely that is would be better to remove posts and/or ban specific individuals, but that t...

Simply knowing that one does actually need to be fixed, that the fixing is an illusion is of great value. In fact, this simple message is one of the most effective therapeutically I know of. It’s also the place where (some) Western psychology would differ from Chan/Zen, or Dzogchen/Tantra for that ...

For me in late 20th century early 21st century America-- it's a *shrug* in terms of working with transgression. Quite honestly if somebody served me roast beef and a glass of 18 year old Glenmorangie at a ganapuja, I wouldn't be working with revulsion in my mind. I'd be working with attachment. I w...

The idea is if we stop taking they die less. Even one happy animal is worth more than a pile of leather. I don’t want to pursue a discussion on such a sad subject though. We don’t read books just so words won’t be wasted. They are already dead, you putting yourself above touching their remains does...

Understanding one’s own mind enables a better understanding of the minds of others, no telepathy needed. Thanks I got it. That is, Chan Buddhists first study how their minds works, and then help other people's minds to cope with stress and mental suffering and come to enlightenment. It turns out th...

Some leather in America comes from bad places, such as factory farms, and humans are not different from an animals in their desire not to suffer. And they are more innocent than us. Leather does not suffer. So we should just waste all that material? Let them die for nothing? The idea is if we stop ...

Sigh, just study the common Tantric Vows Konchok. Some teachers like the Karmapa have said that vegetarian substances are permissible, but their argument isn’t ‘meat is yucky’, and tends to be more nuanced. Revulsion at substances really does seem to be a limiting factor, and honestly, you are just ...

When I go vegan I don’t even touch leather. When it comes to Buddhist practice I find that more important than dietary choices, and as I believe in the validity of Vajrayana Buddhism and the Teachings as an Emanation from Shakyamuni when given, practiced, and passed down properly, with His intent p...