Hello. From the Philippines.
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- Posts: 42
- Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:21 pm
Hello. From the Philippines.
Hello. I'm 23 years of age. I just started getting serious about practicing the dharma a few months ago. Before that, I didn't really delved into it deeply. Until a personal crisis and adversity hit me, and then after watching that movie entitled "The Man from Earth", I explored more. I was obsessed at first about developing a daily practice, and I did just that everyday. I would chant mantras and read sutras. I would obsess myself with a lot of Tibetan deities and buddhas and pray to them. I would do all this prostrations.
Until the time comes that I know longer can do any of those things. It is starting to feel pointless. I needed something that wouldn't just accumulate merit or purify my karma. I need to get out of samsara and end my suffering, since I am still going through tough times and have some traumas from my past. I was looking for a way out of this samsaric suffering and needed something specific, so I was browsing Reddit and someone convinced me to try the Pure Land path. And I did just that. And I believe it is slowly changing my life. In a Buddhist way, not self-help way.
But again, it is hard for me to make a time for nianfo/nembutsu. The concept that I have to single-mindedly chant the Name hundreds or thousands of times is really challenging and I'm really busy. So I discovered the Japanese Pure Land, and never looked back. I don't really identify with the labels. I just call myself a pure lander and just want to live in Sukhavati already.
I'm sorry if this is very long. I am very happy to be here. Amitofo.
Until the time comes that I know longer can do any of those things. It is starting to feel pointless. I needed something that wouldn't just accumulate merit or purify my karma. I need to get out of samsara and end my suffering, since I am still going through tough times and have some traumas from my past. I was looking for a way out of this samsaric suffering and needed something specific, so I was browsing Reddit and someone convinced me to try the Pure Land path. And I did just that. And I believe it is slowly changing my life. In a Buddhist way, not self-help way.
But again, it is hard for me to make a time for nianfo/nembutsu. The concept that I have to single-mindedly chant the Name hundreds or thousands of times is really challenging and I'm really busy. So I discovered the Japanese Pure Land, and never looked back. I don't really identify with the labels. I just call myself a pure lander and just want to live in Sukhavati already.
I'm sorry if this is very long. I am very happy to be here. Amitofo.
Re: Hello. From the Philippines.
Amituofo! Also from the Philippines.
“ With the wisdom of threefold purity, dedicate all the virtue gained from having made such effort toward enlightenment. Dedicate it to clear away the suffering of infinite beings. This is the way of a Bodhisattva.
— Gyalsé Ngulchu Tokmé (རྒྱལ་སྲས་དངུལ་ཆུ་ཐོགས་མེད་), The Thirty-Seven Practices of All the Bodhisattvas
— Gyalsé Ngulchu Tokmé (རྒྱལ་སྲས་དངུལ་ཆུ་ཐོགས་མེད་), The Thirty-Seven Practices of All the Bodhisattvas
- Svalaksana
- Posts: 477
- Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2020 11:11 pm
Re: Hello. From the Philippines.
Be most welcome. Great to have someone here from the Phillipines. Been wondering for some time now what's the current status of Buddhism in the country (not too great, I presume, but probably not as bad as in Malaysia or Indonesia, perhaps?).
Looking but not seeing - that's my eye.
Thinking but not minding - that's my mind.
Speaking but not expressing - that's my tongue.
Traveling but not going - that's my path.
Thinking but not minding - that's my mind.
Speaking but not expressing - that's my tongue.
Traveling but not going - that's my path.
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- Posts: 42
- Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:21 pm
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- Posts: 42
- Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:21 pm
Re: Hello. From the Philippines.
I'm not sure po dito sa Philippines. But I believe there are some temples in the bigger cities. Malaysia has a sizable Chinese population while Indonesia has a strong ancient Buddhist tradition. Tayo lang po ata ang medyo unique sa Southeast Asia haha. Hispanization.Svalaksana wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 5:58 pm Be most welcome. Great to have someone here from the Phillipines. Been wondering for some time now what's the current status of Buddhism in the country (not too great, I presume, but probably not as bad as in Malaysia or Indonesia, perhaps?).
Re: Hello. From the Philippines.
Welcome to the forum. I am also in the Philippines - Iloilo. I retired here about 10 years ago (from the US). We have a lot of Chinese here, but not many Buddhists that I have seen.
- Svalaksana
- Posts: 477
- Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2020 11:11 pm
Re: Hello. From the Philippines.
Thanks for the reply. The reason I assumed that was so was because Catholicism nowadays is considerably more tolerant towards other creeds than Islam, which is the official religion on the other two countries. Still, I assume there must be a rich tradition of Buddhism, hidden beneath the centennial layers of Christianity in the Phillipines. In any case, great to have you here.rodolfosancheznusa36 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 2:58 amI'm not sure po dito sa Philippines. But I believe there are some temples in the bigger cities. Malaysia has a sizable Chinese population while Indonesia has a strong ancient Buddhist tradition. Tayo lang po ata ang medyo unique sa Southeast Asia haha. Hispanization.Svalaksana wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 5:58 pm Be most welcome. Great to have someone here from the Phillipines. Been wondering for some time now what's the current status of Buddhism in the country (not too great, I presume, but probably not as bad as in Malaysia or Indonesia, perhaps?).
Looking but not seeing - that's my eye.
Thinking but not minding - that's my mind.
Speaking but not expressing - that's my tongue.
Traveling but not going - that's my path.
Thinking but not minding - that's my mind.
Speaking but not expressing - that's my tongue.
Traveling but not going - that's my path.
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- Posts: 42
- Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:21 pm
Re: Hello. From the Philippines.
Thanks!Svalaksana wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 12:02 pmThanks for the reply. The reason I assumed that was so was because Catholicism nowadays is considerably more tolerant towards other creeds than Islam, which is the official religion on the other two countries. Still, I assume there must be a rich tradition of Buddhism, hidden beneath the centennial layers of Christianity in the Phillipines. In any case, great to have you here.rodolfosancheznusa36 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 2:58 amI'm not sure po dito sa Philippines. But I believe there are some temples in the bigger cities. Malaysia has a sizable Chinese population while Indonesia has a strong ancient Buddhist tradition. Tayo lang po ata ang medyo unique sa Southeast Asia haha. Hispanization.Svalaksana wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 5:58 pm Be most welcome. Great to have someone here from the Phillipines. Been wondering for some time now what's the current status of Buddhism in the country (not too great, I presume, but probably not as bad as in Malaysia or Indonesia, perhaps?).
Re: Hello. From the Philippines.
Welcome.
FGS is in the Philippines.
Also, my school (Nyingma, Palyul) has a center in the Philippines.
Cheers!
FGS is in the Philippines.
Also, my school (Nyingma, Palyul) has a center in the Philippines.
Cheers!
IF YOU PRACTICE WITH A STRONG BELIEF IN WHAT
YOU ARE DOING, THEN THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT
YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH WITH YOUR PRACTICE.
CHAKUNG JIGME WANGDRAK RINPOCHE
YOU ARE DOING, THEN THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT
YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH WITH YOUR PRACTICE.
CHAKUNG JIGME WANGDRAK RINPOCHE
Re: Hello. From the Philippines.
For what it's worth my wife is from the Philippines. I've seen buddhist monks in Cebu city. I don't know where their temple is and just because I saw them in Cebu doesn't necessarily mean that they're from Cebu.