Cases of monkhood

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Jokingfish
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Cases of monkhood

Post by Jokingfish »

Has there ever been a case of a seriously ordained monastic who has had very little benefit from his/her practice (no insight, no noticeable progress) even if practiced so for decades? Also, how rare is progress, are there many, for example, stream winners among monastics?
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Aemilius
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Re: Cases of monkhood

Post by Aemilius »

What is your motivation in asking this? Is your motivation included in the four Brahma viharas? Is it included in the Bodhisattva vows?
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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Jokingfish
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Re: Cases of monkhood

Post by Jokingfish »

Aemilius wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 8:41 am What is your motivation in asking this? Is your motivation included in the four Brahma viharas? Is it included in the Bodhisattva vows?
Why do you ask my motives?

(my motive would be just to know how it goes)
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Ayu
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Re: Cases of monkhood

Post by Ayu »

There are not many monks or nuns here who are able to answer your question from first hand.
In addition, I never heard any ordained person chatting about their achievements or about the lack of them.

Therefore it's nearly impossible to answer.
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Aemilius
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Re: Cases of monkhood

Post by Aemilius »

Jokingfish wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:05 am
Aemilius wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 8:41 am What is your motivation in asking this? Is your motivation included in the four Brahma viharas? Is it included in the Bodhisattva vows?
Why do you ask my motives?

(my motive would be just to know how it goes)
Motive is very important in Buddhism. If you just want to know whether there have been unsuccesful monks and how the Buddha or Sangha deals with them, you can read the Vinaya books. Although there are a lot of them (the books of Vinaya), and it will take time to find something in them. But they are valuable in many ways, and hence worth studying.

In order to find the real and original Vinaya books, you have to look for the ones published by the Pali Text Society. There are modern version of Vinaya books easily available in the Internet, but they are quite different from the original ones.
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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