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Here's a really good video series by Ven. Robina Courtin on the nature of the mind. It's really good 
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Jan 4, 2014 21:17
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Vajrayana hold some dogs to be reborn lamas, so if your lama is trying to say something when you're meditating then you fuckin listen, even if he's four legged and saying "pet me". Cats are literally Mara.
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Jan 5, 2014 01:09
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PrinceRandom posted:So how should I deal with my dog during meditation? He's very clingy and tries to push himself into my lap; Should I just let him chill with me? If I try to close him out he'd tear the paint off my door... Let him sit with you. Loving pets will benefit from your sadhana and you will help at least 1 sentient being beside yourself.
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Jan 5, 2014 16:31
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Rhymenoceros posted:Here's a really good video series by Ven. Robina Courtin on the nature of the mind. I just finished this. It is good; was kinda intimidated by the end of the first video cause she's got some intensity. But she got her message through in the remaining videos. What is the Triratna movement? Is it sorta like a European Shambhala?
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Jan 9, 2014 03:18
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PrinceRandom posted:I just finished this. It is good; was kinda intimidated by the end of the first video cause she's got some intensity. But she got her message through in the remaining videos. I don't know if y'all already do these types of practices, but I found it really helpful. When I do something unwholesome, I spend some time to reflect on that action and regret doing it, but instead of giving in to anger and punishing myself with guilt, I ask myself "What can I do about it?" Well, I can keep on practicing and commit to doing my very best not to repeat that unwholesome action. Guilt really is just anger towards yourself. Abandon guilt, embrace taking responsibility for your actions out of kindness to yourself and others PrinceRandom posted:What is the Triratna movement? Is it sorta like a European Shambhala?
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Jan 9, 2014 09:59
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Rhymenoceros posted:Something I've been trying to take to heart after this video series is this idea of a daily purification ritual, using regret which is not guilt. No purification can ever undo what is already done, so it is better to avoid stuff that would lead to the need of purification. That said, taking some time each day to learn whatever can be learned from each day's experience, and to appreciate whatever can or should be appreciated, and to see what things aren't worth repeating is about as vital to mental well-being as anything. Taking the time to journal a bit each day is a good way of keeping track of that sort of stuff. It's also nice to be able to go back to if you find yourself getting complacent in other arenas of life.
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Jan 9, 2014 23:12
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The-Mole posted:No purification can ever undo what is already done, so it is better to avoid stuff that would lead to the need of purification. That said, taking some time each day to learn whatever can be learned from each day's experience, and to appreciate whatever can or should be appreciated, and to see what things aren't worth repeating is about as vital to mental well-being as anything. Taking the time to journal a bit each day is a good way of keeping track of that sort of stuff. It's also nice to be able to go back to if you find yourself getting complacent in other arenas of life. That is good advice; but Buddha nature is the purification that dissolves guilt, anger, depression, negativity.
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Jan 10, 2014 00:06
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The-Mole posted:No purification can ever undo what is already done, so it is better to avoid stuff that would lead to the need of purification. Mr. Mambold posted:That is good advice; but Buddha nature is the purification that dissolves guilt, anger, depression, negativity. Buddha-nature is primordial purity. All things are primordially empty, and emptiness cannot have taint. There is value in purifying practices like Vajrasattva, but this value is primarily for our own minds, to show us primordial emptiness, and to ripen negative karma so that it can be "purified" through fruition.
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Jan 10, 2014 01:31
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I always disliked purification as the english equivalent. It works, but in the way a water filter works. To purify your karmas is to, by skillful mneans and actions, ensure that the reaction of the causal action is one that is likewise skillful. Like throwing a collection of rocks and charcoal into your stream of water so that the result is not dirty. No purification can undo what is done, but this is because nothing has been done that needs to be purified. There is only action and phenomenon.
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Jan 10, 2014 02:21
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On a more practical level, the more I practice the more I come to realize that the start of the path is the most appropriate for me. For example, yesterday I criticized a friend during a conversation. I didn't mean to do it and it wasn't overt criticism, but it came out that way anyway. To put it simply, I regret doing that because it hurt my friend, it inclined my mind toward fault finding and it sets me up to for a similar experience in the future. So, what can I do about it? I make the resolution to try my best to pay more attention (be more mindful) during social interactions to ensure that I don't harm others with my speech. As long as I am at my current level of practice, I am going to hurt people and plant the seeds of negative karma. What can I do about it? Continue my practice, honestly assess where I am and what I need to do to improve. For me, the essential part here is doing this process without guilt. I will practice refraining from saying things that are hurtful to others, but not out of guilt, not because saying bad things makes me a bad person. I will do this simply for the benefit of myself and others.
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Jan 10, 2014 10:15
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Well, you might find assurance and help in sticking to that to know that it's not the beginning of the path. That is the path. Right speech, right intention, right view. Remember that buddhadharma isn't a linear thing you progress upon. You just practice until you make it. Even most monks are still terrible buddhists. My favorite joke is that there are no good Buddhists, only Buddhas. Well, maybe second favorite, wafflehound does have a pretty good one that ends "Namaste, bitches." 
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Jan 10, 2014 15:46
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Since its bowing and acknowledging a unitary life essence, I almost feel like it ought to be "namaste, bitch" even when addressing a group
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Jan 10, 2014 18:49
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Paramemetic posted:Buddha-nature is primordial purity. All things are primordially empty, and emptiness cannot have taint. There is value in purifying practices like Vajrasattva, but this value is primarily for our own minds, to show us primordial emptiness, and to ripen negative karma so that it can be "purified" through fruition. How do you know what buddha nature is?
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Jan 11, 2014 02:16
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Mr. Mambold posted:How do you know what buddha nature is? What else is there?
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Jan 11, 2014 04:58
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Mr. Mambold posted:How do you know what buddha nature is? "Kulaputras, all beings, though they find themselves with all sorts of kleshas, have a tathagatagarbha that is eternally unsullied and is replete with virtues no different than my own. . . Whether or not the Buddhas appear in the world, the tathagatagarbha of all beings are eternal and unchanging. It is just that they are covered by kleshas of all sentient beings. . . It is like the wilted flowers; before their petals have opened. . . it is like the pure honey in a cave or in a tree, protected by a surrounding and unending swarm of bees. . . It is like a kernal of wheat that has not yet had it's husk removed. . . It is like gold submerged in impure waste. . . It is like the store of treasure inside the house of an impoverished man, the owner unaware. . .Or Kulaputras, it is like the pit inside the amra fruit which does not decay."
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Jan 11, 2014 16:59
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Double posting I guess: I've got a long flight coming up on saturday, I could relisten to an audio history of roman republicanism; or I could work through a dharma-talk or two. Anyone have any particular dharma talks or podcasts or sutra commentaries they would recommend? Edit: To specify; particular episodes. Not podcasts in general. Quantumfate fucked around with this message at 07:11 on Jan 15, 2014 |
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Jan 15, 2014 07:05
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Quantumfate posted:Double posting I guess:
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Jan 15, 2014 09:25
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Rhymenoceros posted:There's the early buddhism course workshop. It's videos but you could download them and listen to them, it's just the monks talking on video as far as I know. I've been through them and there are technically slides, but with the camera work I could never read them and they don't really do much with them anyways.
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Jan 15, 2014 09:52
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I'll second that workshop. Bhante Sujato gives a nice treatment of the topic was without too much sectarian bias. Also, if you are leaning in an academic direction, you can pick a few sutras from Bhikkhu Bodhi's collection and then download the accompanying lecture from his site. Some of them are hours long. Since flying is a miserable experience for me I usually opt for talks on equanimity and compassion. I also usually fall asleep.
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Jan 15, 2014 18:22
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Two questions on that: How would I download that stuff, it's on youtube? Second: Would that be stealing or unduly appropriating from the Dhammaloka Suttas source to download them? I don't know them well enough to know what their stance on that is, and I don't wish to violate a precept  Anyways,I had been looking for stuff more mahayana oriented, such as a talk on the saddharmapundarika sutra. uggghhh. . . I guess I should do something like the Bhikkhu Bodhi suggestion you offer. I don't know enough about the agamas canon to claim otherwise. I really ought study them more. It's just there's so much Do you know if Bhikkhu Bodhi has done anything/if there's anything like that for the ksudraka agama?
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Jan 16, 2014 08:30
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I don't think it would be a violation of any precept. The teachings are freely given and I believe the fact that they have been placed on YouTube by dhammaloka is a good sign that their intent is to be shared. I could be wrong but this is how most dhamma talks tend to operate. As for the ksudraka agama, I don't think he has covered it in any lectures. Most of his teaching is focused on the middle-length discourses, and a series on the Sutta Nipata. I'm not much help on Mahayana specific materials unfortunately. I hope you find something useful for your trip.
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Jan 16, 2014 09:34
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Well I asked because sometimes with freely given lectres, they ask that you go through those free means and not others. I also probably will check out bhikkhu bodhi.
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Jan 16, 2014 19:35
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Urban Dharma. All of it.
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Jan 16, 2014 19:40
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Rhymenoceros posted:There's the early buddhism course workshop. It's videos but you could download them and listen to them, it's just the monks talking on video as far as I know. I'm not even Buddhist and still think this is a fascinating lecture, and they're delivered extremely well despite not being able to see the slides. Thanks for posting it.
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Jan 17, 2014 14:04
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If you look under the "show more" thing under the video there are two links. One of them has a PDF of the slides, and the other has some supplemental sutta readings that go along with the lectures. It is a pretty great resource for anyone interested in early buddhism, regardless of tradition.
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Jan 17, 2014 16:50
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Are there any more Theravada places that host talks online besides Ajahn Brahm and his community? I found one other dude but it turns out he's a holocaust denier 
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Jan 19, 2014 11:08
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PrinceRandom posted:Are there any more Theravada places that host talks online besides Ajahn Brahm and his community? I'm on my phone so the link isn't as handy, but the Thai forest sangha has a lot of talks online. I'll post it tomorrow sometime. Also, if you Google the monastery of Bhante Gunaratana, you can find a lot of talks from him. He is the abbot of the Bhavana Society and his talks are a very good listen. Who was the holocaust denier?
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Jan 19, 2014 11:19
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Prickly Pete posted:I'm on my phone so the link isn't as handy, but the Thai forest sangha has a lot of talks online. I'll post it tomorrow sometime. http://www.youtube.com/user/BrianRuhe his subscriptions and discussion tabs are uhh questionable. edit: Maybe it isn't holocaust denial cause I sure as gently caress didn't click on any of the links. But it does feature Hitler on the profile image. PrinceRandom fucked around with this message at 11:25 on Jan 19, 2014 |
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Jan 19, 2014 11:22
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Brian Ruhe posted:I am Brian Ruhe, a Buddhist follower and lay teacher. I also teach classes on revisionist history of World War II, the New World Order and UFOs. He also claims he was a Nazi in his past life. I'm not going to research any further, but he is a deeply disturbed individual.
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Jan 19, 2014 13:06
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I would highly recommend checking out the following: http://www.dhammatalks.org/mp3_collections_index.html http://www.dharmaseed.org/talks/ I'm not too familiar with the latter link but I've heard good things from a friend, and lots of recognizable teachers are on there as well. The first link hosts talks by Thannisaro Bhikkhu. If you aren't familiar with him, I would highly recommend you acquaint yourself with his works, he's absolutely brilliant.
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Jan 19, 2014 20:06
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Thannisaro Bhikkhu is a good resource. Probably the majority of the Pali translations on Access to Insight are from him. He does a lot of good work. Some of the links i mentioned earlier: Forest Sangha Publications has a ton of talks from some of the more well known Western monks in the Thai Forest Tradition. There are also some guided meditation sessions that can be helpful to work along with. I personally really like Ajahn Jayasaro if you're looking for a place to start. Ajahn Sucitto is also good. Bhavana Society has a lot of talks from Bhante Gunaratana which are excellent. Probably my favorite Dhamma talks to listen to as he will discuss specific points of dhamma (right view, etc) in a very relaxed but engaging manner. And of course, the Bhikkhu Bodhi Majjhima Nikaya lectures are an incredible resource. Not really Dhamma talks as they are more academic discussions of the suttas but they are a great way to study the texts.
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Jan 20, 2014 00:25
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mcustic posted:He also claims he was a Nazi in his past life. I'm not going to research any further, but he is a deeply disturbed individual. I don't know much about him personally, but I do remember watching a talk of his a while ago on youtube after it was suggested to me, and I remember finding it a bit "off". Looks like my impression was probably correct if what you said it true. I haven't looked into his ideas enough to say one way or another. He does practice with a Thai Forest group in Vancouver and is supposedly a student of a monk I have heard of before. I guess my best advice for anyone would be to instead refer to the already large body of talks and writings that exist in the tradition which come from well respected monastics, instead of paying attention to the ideas of a layperson with pretty questionable interests.
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Jan 20, 2014 00:30
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Rhymenoceros posted:Something I've been trying to take to heart after this video series is this idea of a daily purification ritual, using regret which is not guilt. In GBS of all places, someone started a thread titled "Speak some hard truths ITT" and one of the first posts was this: Maldoror posted:everyone needs love, especially those who do not deserve it I've done some pretty terrible things in the depths of mental illness/addiction, and this really resonated with me. I'm just getting into Buddhism and to start with I picked up Brad Warner's book Hardcore Zen (I like punk rock). I'm just getting to the chapter where he talks about confronting your demons, and how everyone who's ever existed has had the urge to do horrible, despicable things. You've just got to follow the path and try not to act on those urges. Does anyone have any recommendations for teachings that deal with mental illness?
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Jan 22, 2014 01:59
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MondayHotDog posted:I picked up Brad Warner's book Hardcore Zen (I like punk rock). Oh hey, another buddhist punk. Have some buddhist powerviolence as a thank you for starting with hardcore zen instead of Noah Levine (Noah Levine is poo poo). While I would have my quibbles with Warner, they're not about his teachings. Anyways, as far as teachings that deal with mental illness? You won't find much in the way of canonical sources because they're all technically about that. Buddhism is pretty much all about the ills that plague a mind. The eightfold path is expanded often into a conditioning and behavioral therapy to help you out. Not to suggest buddhism is in any way an automatic cure for these ills. More modern teachers of buddhism have run into western conceptions of psychology and given their own talks or teachings though. From the OP here are some good ones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N_jjY7W_fs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7rFsrdtMM8 https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxkcmV3Y2xheXRvbnxneDozZGIwNTViZDhmZTU2YjM2&pli=1 EDIT: I realize that's not entirely helpful. When I get back home I will start going through sutras and commentaries to try and help you out more. Quantumfate fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Jan 22, 2014 |
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Jan 22, 2014 02:25
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I can do the same. Do you have any more specific issues you can name? Depression? Anxiety?
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Jan 22, 2014 04:34
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Quantumfate posted:Oh hey, another buddhist punk. Have some buddhist powerviolence as a thank you for starting with hardcore zen instead of Noah Levine (Noah Levine is poo poo). While I would have my quibbles with Warner, they're not about his teachings.
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Jan 22, 2014 04:42
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Prickly Pete posted:I can do the same. Do you have any more specific issues you can name? Depression? Anxiety? Both, actually. Severe depression with suicide attempts, and anxiety triggered by doing or even just thinking about anything that might actually improve my lot in life. And Schizoid Personality Disorder, but that one's a bit rarer.
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Jan 22, 2014 05:06
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MondayHotDog posted:In GBS of all places, someone started a thread titled "Speak some hard truths ITT" and one of the first posts was this: It is also important to understand that there's nothing profound about guilt, there's nothing deep or profound about punishing yourself. Letting go of guilt, letting go of that mental archive, that is what is profound. You can find this out for yourself. If we want to be happy, we have to be our own therapist.
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Jan 22, 2014 09:51
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PrinceRandom posted:I hear some people call him a Secular Buddhist and it doesn't quite seem that way to me. I've heard him talk on rebirth and such and he seems much more agnostic than Batchelors making a name off of outright rejecting the teachings. Brad definitely is not a secular buddhist. His latest book makes me think he swings too far the other way, saying that Buddhists have been talking about God all along. Overall, I like the guy. He seems earnest and has some decent views on this stuff (I like the videos he did here: http://www.dogensanghalosangeles.org/dsla/video.html) but this whole God thing he's talking about is pushing the boundaries in a very misleading way. I'm at the point where I think he's just being inscrutable to shake things up.
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Jan 22, 2014 14:04
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I've discussed this with some people already. I'm looking at putting together a dharma study group, non-sectarian. Most of us here probably don't study enough dharma- be it suttas, sutras or commentaries; this is a good way to ease into doing that more regularly. Looking at throwing together a skype group to meet once a week and discuss that week's topic. And so, with all traditions and levels of initiation: Who would like to get in on this?
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Jan 23, 2014 02:35
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