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I have recently taken an interest in Buddhism, finding that the philosophy (or "tenets" at least) seems to work well with me. My religious background is screwy, having a Jewish father, a devout Catholic mother, and I was raised reform-Jewish and had a Bar Mitzvah, even though in the eyes of Judaism I don't and never counted as a Jew due to my mother's religion. Truthfully, I was always an agnostic, never coming out and saying that there is definitively no "higher power," but firmly holding the belief that I have no reason to trust that there is one until some type of empirical evidence points me in that direction. Working in medicine and always having my critical thinking cap on, once superstition and rituals that are unfounded in science come into the picture, I pretty much shut down. This has led me to be a bit jaded, and being as I come from a field that is very money motivated and materialistic (although my work obviously provides more help and directly alleviates the suffering of people, which I take great pride in, than pretty much most jobs out there) it's funny, and I guess true to what the Buddha (and Biggie Smalls, for that matter said) said: "Mo' money, mo' problems." Anyway, I recently attended a Sunday morning sangha at a local Zen center (White Plum lineage). It was my first sangha, and of course I did the baptism by fire by doing a three-plus hour zazen with some walking meditation thrown in (I've only meditated twice before for about 10-20 minutes for the two sittings). It seemed to be very conservative and done in a formal way. I found it to be very "simple" in how it was. I never got the chance to speak with the Sensei or abbott (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enkyo_Pat_O%27Hara), so I never got the chance to really discuss what everything is about, and what to expect if I were to move forward and follow that lineage. Now, here's the question and where I was headed with this wall of text: I was invited to attend a sangha at a Chenrezig Tibetan Center this Sunday that occurs at the same time as the the Zen sangha. I've been trying to research the differences between the two and the Zen side seems to be a simpler "figure it out on your own" kind of path, and I'm not sure how much they invoke or involve other entities out side of the Buddha himself (nothing was said during any of the prayers or the following talk), while from all of the reading I've been doing regarding Vajrayana, it sounds like the Tibetans have taken what seems to me a path like Catholicism did: Take the teachings of the Buddha (Jesus as a parallel) and then start throwing all sorts of complex rituals and other supernatural beings into the mix, much like how Catholics have veneration for saints (and their powers of intercessions) and other things that they later invented (or were divinely inspired to create) like creating and praying the rosary, wearing of scapulars, Stations of the Cross, etc. All things not found in the Bible and then created on the back end. Where I'm going with this is "is going to the Tibetan center going to be a waste for me?" The OP intimated that Vajrayana is pretty far out there, and it seems that in order to progress down that path, it requires prayer to and asking for the favors of various deities, demons, etc. Is this as convoluted (or more so) than what I've seen with Catholicism? Are they distorting the teachings of the Buddha by throwing in unnecessary or unfounded rituals/beliefs? I ask this because I have very limited time in my life due to work and other factors to I dare say "waste" by following or starting to follow a path that is overrun with the supernatural, which I am going to be very hard pressed to take seriously. I would have just as hard a time as praying to Green Tara and expecting some tangible result as I would praying to St. Anthony to help me find my car keys. Sorry for the wall of text, but there are so many approaches to Buddhism that, as I'm sure you're all well aware, it is really confusing to the layperson. Obviously, the best choice would be to try them all out and see what clicks, but with a limited amount of free time, especially because I often travel for work and my schedule is erratic, I was hoping some of you may be able to perhaps help me weed some branches of Buddhism out of my search. My choices as far as ability to attend and learn are of these three as far as places with sanghas: White Plum Zen Chenrezig Tibetan New Kadampa Tradition – International Kadampa Buddhist Union (which has lots of meetings and sittings, but seems to be more of a "how meditation will calm you down" and doesn't (from what I can tell based on their courses and schedule) seem to really delve into the teachings of the Buddha too much). All they talk about is meditation making your life better, and the website just seems to smack of a bit of new-age-y stuff to me. Nalandabohi - This is apparently some kind of Tibetan Buddhism with lots of locations in the US and Canada and it has a trademarked name (that seems a little off-putting, no?) http://nalandabodhi.org/ Any thoughts/advice is greatly appreciated! Count Freebasie fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Jul 5, 2013 |
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Jul 5, 2013 16:53
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I appreciate both of you providing your input. The OP did say that Vajryana was more suited towards "literal wizards or sadhu-aspirants," so I guess that kind of sent the alarm bells ringing in my head. I'm glad to know that the foundations are not lost under the "trappings" that are the first thing that is often noticed. I am well aware that in Buddhism our empirical reality and the "supernatural" must intersect and this is not something that I am ignoring or will refuse to acknowledge. I just wanted to make sure that message was not lost in the medium, if you will. Part of my question was to check the "legitimacy" of the places that I listed, and I thank you for your answers. The only think I knew before was to pretty much avoid SGI. If I'm going to learn and study this (and I am a voracious reader, so the texts and canon are something that will mean a lot to me), I want to make sure that I am not being led down a path where the teacher may be disingenuous, especially since I am not all that familiar with the different branches, and I know some branches are more solid than others. Perhaps I'll give Chenrezig and Nalandabodhi a shot. At the very least I'll come away learning a little more about an area of Buddhism from a first-person perspective. And anyone else who would like to offer their thoughts or opinions, please chime in as well.
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Jul 5, 2013 20:26
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Quantumfate posted:The Mahasattva Tara, guardian of all women. I had mentioned this earlier, but I have only attended a Zen (White Plum) center, and was looking at checking out a local Tibetan center. I found it interesting that apart from Sunday morning sangha, it looks like their only other regular prayer/non-study session is every Thursday night where they do "21 Praises to Green Tara." She seems to have a very strong presence there. Again, haven't had the chance to check it out yet, but interested to see what's going on at that place.
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Jul 9, 2013 14:03
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Just attended my first sangha at a Tibetan center, and I have to say, it was pretty interesting. The Lama Losang Samten, Rinpoche who is the head of the center is away on retreat in Tibet, so a student/teacher was leading the sangha (he's been practicing 37 years and started out Zen). It sure was a night and day experience from the Soto/Rinzai Zen center where I attended Sangha. There were various readings and discussions, and I didn't expect the teacher to actually use the word "poo poo" during teaching, but he was making it very accessible to the layperson. A lot of it was taking various thoughts from sutras and, I really hate to say it like this, "dumbing it down" for some of the people. All of them were very nice, but some were not what I would call "the brightest bulbs." It was so much more informal than the Zen center, and although it felt less "official/traditional" than I would have thought, they were a very friendly group of people. It seemed to a degree less "serious," but there was a really good vibe there. They invited me to attend a Green Tara Puja on Thursday night, and if I can, I may attend that. It sure was interesting discussing how lucky we are to be born as humans rather than "hungry ghosts" or being in the "god realm," where as he said, eventually after eons, you begin to slowly decay and end up in the Hungry Ghost Realm. That took me by surprise, and they are definitely wild concepts, but again, good vibes and I left with a good feeling. It was pretty funny; when I walked in, they asked my experience and I told them it was only in a Zen setting. They all started asking me questions about it like it was the most fascinating and foreign thing, and I was far from qualified to answer most of them, although I did answer the ones that I could. It was interesting as everyone was dressed in dresses or relatively colorful attire (one said he was in the colors of Medicine Buddha), and I roll in wearing all black, which the attendees there didn't realize was the apropos for Zen sangha. I guess I'm rambling at this point, but it was a good experience and I left feeling pretty stoked. That is all. Count Freebasie fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Jul 21, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 18:02
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Plus_Infinity posted:This wasn't in PA was it? I went to a chenrezig retreat yesterday with that group but left at lunch. It was my first time there too. They were nice but I think I like the shambhala sangha more. Yup; Philly on Spring Garden. Never been to the Shambhala.
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Jul 21, 2013 21:25
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Plus_Infinity posted:Oh cool! I live out in Delaware county so I don't get into the city much. They had a one day retreat on Saturday ten minutes from my house so I went to that. I'm in Delco, too. PM'd you. 
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Jul 22, 2013 00:52
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mcustic posted:You're right but full anesthesia is so much closer to death in terms of actual brain activity compared to regular sleep. At least I think so, I'm not a neuroscientist. However, all your points are valid and I didn't mean to claim I'd experienced death, just that I had an experience that pushed me towards Buddhism. As someone who spent a lot of time in the OR (from a work standpoint), I can assure you that people often start to wake up and become conscious in the middle of procedures. It's described as the patient getting "light" from an anesthesia perspective, so the anesthesiologist or CRNA will just crank the meds. Many times people will say they could hear things going on in the room, experience what was happening while it happened, etc. Often times, it's because they're not totally out, and it's very common and not at all supernatural, which disillusions some of my more "spiritual" friends.
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Aug 7, 2013 23:28
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Mr. Mambold posted:Try blue icepacks for your back, and a comfy padded chair. I fell off a scaffold 30+ years ago and it's done it for me. The bug question is a really gray area. If I have termites in my house, do I let them live but then let my house eventually get eaten up to the point where it is unlivable, or the repairs are so expensive that I can no longer afford them? This is a "pick your battle" situation, I would think, at least in today's world. I'll eat the negative karma of exterminating bugs like bedbugs/lice/ticks/termites, etc., rather than deal with the consequences of their interaction with me and my things. That said, we have ants at our center, and they're always crawling around by the door frames and near the food/tea that's laid out and we just leave them alone. But again, big difference between them and the other bugs I listed below. There's video of H.H. Dalai Lama telling a story that if a mosquito lands on his arm, he will let him drink a little blood and go on his way. When a second one comes he may get irritated. If a third one shows up, he may try and squash it. But one important point he makes before telling this story is that he's operating on the assumption that it is a mosquito not carrying malaria, so even he sees that there is a difference in how to deal with certain life forms that can cause damage beyond minor inconvenience. Count Freebasie fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Sep 1, 2013 |
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Sep 1, 2013 18:13
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Pepsi-Tan posted:So, what's the Buddha's opinion on masturbation? Does that fit into the sexual misconduct area? I think you'll get different answers from different schools/people. Sexual misconduct, in the Buddhist sense, is pretty vague and does not specifically "forbid" many of the sexual acts people practice. You could make the argument that masturbation is giving into carnal desire, and therefore, is not helping you getting closer to Buddhahood. It is prohibited regarding monks and nuns in the Vinaya, but there is nothing specific regarding laypeople. I don't think there's a clear-cut answer to your question, assuming you're a layperson.
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Sep 3, 2013 20:10
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Razage posted:Have an open question for you guys: You're doing the right thing. You recognize it as wrong, and you try to avoid it if possible. That's pretty much the best that you can do. You're not perfect, and it's not as easy a thing to refrain from as drugs or alcohol (and for many people alcohol is tough to refrain from due more to the social aspect than from the actual taste/effects it produces). I try to avoid gossip, but I find myself sometimes getting embroiled in it, and I feel quite "dirty," for lack of a better word, after it. It's a bad habit, but one I am constantly trying to break or at least greatly diminish. Just keep doing what you're doing; you're headed in the right direction.
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Sep 10, 2013 03:57
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Cardiovorax posted:I try to avoid gossipy people altogether. The casual cruelty people show when they're talking about people who aren't present makes me nauseous. It gives you a good insight into the real character of the people who's doing the talking, though, which usually makes avoiding them not that much of a loss. Of course we should try to "spread the word," so to speak, but there are some people who are just not going to change their ways and are toxic to be around. I have tried to be a positive influence around some people like that, but ended up worse for the wear afterwards. There is an old Sufi saying I like that goes: "Pick up a bee from kindness and learn the limitations of kindness."
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Sep 10, 2013 17:19
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Mr Tastee posted:Reading the OP, it seems that being a good person by Buddhist standards is impossible short of committing suicide. Suicide part aside (which is a faulty analogy), it seems that you're conflating being a good Buddhist with being the Buddha. You aren't going to be able to do everything right and follow all of the rules all of the time and never err. This is like a Christian feeling that being a good Christian means being Christ. We're all human here.
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Sep 11, 2013 21:43
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Paramemetic posted:He says this in a Russian documentary called Sunrise/Sunset, if that helps you find it. Available on Netflix streaming, by the way.
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Sep 13, 2013 18:58
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Paramemetic posted:Further, the article goes on to clarify that HHDL is not the "Buddhist Pope" and that he can't speak for the religion as a whole, so probably it is clear he is not promoting the views of the religion as a whole Are you questioning Avalokiteshvara?
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Mar 5, 2014 00:25
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Paramemetic posted:Haha, nope, just pointing out that even if the emanation of compassion says a thing, it's not speaking for all Buddhists everywhere forever. It's certainly a very influential point, and, like I said, is really probably the "most correct," but not because of any kind of discriminating thing here - he's not saying "gay is icky, straight's coo though," he's saying "any sex is probably an indulgence and you probably shouldn't do it. If you're a layperson though I guess straight sex for procreative purposes is cool though, if you have to because you need children for your family." I find with H.H. that although his messages are relatively consistent, many of his teachings (the numerous ones I've seen/listened to/read) are certainly aimed at non-Buddhists or cafeteria-Buddhists, and are more general as to promoting compassion, peace, happiness (nebulous), etc. I would love to hear him get down and dirty discussing meditating on Green Tara (there is a YouTube video of him doing the Tara mantra at an unbelievably fast clip), but I understand his role from the 30,000 foot perspective, and on a grand scale, he's a pretty good representation of a "real-life" Avalokiteshvara (minus two or 998 arms, depending).
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Mar 5, 2014 00:44
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:Western converts as a whole tend to be more into the nitty-gritty of theology than many people who grew up Buddhist. To be fair, I think this is possibly a fair analysis of converts to any religion, since part of the process of joining a faith is having a good understanding of it. This is all too true. My favorite, having been around enough to experience, is people who convert to Judaism. They go balls-to-the-wall hardcore and start celebrating holidays that are the Jewish equivalent of Arbor Day. My Jewish relatives would just roll their eyes.
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Mar 5, 2014 03:03
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Prickly Pete posted:Meditation on the impermanence of the body is often used as an antidote for lust. It is a meditation on the 32 parts of the body, basically walking you through the process of recognizing the physical body in its component parts, realizing you are a bag of bones, flesh, sinew, bile, phlegm, teeth and hair, etc. Also, from what I've read, meditating on the impermanence of the body by thinking of the person one desires sexually in various states of death and decomposition.
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Mar 5, 2014 11:21
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midnightclimax posted:What is Buddhism's stance on commiting acts like the murder of a tyrant, if the end result is a lessening of the suffering of the people? There is a parable that when the Buddha was living a previous life he was the captain of a ship. The ship was boarded by a pirate threatening the lives of his crew, and the Buddha killed him because it was the right thing to do for his crew and also for the pirate, as killing the pirate would prevent him from killing the crew and then subjecting himself to an even worse rebirth. It was a two-for-one deal in a way.
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Mar 13, 2014 11:50
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Ugrok posted:Hello ! Be like me and go Tibetan Buddhism (Gelugpa). You'll think you're reading the script for "Ghostbusters 3."
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Mar 21, 2014 03:32
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Prickly Pete posted:While we're on the topic of lectures and such, I figure it is a good time to plug Bhikkhu Bodhi's Systematic study of the Majjhima Nikaya. Good stuff - thanks for the link.
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Mar 23, 2014 04:32
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Paramemetic posted:Perhaps try not attributing ownership of situations at all? Rather than replacing "this happened because I'm such a good employee" or whatever, leave it at "this happened." Then you can more fully appreciate it as well. Be happy when the situation warrants, such as the promotion, but that happiness should come from the actual situation, rather than from claiming ownership of the situation. Shouldn't one take ownership of the situation, good or bad, but not either bask too much in the benefits nor wallow too much in the negatives of it? As far as where we are in our lives currently, all of that is in relation (to some degree) to choices that we have made in this and previous lifetimes. I think we should own situations that we are responsible for but recognize that everything from that moment on (as has always been) is transitory. Once the event has occurred, it's occurred. Good or bad, life moves along.
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Mar 25, 2014 13:58
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ThePriceJustWentUp posted:Thanks, I'm doing fine. In Hawaii right now. Couldn't ask for much more. However I realize constantly how deluded I am and how clearly I don't see. Don't use that against me--I think barely any of you in this thread have realized this yet and still hope that Buddhism will give you something somehow if you follow all the rules. It's not that way. Take what works, make it personal, and figure out what these teachers are saying on your own. That's not a criticism, it's a difficult thing to realize until it creeps on you through fate or chance, but it's worth stressing anyway. It's meant to spur you on. To get serious. I don't know anything about anyone here, I'd say this in any (spiritual) crowd, and I generally do. Although there are people here who certainly disagree with many of your points (I certainly do ), and we can all disagree with each other on various points/forms of Buddhism, I don't believe that anyone has ill will towards you as a person. We are all deluded, and everyone of us who is a practicing Buddhist is well aware of our condition.Except me. I'm realized, and actually an emanation of Green Tara. Om Freebasie Tuttare Ture Soha
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Mar 28, 2014 12:32
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Paramemetic posted:This is important to various Tibetan practices called Phowa, where the practitioner trains their mind to instinctively/reflexively do certain things such that upon death, when confronted with that vast emptiness, they recognize what is going on and instead of acting out of fear, they are able to conceptually manifest the Buddha and yidam and retinue, and so become reborn in a pure land, so they can become liberated and then return later to benefit sentient beings. I remember reading about that, and of course the first thing that comes to mind then and now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X48G7Y0VWW4 Count Freebasie fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Apr 27, 2014 |
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Apr 27, 2014 00:12
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Interesting occurrence today that maybe I could get an opinion on: I've been practicing Tibetan Buddhism for a while at a center near me - non-sectarian, but the Lama is of the Gelugpa school (was actually HHDL's personal assistant for a while). I never formally took refuge, but I scheduled to do so today, and myself and two other took refuge. Afterwards, I asked him if I was getting a dharma/refuge name (as I heard is the norm), and he told me that's mostly an American thing, I don't need it, and my name is already beautiful. Now, I'm not upset I don't have a dharma name (a rose by any other name/idea of self/etc.), but has anyone heard of this before? I was surprised by that.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:14
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Mr. Mambold posted:I have heard it said that your given full name is your given mantra. Maybe I should stick with Ommunimuni Mahamuni Yesoha, then.
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Apr 27, 2014 23:32
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Frykte posted:How many difference kinds of meditation are there? I do two forms of meditation: I count my in and out breaths in cycles of four. The other meditation I do is one I invented myself: On my first breath I focus on what I'm seeing with my eyes on my second breath I focus on the sense of touch. On the third breath I focus on what I'm hearing and on the fourth breath I focus on my thoughts. I dunno if this mieditation is "Buddhist" because I invented myself, but what would you say are the meditations that are necessary to become enlightened?? Loving kindness meditation sounds good to me but I've never researched it. What types of meditation did the Buddha suggest???? Thanks A lot. What Pete said, and entering into the Tibetan side there are "yogas" (think of it as a kind of meditation/visualization) where one focuses on various deities (there are a bunch). Some yogas have mantras like "Om Mani Padme Hum" (or Om Mani Peme Hung in Tibetan) which you may have heard of. Some of these yogas require you receive "empowerments" (besically orally translated permission from a lama) to do them, as doing them without training and permission may cause harm - this rabbit hole goes deep, so I'm not going to expound anymore. Long story short, there are a LOT of different types. There are lots of YouTube videos for various meditations. A popular one is "loving kindness" meditation and other meditations based on compassion. Here is a link to one (this is Tibetan) called Tonglen which is a common meditation in Tibetan Buddhism, and IMO is a really good one to practice regularly and is good for you and all sentient beings. It's pretty easy to understand (and doesn't require empowerments). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjeDh2xw4Qw Frykte posted:While I'm disappointed that the meditation I invented will lead me around circles I'm also happy that I also invented the the corpse one. I use the corpse meditation all the time at work whenever I see a particular sexy co-worker of mine. She makes me insanaly lustful and imagining her insides helps a lot. I don't like to imagine her as a corpse but I try and imagine that I have X-Ray vision. I look at her abdomen and imagine all the intestines she has and her skeleton and I find that this helps a lot with combating lust. Thanks! Not to be the Debby-Downer, but picturing the object of one's desire as a decomposing corpse has been around for many centuries. It is recommended to meditate on death regularly. I have a yak bone wrist mala made of skulls I wear to constantly remind me of death. Count Freebasie fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Jul 22, 2014 |
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Jul 22, 2014 12:09
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Prickly Pete posted:It isn't for everyone, for sure. And as far as I can tell, it isn't a very common meditation technique. I believe it would also require a certain amount of experience and insight with meditation to "ensure," if you will, that you are understanding the causes of desires and not just sublimating them, such as the way Christians (I have a lot of experience from the Catholic side) believe that even having lustful thoughts is akin to committing them physically. This of course doesn't address the "why" of the thoughts coming into existence but instead causes people to suppress them without addressing them and instilling a healthy dose of guilt (to some) at the same time. Meditating on a decomposing corpse is all well and good if you are understanding that what you feel attachment to is not really what you think it is rather than thinking "Oh man, she has great tits and that rear end and I want to bang her so ba--wait, rotting corpse, rotting corpse, rotting corpse."
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Jul 23, 2014 02:25
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Paramemetic posted:Your karma. This. To note though, Buddhism doesn't discount things like brain chemistry having an effect on who you are and how you behave in this life. Buddhism is awesome because it accepts science and its progression. HHDL is fascinated with all science and states over and over that he wishes that some of the places who have the Buddha's relics would let scientists carbon date them to see how old they are and whether they could really be authentic. You'll almost never see the Church (referring to Catholic) letting relics get tested (they have but it's few and far in between). So, say you are born with a severe chemical imbalance eventually diagnosed as schizophrenia. Buddhism doesn't deny that it is your brain chemistry that is causing it, nor would they say that it can or should be fixed without medical/pharmacological treatment. But why were you born that way? Karma. Past actions from previous lives. And it's a gift to be born as a human rather than in the three (talking Tibetan here) lower realms; as an animal, a hungry ghost, or a hell being - each of those realms increasing in the intensity in length of suffering. An example: in one of the hells (there's a bunch), your length of time there would be equivalent to if you had a barrel full of rice and you would have to be there for the amount of time that it would take you to empty the barrel of rice one grain at a time. But you can only remove one grain every hundred years. Tibetan is pretty trippy, I know. So, past actions from previous lives brought you here and actions in this life will direct where you end up next time. Hopefully, we get to the point after lots and lots of positive rebirths, directed by our actions in each life, where we can hit the eject button and get out of the cycle (samsara) altogether and attain nirvana, or choose to stay out of compassion and help others break the cycle (being a Bodhisattva). Count Freebasie fucked around with this message at 11:53 on Jul 23, 2014 |
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Jul 23, 2014 11:46
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^^^^ Nice; thanks for posting that. Will be following him on FB now, I guess.
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Jul 26, 2014 01:37
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I'm assuming this monk probably practiced sokoshinbutsu, but this is an interesting article I read (and I find it hard to sit on the cushion for 45 minutes): http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/01/30/corpse-200-year-old-monk-found-in-lotus-position/
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Feb 1, 2015 23:40
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