nongai

Well I go to a fair number of Wats all over the country and it's hard to think of one that does not have a building project under way, even forest temples. Why are they so concerned with forever expanding these places? At least i have my name on very many roof tiles at 20 baht a go

Although some temples do have very old dilapidated buildings which need repair or replacement, the vast majority of building work done is just to 'beautify' the temple or create yet another large statue of the Buddha or a respected monk (none of whom desired images of themselves) in order to attract visitors. They get all this money from donations and then try to think of ways to spend it. Most of these type of temples do not teach the true Dhamma since the monks themselves are ignorant of it.

The Thai custom of writing the donors name upon each pillar or portion of a building they donated towards the construction of is laughable. Whatever happened to 'hiding one's light under a bushel' or the Thai version 'placing ones bit of gold leaf on the back of a Buddha image'? Like they also broadcast over the village speaker system every donation and the names and amounts..... embarassing!

Many monks get so infatuated by the money they do anything to attract more visitors, and thus donations, to their temple, but once they have got all this money then have to think of ways to spend it.... all the time thinking that they are making merit from these actions!

How much does an average monk make a month from the ceremonies they attend, weddings, funeral, house warming and blessings? I once saw 3 senior looking ones at a Muay Thai match at 1 am betting on the boxers, so it can't be that badly paid. They were taking the money out of donation envelopes, this was in Samut Prakan. Maybe it was their karma to be up to no good?

Karma is a matter of choice. It is the law of cause and effect. The result of past karma might bring us certain effects such as the conditions we are born into, but we make our own choices. If those monks choose to break their precepts they are creating negative karma for themselves, but their choice is not a result of karma.

This was something the Buddha tried to correct, the Hindu view of karma as being fate and not something we can change. Of course we cannot change the past, but we do make the choices in the present and so affect our future.

Interestingly, the scriptures say that all doubts are resolved when one attains stream-entry (sotapanna).

However, to do this one would have to drop the first three fetters, Self-view (sakkāya-ditthi), Clinging to rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāsa), and Skeptical doubt (vicikicchā), a monumental task in itself.

I don't know if others share my experience.

I'm finding overcoming even simple aspects of my conditioning a very difficult task.

Habitual behavior seems to win over.

I would say that those first three fetters are the easiest to overcome than the remaining seven. I have absolutely no doubts in the Dhamma of the Buddha and the main teachings of karma, rebirth and the many realms of existence.

How can i call myself a follower of the Buddha if I doubt his teachings? Also the teachings of certain monks who I am certain have attained to Arahant. They would never lie, and since I can read Thai fluently many of their teachings are available to me which are not to many Westerners who cannot speak or read Thai since few works are translated into English.

Religions are started by men and built up around a person, usually the founder, and tend to get lost as time goes on. All the religion's founders were not intending to start religions but just point out the truths they had uncovered, but people make the mistake of looking at the finger and following it down and then worshipping the founder instead of looking at where the finger is pointing.

Then the 'priests' make rules to give them power, rule by fear of future rewards or punishments, and then actually hide the real teachings from people, create lots of meaningless rituals and build statues of deities for people to worship.

Buddha didn't want to start a religion or have images made which he knew the ignorant would just worship and pray to. We can ignore all the rituals and images of him and respected monks and just study the teachings and then practice them. Those who understand will pay respect to images of the great teacher without asking for favours or miracles which go against the workings of karma.

Follow the Dhamma and there is no need to be a Buddhist.

sorry, I make no excuse for repeating this number... it is my favourite by the Beach Boys and this video shows them gradually working up the number in recording... nice video too!

Beach Boys - Good Timin (1974) - YouTube

Supertramp - Cannonball - YouTube

Somebody bought stuff at the tribal market...

In the life story of Luang Por Man (albeit written by Maha Boowa) there is the part where he attains to Arahant, in a cave in ChiangDao I believe. He states that he is visited by many past Arahants and Buddhas who teach him.

So they must be somehwere...

When Ajahn Brahm was asked about this he said he understood it to be nimitta. But there seems to be a belief in popular Thai Buddhism that the Buddha and the arahants can reappear in some form.

The recently late Luang Por Jaran (Arahant) told of his being taught by an Arahant who had died hundreds of years before, and was also one of those Thai monks who returned Buddhism to Sri Lankha. Also he met Somdet Toh and other famous monks after they had passed on.

One descoption of Nibbana i liked was that it is as if a drop of water returns to the ocean, but retains its identity as a seperate drop.

In the life story of Luang Por Man (albeit written by Maha Boowa) there is the part where he attains to Arahant, in a cave in ChiangDao I believe. He states that he is visited by many past Arahants and Buddhas who teach him.

So they must be somehwere...

Don't forget that it is very easy to fall into rebirth in the four lower realms where suffering is extreme and prolonged. we cannot be certain to have human rebirth unless we pass to one of the four Noble stages.

When the Buddha admonished his monks to practice to escape rebirth he said that the main reason for rebirth and suffering was ignorance. Ignorance of the truth, about the three characteristics of conditioned existence.... Dukkha, Aniga, Anatta ... suffering, impermanence & non-self, and the three mind states... Moha, Loha, Dosa, Anger/ill will, greed & ignorance.

However, I'm still puzzled as to the ultimate purpose of this state of enlightenment. Surely the goal of being free from rebirth would appeal only to those who are sorry they were born, and who find life in general pretty miserable and intolerable, and not something to be repeated.

In other words, cessation from the 'Wheel of Life', or the cycle of rebirth, sounds like some sort of program to help the suicidal. For example, the Buddhist advice sounds like, 'If you commit suicide in this life, it won't solve your problems, because you'll be reborn in an even worse condition, next time round. Become a Buddhist monk instead'.

You are probably fortunate to not have had much suffering in your life.

The Buddha often said to his monks " isn't it about time you got bored with all this suffering, going round and around being reborn in various states in the cycle of samsara, and have been doing so since beginningless time?" because when he looked back and back and back through his past lives after enlightenment he found "a starting point was not evident".

Thus we can assume that the past and future are infinite and we have always been stuck in this cycle until now. In this rare lifetime we have been born human when a Buddha has recently been here and his teaching is still available. We are not blind so we can read his teachings, we are not deaf so we can hear them, we are not crippled so we can get to places to hear the teachings and to practice them, we are not born where religion is not free to be practiced such as some communist countries, we are not so poor as to have no free time from feeding ourself and family to be able to study and practice. If in Thailand we can find many places to go on retreat and get instruction and be fed and provided for by well meaning benefactors to assist us in our way. A fortunate rebirth indeed, so let us not waste it.

rebirth is followed by sickness, old age and death, so suffering is sure to be met in any life. so the only way to avoid suffering is to avoid rebirth.

what causes rebirth? karma which has been created in past lives, so to avoid birth needs us to avoid creating any more karma. This can only be achieved by practicing 4NT & 8FP until we achieve at least the first stage of freedom...Sotapanna.

Many Thai people think that Nibbana means extinction. They are afraid of it because they cling to life, even if there is suffering. The Buddha never said that Nibbana means dissolving into nothing.

He said when asked that ' continued existence does not apply.... no continued existence does not apply... ' what he was trying to explain is that nibbana is beyond the comprehension of those yet to achieve it, so it is impossible to explain it in a way people can understand. This is a three-dimensional world as far as we understand. If we tried to imagine what it would be like in a five or ten or fifty dimensional world we could not comprehend it.... same same.