nongai

Got a couple of good songs... but no suitable photos.. (the uploader isn't working again!... does the server go to sleep at night and not accept uploads?)

What is in the plastic box on the back of your bike? I have a hybrid bike, the mountain bike is too much road resitance with its fat tyres for me lol.

I went one time to Chiangmai 150 km. 8 hours cycling (by cat eye computer.. not including stops).

There are four steps (or eight if you include the Path as well as Fruit) to attaining Nibbana. Since one must progress through those steps, forget about Arahant which is the ultimate but distant goal, and go for Sotapanna. Much more attainable, and gves the safety from rebirth in the four lower realms and guarantees Arahant within a maximum of seven more lives.

Sure. Sexual promiscuity and cheating upon a partner, married or not, are still breaking the 3rd precept, whether gay or staight.

Breaking precepts is about fine detail not just big issues. Any action which causes suffering such as not actually killing but beating and causing physical and mental suffering breaks the first precept.

Any sexual misconduct which causes physical or mental suffering, rape, cheating, etc. breaks the third precept whatever the sexual orientation.

Gays can also be loyal and good couples and keep the precepts.

If one is born gay, it is because of past karma, so being gay itself is not sinful, but will probably bring much mental suffering in this life because of the general dislike of these times.

Clam shell ... was it dead? They can close up tight and survive a long time.

who is 'us'? No i don't believe anyone on here has experienced nirvana or has been reborn, I don't believe in karma either. I think people use the teachings of the Buddha as a prop like any other religious beliefs.

Fine..... goodbye..... no reason to come back here then.... just displaying your prejudice and ignorance by coming here to bash. Unlike the Christian and some other religions, which go about trying to convert others, Buddhism does not.

If you get the message you can shorten your struggle, otherwise you will be back in the soup for a long long time.

If there is Re Birth into a future life, rest assured it won't be you who is re born.

Not me as such because there is continual change, experience, creating and using up karma. However it will be a continuation of this mind stream. Although I can remember details about my early life, but not past existences, this mindstream will experience death and thence rebirth according to karma and the sufferings and/or pleasures during that future lifetime.

cut the fancy talk and lets have some proof of reincarnation, with 6 billion people there must be thousands of cases? How does it work? where do the new souls never born come from, must be a couple of billion of them by now, or were they all animals before?

Although the Christian faith describes each new birth as a new soul being created Buddhism has quite a different stance.

According to Buddhist belief the past is infinite as is the future. All beings in all the 31 realms have always existed, going round the continual cycle of rebirth according to their karma.

The human realm is actually the smallest since it is extremely difficult to take rebirth in that realm. The four lower realms, animal, hells, hungry ghosts & demons, comprise the vast majority of beings.

Once the Buddha reached down and picked up some dirt on his fingernail, asking his companions "which is the greater, this dirt here or the whole earth?" After his companions said that there was no comparison he relied "This small amount of dirt compares to beings in the human realm, whereas the whole earth to beings in the four lower realms of misery."

Thus there is no shortage of beings to be reborn human, however it is easy to fall into rebirth in the lower realms, escape from which is extremely difficult.

Again he gave an example. A blind turtle, free to wander in all the oceans, comes to the surface once every hundred years. Upon the surface floats a yoke (of a wheel once the hub and spokes are removed), pushed this way and that bu wind and current and tide. What is the chance that upon surfacing the head of the turtle will come up in the wooden yoke. This is how difficult to attain rebirth from the lower realms into the human realm.

So this is why we are encouraged to practice, here and now in this lifetime, to attain the safety of the Four Noble states and escape the possibility of rebirth in the lower realms.

So many topics on this forum just end up with people picking holes in other's posts instead of making useful comments.

Since this is th Thai visa forums we are interested in Thai Buddhism which is Theravada. Not much interest in Mahayana, but it is well known that Mahayana like to look down upon the Arahant/self enlightened idea to push their Boddhisatva ideal as being better.

I lost interest in Tibetan Buddhism, not implying that Tibetans are not devout, because I find they put too much emphasis upon having a Lama/guru and tend to worship their monks, deities, gurus, Boddhisatvas more than the Buddha himself. Too much ritual, and it seems Thai Buddhism is going the same way with all these huge statues of beloved monks, Mae Kuan yim (Chinese and not based upon a real person), etc.

where is the proof that anyone ever was re born? like karma it's a fairy tale and a prop.

There is never proof for those with a closed mind.

For those with an open mind there are many examples of people remembering past lives, and for those who are prepared to accept that the great teacher, the Buddha, was unlikely to lie, there are also many teachings and examples in the scriptures.

Why any need for speculation?

The Buddha laid it all down often in his teachings. Members here like to quote sources like 'Access to Insight', but then in the next breath seem to doubt the truth of the teachings.

There are many teachings about the various types of karma which will take effect as we die and lead us to our next rebirth. Death proximate karma, habitual karma, weighty karma etc.

http://www.buddhanet.net/t_karma.htm

You don't need Buddha for you to awaken. The Dhamma has always been here long before Buddha was born. The Dhamma is already what you are. It is only ignorance that prevents you from knowing it. If you are truly present to what you are right now in this present moment which is the only experience you can have, then that is all the scripture or Dhamma you would ever want. To be what you are is to be awake. Meditation can be a way to become and know the Buddha nature which you are already. Belief in all of these Buddhist mythologies won't help you.

Who says that attainment of Nibbana can be achieved without ever having heard the Dhamma of a Buddha which describes the 4NT & 8FP? Those Dhammas are unknown until realised and taught by Buddhas.

The truth always exists and is always true, but is unknown or misunderstood because of ignorance. Nibbana, the state, and how to achieve it, can only be realised by Buddhas who have nobody to teach it to them. They are self taught, self realised. They are able to achieve this because of the ages they spend perfecting themselves as Boddhisattas. We can understand and achieve it after hearing their teachings, but we cannot realise it without the lost dhamma being taught by a Buddha.

This is why Buddhas are so rare and precious, and why human rebirth at a time when a Buddha's teachings are still extant is also rare and precious.

For vast periods of time between Buddhas when the true Dhamma has been lost to the knowledge and understanding of humans there is no chance to attain to any of the four noble states and thus Nibbana.

You see Vincent there is a lot of conjecture in your post, but you happily write mine off as nonsense.

Trd writes off any scriptures he does not agree with as myths.

Too many egos here I think.

I express an opinion and get attacked for it. Is this a private argument thread between certain long-standing members... and everyone else butt out?

Trd .. you seem to have completely misunderstood my post.

I never said I await the coming of Buddha nor any god. I don't need to because his teaching is still available here and now. But, sometime in the future when his teaching is lost, there will be no knowledge of Nibbana or the path to attain it, until the next Buddha comes and re-discovers the lost Dhamma. Only a Buddha can re-discover the lost Dhamma because he has practiced and perfected himself for countless aeons as a Boddhisatta.

I only pass on the knowledge of my teahcers. I don't claim to know everything.

You seem to be upset....perhaps because I have no doubts and maybe you still have many such hinderances.

What do you mean ..what is happening right here and now? Please elucidate.

The Jurassic period stretched from around 201 million years ago to 145.5 million years ago. The dinosaurs became extinct during the later Cretaceous period around 65 million years ago. It is thought that the extinction of the dinosaurs facilitated the gradual evolution of small, furry creatures into apes and humans, who might otherwise have been easy prey for the dinosaurs.

The earliest stone tools that appear to be hand-made with sharp edges have been dated at a mere 3.3 million years. The divergence from apes to human-like creatures walking on two legs, is estimated to have taken place around 6 million years ago. 150 million years is just a little bit off, wouldn't you say.

Recent DNA evidence has revealed that many modern humans share certain unique genetic characteristic with Neanderthal man, which implies that we and Neanderthal man were of the same species. Only creatures of the same species can interbreed. It has therefore been necessary to create a category of 'sub-species'. We are now officially Homo Sapiens Sapiens, and Neanderthal man is the extinct sub-species now known as Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis.

My suggestion that it might be the case that the goal of Buddhist meditation is to achieve a state of awareness similar in nature to the awareness that our early ancestors might have experienced before the development of language, is just my own theory, but it makes sense to me based upon what I already understand from history.

I think it's fair to presume that people do not abandon their security and way of life in search of enlightenment without good reason. The reason appears to be usually a general dissatisfaction with their experiences of 'so-called' civilization with its constant conflicts and suffering.

This apparent nihilistic nature of Buddhism is perhaps not so much a rejection of life itself, with its unavoidable dukkha, but a striving to achieve a state of mind that might have been a common experience among early humans who lived prior to the creation of civilization, language and agriculture. In other words, a state of mind without thought or concept during a time when most humans were mainly vegetarian, calmly plucking fruit, nuts and leaves from the trees, and only occasionally eating meat.

A classic scientific view. I prefer to believe in the genetically engineered by aliens theory and do not believe we evolved from monkeys. Atlantis finally sunk about 12,000 years ago, but before that they had a worldwide meeting to discuss the troublesome and dangerous 'huge creatures' and what to do about them.

If the question was 'the ultimate purpose of meditation' then i would answer peace, bliss, or special attainments from jhana, since the vast majority of meditation techniques and styles practiced worldwide are all ultimately Samatha or concentration techniques. Shamans, witch doctors, yoga, yogis, various holy men types of meditation etc. throughout the ages all come into this category.

The Buddha himself, throughout his life before he reached enlightenment, and all the previous births as a Boddhisatta, only knew this type of meditation.

The ultimate purpose of Buddhist meditation, which only started after he taught about Nibbana and how to achieve it, is therefore Nibbana, and the only techniques which achieve it are based upon the Four Foundations of Mindfulness or Vipassana for short.

If one could practice Samatha and achieve the high jhanas and thence discover the concept of Nibbana and achieve it by oneself, without ever having heard of it before nor any of the Buddha's teachings, then there would be no need for Buddhas. Since the concept of Nibbana and how to achieve it is too profound for ordinary men to conceive, it only becomes available or possible after a Boddhisatta achieves Buddhahood and teaches this lost Dhamma. Once his Dhamma is lost to the world again, we must await the coming of another Buddha to be able to find the way to escape Samsara.

The trouble is, there are ten ways to make merit, and the first on the list is the least effective. Doing bad is easy, doing good is not.

1. Giving... not just to monks either as some Thais might believe. Donating anything, not just money. It helps reduce selfishness.

2. Keeping precepts. 5,8,10,227 or more. Much more difficult than simple giving and requires effort and personal renunciation. The foundation upon which all other practice is built so don't expect to get much from giving millions or trying to meditate without keeping the basic five precepts.

3. Studying the Dhamma. Listening to teachings, reading etc.

4. Teaching the Dhamma to others. Helping the spread of Dhamma by printing books or correcting faulty views (on forums like this one too.)

5. Labour. Even a poor person can donate time and effort by physical labour. Cleaning a temple, helping during events and festivals, erecting various necessary things at a funeral. Washing dishes, cooking, etc.

6. Sharing merits one has just acquired from some act such as meditation or chanting or giving alms with other beings. There are specific chants to share merits and Thais like the little ritual of pouring water, but it is the intention which counts. Wishing all beings to be happy and free from suffering and to receive the merit one has just earned.

7. Congratulating others upon their merituous deeds. Giving alms, going on meditation retreats etc.

8. Respect. Showing respect to those who deserve it (not just because of their status or rank.) Such as parents, teachers.

9. Training and purifying the mind by meditation. This one gains the greatest amount of merit because it requires the most effort and time, and is the ultimate way to Nibbana.

10. Correct view. Knowing that there really was a person called the Buddha and that he found the way to Nibbana and taught it to other beings. Knowing the basic tenets of rebirth and karma. Knowing that doing good leads to a good result and rebirth and bad leads to the opposite. With wrong view one would not bother with the other items on this list. (unless done for the wrong reasons such as to get a good reputation or hoping for a nice return.)

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=ten%20acts%20of%20merit&gws_rd=ssl