fabianfred

This year it seems to have been a shambles and very delayed. Has it improved any?

My passport runs out in Oct next year, but my one year extension is renewed in June so i will need to renew my passport by then. How many months is it taking now?

This is all gossip ...people on here assume so much. We have no idea what the real story was so just helping to spread rumours is just ignorant. Perhaps she is just the victim.

For those who wonder why a young girl can find an older man attractive, remember this. Young girls often get very close to their fathers, but those who might have grown up without a father presence, either from the father's death or leaving the mother to raise the child, often are attracted to an older man who fulfills the missing father role as well.

I often come across girls who have married young when i visit hill-tribes or migrant workers here. In the orange plantations near my village are girls of 12 who do a full days work and receive 2/3rds of an adults pay. They have never been to school, here or in Burma, but they are certainly mature in outlook and experience of life. They often marry fellow migrant workers at 14 because they have no chance to shop around, being restricted in travel and with low wages and living in slum like conditions. They fear the police and being noticed in this country foreign to them, even if they have some kind of id card. They thus choose a mate from those who share their lifestyle and language. Kids of age six and upwards help their parents with many tasks, and wash their own clothing and bathe themselves and can also cook. They are far more mature than their Western or city counterparts because they are given more responsibility from a young age.

One rule does not fit all.

In the last century a Western woman practisioner of Tibetan Buddhism who had made great progress was reborn. In the hospital they were astounded to see the baby sit upon its mother's belly in the lotus position and chant some stanzas in tibetan. Not immediately after birth though.

The word miracle just causes panic and doubt ... I would tend to avoid it.

The Buddhas are always born as men, not gods. If they were gods then people would not believe that they could also do as the Buddhas and achive liberation.

However, although they are men and born into the human realm they are certainly very special and capable of many things an ordinary person is not. This is because they are Boddhisattas, having trained and practiced the ten perfections for countless aeons. Their peneltimate existence is in the Deva realm of Tushita heaven where they await conditions to be right for their final birth and eventual becoming a Buddha.

When the person called Sumedha met a past Buddha called Dipankara and made the Boddhisatta vow to become a future Buddha, he was already an accomplished meditator and had attained to the jhanas, thus was capable of super powers. Throughout the subsequent 4 asongkaya plus 100,000 aeons he practised as a Boddhisatta he often attained to the jhanas in many existences. But we now know that attainment of the Jhanas without knowledge and practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness will never lead to attaining ariyahood.

The problem isn't with different beliefs. It lies with beliefs which tell it's followers to go out and convert everyone else or treat those of other beliefs as sub-human and therefore not wrong to kill or abuse.

Being Buddhist, the first thing that sprang to my mind was pity for the guy ...if it was in fact his mother.

Buddhism teaches that one should have great respect for one's father and mother, without whom one would not have been born.

Patricide and matricide are extremely heinious acts and are punished by a whole aeon in the deepest hell.

Often Western kids blame their parents for an unsatisfactory life, saying "I did not ask to be born so it is their resposibility and fault for my shitty life". Their religion, or lack of, has not taught them the real reason for one's birth and subsequent suffering ...... karma created by them in a previous existence.

Not sure about your interpretation of 'Higher self'.... but I certainly beleive that there is a continual 'flow' of consciousness from life to life...but continually changing..... so no permanent soul.

The problem with your belief is that "the continual flow of consciousness from life to life...but continually changing" ends with Awakening (Enlightenment) as the cycle of Re Birth ends.

The "permanent soul." relates to what is left after "flow of consciousness from life to life" ends?

regarding that last bit "what is left after "flow of consciousness from life to life" ends"

who says it ends?

IMHO once we attain Nibbana certainly there is an end to rebirth in the 31 realms of Samsara, but I'm sure there is a continuing existence in a state (or dimension) far beyond our present (unenlightened) understanding.

Sure, the Buddha would not try to confuse people by mentioning something far beyond our capability to comprehend, but that doesn't mean such a thing is not possible.

When asked if there was existence beyond Nibbana he merely replied " existence does not apply ... non-existence does not apply..." because the Buddha would not answer unfruitful questions about things we are unable to comprehend.

The Thai police seem to be too busy for catching and punishing traffic offenders... particularly bad parking. Perhaps they should follow the UK and set up Traffic Wardens who have the power to fine and even call for towing or clamping of offenders.

It would open employment and reduce the duties of the Police at the same time.

I have not been to Suan Mohk but I thought it was in a forest...perhaps those who have been can enlighten us.

Although Wat Rampoeng is a meditation centre it is in the middle of a village so all outside noise is not removed. The revered monk Luang Por Thong who is th founder also has his main place at Wat Chom Tong but I also remember he had a small meditation place in the forest near there.....

I understand what you mean about the Thai monks being more interested in chanting than meditation... they often ordained as novices and for the young learning the chants is easier.... and also meditation is much more difficult.. so they go the easy route.

Is Wat Suan Mohk no good?

What about Wat Rampoeng, CHiangmai...you can do the 26 day course and then top up ten days at a time.

Wat Tham Wua sound nice too....but I've not been there.

Can you share your reasons for not wanting to ordain again? I was a monk for two years and would like to ordain again when my kids are grown.

Wherever there is money there is also corruption.

Even temples spend too much energy trying to get people to give money, and when they have it they have to dream up projects to use/abuse it....buiulding more and more statues and things.

.....got rid of the occupying Japanese Imerial forces who were colonising you during WW2?

Religion is man made............YES or NO..........?

Religions are created by people....

The Buddha did not intend to start a religion called Buddhism. He merely taught the Dhamma, the truth, the natural laws, which had been forgotten, misunderstood, since the passing of the previous Buddha's dhamma.

So what were you prior to birth. What are you prior to mind. What are you prior to consciousness?

Is there a God, a creator of all things? If there is a God, who created God? If the universe began with a big bang, what existed before the Big Bang?

I believe that both Confucius and the Buddha advised against speculating on the existence of a creator God, but the discipline of Physics didn't exist in those days of course. What existed before the Big Bang might be another meaningless question. However, there is a sort of answer, although perhaps not completely satisfactory. There is a fourth dimension of 'time'. Time was created during the Big Bang, therefore, the question 'what existed before the Big Bang' could be considered meaningless. The word 'before' is a quality of time. Time did not exist before the Big Bang.

Your questions, what was I prior to my birth, mind and consciousness, I place in the same category as the above questions, although it's true to say that prior to my birth I was a developing embryo in the womb. Perhaps you meant to ask what was I before conception.

Theravada Buddhism teaches that...

1. The past is infinite ... the future is infinite.

2. We (our consciousness) have always existed ... no starting point. Therefore we have been trapped in the cycle of rebirth since beginingless time. Therfore we have experienced rebirth in every one of the 31 realms, as every type of human, animal, etc.

3. Everything in nature is cyclic, so before the Big bang was the previous Big Crunch. The period from one big bang to the next is a Maha kappa.

Yes...questions are good... but remember the old saying...'I seek not to find the answer, but to understand the question..'

Instead of "why must I shave and why can't I eat the food I prefer..?' try this...

" why am I .... a monk who has turned my back on the householder's life ... to be unconcerned with fine fashionable clothing... to eat what is given and not crave for fine foods.... to be unconcerned with looks and craving for comforable feelings ... asking such silly questions..?'

To defeat the defilements is a monks goal... not increase them.

When the Buddha first left the palace and donned robes he choked upon the coarse food offered him, then admonished himself, what did he expect as one going amongst the ordinary people and accepting the food they offered...after which he was never bothered again.

Craving for existence is what holds us back in Samsara ..we should not be afraid of death.... our alloted span is due to our karma...be content with it.

The problem with many Westerners is that they are too conceited and think that in this modern age with high technology and scientific learning they are superior to those of old...even thinking they know more than the Buddha

'problem with all religions' is it turns, or tries to turn, people into sheeple. Though more a philosophy and somewhat attractive in principle, the problem with Buddhism in Thailand for me is the way it is misconstrued by the vast majority that purport to be Buddhist, but tend to miss the teachings of the Buddha by a country mile. The lengths that many natives go to to make up on merit for their consistent wrongdoings is hypocritical in the extreme and seems to go beyond the level of hypocrisy of what your average, non-practicing Christian might indulge... though I guess we're touching on social conditioning, and also not to suggest that the one is better than the other.

With your examples above, I think it is more a case of 'this is how we've always done it' and nobody would have the stones to want to change things up, which again goes against the 'tenets' of Buddhism somewhat because they are all desiring to conform.

Man is indeed a fallible, fragile beast.

Dave, I can't disagree. However, I detect a degree of cynicism here which I'm also guilty of. When I see Thai people, and people of other nationalities, prostrating themselves in front of a huge statue of Buddha, I can't help wondering what Gautama Buddha would think of this, if he were able to come back to life and witness the scene.

I am aware that as a foreigner we are always carefully observed when in a temple, so i always try to do very sincere and graceful prostrations, unlike the frequent bobbing and hands fluttering like dying butterflies one often sees the Thais doing. I have been a Buddhist for nearly 40 years now and have great respect for our greatest teacher....it is not worship...but respect ...for those worthy of respect.

I would like to say that clothing in this environment and climate deteriorate far quicker than in the cool of Britain as they are also subject to ruin by insects and rodents.... particularly if you are living in a bamboo hut with thatched roof...

...and also perhaps ask those member who are complaining ...just how many items they donated in the past few years?

With the help of kind friends I was able to donate 2,000+ sets of warm clothes 3 years ago... 400+ 2 years ago ... and 500+ last year....