rockyysdt

The Buddhist teaching is to live in the present moment. Emphasis on Mindfulness is the core of the practice allowing us to recognize that we can only truly live in the present. The past has already occurred and but a memory, while the future has not happened and therefore not real. I've recently learned that it appears that what we perceive has already occurred. It will take approximately 6.67 nanoseconds for light to travel 2 metres in a vacuum. Also there is a biological delay of 50 to 100 milliseconds for our brain to perceive. Everything we perceive is a reconstruction of the past, occurring on a delay created by both the laws of physics and our biology. We aren't seeing what is happening; we are seeing our brain's guess of where things will be by the time the signal reaches our consciousness. This means we are never in the present. How does this reconcile with Buddhist teaching? Am I destined to be never in the present and consigned to eons of re birth?

Hi Vincent. In this turbulent world it's good to have constants (Vincent): something invariable or unchanging: such as. a. : a number that has a fixed value in a given situation or universally or that is characteristic of some substance or instrument. b. : a number that is assumed not to change value in a given mathematical discussion, d. : or a friend is a constant in your life, that means they have always been with you and there for you. Definitions of constant. adjective. 😊 I've bookmarked your reference. It was quite a number of years when the Buddha walked upon the earth. A time far from our modern reality. A reality moving at exponential rate with AI upon us. How I see it is that research and hypothesis such as Donald Hoffman's is not far removed from the Buddhas teachings. Donald himself embraces Buddhist teachings, spends a considerable part of his daily life meditating and subscribes to Ekhardt Tolle's teachings on the power of "stillness of mind". Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised if you and I have been sharing thoughts for millennia. Have a great Christmas, a time to reflect on family and life. Rocky

Hi Vincent. Just a minor point regarding Siddhartha's possible reaction to learning of his mothers death well after this event. If his mother had died shortly after his birth, then never having physically known her, nor be nurtured by her, would have played a major part in the depth of closeness. Other than perhaps sympathy from the knowledge of her death, this may not have been as traumatic in comparison to feelings built through an experienced relationship.

Hi topt. You are probably a greater expert in this subject. Maybe just poorly worded on my part. My comment "emphasis on taxing expats" was related to foreign remittances only. For the most part, I'm assuming that most expats derive their income this way. I might be wrong.

Thanks Y. Very interesting reference. Could there be revisions to this reference which is dated 2019? With the latest emphasis on taxing ex pats on repatriated foreign earnings, there maybe a new bank reporting requirements since then.

Thanks Yumthai. Isn't it a requirement for Thai Banks to report all bank deposits greater than a certain value? Is it possible that what occurs in 2025 and beyond, may be a turning point from what people have been experiencing in the past?

Hi community. Looking to draw from your wealth of knowledge. My understanding is that a Thai national, not related to the giver, can receive a tax free gift of cash up to 10,000,000B in any financial year, as long as the gift was discretionary (free of obligation). In order to satisfy the Thai Revenue Office, the receiver needs to be able to prove that the funds were gifted and discretionary. My question is: Would the donors "statutory declaration" & copy of "proof of identity", both witnessed and certified by a "Justice of the Peace" in the donors foreign country satisfy the Thai Revenue Office? To simplify responses the donor would be a non Thai Tax resident. thanks.

His discovering that we are all mortal and subject to decay and death, might have been his impetus to seek sages and spiritual guides on his ventures away from the palace, and eventually fashioning path to escape from our finite reality, or dare I say, simulation.

Without conclusive evidence either way, I tend to move with an open mind to all possibilities. Donald Hoffman, a prominent cognitive psychologist studies consciousness, and in collaboration with leading physicists & mathematicians has been able to produce provable baby step experiments which are incrementally suggesting that we live in a simulation. Rather than using my five senses to establish whether this world is real or not, I'm open to all possibilities in an infinite world. When we speak of infinity or the infinite, to confine this to distance and time wouldn't even begin to describe an infinite world. Certainly the astronomer David Kipping's hypothesis that the 49.8% probability that we live in a simulation is a theory, but Hoffman's work is compelling. Hoffman has mathematically proven that the laws of physics no longer apply for very small fractions of time & of distance. His calculations lead him to conclude that space/time is a subset of reality. As such we can call it a simulation. Returning to Prince Siddhartha, is it possible that his Awakening represented a breaking out of our simulation into a larger reality? One theoretical possibility is that all consciousness springs from a single source and that we are singularities in space/time.

Not quite. Take a video game for example. The game is called "Vincent farms Rice". In this game Vincent grows to a ripe old age, living a healthy lifestyle, consuming fresh fruit and vegetables and whole rice. When Vincent expires, the program which allowed Vincent to live out his life, remains. It is a complete game full of many possibilities and variations due to the many rules of which it's comprised. Vincent thinks his life has been real, but he is actually wearing a virtual reality headset which allows him to experience life as though it was real. In reality his experience feels real to him due to the sophistication of the virtual reality headset. The life that Vincent experiences/experienced was virtual all along. Now, how can Vincent escape this virtual subset reality, and enter the much larger actual or real reality? If Kippings model that there's a 49.8% chance that we live in a simulation, rather than the real world, then your statement may not hold. The virtual reality which has been part of Vincent's experience contains many values. The speed of light, gravity, time, matter & energy and so forth. These are merely a set rules which govern the virtual reality which Vincent finds himself in. If Vincent could discard his virtual reality headset, he might find himself in the actual/real reality which exists beyond the confines of what we call space/time. Repeating games for Vincent is akin to the process of rebirth as was taught by the Buddha. Did the Buddha Awaken out of the repeating simulation we find ourselves in. A repeating, not necessarily as Vincent but as a multitude of entities and lifeforms. When you say "When a person dies, it is reasonable and logical to claim that their human characteristics have been separated from objective reality, because such characteristics no longer exist" is it possible that this statement is incorrect? Are you assuming that Vincent's characteristics will always be attached to him as was his current experience in his current game? And are you assuming that that this objective reality is real when it could be virtual? .

If our world as we know and experience it is a simulation or sub set of reality, then aren't our limitations (the five senses) governed by the rules which control this simulation? If you can break out of the simulation or access senses from the greater reality then wouldn't that allow you to separate objective reality from the human characteristics of observation and experience through the 5 senses?

When you say violence is completely acceptable to Buddhism and Hinduism, do you mean that violence is inevitable to them, rather than it is good?

Hi Vincent. Well covered. As indicated, if you don't have all the data, then you can't apply logic. Or is reality so boundless, that our ability to comprehend it is akin to an ant understanding string theory. Kippings model suggests that there's a 49.8% chance that we live in a simulation, rather than the real world. Donald Hoffman has indicated that our physics/mathematics break down at distances smaller than 10 to the minus power of 33 cms, & time slower than 10 to the power of -43 seconds. He said that this suggests that space time as we know it is a sub set of reality. Is this what 'Kalama Sutta" alludes to when it indicates "Do not go by: Logic "? Did the Buddha break through the simulation we live in, or did he just learn how to live in the present? This question, for me, is the central unknown of Buddhism. Is awakening mundane (learn to live in the present) or is it unfathomable? You have the option of either practicing dharma to improve the mundane quality of your life, or you can devote your life's resources to fully embrace dharma in order to Awaken. Will successful awakening/enlightenment yield infinity, or that which is beyond space time, making serious investment worthwhile, or will such investment result in mundane positives to the exclusion of most pleasures of the senses available in our world?

Interesting Vincent. I won't mention the details, nor the country, but a friend suffered the worst kind of trauma one can imagine at the hands of Buddhists in a Buddhist country. An experience which supports your findings. I can't say conclusively, but my thoughts are that it's not so much about understanding the path, nor the difficulty of being able to practice it, but rather, the barrier of not believing in its validity, but then not having the power and resolve to overcome existing habits in order to successfully practice. I liken changing ones habits/conditioning is akin to escaping the pull of gravity once past the event horizon. Our rapid technological progress places way too many distractions in our path. Also the ability of bad actors to indoctrinate and manipulate the masses with politically skewed beliefs and falsehoods is well documented.

Hi Vincent. I suspect that the impressive teachings which you've highlighted are at play. Greed, Aversion & Delusion being the high level afflictions. Those in power will often pretend with devout displays in order to gain political support. But inside they know this is just one of many tools which they use. The ultimate aim is to gain power and wealth for themselves and their backers. It's always been that way. The machinations of individual military conflicts might involve historic power plays or attempts to divert attention should they fall from favour due to other policies or power plays. Could they be stoking patriotic anger to divert attention from major economic or other political issues of the time? Another reason, which nests under the aforementioned afflictions, is the great wealth generated to a few, due to increased military expenditure required to arm such conflicts. Further, I would go as far as saying that at least 80% of Buddhist followers in the said countries either, do not know what was actually let alone put it into practice for long enough to make any difference. Most revere the Buddha as a God, or deity, and they practice donation for good luck. The Buddha was never a God, but rather a teacher, and he never taught good luck. Even if Buddhist followers knew, or took the time to learn what was taught, their next hurdle is to find the effort to practice it. Given this situation, very few would have gained enough of a level of self awareness to have any impact on international conflicts. And their leaders! You only need to ask them why they aspired to such positions of power. But, will they answer honestly?