camerata

No one has ever suggested I change my old tax number to my Citizen's ID number, but I noticed this year (when I submitted my tax return) that they added a prefix to the old number to make it 13 digits. I asked if I need to change my Tax ID card but they said "no need" so I haven't bothered. This is Thailand, after all.

Relating to Buddhism, the other problem with mobile phones is that selfies promote narcissism, which is antithetical to Buddhism. It isn't so much of a problem in the West, where radical individualism is the norm and not particularly in conflict with Christianity or Atheism, but in groupist Buddhist cultures the new focus on self is against the existing culture and traditions.

The same thing happened to me as a teenager. It was late evening, raining,  and I had a car full of friends on the way to a club. A kind stranger stopped and sorted it out for me.

As for cell phones, the problem - as with everything else - is one of self-discipline. There's nothing wrong with phones as tools - to be used when needed - the problem starts when they are used to feed the monkey-mind. Anyway, the phones just mobilise the problem, which is in reality the addictive apps.

On 5/15/2017 at 8:15 AM, onthemoon said:

I'm pretty sure they will want to see it - I would suggest to bring it along just in case.

As it turned out, they asked for nothing, but I took it just in case. I'm sure it varies from area to area.

Could someone remind me if I need to show my tabien baan when I renew my Alien's Book at the local police station? I don't have any recollection of documents requested last time.

Wise words from Ajahn Jayasaro...

And some more...

Why You’re Addicted to Your Phone

The nonstop novelty of cell phones distracts us from the true root of our suffering.

Long before the Internet, early Buddhists coined a term—prapanca in Sanskrit—to describe the tendency of our thoughts to proliferate like “entangling vines,” as Zen teachers say. Mahayana Buddhists expanded the term to include not only words and ideas but also images, memories, and other mental fabrications. Now, the time has come for us to add everything streaming into our heads from our new prostheses: YouTube videos, online news, music, selfies sent from far away.  

The trouble with prapanca, the Buddha taught in the Madhupindika Sutta, is that the nonstop novelty prevents us from uncovering the sources of our suffering. We shuttle from one screen to the next, trying to allay our nagging sense that something’s missing or not right. But nothing we find satisfies for long, and so we start Googling again.

Instead, we need to turn our devices off. When the screens in front of us go blank, we have a better chance to become aware of another screen “behind our eyes,” the screen of the mind. Then, if we sit quietly, watching the breath or reciting the Buddha’s name, that inner screen will empty out until it appears formless and radiant. And once we make contact with this bright, empty mind, our craving for fresh screens comes to a stop.

Full story: Tricycle

Some off-topic posts have been deleted.

Fascinating article on the effect of modernity and consumerism on a rural Buddhist culture. Some parallels with Thailand:

"Another challenge is that there has been a serious decline in rural life, a major population shift from villages to towns. In the past, there was no unemployment because people worked on their farms, but people no longer see farming as an attractive option. The problem is, if everyone is looking for a comfortable job where they can sit on a chair behind a computer, then you’re certainly going to have an unemployment issue, because not everyone will be able to find such a job. "

***

'In the past, traditional Buddhist communities would go get teachings from the local priest. The first lesson is always on the four thoughts that turn the mind toward dharma, which includes the meditation on the preciousness, the rarity of the human body—how special the human body is as a medium to reach high states of development. Because your body is so special, so rare, so precious, you view your body as this great asset you have, so you would never commit suicide. You want to hold on to your body for as long as you can because every second you live is another chance to cultivate the dharma. These days we’ve lost the traditional Buddhist education; instead, the younger generation is going into science classrooms where the teacher shows them a skeleton and says, “This is your skull,” and so forth, and they basically get a very materialistic understanding of their bodies. Now, when a young person gets frustrated or depressed, they think, “Well, this body is the one that is really the problem. If I get rid of this body, I am dead, and all my problems are solved.” '

Source: Tricycle

The Buddha before Buddhism

Wisdom from the Early Teachings

by 

Gil Fronsdal

Commentary on one of Buddhism's earliest texts.

http://www.shambhala.com/the-buddha-before-buddhism.html

The Sixth Precept: Stop bad mouthing people, you idiot!

Judgmental criticism is one thing; judicious criticism is actually a gift. That’s why the Buddha never formulated a precept against talking about other people’s faults or errors, because there are times when you have to speak up against harmful behavior. Otherwise it goes uncorrected, people take it as a model, and the civilization slips one notch further away. When asked if he would say anything displeasing, the Buddha responded with the analogy of a child who has put a sharp object in its mouth. You have to get the object out, even if it means drawing blood, for you don’t want the child to swallow the object and come to even greater harm.

So how do you know if your criticism is going to be judicious? Ask yourself four questions before you say it: Is it true? Is it beneficial? Is this the right time and place to say it? Am I the right person to say this? If you can honestly answer Yes to all four questions, go ahead with your comments. Even then, though, you have to look at their results. If you see that they weren’t actually beneficial or timely, learn from your mistake. That’s how your discernment grows.

—Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Source: Tricycle

As per the Buddhism Forum rules, topics must be directly relevant to Buddhism. Buddhists don't believe that God sent us the Buddha as a messenger.

For the record, then, if you renew your PR book and also need a new endorsement plus multiple re-entry, you need to take your tabien baan and 6 photos in addition to passport, PR and Alien's book. They photocopy the tabien baan and give it back, but keep the other books. You go back to get the new PR book and stamps after 4 working days, either early morning or early afternoon, because it takes a while. They don't return the old PR book. The new book now costs 1,900 baht, so total cost is 7,600 baht.

Yes, last time I went in they told me "several days" but pointed out I still had space enough for one endorsement and about 4 stamps in the old book, so I didn't bother renewing it.

Anyone know if they keep your passport during that time?

How long does it take to renew the PR book? I need a new book plus new endorsement and non-quota visa. Presumably I can do all of it in a day if I don't go too late?

A thoughtful account of a tudong Ajahn Amaro made to Mount Kailash in Tibet:

"So what was the reason I was now planning to go there?

The short answer is, ‘Nick Scott invited me.’ The longer version is that Nick, as a tudong companion of many Sangha members over more than thirty years, had reached the age of sixty and, due to visibly waning capacities, had come to the conclusion he had just ‘one more big adventure’ in him. Based on his friendship and past experiences with Luang Por Sumedho and Ajahn Sucitto, the thought of Mount Kailash as a destination immediately came to his mind, with me as a travelling companion. Other friends and Sangha members were polled, and soon there were plans for a group of three monks and three laymen to make the expedition.

I freely admit that at first I had no great inspiration to go; it would be an interesting jaunt in a unique environment and a good opportunity for a tudong-type journey in the wilderness, but until then the place had held little significance for me spiritually. It had no special place in the mythology of the Theravādin world, so it was not like visiting sites such as Bodhgaya or the Deer Park at Vārānasī, holy places where the Buddha himself had walked and talked and dwelt.

As the reality of the journey started to gel, more reflections on the symbolism of the axis mundi arose in my mind. This ancient and universal spiritual principle had been a frequent theme of Luang Por Sumedho’s Dhamma talks over the years. He often reflected on how the mythological centre of the world, whether embodied as Mount Sumeru, Olympus or Yggdrasil the World Tree, is a symbol of the immanent centrality of consciousness, how, ‘The heart of the universe is your heart.’

These reflections reminded me that with many spiritual principles there is a meeting of: a) the physical/historical reality; its mythological representation; and c) its psychological parallels. Thus the symbol of the axis mundi has its resonances in the physical reality of Mount Kailash, in its mythic reality as the centre of the cosmos and, lastly, in the awakened awareness of the here and now. On account of these reflections rippling through consciousness, the prospect of the journey gained appeal."

Full story: amaravati.org

While there are some similarities between Satan and Mara, Mara is primarily  "the personification of the forces antagonistic to enlightenment," i.e. desire, etc. Most Buddhists in Buddhist countries would know Mara from his attempt to derail the Buddha's enlightenment. I don't think there is any worship of Mara as there is worship of Satan. What people in Buddhist countries fear is generally the easily offended and vengeful pre-Buddhism ghosts and spirits.

Several posts have been deleted to keep the topic relevant to Buddhism as per the forum rules. Please remember that this is the Buddhism Forum, not a forum about religion in general.

He's been ordained as a novice monk. This is for children, but it can be done by adults as a preparation for full ordination.

We are talking about the knowledge the Buddha acquired/attained about nibbana, as a result of his enlightenment. It seems to me that the Buddha was aware that this was experiential knowledge and so he phrased the description accordingly (i.e. not in absolute terms) while using it as a working assumption for his teachings. Those who believe the Buddha was omniscient would probably disagree.

It looks the same as Payutto's sutta quote to me. The definition doesn't say "there is no arising," it says "no arising appears."

"Appears: to come into sight; become visible."

It's like someone calculating Pi to a billion decimals and saying, correctly, "they appear unending" as opposed to "they are unending."

I guess it depends on the connotations of the Pali words used, though.

I'm not sure I agree with Payutto's assertion that "mind and intention are not the same thing, and can be studied as separate truths." The only way I can make sense of this is if by "mind" he means "the thinking mind," excluding the subconscious.

The way I understand this - in modern terms - is that intention is mostly activated in the subconscious. With training (especially Buddhist training), we can shape these subconscious intentions to a degree, but the conscious intention to do so presumably comes in part from the subconscious. In other words, the "whole mind" is like an iceberg with the conscious processes as the visible part and the subconscious as the submerged part. The subconscious intentions may be mostly powered by self-interest, but a logical, conscious decision can be made to redirect those subconscious intentions.

Frankly, I find it confusing the way many Buddhist teachers talk about "the heart" when they obviously mean the subconscious.

Since we went off-topic a bit, the discussion on Ven Payutto's Toward Sustainable Science is continued here.

On 1/9/2016 at 9:57 AM, camerata said:

As for nibbana, I don't see why a radical new state of mind with no suffering can't exist, and it can be proven by our own experience in this life rather than a future one. According to the scriptures, nibbana cannot be just a state of mind because nibbana is unconditioned whereas mental states are not. My heretical but rational take on this is that the experience of nibbana includes the intuitive knowing that it is unconditioned. Since nibbana is the deathless, there would be no experience of death and therefore it would seem to be unconditioned.

I just discovered that in the Pali Canon the Buddha describes the Unconditioned like this:

Signs of the Unconditioned (asaṅkhata-lakkhaṇa):

Origination is not apparent.

Disintegration is not apparent.

Alteration is not apparent.

I.e. The causes and conditions - if any - cannot be seen. So it seems that my theory has support in the scriptures, and nibbana could indeed be a (very special) state of mind.

This seems similar to the Buddha saying that "no beginning can be found" to former lives, rather than "there is no beginning."

44 minutes ago, VincentRJ said:

I'm therefore not surprised that John Blofeld was cured of his nightmares by placing an amulet under his pillow and reciting a mantra before going to bed, on the advice of a Tibetan Lama. Did he try using the amulet without the mantra, and the mantra without the amulet, to see if there was a difference?

 

However, I get a strong sense that Payutto is misrepresenting the nature of science and confusing the scientific process with the technological applications of the results of that process, which are usually determined by non-scientists, politicians and business men.

 

I also get the impression that Payutto is largely ignoring many branches of science, such as Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience, Psychology and Psychiatry, which do include concepts of the mind and ethical behaviour, which Payutto thinks science lacks or never addresses.

Psychiatry and psychology, of course, are not sciences, but they are what drives religion.

The key point about the Blofeld story is that the technique worked. Had he lost the amulet and/or forgotten the mantra he would have seen the disadvantage of using externals. But this kind of thing is considered "skillful means" by some.

As far as I've read in the book, Payutto makes a clear distinction between pure science and technology, and it's technology he blames for not addressing human well-being. But I don't want to defend him too much as I haven't finished it yet.