camerata

I think Rocky meant Mae Chee Kaew in his earlier post. The book about her is very interesting.

Personally, after reading his biography, I think Ajahn Man was an arahant.

http://www.forestdhamma.org/books/english/

How do we know any of it (Nibbana - end of Dukkha) is true?

Some have practiced for decades without fruit.

It's odd how few Buddhists have read a biography of the Buddha. The classic account by Thich Nhat Hanh gives a real sense of the man, the problems he faced and how he overcame them.

The first thing that rings true is that the Buddha said his message went against the stream of the world. No charlatan would say something like that. Another thing is that the demeanour of the Buddha and his disciples is often mentioned as remarkable, or the reason people ordain. One man asks the Buddha if he is a god. Clearly they had all been transformed in some significant way. But the Buddha does mention how hard it is to awaken and that we are all at different levels. There were many arahants in the Buddha's day, apparently because he had a genius for teaching, but I reckon pretty soon after he died the number reaching arahantship dropped rapidly.

Although we don't know the precise nature of nibbana, on the balance of probabilities it seems to exist (and is not a 2600-year-old hoax), at least at the level of an end to dukkha achieved by a revolutionary transformation of mind. Whether it exists as "eternal bliss" is open to speculation. There is only one comment about nibbana after the death of an arahant in the Pali Canon, according to Ajahn Amaro. Food for thought!

I personally don't see it as an all-or-nothing proposition. You get the benefits of practice in this life whether you attain nibbana or not.

Off-topic posts and a post discussing moderation have been deleted. The topic is the emphasis on mindfulness in (especially Theravada) Buddhism. If you want to discuss moderation or moderator actions, send a PM to the moderator. If you want to deviate significantly from the topic, it's much better to open up a new thread instead of derailing the existing one. This is fairer to the OP, to the other participants, and is better for SEO.

From the Forum rules:

10) Do not discuss moderation publicly in the open forum; this includes individual actions, and specific or general policies and issues. You may send a PM to a moderator to discuss individual actions or email support (at) thaivisa.com to discuss moderation policy.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules

Off-topic posts and replies to those posts have been deleted. This is a serious discussion about mindfulness in Buddhism.

A lot of off-topic posts have been deleted. Stick to the topic, please.

The topic is "How do we know that the Buddhist proposition of Nirvana/Awakening/Enlightenment - i.e. the end of suffering in this life - is for real?"

I think "a serious discussion about Buddhism" is way too broad for a single topic since it includes everything. So let's try and stick to the scope of the original post, which was about celibacy and women in the monastic order.

From what I have read (Warder's Indian Buddhism etc), the problem the Buddha faced was that his influential stepmother was threatening to start her own sangha if he didn't allow bhikkhunis. On the other hand, he knew how easily the momentum of his own teachings could be halted if he made a wrong move and lost the support of society in general. He had already admitted an Untouchable to his order, then a serial killer, but apparently the idea of female renunciants was beyond the pale.

Then there were the practical considerations. Monks spent a lot of time in the forest. Having sex was a disrobing offence. What if a bhikkhuni was raped? How would anyone know if it really was rape? What if a bhikkhuni got pregnant? The Pali Canon has Ananda persuading the Buddha to accept bhikkhunis, but scholars are sceptical for various reasons. I think he accepted bhikkhunis out of compassion, but he took a major risk in doing so.

In Buddhism, the standard phrase to refer to the transition of becoming a monastic is “to go forth from home into homelessness.” The Pali term for “going forth,” pabbajja, is now also used to mean a monastic candidate’s first ordination by which one becomes a novice monk (samanera) or nun (samaneri). From there, a candidate can pursue higher ordination as a fully ordained monk (bhikkhu) or nun (bhikkhuni), one who follows the full extent of the Vinaya, the Buddhist monastic code.

But for almost a thousand years, ever since the female monastic order died out, women in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism have been barred from receiving full ordination, caught without the first case of a circular cause: the Vinaya states that a bhikkhuni must be ordained by both bhikkhu and bhikkhuni sangha in order for the ordination to be valid. Although many Buddhist scholars and preeminent teachers now recognize the legitimacy of bhikkhuni ordination, which has been reclaimed through the Mahayana tradition, there are still those who protest or reject their standing as fully ordained nuns. Because of this, those women who have sought full ordination run the risk of finding themselves on their own, outside of a lineage and the established networks of support available to male monastics.

Such was the case for Ayya Santacitta and Ayya Anandabodhi, who together run Aloka Vihara, a rural training monastery for nuns in northeast California.

Full article at tricycle.com

In Thailand it's against the law to "insult" any religion, not just Buddhism.

There are plenty of websites and blogs dedicated to Thai amulets and in English, usually run by Singaporeans. amuletforums.com is one, waynedhamma.blogspot.com/ is another. Just do a search on a rare amulet and see what comes up.

Starts tomorrow, the 4th.

For Buddhists, lying violates the 4th Precept "to abstain from false speech," so it is to be avoided if one wants to have peace of mind. However, lots of people don't bother much about the precepts.

You might try Soka Gakkai: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/192981-soka-gakkai-in-pattaya/

On the rare occasions when the Buddha spoke of nibbana in terms other than the end of dukkha, etc, he was very careful to differentiate it from mundane feelings of happiness or joy:

"There is, Magandiya, a delight apart from sensual pleasures, apart from unwholesome states, which surpasses divine bliss. Since I take delight in that, I do not envy what is inferior, nor do I delight therein." - M 75.12

I found after several years of practising mindfulness in everyday life I just got bored with it. I don't know which book I sdaw it in, but Thich Nhat Hanh has some good mindfulness tricks. One I remember was imagining that the brake lights of the car in front of you are the Buddha's eyes watching you. Another was putting a pebble in your pocket so that every time you felt it you were reminded to be mindful. The problem is anything can become routine. A Buddha image should remind you to be mindful, but if it just sits on a shelf it soon becomes part of the furniture. Hence the necessity of regular garland offerings.

I think everything the Buddha said about Nibbana/Nirvana is discussed in The Island: An Anthology of the Buddha's Teachings on Nibbana, by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, now available in Kindle and other formats: https://archive.org/details/TheIslandAnAnthologyOfTheBuddhasTeachingsOnNibbana

Ajahn Amaro also gives a talk about it here: http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/1617.html

I remember Ajahn Amaro telling me last year that only once did the Buddha ever mention the nature of nibbana after death (i.e. "nibbana without remainder") - which is interesting.

Off-topic posts have been deleted.

Off-topic posts have been deleted. We are discussing the original Buddhist concept of Nirvana, not personal ideas of bliss.

I think this topic has run its course now. Few if any of the recent posts are directly relevant to Buddhism.

The video is about the poor quality of sangkhatan offerings for monks and how most of the weight is added by putting 3 bottles of water in the bottom of the bucket.

2014
DHAMMA
TALK SERIES

Monday evenings
August-September
6:30-8:30pm

at DMG Books, Amarin Tower

MEDITATE BECAUSE YOU WANT TO

Overview:

Are you a meditator? Are you curious about the roots of Thai culture? Do you just want to find out a little on the beguiling Thai Buddhism? 

Or do you want to kick start your meditation practise back into gear?

This is the time to do it! For 7 weeks we meet high up at the cool and quiet DMG books near Chit Lom BTS. Mark the Monday evenings in your calendar. Everyone is welcome to join this series of dharma talks with Bangkok’s busiest British Buddhist monk Pandit Cittasamvaro. 

There’s no charge, and no need to book in advance. The talks will be light, accessible, and hopefully, somewhat entertaining. Just bring your curiosity.

Theme

This year’s theme is all about ‘Why Meditate’? There are lots of health reasons, lots of books published on the ‘miracle of mindfulness’, and lots of people who would like to reduce stress. 

Yoga, Qi Gong and Tai Chi practitioners all appreciate the role that meditation plays in wellness and balance. 

But stillness of the mind, and the clarity that comes from patience and wakefulness, speaks to it’s own reason for being! The best reason of all, is to Meditate because you want to! 

The Dhamma Talks

Each week covers a separate topic – about Meditation, Dharma, and Buddhism. You don’t need to be an expert – the speaker is very clear and easy to understand. 

There is a progression to the topics, but since each week is a separate subject you will be able to follow even if you can’t make it every week. Still, the talks are laid out with the idea of following all 7 occasions so do your best to make them all.

Within a few days of each talk the summary and notes will be posted up on www.littlebang.org in case there were any references you wanted to follow up. 

The talk topics, like “Meditate Because you Want To”, “Not Thinking, Inside the Box” and “Feed-forward Loop” : are outlined on the TALK TOPICS page here.

Full details: http://www.littlebang.org/2014-dhamma-talk-series/

Some off-topic posts have been removed. The subject is spirit possession. If you have other questions or comments about Buddhism, please start a new topic.

The scandal of Ajahn Brahm's "banned" paper on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Theravada Buddhism rumbles on. Supporters are setting up a petition to have it accepted at UN Vesak Day next year:

We, the undersigned, are astounded and deeply disappointed by the banning of Ajahn Brahm’s paper on gender equality at the 2014 United Nations Day of Vesak (UNDV) conference in Vietnam.

The paper was clearly aligned with the UN’s Millennium Development Goal 3 (Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women), which the UNDV is committed to uphold through its connection with the UN. Moreover, Ajahn Brahm’s paper had already been approved for presentation when it was suddenly banned 36 hours before its scheduled presentation.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dannyfisher/2014/07/sign-the-petition-calling-for-united-nations-day-of-vesak-to-invite-ajahn-brahm-to-present-his-banned-gender-equality-paper-in-2015/

The paper is a good summary of the problem. It can be found at dhammaloka.org.au.

Some posts talking about Christianity have been deleted. Since this is the Buddhism Forum, let's stick to spirit possession as it relates Buddhism.

AFAIK, spirit possession and shamanism is or has been present in all Buddhist countries, and it predates Buddhism. Monks and temples get caught up in it because people think they can exorcise spirits or protect against spirits.

The subject is covered in the book Thailand: Spirits Among Us, which can be found at Asia Books:

"The unique occult art of Thai tattooing, common beliefs in ghosts and supernatural practitioners including spirit mediums, magical monks and Brahmin priests are all debated and explained in this colourful and spellbinding book. Having lived in Thailand for many years, author, photographer and anthropologist Marlane Guelden draws on her personal and academic experiences to introduce the complexity and allure of the spirit world in Thailand."

The above view is just basic common sense from a Western Philosophy perspective.

But the uniquely Buddhist aspect of this is that our conditioning prevents us from seeing the three characteristics of existence (anicca, dukkha, anatta) in ourselves and the phenomena around us:

To "see things as they really are" means seeing them consistently in the light of the three characteristics. Ignorance of these three, or self-deception about them, is by itself a potent cause for suffering — by knitting, as it were, the net of false hopes, of unrealistic and harmful desires, of false ideologies, false values and aims of life, in which man is caught. Ignoring or distorting these three basic facts can only lead to frustration, disappointment, and despair.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/various/wheel186.html

It's a quote from the linked Tricycle article. When Tricycle says, "Buddhism," they generally mean everything known as Buddhism. "All spiritual traditions are different paths to the same mountaintop" is a common misunderstanding about Buddhism (according to Tricycle), not a claim they are making. In the article, they attempt to debunk it:

http://www.tricycle.com/blog/one-way-nirvana