unfortunately no. I even went to the temple in Phoenix and there was no service till next month and it was closed. But ive been learning as much as i can on the internet from different sources. everyone has been so helpful here. Ive been blessed with all kinds of advice and links etc. Thank you! :bow:

Ajahn Brahm always uses the simile of the brick wall. Very insightful and practical as well. He is from the HAHAYANA tradition. Oh, the 980 perfect bricks! Its almost silly how we manage to see the 2 that are imperfect. And how little it takes for someone to realize his biggest mistake in life. As ...

Thank you for guiding me towards Ajahn Brahm. :namaste: That's exactly how I feel. And I owe it to LonesomeYogurt . He/she noticed how Karma is sometimes misrepresented, and guided me towards him. I can easily say his words are the best thing that happened to me in my search for inner peace. I unde...

Yes I learnt this from Ajahn Brahm. Very profound advice. I have recently started leaning a lot from Ajahn Brahm. He explained Karma better than I expected. I enjoy his use of humor and simple examples to explain complex subjects. I cant explain the level of peace I feel, just by hearing his voice....

Also in life we have 10 things if importance to us, 8-9 are ok, 1 -2 may not be good, but we choose to focus on the 1-2 and not the 8-9 things. Thats true. When something bad happens to us, we always say "why me?" but fortunate events dont come to us as a surprise as much as unfortunate o...

I dont think anyone is trying to make me feel sad on purpose. And im fully aware that human has made this world a battlefield. All I want is this one simple answer: What is Karma? The police force of the universe? revenge squad? peace keeper? Whatever Karma is, it sound extremely irrational to punis...

So lets say that I was an abuser in the past life. and I had the rape coming and deserved it. Since I have no memory of the past life, and in the next one I will have no memory of this one, where is the lesson to be learned? where is the point that was made? Lets assume that Karma at play is paying ...

Hello Waimengwan, I would say if we understand karma, we know there is no one to blame but ourselves , we have created the causes for us to be harmed.n. With the deepest of respect to you and your teacher, I think this is an immense distortion of the teaching of karma. I think this amounts to blami...

Thank you very much, all of you, for your words

I am a 24 year old artist/designer. I have been interested in and greatly respected Buddhist teachings since my early ages. I have a Persian upbringing. But not a traditional one. My family always put its focus on being a better human than following a religion. I have been battling psychological dam...

Thank you

Hello everyone. My name is Nima, im Persian. im a 24 year old man. Im an artist and a designer. I have always had respect for Buddhist teachings since childhood. I am not worthy of calling myself a Buddhist; for many reasons, one is my lack of proper knowledge in the teachings and another is the mai...