Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

Keep in mind that there is no Buddhist Theology, and never is it suggested that you must believe a certain way.
The Buddha taught to his listeners, and gave them appropriate responses. I think Thanissaro is dong his best to get through to the people he is teaching. That's his job, right?

Billymac29, Twelph,

Reverend Thanissaro is contradicting himself, but I don't mind. He's human; he changes his mind; he gets confused at times.

Plus, his beef with "the meditation is about whatever comes up" is not with the "whatever comes up" part; it's with "the meditation is about" part.

daverupa wrote:

manas wrote:with regard to the last two angas (samma-sati, and samma-samadhi) why do we bicker so much?

This is a good question.

Probably, (Western) Buddhist people sink a lot of their hope for the future in sammasatisamadhi, and to feel that one's samma is maybe a little miccha can be frightening and worrisome.

It can also be stimulating and inspiring. The first time I heard a Rev T. talk I thought, "What a f*cking asshole!" I'm not embellishing. About three months later, I'm mucking around in thte "mindfulness practice" methods, feeling stale and full of doubt. I recollected my strong aversion to the Rev. T. and thought, "maybe he's just the slap in the face I need."

He was.

alan wrote:Keep in mind that there is no Buddhist Theology, and never is it suggested that you must believe a certain way.
The Buddha taught to his listeners, and gave them appropriate responses. I think Thanissaro is dong his best to get through to the people he is teaching. That's his job, right?

Yes, especially as a teacher of teachers. Andrea Fella, e.g., teaches "mindfulness practice" (Mahasi style) but still calls Rev. T one of her teachers. I seriously doubt she's not aware of his critiques in RM.

danieLion wrote:

alan wrote:Keep in mind that there is no Buddhist Theology, and never is it suggested that you must believe a certain way.
The Buddha taught to his listeners, and gave them appropriate responses. I think Thanissaro is dong his best to get through to the people he is teaching. That's his job, right?

Yes, especially as a teacher of teachers. Andrea Fella, e.g., teaches "mindfulness practice" (Mahasi style) but still calls Rev. T one of her teachers. I seriously doubt she's not aware of his critiques in RM.

Having been to one of her retreats, she mainly teaches using the style of Sayadaw U Tejaniya lately.

twelph wrote:

danieLion wrote:

alan wrote:Keep in mind that there is no Buddhist Theology, and never is it suggested that you must believe a certain way.
The Buddha taught to his listeners, and gave them appropriate responses. I think Thanissaro is dong his best to get through to the people he is teaching. That's his job, right?

Yes, especially as a teacher of teachers. Andrea Fella, e.g., teaches "mindfulness practice" (Mahasi style) but still calls Rev. T one of her teachers. I seriously doubt she's not aware of his critiques in RM.

Having been to one of her retreats, she mainly teaches using the style of Sayadaw U Tejaniya lately.

No she doesn't. She consistently teaches, as she says over and over, a combination of methods from all her teachers. Plus, Reverend Tejaniya is likely very influenced by Mahasi.

danieLion wrote:No she doesn't. She consistently teaches, as she says over and over, a combination of methods from all her teachers. Plus, Reverend Tejaniya is likely very influenced by Mahasi.

She just consistently does retreats in the style of Saydaw U Tejaniya.
http://audiodharma.org/series/2/talk/1925/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://audiodharma.org/series/2/talk/1809/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.dharmaseed.org/retreats/1095/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://ssivipassana.org/?p=2093" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://audiodharma.org/series/2/talk/3111/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://audiodharma.org/series/2/talk/3142/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Though while doing retreats with Gil and when she took over Introduction to Meditation she switches back to the Mahasi-like method.

Out of curiosity, what similarities do you see with Mahasi Sayadaw and Sayadaw U Tejaniya? I know that they both are grounded in the Abhidharma, but that seems to be where the similarities end. U Tejaniya seems to believe that if you are noting things constantly then your awareness is not relaxed.

Now I must scold myself