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ericmattingly
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Joined: Tue May 08, 2012 9:06 pm

Hello

Post by ericmattingly »

My name is Eric. Most of my reading in Buddhism has been in zen, but I have read and enjoyed this forum for several months. My laziness and skepticism is corrosive, yet no matter how hard I try I can't escape "the Damma." Anyway, just thought I'd say hey. You guys really have a good thing going here. Vale.
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Polar Bear
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Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:39 am

Re: Hello

Post by Polar Bear »

Welcome aboard, despite your skepticism I think the best thing you can do is start meditating and differentiating between skillful and unskillful. Even if some claims in buddhism aren't true that doesn't mean there isn't lots of wisdom to be gained by practicing. Think of buddhism as an old well that you've stumbled across while traveling through the desert and you're desperately thirsty, but when you pull water from the well it's mixed with a small amount of mud or dirt so you have to take your shirt off and sift the water through your shirt and you'll come up with enough clean water to quench your thirst. In other words, investigate, but use your intelligence as well, there's no need to immediately accept everything with reckless abandon
Last edited by Polar Bear on Wed May 09, 2012 4:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
"I don't envision a single thing that, when developed & cultivated, leads to such great benefit as the mind. The mind, when developed & cultivated, leads to great benefit."

"I don't envision a single thing that, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about such suffering & stress as the mind. The mind, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about suffering & stress."
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mikenz66
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Location: Aotearoa, New Zealand

Re: Hello

Post by mikenz66 »

:hello:

:anjali:
Mike
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retrofuturist
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Re: Hello

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Eric,

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel.

:buddha1:

Thanks for saying hi!

:hello:

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
ericmattingly
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue May 08, 2012 9:06 pm

Re: Hello

Post by ericmattingly »

polarbuddha101 wrote:Welcome aboard, despite your skepticism I think the best thing you can do is start meditating and differentiating between skillful and unskillful. Even if some claims in buddhism aren't true that doesn't mean there isn't lots of wisdom to be gained by practicing. Think of buddhism as an old well that you've stumbled across while traveling through the desert and you're desperately thirsty, but when you pull water from the well it's mixed with a small amount of mud or dirt so you have to take your shirt off and sift the water through your shirt and you'll come up with enough clean water to quench your thirst. In other words, investigate, but use your intelligence as well, there's no need to immediately accept everything with reckless abandon
Thanks Polarbuddha! I rather like your analogy. One thing I've learned: if I there is something I think is wrong (at least when it comes to Buddhism), then I'm almost always mistaken. It's happened so much it's ridiculous. I sometimes feel like I should just give up on the "be lamp unto yourself" thing. But of course if I can't be my own lamp neither can anyone else. The key is to become a better lamp, right? I still need convincing when it comes to reincarnation, though. Or the omniscience of the Buddha. Or that an arahant dies after seven days if he hasn't ordained.
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retrofuturist
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Re: Hello

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Eric,
ericmattingly wrote:Or the omniscience of the Buddha. Or that an arahant dies after seven days if he hasn't ordained.
Neither of these are stated in the Sutta Pitaka, so perhaps you have no need to artificially convince yourself of these things?

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Ben
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Re: Hello

Post by Ben »

Hi Eric and welcome to Dhamma Wheel!
kind regards,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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Cittasanto
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Re: Hello

Post by Cittasanto »

ericmattingly wrote:My name is Eric. Most of my reading in Buddhism has been in zen, but I have read and enjoyed this forum for several months. My laziness and skepticism is corrosive, yet no matter how hard I try I can't escape "the Damma." Anyway, just thought I'd say hey. You guys really have a good thing going here. Vale.
Welcome aboard
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He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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