Hi, I've got a couple of questions for you guys:
I've been told that the only folks whom practice meditation in the theravada tradition are the monks..and that the lay-folk simply practice precepts and feed the monks. True? Explain?
While there's a lot of good folks practicing within the zen tradition, I've met many whom don't take the precepts very seriously (i,e, they drink alcohol, some are promiscous, reinterpret the precepts to mean what they want them to mean, etc.). This is a big- no-no in the theravada tradition, right?
Thanks
couple of questions
Re: couple of questions
No, its actually a bit more complicated. There are a very large number of Theravada practitioners who practice meditation. As there are a large number of monks who do not. Certainly within some traditional Theravadin societies, traditionally the main practice for many lay people is the creation of merit. "Theravada" isn't monolithic and there's a lot of diversity within the school.frankinnc wrote:Hi, I've got a couple of questions for you guys:
I've been told that the only folks whom practice meditation in the theravada tradition are the monks..and that the lay-folk simply practice precepts and feed the monks. True? Explain?
I think you'll find that for most serious buddhists the precepts are extremely important. However, you'll find people engaging in unskilful activity wherever you go.frankinnc wrote:While there's a lot of good folks practicing within the zen tradition, I've met many whom don't take the precepts very seriously (i,e, they drink alcohol, some are promiscous, reinterpret the precepts to mean what they want them to mean, etc.). This is a big- no-no in the theravada tradition, right?
kind regards,
Ben
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- 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
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
Re: couple of questions
Further to Bens repsonse which was very good. My understanding is that this statement could be historically true in certain traditional Buddhist countries such as Thailand. Whether this is still the case today, I am not so sure. It could be a generalisation. But I am from Perth Western Australia and Ajahn Brahm, Abbot of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia (Theravadin) and a buddhist monk of the Thai Forrest Tradition promotes meditation to all Dhamma practitioners as extremely important, in order to obtain the wisdom required to successfully travel this path.frankinnc wrote: I've been told that the only folks whom practice meditation in the theravada tradition are the monks..and that the lay-folk simply practice precepts and feed the monks. True? Explain?
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Re: couple of questions
untrue. Meditation is practiced by many lay followers of theravada, as well as many other forms of practice such as generosity, morality, and the rest.frankinnc wrote:Hi, I've got a couple of questions for you guys:
I've been told that the only folks whom practice meditation in the theravada tradition are the monks..and that the lay-folk simply practice precepts and feed the monks. True? Explain?
the only difference between mendicants and lay-people can be precepts. Lay-followers can follow a life of renunciation, and the only real difference between some mendicants and lay-people is the amount of precepts & lifestyle.
It depends what Zen they follow. the rules where changed in japan so drinking is quite common.While there's a lot of good folks practicing within the zen tradition, I've met many whom don't take the precepts very seriously (i,e, they drink alcohol, some are promiscous, reinterpret the precepts to mean what they want them to mean, etc.). This is a big- no-no in the theravada tradition, right?
but it depends upon the individual whether or not the try to act skilfully.
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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.
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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.
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Re: couple of questions
This unfortunate system has partially developed over time in some countries; however, diligently practicing laypeople can be found in great numbers everywhere, especially in the West.frankinnc wrote:Hi, I've got a couple of questions for you guys:
I've been told that the only folks whom practice meditation in the theravada tradition are the monks..and that the lay-folk simply practice precepts and feed the monks. True? Explain?
Although, as Ben said, there are those who engage in unwholesome behavior everywhere, I would venture to say that Theravada, on the whole, is far more strict on such matters.While there's a lot of good folks practicing within the zen tradition, I've met many whom don't take the precepts very seriously (i,e, they drink alcohol, some are promiscous, reinterpret the precepts to mean what they want them to mean, etc.). This is a big- no-no in the theravada tradition, right?
Gain and loss, status and disgrace,
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.
Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.
His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta
Stuff I write about things.
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.
Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.
His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta
Stuff I write about things.