Choosing a Monastery

Discussion of ordination, the Vinaya and monastic life. How and where to ordain? Bhikkhuni ordination etc.
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convivium
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... nance.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
it's articles like that.. thots that we must follow the eightfold path at least foundational seeing that it works, that keeps me in therevada sutta-based traditions. the possibility of encountering teachers in the internal worlds that can teach these other practices and perspectives is fine enough to not worry about it for now. that's where most teachers and all their initiations are found. if one day this is necessary or i am moved to do more then it will come. i was thinking about going to http://www.garchen.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for now the foundations of therevada are more than sufficient.
Last edited by convivium on Sun May 23, 2010 6:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
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tiltbillings
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by tiltbillings »

convivium wrote:. i was thinking about going to http://www.garchen.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for now the foundations are more than sufficient...
So, you are looking at the Theravada as a "foundational" practice in preparation for?
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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convivium
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

therevada is called foundational to those (vajrayana, tantrayana, bodhisattva) practices and perspectives. therevada is all we need for total parinibbana which is the only ultimate end.
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
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tiltbillings
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

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convivium wrote:therevada is called foundational to those (vajrayana, tantrayana, bodhisattva) practices and perspectives. therevada is all we need for total parinibbana which is the only ultimate end.
No. For the "vajrayana, tantrayana, bodhisattva practices" is the hinayana/shravakayana that they refer to as the "foundation." As Reginald Ray states in his Indestructible Truth:

In fact, as we shall see presently, "Hinayana" refers to a critical but strictly limited set of views, practices, and results. The pre-Mahayana historical traditions such as the Theravada are far richer, more complex, and more profound than the definition of "Hinayana" would allow. ...The tern "Hinayana" is thus a stereotype that is useful in talking about a particular stage on the Tibetan Buddhist path, but it is really not appropriate to assume that the Tibetan definition of Hinayana identifies a venerable living tradition as the Theravada or any other historical school.." Page 240.

The Theravada is a path to full awakening, no different from that of the Buddha, which is why at times in the Pali suttas the arahant is called tathagata and buddha.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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convivium
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

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true. kagyu, etc is concerned with the creation of the subtle bodies, varjrasattva, etc. for the bodhisattva path. http://sacred-sex.org/buddhism/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
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tiltbillings
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

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convivium wrote:true. kagyu, etc is concerned with the creation of the subtle bodies, varjrasattva, etc. for the bodhisattva path. http://sacred-sex.org/buddhism/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And this has what to do with "Choosing a Monastery?"
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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convivium
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

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there are tibetan monasteries. eventually many these monks might marry, or maybe conduct practices in secret. i really don't know much more about it.
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
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tiltbillings
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

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convivium wrote:there are tibetan monasteries. eventually many these monks might marry, or maybe conduct practices in secret. i really don't know much more about it.
This seems to be coming out of left field. What does have to do with this thread?
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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convivium
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

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i suppose i was trying to answer your question:
So, you are looking at the Theravada as a "foundational" practice in preparation for?
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
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tiltbillings
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by tiltbillings »

convivium wrote:i suppose i was trying to answer your question:
So, you are looking at the Theravada as a "foundational" practice in preparation for?
So, basically, your real interest is in Tibetan Buddhism.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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convivium
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

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to the extent that mahayana/tibetan buddhism contains and fits into therevada, and has practices that assist in samatha, and discernment. what will come beyond, if anything, i don't know.
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
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tiltbillings
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

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convivium wrote:to the extent that mahayana/tibetan buddhism contains and fits into therevada, and has practices that assist in samatha, and discernment. what will come beyond, if anything, i don't know.
Tibetan Buddhism does not contain Theravada nor does it fit into Theravada.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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convivium
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

Exoteric traditions are more solid and balanced since they mostly work with the perceptions and energies of the physical plane. So even though it is not uncommon to be visited with various astral experiences during advanced stages of Zen or Vipassana meditation, the emphasis of such schools is to continue grounding back to this earth--to the sights, sounds, tastes and thoughts that comprise ordinary experience. The drawback is that the primal energies that underpin the physical world are only indirectly addressed.

Esoteric traditions, on the other hand, determine to apply themselves directly to the forces that underlie ordinary existence. They reach for the essential nature of the experience of living which manifests as subtle energy and consciousness. The drawback is that similar to reaching too far, too fast, into the psyche as for the fast traditions, esoteric work can reach too far, too fast into subtler fields of energy. This can manifest variously as, for instance, unwanted communication with other beings, energetic imbalances of the body and mind, and uncontrolled effects on the environment and other beings.

The confluence of Buddhism and other mystical teachings in the West is resulting in a blending of these various approaches to spirituality. It is likely that, along with the aforementioned paths, a blending of them which puts emphasis somewhere in between along both axes of the above table will develop as a useful approach for those who wish to remain in a regular lifestyle. http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~greg.c/tibet.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


to an extent i'm interested the "esoteric," but the "exoteric" has been working fine. that these practices and perspectives are always mutually exclusive is a question that still comes to mind.
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
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tiltbillings
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by tiltbillings »

convivium wrote:
Exoteric traditions . . .


to an extent i'm interested the "esoteric," but the "exoteric" has been working fine. that these practices and perspectives are always mutually exclusive is a question that still comes to mind.
Kind of hard to take that quote and website seriously: http://www.leavingsiddhayoga.net/emperors.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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convivium
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Re: Choosing a Monastery

Post by convivium »

absent of the scandal, what aspect of that quote doesn't conform with your understanding?
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
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