Sure, it happens sometimes. People can be mistaken. Teachers and monks aren't infallible, they don't have a direct hotline to the Buddha. I should have included this in the question above: "what do you do then? do you bring it up to the teacher? i don't imagine many Asian teachers to be open to bei...

cappuccino wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 6:35 am Learn from Buddha

If only we could. What we have though are texts and people's interpretation of his words. Hence my question.

Have any of you ever had the experience where your teacher actually said something that the texts don't support? I don't exactly have a teacher but I usually go to the monastic whom I took refuge under to clarify questions and for pastoral reasons. His response once on rebirth was, in my opinion, no...

Well it it is not how the Theravada tradition sees it. It is said to be an event that did happen. Okay, I can work with that. I sort of foresaw this response. I too am not inclined to dismiss something just because it doesn't make sense at this point. I suppose the answer lies somewhere in between ...

The thing is that the more there is understanding of kamma and result the more there will be efforts to give, to assist, to sympathize with others. There would be understanding that actions, every moment even, has implications for the future. So the man who understands kamma from the 'ultimate pers...

I think this post by Ven. Dhammando explains. https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1020&p=16611&hilit=nina#p16611 To me the examples you give and the conundra you raise regarding them merely highlight the limitations of expounding kamma and its ripening in conventional terms (i.e. in te...

I don't get you. So, you're saying we cannot change things? There is no need for charity since those in need brought it upon themselves and there is no need to practise Buddhism either? It was this that I wanted clarification, because you seem to be talking about kammic determinism. And then you we...

What I said was "real change is when right view develops". And what is the cause for right view: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.043.than.html "Friend, there are two conditions for the arising of right view: the voice of another and appropriate attention. These are the two conditions...

In the end it comes down to anatta. Any other way of understanding misses the target. Any other way is treating the symptoms not the causes. I don't try to manage or change what has arisen because - as I see it- it is irrelevant to the path..One might have the illusion of making changes and miss th...

You say "we have the power to change things"/ Not the way I look at life; I find the teaching on conditionality is always verifiable and realistic , and by learning what is kusala there is a little appreciation of kusala in daily life. But not trying to change things: things, phenomena, arise as th...

I think this post by Ven. Dhammando explains. https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1020&p=16611&hilit=nina#p16611 To me the examples you give and the conundra you raise regarding them merely highlight the limitations of expounding kamma and its ripening in conventional terms (i.e. in te...

robertk wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:38 pm
Also all beings are owners of their kamma, heirs to their kamma. His children had their own kamma which brings its own pleasant and unpleasant results.

Isn't this too fatalistic though. Where do you draw the line between action and inaction?

Jātakas are stories about unenlightened behaviour . They are all to be read as something fun and miraculous, fairy-tale like, not as instructions for life and practice (see the Hare jātaka above). I hesitate to say so. The Jatakas do contain lessons. The question for me is how literal it is to be t...

King Milinda also had some problems with this jātaka. In the link below Nāgasena responds to the king's objections. https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/mil6.3.1 Okay, I've read the relevant portion from the Milindapanha. So Venerable Nagasena gives two reasons for the action: But there were two reas...

King Milinda also had some problems with this jātaka. In the link below Nāgasena responds to the king's objections. https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/mil6.3.1 Great, I shall have a look here. Thanks. In my other thread on the Nettipakaraṇa & Peṭakopadesa, do these texts outline principles by which...