First of all, as I said before, in the Luangta's generation or earlier era in Thailand, smoking was very common, I even doubt they had that kind of knowledge that smoking would cause the health issue and harm other people's health, just look at the fact that Luangta entered into Nirvana at the age ...

Hello, I live in a place where there are no Theravada Buddhist Temples/Monastries nearby. Is it that I should seek instructions from a monk only. Presently., all my learning is through reading of books by authors like Bhikku Bodhi, Mahasi Sayadam & others and I am pracisting smoothly. But still...

1. Would the Buddha approve of writing down his teachings? 2. Would the Buddha approve of making those writings widely and easily available? 1. Yes. 2. Needs some discretion as per the factors you mentioned below, which is legit.. One, because the teaching of Dhamma should be done in an appropriate...

Well, can you provide proof that monks are automatically better than ordinary people?? They should be better, otherwise what's the point in ordaining?? Should be, could be, blah blah. That tells me nothing. The point of ordaining is not to automatically assign a higher status to someone the moment ...

Bundokji wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 8:16 pm Friends,

I have read somewhere that the Buddha did not allow monks to arrange marriages.

Do we know why?

Thank you

Because matchmaking is not really their job.

It's a matter of perspective, decades of committed Dhamma practice seems pretty long within a human's lifespan, but it's literally a blink of an eye or even shorter compared to gazillion of lifetimes of committed sensual pleasure practice, which most humans have been doing, lay and monastics alike!...

Well, what then? Are we supposed to believe that the monks who smoke do so because -- gasp -- they are addicted? That after decades of committed Dhamma practice, they still haven't overcome the craving for sensual pleasures? It's a matter of perspective, decades of committed Dhamma practice seems p...

I am looking for summary for Visuddhimagga. It is a huge book and very profound. If someone has done a summary, please inform me. Assuming there's such a book, I don't think it'd help you much if you hadn't spent the time studying the full Vism. in details. Afterall, like you've said, the Vism. is ...

this is not always true, according to Saṅkhadhama Sutta(Sounding the Conch of Dhamma), a follower of Jainism, Asibandhaka’s son went to see The Buddha, and explained to The Buddha that their religion teach that all people who have ever kill, steal, commit sexual misconduct, or tell lie will go to h...

does any of above really taught in the suttas or commentaries? Not down to such minute details like the video above. But the idea of adulterers being reborn in hell does have legit sutta references . Regarding the more general 3rd precept, MN 41 also mentioned a few specific sexual acts/behaviors t...

Indeed that was the occurrence that puzzled me the most. For all the rest, I kept thinking that I'm just a layperson and I'm in no position whatsoever to judge a member of the Sangha, but this small piece of fruit sank me in doubts. You can bring up some points in the Vinaya for a general discussio...

I think it's worse to be an unvirtuous monk than unvirtuous layperson. Because you are basically stealing peoples food. Especially in nowadays environment, it only compounds the bad kammic effect for rogue monks due to them consuming way more than just the basic requisites of food, clothing, medici...

As already said, without exposure to the Dhamma, the dullard has ZERO chance of making it out of samsaric existence!! So does a wise person. Irrelevant, for your post subject says "Why it's kammically best to be a dullard", NOT: "Why it's kammically best to be a wise person".

It'd be all fine and dandy if a dullard or an infant were not capable of doing evil. Unfortunately they are. Defilement is a built-in feature that comes with the humans operating system. Remaining an infant or a dullard would mean there's zero chance to learn, improve, and eradicate defilements, he...

If kamma is intention, then it's best to stroll along in life in half a haze, not intending much, not thinking much, not knowing much. Because by informing oneself and by thinking about the possible consequences of one's actions, one would make it harder to still be able to claim innocence. Hence i...