I don't know one way or the other about rebirth and find it pointless speculating about past and future lives. Therefore I set it aside in order to deal with the living of my present life and practice here and now. Excellent post, Aloka. Yes, it is. Taking refuge in the triple gem isn''t about blin...

A kammic explanation is redundant, because human aggression and cruelty are sufficient to explain such actions. Bad things happen to good people because violence, hatred and greed are common human afflictions. No further "metaphysical" explanation is needed. This is an important point. When a child...

However, that limitation does not prevent the "thorough understanding of paticcasamuppada and the sankharas imprinted on the mind" which is required to bring an end to dukkha. Ergo, direct knowledge of "the reality of past and future lives" is not essential to this pursuit. what youre talking about...

Hi Dennenappelmoes, I don't know one way or the other about rebirth and find it pointless speculating about past and future lives. Therefore I set it aside in order to deal with the living of my present life and practice here and now. with kind wishes, Aloka Excellent post, Aloka. is it? it doesnt ...

I know that kamma (and thus, paticcasamuppada) holds true in terms of result in the present and in the future. That provides my direction in life. Whether there is or isn't rebirth has no impact whatsoever on the above knowledge and the fact that I will continue to live my life in accordance with t...

Anyway, can you relate and if so, how have you coped with this? the answer to this is the same as the answer to how parents should behave with their kids: kids dont listen to anything you have to say to them, they will just watch and copy what you do. if people see amazing changes in you they will ...

If.we.lost.awareness.of.the.breath and/or.the.physical.body. entirely, and.instead.of.considering.this.a lapse.of.attentiveness,instead.just contemplated.that.new.object.(eg.images arising.in.the.mind),have.we.not.thus abandoned.the.practice.of.anapanasati, and.actually.switched.meditation.subjects...

So, if I kill something, that implies that causes a birth, and if I have a baby, I'm killing something else. Isn't this a violation of the law of cause and effect? Let's say for the sake of the argument we'd start a war and kill millions of people, how can this cause a birth wave, a phenomenon that...

please accept this "stupidest sh-t i've read all day" award

To me it seems pretty miraculous that the universe, consciousness, mind, whatever you want to call the world, arises spontaneously, it all its fullness, out of "nothing" every instant. I suppose to see the arising is also to see the passing, but does it seem to anyone else that there is an emphasis...

Is it also possible to realise both of these statements through the jhanic experience? Or did he realise these because he was a special beeing with an extraordinary experience of samsara? both. the highest samsaric formless realm meditation gets you to the level called 'peak of samsara' where all o...

If what we know as "I" is just a product of the continuous interaction of the 5 Aggregates and the "I" that is reborn is really a different "I" produced again, by the continuous interaction of the aggregates, not exactly. it is not the case that first there are the collection of aggregrates and the...

But I guess the more accurate thing would be to ask; What is causing the feeling? What coyote said might be something. when your mind is in the desire realm you are accompanied by all your desire realm suffering, namely all the mental and physical stress of living in a screwed up world with a screw...

no illegal downloading does not. poor people must have access to that material as well. if they do not and are forced to download it illegally, then this is only because government has failed to procure relevant taxes to enable universal access. What, exactly, is so necessary about these materials ...

if the person is equivalent to the parts then since those parts are momentary (ie. they cannot magically endure into a second moment) the person too must end at that time You are right about equivalency to the parts. But what if some posit a self that is NOT equivalent to momentary parts, but has t...