There is no answer to this question. It has to be experienced.

SDC wrote:

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I just received this email, and I think it is worthwhile to have a look on it and take steps The nuclear power industry is suing Germany because it's phasing out its unpopular nuclear power stations. Tobacco giant Philip Morris is suing Australia for billions of dollars in lost profits because the g...

Although our desire to grow is genuine and pure, it often gets mixed with lesser motivations, including... the belief that the spiritual path will remove our suffering

well, I do have such a "lesser" motivation. I must be suffering from "confused motivation", then.

I think it was a wise choice from Goenkaji to ask for people to get established in the technique and to have cleaned up their daily life before going for longer retreats. Some people however may already have their life pretty clean and perhaps could sit sooner, but there is no easy criteria to recog...

Corruption of fellow monks and of the traditional Buddhist world in general would be quite a headache for me. Being forced to practice pointless rituals would also be a major one.

"And which is even practice? There is the case where a monk doesn't acquiesce to an arisen thought of sensuality. He abandons it, destroys it, dispels it, knows it,[2] demolishes it, wipes it out of existence. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an04/an04.164.than.html And we should remember...

sorry, I forgot to mention it is Typhoon-oriented info I am looking for at the moment. As for Kiva, I have read a lot about it not being really what lenders think it is. In the end, people get money for a ridiculously high interest rate and if they can't pay back, they are in even more serious troub...

Alas, a lot of the well-known charities turn out to use donations for private profit. I have little time to look for a good organization to donate to. Can anyone give any advice?

Practice Metta. SN20.3 states that if one practices Metta, non-human beings cannot do him/her any wrong. So the advice from this sutta is to practice Metta, and of course to have perfect morality.

In other cases, the same sutta states that one cannot get rid of such non-human beings.

a Buddhist "ship" may go to hell, a Christian one may be headed for a paradise and an atheist one for Nibbana... it all depends on who is the captain.

The Buddha does instruct us to dwell "conscientious, merciful, friendly and compassionate towards all living beings" (lajjī dayāpanno, sabba-pāṇa-bhūta-hitānukampī viharati)...

Ben wrote: Hi Paul,
As a Buddhist, I find it profitable, indeed skilful, to look at things from a variety of approaches.
Kind regards,
Ben

dagon, pardon me if I am being wrong, but as you explain it, it seems to me your daughter thinks you "have some sort of inherent magical sacredness," which you seem to acknowledge by saying "she is showing respect and recognition for my role and what she thinks I bring to her life ". Also, I would s...