For example look at English literature and the incredible variety of people who have contributed to it....then look at Pali literature and see how virtually every author was a Buddhist monk and not just any Buddhist monk but a Buddhist monk from a very restricted region when compared to the much wi...

Seems like the problem with Pali has to do with the peculiarities of the modern techno-"democracy"-oriented culture. In this culture, everyone seems to be entitled to voice publicly his opinion on any subject, regardless of his knowledge and competence. On the other hand, some subjects, like Pali, ...

An enormous hole that non-pali readers have is access to the Theravada Commentaries. A few complete Sutta commentaries are available, but mostly it is just the particular excerpts selected by translators. If one has studied to the point where they need to go to non-translated commentaries in order ...

I don't know for sure is whether they were ordained in Mahayana or Therevada tradition.... Just to clarify: The Mahāyāna isn't an ordination lineage. There are three extant ordination lineages: the Theravāda, the Dharmaguptaka, and the Mūlasarvāstivāda, all of which have descended from the ancient ...

The Anapanasati teaching is everywhere. It's actually in the Ekottara Agama, which Mahayana schools learn and practice just like Theravada does with the Nikayas... It's also taught in the Arthaviniścaya Sūtra and the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (one of the main sūtras outlining the b...

[1] ' Paṭisankhā-nirodha —deliberate cessation' and ' appaṭisankhānirodha —undeliberate cessation': neither compound is in PED and latter not in CPD (Vol. 1); see Kv. 226 and Kv. trsln. ('Points of Controversy') 137, note; also Miln. (cf. also Pe 151, line 15 nirodhasaṃpatti(m) appaṭisankhāya ). Ne...

retrofuturist wrote:Would you say these perspectives are consistent with the Sutta Pitaka?

I think the sautrāntikas probably got it about right.

Yes, that is one commentarial interpretation. Elsewhere in the Visuddhimagga Buddhaghosa is primarily arguing against the Sautrāntika interpretation, given, for example, in the Abhidharmakośabhāsya: The Sautrāntikas say that whatever is not-conditioned (asaṃskṛta) is not a substance, for it is not ...

Nibbána, whose individual essence is eternal, deathless, the refuge, the shelter, etc., is well proclaimed too in being proclaimed to have an individual essence that is eternal, and so on. So the supramundane Dhamma is also “well proclaimed." Yes, that is one commentarial interpretation. Elsewhere ...

To clarify, my philosophical basis up to now has been the Mādhyamika, mostly via Nargajuna. I spoke at length with Sujin Boriharnwanaket in Thailand earlier this year and am intrigued in her stance and how it may differ from my view. In that case, substitute "Sujin Boriharnwanaket" into where it sa...

Beautiful Breath wrote:So would it be fair to say mādhyamika can sit comfortabley in a Theravadin context?

Sure.

But the mādhyamikas have 'proved' their case....haven't they? I see nothing anywhere that contradicts or refutes them. If there is, let me know - would help with my Theravadain/Mādhyamikas Nerosis! I think Madhyamaka can be useful, and doesn't contradict anything in the Pāli Nikāyas. And as Tilt su...

In the interim and back to the original post, could someone sum up the main differences between Sujin Boriharnwanakets' take on 'reality' and its major difference with the Madhyamika Prasangika. I am not sufficiently well versed in Pali to pick this out as yet so a resume would be appreciated! For ...

According to that same treatise, the great aspiration doesn't seem to have a chance to succeed if it is made nowadays: The eight qualifications through which the aspiration succeeds are: the human state, the male sex, the cause, the sight of the Master, the going forth, the achievement of noble qua...

My understanding of one difference between Mahayana and Theravada is that Mahayana uses the path of becoming a Boddhisattva on the way to being Englightened, whereas the Theravadin view is that you must be enlighted before you can help others (and that you should work for your arhatship first). The...