I think the Dalai Lama, and Buddhism in general, is against proselytizing. In many countries trying to convert people to Buddhism would cause a backlash from the clergy and/or religious community, so Dalai Lama is making it clear that that is not his intention. Ajahn Sumedho also tries to diffuse th...

"Burma's president has admitted an unprecedented wave of ethnic violence has targeted his country's Rohingya Muslim population, destroying whole villages and large parts of towns. Thein Sein's acknowledgement follows the release of satellite images showing the severe scale of the destruction in one ...

Buddhism is not dogmatic like Christianity. Rational thought, rather than blind obedience to a scripture or teacher is encouraged. As Thanissaro Bikhu has said you have to be true to yourself not to the Pali Canon or any teacher. "How do you know if the texts are what the Buddha really said ? " - Th...

There are no good and bad people. Buddhism is a completely different paradigm. There is only skillful and unskillful. The Buddha was just a man who developed skills for dealing with emotions like anger, greed, and lust, and he created a training program so that others could develop the skills requir...

Leigh Brasington's jhana resources are invaluable. Although I have not been able to repeat it, I am very fortunate to have reached 1st Jhana a couple of times because I now know what Leigh and others are saying is true (atleast for the first jhana). However, If I was proficient in jhana practice I d...

You might like the book "Saints and Psychopaths". An autobiographical account in looking for good meditation teachers.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19649507/Sain ... sychopaths" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think the problem is that you have to experience the process of insight before you are be able to understand what the higher goal of meditation is.

In my opinion, it is not skillful to think or intellectualize about where suffering comes from.

Only through meditation can we gain insight into how we cause ourselves to suffer.

" Don’t think. See." - Bhante Gunaratana.

Part of your attention is on the speaker the other part is on your body, or breath. Depending on how much attention is needed to understand what is going on you may need to put 80% on the speaker and 20% on your body, 50/50 or whatever. Just don't let your awareness completely go out of you. I belie...

It would be irrational not to kill the bedbugs given they pose a health concern.

I think it is possible in any religion to become an extremist or take it to the point of insanity.

Thanks for the http://www.32parts.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; link. Below website is also a good resource.

http://www.arrowriver.ca/dhamma/body.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From what I have read, Burma is a great place to go for the real deal, but there may be some issues around dealing with the government, the oily food, the culture, the water,the heat, parasites, and malaria-carying mosquitos that should be considered. If you want Mahasi method you might want to cons...

1/2 hour or so of strenuous exercize prior meditating works great for me.

walking meditation is not enough to get rid of the restless energy in my case

"Read yourself, not books." - Ajaan Chah

The Dhamma can't be learned from reading books. It has to be seen through meditation.

Its like an apple. The only way to know what an apple tastes like is by eating one.

Reading books about apples wont help you

It may not come across as clearly in his writing, but in his talks Ajaan Thanissaro's comparisons of other methods and traditions are not denigrating and are extremely informative. Here's his take on Zen's "Buddha Nature" for example: "The idea of innate natures slipped into the Buddhist tradition i...