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by mikenz66
Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:17 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Which disagreements on practice and doctrine are actually aDhammic?
Replies: 41
Views: 1748

Re: Which disagreements on practice and doctrine are actually aDhammic?

Thank you for the considered post. If I'm understanding you correctly, you are saying that one needs to look deeply into the motivation and the interpretation of Dhamma rather than the surface appearance of the practice. When it comes to discernment, the only intention that matters is the one behind...
by mikenz66
Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:53 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Mindfulness is a technique?
Replies: 116
Views: 3533

Re: Mindfulness is a technique?

The difference here is in how and why one pays attention to the object: either one tries to concentrate on the object itself in order to become not unaware of something else, or one uses the object as an anchor to be not swayed and to get not involved in whatever appears - thoughts, visions, sounds...
by mikenz66
Thu Feb 15, 2024 8:07 pm
Forum: Ordination and Monastic Life
Topic: Ajahn Martin is Despondent
Replies: 66
Views: 3707

Re: Ajahn Martin is Despondent

But westerners who want to ordain in a western-language setting are picking their monasteries for a wide variety of reasons only one of which has to do with that teacher. So we get Ajahn Martin's experience of being devoted to his own teacher but being surrounded by his own students who don't have ...
by mikenz66
Thu Feb 15, 2024 7:57 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Which disagreements on practice and doctrine are actually aDhammic?
Replies: 41
Views: 1748

Re: Which disagreements on practice and doctrine are actually aDhammic?

Hi SDC, The question of whether or not an instruction is capable of leading an ordinary person towards the right view is a reasonable one to ask, but a disqualification has to be rightly framed. As we’ve already noted, this dhammic/adhammic distinction puts the emphasis in the wrong place, but there...
by mikenz66
Wed Feb 14, 2024 7:48 pm
Forum: Ordination and Monastic Life
Topic: Ajahn Martin is Despondent
Replies: 66
Views: 3707

Re: Ajahn Martin is Despondent

Goofaholix wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2024 7:39 pm I'm not sure who posted that, it wasn't me.
Sorry, I mangled the post and left out your sentence.... Now fixed, I hope.
by mikenz66
Wed Feb 14, 2024 7:44 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Which disagreements on practice and doctrine are actually aDhammic?
Replies: 41
Views: 1748

Re: Which disagreements on practice and doctrine are actually aDhammic?

I think it’s a case of being careless or not knowing where right/wrong, skillful/unskillful apply, which is always on the level of the view. Those distinctions are what are going to be either understood or not, i.e. that is where the Dhamma is going to be discerned or not. Putting the distinction o...
by mikenz66
Wed Feb 14, 2024 7:28 pm
Forum: Ordination and Monastic Life
Topic: Ajahn Martin is Despondent
Replies: 66
Views: 3707

Re: Ajahn Martin is Despondent

Afaik the Buddha didn't provide much detail on the day to day workings and etiquette at a forest monastery, which is what Ajahn is talking about here, of course following the Buddhas teaching is a given. What is clear is that practising according to the suttas and vinaya involves living in a commun...
by mikenz66
Wed Feb 14, 2024 11:39 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Why Abhidhamma is the road to eternal puthujjanaism
Replies: 39
Views: 1337

Re: Why Abhidhamma is the road to eternal puthujjanaism

Not sure why you dhammas are 'reified' in Abhidhamma. Is a response required to this? It seems completely obvious to me as someone who has read Abhidhammattha Sangaha, Visuddhimagga and Buddhism In Daily Life by Nina Van Gorkom. I'm sure you've read those and many more. Perhaps the quotes from Ven ...
by mikenz66
Wed Feb 14, 2024 11:21 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Idappaccayatā
Replies: 6
Views: 334

Re: Idappaccayatā

I tried to find you the Pali for that whole section on Sutta Central but unfortunately it was truncated by ellipses. It should still be enough to show you what I'm speaking of... Avijjāya tveva asesavirāga nirodhā saṅkhāra nirodho ; saṅkhāra nirodhā viññāṇa nirodho …pe… evametassa kevalassa dukkhak...
by mikenz66
Wed Feb 14, 2024 11:03 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Which disagreements on practice and doctrine are actually aDhammic?
Replies: 41
Views: 1748

Re: Which disagreements on practice and doctrine are actually aDhammic?

The belief that it is possible to designate particular things as adhammic is inherently adhammic lol. Sure, there are plainly wrong descriptions of the practice that categorically contradict the suttas, but still, a lack of Dhamma would only apply on the level view, not directly to any particular i...
by mikenz66
Wed Feb 14, 2024 10:19 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Mindfulness is a technique?
Replies: 116
Views: 3533

Re: Mindfulness is a technique?

So the question I'm posing is this: does your meditation lead to temporarily making sila easier or permanently making it easier? I'm afraid I don't know. Sila is certainly becoming easier, but whether that is due to meditation's permanent effects, repeated temporary effects, other aspects of the pr...
by mikenz66
Tue Feb 13, 2024 7:46 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Which disagreements on practice and doctrine are actually aDhammic?
Replies: 41
Views: 1748

Which disagreements on practice and doctrine are actually aDhammic?

Over the years, there have been quite a lot of claims on this Forum that "such and such" is aDhammic. And there has been a bit of a rush on these lately. Reflecting on these issues, I thought it would be interesting to address the various types of disagreement a little more holistically. T...
by mikenz66
Tue Feb 13, 2024 6:55 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Mindfulness is a technique?
Replies: 116
Views: 3533

Re: Mindfulness is a technique?

Without the development of some calm and mindfulness it can be difficult to even realise that one is lusting, behaving badly. Of course, that development arises from a combination of sila, contentment with seclusion, meditation and other factors. These various factors reinforce each other - it's no...
by mikenz66
Tue Feb 13, 2024 6:52 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Mindfulness is a technique?
Replies: 116
Views: 3533

Re: Mindfulness is a technique?

I understand that people will refer to the words of the Buddha being supreme, etc., but there is the question of how it is known that one's unaugmented interpretation of texts is better than another person's interpretation for all practitioners . And beyond that, the deeper question of whether the ...
by mikenz66
Tue Feb 13, 2024 5:17 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Mindfulness is a technique?
Replies: 116
Views: 3533

Re: Mindfulness is a technique?

Greetings Mike, all, If people have long-standing attachment to things which run contrary to Buddhadhamma and they willingly choose to continue to align themselves and their identity with those things, in direct rebellion against the Suttas, then isn't it natural that they would feel the downstream...