possible eternalism view, “When form exists, because of grasping form and insisting on form, the view arises: ‘Winds don’t blow; rivers don’t flow; pregnant women don’t give birth; the moon and stars neither rise nor set, but stand firm like a pillar.’ When feeling … compare it to this, ‘Great king...

confusedlayman wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 3:39 pm I am bit childish but if i create gold coins using jhanic power, i sell it and make money, do i break 4th precept of stealing?

Bad karma for deception?

No bad karma, because it's not going to happen; you're not going to make any gold coins that way.

1) What are the proportions of Western converts to immigrants? Yes, I'd be interested in seeing some numbers on this too. For example, in the U.S. there are about 4 to 6 million Buddhists. But how many of those are Asian-American immigrants and their children/grandchildren? I'd guess the vast major...

I remember reading that a monk can and must refuse food that is offered at the wrong time and also if it is one of the forbidden meats, for example, lion, elephant, human, etc.

I have seen previous discussions on this issue Most of it was about distribution or copying In case of a Copyright infringement I wonder it's wrong to read such things Sutta, Atthakatha, teachings of a teacher There are many things on the Internet :thinking: There is certainly nothing wrong with re...

Ceisiwr wrote: ↑Sat Apr 06, 2024 9:01 pm Why isn’t Buddhism taking off in Europe?

I think all religions are losing members. "The rise of the religious nones" has been reported many times. It is now the third largest "religion" in the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_r ... opulations

SarathW wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 7:31 pm $300 is the average salary of a Sri Lankan worker for a month!!

Where I live $300 just pays for the monthly internet/cable tv bill.

This is not the monastery, I'm sure you know? This is Yosemite, about 500km drive away from Abhyagiri. Oops, no I didn't know. I've been to Abhayagiri a couple of times and remember the nice mountainous scenery, so assumed this was Abhayagiri since I got it off their site. https://www.abhayagiri.or...

Abhyagiri Monastery in Northern California (Theravada) has a very beautiful setting, in the mountains with great mountain trails, natural beauty. https://gallery.abhayagiri.org/_data/i/upload/2021/12/06/20211206184738-5c5fe472-xx.jpg I'm sure there are many others around the world, especially forest...

Yarchen Gar, Buddhist monastery in Szechuan China is reported to have 10,000 monastics (male and female) Another one is Drepung Monastery in Tibet, which also has had up to 10,000 monks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drepung_Monastery But what about Theravada monasteries? Which is the largest in te...

SarathW wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 8:36 pm I have never seen a monastery with 500 monks.

I have never heard of a monastery with 500 monks either. Certainly not in the U.S. I wonder what the largest monastery (in terms of number of monks) is? Perhaps it would be in Myanmar or Thailand? Even then probably around 100 monks or even less.

The Theravada position appears to be a moral-absolute with no exceptions. Compare to the Mahayana position: There is a Mahayana story about the buddha killing in a past life, but not in the final existence as Gotama. The Buddha, in a past life as a ship's captain named Super Compassionate, discovere...

So It's OK to order young kids who haven't even finished their A levels yet to run on to a battlefield with an AK47 doing headshots to as many as possible.. but it's not OK to have a pet dog/animal put down who is suffering immensely at end of life? See: Hacksaw Ridge The Theravada has lost its way...

Suddh, When this first came out, I was in agreement mostly with Bodhi. Since then, my position has shifted more towards Thanissaro. I have seen far too many wars started in the name of "defense" when it really is an aggressive-offensive war, for example the Iraq War. It's too easy for nati...