Homage to the Triratna The username 'Buddhistcleric' is nothing more than just a username. Thats why I use the term as 'Buddhistcleric' rather than 'Buddhist cleric'. I made myself clear during my introduction that I am a layman so that others wont misunderstand. ic Welcome to the site. People who ...

Probably nobody will tell. It's kind of a secret, sort of. If someone does tell, it easily looks like they're boasting, so folks usually keep it quiet. Personally I know of.... counting... one (monk), two, three, four (monks too)... um... and no laypeople. I know some people who experience nimittas ...

Oh! The empty reply was so perfect, ah well, nevermind.

Ooh, good answer from Tilt. Very Zen. Says all that needs to be said. Pithy. That's almost koan-like in its immediacy, with a visceral impact. Like being slapped in the face with a shoe, by a zen master. Unless my browser is malfunctioning, because all I can see now is a clear emptiness and silence....

zero family and friends contact in the first 6 years. Wow! I wonder if that includes writing letters. That's way too strict for me. That's nuts. Zero contact with your parents for 6 years strikes me as rather uncompassionate towards the parents... Remember nobody has asked him directly, all this in...

I damaged one knee permanently by sitting through the pain during meditation retreats where the teacher said "just ignore the knee pain, sit through it, it's okay" . No, it was not okay, and 10 years later I'm still paying the price for listening to that foolish, ignorant teacher. It was n...

If you are mindful of a defilement, but also indulge it, or act upon it, it won't become weaker, it will become stronger. For example, I am mindful of lust, I act on that lust... it becomes stronger. Or like Darth Vader. He is mindful of his anger and hatred and fear. He meditates upon it, as we saw...

You don't need to go to asian countries to be a self-ordained mendicant, living alone and wandering for alms. It is possible in the west, at least in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. When I was at a monastery in New Zealand, one of the monks decided to test if he could survive on just what the lo...

, by the way, is the monastery I'm considering: http://tisarana.ca/ Ajahn Vīradhammo is the abbot there. Oh way cool, that's a great little place, and Ajahn Viradhammo is great. Really down-to-earth, great meditation teacher, relaxed, with a sense of humour. He spent how long caring for his mother?...

It is a rule laid down by the Buddha. The Vinītavatthua is the story in the Vinaya text, not the Commentary. It gives the occasion for the rules, and the stories that later led to amendments. The offence of wrong-doing for touching one's mother or sister out of affection comes in the Vinītavatthu f...

piano piano wrote: zero family and friends contact in the first 6 years.

Wow! I wonder if that includes writing letters.
That's way too strict for me. That's nuts.

You can hug her, it's not a rule laid down by the buddha, it's a rule made up by monks hundreds of years later, EDIT: this is WRONG. Oops! Bhukkh Pesala has corrected me and says this rule is not commentarial, but is in the actual vinaya text. and probably based on the sexist rules of the brahmins. ...

Even monks can eat food with traces of alcohol in it. I remember from vinaya class that it's okay as long as you can't taste it or smell it. I don't know where that came from, but it's from the mouth of Ahahn Brahmali, and he really knows his vinaya.

I always thought this phrase is suggestive that the Buddha's father was not a king? "I thought: 'I recall once, when my father the Sakyan was working, . http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.036.than.html I seem to remember back in those times the king or whoever was the leader of the ...

Which tradition was inflexible or hypocritical? Just so I don't accidentally recommend them, hehe! :tongue: I've visited some excellent Thai Forest Tradition monasteries that are focussed on the basics, and which put very little importance on rites and rituals and ceremonies. For example, they had n...