Hello from a Scotsman in Beijing...

[mairuwen]

Hi, very glad to be here!

I'm a Scotsman who has been living in China for a number of years now. Although I've never formally taken refuge, Buddhism and meditation are important for me in trying to live with greater mindfulness and to benefit rather than harm other beings.

I don't know if this is common practice but I've also just made an account on the Mahayana Dharma wheel site. (Hope this is considered acceptable?) I live in a country where the (limited) opportunities to make contact with Buddhism are only really with Mahayana Buddhists, but I read a lot of books and listen to many Dhamma talks from within Theravada Buddhism by Bhikkhu Bodhi, Ajahn Amaro and others.

Overall, I don't identify with any single tradition or organisation just now..... although I see the pitfalls of eclecticism (in fact I remember Bhikkhu Bodhi mentions this in his short book on the eightfold path.)

In fact I would really like to find one path and make a deeper commitment to it. A lack of opportunities to do that here is one reason for joining Buddhist forums online. If I can learn more and even make friends, that would be great!

Thank you

[Sam Vara]

Hello mairuwen, and welcome to Dhamma Wheel!

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel.



P.S. It's no problem at all that you're a member of multiple DW's!

Metta,
Paul.

[JamesTheGiant]

I don't know if this is common practice but I've also just made an account on the Mahayana Dharma wheel site. (Hope this is considered acceptable?)

Yes that's a good idea. It is acceptable
Are there Buddhist temples or monasteries in Beijing? Or is that sort of thing still frowned upon in the capitol?
I know there are many monasteries in some parts of the country.
Is this website blocked over there? Or do you use a vpn.
Welcome!

[mairuwen]

Thanks very much for everyone's kind and friendly welcomes!

I don't know if this is common practice but I've also just made an account on the Mahayana Dharma wheel site. (Hope this is considered acceptable?)

Yes that's a good idea. It is acceptable
Are there Buddhist temples or monasteries in Beijing? Or is that sort of thing still frowned upon in the capitol?
I know there are many monasteries in some parts of the country.
Is this website blocked over there? Or do you use a vpn.
Welcome!

Yes there are. However, a lot of temples in the city mainly function just as places for people to pray and offer incense and are run directly by the government without much connection with the Chinese Buddhist Association or the Sangha. The living temples/ monasteries where communities of monks actually live and practice tend to be on the outskirts. And for a foreigner, both language and political difficulties make it tricky to have much contact. Though that may also partly be down to me.

I just checked with my VPN turned off and it seems like dhammawheel is perfectly accesible but dharmawheel is blocked.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

I just checked with my VPN turned off and it seems like dhammawheel is perfectly accesible but dharmawheel is blocked.

Interesting... Could be because their interest in Vajrayana manifests as support for Tibet, whereas Tibet is neither here nor there in the context of Theravada Buddhism.

Metta,
Paul.

[budo]

Greetings,

I just checked with my VPN turned off and it seems like dhammawheel is perfectly accesible but dharmawheel is blocked.

Interesting... Could be because their interest in Vajrayana manifests as support for Tibet, whereas Tibet is neither here nor there in the context of Theravada Buddhism.

Metta,
Paul.

I would wager it's more a catch all filter for anything with "dharma", he could test it out by going to hindu websites which use dharma.

[mairuwen]

I just gave www.dharmatrading.com a try and it seemed to come up with no problem, which suggests it's specifically targeted. But I guess there's no way of knowing for sure what the reason is with these things.

[Ceisiwr]

Welcome

[bodom]

Welcome!

[DNS]

Welcome to DW!

☸

[mairuwen]

Thank you all!

[tpburnham]

Welcome!

In peace,
Tom