http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum en Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:27:44 GMT vBulletin 60 http://newbuddhist.com/forum/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7117&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:35:43 GMT this isn't spam, it may look like it on the surface, but have any of you seen this blog yet?:wow:
make my hair stand on end or what?
just had to post here, had to shout something!
http://www.myspace.com/395882975/blog?bID=538893328
enlightenment guaranteed? ]]> General Banter Laura Kendt http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7117 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7116&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:02:11 GMT discuss.. If you do not know who these two are, they are the geniuses behind the cartoon series south park discuss..

If you do not know who these two are, they are the geniuses behind the cartoon series south park ]]> General Banter ThailandTom http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7116 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7115&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:23:55 GMT *http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes/4923614/buddhism-is-it-right-for-you * *Your Result* Buddhism may or may not be right for you, depending on how much of your present life you are willing to sacrifice. If you currently consider yourself a Buddhist, you may want to touch up on... http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes...-right-for-you





Your Result

Buddhism may or may not be right for you, depending on how much of your present life you are willing to sacrifice.
If you currently consider yourself a Buddhist, you may want to touch up on the Eightfold Path and adjust your living habits a bit.
If you aren't currently a Buddhist, you show a desire to lead a more humble life should you find that the idea of setting aside your worldly possessions and even your own ego isn't too frightening. If it isn't, look up a bit of information on Buddhism... there's a reason behind it all, even the questions asked here, with the purpose being a more fulfilling life living in the here and now! ]]> General Banter ThailandTom http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7115 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7114&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:45:15 GMT Can everyone who is willing and able please say a little prayer for me (or six..) for my upcoming first exam in physiology this coming Friday morning? I'm so utterly overwhelmed with information, formulas, etc, etc that I honestly feel, for the first time in my academic life, like I stand a very good chance of failing the exam. I've never failed an exam in my life. In fact, I've never had less than a C on an exam, and that only rarely. I'm completely humbled by this, so I'll take any and all help I can muster. My brain is mush...

Thanks all!

Mtns ]]> General Banter Mountains http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7114 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7111&goto=newpost Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:31:07 GMT *http://quizilla.teennick.com/tests/result/9430825/200746/?score=60 **above average* nice try *You scored 60.00% of the possible points for this test.* http://quizilla.teennick.com/tests/r...0746/?score=60

above average

nice try
You scored 60.00% of the possible points for this test. ]]> General Banter ThailandTom http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7111 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7069&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:08:54 GMT No, I am not here to sell those hints and tips. I will be the one who will buy them. Today the situation virtually exploded. Some of you know what the situation is about from the "The weakest man in the village" thread. If not , here is for short :
1. Some 20+ punk-ass gypsies found refuge in front of my best friends block of flats and started to terrorise all the people there.
2. I am mainly their target of mockery and trolling which I tried to avoid, but, not wanting to be like a doormat to them, I back-trolled them.
3. These animals ( I can't call them humans) think that all the things that belong to you, let's say a b-ball, and if you refuse to lend them the ball they will try to slowly beat the s#%t out of you; they will jump like 10 on one person;

Now, the situation : my friend refused to lend them the ball, and we went straight to a bus stop, to catch the bus, to go to the basketball courts; four of them followed us , just to have the occasion to play with the ball; again , my friend refused to lend them the ball, and, because they had no intention to leave him alone, I said to them: " leave him alone ! If he doesn't want to lend you the ball then get used to it !". As I finished to say that, the tougher one, one straight to me and wanted to pick a fight (gypsies often do that for no apparent reason) : " Who do you think you are to raise the voice at me , kid ?" the animal said. I explained to him what the matter was, and started to threaten me that he will take out the teeth out of my mouth and such.

The fact is, that I realised how fear took over my self. I couldn't react ( in the way that I should have imposed myself as more tougher than that animal, if you know what I mean), and I tried to solve this conflict peacefuly, mostly because, if I had hit that animal, my best friend wouldn't have returned home in one piece. I jumped in the bus, and that animal tried to palm me, but I blocked the hit.

Some things about those animals:
1. They don't fight alone. When alone, they lack the 'balls' to even look at you. That's why, I guess he came with other three guys.
2. If I beat the hell out of those animals in front of my best friend's block of flats, either, they will call other 30+ gypsies to solve those conflicts, either I will get pretty beaten up, and will end at the police station for disturbing the public 'silence'.

About that courage, I need some courage to prove that I can walk , after this incident, to my friend's block of flats and 'escape' from that place in one piece. ]]> General Banter NomaD Buddha http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7069 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7068&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:49:53 GMT http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/what-...n-bieber-conce



Check out the 3 dads: One'd blissfully clueless, one can barely contain his contempt (but had the foresight to listen to something on headphones), and the guy on the right who can actually hear the supersonic shrill of the preteen love call.

I know other dads who have to go to concerts they hate. It's the cycle of life for parents who once hated their parents music.

lol

... ]]> General Banter Magwang http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7068 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7066&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:00:17 GMT hello all, didn't want to start a heavy discussion here... just a slight musing of my sleep deprived brain at the moment...

as i've discussed before, i was a vegetarian for maybe 3 years, went back to eating meat for 1-2 years(? i'm horrible with time) and now i've gone back to being a vegetarian for the last year or so. but this time, i am much less strict. i used to be the type that wouldn't eat jello or anything, but now i'm more of a "don't support the meat industry" veg.

i've been taking into consideration things that people have been saying about intent to kill and whatnot and at some point i decided that i would sometimes eat meat to appease people in social situations if it was given to me.

a situation like that presented itself to me tonight and as a result, i have horrible stomach cramps and have lost out on hours of sleep. i knew this would happen, as it usually does when i eat meat, but i did so anyways. now i suffer, haha.

this really is the definition of bad karma, no?

but then, i find myself wondering, was it like this for me before i became a vegetarian? is it just because i haven't eaten meat in so long or did beef stroganoff always make my stomach hurt? i do remember when i first stopped eating meat, i was amazed by what a difference it made on me physically. i remember thinking, "uhh...it's normal to have a bowel movement every day???" most vegetarians seem to complain of some sort of physical problems when they eat meat again (usually either cramping, constipation, or diarrhea). but for me, it seems to me that i ALWAYS had these problems, i just thought they were normal until i changed my diet.

just curious what other people's experience with all this is. i'm talking from a purely physical standpoint here, nothing to do with ethics or morals.

and now... it's time for work :( ]]> General Banter zombiegirl http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7066 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7063&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:06:09 GMT Stephen Hawking: God didn't create universe

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe...ex.html?hpt=C1

I shudder to think what the "Christians" are going to say about this...

Mtns ]]> General Banter Mountains http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7063 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7057&goto=newpost Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:52:07 GMT I was arguing online with a right-libertarian recently about how economics in context to class warfare is the predominant driving force of history. I kept being told "Marx is wrong and all socialists are wrong in saying that its the sole driving force and that other factors like ideology and religion play a big role too". I had to repeatedly defend my position by stating that I believed it was the predominant factor, not the only factor. I also had to make it clear that not all socialists are Marxists and that not all Marxists are socialists. He wasn't a theorist about how a socialist or communist system would work in practice either. Almost all of his work has to do with criticizing the capitalist system, and he simply advised the working class to vote for politicians based off of their common, economic interests.

I wouldn't really call myself a Marxist, but I do believe Marx was right about economic class interests being the main, driving motor of human culture and that if humanity decides to tame its own greed that other, more noble factors could be the new, predominating force. I was told that communists don't want to just tame greed but eliminate it and that would eliminate the "freedom to be greedy". However, not all socialists or communists believe in completely eliminating greed or that its even possible. It might be impossible, but to state that greed is somehow a freedom and that these aren't noble goals is baffling to me. Its not freedom if you're the underpaid sweat shop worker, as opposed to the sweat shop owner. Plus, not all communists and socialists are Marxist-Leninists who believe in an all powerful state that forcefully collectivizes society either. One of Marx's contemporaries and critics, Bakunin, was an anarchist who believed that all labour should organize itself into a federation of interlinked, worker owned and community owned cooperatives that trade freely among one another in the absence of a state and a class system.

I also argued that large, historical transformations, like Christianity, were the result of class struggle and economic, self interest. The working class in Rome existed under a non-democratic aristocracy, who's beliefs were comprised of philosophies like Platonic rationalism and Epicurean Hedonism. This offered nothing to the Proletariat (a derisive word used by Roman aristocrats to describe the lower class) of those days. A new religion, called Christianity, headed by a Proletarian Jew named Jesus, offered answers and meaning to the working class in the Levant and preached a message that contained strains of egalitarianism (equality of man under the supremacy of the one true God). This threatened the Roman aristocracy, so instead of letting the Christians burn down Rome in a popular revolt, members of the ruling class adopted it and proclaimed their selves as the official authorities of Christianity by building the Vatican, ultimately subverting a movement that was distinctly class conscious into a system of thought control over the populace.

I also think that Christianity's aversion to prostitution and sexual perversion has to do with the fact that its a direct exploitation by members of the moneyed class toward the poor. Jesus didn't lash out at the woman at the well. He lashed out at money changers, profiteers, political leaders, religious leaders, etc.


In the same way, i think that Buddhism was the result of raised, class consciousness. In those days, they had very rigid Caste systems. Everyone already knows about the Brahman caste, Warrior Caste, Farming Caste, and Untouchables. There was a huge majority of disenfranchised people under the caste system, and only a small minority that benefited from it. I think you could argue that the spread of Buddhism over the Indian subcontinent had an economic and class warfare basis to it, since there was a new path that considered all people equals, despite where they were born at.

I could also apply class theory and economic motive to about every war in history and find that its the main culprit. Ideology and nationalism, more often than not, is just propaganda to get the lower classes to fight offensive wars to give their leaders access to new land and riches, or to motivate the populace to protect their resources and wealth from being taken from invaders. That's the general trend.

I believe in a balanced approach to individualism and collectivism. You don't want a hive mentality in which people put all their faith into a personality cult figure (which Marx warned against), and you don't want complete, self absorbed individualism that results in gross exploitation of labour by capital. There really isn't a conflict between individualism and socialism, because, if you really believe in individualism, you will respect the individuality of other people. If you're a true socialist, you'll understand that society is made up of, none other than, individuals. So, that's why individual rights are just as important as collective rights. You should be allowed to do your own thing as long as its not compromising someone else. If you're making millions as an executive for Nike, and you're not raising the pay of your work force in Indonesia to be adjusted for inflation and to be more than 2.00 a day for 12 hours of work, then I can't defend those actions.

I pretty much side with the left spectrum, because I believe that there's too much exploitation and poverty directly related to that exploitation for me to side with the right wing. About 1/4 of the world is undernourished, and 1/3 of the world is below the poverty line. I think hard work is important,a nd you shouldn't reward laziness. I kind of side with the biblical view. If someone on the Christian commune isn't putting in their fair share of labour, than they shouldn't eat. ...but not all poor people are lazy. Practically 0% of the people working in sweat shops are lazy. Its just that corporations have all the leverage, and they use desperation as a bargaining chip. If they want a higher wage, then they can starve to death as opposed to just being undernourished. ]]> General Banter MellowViper http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7057 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7055&goto=newpost Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:08:30 GMT A funny thing just happened to me. For awhile now I have attempted to remain mindful of my mental state throughout the day with an eye toward recognizing how my buttons get pushed. When I say 'buttons' I am referring to those things I experience that tend to result in anger or some other 'negative' mental state|emotion arising.

As I was sitting at my desk my littlest one whom I had given a couple chips to as a snack came up to me with orange powder on his face (from Doritos), had a sweet smile and puckered his lips for a kiss. I gave him his kiss and really enjoyed the moment, but then he said 'more?'

AHA! That little bugger was pulling my string. He was preconditioning me to respond favorably to his request for more chips. I did give him a couple more, but it made me aware that we aren't just subject to having our buttons pushed when we aren't mindful, we are also subject to having our strings pulled.

Thought I would share this random thought from my day. ]]> General Banter username_5 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7055 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7053&goto=newpost Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:50:30 GMT Image: http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/h1a33ITFD4k/default.jpg _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc9xq-TVyHI_ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc9xq-TVyHI) Some people think this is exploitive, but the dog seems to be having fun...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc9xq-TVyHI

Some people think this is exploitive, but the dog seems to be having fun... ]]> General Banter Magwang http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7053 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7038&goto=newpost Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:06:18 GMT So for some reason, while sitting in my "kick your butt" physiology class this morning, when I should have been paying attention to the subject at hand, it struck me funny about the Buddha's life story...

The story goes that when his mother gave birth, the Buddha-to-be didn't cry, didn't cause his mother any birthing pains, and was cognizant, talking, and walking within (if you believe one story) minutes of his birth.

Okay, so if that's all true (wink..), who or what made him that way, and why? Wasn't he just a normal dude who later in life figured out how to become enlightened? If you believe the Jesus myth, he was special from birth. Not so with Siddhartha though, right? So why was he so "special" as a baby?

Perhaps he reincarnated as Siddhartha from some distant galaxy where he was already a fully enlightened being, and decided to bring the dharma to planet earth?

Just curious...

Mtns ]]> General Banter Mountains http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7038 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7011&goto=newpost Sat, 28 Aug 2010 03:19:48 GMT Hi everyone - long time lurker, first time poster here. I do recognise a lot of the posters here from the old buddhachat.org site so hello to anyone who remembers me and hello to everybody who doesn't - I've learnt a lot from all the posts I've read here so I owe you all a big thank you.

So I feel the need to post today because I've been out with some work friends and find myself feeling very low now that I'm home. I'm usually a very quietly happy sort of person and try to bring myself back to mindfulness as often as I remember to during my daily life but the one thing that always makes me struggle with my practice is my feeling of inadequacy about my appearance. As a young-ish (28) girl, I struggle with the feeling that I'm ugly and I find it very hard to let these thoughts appear and cease without clinging on to them with the subsequent feeling of depression that inevitably follows.

I realise that there's nothing I can do about my external appearance and it shouldn't matter to me but I do find it very difficult to remain in a state of equanimity when confronted with unkind people drawing attention to and openly telling me that I'm unattractive. I find it difficult not to feel envious of friends who are lucky enough to be beautiful.

I don't really know what question I'm asking here but just felt the need to unload a little ... so sorry for that. Life just seems to me to be much more difficult if you aren't blessed with external beauty ... or maybe the attention that beautiful people naturally receive isn't the sort of attention I want anyway. I just find it difficult to deal with people actually telling me to my face that I'm ugly. I don't know ... I've probably had way too much to drink and this post probably hasn't made much sense but I've typed it now so I'm going to press "submit" anyway.

Thank you for reading - and apologies for whining about insignificant things.

Metta ]]> General Banter Medusa http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7011 http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7005&goto=newpost Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:06:03 GMT ok so im looking for the word compassion written in tibetan which I believe is karuna right? can anyone please help? ok so im looking for the word compassion written in tibetan which I believe is karuna right? can anyone please help? ]]> General Banter Brandon http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7005