Best Of
Re: Rebirth as an animal
We believe it is a bad thing because it is very difficult for them to keep the Five Precepts and therefore, they are destined to lower realm like hell. They cannot become enlightened being as they do not have awareness and therefore, they cannot choose to free from suffering like humans do. You may think they are happy but when they are hungry, they cannot cook for themselves and choose food for themselves. They are at the mercy of their owners from time to time and so on. Just a few example.
silent
Re: Meditation and mental health
@Tavs said:
Recently I've been getting very depressed and anxious, despite all my years of meditation and more recently, mantras and prayers. When I'm actually doing the practice, I feel much calmer but as soon as something appears which bothers me, I'm back to square one. So I don't know if my practice is actually helping my mind or not.
I was in that kind of stage for over a decade. Now I have through that. I am not sure where you are but it happened to me when I went through stage 5-7 of the insight stages in Vipassana meditation practice. These stages can be found even in Wikipedia now and you can check. It was not taught by Buddha but the chief disciple of Buddha Sariputta. Buddha taught only 3 stages of change as broad categories. First you see arising and passing, later you hate these arising and passing, and then you free from that arising and passing and become enlightened. stage 5-7 is part of the middle one when you hate them. It happened because you think there is nothing you can hold onto and therefore, first you bored and then you are being afraid and depressed, and then you feel miserable and sad. Stage 8, you are disgusted with these things and you feel you have control again and therefore, slightly better. Stage 9, you want to free from all these and some choose to become monks and nuns, stage 10, you reobserve and understand things again. Stage 11, you gained balance in your practice and view and you will feel peace you never knew in your life before. It is very near to enlightenment but it can be very long. How long each stage is also depending on your past practices, and many other factors. Hope this will help.
silent
Re: Ploggers of the world...unite!
@marcitko said:
The only problem was that I would get very scared of being noticed doing it! Fear of potential judgment, ridicule, others possibly thinking I'm off my rocker...
Any tips from more experienced ploggers? Just time and habituation and it goes away?
In Plogging, like in formal meditation, all manner of phenomena visit. The basis of sufferings diminishment here lies in letting go of our inclinations to manipulate those visitors.
While not grasping after, rejecting or ignoring these visitors, the teaching that you've been searching will be present.
Cheers
H.
how
Re: The Higher Self
@Tavs said:
From a Buddhist point of view, what actually is The Higher Self? I know some Buddhists compare it to Buddha nature but I find that answer unsatisfactory or some might say its what lies beyond ego but to me this answer is vague and too abstract. People talk about it as if it's a little silent unseen deity which somehow lives in our heads. Does it exist at all?
ty for the food for thought.most buddhist including me, wrestle with two truths which deals with the dynamics of emptyness and it collary relatedness to form.
a graph:
( aware-ness field=mind/energy attention input and output) called a bitof information and /0 ratio of no space=emptyness.
1.we are aware in a given space in the mind.awareness of mind creates perception 0f the 6 senses afecting awareness into "form" the mind create. mind then postulate the form through aware energy and this energy goes into mental states what physcologist call ego.
2. this ego on the suface is the projection we call self. the self is the ego form field of awareness. but awarness is the o state what buddha call sunyata. hence the negation school is born. awareness is a steady field that neither bond postive and negative states in form. awareness is neutral to what self/ego is. the thing to stop conventional perception the buddha taught anything divided by o is o/empty of inherent self.so higher self or lower self is mistaken to the minds mechanism that escreww the relevance of form. in a sense buddha wanted to "see" or be aware mind is an illusion in the brain. the ego is seen as a process of the five agregates which is process under awareness0 states
in zen/dao is called mu/doesnt apply. ego doesnot appy the buddha being a great quantum lotus 0 deduced the form of any perceive structure doesnt have a cause. no orignal point in spacetime fluidity. he propose the equality of empty and form. they are like enter-related.
the wisdom of buddha can be summarise be aware self and no self without ego enflation.the saying if your head swell to higher self godhood gravity will humble you like a blace hole thus not violation emptyness equals form.
thinking abot stuff like this i see buddha wisdom in everday life. i avoid snob minds and learn from "simple" people because wisdom for me is better than higher self or lower self.
in the mundain to groung my self in being a higherself asshole is the principle chop wood and fetch water.
Re: Buddhism = Death of Hobbies?
" nothing whatsoever is to be clung to as I or mine" ( I don't have a reference handy) the Buddha.
One can't force the dissolution of identity if that is your goal, rather sit, be mindful and your perspective may very well change
All the best
Re: The AI tsunami
My mother got scammed by a UK-based "savings" company (widely reviewed online as a scam) that charged her around 20 euros per month for 3 years without her realising it. When buying an airplane ticket, she apparently clicked something or failed to unclick something. She insisted I try to recoup the money, while I was highly sceptical it would work, with the argument that they'd certainly covered themselves from a legal perspective. However, with the help of AI, I sent the company such professional and (I hope) scary e-mails, that after 5 or 6, and them offering ever more to settle, they paid her back 80% of what they took 
marcitko
Re: The AI tsunami
In the video he gave an example of a "follower" of AI religion. He spoke about how in chats with it, AI would sometimes call him a "spark bearer" and say he had a purpose.
Current AI has no idea what it is saying, but it is still "auto completing" people down particular paths. People have killed themselves after immersing themselves in AI relationships, Tristan Harris gave an example of how one version was even more sycophantic than the average AI and would answer the question to am I superhuman enough to drink cyanide with something like, yes you are incredible enough to be able to do that.
It doesn't know, it doesn't care. It is programmed to engage, it will tell you what it "thinks" you want.
person
Re: The AI tsunami
An interesting aside, I’m beginning to think AI will be quite bad for the forming of human intelligence…
Jeroen
Re: Buddhism and....Tarot..
The Spanish text says…
Sometimes life puts us back in the same situations so that we review what we thought we had understood. If reviewing the same situations seems boring to you... you can try with a Buddhist antidote: "The beginner's look" Look with new eyes to realise that nothing repeats itself.
Jeroen
Re: The Higher Self
@marcitko said:
For some time now, to my mind, you have been far too often critical and harsh, towards several members, but apparently with a special focus on Jeroen. To my mind, Jeroen has been nothing but gracious and kind to you. I would have called you out far sooner than Jeroen, but even his calling you out was gracious and kind. Had he not called you out, I would have done so.Trying to silence me?
For now, looking to hear what others think, and if they mostly agree that you've meandered into harrasment territory according to our ToS, looking for you to remedy your future postings on these boards a.k.a. limit the ad hominem personal attacks based on this or that perceived fault.
Thank you @marcitko, that more or less covers my feelings on the subject. I haven’t had to deal with this kind of targeted harassment since my days in school, and that from a Buddhist, no less. Back then my preferred method of settling things with a bully was meeting for a bout of fisticuffs, glad we don’t have to go through that kind of nonsense anymore. I’m sure that if @federica or @linc were not busy with their personal lives they would deal with it in their usual zero-tolerance manner.
On the subject of not being a Buddhist, I’m glad the community doesn’t hold to a rigid standard on this, admitting taoists, free thinkers and others. It’s a group of “new Buddhists” after all. I spent nearly a decade devoted to Buddhism, and I still follow many of it’s tenets, but found my heart took me in another direction.
On Right Speech, and especially kind speech, as @person mentioned it, I’ve always admired it and found it one of the most beautiful traits of Buddhists in general. I’ve associated Buddhism with gentleness and grace and eloquence, and long may these traits continue.
Jeroen