Best Of
Re: Respecting one’s elders
Hello. It sounds like you experienced a standard Buddhist talk in a traditional Asian Buddhist centre that is family orientated. Respecting parents is about children having gratitude for the care & sacrifice the parents provided . If your parents did not provide care to you there are no strong grounds for such overt respect. Instead, you can cultivate compassion towards your parents, trying to understand why they had such personal problems.
Having said this, there is nothing wrong or "excessively authoritarian" with the Buddhist centre you attended. What is out of the ordinary is your personal circumstances. I suggest you think about attending some social activities at this Buddhist centre where you may experience hospitable family gatherings; such as attend the days where people make food offerings to the monks. If you hang out with some nice hospitable families, you may start to respect some of those hospitable parents.
Aboud
Re: karma?
Those who attribute the results of everything to Karma are suffering under a simplistic misunderstanding of the Dharma.
Within Buddhism, the operations of the universe divide up into five laws, with
the law of karma only being one of those laws. Much is attributed to those other 4 laws.
(1) the laws of the physical world – that the world is not answerable to one’s will;
(2) the laws of the organic world – that all things flow;
(3) the laws of morality – that karma is inexorable;
(4) the law of the Dharma – that evil is vanquished and good prevails;
(5) the laws of mind – that of the will to enlightenment.
The purpose of teaching about karma is not for an assignment of blame upon anyone as much as it is a teaching showing that the consequences of all of our moral decisions potentially affecting everyone to such a degree that not even death offers an escape from its inertia.
Much of it's teaching is about fostering the naked examination of our own hearts and minds so that we can work at minimizing the possible arisings of our own heartlessness or cruelty.
May the followers of your newly chosen religion, continue to pass the same level of scrutiny and judgment that your Buddhist acquaintances, couldn't.
how
Re: karma?
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7.
Karma is also acknowledged in Christianity, they just haven't given it a name, elaborated much in the way of teachings about it, or extended it to cover multiple lifetimes. I suspect it is pretty much a universally acknowledged principle in other religions, and in societies in general.
To regard Karma as being "good" or "bad" I think tends to be an unfortunate and unnecessarily dualistic. oversimplification. Whatever we do now will most certainly affect our lives and our minds in the future - that's inescapable. Will that effect accord with our desires and what we imagine to be our needs, or trash our desires and show us something else, something previously undreamed of? It is fascinating to watch it unfold, like the Lotus blooming. Is the Lotus ugly, or beautiful? It depends on how we have constructed it, and also upon the way we choose to view it.
Fosdick
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
@FleaMarket said:
This year has been a bit of a welcome oddity. Many people around are landscaping to drought resistant options, and organizations have restricted water use on grassy areas with more restrictions coming. I believe everyone is coming around to the direction. I'll be happy to see the grass out front change when it does though not sure what it will be yet. Open to suggestions.
Drought resistant herbs, meadow, chamomile lawn, miniature forest, gnome/buddha/sculpture sanctuary, pot garden, weed sanctuary, rock garden … dependent on circumstances 😁😌🙏🏽
lobster
Re: Respecting one’s elders
Cars are enormously beneficial to societal wealth.
There are a few pretty shady car dealers though.
Farming plays a critical role in society's food chain.
But some farmers engage in destructive practices that deplete the soil.
We living humans literally owe our very existence to parents.
Not everyone is good at parenting, though.
The teaching is valid.
That doesn't mean that bad examples can't be found.
Given your experience, the teaching might actually be MORE valuable to you than to others.
If it doesn't show you something outside your existing knowledge, it isn't really teaching, is it?
Steve_B
Re: Respecting one’s elders
Respect for elders is independent of like or dislike, love or hate or indifference. Specifically, respecting your parents, no matter their character or condition, arises from the fact that they are the ones who brought you into this life.
Of course there is more involved, but it is a beginning.
Lionduck
Re: Respecting one’s elders
Western culture is very individualistic, particularly in contrast to Asian cultures. We value going our own way and expressing our uniqueness in ways that more collectivist cultures don't. I'm not an expert, but I think there are more socially enforced norms (as well as the social structures in place to support them) to ensure wiser, more harmonious behavior from elders than our culture may have.
The translation of individual aspects divorced from supporting elements isn't always perfect?
So, I don't know. Take what positive you can get from it, maybe talk to someone there about it and your experience around authority. In the end though it might not be the right fit and another dharma community would work better.
person
Re: karma?
A few thoughts from my limited perspective:
1) Good for you! Following your heart, mind and intuition sounds like a good idea. Find solace and happiness where you can. Is there a better option?
2) Is it heartless and cruel that sometimes a star goes supernova and "dies"? That is it's "karma" based on the natural laws of physics. Similarly, we humans are subject to the same laws of cause and effect, the natural laws of physics as the star, but also less observable and to us less clear ones, such as emotional, moral, physical etc. Causes still produce effects, even if we're not always aware of them. It's good to keep an eye out and try to produce as many positive causes as possible and as few negative ones as possible.
3) I have no recollection of past lives so have no opinion on past-life karma. But I do have recollection of previous "phases" of my life and can very well see both the positive and negative outcomes of some of my actions. That's my understanding of "past-life-karma".
4) Thus have I read, in the final analysis/seeing, even karma is seen through so it is not some kind of ultimate truth or exact science.
marcitko
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
@Jeroen said:
Wildlife is sometimes closer than you think. Just yesterday a pigeon crashed into my living room window, but it turned out that it was being chased by a hawk. On impact, the hawk killed it and took the corpse into our garden and started devouring it. Feathers everywhere!
It's weird watching stuff like that happen. Like that thing that was just alive is now food.
I was listening to some youtube videos by Ven. Thanissaro and in one I think he said the thing we all have in common is that we are each other's food.
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Wildlife is sometimes closer than you think. Just yesterday a pigeon crashed into my living room window, but it turned out that it was being chased by a hawk. On impact, the hawk killed it and took the corpse into our garden and started devouring it. Feathers everywhere!
Jeroen