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Re: A Criticism of tulku selection process in tb?
@davidpham19 said:
Hi guys, i was wondering coming from a perspective of a skeptic/agnostic, what problems lies behind close doors for the tulku selection process that may not get talked about a lot? Thanks
What problems lie behind selecting a new Pope, behind closed doors? Or a new Ayatollah? is there a secret involving weighing all the facts up with thumbs on the scales? I
'm sure these elections are run by those with agendas and ulterior motives. Like Political elections (I mean to say, look at the absolutely farcical fracas in British Politics!) You think that the apparent nobility of any religion exempts those in authority from being manipulative?
Think again.
Point not one finger at a single incident. Rather, mourn the absence of integrity and honesty, that pervades all the upper strata of all institutions, with a vacancy for a "respected" Leader.
"Power, corrupts.
Absolute power, corrupts absolutely."
federica
Re: Shall we foregather in the Garden....?
Grazie mile.It also hates hard water, or tap water. Rain water is optimal. If that's a hard thing to come by, collect some tap water and leave it standing in the sun for 24 hours.
federica
Re: How to Teach?
@Lionduck said:
Anyone can share facts and knowledge.
Even a little bit of dhamma goes a long way. Once introduced to the questions of happiness and suffering, it becomes a key to the understanding of one’s life that inevitably leads to the rest of the dhamma. The real problem is ignorance.
The western world is focussing on meditation and mindfulness, and the ‘benefits’ thereof, but the real questions are larger and existential. It will be interesting to see what form this will take in the west, the whole self-help industry has a hint of buddhist thought about it.
Jeroen
Re: What happens to the world when everybody attains Buddhahood?
Perspective may change, but the world will not cease to exist.
Lionduck
Re: What happens to the world when everybody attains Buddhahood?
As long as there is the world aka samsara, this world will never be having a lack of unenlightened beings. So there is no need to worry about what happens when everyone becomes a Buddha.
Re: Why I’m not keen on the bodhisattva vow
@lobster
The imagery of a mountain, a hill or a plateau is for the touchstone of the mind. in the physical reality, a Buddha may be standing or sitting next to you as may be a Bodhisattva, a good friend or a bad friend. When one "rises to a higher level", has he or she physically elevated? Of course not. You may perceive the signs of such mental elevation or not. When you are upon the trail and emerge from the fog, you are still upon the trail. You are just now able to see clearly what was vague or hidden by the fog. Perhaps it is better to see enlightenment (Buddha) as emerging from the fog.
Peace to all
Lionduck
Re: A Criticism of tulku selection process in tb?
Its been a while since I've been in the TB world.
The tulku system can be abused by organizations to maintain power, they can select a candidate from an existing family. Or shenanigans to that effect.
Personally I've always wondered about the objectivity of the selection process. Does the person testing the child know which items belonged to the previous lama? That sort of flaw right there is a basic tenet of scientific studies. If the tester does know perhaps all they are testing for are sensitive children that have some ability to intuit the correct choice. I'm guessing that those type of children will be more inclined and better able to absorb the meaning of the Dharma. So they may make good lamas but that doesn't mean they are a reincarnation of a previous teacher. But I honestly have no clue whether the tester has that knowledge or not.
Edit: I'll add something that came to mind. 25 or so years ago I joined a TB sangha that had a couple monks they were supporting (we have a decent sized Tibetan population here) and a Geshe who earned top marks came to live and teach. I attended regularly for the few years he was there. After 3 or 4 years he was offered the head abbot position at Gyuto tantric college in India.
Anyway, this past year the Tibetan sangha here sent an email saying he was coming back to visit and give some teachings. In the meantime he had been "recognized" as a tulku and now has the Rinpoche title.
He was a good and kind teacher, this is nothing against him. It just seems rather convenient that even though they missed that he was a tulku for all those years he was a young monk, now that he was head of the college they could see that he was actually a tulku. It just seems so blatant a move to provide more status and credibility than an actual recognition.
person
Re: A Criticism of tulku selection process in tb?
What benefit is there in that? Why not open a door to disbelief with a quiet no thank you?
You must be a Buddhist of some other sort or not at all?
https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/lam-rim/student-teacher-relationship/spiritual-teachers-and-spiritual-students/the-traditional-meaning-of-a-spiritual-teacher#n6
lobster
Re: Buddhist quotes
"Generations of peoples, primarily in Asia, have maintained that the historical Buddha, Gautama, invented zazen, and so was an Absolute God in zazen.
The truth is, of course, zazen was not born of, nor created by the historical Buddha; Buddha was born of the unfathomable depths of zazen.
We too may be born from the same place, as countless buddhas have in the past. We are all absolute perfection in zazen, infinite perfection — the transcendence of ourselves; the transcendence of the practice; the transcendence of all things.
Zazen is and was the mother of Buddha. We should confirm this with our own direct experience."
~ Hōgen Yamahata
