Best Of
Re: https://awakentheworld.com/
The access to this kind of content can be a blessing and / or a curse. It can be very insightful, opening the path for someone, and at the same time very confusing.
Good dharma friends, enough research and a qualified teacher can cure it all, most of the times. There is also certain safety behind this. I recall that before, learning from centres or groups can sometimes be a bit restraining in the sense of getting scolded for "following the wrong teachings".
Kotishka
Re: https://awakentheworld.com/
The second movie was better, I thought. I will watch the third as well.
As far as popular Buddhism vs the Buddhadharma is concerned, I try not to bring too many judgments, I think a little buddhism is better than no buddhism at all.
Jeroen
Re: https://awakentheworld.com/
I think movies like this very much serve the purpose of providing a swift eagle’s eye view of a lot of territory, useful for beginners to stir up some enthusiasm. Of course there are some dangers as well — having been introduced to the big picture, people new to this material may think “when does it happen to me?” And as @Kotishka says, not every tradition likes new members to be introduced like this.
Jeroen
Re: Buddhist quotes
Effort is more important than so-called success because effort is a real thing. What we call “success” is just the manifestation of our mind’s ability to categorize things. This is “success.” That is “failure.” Who says? You says. That’s all. Reality is what it is, beyond all concepts of success and failure.
Brad Warner, “Think Not Thinking”
Jeffrey
Re: Covid Cabin
@Jeffrey said:
"Beneath the image of the bull in the center of the painting, there was a pentimento of a ship’s mast."Kind of a vocabulary word that makes me think of artists, attitude, and image.
It comes from the latin/Italian, 'Pentire' which means 'repent'. The artist 'regretted' having painted an image, and decides to use the canvas, to paint another picture, on top of the previous image, which then shows through faintly....
federica
Re: https://awakentheworld.com/
It is long, sometimes tedious, but it goes through concepts common to several traditions and as it obviously does not go into every aspect in depth, it just passes by and the one who knows something recognises it... and moves on to another related topic.
My learning has been vast and is far from over, and what I cannot do is to imprison it in categories.
What is suffocating today is the popular Buddhism vs. the Buddhadharma.
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Yes. The main concept here is reactance. The more someone attacks/argue with you and tries to subdue something you believe (National Socialism), the more you will defend it and even intensify your view and conduct.
Also it applies for more mundane situations... for example (real life)
Person 1: Fuck, fuck, fuck.. why is it so late?
Person 2: Mind your language, please.
Person 1: Fuck * 10,000
Kotishka
Imagination Redux
We have talked a little about imagination before, see this thread:
https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/26987/imagination
But I think it is worth seeing if we can add more detail to this topic.
In a way I feel that being a highly imaginative person is a hindrance in spiritual development. Imagination gives shape to desire and fear, positing all kinds of what-if scenarios, and so amplifies their effects. Its flightiness is an opposite of equanimity, so as you develop equanimity you should find imagination decreases.
Jeroen
Re: What happens to the world when everybody attains Buddhahood?
Origin and existence of our universe
Some Buddhist explanations on the origin and existence of our universe (and other universes) in contrast to the non-buddhist beliefs of a creator god and creationism, by Josho Adrian Cirlea
Unenlightened beings are physically and mentally limited by their karma; they are born, they live, die and are reborn again in worlds determined by their karma. They cannot go further than the limitations imposed by their karma, and so they cannot see nor understand that which is beyond their karma. But the Buddhas, who are totally free from the bondage of karma, can move freely in the Samsaric worlds and universes - the collective dreams of unenlightened beings. The Buddhas are not creators of the Samsaric world, just like one person cannot create the dream of another, but teachers and saviors, or better said, Awakeners of others. Through various means, that is, various Dharma methods, they try to awake sleeping beings from the Samsaric dream.
Thus, as Buddhists, we cannot say that a creator god made the universe, because that would deny the law of karma, according to which one reaps what one sows – one is reborn in the worlds and dimensions one deserves, together with the beings one deserves to be there with (is karmically linked to). As we have seen, we cannot logically accept, in the same time, the law of karma and the existence of a creator god, as the two mutually exclude one another.
Instead of a creator god, the collective karma of a multitude number of beings is the primary cause and first impulse for the appearance of a new universe. This karma contains all the potentiality of that specific universe, including its general laws of physics. Thus, once it comes into existence from collective karmic causes, then all the laws of physics will follow. These will be responsible, for example, with what actually happens with the planets, changing of seasons, and so on.
Various universes may have different laws of physics, because their formation was due to a different karma with different potentialities, so once they are formed, they can develop into different ways than our own universe. Because of that, what we call human beings here, may look totally different in another universe, although the basic emotions and karma which generate rebirth into human dimension is the same.
Neither the law of karma, nor the various physical characteristics that appear in a specific universe, are created by a supreme god. Just like when you spit in the air, it will fall in your face, when you do an evil deed, you will automatically experience (in the same life or one of the next) the same suffering you inflicted on others. These things happen without the necessity that a supreme god giving a command, “from now on, if you spit in the air, it will fall on your face”. So, the law of karma, just like the law of gravity, has no creator, as both exist by themselves.
Because individuals and various smaller or larger groups of beings make certain choices, and plant certain seeds, they reap various results, which bring them for rebirth in different universes and realms – which are themselves the effect of those beings collective karma. Thus, the difference among unenlightened beings and the worlds and dimensions in which they live do not have the origin in the will of a creator god, nor do they appear from chance, but are the material imprint of individual karma and collective karma.
This is a very important teaching which clearly separates Buddhism from the monotheistic religions. In short, the karma versus the will of a god are the two main explanations of the world and the beings living in it that you can choose from, and which defines you as a Buddhist disciple or an externalist (non-Buddhist).
According to the Buddhist teaching, there are an infinite number of world systems where rebirth takes place. These were classified into three categories:
one small universe, which is traditionally called “a small one thousand-worlds”. It consists of one thousand worlds. Each single world (sometimes called “a Sumeru-world”) contains the various realms/dimensions of hells, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, asuras and gods.
one middle universe, which is traditionally called “a medium one thousand-worlds”. It consists of one thousand small universes (or “a thousand small thousand-worlds”).
one large universe, which is traditionally called, “a great one thousand-worlds”. It consists of one thousand middle universes (or a thousand medium thousand-worlds).
These various worlds pass through an endless cycle of formation, existence, destruction, and annihilation after which they are again formed, come to existence, are destroyed, annihilated, and so on. The four periods of cyclic changes are called “kalpas”:
Period (kalpa) of Formation or generation (vivartakalpa)
Period (kalpa) of Duration or existence (vivarta-siddha kalpa)
Period (kalpa) of Destruction (samvarta kalpa)
Period (kalpa) of Annihilation (samvarta-diddha kalpa)
Each of these periods lasts 20 medium or intermediate kalpas (antara kalpa). Four periods of 20 medium kalpas each, is 80 medium kalpas. 80 medium kalpas is one great kalpa (mahakalpa). So, one cosmic cycle composed of the four periods above is called one great kalpa.
One Buddha may assume responsibility for the spiritual care of one large universe (“a great one thousand-world”), which then becomes that Buddha’s field of action, or “Buddha-field” (Buddhakshetra in Skt). This is also called a “Buddha-land”. The one large universe in which we ourselves live together with many kinds of visible, invisible and non-human beings, is called “Saha”. The sutras say that an infinite number of such large universes, or Buddha-lands, exist in the ten directions. As they are inhabited by beings in various stages of spiritual development, it should not be confounded with the Pure Land (Sukhavati), which is an Enlightened realm (outside of Samsara) manifested by Amitabha Buddha.
Of course, not all the worlds and universes appear or disappear at the same time. When one universe is destroyed, another one appears while myriads of other universes are in the duration period. Also, the mind-stream of beings transmigrates through these universes and planes of existence in all the four kalpas, and the period of destruction or annihilation does not destroy them. Thus, even if the bodies they receive according to their karma are destroyed, they are reborn elsewhere, in another realm of the same universe or even another universe.
It is in the nature of every composed thing, including planets, worlds and universes to appear, grow, decay and dissolve themselves. When the collective karma which brought them into existence is exhausted, they are to appear again when another collective karma manifest itself.
Bunks