Best Of
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
As one might have predicted, the profiteers are worming their way out of the wood.
Hundreds of advertisements offering different types of merchandise, commemorating or 'supporting' the Monks' 'Walk of Peace'.
The Monks themselves, and their organisers have stated:
"We would like to kindly inform everyone that the Walk For Peace does not sell, promote, or market any products or merchandise of any kind.
Our journey is purely a spiritual and humanitarian walk dedicated to cultivating peace through compassion, loving-kindness, and mindfulness. We do not engage in any commercial activities and do not authorize any individual or organization to sell items on our behalf.
If you encounter anyone claiming to represent the Walk For Peace for sales or fundraising purposes, please know that this is not affiliated with our mission.
Thank you for your understanding and for supporting the purity of this peaceful journey.
With gratitude and respect.
May you and all beings be well, happy and at peace." π
So if you see it, and are tempted -don't! π
federica
Re: Does reading about spirituality make any sense?
There comes a time when you have to stop 'doing' and start 'being'.
federica
Re: Does reading about spirituality make any sense?
I know of three examples of spiritual aspirants voraciously reading for decades, learning nothing, before starting meditating/contemplating/self-inquiring in earnest, and eventually finding what they were looking for.
1) Our very own but deceased @genkaku. Feel free to read the second post in the following thread.
https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/19752/please-cast-your-mind-back#Comment_366610
2) Bob Harwood (interviews available on Youtube) who read about Zen for 20 years trying to answer a long list of questions, learned nothing, then started meditating and had a kensho-type experience within 5 months. Over the next 15 years all his questions were answered.
3) Art Ticknor (not a Buddhist, interviews also available on Youtube) who also read for 20 years. When his teacher did not respond to a letter he sent he concluded: 'he's lost hope in me'. A 7 year depression ensued during which he closed all the books with the view that 'understanding won't get me there, but I don't know of any other method'. The depression ultimately lifted (by reading a paragraph from a book!) but he proceeded with earnest self-inquiry and eventually found what he was looking for.
So, for a certain type of aspirant, maybe the intellectual type, maybe voracious reading is a necessary phase. However, I've never heard of someone finding what they were looking for from books. Maybe sutra-monks like Bhikhu Bodhi are such examples?
Feel free to drop the books. No harm done. You would not be the first one. With a bit of time, some kind of action will take the place of the reading. IMHO, that is a more expedient way.
marcitko
Re: Space - the final frontier
What surprised me recently was to read that Australia is wider than the moon, by about 600km!
federica
Re: The AI tsunami
@person said:
That's a bit hopeful. I think there needs to be an explicit label somewhere, preferably on the video itself, but in the description would be alright too IMO. According to the short at least some of the platforms know whether something is AI when its uploaded (due to disclosure policies I believe not that confidently) but aren't making that knowledge public for whatever reason.π
I find it especially egregious in the area of spiritual content. With spiritual content, you are basically relying on the speakers lived experience, and AI has no lived experience. So I would say that any and all comments by AI on spiritual topics is invalid, bordering on absurd.
But what has happened is that AI has focussed particularly on voices of speakers that people trust, like Alan Watts, and suddenly Alan Watts lecture imitation channels are popping out of the ground like mushrooms in October. Itβs become nearly impossible to find non-AI clips of Alan Watts. I see the same thing happening with a number of other speakers.
What this means for spiritual discovery is dreadful. It is a poisoning of the well by AI concepts, without people even being aware that they are engaging with an AI guru. And the thing is, language is such a poor instrument that even authentic gurus sometimes have to resort to stretching things β Osho for instance often said that people experienced religiousness, in order to distinguish it from old-school religions.
Jeroen
Re: Experience of mantra practice
@Shoshin1 said:
In practical terms, mantras and chants are used to clear mental clutter and then focus the mind.
I use 'om mani padme hum' quite frequently when the monkey is especially self-defeating and more rarely as a standalone practice.
marcitko
Change is Inevitable ...(Levels of) Suffering Optional
The world as we know it is shifting from an old comfort-zone illusion into a more challenging one.
Dharma practice remains the same, flowing with change as it always has.
The world is changing in unsettling ways.
Dharma practice is not shaken by the change.
Dharma practice is designed for times like these.
Just some food for thought to ponder...
Shoshin1
Re: Noble Eightfold Path versus 6 Paramitas
Tibetan Buddhism is a branch of Buddhism and there are also others(see this article). Studying the philosophical ideas and differences among various schools helps us gain a more comprehensive understanding of the true essence of Buddhist teachings. Of course, this is challenging and time-consuming, but we can make use of fragmented time to learn about these topics.
IAMFINE