Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
I'm Shi Shan Yu, I'm disciple of a Shaolin Monk.
DaltheJigsaw
Mountain View Veteran
Hello, I'm Shi Shan Yu, I'm disciple of a Shaolin monk. Many of you have already seen me posting frequently here. I know this looks like a long post, but please make an effort and continue reading, I promise I'll make it worth it for new and old buddhists.And more can be found here:
The reason why I'm telling you who I am is not in hope this grants me any authority on the subject, but in hopes that it helps you trust my words enough to consider them, but no farther than that. I ask you to agree with the things I say only if they seem reasonable to you.
This subreddit is growing constantly and I'm very happy to see this. This means many people got to hear about Buddhism, some way or another. I'm happy because Buddhism has brought many good things to my life, and empowered me to bring many good things to the ones I get to know, so I'm hoping it will do the same to your life, no matter how small the improvement is.
Here are some FAQ that I hope can save you some time and keep you from some misdirections/misconceptions, have fun!:
What is Buddhism and who can call himself a buddhist?
Buddhism is following the buddha's teachings, no matter if Buddha taught them to you or not. This means buddhism is living your life wholly. It's no religion or philosophy, it's just life. You can call yourself a buddhist if you follow or try to follow the Buddha. There's no initiation or ceremony needed. It's a free to join club and you can be an atheist, an agnostic, a christian, a mormon or any religion and also be buddhist. You don't need to worship anyone.
Why are there monks?
Monks are disciples who vowed to follow Buddha. The difference to any other person (per se) is the vows that they take, which means they have made a commitment to the Buddha's teachings (read: buddhism). The monks exist because it's the best way for the teachings to survive and be transmitted. This is because only a human can successfully communicate and teach to another human. Relying on a book or any other stiff object or product means some things can and will get lost in the transmission. Think of it like being with a person can't be replaced by seeing a photo, video or a writing of him.
Do I need to/Should I aim to become a monk if I practice Buddhism?
No. You can practice without this aim. Choosing to become a monk is like buying your house, you buy it because you like it, because you want it, because you know exactly what you are buying and because you know you can live happily there.
What is meditation and what can I do with it?
Meditation is focusing the mind in a chosen task. For example, you can meditate (read: focus your mind) in analyzing your memories and discovering things about yourself, or you can meditate to analyze your concepts and beliefs to discover fallacies or get to new conclusions... or you can meditate on relaxing your body to get relieved from stress and pain... or you can meditate in many other things to get different results. In short, you can focus your mind in anything you chose, as long as you always focus your mind. Meditation is work. In a broader Buddhist context (or in different Buddhist practices), this could be any kind of spiritual cultivation (bhavana).
How many kinds of meditations there are?
There are literary thousands of kinds of meditations with all short of aims... of which here in west we only get to know a very small bunch. Most of them are taught in Asia by people who spend all their life studying meditation very seriously, like in here we have PhD's.
What is samsara?
Samsara is an Indian term that can be described as "suffering". Suffering in this context doesn't exactly translate to pain, since pain can be enjoyed. Suffering (samsara) is just being unhappy with something, no matter if it's a pleasant, unpleasant or neutral sensation. In a strict sense, samsara is the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
Do I have to become vegetarian to be a Buddhist?
No. Only if you want to.
What is enlightenment?
Enlightenment is a process in which a practitioner gains consciousness, going from levels of low consciousness (ignorance) to higher consciousness (wisdom). It's more practical to see it as a continual process rather than a "just once" occurrence. The higher the consciousness the freer the practitioner is. To "attain full enlightenment" means the practitioner has become totally free and is fully conscious. Only when having full consciousness one can justly say one choses his own path.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/ir691/a_faq_for_people_new_to_buddhism/
0
Comments
It's only by getting through that incredibly dense wall of post, that you see that it's not you.
I formed a Quote box around the text.
One: Please do the same in future.
Two: Why was it necessary to post such a huge wall of text when you then gave a link to the original?
Please, in future, just give a snippet, and then a link.
besides, without due care, you risk infringing copyright laws.
Thanks!
with the kindest possible intent: although i understand what you are saying and in fact do not purchase meat and am happily vegetarian when i can be there are extenuating circumstances sometimes. strict vegetarianism will amount to attachment to a view which leads to a couple of problems - for instance, (and this is where i stopped being _unbendingly_ strict about not eating meat) many years ago i was travelling in turkey after having been vegetarian for several years. turkish people eat meat - it is part of their way of life. they were also _very_ hospitable and generous, frequently inviting me to join them in a meal. this is an expression of their culture and religion as generosity is a virtue also in islam (dana in buddhism). i realized that to reject their gift (out of selfish concern for my own "spirituality") was not only an insult to their culture but deprived them of the merit and benefit of gracious giving. it also led to an uncomfortable social situation which would not help communication and would make it more difficult for me to share with them anything i had learned. if relations are good it is possible that i might later convince them of the benefits of vegetarianism - much less likely if i am critical of their lifestyle right away.
like bathing in the ganges, people also tend to ascribe magical (evil) "energy" to the meat itself - this too will cause dukkha. thus, the movement of "freegans" - vegans that will eat meat if it comes from the garbage so that at least the animal's sacrifice is not wasted.
in short, i decided that accepting quietly and honoring their generosity was of higher priority than my own .. how to put it kindly .. purity. i personally am vegetarian as fully as possible - but i will accept and try to appreciate and be grateful for whatever gift is given. for me it is far more important to promote peace and reduce conflict than to be ..mmm, sorry - holy.
just food (oops) for thought, i wish you well.
cheer.
"[t]aking life, beating, wounding, binding, stealing, lying, deceiving, worthless knowledge, adultery; this is stench. Not the eating of meat." (Amagandha Sutta)
I agree with you kaci. I don't think that eating meat is as black and white as vegans/strict-vegetarians make it out to be.
i have not spoken with Thich Nhat Hanh (for whom i have a great deal of respect, btw) and would not speculate on his attachment to views - in fact i think its great that his centers are vegan, its a good example and it encourages people to think about their relationship with animals. however, just because he is Thich Nhat Hanh does not mean that he has eliminated all attachment to views. really, we would have to speak with him personally to clear this sort of question up ..
and then we could also ask why the centers are not free .. but this is a discussion for another thread i think.
peace.
It's my opinion that when someone says that the way to gain an "optimum Buddha mind" requires vegetarianism, that they might could be close to attaching to a view which could cause problems in situations outside of their community where it's feasible.