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So because I might have been good in my last life karma's guided me to Buddhism so I have a better life? Or doesn't it work like that?
Love & Peace
Joe
So because I might have been good in my last life karma's guided me to Buddhism so I have a better life? Or doesn't it work like that?
Love & Peace
Joe
yes.
People who are fortunate enough to encounter and have an affinity for the Buddhadharma are said to have really the best karma.
May I ask you a karma kwestion? Some would say in some ways my situation is bad but from another way I've been opened to many different situations! I'm confused to how karma really works, can anybody help me please? Thanks
Love & Peace
Joe
May I ask you a karma kwestion? Some would say in some ways my situation is bad but from another way I've been opened to many different situations! I'm confused to how karma really works, can anybody help me please? Thanks
Love & Peace
Joe
This is a good question Joe. Unfortunately I dont think I can give you a clear answer. The only ones who can give clear answers on individual's karma are Buddha's.
That said we can at least talk about the complexity of karma and interdependence. Our current situations are the result(s) of beginningless causes and conditions. Many things in our life can be seen as good or bad but ultimately good and bad are subjective and empty of any true identity.
Since we are fortunate enough to be Dharma practitioners we are in a position to use good and bad situations as opportunities to deepen our practice and experience.
You can find a really excellent commentary on karma in the book, The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception by Deshung Rinpoche.
Its a big book but is really a valuable resource.
This is a good question Joe. Unfortunately I dont think I can give you a clear answer. The only ones who can give clear answers on individual's karma are Buddha's.
That said we can at least talk about the complexity of karma and interdependence. Our current situations are the result(s) of beginningless causes and conditions. Many things in our life can be seen as good or bad but ultimately good and bad are subjective and empty of any true identity.
Since we are fortunate enough to be Dharma practitioners we are in a position to use good and bad situations as opportunities to deepen our practice and experience.
You can find a really excellent commentary on karma in the book, The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception by Deshung Rinpoche.
Its a big book but is really a valuable resource.
Beautifully put. That's a perfect little nutshell.
My parent divorced when I was seven and I became a bit pessimistic and unhappy, it didn't work so when I was about eight a swapped to a happy-clappy person. I wouldn't be able to say if I was a Christian or not but I did to prayer a day and acted all happy. I'd worn out my suicidal and my very unnaturally happy side was crushed as I was bullied a lot when I was ten. I made up my own religion which was Spirology but when I turned eleven and we had secondary school next year I thought I should have a proper religion. I looked for ages to see what was most like Spirology and one Simpsons I saw Lisa turn Buddhist so I said to myself; 'I'll see what that is.' And as I read I fell in love with it and a few months later I became a Buddhist A bunch of chance if you like.
Love & Peace
Joe
Joe,
I'm happy you found this so young. I'm sorry I didn't but we get it when we are supposed to. Lisa Simpson rules! But Bart is still my anti-hero!
Joe, you raise a good point. Everyone has mixed karma. Some of it causes big problems for us, some of it is very good, like being able to encounter the Dharma as a human. We are taught that even to be born a human takes a great ocean of merit as the number of humans compared to all other beings in all realms of existence is very tiny. If you think of all the beings in all the realms as like all the grains of sand on the earth, the number of them that would be human would barely cover your thumbnail. And to have a precious human birth, which means that you are born at a time when the Dharma is in the world, have the opportunity to hear the Dharma, and have the faculties to understand and practice it, are much rarer than that. So as Shenpen says, best to take advantage of it now while you can as the opportunity may not come again for a long, long time. Use whatever difficult situations you encounter in this life to help you on your path because, like they say, the more fertilizer you put on your garden, the bigger the flowers will be! Adversity is good because it forces you to change. Without it we just stay stuck.
Inspiring speach Palzang. I must have been, em, somebody good. When you are reborn are you reborn in any time (eg. Death 2751 Reborn 1827) or are you reborn the same time you die? (eg. Death 2268 Reborn 2268)?
Love
Joe
Joe, have you heard of the tibetan monks who search for the rebirth of the passed away monks? Rebirths would be in the same time period (eg. death 2010, reborn 2010), that's why there is always one Dalai Lama, right? As far as we know time is continuant... moving foward.
Actually, Joe, in your last life you were a stick insect. Just kidding!
I don't know. Time is an illusion just as space is, so it's hard to answer. I've often wondered myself if you could be reborn in an earlier time period, or even on a different planet. Maybe that's what the hell realm is, taking rebirth as a dinosaur! A small one...
^How could you reborn in the past? That's the past... ahh, the thought is above me Hmm... I guess there would really be no way to check this though so tecnically we could not know either way. Hehe, but the concept of that is just above me, even in considering it just seems crazy.
Palzang... I guess it could be possible? It's jto a just hard to conisider... like lets say I am reborn 2600 years ago, a time before the buddha. Tecnically buddhism would not have existed yet... and you could say that no one has become englightened in the way the Buddha had. I don't know... :P
Well, all I can tell you is what the great Kalu Rinpoche said about the Kalachakra tantra (Kalachakra = Wheel of Time). He said that when you master this tantra, you can move through time and space just as though you were to walk to the next room. So what do you think about that?
I have recently stumbled over buddhism, and love everything about it. I study buddhist texts and ideas more than I study my school materials...
Two years ago (when I was also 16) I was doing exactly this. I didn't let anyone tell me that school was of any significant importance, but I would advice doing your best to finish school. Perhaps you'll become a Buddhist monk (or would that be Buddhist nun..?) in the end, but I'm quite glad I've had some closure in my life as a student, and I believe it will make my detachment easier in the end.
Anyway, I had tried talking to my mom about buddhism at one point awhile back, and though I didn't mention my interest, but rather a friend of mines, she didn't like the idea of it and changed the topic quickly.
It's a shame there are very little people that you can talk to about Buddhism. I hope you do find someone with whom you can talk about it face to face, because it will often end up more meaningful then a conversation on a forum.
Palzang... all I can say is... that gives me a headache! How can you walk through time and space? Is this literal or figurative? Hehe.
And Applepie, as I have explained later... I do really well in school, it's just hard to see the relevance in a lot of what I learn... but i suck it up and do it anyway, though a lot of it does not interest me, hence my lack of enthusiasm for school!
I don't know, some conversations I have had on buddhist chat rooms with people have been pretty BA. And for now I will just wait until I can drive to a monastery or center.
There are some buddhists at my school, some of which that don't even know what about the 4 noble, 8 fold path, 3 marks of existance, or what the aggregates/ skandhas are. Which is okay, I suppose. But they are they kind of buddhists that like how it looks, and the lifestyle... but it ends there. Which is alright if that's what they want to do... I just don't think that way of buddhism involves a lot of understanding and so conversations don't really work out, well not the deep revolulational kind :P. Which is what a lot of high schoolers that are buddhist seem to do... which makes it hard to have good conversations and such. Haha... oh well...
Hey, I have a question... has anyone heard of Naropa University? I kinda want to go there... it combines buddhism and regular college courses, sounds nice! I mean it has the major I want... and so I figure why not go there? Because then I can learn more about buddhism, have close buddhists groups, and still go to a college. They start the morning in classes with meditating... it's seems really nice! Any thoughts on a Buddhist based college? Or anyone know about it?
Hehe it's in Colorado. Way far away from you unfortunately But it has environmental studies as a major, which is what you wanted to get into if i remember. It has peace studies, how crazy is that?! awesome...
Anyway the Eightfold Path is what comes after the Four Nobel Truths. The fourth nobel truth is the way inwhich suffering can be ended- the middle way. And those are: Right View, Right intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfullness and Right Concentration. Through wisdom (1 & 2), ethical conduct (3-5) and developing your mind (6-8) a person can reach enlightenment by the cessation of suffering. I am assuming that you know what they are though, so maybe your question was a little more specific than I answered? :P
I was being sarcastic but thanks for the help anyway I only remember four of the eight-fold path so I'll try to remember them all, thanks
Can you remind me the precepts though please, I only remember five, or seven, :-/
Colarado? Environmental studies? Buddhist? COLARADO! For the first time I want to be somebody else. That is so unfair. I'm insanely jelaous to be honest
And Applepie, as I have explained later... I do really well in school, it's just hard to see the relevance in a lot of what I learn... but i suck it up and do it anyway, though a lot of it does not interest me, hence my lack of enthusiasm for school!
I actually see the point in everything except history and ICT... However I like history and need a degree in ICT
Haha, I know I couldn't tell whether you were being serious! I was caught between explaining anyway, as I did... or being an ass and saying "SERIOUSLY?!?" Hahah... but then if you were serious I would have felt, well, mean.
Naropa is a university! I really really want to go! So I've been looking into it, it's not strictly Buddhist, but it's buddhist inspired... they have tibetan and sanskrit classes... how cool is that? And in those classes your learn the vocab and such the first year, and the next year you translate suttas. Haha, well here, check it out if you want: http://www.naropa.edu/ You can always go to college over here, at on point I was planning on going to Oxford or Cambridge. :P
I actually see the point in everything except history and ICT... However I like history and need a degree in ICT
I love history. I am not sure if there is a point... but I love it. Anyway, sure there is a point in most of the classes, but a lot of the stuff I am learning this year seems pointless. :P Like there was a mandatory class one year where all we did is play computer games and write papers about them. HUH?! I don't know... I am just getting really bored with school . Which is alright, I have a year left, but I have doubled up so much and taken extra classes in the summer... all I have left is one english class.. Heck yes .
1. Refrain From Killing
2. Refrain from Stealing
3. Refrain from Lying, Slandering, Gossiping and Spreading Rumours
4. Refrain from Sexual Misconduct
5. Refrain from Taking Intoxicants
And the fifth is often not followed it seems...
6. To refrain from eating at the wrong time (only eat from sunrise to noon)
7. To refrain from dancing and playing music,
8. Wearing jewelry and cosmetics
The eight total are followed, if I am correct, by strcit buddhists on new moons and full moons, or festival days (depending on tradition). And for people who are aiming to become a monk or nun.
And then ten:
9. Refrain from using high chairs and sleeping on luxurious bed.
10. Refrain from accepting gold and silver (money)
I think I'll stick with the first five... Why aren't you aloud to eat in the afternoon or listen to music BTW? You did the right thing, you wouldn't want to look like an ass LOL, I should have LOLed afterwards...
Naropa University looks great I have my doubts I'll be able to go though It looks way better than Oxford or Cambridge.....
Peace
Joe
It does look better than oxford or cambridge, in my opinion. I don't know, I used to be really big on school and wanted to get a really good degree and job... and now I am realizing it doesn't matter so much.
Yeah, I am not sure I'll be able to go either... but I can hope! And maybe there are some Buddhist universities over there? You could look.
And yeah, most lay people follow the first five precepts. Like I said the 6-8 precepts are for either really devout, or people who are going to become a monk or nun soon. I know the buddha had ate one meal a day, but this was also because he and his followers had to go into town and get the food offerings, which was only done once a day. Also, watching how much you eat and what you eat is something that makes you have disciplne and self control, that is why a lot of buddhist practice fasting, where they can only mostly drink water for a couple days, and depending on the type of fasting, one meal a day of only fruits and veggies. This also helps you understand and cultivate compassion for those who are starving unvoluntarilly. Also, you should take regufe in the buddha, dharma, and sangha. A lot of people take refeuge in Foods and Drugs, this should be avoided by watching what you eat and when you eat, and how much you eat, etc. Some people interpret that precept to mean eating when not appropriate, so only eating at meal times.
As far as the dancing and music one goes, I am not as knowledgable. I think it has something to do with attatchment, and diversion from what should really be done with time. But I am not sure, perhaps palzang could better answer this question?
N-I-S, I assume you're talking about Naropa, which is an excellent school in Boulder. (BTW, Joe, it's COLORADO, not Colarado. Colarado is where they make Pepsi...). It is the only Buddhist university in the US. I was all signed up to go there once for their Buddhist Psychology program, but obstacles arose and I was never able to get there.
No, Kalu Rinpoche was not talking figuratively. When one understands the true nature of reality, one can see the true nature of time and space, which is illusory, and thus one can move through them at will. Not there yet!
The stories of great practitioners who were able to fly or levitate or appear great distances away instantaneously (or even simultaneously) are not stories. They're hard for us to believe, but they are true. I know that from personal experience. But these powers (called siddhis) are not what it's all about. They are only side effects. The real goal is to end suffering for all beings. Anything else is just icing on the cake.
Ashley, if I may call you that, and hopefully it's your name,
What I want to do doesn't get me a big lot of money. It helps, not having to much money, it might prevoke greed. I want to help the environment not get money from it. I became a vegetarian because I was to greedy for flesh, I had fish for breakfast, ham sandwhiches for lunch, and a huge piece of beef, pork, or chicken and the thought of eating guts didn't even repulse me. I disgusted myself almost so during the summer hollidays I stopped eating proccessed meat, and by the end I cut down on all meat. A bit later I only ate free-range eggs and fish that are not at all rare. I recently stopped having marshmallows...
I'd really love to go to Naropa, I must have been a very very good person to be born in this time, with free speech, and human/animal rights, and Buddhism, and universities And to have even come across Buddhism
Peace
Joe
Yeah, my mom wants me to go to MIT, Cornell or something of the sort... and for the longest time that was my goal, so I could become a doctor or lawyer or w/e. And though it took me a long time to realize, I am now seeing that such goals were never mind, but rather the goals that society had pushed for me. I don't think money is everything... it's a good relization. I am also a vegetarian, become one when I was around your age, going on six years now
And yes my name is Ashley, and yes you may call me by my name :P lol.
No, Kalu Rinpoche was not talking figuratively. When one understands the true nature of reality, one can see the true nature of time and space, which is illusory, and thus one can move through them at will. Not there yet!
Hurry up and n understand the nature of reality! I want to see someone fly Just kidding. Yeah, I have read that before-- it's not the purpose of seeing the nature of reality, but it is an extra/ side-effect. I think it is hard to comprehend something like this though, it is like asking a person so understand the life of a tree... there is only so much we can fairly percieve with what we have :P.
Ashley, (:D)
My mum had a look at Naropa University, she really likes it and says she'll think about getting me a place. Where do you live? I assumed America but I don't remember you saying...
Love & Peace
Joe
Oh, good to hear Joe! You're ahead of me! I haven't shown my mom it yet. But I still have a year... and you have like 5 years!!!! Hopefully you're still on this path then .
I live in Colorado, Naropa is like an hour from me... So the first two years there they require student housing, so I guess it doesn't matter how close I live . Oh well. But it's funny, I heard about Naropa from a kid in Maryland... which is funny because I live here and hadn't heard about it!
AWH! I wish I was lucky enough to see a flying pig! Humph! Oh well.
Wow... long ways to go still Joe! It'll go by fast, enjoy the moments!
I have this year and the next and then FREEDOM! Like don't get me wrong, I love my family... but we are way different and they drives me nuts a lot . But, whose family doesn't, I guess?
Comments
Love & Peace
Joe
People who are fortunate enough to encounter and have an affinity for the Buddhadharma are said to have really the best karma.
Love & Peace
Joe
i just hope i dont waste it all in this life and can actually put the opportunities into practice.
Love & Peace
Joe
That said we can at least talk about the complexity of karma and interdependence. Our current situations are the result(s) of beginningless causes and conditions. Many things in our life can be seen as good or bad but ultimately good and bad are subjective and empty of any true identity.
Since we are fortunate enough to be Dharma practitioners we are in a position to use good and bad situations as opportunities to deepen our practice and experience.
You can find a really excellent commentary on karma in the book, The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception by Deshung Rinpoche.
Its a big book but is really a valuable resource.
Joe,
I'm happy you found this so young. I'm sorry I didn't but we get it when we are supposed to. Lisa Simpson rules! But Bart is still my anti-hero!
Palzang
Love
Joe
I don't know. Time is an illusion just as space is, so it's hard to answer. I've often wondered myself if you could be reborn in an earlier time period, or even on a different planet. Maybe that's what the hell realm is, taking rebirth as a dinosaur! A small one...
Palzang
Palzang... I guess it could be possible? It's jto a just hard to conisider... like lets say I am reborn 2600 years ago, a time before the buddha. Tecnically buddhism would not have existed yet... and you could say that no one has become englightened in the way the Buddha had. I don't know... :P
Palzang
It's a shame there are very little people that you can talk to about Buddhism. I hope you do find someone with whom you can talk about it face to face, because it will often end up more meaningful then a conversation on a forum.
And Applepie, as I have explained later... I do really well in school, it's just hard to see the relevance in a lot of what I learn... but i suck it up and do it anyway, though a lot of it does not interest me, hence my lack of enthusiasm for school!
I don't know, some conversations I have had on buddhist chat rooms with people have been pretty BA.
There are some buddhists at my school, some of which that don't even know what about the 4 noble, 8 fold path, 3 marks of existance, or what the aggregates/ skandhas are. Which is okay, I suppose. But they are they kind of buddhists that like how it looks, and the lifestyle... but it ends there. Which is alright if that's what they want to do... I just don't think that way of buddhism involves a lot of understanding and so conversations don't really work out, well not the deep revolulational kind :P. Which is what a lot of high schoolers that are buddhist seem to do... which makes it hard to have good conversations and such. Haha... oh well...
BTW what the hell is the eight-fold path?
Anyway the Eightfold Path is what comes after the Four Nobel Truths. The fourth nobel truth is the way inwhich suffering can be ended- the middle way. And those are: Right View, Right intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfullness and Right Concentration. Through wisdom (1 & 2), ethical conduct (3-5) and developing your mind (6-8) a person can reach enlightenment by the cessation of suffering. I am assuming that you know what they are though, so maybe your question was a little more specific than I answered? :P
Can you remind me the precepts though please, I only remember five, or seven, :-/
Colarado? Environmental studies? Buddhist? COLARADO! For the first time I want to be somebody else. That is so unfair. I'm insanely jelaous to be honest
Love & Peace
Joe
I actually see the point in everything except history and ICT... However I like history and need a degree in ICT
Naropa is a university! I really really want to go! So I've been looking into it, it's not strictly Buddhist, but it's buddhist inspired... they have tibetan and sanskrit classes... how cool is that? And in those classes your learn the vocab and such the first year, and the next year you translate suttas.
I love history. I am not sure if there is a point... but I love it. Anyway, sure there is a point in most of the classes, but a lot of the stuff I am learning this year seems pointless. :P Like there was a mandatory class one year where all we did is play computer games and write papers about them. HUH?!
1. Refrain From Killing
2. Refrain from Stealing
3. Refrain from Lying, Slandering, Gossiping and Spreading Rumours
4. Refrain from Sexual Misconduct
5. Refrain from Taking Intoxicants
And the fifth is often not followed it seems...
6. To refrain from eating at the wrong time (only eat from sunrise to noon)
7. To refrain from dancing and playing music,
8. Wearing jewelry and cosmetics
The eight total are followed, if I am correct, by strcit buddhists on new moons and full moons, or festival days (depending on tradition). And for people who are aiming to become a monk or nun.
And then ten:
9. Refrain from using high chairs and sleeping on luxurious bed.
10. Refrain from accepting gold and silver (money)
Naropa University looks great
Peace
Joe
Yeah, I am not sure I'll be able to go either... but I can hope! And maybe there are some Buddhist universities over there? You could look.
And yeah, most lay people follow the first five precepts. Like I said the 6-8 precepts are for either really devout, or people who are going to become a monk or nun soon. I know the buddha had ate one meal a day, but this was also because he and his followers had to go into town and get the food offerings, which was only done once a day. Also, watching how much you eat and what you eat is something that makes you have disciplne and self control, that is why a lot of buddhist practice fasting, where they can only mostly drink water for a couple days, and depending on the type of fasting, one meal a day of only fruits and veggies. This also helps you understand and cultivate compassion for those who are starving unvoluntarilly. Also, you should take regufe in the buddha, dharma, and sangha. A lot of people take refeuge in Foods and Drugs, this should be avoided by watching what you eat and when you eat, and how much you eat, etc. Some people interpret that precept to mean eating when not appropriate, so only eating at meal times.
As far as the dancing and music one goes, I am not as knowledgable. I think it has something to do with attatchment, and diversion from what should really be done with time. But I am not sure, perhaps palzang could better answer this question?
No, Kalu Rinpoche was not talking figuratively. When one understands the true nature of reality, one can see the true nature of time and space, which is illusory, and thus one can move through them at will. Not there yet!
The stories of great practitioners who were able to fly or levitate or appear great distances away instantaneously (or even simultaneously) are not stories. They're hard for us to believe, but they are true. I know that from personal experience. But these powers (called siddhis) are not what it's all about. They are only side effects. The real goal is to end suffering for all beings. Anything else is just icing on the cake.
Palzang
What I want to do doesn't get me a big lot of money. It helps, not having to much money, it might prevoke greed. I want to help the environment not get money from it. I became a vegetarian because I was to greedy for flesh, I had fish for breakfast, ham sandwhiches for lunch, and a huge piece of beef, pork, or chicken and the thought of eating guts didn't even repulse me. I disgusted myself almost so during the summer hollidays I stopped eating proccessed meat, and by the end I cut down on all meat. A bit later I only ate free-range eggs and fish that are not at all rare. I recently stopped having marshmallows...
I'd really love to go to Naropa, I must have been a very very good person to be born in this time, with free speech, and human/animal rights, and Buddhism, and universities
Peace
Joe
When pigs fly...
Palzang
Palzang
And yes my name is Ashley, and yes you may call me by my name :P lol.
Hurry up and n understand the nature of reality! I want to see someone fly
Palzang
My mum had a look at Naropa University, she really likes it and says she'll think about getting me a place. Where do you live? I assumed America but I don't remember you saying...
Love & Peace
Joe
I live in Colorado, Naropa is like an hour from me...
Maybe Palzang.
Anyway, yep, I've got the rest of yr 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, a couple of years in collage
Love & Peace
Joe
You can't see them right now. They're disguised as flying snowballs.
Palzang
Palzang
I was lucky enough to take a picture of one migrating
Wow... long ways to go still Joe! It'll go by fast, enjoy the moments!
I have this year and the next and then FREEDOM! Like don't get me wrong, I love my family... but we are way different and they drives me nuts a lot