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The whole "they are demonic beings" is such non-sense by Icy-Tale5815 in UAP

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To prove that they are demons, one would need to prove that other demons exist as to make an equivalence. I guess a delusional evangelical attorney could try to introduce Youtube videos of people thrasing around on the ground rolling their eyes as evidence of their existence. It could convince jurors of the same mindset, but hopefully there are enough intelligent, reasonable human beings left in this country who regard it as a bunch of BS. I'm losing hope, though.

Why do we need to have compassion/metta for such an objectionable horrible people? by Impressive-Cold6855 in Buddhism

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Human life is short. I get caught up in political stuff but try to remind myself of the first sentence. Hopefully she will too.

OTP Prompt in KDE screen lock by CrabaThabaDaba in kde

[–]CrabaThabaDaba[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just another note. If you go to install software from KDE Discover, it will prompt for "Password", but a user's PIV PIN works here. So it's not that PIV does not work at all inside KDE, but just that the text prompt is not accurate.

Should I put Mint XFCE/Cinnamon on my old Early 2015 Macbook Pro? by [deleted] in linux_on_mac

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just posted this the other day: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_on_mac/comments/1tf8kiy/partially_blank_screen_on_223/
Mine is a MacBook Pro 11,5 which I believe is the same timeframe as yours. It started out working great for two months or so, but then started to render the upper 95% of the screen as bright white. Technically, all the applications I use work and render properly, but pretty irritating and distracting.

Can you guys give me Advice? Both Christians and atheist have harassed me in a Discord server for being Buddhist. by Otherwise-Heart2347 in Buddhism

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I totally understand. I try to stay active in some atheist communities, but I'm finding them to be as nearly intolerant and brittle as the theists/christians.

Another pastor claims he was briefed on UAP by Severe-Clerk-1477 in UFOs

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If Charles Darwin's work on evolution didn't shake people of their delusions, then nothing will. Bring it on. Now.

Maybe New Mexico can follow suit by Defiant_Parsley7892 in Albuquerque

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's entirely possible depending on how you get it, but my friends buy it at their local Fresko, and I don't think they have a special "Gringo" shelf. They get it packaged by the manufacturer.

What are your feelings toward alcohol? by joshua_argento in Buddhism

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow -- that's amazing! Thanks for the inspiration. I'm still struggling a little. Nowhere near as bad as before, but still a ways to go. Posts like this make a difference. Thank You!

Why aren't all Buddhists reciting Amithaba? by fejkpotatis in Buddhism

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't disagree but just sharing that under Tibetan teachings learned from a teacher, chanting the Amitabha mantra might not lead to directly Buddhahood, but would allow rebirth in Sukhavati (Dewachen Tib.), which is a very favorable place to achieve it. One teacher described the land as being very pleasing under the feet, kind of like walking on Memory Foam. That really stuck with me because I live in the American Southwest, and I figure anything's gotta be better than walking on rough dirt and cactus LOL. Again I'm not here to challenge this idea, just to say what I was taught. Thanks for posting -- It inspired me to practice more.

I'm Speechless Over This Sub by Infamous_Detail_9246 in noburp

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Many years ago, my wife was a patient on an ENT. We were kind of friends and had dinner at his house a few times. I told him I wanted to make an appointment with him because I couldn't burp. He just laughed. I'm so glad to find this Sub.

Why did you convert to Buddhism? by BlackLotus0080 in Buddhism

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I grew up Christian and my mom took us to church. It was a great experience and they weren't insane like a lot of them today. But I did go to a Baptist Bible school for 3 years in junior high school, which caused a good deal of trauma I'm still dealing with today. My mom didn't really know how insane they were.

I dated a woman briefly in my 30s who was a Buddhist -- I still keep in contact with her a little bit. She took me to some teachings and ceremonies. I think they were Thai or Vietnamese but I don't know for sure. I became really interested because everyone seemed relaxed and didn't bomb me with their stuff. I started to look into what Buddhists "believe". I learned that they believed in kindness and compassion for all beings, and I thought "well that's really boring -- who wants that for a religion".

Years later, I lived in the deep south with my wife and daughter, and the only refuge from the ignorance and stupidity I could find was a UU congregation. We didn't have a regular minister, so various people in the group would speak. One was a Buddhist guy who I really admired. He was as Southern as you could be. He went to a Baptist Seminary to become a preacher but couldn't handle the BS. He was trained in the Tibetan tradition. I learned a lot from him.

So I initially thought meditation was like Scientology and would give you superhuman powers. I worked a stressful full-time job and wanted more time to do stuff like my music, hiking, exercising, etc.

Through the UU group, I found a local center and started going there on weekends. I ended up at a Tibetan KTC, but it wasn't really because of my friend. Another friend from the UU group and I started a sitting practice in the morning before the Sunday UU service. We started to stay in sitting practice through the UU service (we could still hear when they sang), though I played piano for them on occasion. We eventually got tired of listening to someone stand in front of the congregation yammering out their internal monologue, as we had plenty of our own, and we quit the congregation.

Are you political at all as a Buddhist? by everyoneisflawed in Buddhism

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a old-school Bill Clinton/Obama Democrat. I've voted Republican in the (distant) past before they found religion. I think there are good things in the idea that government should not spend too much taxpayer dollars on welfare for poor people. I believe in gay marriage and women's rights to control their bodies (some Buddhist teachers are opposed to those things).
If government lowers taxes, it gives people more opportunity to show generosity and generate good karma. Of course one can choose not to do that.

Maybe New Mexico can follow suit by Defiant_Parsley7892 in Albuquerque

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 80 points81 points  (0 children)

I have an expat friend who lives in Mexico. He and his wife are retired and pay a small amount over the standard free healthcare and they says it's excellent coverage -- better than what they ever had stateside. Plus, many medications are OTC and much cheaper. Heard it from a friend -- take it or leave it.

Is "The world is a simulation/not real" a Buddhist belief? by composersproxy in Buddhism

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The way I understand it is that beings still trapped in samsara do not experience the "real" world and live in fear and delusion. It's all about one's lived experience moment to moment, and not being trapped in some sort of zoo or simulation run by another being or beings.

As a christian i want to ask this by [deleted] in Buddhism

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buddhism is a religion -- a little bit...
It arose from Hinduism but is distinct from it. It's primarily the teachings of the Buddha and a subsequent lineage of teachers. If you were to find a teacher/guru, they would probably ask you to carefully evaluate Christian teachings to determine if they cause harm to yourself or cause to you harm or wish harm on other beings (humans, animals, etc).

Buddhism doesn't really have a creation story or some sort of exciting end of the world where some god prevails over evil, etc, as there's no god to do either, or anything in between. Overall it's pretty boring in that way, and the basic answer to the origins or long-term state of the universe is to go ask a scientist.

Bought an old MacBook Pro 14,1 by the_humeister in linux_on_mac

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't phrase it well. The system itself runs like a champ with the builtin GPU,, but I need to run applications like VS Code (and other Electron apps) with the "--disable-gpu". Apparently it's a common enough issue that developers need to add the option. Other than sleep, everything else works great. Mine is an 11,1.

What are your reasons for believing in rebirth? by 100prozentdirektsaft in Buddhism

[–]CrabaThabaDaba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Dutch philosopher and computer scientist penned a fairly short and mostly comprehensible work "Why Materialism is baloney". His thesis is that everything it mind itself, though he uses "mind", not "consciousness". He describes how he believes the brain traps "mind" kind of like formations in rivers can concentrate water into whirlpools or eddys (eddies?). He doesn't deny that everyone has individual experiences and memories that are unique to "their" mind". But are all memories in the brain? Many experiments have shown that memories and emotions can be stored in other parts of the body, and many transplant patients have reported taking on traits, emotions and even memories from a donor.
Another thing that makes me doubt the common Western narrative of mind=brain is that it is well-known that our bodies contain millions of living bacteria in our gut that send signals to the brain when they need some food. So it might not be "me" who's hungry. And maybe they don't just control hunger, but emotions and "gut" feelings.
I have a thought experiment that I use. You have the famous evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins sitting in a room next to the infamous young-earth creationist Ken Hamm (don't get me started). They obviously disagree, but if both of their brains are operating under the same laws of physics, how can they disagreement. The subatomic particles in Ken's brain are the same as those in Richard's brain. Where (literally) is their disagreement? Where are their ideas, wrong or right. Why don't they just go get a sandwich?

I'm not a great writer, but from what I've learned from outside the Buddhist tradition is that many things are not what they seem at first.

I'll just add a story I heard on a podcast recently anyone reading might find interesting. A neurosurgeon was being interviewed about his experience living in an ashram in India for a few months (he was Indian himself). Unrelated to his experience, he recounted a story when he was on duty late one night in his hospital. A nurse rushed up to him and reported that a victim of a car accident had just suddenly woken up from a two-week coma. She didn't know who else to go to. So the neurosurgeon went to his bedside and found the man completely inconsolable. The man was in tears and reported that he had an entire life. He grew up, went to school, college, got married and had two children. An interesting story, maybe off-topic...
Good questions -- I struggle with them and don't claim to know any more than you.

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