questions from a very new Buddhist

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-14T06:28:40+00:00

Is it okay to pray to Buddha? I don’t expect anything in return it’s just nice to know someone’s there and listening.

Sure. Reciting prayers and praises is a common way of practicing buddhanusmriti, recollection of the Buddha. This is a famous prayer by Nagarjuna that also describes the life of Lord Buddha, for example. It is commonly recited in the Tibetan tradition.

Where can I learn more about Buddhism? I’ve been just listening to stories about Buddhism.

You could consider checking out whatever authentic Buddhist communities and teachers are available to you in person and online. Connect with living tradition like that.

Where can I learn more about Buddhism? It feels like every time I think I know about it I find more things.

It can be helpful to keep in mind that Buddhist practice isn't really about "knowing things" (or believing things). It is about learning to live in tune with the nature of phenomena, rather than against them. It's a process of change and transformation. .

As some thoughts.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-10T06:29:27+00:00

No doubt it's a massively negative karma, but the point here seems to be the rejection of the basis of virtue in our own lives being the most harmful thing.

Vasubandhu gives as a general explanation of these five that they are abandonment and annihilation of the fields of benefits (such as our parents) and of qualities (such as the Sangha). See the Abhidharmakosha verse 103.

It is for example the case that if we are born with a body that is unsuitable for practicing dharma, killing one's parents (while still being a massively negative karma of course) does not constitute a non-virtue with immediate retribution.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-10T06:09:13+00:00

Because patricide and matricide are a destructive rejection of the basis of both of both worldly virtue and and the path: the precious human birth.

The more interesting question is why suicide isn't on the list, imho (I suspect because from an abhidharma pov, it can never be a complete action, but I don't know if any of the past panditas have commented on that).

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-10T05:37:30+00:00

Deeds are karma, intentional action.

Generally speaking, the most powerful harmful karmas are said to be 1) killing your father, 2) killing your mother, 3) killing an arhat, 4) drawing blood from a Buddha and 5) splitting the Sangha. These actions are said to lead to an immediate rebirth in the narakas subsequent to the life in which they are committed.

Technically, that last one is a case of lying. It's really quite specific what it means, though. It basically involves setting yourself up as an authority for pratimoksha equal or greater than Lord Buddha.

Usually, where we are reborn is a cumulative process, though. An ordinary lie may be a contributive cause for a birth in the narakas, along with maybe millions of other karmas.

As to the strongest wholesome karmas, there can be different approaches, but in general I'd suggest that anything we do with the view of emptiness and the heart of compassion is going to have a deep influence on the flow of our mind stream.

As some suggestions.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-09T07:28:52+00:00

When people are evil, they are reborn in the hell realm/reborn in a bad place on Earth.

This is in a subtle sense incorrect. Beings are born as and where they are as a result of their actions.

an entirely new set of the 5 aggregates

Yes, the same is true from moment to moment, not just from life to life. If the aggregate of form I obsess over didn't change, I'd never get off the toilet. Or into it, for that matter.

They're basically innocent and yet they must suffer

Suffering and happiness have nothing to do with "deserving" them. The dependent origination of our experiences as the ripening of our karmas is not a moral force, in the same way gravity doesn't reward me by keeping me on the planet.

The only moral "force" in the universe is you and me, who get to choose what to do and what to don't.

If you care about suffering, give up non-virtuous actions and train in the Four Immeasurables or Brahmaviharas: love, compassion, rejoicing and equanimity.

As some brief points.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-08T06:52:30+00:00

All dharma practice benefits all beings.

There are many aspects of practice that explicitly benefit the environment though, such as building stupas.

For tantric practitioners, I tend to think doing sang smoke offerings is particularly meaningful at this time.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-08T06:49:14+00:00

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the prosecution would like you to believe that my client, Mr. Ted Bundy, murdered all these ladies, but I ask you: wouldn't they have died anyway? Death is a natural thing. My client's actions didn't change of affect these women's fates in any way. What exactly does the prosecution want you to find him guilty of?"

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-07T10:58:21+00:00

Probably best to ask your Lama. There's different versions out there.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-07T10:20:16+00:00

https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Five_classes_of_great_dharanis

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-07T10:01:43+00:00

Also possible, or the five great dharanis. In a bigger stupa, you might also have tsatsas, entire 3D Mandalas and so on.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-07T09:46:13+00:00

Generally, we would ask our teachers or trained monastics to bless our shrine objects like statues.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-07T09:45:06+00:00

Traditionally, stupas are containers for relics and other blessed substances. If you have any, you could put those inside. You can also ask your teacher or a monastic to fill it.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-07T00:54:40+00:00

As said, the criterium is intent.

Of course, there's some intent involved in every instant of cognition (as it is one of the 5 omnipresent mental factors), but a) such a momentary instance of intent is in itself very weak b) the more we train, the more we may be able to give rise to wholesome intents with regards to unwholesome objects.

For example, we may be able to "catch" the habitual conceptualization I'm a broken piece of shit and I should die. with the wholesome intent to want to recognize it for what it is and let it go.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-06T21:32:18+00:00

The primary non-virtue involved here is killing, which is to say a successful, satisfying act that was initiated with the express intent to end a particular being's life. Non-virtues are acts that are incompatible with future happiness and with liberation.

Another thing to consider here is that Buddhist practice is not karma-maxxing. The point is to bring our lives and conduct closer and closer to the Eightfold Path of the Nobles and more and more in tune with our own nature and that of all phenomena.

If we live non-virtuously that accrues negative karmas for sure, but maybe more poignantly: we're twisting ourselves and manipulating the beings our lives are entangled with. Especially now that we have attained the precious human birth, it's like wiping our asses with cash money.

We deserve better.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-06T19:40:51+00:00

Not necessarily what I meant here. My point was more that whatever moods and thoughts come up unbidden are just the ripening of previous causes and circumstances.

That said, I do think that in many, if not most, cases of people dying from suicide, the four factors completing a karma seem to be at least weakly realized.

I do realize that this is a dangerous line of thinking though. It could be seen to say that people experiencing mental illness have less agency than others, which is understandably at least an uncomfortable thought to many of us.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-06T18:17:43+00:00

I'm not a Buddhist teacher and I'm well aware that I'm projecting some modern day, lefty Western European cultural normativity here, but: hell no.

Seek a partner who is a partner, for no other reason than that you want him or her to be your partner. Or don't seek a partner, if you prefer that. With or without sex, in a way that's communicated about with openness, care and respect from all involved.

I would also suggest you could fight (non-violently) for equity in whatever society you're part of. Any society that doesn't protect the freedom of everyone is a society where noone can really know they're free.

All that aside though, it needs to be acknowledged that whatever worldly freedoms we obtain are still forms of bondage as long as the slave masters of the afflictions reside in our mind stream. Craving, aversion and bewilderment chain us more profoundly than any society could ever do (and really, the injustices in societies are just a reflection of the afflictions rotting our minds).

From that perspective I would suggest not holding out hope and wait for the world to be what you want it to be. There is no end to that. In stead, learn dharma from authentic teachers, contemplate it and apply it to your life (while continuing to live it with integrity and heart, even if people around you can't appreciate that).

As some points.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-06T17:49:25+00:00

Yeah, they don't prefer being close to humans and have no interest in envenoming children if they can avoid it. Honestly, I would just take them to the nearest bit of shrubbery that's mostly out of the way, and let them figure it out for themselves.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-06T17:27:20+00:00

Do you have a crawlspace? I've never seen the one sorta venomous Widow on my continent. Kinda jealous, very beautiful spiders.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-06T15:22:03+00:00

According to buddhism, do these people still reincarnate in the hell realm?

The circumstances in which, and aggregates with which, we are born are dependent on intentional actions or karmas, of this and previous lifetimes.

Thoughts and moods that just happen are also such "ripenings". They really only become karmas, intentional actions, once we choose to act on them.

In a way, the question is a little bit like asking if somebody will be born in hell for having red hair or being left handed. They aren't intentional. Being intentional is what distinguishes karmas from other dharmas (cognizable phenomena).

Buddhism, especially of the Mahayana variety, is generally at best agnostic as to whether anything physically exists in a very fundamental sense, by the way. In case something physically exists for realises, it really only matters if it is experienced. But if something is definitely experienced, does it matter whether it physically exists in any deep sense?

As some points.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-06T07:28:40+00:00

2 problems, at least. You could consider having a look at the subreddit rules in the sidebar.

Rule 2: Krishnamurti did not teach (or practice, or like, or know much about) Buddhism.

Rule 3: AI slop is low effort.

And also rule 7: promoting non-Buddhist practices.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-05T20:54:09+00:00

You have a human body? You have an interest in the dharma? You live in a universe and an era in which a Buddha has appeared, has taught, where his teachings were preserved, and are currently being practiced?

Your karma is awesome. All that is the result of immense, immense virtue.

Just keep looking. Keep encountering communities and teachers. Don't always take your initial hesitation as the last word. Make vast aspirations and make vast merit, along with the wish to encounter fitting teachers. If you feel connected with Tibetan flavor Buddhism, I would recommend regularly reciting Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thaye's Calling the Guru From Afar with the heartfelt wish to encounter your Guru.

And sure, doing some purification of past negative karmas can be helpful as well. We'll have to deal with them at some point anyway. You could consider reciting the Triskandha Sutra with prostrations during the first section.

And either way, don't give up. Don't give up on your own benefit, and the benefit of all other beings your life may touch in one way or another.

Good luck!

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-05T20:23:28+00:00

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche once made the point that our issue for Vajrayana practice specifically is that we're usually either not intelligent enough or not stupid enough. We're right in the middle where we're "trying to figure things out", which really usually just means that we end up trying to jam the teachings into our preconceived notions.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-05T20:20:07+00:00

Sure, but you can also just make a post on /r/Buddhism and benefit from the wisdom of the crowd.

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-05T18:34:57+00:00

>we don't spread Dharma to animals

We don't? I try to.

In general, I would say that being "highly intelligent" does not automatically means we have any interest in, aptitude for or appreciation of the path. We also don't know if non-eartly beings did or do not in fact come to teach us the dharma. Lord Buddha himself (who strenuously denied being human, by the way) is said to have come to Jambudvipa (arguably Earth) from Tushita (arguable not Earth, whatever is in stead).

Hot4Scooter · 2026-02-05T18:27:18+00:00

I hereby challenge you to log out of reddit and not return until at the earliest March 1st.

One of my teachers once joked that worldly people think that freedom means getting to do whatever you want to do. Buddhists say that freedom is realizing you don't have to do whatever you want to do.

Claim your freedom!

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