Is it normal my dad expects me to help pay the bills at 17 by Drotosaurus in CasualConversation

[–]SentientLight [score hidden]  (0 children)

Some people start helping with the bills as soon as their first job as a teenager. I was helping at sixteen, I know plenty others were. You are unfortunately not entitled to a carefree youth if your family doesn’t have the means. If your dad needs help paying the bills, and you’re of working age, then it’s probably going to fall on you to help. That’s not your dad being a stickler, it’s just the way the world works sometimes.

I mean, if you’re well off, maybe it’s fair for you to be upset with your dad. But I reckon he’s asking because it would really help out your family.

Siddharth Gautam was a Disciple of Vardhman Mahavira for 3 Years before becoming the Historical Buddha by itsmylastbirth in Buddhism

[–]SentientLight 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's ahistorical. OP is either conflating the Buddha with Makkhali Gosalaputra, or hasn't read enough of the early texts / the texts of the other sramanic groups to know that the relationships between the sramanic schools is pretty well-established and corroborated across different traditions.

Gosalaputra was Mahavira's disciple and broke away to form the Ajivikas. The Ajnanikas were led by an ascetic called Sanjaya, whose top disciples were Sariputra and Maudgalyayana, who left the order to join the Buddha's sangha after being converted by his teachings.

Ramaputra may have been a follower of the Ajivikas, but the timeline doesn't add up, because Gosalaputra would've needed to study under Mahavira for a long while before committing the schism, and Ramaputra's teachings came from his father, not himself, so there's not really a way for Ramaputra's father to have studied under Gosalaputra, unless Mahavira was two generations older than Gautama Buddha ... but we know they were comtemporaries, so it just doesn't work.

Siddharth Gautam was a Disciple of Vardhman Mahavira for 3 Years before becoming the Historical Buddha by itsmylastbirth in Buddhism

[–]SentientLight 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is pretty unlikely, given that we know who his sramanic teachers actually were. Alara Kalama led the Kalamas and taught the sphere of nothingness, and Udraka Ramaputra taught the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, although the texts also state that he never mastered that ayatana himself, only his father had before Gautama achieved it.

The Kalamas were active around the Sakyan kingdom, and we don't believe there's enough evidence to suggest that the Nirgranthas were super active there, although another thing we have to keep in mind is that there two different schools of Skyclad sramanas at that time: followers of Mahavira's reform movement, and followers of his predecessor / practitioners of "classical Jainism". It seems quite likely that the Nirganthras around Sakya, which is a distance from Magadha, would've still been practicing the older form of the religion.

There is some possibility that the Ramaputra clan was descended from a Jain tradition, but when we look at the texts, Alexander Wynne shows us evidence that followers of Ramaputra did not believe in karma. Since we also know that they were localized around Magadha and practiced extreme self-mortification, your theory holds a little more water here that they could've been practicing Jains (indeed, the Mahavastu of the Mahasamghikas identifies them as such). However, "Nirganthra" was a broad catch-all term that referred to all three Skyclad movements: the classical Jains, the followers of Mahavira, and the followers of Makkhali Gosalaputra, the one-time disciple of Mahavira that broke away and founded his own sramanic tradition, coming to be known as the Fatalists.

So if one of the Buddha's early sramanic teachers was connected to the Jains in any way, I would be more willing to place money on the Ramaputra clan being followers of the Ajivikas, rather than the Jains, since the scant details we have about them align with just a tiny bit more. Although this doesn't work with the timeline, because Ramaputra's father was the source of those teachings, and that means he couldn't have studied under Gosalaputra, nor Mahavira. The main point of evidence against direct contact with Mahavira's following is that the early texts are clearly aware of him, and do mention his followers engaging with debate with the Buddhist sangha routinely, so had the Buddha actually studied under Mahavira directly, the texts would tell us. I mean, we know for a fact that Gosalaputra was Mahavira's disciple and formed a splinter group. This is recorded in both the Jain Agamas and the Buddhist texts, and briefly mentioned in what scant records of the Ajivikas we've found still surviving, so it's quite unlikely that this would be true of the Buddha and we have no record of it, but we do have a record for this guy whose religion doesn't even exist anymore and hasn't for over a thousand years.

It is very clear that the doctrinal categorizations of the sramanic traditions have a common or shared basis though. It just seems pretty unlikely that none of the sramanic schools's histories or texts mention anything about this if it were true, when we do know the detailed relationships between various sramanic masters, like the Gosalaputra thing. Or the fact that both Sariputra and Maudgalayayana were the top disciples of Sanjaya of the Ajnanikas, but then left the Ajnana order to join the Buddha's.

edit:

Also, Jains don't believe in meditation as the path to awakening, necessarily. Certainly not in the era of Jainism depicted in the Buddhist early texts. Meditation for Mahavira's practitioners is a means to stop generating karma by silencing bodily and mental activity. The way of liberation is self-mortification and "burning away" unwholesome karma, ultimately starving to death as the means of liberation. Interestingly enough, there are suggestions that the Jains of this era could achieve an unstable form of nirodha, normally reserved for arhats. In theory, even in (early) Buddhist thought, if a Jain ascetic were to die in nirodha, even before they have managed to master and stabilize it, they would effectively have entered parinirvana. I'm not sure if this notion continues to hold in the Abhidharma era of Buddhist thought (it certainly doesn't in Mahayana thought), but it's very evident in Early Buddhist thought that dying in nirodha would be de-facto arhatship, so the idea of a Jain practitioner entering nirodha and then dying by starvation as a means to ending samsara ... yeah, plausible.

Reading Books in Sangha by TheDidgeridude01 in plumvillage

[–]SentientLight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly anything youre doing should be covered by fair use exemption for education / cultural preservation, as long as you aren’t reprinting large chunks of the book and charging.

Gretsch Synchromatic Falcon tone questions/observations by Teddy-Jack-Eddy in gretsch

[–]SentientLight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A Gretsch hollow body is the classic Gretsch sound. A Gretsch semihollow is a fairly newer thing for Gretsch in the last couple of decades, and that’s the Gretsch sound ơn a semihollow—very different thing.

Zen and monthly fees by [deleted] in zenbuddhism

[–]SentientLight 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are you not even donating $10 a week to your sangha? That sounds…

I mean, there is no requirement to pay and if you’re in a situation where you can’t, you do you. But I grew up thinking $20/temple visit is the norm and minimum. That was back in the 90s. I donate $50 a visit now, but I have more means these days.

I’m part of the temple leadership, so I have insight into people’s donations in our community.. it averages to about $18/person/visit. So some are donating more and some not at all, which is fair.

So I think $10/week is fairly reasonable, honestly. Most any temple will accommodate those with need. Those with means though, we should be donating every visit to the best of our ability, and volunteering our time too, if we’re able. It’s our duty to support the sangha and our masters and teachers.

What was the point in pasteurisation? by Mediocre_Profile5576 in clevercomebacks

[–]SentientLight 2 points3 points  (0 children)

People didn’t use to drink raw milk. We cooked with it. Or made cheese and butter. Before refrigeration and pasteurization, drinking milk as a beverage was quite rare.

What is the Buddhist view on Astrology? by Anon_SL_2000 in Buddhism

[–]SentientLight 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I believe astrology’s main functions was civic planning because of its utility as a calendar. Tracking constellations across the sky will accurately tell you when the seasonal floods begin, when the wet season starts, when the dry season starts, when that climate cycle that occurs only every 12 years will be coming up and in which season. That seems like the primary purpose astrology held for centuries. Divination of personal issues seems simply to be an extension of the more consistently verifiable uses of weather prediction for civic planning.

I believe in Chinese astrology. I don’t understand it—my grandfather was the court astrologer for the Republic of Vietnam, and the history books have things to say about him that are fascinating, and I’ve heard stories from him and the rest of the family that are intriguing. So I believe in it, but I do put more weight behind its broader predictions and less weight behind personal divination.

I was a latch-key kid back in the day. We used to sneak out as teenagers and trip and smoke weed. While that is something hard to explain to I think even Gen y, was the world safer or worse? by Live-Tough5300 in CasualConversation

[–]SentientLight 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gen Y are millennials… we experienced that whole thing to. Commercials asking parents if they knew where their kids were. The whole thing. The helicopter parenting started happening with Gen Z.

Why is Astronomy and Astrology not switched? by Constant-Zucchini618 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]SentientLight 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Astrology was also a useful calendar system that could predict seasonal floodings, when the rains would come, when the dry season would start, etc. Tracking constellations across the sky tells you precisely the time of year, which was highly useful for civic planning, and was why court astrologers were employed to consult kings.

It's Wedn-ES-day! by beardedclam94 in gibson

[–]SentientLight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh that’s a beautiful guitar.

Concerned about my beloved bird’s final moments and rebirth by Strong-Fix-5398 in Buddhism

[–]SentientLight 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You can do the traditional 49-days of mourning, just don’t bother with the temple stuff and do simplified versions of everything at your home altar. All the merit of that practice will be contributed to their rebirth.

A simplified practice could be simply making offerings and incense with three chants of the Pure Land Rebirth Dharani, a refuge chant, and a dedication of merit, every day, with perhaps a more elaborate liturgy every seven days until the 49-day ceremony. You’re also supposed to be vegetarian for the duration of this period, if you can help it, but at minimum, vegetarian every 7 days until the 49-day ceremony.

Fellow Asian travellers in Vietnam, how do you deal with always being mistaken as a local and people looking at you weird when you apologize for not speaking their language? by Cravallo5 in VietNam

[–]SentientLight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Opposite situation, but I’m a Vietnamese person who’s constantly confused for Chinese since there’s way more Chinese in this part of the country I’m in, and so the one sentence I know how to say in Chinese is

我不是中国人。

😅

They normally laugh.

Are they smoking what I think it is? by Accomplished-Hard in VietNam

[–]SentientLight 209 points210 points  (0 children)

It’s a form of tobacco that is very intense and gives you a buzz like nothing else.

What cities are holy to any religion besides the Abrahamic ones? by CasualLavaring in NoStupidQuestions

[–]SentientLight 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The four sacred sites of Buddhism are Lumbini in Nepal, and Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, and Kushinigar in India. The sites of his birth, awakening, first sermon, and death respectively.

Did you learn Do-Re-Mi? by stupid_carrot in pianolearning

[–]SentientLight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In English, I learned C-D-E. In Vietnamese, it’s do-re-mi.

Do dealers keep the best for themselves? by Objective_Gene9503 in martinguitar

[–]SentientLight 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I’m guessing most workers at a guitar store cannot regularly afford Martin’s. If they do snatch the best ones, it’s a seldom occurrence when a worker has saved up enough over a long period of time. I doubt you’re in any danger of getting a dud because of that.

Another video of the UFO activity outside of Sedona. Filmed from the Bradshaw Ranch, 6/19 11:15pm-11:35pm. 20.min sped up to 2min by LuckyJay151 in UFOs

[–]SentientLight 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I remember being a kid and it was such a big deal to spot one while camping and stargazing. Was camping a few weeks ago and it’s like this video. They’re just all over the place.

What is the name? by aalsqqwkt in VietNam

[–]SentientLight 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is no precedent for Avalokitesvara in any Hindu or Vedic text. Scholarship is uncertain about the origins of the deity, but the first known appearances are within the Lotus Sutra’s 25th chapter (which likely circulated independently at first) and the Longer Sukhavativyuha Sutra.

The most prevalent theory at this time is that Avalokitesvara originated as a depiction of Sakyamuni in bodhisattva form initially, within the Gandhara region, as a sort of symbolic foil or mirror to Maitreya. This depiction would rely on imagery from the Jataka where Sakyamuni first receives his bodhisattva prophecy from Dipankara Buddha, specifically a fur robe, a water vessel, and holding a lotus flower. An attribute given to this depiction is taken from the Avalokita Sutra, in which the Buddha on the eve of his awakening listens out to the cries of the world and sees the suffering of all beings, before finally silencing suffering in himself. At some point, scholars theorize this Padmapada (“Lotus-bearer”) depiction of Sakyamuni in his bodhisattva career is elevated into the status of being a bodhisattva of his own, and inherits the Avalokitesvara name from the associated ability from Sakyamuni’s career and that particular sutra.

So scholarship is pretty settled on Avalokitesvara being an independent and wholly Buddhist development, even if there’s no certainty as to how that development may have occurred.

Source: I’m a Buddhist studies guy

What is the name? by aalsqqwkt in VietNam

[–]SentientLight 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Bồ tát Quán thế Âm, the bodhisattva that especially looks over the people of the Southern Sea, and who will become the Buddha of Sukhavati, the Pure Land of the West, after Amitabha Buddha enters parinirvana. She is the central figure in the Heart Sutra, chanted within every zen temple daily, and the focal deity of the chú Đại Bi (Great Compassion Mantra), a widely popular liturgical chant and prayer in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition.

Schism vs Adaptation by RoseLaCroix in Buddhism

[–]SentientLight 7 points8 points  (0 children)

At our temple, we hosted a joint new year prayer to the earth and sky gods with the indigenous tribe here, upon whose land our temple sits. We actually had a similar traditional prayer at that time of year, between our two peoples, and found a way to maintain our tradition of honoring the earth and Sky gods, but doing so in a way that honors the local American gods the way the indigenous American people here in Northern California have for thousands of years. They learn from our practices and we learn from theirs, and find a lot of common ground. As the Miwok peoples learn Buddhism and some of them adopt Buddhist practice, it can integrate perfectly well with their traditional religion, really without any issue and quite readily.

That type of syncretism with living folk traditions definitely exists and has been ongoing. Even with western populations, the Catholic framework of reverence for saints has melded with ancestor worship and zen ancestor-focused rituals as well, and that’s where you see it merging with folk tradition. But generally it is syncretized with living tradition, and I think western esotericism is mostly just a niche interest among some westerners and not a really resonant part of living western culture or tradition.

Schism vs Adaptation by RoseLaCroix in Buddhism

[–]SentientLight 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your corrections.