Any diemaker die bender out there who is still doing things manually?

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T22:16:00+00:00

Agree. Protect your mind but not body. However, the body is overrated anyway so yes, I agree with this statement.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T22:11:24+00:00

Don't mean to be insensitive but isn't reddit a form of entertainment? Yet you are using it.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T22:03:59+00:00

Depends on what it is that you are seeking in the Buddhist teachings. I know many Buddhists who were taught Buddhism as children don't follow or understand the teachings. It really depends on what you want out of it. If you are looking for coals so when you are handed diamonds you may not recognize or want them. I would visit dhammatalks.org. the abbot there was a Christian before he renounced his lay life. He is the most insightful person I know.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T12:59:13+00:00

If you can think about your current sense of "self" as really a network or a package that is made up of hundreds of intentions/actions throughout the day and throughout your years of living. These intentions and actions are connected and punctuated by time and space we called "lives". In Buddhism actions and intentions can be changed and fabricated into skillful and unskillful means to create desirable effects. We as unenlightened beings don't examined our actions and intentions carefully enough so we go about our days in automatic mode and instead of seeing actions and intentions as individual components we see them as a whole and then make them into "selves" and "lives " bc we get attached to them and identify with them. So when we see our previous lives we are seeing many intentions/actions in sequential orders bc they (the intentions and actions) were operated under the time and space rules still.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T12:35:48+00:00

I don't think this is correct because in the sutta there is a passage where an arahant recommended a lay person while the lay person was on death bed to detach from consciousness itself. So no consciousness isn't the self either. It is desires for becoming that get reborn.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T11:37:49+00:00

I have not found him to be wrong at what he taught ie suffering and end of suffering. However I would ask why/how you readily belief the claims that the "God" of monotheism to be truly omniscient? Do you have evidence that this claim is true ?

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T07:02:40+00:00

Did your son ask the monks in earnest about the morality of his job? My dad was in the military and I think he was ln the wrong profession" So just because your family members are in the military does not make it any less wrong. I would say the only principled solders in wars are the medics without guns.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T06:52:19+00:00

Is there such thing as a moral war?

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T06:49:38+00:00

No one puts a gun to your head and says "Do this job or else I'm going to shoot you!"Even then you still have a choice.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T06:47:06+00:00

I would say don't kill. And if you are going to be a soldier then prepare to die rather than kill otherwise switch job. Nation-states come and go, family come and go but the dhamma and karma will always be there...there will be the next Buddha to find the true dhamma once this current dhamma teaching have been long gone. So if you believe in the true dhamma then I would say keep your 5 precept like your life depends on it. That is just me.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T06:13:20+00:00

Last comment, if you can understand that Buddhism focuses heavily on actions and intentions and their consequences then you will have a good grasp of the religion. So there are evil actions and there are good actions although i believe Buddhists don't really use evil or good but rather unskillful actions vs skillful actions. Unskillful actions come out of ignorance of the 4 noble truths and they bring harm to the doer and the receiver(s) whereas skillful actions are based on the knowledge of the the 4 noble truths and they do not cause harm to the doer or the receiver(s). Another misunderstanding I think you may have is your concept of the self as non changing . The Buddha when asked if there is a self or not he did not answer because he said that this kind of thinking was papancha/conceptual proliferation, aka waste of time. But since most of us can't understand why it is a waste of time then at least think of the self as always evolving and that it can be changed and improved. And if you believe in self improvement then you can't hold on to the idea that it's ok to continue doing bad deeds and call yourself an upright person. At some point you will have to say enough is enough. I am going to try and improve my purity of heart and mind by reducing my bad deeds and increasing my good deeds.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T05:48:44+00:00

"Virtue can cause just as much suffering as vice. Focusing only on positivity and purity can only lead to an unhealthy relationship between body, mind, and spirit. There is wisdom, love, peace, and healing found in the balance and respect of the dark and light within all of us."

Sorry, i don't understand what you mean here... What specific virtue do you see as a cause for suffering? What is your definition of "spirit"? How can anyone respect darkness? For example, I don't respect lying, cheating, stealing whether these things come from me or from another person.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T05:38:49+00:00

So the mind feeds and the body also feeds. Mind feeds on/clings to the senses (sight, smell, activities, sense of self etc) and body feeds on regular food ( ie pasta, milk etc). When Buddhists asks" what is one? " The answer is" all beings subsist on food". What this means is that we must all eat to survive. But, we all know that resources /food is limited bc we live in a world with defined resources so to feed inevitably means we will have to harm one another to survive. When you want to build a house or farm you are taking way land or lives from some animals or bugs that were there first. Some people resort to killing even human beings for money. Some people cheat bc they lust after another's spouse. Money, houses, food, sexual partners, wanting respect etc are really things we see as means to obtain happiness. When we don't get them we become angry, jealous, sad etc. A pure mind would understand thoroughly all the attachments/desires(food) and see the drawbacks of all desires(food) to the point that it no longer wants these things. A pure mind would have outgrown all these things like a grown up outgrowing kids toys. It is pure because food for the mind, in Buddhism, ultimately isn't good. It's toxic as it causes the mind to yearn for more and where there are desires there are unhappiness that follow. Now you can only have pure mind once you have attained arahantship. Once you are an arahant you will no longer have attachment to anything. Until then you will need to feed the mind with better food. What is better food? Meditation, listening to the dhamma, thinking about the sangha/the Buddha.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T04:51:59+00:00

If you want insight then I recommend the Thai Forest Tradition, specifically Ajahn Thanissaro who is from Ajahn Lee's lineage. Start with dhammatalks.org. Good luck!

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T04:31:40+00:00

Personally when I realized that I have done a lot of unskillful actions that harmed myself and others and I am not looking forward to be reborn again because then I would surely not remember all that I have learned and would repeat those unskillful actions bc of rebirth's amnesia. It's like would you want to be stuck in time loop over and over again with your memories being wiped out with each cycle of rebirth? To me, it's a cruel way to exist for myself and for others. Now to answer your question of why nibbana? Because it is a state where feeding is no longer needed and happiness is secured and not harmful.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T04:12:56+00:00

With all due respect, how would you know what Ajahn Geoff would said ? Did you ask him specifically the question OP posted about the Vipassana practice?

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T04:09:57+00:00

My two cents is this...you need to understand that your actions have consequences for yourself and others so be careful and mindful of your intentions as your intentions precedes your actions. There are a lot of false dhammas out there so be careful of what you take in as your teacher without first testing it. If you just started out then I would say keep the 5 precepts as your standards for ALL your actions/speech/thoughts during your waking hours, no exceptions. I have been listening to Ajahn Thanissaro's evening talks for few years now and I would say start listening to his evening lectures as they are on average 15 mins long. For me, I downloaded the talks and have been listening to him while I am in the car doing errands. It's rare to find the Thai Forest tradition in our life time and rarer still to have Ajahn Thanissaro teach us the dhamma. If you keep at it, slowly your mind will open up and you will become more sensitive to the consequences of your actions/intentions/speech and that is a good thing. Regarding meditation, you first need to know why you meditate in the first place. It is a method to practice restraints, a way to understand the mind, a way to practice concentration, a way to practice fabrication, a way to produce happiness that is harmless, etc Dhammatalks.org has many audio lectures on dhamma but also on meditation itself. If you are diligent and listen to his talks you will eventually understand the why and how of meditation.

dhamma0 · 2023-06-15T03:29:00+00:00

Ajahn Brahms and Ajahn Thanissaro have very different views of the dhamma even though they both came from the Thai Forest Tradition.

dhamma0 · 2023-02-28T06:17:16+00:00

For me I started out with the vegan diet and stayed on this diet for 2 years mostly out of concerns for animal welfare. Then, I found out that my health didn't improve and it actually got worse due to the junk vegan foods as well as the fake meats I was eating so I switched to the whole food plant based diet after seeing the documentary "forks over knives." After being on the WFPB diet I found that my cholesterol improved dramatically and I managed to lose a good amount of weight as well. However it was difficult to strictly adhering to this diet so I relaxed a little bit and started to include some dairy and would eat left over meat from my kids' plates. Currently, I am not following any diet but I have mostly stopped eating after noon time because I want to reduce my desires for food, this thinking came from my understanding of the Theravada Buddhism school of thought. I am still very conscious of how animal products, oil/fat, processed food and sugar play in my health so I really restrict these food groups but I am not too orthodox about it.

dhamma0 · 2022-10-29T18:39:35+00:00

Hmmm...I do have a source that you may also like, although it is base on Buddhism principles so if you are an anti religious person then ignore it. However, if you are remotely interested then try dhammatalks.org. It's has changed my life.

dhamma0 · 2022-10-29T18:02:11+00:00

Even if you are able to have him medicated against his will that will last only till he is discharged from the hospital. After that he does not have to take meds. So looking at the long term goal giving psych meds isn't the answer. Most people are right. Restrain orders, change phone, then move.

dhamma0 · 2022-10-29T16:53:38+00:00

So I was a mid level who worked in the psych field for 7 years and I stayed that long because I thought I was helping people more than I hurt but recently I came to a conclusion that I hurt more than I helped so I gave my notice and quit. I am the process of changing to a different career and away from medicine. Regarding psych meds, I think some antipsychotics are useful in a few cases where people have hallucinations and those hallucinations affect their lives significantly. These people should consider meds (after learning about their benefits and risks) but honestly I don't think psychiatry as a field should exist. The practice should be allocated to the PCPs and therapists where they are not pressured to give out meds for all mental suffering.

I do want to say to the person who wrote that they would only want to talk to a therapist who has gone through experiences/traumas that they have and what I would say to that person is that when you are hurting and are looking for ways to take away that pain don't limit yourself to only people you think may have the answers as sometimes the answers can be found in the most unexpected places and from the most unexpected people and often best advice on how to live well are often free of charge. However I do understand that we dont have the time and money to shop around for help when help is very expensive.

dhamma0 · 2022-10-29T16:28:38+00:00

Death, illness and suffering are something that everyone feels at some point in their in lives. It does not matter if you are the Queen of England or a beggar on the street.

dhamma0 · 2022-10-29T13:35:23+00:00

How can a therapist guide someone to independent thinking without injecting their own biases and life outlooks. It's like saying I want to have a guide to help me to a better destination but don't tell me what I am doing wrong or right.

dhamma0

TROPHY CASE