The FPMT sells a book on filling statues: http://shop.fpmt.org/Statues-and-Stupas ... _1805.html. I haven't needed to use it, but it looks practical.
On a related subject, does anyone know a source in America for statue clothing?
Search found 43 matches
- Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:29 pm
- Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
- Topic: altar blessing
- Replies: 12
- Views: 2553
- Tue Oct 27, 2015 11:19 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: impermanence
- Replies: 25
- Views: 4688
Re: impermanence
Well, if we don't like Dolpopa, how about Ch'an Master Xuyun? 1. The Objective of Ch'an Practice: The objective of Ch'an practice is to illuminate the mind by eradicating its impurities and seeing into one's true self-nature. The mind's impurities are wrong thoughts and attachments. Self-nature is ...
- Tue Oct 27, 2015 7:26 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: impermanence
- Replies: 25
- Views: 4688
Re: impermanence
My point was only that if one expects a reference to Dolpopa's Mountain Doctrine to end the conversation, one is in for a surprise. I didn't reference Dolpopa as an unquestioned authority; I referenced the argument he presented. I simply think that it would do us all a lot of good to look at the re...
- Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:05 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: impermanence
- Replies: 25
- Views: 4688
Re: impermanence
Nor is there any consensus among Tibetan Buddhists that Dolpopa was on the right track. Far from it. Consensus? No, of course not. However several variations on a minority report are accepted by some. Yes, that's certainly true. My point was only that if one expects a reference to Dolpopa's Mountai...
- Tue Oct 27, 2015 5:19 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: impermanence
- Replies: 25
- Views: 4688
Re: impermanence
You may be surprised to read that Dolpopa's position is not the consensus one in those threads. Far from it, actually. Nor is there any consensus among Tibetan Buddhists that Dolpopa was on the right track. Far from it. Nor is there any consensus among Mahayana Buddhists of East Asia that Dolpopa's...
- Tue Oct 27, 2015 4:53 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: impermanence
- Replies: 25
- Views: 4688
Re: impermanence
If Nirvana Sutra is taken as establishing an Atman, most Buddhists would have an issue with that. It is certainly idiosyncratic in its use of language... Most definitely so. Here are some examples. http://dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=20258 http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=77&a...
- Tue Oct 27, 2015 7:17 am
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: impermanence
- Replies: 25
- Views: 4688
Re: impermanence
I have no interest in negating them; I was just offering scriptural clarification and support from Mahayana Scripture.
- Tue Oct 27, 2015 5:52 am
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: impermanence
- Replies: 25
- Views: 4688
Re: impermanence
Non-Self is Samsara, the Self is the Tathagata; impermanence is the sravakas and pratyekabuddhas, the Eternal is the Tathagata’s Dharmakaya; suffering is all tirthikas, Bliss is Nirvana; the impure is all compounded [samskrta] dharmas , the Pure is the true Dharma that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas ha...
- Fri Oct 23, 2015 11:13 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: What is superstition?
- Replies: 55
- Views: 9590
Re: What is superstition?
'True presumption' is to all intents an 'heuristic': any approach to problem solving, learning, or discovery that employs a practical method not guaranteed to be optimal or perfect, but sufficient for the immediate goals. Where finding an optimal solution is impossible or impractical, heuristic met...
- Fri Oct 23, 2015 10:47 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: What is superstition?
- Replies: 55
- Views: 9590
Re: What is superstition?
What is and what isn’t superstition is determined by our epistemology. Indian schools of thought privilege epistemology (pramāṇavāda) in much the same way that Western schools have privileged metaphysics. Don Lusthaus makes this quite clear: While it is not uncommon for Western philosophical systems...
- Fri Oct 23, 2015 12:01 am
- Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
- Topic: Emptiness
- Replies: 312
- Views: 52025
Re: Emptiness
I will disagree with Lusthaus. Emptiness is a signifier of an ontological reality, namely Ultimate Reality: In brief, the synonyms of emptiness are: (i) actuality; (ii) the summit of existence; (iii) the imageless; (iv) the ground of the real; (v) the ultimate. The term 'synonyms' here indicates tha...
- Thu Oct 22, 2015 8:50 pm
- Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
- Topic: Rebirth algorithm in Buddhism?
- Replies: 16
- Views: 4516
Re: Rebirth algorithm in Buddhism?
As the Lord teaches in the Kalama Sutra: "You yourselves do not have pure wisdom with which to know whethet there is an afterlife or not. You yourselves do not have pure wisdom to know which deeds are transgressions and which are not transgressions." This being so, the algorithm of rebirth...
- Thu Oct 22, 2015 5:39 pm
- Forum: Sūtra Studies
- Topic: The Pure Land and The Heart Sutra
- Replies: 88
- Views: 18989
Re: The Pure Land and The Heart Sutra
We'll never agree There's nothing wrong with that. read this article from the perspective of Orthodox Chinese Pure Land: It's often said that mind-only or metaphorical interpretations of Amida and the Pure Land as a reality that can be experienced here and now are invented by halfhearted believers ...
- Thu Oct 22, 2015 5:48 am
- Forum: Ethical Conduct
- Topic: Tolerance for other religions
- Replies: 411
- Views: 71198
Re: Tolerance for other religions
I think the Emperor Ashoka struck a good balance: Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, desires that all religions should reside everywhere, for all of them desire self-control and purity of heart. Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, has caused this Dhamma edict to be written. Here in my domain no liv...
- Wed Oct 21, 2015 7:24 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: The Great Compassion Mantra
- Replies: 29
- Views: 61423
Re: The Great Compassion Mantra
I believe the best version is the version of Vajrabodhi, reconstituted by Dr. Chandra: CONSTITUTED TEXT OF VAJRABODHI 1. namo ratnatrāya / nama āryĀvalokiteśvarāya bodhisattvāya mahasattvāya mahākāruṇikāya sarvabandhanacchedanakarāya sarvabhavasamudraśoṣaṇakarāya sarvavyādhipraśamanakarāya sarvetyup...
- Tue Oct 20, 2015 11:42 pm
- Forum: Ethical Conduct
- Topic: Right livelihood
- Replies: 47
- Views: 13787
Re: Right livelihood
As bodhisattvas, we also point out moral faults in others: If the bodhisattva, in regard to sentient beings who deserve to be rebuked, who deserve punishment, and who deserve banishment, with a defiled thought fails to rebuke them, or rebukes them but fails to correct them with an act of punishment,...
- Tue Oct 20, 2015 9:51 pm
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: Care to critique this notion for me?
- Replies: 22
- Views: 4559
Re: Care to critique this notion for me?
In particular, the word "defined" show up a lot in that paragraph above. A more appropriate way to interpret that word is "cognized" or "imputed on the basis of being merely labelled." In other words, there is only mind and the nature of mind is awareness. And all possi...
- Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:35 am
- Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Topic: A question on sutra about precepts
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1560
Re: A question on sutra about precepts
Intentionally killing any being in the six realms brings the probability of great suffering. Plants aren't included as one of the realms of rebirth, so eating them is not a sin. In the Nirvana Sutra, the Lord explains why His followers don't eat meat: Then Maha-Kasyapaika-gotra asked, “If it is very...
- Sat Oct 17, 2015 6:29 pm
- Forum: Lounge
- Topic: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity...
- Replies: 224
- Views: 36385
Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Asking for clarification is not an argument or even part of an argument. As Buddhists we should be able to give a coherent account of our worldview and reasons why we believe it. Cultivation includes the deveopment of reason as well as of piety and virtue.
- Sat Oct 17, 2015 12:55 am
- Forum: Lounge
- Topic: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity...
- Replies: 224
- Views: 36385
Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Well, you clearly didn't understand a word I said, or else you are being willfully ignorant, another common feature of fundamentalists regardless of which Scripture they follow. Even if you are convinced you know the "Truth", show me exactly where in buddhavacana it says that we have to c...