Search found 329 matches

by Nilasarasvati
Sat Jul 09, 2022 4:19 am
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

I think you're seriously underestimating the drive to discover truth, insight, knowledge, wisdom etc in philosophers past and present. Nonetheless, I agree that Buddhadharma operates in a different way. People like to climb all kinds of mountains, high and low. I am only interested in one of them, ...
by Nilasarasvati
Sat Jul 09, 2022 4:08 am
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

Others have said far better what I was trying to say in regard to cultural chauvinism. I still think it is a violation of the samayas to disparage any religious path that can lead to higher rebirths. And forgive me but Richard Dawkins is garbage. I was raised Mormon, I despise evangelical Christiani...
by Nilasarasvati
Wed Jul 06, 2022 4:58 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Innate sense of self and gender identity
Replies: 119
Views: 6339

Re: Innate sense of self and gender identity

There is a wealth of discourse on these issues that I wish everybody here was aware of. I wish that the wide diversity of disagreement and polemics about gender from WITHIN queer spaces was something that mainstream Cis/straight people were exposed to. I want to express some gratitude: most of the v...
by Nilasarasvati
Wed Jul 06, 2022 4:47 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Innate sense of self and gender identity
Replies: 119
Views: 6339

Re: Innate sense of self and gender identity

I detect no tactics on this thread - nor any attempts to obfuscate. You do? The fact that everyone wants to talk about "gender ideology" and no one is interested in understanding the experience of gender is in itself obfuscating. Gender ideology is more a creation of its opponents than of...
by Nilasarasvati
Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:36 pm
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

For one example; I am trying to communicate a broad and general qualm with chavinism and exclusionary/fundamentalist attitudes in our traditions. I am trying to articulate that there is worth and merit of all kinds across cultures. And there are ways of contemplating that that behoove our cultivatio...
by Nilasarasvati
Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:28 pm
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

In general, I'm disheartened and sad about he results of the last few threads of thinking. My problem in general on Dharmawheel is this: I rarely if ever disagree with anything that people bring up in good faith. I feel I learn a great deal from the perspectives I see on here. However, I feel in gen...
by Nilasarasvati
Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:21 pm
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

Because many Buddhists don't like his dad especially how he is portrayed in the old testament, Christ praised his dad's actions a lot and he only advocated for compassion to be shown to all humans who embraced his dad, not animals or other sentinel beings, was mentioned. Christ also believe in eter...
by Nilasarasvati
Tue Jun 28, 2022 1:07 am
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

how could Christ, generously understood, not be seen as a bodhisattva? Because many Buddhists don't like his dad especially how he is portrayed in the old testament, Christ praised his dad's actions a lot and he only advocated for compassion to be shown to all humans who embraced his dad, not anima...
by Nilasarasvati
Mon Jun 27, 2022 7:32 pm
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

also, in general, I think it's against the tantric view to believe that: Bodhisattvas only appeared in Dharmic countries. That the enlightened activities of the conquerors did not manifest in the poetry of heathen Persians or the films of Fellini or the rituals of the Mayans. That no flicker of lib...
by Nilasarasvati
Mon Jun 27, 2022 7:10 pm
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

also, in general, I think it's against the tantric view to believe that: Bodhisattvas only appeared in Dharmic countries. That the enlightened activities of the conquerors did not manifest in the poetry of heathen Persians or the films of Fellini or the rituals of the Mayans. That no flicker of libe...
by Nilasarasvati
Mon Jun 27, 2022 7:02 pm
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

3. Are there any lineage holders of the Rime schools who are well-educated in Western philosophy as well as the monastic curriculum? The dearth of such overlap is really sad--especially after having studied Deleuze/Guattari, Hegel, Spinoza, and even classical thinkers like Zeno, the more convinced ...
by Nilasarasvati
Mon Jun 27, 2022 5:01 pm
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

3) I’m gonna guess it’s mostly Westerners in this camp, BAW comes to mind. I do recall that Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche was not only conversant but (maybe?) had a degree in Western Philosophy. Too bad he is gone. I feel like more teachers I’ve met are interested in psychology than philosophy, though of...
by Nilasarasvati
Mon Jun 27, 2022 2:46 am
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

I have to express my gratitude to the depth and breadth of knowledge, first hand experience, and historical insights you're all sharing regarding assimilation, colonialism and post colonialism, the diaspora of the Tibetan people, whether and to what degree anything of Dharma "belongs" to a...
by Nilasarasvati
Mon Jun 27, 2022 2:28 am
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Someone go tell DJKR
Replies: 163
Views: 11683

Re: Someone go tell DJKR

In my mind, that's a very big deal for a dharma teacher to be a between-the-lines Fascist. I don’t think this is correct.... he is not a crypto-fascist, he is someone who derives his opinions from mainstream Indian media. This makes sense, because he lives in India, is grateful to India, and sees i...
by Nilasarasvati
Sun Jun 26, 2022 5:56 am
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

It's frustratingly common How common is frustratingly? What I mean is, how many examples can you actually cite? (Is it like 100,000 bhutanese refugees in Pittsburg? :jumping: CTR used it to justify a lot of outrageous situations in Shambala, it was later part of the general zeitgeist of trying to m...
by Nilasarasvati
Sun Jun 26, 2022 4:58 am
Forum: Sakya
Topic: Drubthab Kuntue teachings from Dzongsar Khyentse?
Replies: 17
Views: 4981

Re: Drubthab Kuntue teachings from Dzongsar Khyentse?

Am I crazy for wishing so badly I could go do this? Two months in India, having never been to Chauntra or India before, seems utterly impossible. Even if I didn't have major qualms about taking empowerments from this being I already have a complex relationship with. On the other hand, his statement ...
by Nilasarasvati
Sun Jun 26, 2022 4:06 am
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Someone go tell DJKR
Replies: 163
Views: 11683

Re: Someone go tell DJKR

This was a very helpful string of comments to read, in general. And it echoes all of my frustrations. I am in communication with his partner, I believe. We are not close, we do not discuss the nature of their relationship, but I'm somewhat certain that she is his Sang yum. I'll be the first person t...
by Nilasarasvati
Sun Jun 26, 2022 3:28 am
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

I always found it bizarre so many lamas cite Marpa's treatment of Milarepa as a model. Milarepa was a serial killer. if a serial killer came to you and asked to be your Dharma student, you likely would 1. tell them to go away then 2. test their desire to change and then 3. have them purify the mass...
by Nilasarasvati
Sat Jun 25, 2022 11:33 pm
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

So, you have to have some understanding that social/political views are not just about personal choices, but are largely about social conditioning, in a big way. You can't just undo that because you believe you have ideas about society that have more merit. People just don't make decision on sociop...
by Nilasarasvati
Sat Jun 25, 2022 10:26 pm
Forum: Nyingma
Topic: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.
Replies: 112
Views: 6787

Re: Crisis of a Faith, returning to dharma, and new directions.

4. Learning about the ethnic cleansing of Bhutan the 90s (Pittsburgh where I live has hundreds of thousands of these people …) Pittsburg has a Bhutanese refugee population of about 6,000. Where I live in Ohio, the Bhutanese refugee population is over 20,000. About 10% are Buddhist. I am working on ...

Go to advanced search