Dharma Wheel

Regarding: Aurthur Waley’s trans of the opening line of the Hsin Hsin Ming: The Perfect Way is only difficult for those who pick and choose; Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference, and Heaven and Earth are set apart; If you want the truth to stand clear b...

I was at a talk being given by Thanissaro Bhikkhu/Ajahn Geoff. He quoted the opening line of the Hsin Hsin Ming translated as 'the great way is not difficult for those with no preferences' and then went on to criticize that viewpoint, saying there's no way to not have preferences, it's how we deal ...

The Theravada does by all means fit the description of Sravakayana described in most Mahayana Sutras - Aims for Arhatship, doesn't teach ultimate emptiness, their abhidharma posits atoms, focuses on only emptiness of the five skhandas, etc. That is quite the list, but of course, the only real issue...

I suspect that you think that you are here on DW to teach, rather than discuss. But of course I might be wrong. You might want to change your "might be" to "am"; however, yours is an interesting comment, suggesting that I likely have worn out my welcome. So, bye. I am one insign...

£$&^@ wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 9:36 am

I suspect that you think that you are here on DW to teach, rather than discuss. But of course I might be wrong.

You might want to change your "might be" to "am"; however, yours is an interesting comment, suggesting that I likely have worn out my welcome. So, bye.

There is no explicit teaching on the emptiness of Dharmas in Theravada that I am aware, let alone a deconstruction of the 12 links etc via dependent origination such as is found in the Heart Sutra, etc. Unless I just haven't seen it. I've poked around the Pali Suttas that mention the emptiness of t...

Interesting, however, the insights of the Madhyamaka are not all that unique nor exclusive to the Mahayana. There is no explicit teaching on the emptiness of Dharmas in Theravada that I am aware, let alone a deconstruction of the 12 links etc via dependent origination such as is found in the Heart ...

The Mahayana can view others however it likes and take that view as authoritative No question, the Mahayana can view others as it wishes, which, of course, opens up the Mahayana to the criticisms that are appropriately directed at an aggressive sectarian triumphalism that gets played out by some mo...

It doesn't really make sense to unify schools. Mahayana includes and accepts the Agamas and Abhidharma works, while if a Theravadin were to accept Mahayana scriptures and treatises that would simply make that person a Mahayana follower, unless they come up with a new explanation of how the Mahayana...

But it is interesting observing the resistance to any suggestion to giving up term hīnayāna as an appropriate epithet for the Theravāda. Because you're essentially asking people to deny their feelings, and ignore the fundamental problems they see in "Hinayana" ideology, problems which are...

Renunciation is not at all uncommon in the Mahayana outline of practice. I said this in the second half of my previous reply. Now, tell me, what is the difference between engaging with the world and being cut off from it. That should be obvious. Apparently not obvious, given that you did by-pass Ra...

There are many loyal adherents to all these practices that are devoted because of the transformation that comes with it. Do we need to find something wrong with this reality to free ourselves of suffering or is "attachment" to a particular teaching a means of avoiding personal extinction?...

Explain what you mean here by renunciation that needs counterbalancing, please. Thanks There are many discourses in the Pali Canon, like the Potaliya Sutta ( MN 54 ), that emphasize the necessity to renounce worldly affairs. Renunciation is not at all uncommon in the Mahayana outline of practice. T...

And it does seem the case that various esoteric practices were "expelled" by the Thai Theravada reforms of the 19th Century, but are still rather obvious to anyone who keeps their eyes open in Thailand. There's always much more of a mixture of stuff on the ground in Asia than some "M...

Your appeal to this modern variation of the Thai shaman/Sadhu-istic movement is interesting, but your claim that that is what Theravāda used to be like is rather hollow. You wish it were like this, but it is not. No wishing here. Simply from you no evidence to support you claim. Some Theravada temp...

But the real problem is not that hīnayāna is just a rude word; rather, it is that it carries considerable additional polemical doctrinal baggage that gets wrongly applied. If one were to call the Theravada hīnayāna, the assumption is that the Mahāyāna doctrinal polemics are an accurate reflection o...

Theravāda is older, indeed, than the Mahayana... Historical evidence shows that this is not the case. The current form of Theravada is a 19th century reformation movement. In order to understand what it looked like previous to reformation, I recommend you research the Reusi/Lersi tradition. Your ap...

When I was with the Theravada, I used to get so offended by the "hinayana" designation. I'd think, "How dare you say my school is the 'lesser' vehicle?!" The problem is that the hīnayāna carries far more meaning than just “lesser.” Hīna is a derogatory term, as we find it in the...

If there is no self why is there attachment to disparity with dharma outside of one's own teaching? That is an interesting and important question, and it is, maybe, one which has an answer that might be quite uncomfortable. With Insight into emptiness of the inherent grasping after that which reinf...

tonysharp: The Lotus Sutra is indeed unique among sutras in many ways. Nichiren said that it differs from the Theravadin sutras as heaven differs from earth. ... Theravada is not a synonym for hīnayana. These are no interchangeable words, and I: seriously doubt that Nichiren had any contact or actu...