Search found 66 matches

by meindzai
Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:39 am
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Karma (vipaka) should be fair.
Replies: 25
Views: 5180

Re: Karma (vipaka) should be fair.

There are many ways of purifying negative karma and different schools emphasize different methods. That isn't what Thubten Zopa said "[If you] have not purified that negativity by the end of the day with a practice such as the Vajrasattva purification , the weight of that karma will have doubl...
by meindzai
Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:15 pm
Forum: Zen
Topic: Don't understand Zen
Replies: 24
Views: 8978

Re: Don't understand Zen

Perhaps just visit some Japanese Zen centers if you can find them, and read some Dogen to get the flavor. (Yes, I know, Zen has no flavor!). It is really not that different (equally flavorless?)

-M
by meindzai
Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:12 pm
Forum: Zen
Topic: dharma protectors in Zen?
Replies: 13
Views: 4028

Re: dharma protectors in Zen?

There is some stuff recited about Protectors of the Dharma at Zen Mountain Monastery in New York on a daily basis. There is also some shrine of a temple guardian outside the zendo in the hallway, and if I remember correctly there was something recited about once a week, where we'd all actually go in...
by meindzai
Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:03 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Karma (vipaka) should be fair.
Replies: 25
Views: 5180

Re: Karma (vipaka) should be fair.

Doesn't it say somewhere that earnestly reciting a single section from the Diamond Sutra can purify massive amounts of negative karma? So this large numbers stuff can go both ways... LE "Furthermore, Subhūti, if someone were to recite as much as a four line verse of this sūtra, that place woul...
by meindzai
Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:59 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Karma (vipaka) should be fair.
Replies: 25
Views: 5180

Re: Karma (vipaka) should be fair.

Sorry if I sound grumpy(lack of sleep), but this sounds like a BS scare tactic. The idea that karma increases over time so that small actions can bring extremely heavy consequenses is a standard presentation in Tibetan buddhism. Likewise the idea that one action can produce multiple results. It's a...
by meindzai
Wed Mar 09, 2011 6:45 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Karma (vipaka) should be fair.
Replies: 25
Views: 5180

Re: Karma (vipaka) should be fair.

In the foreword to "Becoming Vajrasattva - The Tantric Path of Purification", Thubten Zopa writes: "The great enlightened being Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo said that if you have killed even a tiny insect and have not purified that negativity by the end of the day with a practice such as ...
by meindzai
Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:38 pm
Forum: Language
Topic: "stress" in translations from Pali & Sanskrit
Replies: 21
Views: 6006

Re: "stress" in translations from Pali & Sanskrit

Thanissaro Bhikkhu has cited three reasons for this translation. This comes from several talks that I remember so I cannot give any reference, but I'm pretty sure they were from audiodharma. 1) It is harder to romanticize. i.e. people will romanticize suffering as if it in itself is something noble....
by meindzai
Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:45 pm
Forum: Meditation
Topic: Signs of wrong practice.
Replies: 19
Views: 5994

Re: Signs of wrong practice.

When I read "wrong practice" for some reason this is the first image that popped into my head:
Image
by meindzai
Fri Feb 25, 2011 10:07 pm
Forum: Zen
Topic: Don't understand Zen
Replies: 24
Views: 8978

Re: Don't understand Zen

I really didn't see much fundamental difference in the teachings themselves, but in the teaching style You said much difference. What little differences are there? "Don't know mind" is not a teaching in itself, it is a teaching device, a handy phrase, a bit of wording borrowed from Sueng ...
by meindzai
Fri Feb 25, 2011 5:03 pm
Forum: Zen
Topic: Don't understand Zen
Replies: 24
Views: 8978

Re: Don't understand Zen

I spent some time in the Kwan Um school as well as Japanese Zen. I really didn't see much fundamental difference in the teachings themselves, but in the teaching style. "Don't know mind" is not a teaching in itself, it is a teaching device, a handy phrase, a bit of wording borrowed from Su...
by meindzai
Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:56 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Jesus, a Buddhist?
Replies: 214
Views: 45892

Re: Jesus, a Buddhist?

See, maybe that's the problem. I don't think there is a consensus on what Christianity is supposed to be about. Even a cursory glance at the writings, detailing Christs words and actions, found in the New Testament (no matter how heavily edited they may currently be) cannot fail to show what Christ...
by meindzai
Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:46 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Jesus, a Buddhist?
Replies: 214
Views: 45892

Re: Jesus, a Buddhist?

Karma Dondrup Tashi wrote:It's surely ironic for many Christians to be fundamentalist freaks. The whole point of Christianity was supposed to be that love forgives justice.
It was? :shrug:

See, maybe that's the problem. I don't think there is a consensus on what Christianity is supposed to be about.

-M
by meindzai
Tue Feb 22, 2011 2:10 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Is the Dharma Itself Impermanent?
Replies: 12
Views: 4614

Re: Is the Dharma Itself Impermanent?

The Dharma (capital D) meaning teachings, are impermanent, and they will go away sooner or later. They are on their way out. dharmas (lowercase d) meaning phenomena are impermanent/inconstant in the sense that they constantly arise and pass at such blinding speeds that we don't even notice. If you'r...
by meindzai
Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:15 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Jesus, a Buddhist?
Replies: 214
Views: 45892

Re: Jesus, a Buddhist?

Don't get me wrong, many of Jesus's teachings are good and sometimes even well articulated. But they are really nothing special or knew in the way of religion. I think the popularity of Christianity has had more to do with what happened afterward, socially and politically, then anything that Jesus t...
by meindzai
Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:03 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Why are there still suffering?
Replies: 15
Views: 3441

Re: Why are there still suffering?

If what I have been taught is correct, that Buddha has boundless wisdom, compassion, and energy, and samsara is without beginning, and if Buddha was external to our minds, he surely would have brought us to Buddhahood infinite eons ago. Do you agree? Because of the law of kamma each of us is respon...
by meindzai
Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:44 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Why are there still suffering?
Replies: 15
Views: 3441

Re: Why are there still suffering?

Inge wrote:If Buddha was outside our minds, "he" would have already saved us. Do you agree?
Can you rephrase the question or expand upon it?

-M
by meindzai
Mon Feb 21, 2011 5:20 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Jesus, a Buddhist?
Replies: 214
Views: 45892

Re: Jesus, a Buddhist?

I think the idea that Jesus somehow learned Buddhist teaching is a hopeful theory held by some people, but I see no evidence of it. The Jesus character I've read about in the bible is essentially a megalomaniac who made the wrong people angry and got himself killed, rather than finding more skillful...
by meindzai
Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:23 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Jesus, a Buddhist?
Replies: 214
Views: 45892

Re: Jesus, a Buddhist?

Rael wrote:
"The Dharma is huge"
Indeed. I feel a signature coming on.
by meindzai
Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:49 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Jesus, a Buddhist?
Replies: 214
Views: 45892

Re: Jesus, a Buddhist?

I once again have to state.... when the dharma Wheel is turned ...all sorts of philosophies and religions appear... some oppossing ...but for a reason... Christianity tamed Rome...it laid the foundations for what we have today in the west.... freedom of speech and religion.... we know there is no i...
by meindzai
Mon Feb 07, 2011 9:50 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Jesus, a Buddhist?
Replies: 214
Views: 45892

Re: Jesus, a Buddhist?

He taught basic morality, but also a load of wrong views and encouraged people to believe he was the "son of god/god made flesh"... which if that is the case then he is personally responsible for well over 2.5 million senseless murders that were enumerated in the bible, including mass gen...

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