Search found 79 matches

by Ambrosius80
Fri Jan 27, 2017 8:38 pm
Forum: Ethical Conduct
Topic: Adultery and Being a Buddhist
Replies: 134
Views: 47086

Re: Adultery and Being a Buddhist

I think you already know the answer to your question. "Sexual misconduct", the third precept, forbids adultery. I also think that by asking a question like this you are merely expecting people to support your current state of affairs, so you can continue with your cheating. Otherwise you w...
by Ambrosius80
Fri Jan 27, 2017 8:10 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Myers-Briggs personality test
Replies: 85
Views: 21569

Re: Myers-Briggs personality test

I am an INTJ.
Sometimes it can be hard for me not to overthink even little things. Sometimes I also tend to theorize endlessly about things without actually taking action!
However, I consider myself an ambivert and tend to be at ease both alone and with other people. I consider this a real boon.
by Ambrosius80
Fri Jan 27, 2017 7:50 pm
Forum: Discovering Mahayana Buddhism
Topic: What is the location of the mind
Replies: 68
Views: 15866

Re: What is the location of the mind

You've got a contradiction here. On the one hand, you've got nihilism, and on the other, eternalism. I purposely tried to simplify my post and leave certain madhyamaka aspects out of it, but if you will... Yes, the mind both exists and then again doesn't really exist at the same time, as is evident...
by Ambrosius80
Fri Jan 27, 2017 7:38 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: how to be a buddhist?
Replies: 43
Views: 9075

Re: how to be a buddhist?

To be formally Buddhist is to take refuge in the Three Jewels; the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. By taking refuge in the Buddha, you are stating you trust in his superiority as a teacher and consider what he says as the truth, until you are yourself in experienced enough to know whether his tea...
by Ambrosius80
Fri Jan 27, 2017 7:24 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Buddhist Prayers?
Replies: 5
Views: 1649

Re: Buddhist Prayers?

It is entirely fine if the prayer is sincere. Just remember that the Buddhas and bodhisattvas cannot give us enlightenment or dramatically change our karma, and that by praying to them we are praying to an ideal that we ourselves can aspire to become one day.
by Ambrosius80
Fri Jan 27, 2017 6:53 pm
Forum: Discovering Mahayana Buddhism
Topic: Getting a beginner a great start?
Replies: 9
Views: 3132

Re: Getting a beginner a great start?

These are all excellent suggestions. :good:

After you have grasped the basics, I recomment BDK's translations Awakening of Faith and The Summary of the Great Vehicle. They expound the doctrinal teachings common to all Mahayana schools.
:anjali:
by Ambrosius80
Fri Jan 27, 2017 6:49 pm
Forum: Discovering Mahayana Buddhism
Topic: What is the location of the mind
Replies: 68
Views: 15866

Re: What is the location of the mind

In fact, there really is no mind at all according to Yogachara. What we humans perceive as "mind" (Eg. the place where we form conclusions, think about things and objects etc.) is actually just a sum of the five aggregates: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and sensing by touching. All of...
by Ambrosius80
Sat Jan 21, 2017 3:04 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Degenerate age
Replies: 19
Views: 6175

Re: Degenerate age

I think this current age is "the beginning of the end" for morality and skillfullness, not to mention Buddhism. Modern people are obsessed with pursuing material and sensual things, and the value of money decides the value of human/animal life more and more each passing day. At least peopl...
by Ambrosius80
Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:59 am
Forum: Discovering Mahayana Buddhism
Topic: Can a person be a hungry ghost?
Replies: 11
Views: 2796

Re: Can a person be a hungry ghost?

In a way, yes. The six realms of Samsara should be seen as both metaphors for different states of mind, as well as actual paraller dimensions where one transmigrates after physical death in my opinion. To say one is like a hungry ghost is to describe someone who craves for something, be it money, fa...
by Ambrosius80
Thu Dec 29, 2016 1:17 am
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Is Amida Buddha a real buddha?
Replies: 64
Views: 15472

Re: Is Amida Buddha a real buddha?

I was under the impression that Padmasambhava is the Nirmanakaya of Amithaba. Shamarpa too. Interesting. I am not familiar with the Tibetan traditions, so cannot really comment on that. However, the Buddhas and Bodhisattva Mahasattvas certainly do take many physical forms with which to teach sentie...
by Ambrosius80
Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:45 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Is Amida Buddha a real buddha?
Replies: 64
Views: 15472

Re: Is Amida Buddha a real buddha?

A Buddha is said to have three different bodies. One is called Nirmanakaya, meaning that the Buddha has a physical, tangible body. Amitabha has not had this body for eons, unlike the Buddha of our time, Shakyamuni did over 2500 years ago. A Sambhogakaya is the second body of a Buddha. It is a celest...
by Ambrosius80
Tue Dec 27, 2016 2:44 pm
Forum: Introductions
Topic: Lonely Buddhist
Replies: 21
Views: 4707

Re: Lonely Buddhist

Hello and welcome! :anjali: I was in a similar situation some time ago. To me it seems that the largest problem with western Buddhist Sanghas has to do with the contemporary western materialistic culture. People are only drawn to the Dharma because they see meditation and the like as merely self-hel...
by Ambrosius80
Wed Apr 08, 2015 2:59 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: The symbolism of Ksitigarbha's crown
Replies: 2
Views: 1335

The symbolism of Ksitigarbha's crown

What is the symbolism behind Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha's crown he is sometimes depicted wearing? It reminds me of the tantric five-leaf Crowns I have seen, but do not know the purpose of.
by Ambrosius80
Sun Apr 05, 2015 2:45 pm
Forum: Pure Land
Topic: What a Pure Land truly is?
Replies: 7
Views: 2668

Re: What a Pure Land truly is?

:good: My opinion is similar to what I have read so far. But I am much more simple and direct: Pure Land is real as Earth planet, real as my house, my body, etc. Nevertheless, I understand the duality, I understand that Mind creates everything, but I can only grasp a small part of that. I am not re...
by Ambrosius80
Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:09 pm
Forum: Pure Land
Topic: What a Pure Land truly is?
Replies: 7
Views: 2668

Re: What a Pure Land truly is?

I agree with all of you. But I wonder why so many people are incapable of understanding that originally it is the mind that creates all the realms and concepts, but at the same time those realms and concepts become as real as the physical Saha world we are living in at the moment. It says for exampl...
by Ambrosius80
Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:58 pm
Forum: Pure Land
Topic: What a Pure Land truly is?
Replies: 7
Views: 2668

What a Pure Land truly is?

I would like to know your opinion on what form does a Pure Land exists. Some state that a Pure Land is only created inside the mind, others that it only exists as a plane of existence where one goes after death. Some combine the two views syncretistically. Still, there are some who say that a Pure L...
by Ambrosius80
Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:23 pm
Forum: Pure Land
Topic: Daily Practice
Replies: 15
Views: 5665

Re: Daily Practice

This site has a book called The Buddhist Liturgy among others available for free. The book has proved to be invaluable to my practice. It includes chants, dharanis and ceremonies from both Chinese Buddhist schools (ie. Pure Land and Ch'an) that one can chant in temple activities or at home. http://w...
by Ambrosius80
Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:34 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: what is the best realm from which to help beings?
Replies: 22
Views: 4902

Re: what is the best realm from which to help beings?

The Bodhisattvas seek rebirth in the human realm because human beings can be influenced to pursue virtue and wisdom and purify their karma whereas these activities are virtually impossible in the other realms. That's not true. The Sutra on the Vows of Ksitigarbharaja Bodhisattva for example states ...
by Ambrosius80
Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:46 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Buddhism and evolution
Replies: 53
Views: 11306

Re: Buddhism and evolution

I think it is fair to say that the misogyny did exist there originally. We frequently encounter passages in the Buddhist canon that are disparaging of women. Misogyny means hatred towards women, which has never existed in Buddhist philosophy. If anything Buddhism has been promoting women's equal st...
by Ambrosius80
Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:20 am
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Reptilians ,extra terrestrials, demons and celestial beings
Replies: 12
Views: 3226

Re: Reptilians ,extra terrestrials, demons and celestial bei

Extraterrestrials remind me of the highest devas, who are said to be asexual, fly through the air at will, and be way more advanced than us humans. My teacher once said that a deva is to a human what a human is to a rat; a being so vastly more complex and advanced that it could as well be called a g...

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