Dharma Wheel

Can you practice Tibetan Buddhism without ever had a Guru (or master, rinpoche, whatever you call it)? In every book I find* they always say -somewhere in the book- that you need to receive instructions in order to practice. Its like such books were made only for someone who already had a transmiss...

You can also try the Four Contemplations from Semde.

Eating a little bit, eating a chunk, eating this, eating that, etc., are exactly the kind of thoughts we should overcome in ganapuja. Only very recently teachings go worldwide. Teachers have always taught locally. If in certain communities what you see is people abusing the teachings to gorge on mea...

The politics of Tibetan Buddhism have turned me off to Buddhism for the most part. Sadly, there are politics anywhere you go with any religious system, but I've found Buddhism to be surprisingly insane. Too many teachers and sects claiming that their way is the proper and most pure way to get thing...

Hi Everyone, I'm from Portugal and here we don't have communities of Buddhism. I really want to learn the buddhism history and the practice of it. I know that it's used meditation to achieve the buddhahood and that in buddhism we have the noble trouths, the six realms, the buddhas, the noble eightf...

Do you want the God honest truth? Buddhism is just a religion like any other. If you are lucky, maybe you'll find a Buddhist who teaches you Dharma. Dharma is not a religion. It is much more than that. And if you are even luckier maybe you become a Dharma student (instead of a Buddhist) and a practi...

If all beings have had an infinite number of past lives and have encountered and practiced all types of teachings, why aren't we all already enlightened? Because that's a nice story perhpas. It's made up to convey the importance of the path you found right now, eventually? Surely you've asked yours...

]I once had a long distance relationship (it started as a intimate relationship and then developed into a long distance one). I can tell you that it just does not work. I happen to think the opposite. I dated a gal for a long time when we had a distance relationship. It soured when we moved togethe...

First off, please forgive me if this is in the wrong forum, but I'm very new here. The reason I ask a buddhist to help me is because I've found the philosophy to be so helpful in my life thus far, and meditation has really helped. But this seems to be one situation which I feel I may not be able to...

No wonder you didn't like E-Sangha, Songhill (aka Zennist).
One of the reasons we had mods was to prevent people like you from spreading nonsense like Dark Zen there, so I can't say your opinion comes as a surprise.

I found E-Sangha to be a massive wake up call for me. It was in many ways, extraordinary - a lot of great talent, wise minds, good intentions, interesting threads. When, in all of Buddhist history, have so many diverse traditions been in such constant dialogue? Amazing. It was amazing. Unfortunatel...

You're right, I have no knowledge of why e-sangha was hacked, and I certainly can't "blame" him or you or the other mods about the exact way it was brought down. Then it's better not to spread rumors when we don't have knowledge about what really happened, no? As a seasoned practitioner you ought t...

When I left to go into retreat in February of 2009 it was clear that E-sangha was heading for the dust bin of history, the only question what exactly would happen. If it is true that it happened to be an outside group that brought it down--that's really humorous, because the administrators and mode...

I can't speak for anyone else, deepbluehum, but I was never the holding grudge type of person, even if I don't agree with many of the things you said for a long time now. But I could have a beer with you without giving it a second thought. Or with anyone else on this board, for that matter. All I ca...

Great Sally

Let's wait and see.

You don't have to take all the precepts in all schools.
You can take refuge and still have a drink. That's not a problem.
Still, it's better for your health if you don't get drunk.

Welcome, by the way.

Thanks for stressing that point about confidence JKhedrup. Otherwise I could have settled an overly pessimistic tone. It is worthwhile practicing, even if little. It's possible to achieve Buddhahood in a lifetime, but it's as Huseng's teacher said: It takes a perfect teacher and a perfect student. N...

Be a bit suspicious about the Bates method. It doesn't seem to hold much water. About your questions: 1) Help produce relaxation especially pertaining to a body-part like the eyes? As anywhere else in your body. Be aware of them and relax deeply your face (let them relax instead of trying to force r...