Dharma Wheel

Causality is how things seem to operate on a conventional level, but when analysed, there is no reality found in that. Roger that. It is only without any reality in it that causality can work (because no arising from itself (cause and result are exactly the same) or from other (cause and result are...

Nagarjuna said: "Neither from itself nor from another Nor from both, Nor without a cause Does anything anywhere, ever arise." This seems to negate causality. But the ultimate truth is sunyata, which is grounded in pratityasamutpada, which involves causality. I'm confused! It doesn’t negat...

I'm afraid I don't have the patience to pore over Garfield's comments. I've tried, more than once! I either get more confused, or sleepy.

What I don't get inna nutshell is how causality can be negated in MMK 1.1 but be part of the ultimate truth of emptiness. What am I missing?

Nagarjuna said: "Neither from itself nor from another Nor from both, Nor without a cause Does anything anywhere, ever arise." This seems to negate causality. But the ultimate truth is sunyata, which is grounded in pratityasamutpada, which involves causality. I'm confused!

And should you ever feel the urge to dip a toe into Tibetan Buddhism, the Namgyal Monastery is right down the block, yes?

Maybe I am being too cynical, but isn't there (almost) always a self-stroking aspect to even the most Mother Theresa-full thoughts and actions? Do you mean always at least a hint of self-grasping? Not always. Almost always. Is there almost always at least a hint of (conscious or unconscious) self-c...

What about desire, the desire to alleviate suffering say? The way one of my teachers explained this it is a wholesome desire, but is still eventually given up. You could maybe frame the question in the light of ultimate and relative Bodhicitta. I wondered about this. Is ultimate bodhicitta without ...

Maybe I am being too cynical, but isn't there (almost) always a self-stroking aspect to even the most Mother Theresa-full thoughts and actions?

Johnny Dangerous wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:34 pm In the larger sense of the Buddhist path, all attachment should eventually be relinquished.

What about desire, the desire to alleviate suffering say?

In other words, it’s okay to crave a pizza and stuff yourself until you are full, as long as you remember that this doesn’t mean you’ll always be full. Let's stay with that example, it illustrates something key about the Buddhist path I think. Say you are a foodie, you live for the joie de eating, ...

AI is an idiot-savant. It knows not of what it speaks. An idiot-savant that occasionally hallucinates and goes off the deep end. Sounds like most of my friends. ;-) I was kidding when I called GPT my friend, but truth be told I've already started to invest it with authority, it's become something t...

Let's see if I can answer my own question (with some help from an AI friend of mine): In Buddhism, unhealthy/negative desires and healthy/positive desires are usually called unskillful and skillful desires. Unskillful desires are based on attachment, craving, and clinging, all of which ultimately le...

What types of desire and attachment are considered positive and healthy? Negative and unhealthy?

How did GPT do with comparing onion peeling in Advaita and Buddhism: It is a common comparison to describe the difference between the Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta and the Buddhist philosophy of Anatta (or Anatman) in terms of the onion analogy. In Advaita Vedanta, it is believed that by peeli...

What are some examples/descriptions of your biases? As an AI language model, my biases reflect the biases present in the data that I was trained on. Some potential sources of bias in my training data include: Selection bias: The data used to train me may not be representative of the entire populati...

Will there eventually be an Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Electromechanical Devices?

"AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there’ll be great companies." — Sam Altman, OpenAI

Rack 'em!

Taking GPT's word for it, especially when it comes to things where accuracy really matters, brings to mind a quote from Mark Twain:

"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."

For the most part GPT and Bing AI seem to deliver accurate information. But every once in a while, they go bonkers, start hallucinating or weirding out . It's fun/funny sometimes, but not when info accuracy is important for you. Did GPT get all (some/most) of the following right? The Buddha did not ...

Then either way: empty. Yes?