Posts Tagged ‘society’

Buddhism is certainly the hardest pill to swallow. Everything about us screams out against the middle way, trying always to find some way to make things permanent, satisfying or controllable. We push and pull, trying to make things go our way, never realizing that we are but dust in the wind, tossed about [...]

‘Brethren, if outsiders should speak against me, or against my teaching, or against my disciples, you should not on that account either bear malice, or suffer heart-burning, or feel ill-will. If you, on that account, should be angry and hurt, that would stand in the way of your own self-conquest. If, when others speak against [...]

Buddhists are all about letting go, not clinging to things, it is true. But we’re also all about understanding things, which we believe is what leads us to be able to give up clinging. If you don’t really take the time to understand something, you can’t really expect to give up clinging it. [...]

Great to hear, though I’m a bit skeptical… I’ve quoted him before as saying he didn’t believe it humanly possible to follow the Buddha’s path, which is perhaps the reason he fell off it in the first place? Anyway, here’s the quote of the day:
Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which [...]

And then we turned on the Thai version of Angulimala for my pre-teen protoges, and I realized that it is a perfect example of how forgiveness and redemption takes place for evil doers in Buddhism. Hope you appreciate this little cut-and-paste preview of the 90-min movie (I’ve fixed the horrid subtitles):

From the Beating-a-Dead-Horse Dept:
Not to compare religions out of context, but, regarding the following video:

The noun forgiveness has 2 senses:
1. forgiveness — (compassionate feelings that support a willingness to forgive)
2. forgiveness, pardon — (the act of excusing a mistake or offense)
Forgiveness in Christianity:
” ‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife [...]

It’s funny how things work… I just got around to sending Tiger Woods a “How To Meditate DVD” (along with a bonus “Why Everyone Should Meditate” DVD) this afternoon, when what should I see on Facebook but the following video clip:

First of all, Buddhism is not a faith, it is a practice. If you [...]

Although this matter has been cleared up within the Thai press, it seems that the article in English has stirred up and agitated Western readers. This has been caused by some misrepresentations of the events of the press conference and the editorial language used in the article. Wat Nong Pah Pong feels that it is [...]

More fun with Buddhist Monasticism.
So I really did think a bit about the whole woman ordination thing while in the forests of Thailand… here’s some more thoughts:

It seems pretty clear in my mind that we (men monks) shouldn’t be eager to ordain women; it doesn’t say much of an ascetic that he turns around and [...]

For most of the Wat Pa Phong theras, the intellectual argument over the validity of bhikkhuni ordination is not the point. Their lack of knowledge of the latest studies on the subject is, in their eyes, irrelevant. To them the issue is that Ajahn Brahmavamso reneged on commitments implicit in his ownership of a Thai [...]