…which technically also spreads his name around, so net positive?

Namo amituofo 🪷

Okay, so I’m re-reading The Gateless Gate, and for whatever reason, I find the “Gutei’s Finger” Koan to be genuinely hilarious.

Obviously it would be horrifying if it actually happened, but with the distance of a reader, I find myself laughing my ass off every time I read it.

This is especially true if you leave out the end where the kid becomes enlightened. There’s just a naturally timing that makes the whole thing feel like humor.

I THINK Gutei’s behavior is funny for the same reason a cat knocking something off a shelf while staring right at you is funny.

Anyone else find humor in Buddhist texts?

阿彌陀佛🙏🙏🙏

Breathing is a bodily functions that we can control voluntarily or not. We can take deep breaths, hold, exhale etc, or we can breathe naturally. I am interested in accessing unconscious urges, like giving way or not to anger. In my case I am interested in Tourette's tics.

I have been trying for a couple of weeks now to monitor natural breathing, to know when I am breathing in and out etc. I find this very hard, and I am not even sure that I am only monitoring the breaths. It seems that the difference between monitoring and controlling is very thin.

Does any practitioner have advice about how to access and control the unconscious?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYyjAZ04kho

The lyrics come from a section of the Diamond Sutra,
“Subhūti, what does your mind say? The Tathāgata can be seen by appearances or not?”
"No, the Tathāgata cannot be seen by bodily appearances. Why is this? The Tathāgata has said bodily appearances are not bodily appearances."
The Buddha told Subhūti, “Every appearance whatsoever is a deception. If you can see all appearances not as appearances, then you see the Tathāgata.”

Hello,

Been curious about Buddhism recently. I am tentatively a Christian, but am in a period of deep spiritual exploration.

Something about Buddhism attracts me, expect the aesthetics of Tibetan Buddhism, but I have some questions.

From what I have read (which admittedly isn't much), it seems so.. nihilistic? Like, am I missing something? What does this faith promise us, how does it give us hope, comfort, and peace?

If no self exists, what is being preserved between lives, and what is it that is experiencing nirvana? What even is nirvana, and how is it any different from annihilation if your self doesn't actually exist?

Sorry, mean no disrespect, I am just trying to learn as a seeker. Thank you so much :)

This is the aspect of Buddhism which I find to be its greatest part.

Anyone can study and realise The Four Noble Truths and walk on The Noble Eightfold Path. And in turn, become a Buddha themselves when they have realised The Truth.

This aspect is the most inspiring part of Buddhism. It gives everyone a chance to change their lives and strive for something greater with the hope that they can and will achieve it.

And this in turn shows Buddha's greatness. How he chose to share his profound knowledge and experience with common, lay people and gave them a path and a goal so great that it completely changed the course of their lives for the better.

Buddham Sharanam Gachchami.

content warning: sex, of course

hi, i (23f) am fairly new to buddhism. i was wondering if from a buddhist perspective there are benefits from celibacy? i know it is not required for laypeople, but i am curious if celibacy might align with it for me. i’m a very disciplined person and there are many things i have no issue abstaining from. i have no real interest in sex, so it’s not something i am suppressing or a vice.

in terms of letting go of desires, ive felt that romantic relationships have led to a lot of pain for me, and ive derived so much meaning from the concept of romantic love and marriage and forever. but lots of sexual trauma and mistreatment has led me to choose to withdraw from romantic relationships and dating. relationships more-so than sex for me are the source of craving/suffering.

i’m trying to read up on this but it’s not clear for me, because i mostly see celibacy discussed for monks. i hope my post makes sense. thank you :)

“Now Kalamas, don’t go by:

1. - reports, 
2. - by legends, 
3. - by traditions, 
4. - by scripture, 
5. - by logical conjecture, 
6. - by inference, 
7. - by analogies, 
8. - by agreement through pondering views, 
9. - by probability, 
10. - or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’

(Rather), When you know for yourselves that:

1. - These qualities are skillful;
2. - these qualities are blameless;
3. - these qualities are praised by the wise; 
4. - these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ 

— then you should enter & remain in them.”

~The Buddha in the Kalama Sutra

...

By this merit, may all beings realize the freedom of Awakened Mind.
And through this, may all be liberated from enchantments,
and rest in the true state of the Dharmakaya.

🙏💖🪷

I am have always been interested and pulled towards Buddhism and Buddhist teachings, but the calling is stronger than ever before. I have taught myself things here and there but now I am really eager to dive in, however, I am overwhelmed of where to start.

I am wondering if you have suggestions of where I can start? Buddhism for beginners if you will!

If you have any resources and/or practices or suggestions I would really appreciate it.

Thank you kindly in advance

(english isn't my first language sorry for any mistakes ☹️)
Hello! I (20f) have some questions:
my family has always been buddhist and teached me a lot, but recently i started to question the whole sentiment of "i want this to be my last reincarnation on earth".
Maybe this is just me having some kind of attachment, but i don't want this to be my last.

I feel everything extremely deeply, every person i meet, i feel them in my soul, every little thing for me hits always 1000 times harder like the birds chirping make me want to cry from how beautiful they sound, the sun shining in the morning makes me feel full of gratitude, when i hear a beautiful song i want to appreciate it for hours and so on.
I love being human and interacting with other humans, i hate holding grudges, being mad and generally holding negative feelings when there's just so much beauty in the world.
I often feel like i want to experience everything, and i can't comprehend how someone would want this to be their last time here if they felt the love in every single thing like I do.
Any thoughts? Do you think I'm just too attached? Or maybe just dramatic hahahah

Hi. I’m a 21 year old and I have met a girl (about 3 months ago) who I entered into a relationship with. This is my first relationship and my girlfriend is one of the loveliest, kindest, and maturest girl I have ever met. I am a bit conservative about my dating approach and I wish to date to marry. This girl is perfect for me and I never want to lose her. We both love each other so much that we want to spend the rest of our lives together. We are both from really traditional backgrounds so our relationship is quite serious.
Because of how much I love her, I have become really attached to her and I always think about how I don’t want her to suffer from any problems. Any thought of something happening to her or harming her gives me immense stress. We live in a city that is not very safe for women by normal standards. Because of this I am always worried about her safety and suffering from this stress all the time. Soon I will move back to a different country where I study and will be going home only 2/3 times a year, essentially in 6 months from now I’ll be spending more time away from her than with her. I am really worried about this aspect of our relationship. I understand that I am overthinking but the thought of losing her scares me so much. I used to be very laidback about life and not feel stressed about anything but now I have become a very anxious person. I know detachment is a big part of Buddhism but I don’t wish to detach from her because I have finally felt loved in my life. She is very optimistic about everything but I am unable to draw inspiration from her positivity. I am sorry for such a long post but I wish to know the wisdoms of the more mature people here on how I can deal with this stress.
Thanks

I'm not talking about nirvana

I'm asking how do I avoid reincarnating forever with my own will after death? I don't want to live or be born in this stupid earth again

The speed and distance that you travel on the path to buddhahood is determined by the level of your courage to go in the opposite direction from what you have been doing since beginningless time.

With enough heat, ice will turn into steam. Likewise, with the heat of practice, conceptual understanding of the nature of reality will turn into the non-conceptual and non-dual experience of it.

When you want to drink tea, then no matter which variety that you decide to make, you will always need water, a pot, and heat. If you lack any one of these, there will be no tea.

Likewise, when you choose one of the many paths that lead to buddhahood, you will always need renunciation, bodhicitta and right view. If you lack any one of these, you will not become a buddha.

Renunciation is the determination to be free from samsara (samsara refers to uncontrollably recurring rebirth).

Bodhicitta is the compassionate wish to attain the enlightened state of a buddha for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Right view is the right understanding of the reality of emptiness (emptiness refers to the lack of inherent existence of self and of all phenomena).

Comfort can be your greatest enemy to your freedom.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with comfort, and may you always have it, but if you become excessively attached to it, and if it is making you lazy, you will not move on the Buddhist path.

If this happens, you need to contemplate the uncertainty time of your inevitable death, and your potentially endless rebirths and suffering if you do not make the most out of the precious human existence that you have right now.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Although I am a white American, I am not raised in America, so I speak Chinese as well as English. I do have experience around traditional temples and stuff. However, the closest temple to me is Vietnamese, and I have like a super large language barrier with them.

I don’t have any other options that are reasonably close and because they are the same denomination I don’t really want to switch temples. Thankfully because I speak Chinese it has not been that difficult to learn Vietnamese but the thing is I already studied some before I started going to this temple so I have a hanoi accent compared to them, and I don’t think southern vietnamese who have been out of the country so long are used to it. I am always thrown off by the “r” sound they use, because I am used to using “z” instead, so I have to like write the word out in my head to make sense of what they are saying. Plus I am not really all that good at vietnamese, although I am improving.

Has anybody else gone through something like this? Do you stop feeling like you are pretending at some point? I always feel like I am trying too hard to fit in or something. Plus I feel kind of like an outsider but tbh that’s to be expected.

​

You can't control other people, but you can control yourself. And every time you do, you temper (like tempered glass or metal). You know yourself, you are the authority on yourself. It's funny, mastering that feels like it should make life better, but it makes people rely on you more. I'm taking a shot in the dark and assuming that's called purpose.

Did I just figure out dharma?