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That's a very important video from a practical day-to-day point of view. People seem to look for perfect things everywhere, but the existence of such things is not real
There are at least ten perfect things in existence that Buddhas permeate everywhere: Dāna, Śīla, Kṣānti, Vīrya, Dhyāna, Prajñā, Upāya, Praṇidhāna, Bala, Jñāna.
The Buddha's claim of full enlightenment to Upaka was not pretentious, as any other response would have been dishonest. The self-effacement and false humility common in our culture were likely less prevalent then. In that situation, the Buddha's only choices were to speak the truth or remain silent. Thank you for another thought-provoking video Doug!
@@pedroba76 : Alara (or perhaps Arada) Kalma (likely a Samkhya Sramana) and Uddaka Rāmaputta (likely a Jain) were his teachers. Anyway, he rejected their teachings when their teachings failed to liberate him from Samsara in his view and then he remembered a time from his childhood when he was sitting under a "tree" with his eyes closed and focused on his breath and was lost in meditation and he thought to go into that into their state again and that worked after some time (49 days if I remember correctly). It's actually irrelevant as to who his teachers were since their methods did not get him what he wanted and at the end he did not became a follower of either Samkhya or Jainism.
That’s another advantage of Buddhism over other belief systems. The Buddha himself encouraged people to question everything, including his own teachings. Of course that also comes with some perils… one could simply distort his message to their own designs.
People search for the Buddha incarnate, because they want someone to look up to, someone to follow. Yet the only way to become Buddha is by letting go of that. The way out is in.
@@ZenSkechbook its why i love buddhism, It itself is the religion of no religion and (back during its inception at the birth of Siddhartha) it was itself ordained that buddhism would ignore all the other things and address the root cause of problems, ourselves and our attachment to suffering. Soon we will all know these simple truths.
@@DivineAlchemyOfSoulsBuddhism is by no means a religion without religion. The Buddha presuposes reincarnation to create his entire perspective on life, reincarnation is not a standard belief in the world it's very limited regionally especially today. If reincarnation is false, the Buddha was mistaken. I have a lot of respect for Buddha but I just want to clarify this point, I think he got it wrong even on the solution of suffering because his solution was to cease to desire. When the real solution is rather to love without counting as Jesus Christ taught through his own example of radical crucified love and bodily resurrection. Taking accountability for our sins is not the same as being forgiven for them, we sinned but Christ saved us, everyone needs Christ.
@@VirginMostPowerfullYESSSSSS!!!!!!!! For buddha preached no religion but those who followed made him into one; Jesus taught “no religion.” but all made him into one, therefore what is the truth? Reincarnation is NOT FALSE; i ask you who was Ad/tom? the first “man?”, do we have adam within us now? if we do then we are indeed all immortal.
I believe celebrity and religious idiolisation likely follow very similar psychological principles. There is a highly placed person in the tribe; to be affiliated with that person increases security of person in the face of a hostile, painful world (which can be analogous for hell and damnation). People thus think with the reptile brain rather than with their faculties of reason and empathic capacity. Very dangerous.
Very wonderful talk, here! Recently, I heard a respected Soto-shu master say something very much along these lines, that as a monk-a home leaver-it is nearly impossible to teach in one’s own home town, or in one’s own home.
I'm currently reading a translation of the yoga sutras by Swami Satchidananda Saraswati. After becoming a well known yogi teacher and founding a large and successful institute he was accused of many SA's. Today the institute lives on and his book is still very successful, but his failings are taken very seriously. In being imperfect humans, our teachers are imparting perhaps the most important lesson of all, that we cannot be attached to a person to attain enlightenment.
On the acceptance of nuns: The origin myth about the Mahayana/Tantra buddha Tara is that she was offered to be reborn as a man in the next life so that she could become a Tathagata. She declined and said she would enter that state as a woman or not at all.
Thank you so much for mentioning the Buddha’s attitude toward women going forth. I have been such an admirer of Ananda for standing up for women, and yet I also note that he is the one that tells the story and he was the Buddha’s liason to the nuns. And then, after the Buddhist death, the other monastics, censured Ananda, for “making” the Buddha ordain women. And yet, when the Buddha interacts with women monastics in the suttas, he is quite respectful of them. Several times, he tells male disciples who report back on the women’s teachings that he would not have answered any differently. And as far as I’m aware - and I haven’t read all the suttas - there are no discourses in which the supposed deference of bhikkhunis to the youngest monk ever played out. It’s quite puzzling, and I don’t know if we’ll ever know what exactly was true. What we do know is patriarchal societies intentionally extinguished the Bhikkhuni order and are resisting its reestablishment. This certainly does not suggest the actions of enlightened beings. I appreciate this topic in its entirety. Hero worship can lead to big trouble.
Its the same affect that has taken place within christianity; its the subversion of a saints teachings to benefit the Egoic, carnal needs of our material society. Both persons brought salvation to all and taught that all must seek it and find it within themselves to obtain it.
As a fan of science fiction and fantasy novels, I didn't expect you to mention Scalzi and Gaiman! Excellent example, and a timely one. I think in many ways, social media encourages this mindless idolisation. We see people attach themselves to specific influencers and celebrities to a ridiculous degree. They not only enjoy the work produced by these creative professionals, but expect them to also have the "right" political beliefs, the "right" morals and the "right" opinion on a whole host of topics that have nothing at all to do with their professional work. The inability to appreciate the flawed humanity in everyone - the constant search for a perfect hero - is psychologically childish. We all need to be more mindful of this when forming opinions of others, especially public figures.
3:33 beautiful video, great sources and citations, overall a spiritual slam dunk (so to speak…). you have truly captured their teachings in my opinion, as in the reminding all people are of the same fabric; which is why it also leads me to say that all of us are divine beings and all things are inherently divine, we as super conscious beings have simply just been tricked into thinking the opposite causing everything to split, multiply, become gross and decay.
Hello Doug! Great work, once again. There’s just one thing I’d like to respectfully point out regarding your example of Jesus. I’m not sure if it was your intention to emphasize only Jesus’ human nature, rather than acknowledging both his human and divine nature as described in the Gospels. The primary focus of the Gospels is to affirm that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine as the Son of God, part of the Triune God. The Church Fathers expanded on this understanding in the early history of the Church, and countless saints and martyrs have died for this truth, even to this day. Nowhere in the Gospels is Jesus portrayed as merely a human prophet. And therefore I don’t think it holds gravity as per the subject of this video! Blessings to you 🙏🏼
Excellent video Doug. I think that many people in this modern day who turn to teachings of the Buddha do it with a sort of ego in mind. That I must achieve enlightenment, that I must become an all powerful Buddha and that others should worship me lol. But I think that that mindset is exactly what the Buddha was trying to un learn after all the Buddha taught no dharmas and non self 😂 I feel in this current age it is not hard to get rid of your own suffering or to become enlightened because it has already been done and a plan has already been laid out for us. This is not our era it is the Buddhas era! To the Bodhisattva who knows that samsara and nirvana are same all that is left to do is save sentient beings :)
To me, it seems that even self-identying as a "buddhist" and calling yourself a "buddhist" to others , like on social media bio for example, is already not a healthy following of the advices.
May already be at risk of forming high attachments to the figure of Siddharta the person, the Dharma and the self-identity, an ego of a practicioner of a religion. And as all forms of attachments, they rely on grasping to them.
My mother was big into Jungian psychology when I was growing up, and I think Jung would say that people have a tendency to project their subconscious need for existential meaning or ecstatic fulfillment onto external objects and people, rather than developing a relationship with a subconscious archetype who symbolically represents that deeper meaning. I generally disagree with guru yoga in 99.99% of cases due to potential for ego inflation in the guru and uncritical cult-like behavior in disciples. I see the primordial guru as a vital energy of awakening that flows through spiritual lineages that can be traced back to a relatively enlightened being who acted as the first conduit for that energy, even if that person had human limitations.
Yep. To me, it appears that all religions have this down-to-earth component of rational, factual teachings. What I have found rewarding about Buddhist thought, particularly Theravada doctrine and the Pali canon, is that it doesn’t take too much digging to arrive at its non-idealized, non-superstitious, non-magical-thinking original sense of “phenomenological psychology” or what have you; while for other religions, their foundational truths seem unsearchably buried.
In Christianity there is a lot of interesting research on the historical Jesus; his life and teachings bear little resemblance to those reflected in contemporary religions though.
yeah I guess every saints despite perhaps reach or receive otherworldy or celestial knowledge, always be constrained by personal, cultural and temporal framework.
ermmmm well... it is good that nowadays nun have a little more recognition- Well I hope so. I also hope you listen to what he just said. come on (even) Buddha didnt base his judgement out of modern sensibilities
Thanks, Doug! This is a very insightful presentation. But I don't think that much should be read into the fact that many of these origin stories have their heros starting out as ordinary human beings or even as outcasts. They are stories, after all, with varying amounts of historical authenticity. A narrative arc that has a protagonist rise from human beginnings to divine or near divine status simply makes for a more compelling tale.
I had heard that the buddha was skeptical to allow nuns because he thought that the male monastics and the male oriented society would not take such an action well. This however as you said could have been apologetics as I do not know if this is a definite fact.
Women monks became a problem for buddhist sangha. Budddha used to send freshly ordained monks to remote villages and forests. Buddha did the same thing with female monks at first and many of them were sexually assaulted by bandits. So buddha dissolved that tradition. Sangha became city/town oriented and became more corrupted. Also the chances of sexual misconducts and scandals increased tenfold. Buddha had to resolve the cases of monks having gay sex and committing beastiality everyday; now add women to that.
If you turn a person into a GOD that person in becoming a GOD has become some one who you can ask to SAVE YOU ... which in turns means you don' t have to SAVE YOURSELF. For a Buddhist, being SAVED replaces the toil and ubcertainty of practicing Buddhist meditation.
Those rag robes are where it's at. I made several. Fun practice to work with. We can't salvage any rags from the public dump and you are paying for them at the thrift store. Recycling is dead in our area and cotton is not usually included. So, it's more and more difficult to find the viable rags for a Buddhist robe. The robe is not as simple as people make it out to be. It is not mail order from China. Or is it?
I see that title is not good at all; it limits the shape of Looking at that era. Furthermore, evaluating rules or actions through a contemporary lens of the 21st century and applying modern standards to the 5th century BCE is not a mark of a well-considered approach. The conditions in India during that time were different, and judging actions based on today’s standards By saying "make mistakes," is not a good approach. The Buddha has not bound by mistakes, on the mental level he has achieved complete liberation. On the physical one, he still had residual kamma, or remnant kamma (vipāka), On the moral or transactional level, he is free from any deficiency in conduct, decision-making, or action, I had written a full rebuttal-comment on every single point in the video, but I found myself asking, what’s the point?, then remove it. I believe that such things are part of the secularization of Buddhism, stripping its aspects of perfection across various levels, by attempting to make every related element conform to the current limited materialistic perspective of the human being, That's explains a lot. Nonetheless, I wish progress for this channel, especially for Doug Smith, who is truly a wonderful person ^^. With Mettā.
My reading of that said the Buddha did not reject his cousins additional rules but would not make them mandatory. There was nothing wrong with them as long as they don't harm the monastics. So obviously monastics living in northern latitudes are not going to live beneath trees year-round, etc. The problem with Devadatta was that throughout many lifetimes together he was always jealous of what he perceived as his rival, but they started out as friends, and they will be reunited as friends when Devadatta himself achieves enlightenment (I guess when he escapes the lower birth, which I suppose must already have happened). Am I wrong about that? Also, I am having difficulty understanding how an omniscient being who cannot generate dark karma makes mistakes.
I marvel at the fact that the Earth evolved quite nicely for over 4 BILLION years. Homos sapiens showed up "yesterday" (in geological terms) and proceeded to poison and destabilize everything on Earth ever since. Human hubris, more than anything, is jeopardizing a cosmic miracle.
Many thanks. How do Vajrayana gurus manage this idea? I have seen instances where the guru is treated as a god and cannot be questioned as that is tantamount to questioning the Buddha, yet other Rinpoches seem much more humble and discourage this kind of thinking or conversely encourage critical thought.
Must be honest, I idolize the Buddha. If it were not for the Buddha, I’d still be a dark-minded Christo-fascist with a cruel tongue, a vicious mind, and a puffed-up sense of being correct. My Buddha will always be on his pedestal, literally and figuratively.
10:49 i may be wrong but this is all based on my understanding 1. His teaching of the Atman is one of a condemnatory nature, but inherently it is true; this “body” is evil because the sense objects of it convince us that we are it and not one with the All. 2. Nothing is otherworldly as all things are of this one world; the essence of reality is not separate from the illusionary Maya we witness, it is what spurs it on. All things are of this world and nothing is separate, it is just us as confused super conscious beings that create this illusion and spur it on through our own ignorance. 3. Well he proved that nothing was of dubious authenticity! it either is or isn’t! the sutras about women are obviously wrong, as they clearly aren’t authentic and don’t align with the true teachings! 4. There is indeed nothing pre awakening, as one does not even realize the mistakes they have made before they truly awaken; No one makes mistakes before they awaken unless they consciously decide to go against the ingrained moral compass that is built into the Hearts of us All, which is even then a mistake unawakened men make constantly as they do not know the true nature of Karma, of themselves, and the All pervading essence around them.
Watching this, I was reminded of the story of the harsh rebuke of the Buddha to the monk Sudinna for having sex with his wife. But I know nothing of historicity of that story...
Should we let go of Buddha, the person, as an ideal, and consider him as the "messenger of the path", instead of the "aspiration", the "idealized man to follow and attach to?"
Because, these days, it seems to me that, even without teaching about the existence of Siddharta Buddha, one could be a follower of buddhist path even unaware of the person itself behind the teachings, just by agreeing with, and following the practice of the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and the skills to achieving the state of Nirvana, regardless of people?
People who need are needy people and they will try to find something to fill their need. This does not pretain to the needs of life, food, shelter or honest campanionship. I truely struggle with peoples need of a higher being. No one being will ever be perfect, as perfection is truely unattainable.
"No one is a prophet in their own land" - Luke 4:24 "Why did Bodhidharma travel to the east?" - Zen koan I assure you that the meaning of these quotes is not that Buddhas are flawed!
Lolz the muslims shud watch it ,coz they go about not practicing idolatry and go about overidolizing their muhammad as if he is like God and just because they say they dont worship muhamamd doesn't mean anything as u r doing everything he does like children and u say u dont idolise him lolz ,understand that worship has gradations of meaning and it is a psychological idea not just some meek physical worship . An idol is just not a phsyical idol it is about mental too , the one who say they dont have any idols of icons fall frey to the most dangerous idol : ego. Atleat when buddhist hindus and normal christians recognize that having an icon that oreientss us towards the knowledge and truth is very essential as we can fall prey to mara or shaitan as well. Obviously all these are metaphorical expressions of our human psyche. Icon by itself is not like god or dharma completely it is nothing but an expression of it. If one is an atheist idolises the pursuit of truth, knowledge , justice and peace ,he/ she is also equally in dharma. This first person expression of I belivee is just ludicrous. Remember when we pray to buddha ,it is a realtion with ourselves and our commitement towards dharma and to improve ourselves by beconing stronger than before. Wat we pray to are their qualities , compassion, peace of find , knowledge and reason etc not the actual persons. As the buddha says ,buddha dharma and sangha are within us just like the father son and holyspirit are also within us.
@@Giantcrabz That is your idiotic thought. When Buddha denied it was not because of the subordination of women but because of the safety causes of women. In those days most regions were wild and nun had to travel alone which was dangerous.
Buddha was not have been neurodivergent, whichby anything like this; this is clearly a limited perspective. The Buddha never displayed any feelings of anger toward anyone or anything. A simple example of his calmness and remarkable ability to express himself without any emotional reaction is a famous incident, In summary: The Akkosa Sutta (SN 7.2) describes an encounter between the Buddha and an angry Brahmin named Akkosa Bharadvaja. Akkosa approaches the Buddha and hurls insults at him. The Buddha remains calm and asks Akkosa what happens when a guest refuses offered food. Akkosa replies that the food would remain with the giver. The Buddha then explains that similarly, he does not accept Akkosa's insults, so they remain with Akkosa. He further teaches that responding to insults with anger only worsens the situation. Impressed by the Buddha's wisdom and equanimity, Akkosa has a change of heart and becomes a follower of the Buddha. This sutta demonstrates the Buddha's skillful handling of hostility and his teaching on maintaining composure when faced with verbal abuse. What might seem like anger or annoyance by a modern lens s not be appropriate or accurate. It's one of the Buddha's skillful way of emphasizing important points or correcting harmful behavior. In the Pali Canon, these instances are often described using terms like 'admonished' rather than 'got angry'.
@@SilentSandwhich24145 I was thinking about it the other day, that most of these deified beings I've read about show several traits of neurodivergency according to the stories written about them.
*Please do not blaspheme or disrespect against Jesus Christ, stick to your level of expertise in Buddhism.* The Evangelists say a *prophet* is not recognized among his own, it doesn't talk about his holiness it's talking about the faith people had to have in him. Jesus even challenges people to find anything, just one thing, that he would have done as a sin. No one can come up with anything. And this is to be taken with a nuance because his own mother did believe in him, *this saying was tied to the fact he was persecuted like all the prophets,* it has nothing to do with his holiness. Stick to your domain which is Buddhism do not disrespect Jesus Christ thank you.
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Sir,
Could you make a video on Milindapahna
That's a very important video from a practical day-to-day point of view. People seem to look for perfect things everywhere, but the existence of such things is not real
There are at least ten perfect things in existence that Buddhas permeate everywhere: Dāna, Śīla, Kṣānti, Vīrya, Dhyāna, Prajñā, Upāya, Praṇidhāna, Bala, Jñāna.
@@saralamuni yes! I meant physical things, objects, people etc
The Buddha's claim of full enlightenment to Upaka was not pretentious, as any other response would have been dishonest. The self-effacement and false humility common in our culture were likely less prevalent then. In that situation, the Buddha's only choices were to speak the truth or remain silent.
Thank you for another thought-provoking video Doug!
But didn't he have meditation teachers and yogis and companions on the journey, before sitting under the Bodhi tree?
@@pedroba76 : Alara (or perhaps Arada) Kalma (likely a Samkhya Sramana) and Uddaka Rāmaputta (likely a Jain) were his teachers. Anyway, he rejected their teachings when their teachings failed to liberate him from Samsara in his view and then he remembered a time from his childhood when he was sitting under a "tree" with his eyes closed and focused on his breath and was lost in meditation and he thought to go into that into their state again and that worked after some time (49 days if I remember correctly). It's actually irrelevant as to who his teachers were since their methods did not get him what he wanted and at the end he did not became a follower of either Samkhya or Jainism.
That’s another advantage of Buddhism over other belief systems. The Buddha himself encouraged people to question everything, including his own teachings. Of course that also comes with some perils… one could simply distort his message to their own designs.
People search for the Buddha incarnate, because they want someone to look up to, someone to follow. Yet the only way to become Buddha is by letting go of that. The way out is in.
@@Jacques.dAnjou ahhh, but that would mean people must take accountability for their actions! why do that when Jesus died for their sins 😂
@@DivineAlchemyOfSouls that's why buddist worship no one . Buddha him self was just a wise person. Nothing more.
@@ZenSkechbook its why i love buddhism, It itself is the religion of no religion and (back during its inception at the birth of Siddhartha) it was itself ordained that buddhism would ignore all the other things and address the root cause of problems, ourselves and our attachment to suffering. Soon we will all know these simple truths.
@@DivineAlchemyOfSoulsBuddhism is by no means a religion without religion. The Buddha presuposes reincarnation to create his entire perspective on life, reincarnation is not a standard belief in the world it's very limited regionally especially today.
If reincarnation is false, the Buddha was mistaken.
I have a lot of respect for Buddha but I just want to clarify this point, I think he got it wrong even on the solution of suffering because his solution was to cease to desire. When the real solution is rather to love without counting as Jesus Christ taught through his own example of radical crucified love and bodily resurrection.
Taking accountability for our sins is not the same as being forgiven for them, we sinned but Christ saved us, everyone needs Christ.
@@VirginMostPowerfullYESSSSSS!!!!!!!! For buddha preached no religion but those who followed made him into one; Jesus taught “no religion.” but all made him into one, therefore what is the truth? Reincarnation is NOT FALSE; i ask you who was Ad/tom? the first “man?”, do we have adam within us now? if we do then we are indeed all immortal.
In a non-religious context, I got reminded of celebrity worship and how toxic fandom can be especially towards ones favorite idols
Lots of craving and clinging ...!
I believe celebrity and religious idiolisation likely follow very similar psychological principles. There is a highly placed person in the tribe; to be affiliated with that person increases security of person in the face of a hostile, painful world (which can be analogous for hell and damnation). People thus think with the reptile brain rather than with their faculties of reason and empathic capacity. Very dangerous.
Very wonderful talk, here! Recently, I heard a respected Soto-shu master say something very much along these lines, that as a monk-a home leaver-it is nearly impossible to teach in one’s own home town, or in one’s own home.
I'm currently reading a translation of the yoga sutras by Swami Satchidananda Saraswati. After becoming a well known yogi teacher and founding a large and successful institute he was accused of many SA's. Today the institute lives on and his book is still very successful, but his failings are taken very seriously. In being imperfect humans, our teachers are imparting perhaps the most important lesson of all, that we cannot be attached to a person to attain enlightenment.
On the acceptance of nuns: The origin myth about the Mahayana/Tantra buddha Tara is that she was offered to be reborn as a man in the next life so that she could become a Tathagata. She declined and said she would enter that state as a woman or not at all.
Interesting!
Very important, thank you! Love and peace from Germany... ❤🐱🙏
Please don't ever stop continuing this channel.
😄😄 All things change! But no plans to stop for now ... 😄😄
Thank you so much for mentioning the Buddha’s attitude toward women going forth. I have been such an admirer of Ananda for standing up for women, and yet I also note that he is the one that tells the story and he was the Buddha’s liason to the nuns. And then, after the Buddhist death, the other monastics, censured Ananda, for “making” the Buddha ordain women. And yet, when the Buddha interacts with women monastics in the suttas, he is quite respectful of them. Several times, he tells male disciples who report back on the women’s teachings that he would not have answered any differently. And as far as I’m aware - and I haven’t read all the suttas - there are no discourses in which the supposed deference of bhikkhunis to the youngest monk ever played out. It’s quite puzzling, and I don’t know if we’ll ever know what exactly was true. What we do know is patriarchal societies intentionally extinguished the Bhikkhuni order and are resisting its reestablishment. This certainly does not suggest the actions of enlightened beings.
I appreciate this topic in its entirety. Hero worship can lead to big trouble.
Its the same affect that has taken place within christianity; its the subversion of a saints teachings to benefit the Egoic, carnal needs of our material society. Both persons brought salvation to all and taught that all must seek it and find it within themselves to obtain it.
As a fan of science fiction and fantasy novels, I didn't expect you to mention Scalzi and Gaiman! Excellent example, and a timely one. I think in many ways, social media encourages this mindless idolisation. We see people attach themselves to specific influencers and celebrities to a ridiculous degree. They not only enjoy the work produced by these creative professionals, but expect them to also have the "right" political beliefs, the "right" morals and the "right" opinion on a whole host of topics that have nothing at all to do with their professional work. The inability to appreciate the flawed humanity in everyone - the constant search for a perfect hero - is psychologically childish. We all need to be more mindful of this when forming opinions of others, especially public figures.
Fantastic video on this subject with great suttas to illustrate what you are saying.
Thank you kindly!
Buddhism is not about equality. And looking at the Unitarian Church, he made the correct call with those extra rules.
Great video Doug, im also enjoying Sutta Central. Thanks for your work. 🙏
My pleasure!
To quote the cinematic masterpiece, High School Musical:
_We're all in this together!_ 🎶
3:33 beautiful video, great sources and citations, overall a spiritual slam dunk (so to speak…). you have truly captured their teachings in my opinion, as in the reminding all people are of the same fabric; which is why it also leads me to say that all of us are divine beings and all things are inherently divine, we as super conscious beings have simply just been tricked into thinking the opposite causing everything to split, multiply, become gross and decay.
Hello Doug! Great work, once again. There’s just one thing I’d like to respectfully point out regarding your example of Jesus.
I’m not sure if it was your intention to emphasize only Jesus’ human nature, rather than acknowledging both his human and divine nature as described in the Gospels.
The primary focus of the Gospels is to affirm that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine as the Son of God, part of the Triune God.
The Church Fathers expanded on this understanding in the early history of the Church, and countless saints and martyrs have died for this truth, even to this day.
Nowhere in the Gospels is Jesus portrayed as merely a human prophet. And therefore I don’t think it holds gravity as per the subject of this video!
Blessings to you 🙏🏼
Very interesting talk..Sent here by Hardcore Zen.....He said if his channel didnt work for you Dougs Dharma might...
Nice of him!
Excellent video Doug.
I think that many people in this modern day who turn to teachings of the Buddha do it with a sort of ego in mind. That I must achieve enlightenment, that I must become an all powerful Buddha and that others should worship me lol.
But I think that that mindset is exactly what the Buddha was trying to un learn after all the Buddha taught no dharmas and non self 😂
I feel in this current age it is not hard to get rid of your own suffering or to become enlightened because it has already been done and a plan has already been laid out for us. This is not our era it is the Buddhas era!
To the Bodhisattva who knows that samsara and nirvana are same all that is left to do is save sentient beings :)
To me, it seems that even self-identying as a "buddhist" and calling yourself a "buddhist" to others , like on social media bio for example, is already not a healthy following of the advices.
May already be at risk of forming high attachments to the figure of Siddharta the person, the Dharma and the self-identity, an ego of a practicioner of a religion.
And as all forms of attachments, they rely on grasping to them.
Thanks a lot for this. Really useful for me in the context of some back and forth in our Sangha at the moment.
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent point. If I am devoted to a teacher it is because I believe that teacher has an impeccable understanding of dharma.
thank you for this input, seems fitting to my situation!
So glad!
Same, it fit reflexions and personal struggles that I've had before, and yesterday, these last few days.
Very smart, Doug. Thanks so much.
Thank you. Love and peace. Tim
My mother was big into Jungian psychology when I was growing up, and I think Jung would say that people have a tendency to project their subconscious need for existential meaning or ecstatic fulfillment onto external objects and people, rather than developing a relationship with a subconscious archetype who symbolically represents that deeper meaning. I generally disagree with guru yoga in 99.99% of cases due to potential for ego inflation in the guru and uncritical cult-like behavior in disciples. I see the primordial guru as a vital energy of awakening that flows through spiritual lineages that can be traced back to a relatively enlightened being who acted as the first conduit for that energy, even if that person had human limitations.
Thank you for these videos Doug Smith, Phd!
My pleasure!
Great ☺️
Yep. To me, it appears that all religions have this down-to-earth component of rational, factual teachings. What I have found rewarding about Buddhist thought, particularly Theravada doctrine and the Pali canon, is that it doesn’t take too much digging to arrive at its non-idealized, non-superstitious, non-magical-thinking original sense of “phenomenological psychology” or what have you; while for other religions, their foundational truths seem unsearchably buried.
In Christianity there is a lot of interesting research on the historical Jesus; his life and teachings bear little resemblance to those reflected in contemporary religions though.
Very good post today.
Thank you!
yeah I guess every saints despite perhaps reach or receive otherworldy or celestial knowledge, always be constrained by personal, cultural and temporal framework.
Arahant or Saints, having abandoned all ten fetters by very definition, are not constrained by any personal, cultural and temporal framework.
ermmmm well... it is good that nowadays nun have a little more recognition- Well I hope so. I also hope you listen to what he just said.
come on (even) Buddha didnt base his judgement out of modern sensibilities
Thanks, Doug! This is a very insightful presentation. But I don't think that much should be read into the fact that many of these origin stories have their heros starting out as ordinary human beings or even as outcasts. They are stories, after all, with varying amounts of historical authenticity. A narrative arc that has a protagonist rise from human beginnings to divine or near divine status simply makes for a more compelling tale.
🙏
I had heard that the buddha was skeptical to allow nuns because he thought that the male monastics and the male oriented society would not take such an action well. This however as you said could have been apologetics as I do not know if this is a definite fact.
I still struggle with the unequal treatment of women in Buddhism.
Women monks became a problem for buddhist sangha. Budddha used to send freshly ordained monks to remote villages and forests. Buddha did the same thing with female monks at first and many of them were sexually assaulted by bandits. So buddha dissolved that tradition. Sangha became city/town oriented and became more corrupted. Also the chances of sexual misconducts and scandals increased tenfold. Buddha had to resolve the cases of monks having gay sex and committing beastiality everyday; now add women to that.
@@misira8256 dirty humans
good advice. But you certainly can admire.
Absolutely!
If you turn a person into a GOD that person in becoming a GOD has become some one who you can ask to SAVE YOU ... which in turns means you don' t have to SAVE YOURSELF.
For a Buddhist, being SAVED replaces the toil and ubcertainty of practicing Buddhist meditation.
Is this what is meant by the notion of "killing the buddha"?
That could be one interpretation, sure.
great video
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙏
Those rag robes are where it's at. I made several. Fun practice to work with. We can't salvage any rags from the public dump and you are paying for them at the thrift store. Recycling is dead in our area and cotton is not usually included. So, it's more and more difficult to find the viable rags for a Buddhist robe. The robe is not as simple as people make it out to be. It is not mail order from China. Or is it?
I see that title is not good at all; it limits the shape of Looking at that era. Furthermore, evaluating rules or actions through a contemporary lens of the 21st century and applying modern standards to the 5th century BCE is not a mark of a well-considered approach. The conditions in India during that time were different, and judging actions based on today’s standards By saying "make mistakes," is not a good approach. The Buddha has not bound by mistakes, on the mental level he has achieved complete liberation. On the physical one, he still had residual kamma, or remnant kamma (vipāka), On the moral or transactional level, he is free from any deficiency in conduct, decision-making, or action, I had written a full rebuttal-comment on every single point in the video, but I found myself asking, what’s the point?, then remove it.
I believe that such things are part of the secularization of Buddhism, stripping its aspects of perfection across various levels, by attempting to make every related element conform to the current limited materialistic perspective of the human being, That's explains a lot.
Nonetheless, I wish progress for this channel, especially for Doug Smith, who is truly a wonderful person ^^.
With Mettā.
I agree we can't see 5 th century bce society with the lens of 21 st century socity lens
My reading of that said the Buddha did not reject his cousins additional rules but would not make them mandatory. There was nothing wrong with them as long as they don't harm the monastics. So obviously monastics living in northern latitudes are not going to live beneath trees year-round, etc. The problem with Devadatta was that throughout many lifetimes together he was always jealous of what he perceived as his rival, but they started out as friends, and they will be reunited as friends when Devadatta himself achieves enlightenment (I guess when he escapes the lower birth, which I suppose must already have happened). Am I wrong about that? Also, I am having difficulty understanding how an omniscient being who cannot generate dark karma makes mistakes.
If you want to see perfection, you have make it yourself. But then, nobody's perfect.
I marvel at the fact that the Earth evolved quite nicely for over 4 BILLION years. Homos sapiens showed up "yesterday" (in geological terms) and proceeded to poison and destabilize everything on Earth ever since. Human hubris, more than anything, is jeopardizing a cosmic miracle.
Can I ask a question?
we seek the archetypal symbolism in people to embody. that takes form as idolatry
Many thanks. How do Vajrayana gurus manage this idea? I have seen instances where the guru is treated as a god and cannot be questioned as that is tantamount to questioning the Buddha, yet other Rinpoches seem much more humble and discourage this kind of thinking or conversely encourage critical thought.
Good question! As you suggest, I would imagine it depends on the teacher.
Must be honest, I idolize the Buddha. If it were not for the Buddha, I’d still be a dark-minded Christo-fascist with a cruel tongue, a vicious mind, and a puffed-up sense of being correct. My Buddha will always be on his pedestal, literally and figuratively.
10:49 i may be wrong but this is all based on my understanding
1. His teaching of the Atman is one of a condemnatory nature, but inherently it is true; this “body” is evil because the sense objects of it convince us that we are it and not one with the All.
2. Nothing is otherworldly as all things are of this one world; the essence of reality is not separate from the illusionary Maya we witness, it is what spurs it on. All things are of this world and nothing is separate, it is just us as confused super conscious beings that create this illusion and spur it on through our own ignorance.
3. Well he proved that nothing was of dubious authenticity! it either is or isn’t! the sutras about women are obviously wrong, as they clearly aren’t authentic and don’t align with the true teachings!
4. There is indeed nothing pre awakening, as one does not even realize the mistakes they have made before they truly awaken; No one makes mistakes before they awaken unless they consciously decide to go against the ingrained moral compass that is built into the Hearts of us All, which is even then a mistake unawakened men make constantly as they do not know the true nature of Karma, of themselves, and the All pervading essence around them.
Watching this, I was reminded of the story of the harsh rebuke of the Buddha to the monk Sudinna for having sex with his wife. But I know nothing of historicity of that story...
Is buddhism considered a religion more focused on what Buddha taught, rather than the person, the idol itself?
Should we let go of Buddha, the person, as an ideal, and consider him as the "messenger of the path", instead of the "aspiration", the "idealized man to follow and attach to?"
Because, these days, it seems to me that, even without teaching about the existence of Siddharta Buddha, one could be a follower of buddhist path even unaware of the person itself behind the teachings, just by agreeing with, and following the practice of the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and the skills to achieving the state of Nirvana, regardless of people?
Here's a video that might help answer your questions: ua-cam.com/video/wi2sd65l95o/v-deo.html
People who need are needy people and they will try to find something to fill their need. This does not pretain to the needs of life, food, shelter or honest campanionship. I truely struggle with peoples need of a higher being. No one being will ever be perfect, as perfection is truely unattainable.
"No one is a prophet in their own land" - Luke 4:24
"Why did Bodhidharma travel to the east?" - Zen koan
I assure you that the meaning of these quotes is not that Buddhas are flawed!
First. With metta
It’s all right Dough, but please don’t fall into the moral trap of judging the Buddha’s decisions about nuns from a modern western feminist viewpoint.
Buddha was definitely not a sexist.
Lolz the muslims shud watch it ,coz they go about not practicing idolatry and go about overidolizing their muhammad as if he is like God and just because they say they dont worship muhamamd doesn't mean anything as u r doing everything he does like children and u say u dont idolise him lolz ,understand that worship has gradations of meaning and it is a psychological idea not just some meek physical worship . An idol is just not a phsyical idol it is about mental too , the one who say they dont have any idols of icons fall frey to the most dangerous idol : ego.
Atleat when buddhist hindus and normal christians recognize that having an icon that oreientss us towards the knowledge and truth is very essential as we can fall prey to mara or shaitan as well. Obviously all these are metaphorical expressions of our human psyche. Icon by itself is not like god or dharma completely it is nothing but an expression of it. If one is an atheist idolises the pursuit of truth, knowledge , justice and peace ,he/ she is also equally in dharma. This first person expression of I belivee is just ludicrous. Remember when we pray to buddha ,it is a realtion with ourselves and our commitement towards dharma and to improve ourselves by beconing stronger than before. Wat we pray to are their qualities , compassion, peace of find , knowledge and reason etc not the actual persons. As the buddha says ,buddha dharma and sangha are within us just like the father son and holyspirit are also within us.
Sorry, what you said as examples of the Buddha's mistakes are your own perspective, for me those were Buddha's good decisions.
you agree with making women subservient to men? Good to know
@@Giantcrabz That is your idiotic thought. When Buddha denied it was not because of the subordination of women but because of the safety causes of women. In those days most regions were wild and nun had to travel alone which was dangerous.
🙏🙂
Getting a real impression that Buddha may have been neurodivergent...which makes sense I'd suppose
@@SilentSandwhich24145 not everyone who gets sore backs and is annoyed by loud noises is autistic 🙄
The Buddha is not neurodivergent or neurotypical or both or neither.
Makes sense tbh, neurodivergent have a gift of seeing things from different perspectives and finding intricate details
Buddha was not have been neurodivergent, whichby anything like this; this is clearly a limited perspective. The Buddha never displayed any feelings of anger toward anyone or anything. A simple example of his calmness and remarkable ability to express himself without any emotional reaction is a famous incident, In summary: The Akkosa Sutta (SN 7.2) describes an encounter between the Buddha and an angry Brahmin named Akkosa Bharadvaja. Akkosa approaches the Buddha and hurls insults at him. The Buddha remains calm and asks Akkosa what happens when a guest refuses offered food. Akkosa replies that the food would remain with the giver. The Buddha then explains that similarly, he does not accept Akkosa's insults, so they remain with Akkosa. He further teaches that responding to insults with anger only worsens the situation. Impressed by the Buddha's wisdom and equanimity, Akkosa has a change of heart and becomes a follower of the Buddha. This sutta demonstrates the Buddha's skillful handling of hostility and his teaching on maintaining composure when faced with verbal abuse.
What might seem like anger or annoyance by a modern lens s not be appropriate or accurate. It's one of the Buddha's skillful way of emphasizing important points or correcting harmful behavior. In the Pali Canon, these instances are often described using terms like 'admonished' rather than 'got angry'.
@@SilentSandwhich24145 I was thinking about it the other day, that most of these deified beings I've read about show several traits of neurodivergency according to the stories written about them.
*Please do not blaspheme or disrespect against Jesus Christ, stick to your level of expertise in Buddhism.*
The Evangelists say a *prophet* is not recognized among his own, it doesn't talk about his holiness it's talking about the faith people had to have in him.
Jesus even challenges people to find anything, just one thing, that he would have done as a sin. No one can come up with anything.
And this is to be taken with a nuance because his own mother did believe in him, *this saying was tied to the fact he was persecuted like all the prophets,* it has nothing to do with his holiness. Stick to your domain which is Buddhism do not disrespect Jesus Christ thank you.
Not interested
afraid of the truth?
@@Giantcrabz every one even you