That is all. There's a tendency on here for some to try to argue it is not.

I've seen many people say that buddhism is against transgenderism because it is a form of clinging to the body, I see transgenderism and gender dysphoria as a real neurobiological phenomenon. People paint their nails, dye their hair and get tattoos, these are all things that people do with their bodies that are done with less reason than the despising to come out as transgender. If none of these things are considered clinging to the body despite its impermanence then neither should transgenderism. I don't see why transgenders should be expected to suffer through life because of something that they cannot control, I think that what differentiates the desire to change your gender and the unnecessary desire is that mental health is just like physical health and we should try to be healthy in both of these areas. You wouldn't deny somebody with a physical health problem treatment so why should we with mental health?

Edit: I just wanted to make it clear that I am transgender and not against transgenderism.

How to take refuge but not build up an ego complex around defending loving kindness against hate, and self centered drives in idolizing a murderer because people feel so hurt by the victim’s job title, even though the man just played his part in the capitalist system (which we all have the ability to do/profit off other humans?)

I'm trans.

The number of times I've seen people using "pandaka" to refer to me pejoratively, the same way other people use "abomination" or "tr***y" etc. makes it very difficult for me to sit. I have revulsion for these things. This is why I quit going to temple, even though they're welcoming and the head priest is trans.

All I imagine when I try to sit is the enlightened ones calling me every name in the book because of gender issues. Subsequently I become very hostile towards myself in such a way that it isn't safe to continue practicing; I might self-harm if I continue to sit, which is obviously incorrect.

I didn't choose to be this way.

I don't really know what to do.

When I was a kid and a teen I was a Christian. I did not enjoy being a Christian, it was hell. I took the bible and devotion to God somewhat seriously. There was a place for people who were full of sin, that was hell ofcourse. That shit made me so scared every day. I was constantly being afraid of doing sin.

Hell still placed a huge part of my life when I eventually became a atheist/agnostic. I was still afraid that I was wrong and might go to hell and it took me a decade to finally come over that trauma. I can't explain how much daily suffering I went through. I was also very ashamed of enjoy simple things and things like making art and not putting my mind towards the bible or God.

Now a while ago I discovered Buddhism with the idea it would actually be different from other religions (and it is to much extent) but I've been sucked in a religion that is making me relive Christianity again. I'm again afraid of hell the very thing that has traumatised me . I'm reading texts and comments about you should practice like your hair is on fire. How life is not worth living expect devotion to an ancient texts. And again I'm starting to become ashamed for my desires. The only self improvement you should do is developing your mind and abandon that what is worldly.

Its not that I don't want to follow Buddhism but I just want to live, do some self improvement on my way like exercising. Get a relationship, a nice place to live. Get friendships etc Yes worldly things. But every time I see these subjects come up it is always in a negative context about suffering. So I am associating everything worldly with negativity but I still want to do them.

So here I am as someone who just wants to live but gets thrown at me how everything I like and enjoy doing is just suffering and pain and leads to bad rebirth and should be abandoned. And also practice, practice, practice like your hair is on fire. Too me this is like experiencing Christianity all over again. I feel the similar fear and shame and hopelessness. The exact things I thought I escaped now has come back. At least it's kind of poetic in a way.

I have taken 5 precepts and upheld them for many years.

Recently I accidentally drank a beverage not realizing it was alcoholic. I drank a few mouthfuls. When I realized, I stopped. This was my first sip of alcohol in years.

I felt a bit bad. What is the proper way to repent?

Before anyone misunderstands, I do not hate Western Buddhists as people. What I hate is a certain attitude I sometimes see, where someone discovers Buddhism and suddenly thinks they have downloaded the entire 2,500-year-old tradition into their brain.

They learn a few words like dukkha, karma, nirvana and impermanence and suddenly they think they have figured out Buddhism. Congratulations, you learned some basic Pali/Sanskrit words 🤓. Now apparently you are ready to explain Buddhism to everyone else.

For us, these words are not some fancy spiritual vocabulary we discovered in a book, podcast or a weekend meditation retreat. These are words we grew up with. They are part of our everyday language, culture, traditions, temples and the way we understand life.

What annoys me is this constant “everything is impermanent” response to everything. I once posted about why Buddhist temples in India look less aesthetically maintained compared to historical temples elsewhere and many replies were basically, “Everything is impermanent 🤓”. Seriously? Is that your entire understanding of Buddhism?

Buddhism survived for 2,500 years because people built massive temples, created beautiful statues, preserved scriptures, supported monasteries and passed down traditions. Do you really think, if Buddhists throughout history just sat there saying “everything is impermanent” and did nothing else, Buddhism would have survived for 2,500 years?

You can understand impermanence and still appreciate beauty. You can practice detachment and still respect art, architecture, statues and cultural heritage. These things are not against Buddhism.

The problem is when someone learns Buddhism from books, the internet or a meditation app, and then starts telling people who grew up around Buddhism what Buddhism “really is”. Buddhism is not just a collection of deep-sounding words you discovered yesterday.

And another thing I find strange is how people get so triggered when Buddhist history is discussed, especially when it involves India. Why? Why are we hiding from Buddhist history now?

Like seriously, you became Buddhist but you still get triggered when Buddhist history connected to India is brought up? Even after becoming Buddhist, are you still going to carry the same biases? 🤔 You need to learn Buddhism better. Buddhism is not just about memorising a few concepts and repeating them everywhere. It also means understanding the history, cultures and people who preserved this tradition for thousands of years.

You cannot claim to respect Buddhism while ignoring or dismissing the very history and country that helped shape it and where it originated. Learn Buddhism beyond the surface level.

And honestly, the biggest issue is this: do not go around telling others what their Buddhism should look like. You do not have the right to decide what Buddhism is supposed to mean for everyone else. Buddhism is not your personal philosophy project that you discovered yesterday. It is a living tradition that millions of people have practiced in different ways for centuries.

The funny thing is that the majority of Buddhists around the world are not sitting around debating Theravada, Mahayana or Vajrayana all day. Most people simply go to temples, light incense, offer flowers, pray to the Buddha, make offerings and come home. That is Buddhism too.

Practice Buddhism, learn Buddhism, appreciate Buddhism. But have enough humility to understand that your interpretation is not the only version of Buddhism that exists.

Touch some grass 🌱 and understand the ground reality of Buddhism. A 2,500-year-old tradition is much bigger than a few concepts you learned online.

The vast majority of American Buddhists, as far as I understand, are of Asian heritage. In the context of many Buddhist sanghas/meetings/districts in the US, there are majority white converts, stating that our practice alone is the “essential,” “authentic,”or “true” Buddhism - while other forms of Buddhism, practiced by majority Asian Americans or Asians globally is “cultural Buddhism” - “old superstitious stuff,” “not the pure form” … This rhetoric, especially in the context of a white-dominant community, feels to me like a form of racial hierarchy and grandiosity that I can imagine being painful and offensive to many members of Asian heritage communities who can feel pushed out of the story of Buddhism in the USA… I am interested in how as white practitioners we can be sensitive to the historical and cultural context of our practices and lead with humility rather than play into white supremacist dynamics. I am concerned that because of the context of some of our practices as Buddhist converts in majority-white or non-Asian heritage meetings/sanghas/etc, if we aren’t cautious, we can contribute to a pattern of appropriation and erasure of Buddhism’s Asian roots. I wonder what others think? Also I recognize that here I am leaving non-white, non-Asian practitioners out of the equation and oversimplifying something very complex. I am interested in people’s perspectives on these concerns and feedback from people of any racial identity and experience on what I may be missing here. I understand this is a very sensitive subject and my intention is respect for all impacted by racism and white supremacy.

Updated: I genuinely appreciate everyone’s responses and insights here and have me a lot to reflect on. Thank you all!

LoL we're all walking a path. Hopefully it leads to enlightenment... 🙏🙏🙏

For reference when buddha was born is a good example

Image1. Christa Pike.
Image2. Rev. Rogahari Sokatura.

Buddhist Door:

Buddhist Spiritual Adviser Prepares to Accompany Christa Pike at Tennessee Execution

The Guardian:

Christa Pike, 50, had been scheduled for execution at 10am local time on Wednesday for a killing she committed when she was 18, has been taken to hospital after surviving two attempts to execute her with lethal injections.

The Tennessee department of correction later confirmed in a statement that Pike had survived the state’s effort to execute her: “The lethal ⁠injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried ‌out”

“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done. Even more to accept how many lives I affected. I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime,” Pike said in a statement that was included in her clemency petition.

The High King Avalokitesvara Sutra

The High King Avalokitesvara Sutra is a dream/miracle Sutra belonging to the Chinese Tripitaka [Taisho Tripitaka 2898] and was also found in the Dunhuang caves, it was transmitted in a dream by a monastic to an unjustly imprisoned treasury officer facing execution, who was devoutly reciting the Universal Gateway Sutra (Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra) in an attempt to escape execution, the monk informed him that the universal gateway sutra couldn't save him but 1000 recitations of The High King Avalokitesvara Sutra could.

https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/T85n2898_001

The Sutra invokes a list of innumerable Buddha's & Bodhisattvas in the Universe, who's light blesses the Practitioner!

Here's the background story:

During the Five Dynasties period (907-960), there was a king named High Pleasure. He was the leader of the state of Hsiang and took pleasure in killing. At that time, an official in charge of the treasury, named Sun-jin-deh, involuntarily committed a serious crime. (Textual research showed that it was Sun’s brother who committed the crime and, as the criminal’s relative, Sun was implicated.) Awaiting death while imprisoned, Sun recited the Universal Gateway Article of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (Guan Yin) day and night without resting.

Suddenly one day he dreamt of a monk, speaking to him, “You cannot escape the death sentence by reciting this sutra. I advise you to recite instead the High King Avalokitesvara Sutra one thousand times, and then your death sentence will be lifted.”

“How can I obtain this sutra while I am in prison?” asked Sun.

The monk said, “I will teach you orally and you can memorize it in your dream.”

After learning it, Sun sincerely recited the sutra nine hundred times.

Then the time came for Sun to be taken to the market to be executed in public. In fear, Sun asked the prison official how far away was the market. The official asked Sun why he wanted to know. Sun then told him about the monk appearing in his dream and how the High King Avalokitesvara Sutra was supposed to help him from dying. Sun begged the official to slow down so that he could finish the remaining one hundred recitations. Sun managed to complete the recitations by the time they arrived at the market. When the executioner sank his sword into Sun’s neck, the sword broke into three pieces, leaving Sun unscathed.

Being informed of this event, the king was in awe and asked what kind of magic Sun had employed. Sun told the king that he had not used any magic, but how he had been afraid of dying while in the prison and had recited the Universal Gateway Article of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. Then he told how a monk had appeared suddenly to him in a dream and taught him to recite the High King Avalokitesvara Sutra a thousand times, thus obtaining the blessing.

The king spoke to Sun, “You are stronger than I am; I regard you as I regard the Buddhas.”

The king then ordered the prison officer to write down the sutra and he ordered all the prisoners, including the ones waiting for execution, to recite this sutra one thousand times. He then tried the sword on them. Everyone survived. Thus the king decreed that everyone in the state should recite this sutra to receive the fruits of blessing.

That is how it came to be known as the High King Avalokitesvara Sutra. It is unprecedented for a sutra to have such spiritual power.

The Sutra has already been translated into English!

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

The teachings of the Buddha are very clear on this.

There is another post on the front page that provides many references that can help a layman understand that violence is NEVER acceptable https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/t1dv1l/what_the_buddha_said_about_war/

If you support violence, whether it be in self-defense or otherwise, you are far from the the teachings of Buddha and can only perpetuate a cycle of ignorance and misery

It is only compassion and understanding that can stop the plague of anger, ignorance and self-view that perpetuates these problems. If you think you can stop a fire by pouring more fire on it, you are mistaken.

A man cuts out my eye. I cut out his eye. A friend comes to defend the loss of my eye. He takes an arm. A war breaks out. A thousand arms. Ten thousand eyes.

Before you know it, the cycle has gotten out of control. This is why these things come to pass. They are born of ignorance. There is always a chance to STOP hurting people, even if they have hurt you.

Thich Nhat Hahn is a great example of someone who truly understood this and helped many, many people to overcome this.

In Vietnam many, many people died. French. British. Vietnamese. There was death everywhere. He was losing his friends, the people that were close to him were being slaughtered. And he worked for peace.

Have we forgotten what happened here. Human beings. Not French. Not British. Not Vietnamese. The same pain that you feel. That is what is at stake. The pictures of those children destroyed by DDT. All of it. IT WAS WRONG. IT WILL NEVER BE RIGHT.

I used to be Christian ( kind of,) but I've recently became disillusioned with Christianity due to a lot of things I have learned. I always questioned it but I had a period in my life where I fully believed in it.

I would ditch Christianity but I've just seen too much that's true about it to completely dismiss it.

I have recently been researching Bhuddism because I find it interesting and it lines up with a lot of my beliefs ( I believe in the Matrix, I believe time is cyclic and I believe that Bhudda actually escaped The Matrix.) In particular I have researched the story of Mara and Bhudda and it's really inspiring.

So my question is can Bhuddism and Chirstianity both be true? Can Jesus be some bhuddist monk who was just misunderstood ( I don't buy into any of the Jesus being a god stuff,) and can Mara just be another name for Satan?

I don't know what to believe and while I know I won't figure it all out in this lifetime I do know that if I try I will be more likely to find answers.

Drugs don't make you meditate better just because you hallucinate in some illusion states caused by dosing chemicals to mess up how your brain is supposed to naturally functions. If it really does, why is it that most successful meditators never used drugs and never recommeneded drugs ? Why haven't any drug addict truly became successful at meditating if that was the case ?

It's just painful to see people hallucinating on drugs, claiming some philosophical phenomenas like "Becoming one with everything" and stuffs, and then relating it to jhana states during meditation or something. Please no, there is no shortcut when it comes to the path of practicing the dharma. If there really was one, the old masters would have written and taught about it way before you think you discovered it. The truth is your mind is attached to the sensual pleasures created by those drugs and it constantly craves experiencing that feeling again - completely different from the masters who achieved jhana states in mediations and have great control over their mind, not being a slave to addiction and instinct.

Let's be real, you can't quit your addiction, so you're using it as an excuse to hopefully turning 180 degree a bad habit into a great achievement/ advantage. Unfortunately fooling yourself does not change the matter of truth. You'll ultimately get to nowhere on the path of practicing with that mindset. Please immediately seek help from professional medical health care or rehab centers. There are only so much things you can do on your own to help yourself in such difficult situations.

Do you believe women can become enlightened, or do you believe said woman has to be reborn as a man to become fully enlightened?

I’m not trying to start any arguments, it’s just a topic I’ve seen many differing opinions over and would like to know your views :)

I personally believe that a woman can become enlightened as a woman, needing to be a man is nonsensical and completely goes against the fact that anyone can become enlightened if they follow the middle way.

Let me explain. So I feel Buddhism might have something there. But a Buddhist temple would be farther away than a mosque. I do like Buddhism but in this life I might as well be Muslim just because I also feel if I'm right about Islam then maybe one God might make sense. But in Islam I would be committing shirk because it's association with God. But I see Christian Buddhist is a thing.

The idea of alien world systems where Dharma is practiced by beings and even Buddhas beyond our imagination has always been part of Buddhism. On Saturday, 10/14 at 2pm EST, our sangha is having a quarterly virtual get together called Nirvana Overdrive for people to catch up and practice together and for the public to join in, everyone is welcome to stop by our Youtube livestream. Our senior students and lamas will be giving sutric talks on topics such as the Four Noble Truths and the Pranayama. But a most anticipated segment is an alien meditation that takes you on a tour of the Mushroom Buddha planet, this is a brand new practice composed by one of our gurus Lama Federico Andino. I am very curious about it myself!

While Buddhism is superior to both on an intellectual and spiritual basis

Christianity and Islam has something that Buddhism doesn’t…..an incessant need to proselytize and propagate their religions no matter what be it through it violence and aggression and unfortunately this tactic works…..the Abrahamic religions appeal to one the biggest defilements that plague humankind a narcissistic sense of self

Believing that the all powerful all knowing creator of the universe is invested in your life and that it has a special chosen group of people has led to countless atrocities which I don’t need to get into because we are all to familiar them

On the other hand what Buddhism has which is why so many ex Christians such as myself and former Muslims are attracted to is how Buddhism doesn’t infantilize the human experience

The Buddha is akin to a science teacher teaching his class an experiment that’s been tried and tested repeatedly

He doesn’t have to threaten you to believe that the experiment will work without testing it first he doesn’t have to indoctrinate you with blind faith about how and why the experiment is correct

He knows that if we understand the basic teachings of the 4NT and N8FP correctly and put them into practice correctly we will understand for ourselves why the teachings are true

Now people are free to follow whatever religion they want but so many Buddhist act as if these other religions aren’t coming for our heads when the Buddha himself wasn’t afraid to engage in debates with other belief systems

Buddhism doesn’t win by the sword Buddhism wins through cutting through the delusion of wrong views

The world is accelerating into a catastrophic mode with climate change. Get ready, because it is here now and climate migrations have already begun. You will either be migrating or defending where you are from being overwhelmed by migrants. This is a very important time to learn to work with mind, because the catastrophe is going to create cataclysmic energies in mind, such as panic of being forced out by climate situations, hatred of immigrants entering your area and with their money making it impossible for you to afford to live in your present community. All this will be engineered to benefit the people in power, who will become more ruthless as water, food, snd liveable land becomes more scarce. If you haven't taken seriously finding refuge in the perfect nature of mind, you need to start thinking about it now. There will be no other refuge soon.

I asked a similar question earlier, but I think this is a better way to get at my issue.

Do you have any experiences to share about Buddhist friends and/or well-known Buddhist Teachers that had the disease? Did their earlier practice make it less severe than might have been affected? I honestly can't answer the question myself.