becomethepath

then escapism such as reading, watching movies, alcohol, gambling would be stepping away from the truth correct?

My family was poor but we became wealthy later in life. I remember I thought my family was poor, I use to skip lunch everyday at school so we could save money, I skipped lunch for 5 years during my middle school highschool days and let's just say I wasn't in great shape after that...and I also wore the same clothes everyday...Then when we finally became wealthy, I got a taste what luxury is like and I didn't want any of it, I didn't feel comfortable driving a luxury car or eating out in nice places all the time, or buying nice clothes. It didn't feel natural to me for some reason. Maybe I wasn't use to it? But anyways, I gave up the "luxury" really quickly after.

I was playing limit, i played a lot of online poker on yahoo games for practice, it was more like 1 hour days, right now, I just need to know if its against the precepts or if buddha prohibit "gambling", i've been researching on this topic, there hasn't been a clear cut answer, people say its okay, people say its not okay to gamble or play poker

for like two weeks haha

I've played poker before at the casino. It is a grind.

I also read about the six evils of gambling on buddhism, squandering wealth, losers moans loss and etc.

One of the problems I've come across is, bluffing, you bluff in order to have the opponent bet more money, knowing already you have the winning hand. Everyone plays with their own money, and if I win, I'm "winning" money from other players? And it's a hard to know if a person is betting his whole life savings or gambling with his retirement savings money or about to lose his house and needs to win.

I want your opinion on this. What is your view on gambling, poker in relation to buddhism?

Best things in life are free! People spend so much chasing things they don't live in the present moment. I'm sure many of you heard this before, carpe diem, seize the moment, live in the present, mindfulness. I chased my future before, next thing you know, my past was a blur, what happened? Time flies so quick! Yet, I'm not satisfied for some reason. Now I've finally awakened, I slowed down and became mindful of the present. The less I worry and think about the future, the more I relax, the more I find the little things to be satisfying, and thus having gratitude.

I noticed folks internationally are more FRIENDLIER AND HAPPIER. Honestly, they are the most down to earth, open and kind people in this world, unlike America where eveyrone is about consumerism and materialistic pursuits, wealth, popularity, prestige, status.

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if you are poor, happy, compassionate and unselfish, and beautiful women are attracted to you, then I would have to tip my hat to you

If you believe that, then all right.

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thanks, I hope i survive hahaha, i'm not from india, im from california, i'll be working in the restaurant/ food/ entertainment industry

I read in buddhist books that we need to be open and not create arguments..Put ego to a side that what the book is telling me. Like you're invited to a family dinner, however the family cooked all meat and you're vegetarian. They realized they made a mistake, however you let go of ego and eat the meat. I don't know.

This whole week, I've been remembering all my dreams, I don't record them down so I forget about them the next day. But is there any connection between vivid dreams and spirituality? These dreams are so vivid, I remember the interactions I had and the faces.

No, we must be open to everything. We shouldn't argue with someone or put someone down. Let's say you have children. You wouldn't want someone to say, "people who have kids are stupid" to you. It's creates negative emotions.

Yes, we must be open to everything, if someone is smoking a cigarette in the car, one shouldn't be like "I don't like cigarettes, throw it out please", one should say "I like the smell of cigarettes"

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life makes me laugh, the things we humans do

Like Naruto??

So let's say we carry this over to work. We can still maintain spontaneity even if the job seems "repetitive"? For example, being a cashier, seems like a repetitive job, how do we create spontaneity in that situation then?

But I'm not depressed though.