Maddie

One thing I have found interesting is that if you read the Sutta's the Buddha would never answers questions concerning if there was a self or no self. Rather when he taught the aggregates he just taught that the five aggregates were not self.

I think the first question is beyond the realm of acupuncture. As to the second question pretty much all we do all day is try to open them meridians and move qi.

I'm a licensed acupuncturist and would be happy to answer any questions, but I'm not sure I understand the question.

I knew you were going to ask this question before you did........ lol

I not really looking for a magical teacher but if there's any magical teachers out there that are willing to volunteer having a genie would be nice LOL.

Okay so he sounds like he was a good life coach which is definitely cool and valuable for sure, but not supernatural or magical.

Would you mind clarifying how Anatta is a non-dual understanding? I've always understood it that the five aggregates are not self.

I guess I'm a bit confused because I hear about all this non-duality spoken of in a Buddhist context here and granted I've mostly read the Pali Canon but I've never heard of non-dualism spoken of by the Buddha.

My personal experience of Buddhism involves more crying and less debating lol. But yes Buddhism is grossly misunderstood even by Buddhists.

Yes stifling anything is actually not Buddhist because the point of Buddhism is to know things as they actually are and stifling is the opposite of that.

In the Kalama Sutta the Buddha did encourage people to inquire into things to see they were true and not just accept things at face value. 😉

Buddhism doesn't see feelings as an illusion. Buddhism sees feelings as an experience so therefore one of the true real things there are. What Buddhism does see as an illusion is the narrative that we tend to make from feelings.

Ok two questions.... 1. What could he do? 2. Would it still work if he tried it on a non-believer / MMA fighter?

Oh I didn't realize that lol. But about videos, its too easy to fake stuff in video.

A video will never convince me, nor should it convince anyone with any critical thinking skills for obvious reasons.

Or Nuts-gone.

What the actual fuuu....?!🤨

^Magic martial artists are real because "trust me bro".

The questioning that arises from learning that some of the traditional martial arts that you used to revere are basically useless, caused me to question "what else have I assumed to be true and in reality is BS?"

Don't tell anyone you saw me shooting rainbows out my butt 🤭🌈

Lol I was never worried about powers, that seems to have been a rabbit hole that developed. My topic is being disillusioned after finding out the claims of a tradition, technique, or teacher are not authentic.

Yes! I think one of my favorite teachers is Ajahn Braham. I've never seen him do a single power nor heard of him doing one, but he's emphasis on kindness, especially self kindness has made the biggest difference in my life. To me kindness is a super power. 😊🩷

Yeah if I ever cross paths with one for sure. When I was younger I fell into a Christian cult. One of the main ways they gave the cult leader legitimacy was to talk about all the amazing miracles he did and visions he had had on the mission field in the Philippines in the past. The funny thing was, is that I never saw him do one single miracle (unless you count getting people to give you all of their money a miracle) the entire time I was around him. It was always far away and long ago, ie. in a place that could not be disputed nor verified by anyone. So to me when I hear of all of these "secret masters" with powers but you just don't know who they are or you can't see them, this really seems no different to me than the cult leader or for that matter even Santa Clause. I'm of the mindset that I see the proof first and then I believe it, and not the other way around which I think is reasonable.

I appreciate you sharing but I will never be convinced by a video, too easy to fake.

Yes I have done several meditation retreats at monasteries and spoken to many people that claimed to have powers or abilities. I have always been underwhelmed to say the least.