Maddie

The way the Buddha defined the ego was identifying with any of the five aggregates as being the self.

A noble career field.

Wtf ?! 😂😂😂

This does not answer the question of what method is used to "find and nurture" these qualities.

I have found these two things are often related :-/

Probably, but the elimination of ego would make discovering these people very difficult, because they would most likely feel no need to proclaim this to anyone.

Yes, the Buddha had accomplished this, he said it was possible through Jhanna states.

I went through a phase of selecting a crystal every morning and putting it in my pocket. Usually I would forget it was there throughout the day. I began to notice that if I had placed a red crystal in my pocket I would feel anxious that day, and if I placed a blue crystal in my pocket I would feel sleepy that day. There are other examples but that gives one the idea.

I find Pureland fascinating, both conceptually and it's rich history, but with anything that can't really be substantiated it always leaves me wondering but is it real? 🤔🤔🤔

Ish.... The paths are different from the charts I've seen. And to my knowledge nadis don't have the organ correspondence that meridians do.

Let's not forget there are also meridians. I'm an acupuncturist, couldn't help myself lol

Have you tried the sitting eight brochade set?

I don't recall calling chores mindless but I do agree with you about approach which is what I am currently doing, which is what made me aware enough of the situation to make a post about it lol.

When I begin my study of Buddhism I think like probably most other people I learned from teachers and videos and contemporary books and they definitely all seem to have their uses and place. However as time has gone by I've drifted away from that and begin to read the Suttas from the Pali Cannon myself. At first I was still reading them through the lens of the contemporary stuff that I was taught, but after some time I came to realize that the Buddhism taught in the suttas is not necessarily exactly the same as what's taught today in a contemporary context. Probably the most vivid example that jumps out at me is most people I run into thinking Buddhism equals meditation and that meditation equals having a blank mind. We definitely do not find this being the emphasis of the suttas. Another common misconception I've noticed is that people think the Buddha taught that there is no self. Actually if you read the suttas he never said this, he just simply taught things that were not the self that were mistaken to be the self. He also didn't say there was a self but he didn't say there wasn't either. That's just a couple of examples but has anyone else found this in their own personal study of the suttas?

Well now you've come across somebody who has a different experience 🙂

The dalai lama walks into a pizza restaurant and says make me one with everything. Then I guess I got it backwards but my understanding is that someone who's fully enlightened could not possibly have a wet dream because there would be nothing left in the mind with which to have that reaction.

I heard about the wet dream debate and is silly as it sounds on the surface I think it raises a good question. I believe it was the Mahayana who said that an arahat could not have a wet dream.

My analogy would be how many dumpsters do you have to clean out before the experience becomes positive?

Well I can tell my my subjective deduction but that being said the key word is "subjective deduction" My personal feelings having done this for several years is that the mantras purge out specific types of bad karma in order to help one obtain the goal for that which they are chanting. As this bad karma is purging its greatly magnified and can make one feel odd effects.

Speaking of if there's somebody that's very knowledgeable on chanting and mantras I would love to hear from you.

I think the question and the answers remind me of why I switched over from Taoism to Buddhism. Taoism just seems confusing and there aren't a lot of clear straightforward answers whereas Buddhism is much better explained. Not that I dislike Taoism but it's just hard to understand.

I notice consistently if I do a lot of mantras or chanting then life becomes very uncomfortable for a while.

True true 🤔🧐

Just observing it. They gradually dissipate over time. We unravel the conditioning that way.

My understanding of mindfulness of feelings was a reaction to the various input from the sense organs as either pleasant unpleasant or neutral. So I definitely pay attention to emotions in this regards when being mindful of them. They're almost always unpleasant LOL. So for example if anger comes up I observe it and then I see how anger causes suffering and then I make the connection to see through the delusion in the mind that's causing the anger. As far as changes go it's slow and gradual over time but I am not nearly as reactive as I used to be like it takes me a lot to get me angry and then I don't get very angry and then I don't stay angry for example. I've also basically become asexual for all intents and purposes. And pretty much any emotion just tends to affect me less than it used to.