Maddie

That's generally how I view him

Fair enough since Buddha took it from the proto-Hindu's tool box.

So I took a look at several of his videos and here are my thoughts.... He seems very intelligent and very gifted with languages for sure. On the other hand he seems to repeat himself a lot and come to conclusions that seem out of context with the rest of the passage around them based on his interpretation of a word. He seems to come of with the impression that he is the only one that realizes that the Buddha never said there wasn't a soul. I think many Buddhists realize that the five skandhas are referring to what the Buddha said the self is not as opposed to the common misconception of him saying what the self is. He also seems to think the "middle way" refers to the Milkyway in the night sky by using a very literal translation of the word, but the context that the Buddhas uses when describing the middle way makes it clear he is speaking about not going to extremes of asceticism on one hand or hedonism on the other. The last point he tries to make is that the Buddha didn't teach breath meditation, again based on a very literal translation of a word. He comes across as arrogant and seems to think only he understand the Nikayas or at least better than anyone else in the world as he stated himself several times. Still he was interesting to listen to.

And some vegetables become meat

I use the fewest words to explain the things I understand best.

In John 10:30 Jesus said "I and the Father are one" then everyone wanted to kill him and he said why and they said because you made yourself equal to God and then he said and then he said in verse 34 "...Is it not written you your law 'I said, you are gods'?" Basically Jesus says "I am God" and the people freak out to the point of wanting to kill him for blasphemy and then he basically says "but so are you. (and you just don't realize it yet)"

But I think it's brilliant also because lately as I've been mindful of what emotions are as I experience them I have noticed a lot of what I call emotions are nothing more than tension in various parts of my body. So basically some meat is less tender than other parts of meat and then meaning gets added to it.

yes!!!

That is hilarious

True cultivation is non-denominational

Or perhaps we can redirect this topic as an object lesson into the emotion of anger. People have a theory. Someone else disagrees with that theory. Anger. Anger leads to arguing with the goal of "winning" (what ever that means). So what is anger?

I've found the Vajrapani mantra very helpful for removing "negative" energy lately.

I've found at times when I get "stuck" that doing the Manjushri mantra even just a little bit helps. Usually at first after doing it I feel even more confused, but I think that's due to you have to unlearn what you think you know in order to be teachable.

https://aleteia.org/2019/09/23/how-padre-pio-stopped-allied-forces-from-bombing-his-monastery-during-wwii/

My first serious exposure to Buddhism was Theravada and as I'm sure everyone is aware their take on the Mahyana sutras is that they were made up much later and don't come from the Buddha so basically they're not worth much. But then when you listen to Bill Brodi speak about the levels of realization of the Mahayana in comparison to the Theravada he makes it seem like the Theravada are basically training wheels but will only get you so far. This is confusing.

Is there some sort of form to get on a wait list or is it more of a lottery system?

I guess it's about as relevant as saying you study the word of God in all caps on a post about emotions?

Yeah that was a sincere question. Based on the context of a few other posts I gather it's the the Christian God. Which denomination are you and what is your spiritual approach?

Makes sense. Sounds like sankharas then.

Yes I think dependent origination does a good job of explaining why emotions arise, but it still makes me wonder, what are emotions? One thing about dependent origination that I have a hard time understanding in relation to emotions is when you are just sitting there doing nothing and emotions arise out of the blue and the senses are not involved. The six senses give arising to contact which gives arising to feeling which gives arising to craving, but what is the reason for emotions when there is no obvious sensory stimulus? What gives arise to emotions then? And still what are they? Sankhara's?

Which God do you study, and what have you discovered so far?

Is this from the point of view of the farmer or the mouse? But I do agree it is good not to harm others.

If find this fascinating and would like to understand it better. Early on in my qigong practice, I would deal with the emotions rather directly by doing practices related to the organ they were associated with. This did NOT make things better.

I appreciate people finding Tao in their craft. I've listened to professional golfers speak about the intricacies of what goes into hitting a ball with a stick and to me it sounds like Tao. I have listened to professional surfers speak about the same thing and come away with the same conclusion. Same goes for a grandmother that knits, a dance instructor, and a former baseball pitcher that is one of my patients. I find it interesting when people find Tao through what they do.

Is this basically not the view of every one dimensional villain in comic books and superhero movies?