ChrisW

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Buddhism

General discussion for buddhism.stackexchange.com

ChrisW

Jul 14 11:16

So if you have another view or information about what's mainstream, and if that's on-topic to the OP, then that might be better as a distinct, self-contained answer.

ChrisW

Jul 14 11:16

@Desmon I too don't like condescending remarks. DD used to post comments under other people answers, to remedy that we are recently trying to clarify what comments are allowable -- given that "moderators" are partly here to moderate inter-user conflict -- we're trying a new policy that the author of the answer may say whether a comment is useful and welcome or not.

ChrisW

Jul 13 18:38

Might your have a better than this? If so it might be more helpful to write that as a new answer -- to answer the OP and not just to contradict DhammaDhatu's answer. Ultimately the goal is high quality answers, if your comment don't result in DD's improving his answer then they're maybe not too useful in that format -- better post as a separate answer of your own, if you will.

ChrisW

Jul 13 18:35

A: Are the "seven stations of consciousness" and "two dimensions" in DN 15 meditative states, cosmological realms, or both?

The seven stations of consciousness and the two dimensions are merely internal states of consciousness that can be directly known in meditation because the Buddha concludes directly about them in DN 15: Now, regarding these seven stations of consciousness and two dimensions, is it appropriate fo...

ChrisW

Jul 13 18:34

@Desmon I deleted your comments which criticize this answer

ChrisW

Jun 30 17:46

Q: What are the site's policies for comments?

When and how shall we comment on other users' posts? What does SE's Help say? Is there site-specific policy? How do we moderate comments?

ChrisW

Jun 30 17:46

> The moderator can ask a user to stop commenting on your posts

ChrisW

Jun 30 17:45

@Remyla If it is "every post" then I can ask him to stop commenting on your answers. Would that solve the problem for you?

ChrisW

Jun 30 08:48

@DhammaDhatu and @Remyla I won't tell you not to argue with other if that's what you both want to be doing. OTOH maybe you could do it in a chat room like this, please, where other users of the site needn't read it -- especially if you want to discuss each other etc.

ChrisW

Apr 17 09:06

Q: Chat link being added to left navigation bar

You may have noticed that over the last several weeks, we ran an experiment that added a link to chat on Stack Overflow and some Stack Exchange sites in an attempt to make it more visible to site members. We'll be adding the navigation bar link to the remaining Stack Exchange sites this week and ...

discussion featured chat announcements

ChrisW

Mar 30 17:41

@EpistemicBuddhism Well done for posting here in Chat. Your @ChrisW resulting in my being notifiied, which is good, 'cos otherwise I wouldn't have noticed your posting here.

Discussion between void and ChrisW

Imported from a comment discussion on buddhism.stackexchange.c...

ChrisW

Mar 27 20:24

Normally I have more time on weekends than weekdays but I'll be out this weekend.

ChrisW

Mar 27 20:23

@blue_ego I don't know that quote.

ChrisW

Mar 24 20:41

Maybe any flower species must be able to propagate somehow, without human assistance.

ChrisW

Mar 24 20:40

But a saw a bunch in a fenced-off waste-land next to a highway, thought it was strange -- and nice.

ChrisW

Mar 24 20:39

Not that anything is really wild.

ChrisW

Mar 24 20:39

And wild daffodils -- not they're trees, but I didn't know they'd grow wild.

ChrisW

Mar 24 20:38

Including some magnolias.

ChrisW

Mar 24 20:38

I saw trees in flower when I went out yesterday.

ChrisW

Mar 24 20:37

Spring time!

ChrisW

Mar 24 20:37

Hey, do you know what time it is?

ChrisW

Mar 24 20:36

@blue_ego True, or at least the main site isn't a chat site. IMO the chat rooms are much more forgiving we can talk about anything -- including the weather -- we're only not allowed to be abusive, or something like that.

ChrisW

Mar 24 20:35

@blue_ego It's not a concern of mine any more.

ChrisW

Mar 24 15:52

@blue_ego I'd never heard of him; but I'm not unfamiliar with a more modern diagnosis of "schizophrenia".

ChrisW

Mar 23 11:33

my wife was more a fan of shiva
there's a Penguin Classic, Speaking of Shiva that's rather lovely if you get the chance
https://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Siva-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140442707
I first heard of buddhism in my teens -- and read *about* it, but didn't read *it*, until this forum started and gave me references to the pali sutttas

ChrisW

Mar 23 11:29

i used to have both (sex and drugs), now i have neither
still have cycling, which has been "better than sex" in some ways
may you be well

ChrisW

Mar 23 11:25

i'm pretty sure that drinking is not good for you
you probably know this already
I try to have a beer occasionally but regret it afterwards when I experience headache or lethargy

ChrisW

Mar 23 11:22

ChrisW

Mar 23 11:19

maybe more accurately "she" is in a time and place, possibly "in the past" now. in a sense that's less of an interesting question to me than "what were her qualities/virtues, why would you love her?"

ChrisW

Mar 23 11:15

@blue_ego to an extent? it's a supernatural power of the buddha to be able to see how people are reborn -- a power I can't presume to possess. at one point when I was looking for her I thought fancifully she might be a dragon-fly. I keep meeting her in my dreams so, to that extent she's "there". and I'm in Paris, which I often describe as being a "heaven" for cyclists because of all the road-work, cycle paths and so on -- relatively speaking and temporarily of course.

ChrisW

Mar 23 11:09

@blue_ego i'm not sure I trust any turn of phrase life "self-destruction". because "self" is a slippery concept. imo buddhism cuts the gordian knot by declaring it a subject that's not "fit for attention". maybe I wouldn't dare to find it "interesting", it's rather a train-of-thought to cut off at the root.

ChrisW

Mar 23 11:05

alcohol killed my wife unfortunately -- some of our parents too. thank goodness she was able to quit for many months before she died.

ChrisW

Mar 23 11:01

If you're talking about addictions, I've out-lived more than one. biking helped, give me something else to do. and a change in society, better role models. it took me too long to quit smoking for example, too many failed attempts over too many years and decades -- but I'm on the "other shore" of that now and I never regret having successfully quit.

ChrisW

Mar 23 10:56

the point is, that's bad behaviour, that's good behaviour, the person is neither, but dhamma will tell you to distinguish whether whether behaviour is good or bad and to prefer or intend the good, IMO.

ChrisW

Mar 23 10:54

the point IMO is to be ashamed of behaviour or even of some of "my behaviour" -- without identifying too strongly. it seems to me that the "ego" or "blue ego" persona maybe does identify, self-consciously I mean it's right there in the user account name, in a way that isn't always inline with Buddhist doctrine.

ChrisW

Mar 23 10:49

my mum and wife were pre-school teachers so I know their doctrine a little. for them it's axiomatic that there's "bad behaviour" but no "bad children" -- e.g. you don't say, "you're a bad boy" -- you'd say "that's bad behaviour" or perhaps explain (and/or point out other people who are modelling) better behaviour.

ChrisW

Mar 23 10:47

@blue_ego iirc the AA "12 step" program includes apologising to people you've hurt -- aa.org/the-twelve-steps -- I'm not sure why. I did find that kind of meeting enlightening in a way, in the sense of "taking me out of myself" and learning from the experience of others, at a time when one is all-too-isolated.

ChrisW

Mar 22 17:12

There's even a sutta where the Buddha says that other monks live "in dependence on" him -- which he can't -- and so he lives in dependence on the dhamma.
But it isn't just the dhamma, there's the vinaya too.
And "the holy life" might more-or-less mean, "with other monastics".

ChrisW

Mar 22 17:10

Something about the Buddhist part of becoming a monk if you want to "stop everything" -- is that you don't do even that alone.

ChrisW

Mar 22 17:09

Sometimes my parents might be (or "have been") saner than I am...

ChrisW

Mar 22 17:07

How about your parents then. Are you doing what they'd have wanted you to do? And is that a good question?

ChrisW

Mar 22 17:06

baseball!

ChrisW

Mar 22 16:07

That's a nice letter you wrote.
You seem a bit down on yourself, which I'm not (though I deserve to be). E.g. instead of seeing my behaviour as "shameful" I might see it as "conditioned" i.e. arising from the circumstance and from ignorance. Or e.g. there are actions/intentions which I don't/didn't regret, and maybe that's what we're supposed to remember (silanussati).

ChrisW

Mar 22 16:02

I thought it was kind of her, to be considerate of me when I was going to be bereaved.
Part of what "keeps me going" is cycling (bicycling) -- it's a mood-changing habit and (with work) is an alternative to only thinking i.e. being "stuck inside my head" as the expression goes.

ChrisW

Mar 22 15:34

traditionally "becoming a monk" might be a socially-approved way to "just not continue", eh?

ChrisW

Mar 22 15:32

aside from that, or even including that, "what I want" is kind of impermanent as you might imagine ... one thing after another. per Buddhism maybe sila is meant to be a constant -- a desire not to hurt others, for example.

ChrisW

Mar 22 15:30

what I want ... when my wife was telling me what to say at her funeral, "first of all, thank the doctors for saving my life." I'm a software developer by trade. I'm now working for an employer whose product is to help doctors, that's been my "work" since then.

ChrisW

Mar 22 15:26

I still have a mother. I'm pretty she'd be distressed if I deceased, so, no.

ChrisW

Mar 22 15:22

Not imperative. But given I'm still able to it seemed like the best thing to do, to continue.

ChrisW

Mar 22 15:20

I'm sorry if you are in physical pain.