Is TRUMP a rich "bodhisattva"? Abortion?

SCMP; Ayya Soma (BuddhistInsights.org); Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Trump Buddha statue that "makes your company great again"

(SCMP, South China Morning Post, 3/16/21) A sculpture of former U.S. Pres. Don Trump depicted as a seated meditating Buddha has become a “huge” hit in China.

My T-Buddha makes me feel there's hope for all.

The statue was created by a furniture designer and decorator in the southern Chinese city of Xiamen. The sculptor said his work is meant to contrast the image of the wise and kind Buddha with the cruel dolt Trump.

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(Buddhist Insights, 3/15/21) Monk Chat: Q&A with the monastics at Empty Cloud Monastery in New Jersey, USA, with German scholar-nun Ven. Vimalanyani, American Abbot Ven. Suddhaso, and senior Sri Lankan Buddhist elder Ven. Sumitta Thero from Los Angeles.

Beware, just like there is fake news there are a lot of "Fake Trumps" for sale on Taobao.

COMMENTS

• Aum Chatterjee: ​Can you please explain sakaya-ditthi [personality-view]? 🙏🏽
• ViduraOne: ​🙏💙
• TheUltimateBlitz1: ​Good evening, Sangha!
• Kumu: ​🙏🙏🙏
• Jayantha Fernando: ​Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu!
• Rick Thorn: ​How do we honor our commitments and be free from stress such as? Having too much to do and not enough time. Facing a deadline with serious consequences. Delays threaten missing a flight connection?
• Dan Jones: ​🙏🙏🙏
• Hayden Browne: ​I’ve heard monastics sleep around 5-6 hours a night. What is the value of limiting sleep and can laypeople benefit from this as a practice?
• Dinko Simunovic: ​Greetings 🙏🙏🙏
• ProudThai Cookery: ​🙏🙏🙏
• Aurora: ​What are the three clear knowledges? As in "One possessing the three clear knowledges, peaceful, for whom renewed existence is finished: know him thus, Vasettha, as Brahma and Sakka."
• Andre Stith: ​🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 from NYC ❣❣❣❣✨❣✨❣❣❣✨✨✨
• Kumu: ​Venerables 🙏, Could you please explain the difference between abhi-sankara and sankhara? Do arahants have sankhara and not abhisankara as there is no upadana [clinging, attachment] (my understanding as of now!🙏)
• Rick Thorn: ​Thank you, Bhante 🙏🙏🙏
• Kumu: ​Does having a good meditation practice takes away the need to sleep more as the mind is at rest more during waking hours?
• ViduraOne: ​Yeah, I sleep lot, usually struggle waking up early for work, I need to change that.
• ViduraOne: ​🙏
• Aurora: ​🙏 Thank you, Ayya.
• Shelly Lim: ​Hi, Venerables, I live with my mom who's a nice person, but can often be controlling and angry with the people around her. Do you have any suggestions for dealing with her and avoiding negative karma?
• Sam: Just curious, can monastic own medical insurance?
• Alissa Smith: ​Daily recitals of Five Recollections, refuges [Three Guides, ti-sarana], and Five Precepts all begin with "I." How to reconcile that with no-self (anatta)?
• Alissa Smith: ​Thank you.
• Shelly Lim: ​Thank you, Ayya!
• Aurora: ​In the Kasibharadvaja Sutta, why does the Buddha not eat food over which verses have been cited?
• Kumu: ​MN 45 (Culadhammasamadana Sutta) says someone living with strong lust, hate, and delusion by living a perfect and a holy [monastic] life upon death can have a happy destination next life. How is this possible? 🤔
• Dinko Simunovic: ​Is there a big difference between one long meditation session and few shorter meditation sessions thruoghout a day? Thank you
• Liz Hanbury: ​I've noticed different monks [and nuns] do chants differently. Are chants to be sung with specific notes as with singing songs with specific tunes? Or are chants done in free form, so to speak? Thank you. 🙏
• Bobby Perez: Ddo you enjoy koan study?
• Aurora: ​That makes sense now. Thank you, Ayya!
• Kumu: ​Oh! Okay. That explains 🙏😊 (MN 45).
• Dan Jones: When did you know it was right time to go forth?
• Dan Jones: Many thanks
• puthrika moonesinghe: ​Good morning! Good evening, Venerables
• Dinko Simunovic: ​Thank you 🙏🙏🙏
• Liz Hanbury: ​Thank you for answering my chanting question, Ayya. How many meals a day do the monks eat at your monastery? Thank you. 🙏
• Rick Thorn: ​Venerables, in what ways do you cultivate joy & happiness in your practice?
• Liz Hanbury: ​I've been on antidepressants for mild bipolar for 15 years and I'm grateful for them. Are monks allowed to take prescriptions?
• Aurora: ​What is "the next world" as in the Sabhiya Sutta: "One who is peaceful, having abandoned merit and evil, dustless, having understood this world and the next...one is truthfully called an ascetic."
• Rick Thorn: ​How do we know if we are doing enough in our practice? I feel torn between being compulsively driven & taking it too easy. Thank you.
• Dan Jones: Tthank you all for your answers. Very touching and much mudita!
• P Gurgel-Segrillo: ​🙏🙏🙏
• ViduraOne: ​💙
• Kumu" ​Thank you so much for all the answers. 🙏🙏🙏
• TheUltimateBlitz1: ​🧡
• Liz Hanbury: ​Thank you for answering the questions so sincerely, heartfully, and authentically. 🙏💙
• Geetha Gnana: ​Thank you, Bhante Suddhāso, Bhante Sumitta, and Ayya Vimalanyani for taking the time to share Dhamma wisdom with all of us doing this Q&A every week 🙏🙏🙏
• Geetha Gnana: ​Thank you, all Venerables. 🙏🙏🙏
• Liz Hanbury: ​Thank you, Venerables. 🙏💙
• Rick Thorn: Thank you, Venerables. Your approaches to cultivating joy & happiness are inspiring. 🙏🙏🙏
• Aurora: Thank you, Bhante

IS ABORTION KILLING?

• 

  Killing baby fetuses is best avoided. Birth control.

  Alex Volkoff: ​Are there cases where abortion does not violate the First Precept? [NOTE: Having an abortion is so bad, such a violation of the First Precept to abstain from killing/taking the life of a living being, that if a monastic recommends having one and a person goes through with it for any reason, that monastic has just committed murder, is defeated (parajika), and can never be a monastic again in this lifetime. So it is much more serious than Ven. Suddaso, an American with American views, lets on. It is unclear why he is afraid to stress the harm done by killing a fetus and how the results of such a karma might be to be infertile in future lives, to not be able to gain rebirth on the human plane, or to have a short lifespan, and so on. Indeed, it is politically wise to not get caught up in polemics or dichotomies and social debates, but one should be clear that abortion is as serious and harmful as killing.]
• ViduraOne: ​I like my music, gaming, and TV shows. Usually I overdo all that. How do I find a balance?
• Rick Thorn: ​Thank you, Bhantes 🙏🙏🙏
• Sam: What's the meaning of offering of food in the chant of bhojanam parikappitam, anukampam upadaya, patiganhatu muttamam?
• Dhamma Jiva: ​Venerables, would you all share which monastics have been your special mentors/teachers? Thanks.