Dalai Lama to convert Mother Teresa nuns?

(Dalai Lama) His Holiness Tibetan "Pope" Tenzin Gyatso visits Mother Teresa community in India

Why doesn't Buddhism push itself on people and nudge and nag them to convert?

(Tsering Dorji) How the Buddha helps us be better Christians: Richard Rohr (complementary)

Buddhist goes Catholic (for love)

(Sips with Serra) Buddhist goes to Catholic mass for first time: @Lebelauved

(Adeline Johanna) Why my Mum left Buddhism to become Catholic

Leaving Catholicism even if it has sweet Mary, magic, and miracles

Kwan Yin (Guanyin) Buddhist Goddess of Compassion

Madonna and Child: Siddhartha

In Buddhism we enjoy a "Mother Mary" figure one might call "Virg Yin" (Kwan Yin, Guanyin), the Goddess of Compassion, a bodhisattva. So the best part of the Catholic faith is present. And if a Buddhist wants to love Mary (Miriam) or any other Goddess or her son, that's fine. We do not answer to the Vatican. How great the world would be if everyone were free to pick a spirituality, wisdom, faith, or path-of-practice. We can practice all of them, and that's fine with the Buddha. Good luck on your spiritual journey. We have all been cycling through samsara in search of real "salvation" (liberation, vimutti, moksha). May we all find it.

(But what if a Catholic doesn't like Catholicism, the Patriarchy, and the Church but loves Jesus Christ? - That's great. Investigate what Jesus really taught in the banned Gnostic texts the Church never wants you to know exist.)

• List of converts to Buddhism

Power of Buddhist women and nuns

U.S. Theravada Ayya Tathaaloka

Can women attain Buddhist enlightenment (bodhi) in our present patriarchy? - YES!

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Can women awaken? - Yes, they can!

WOMEN IN BUDDHISM is a topic that can be approached from varied perspectives, including historically, archeologically, anthropologically, theologically, and from the view of modern feminism.

Topical interests include the theological [study of the divine or "god" (theos, dios, deus, devas)] status of women, the treatment of women in Buddhist societies in the home and in public, the history of women in Buddhism, and a comparison of the experiences of women across different schools of Buddhism.

As in other religions, the experiences of Buddhist women have varied considerably.

Western feminist Vajrayana

Scholars such as Bernard Faure and Miranda E. Shaw are in agreement that Buddhist Studies is in its infancy in terms of addressing gender issues. In 1994, Shaw gave an overview of the situation:

"In the case of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, some progress has been made in the areas of women in Early Buddhism, monasticism, and Mahayana Buddhism. Two articles have seriously broached the subject of women in Indian Tantric Buddhism, while somewhat more attention has been paid to Tibetan nuns and lay yoginis [1]. More

First Buddhist Women: Poems and Stories of Awakening

Researcher Susan Murcott has 4.6 out of 5 stars (58 reviews) for First Buddhist Women, a readable, contemporary translation of and commentary on the "enlightenment verses" (bodhi-gathas) of the first female disciples of the Buddha.

This book explores Buddhism’s relatively liberal attitude towards women since its founding nearly 2,600 years ago, through the study of the Therigatham, the earliest known collection of women’s religious poetry.

A Journey Into Peace (by nun Lodro Palmo)

Through commentary and storytelling, author Susan Murcott traces the journey of the wives, mothers, teachers, courtesan, prostitutes, and wanderers who became leaders in the Buddhist community, roles that even today are rarely filled by women in other patriarchal societies and religions.

 

Their poetic verse (about their moment of awakening) beautifully expresses their quest for spiritual attainment and their struggles in society. More: First Buddhist Women: Poems and Stories of Awakening

• eBook: A Journey Into Peace: Timeless Tales of Zen Buddhism: 60 Illustrated Short Stories to Melt Anxiety, Find Keys to Happiness: Begin Your Journey to Inner Peace, Stop Negative Thoughts, Calm Overthinking (by Buddhist nun Lodro Palmo)

• Tsoknyi Nuns, excerpt from Blessings; Better Buddhist (AI mispronouncing names of many enlightened Early Buddhist nuns); Susan Murcott; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

In search of ego death: psychedelics

Let me tell you what I saw and what I want now:

We have discovered the female Alex Grey, the cosmic entheogenic artist who is a self-proclaimed Vajrayana Buddhist. Her name is Juli Garces. (Juliana Garces Art) The most powerful psychedelic of all is... It is so powerful that after I came back to ordinary consciousness, I started emailing monasteries (viharas) to ordain as a Buddhist nun (bhikkhuni) to be able to become an adept meditator to reach this state free of ego (anatta), full of wisdom and compassion.

Bliss, the absorptions, and the base of boundless consciousness

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Dictionary of Buddhist Terms, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Do Buddhist nuns meditate?

What is "Buddhist meditation" really? In fact, it is jhāna (meditation), which is referred to as "absorption" to distinguish it from later stages of developing insight (vipassana, satipatthana, anusati).

Meditative absorption refers eight states of super-consciousness or samadhi. First come the four (fine-) material absorptions. These correspond to exalted planes of the Fine-Material Sphere (Rūpa-Loka jhānas or rūpāvacara-jhānas).

• The only part of the "world" or universe most of us are aware of are our levels or planes of existence within the Sensual Sphere, where humans, lower-ET devas, subhumans (titans, ogres, garudas/kinnaras, nagas, gnomes, ghouls), animals, hungry ghosts, and hellions reside. Above the Sensual Sphere heavens, ET worlds, there are the Fine-Material Sphere worlds or planes of existence. And above these are the Immaterial Sphere worlds.

I get so absorbed in what I'm doing, I just flow.

These absorptions are achieved through the attainment of full (ecstatic-) concentration (appanā, see samādhi), during which there is a temporary but complete suspension of fivefold sense-activity and of the Five Hindrances (nīvarana).

The absorbed state of consciousness, however, is one of full alertness and lucidity.

If I were a nun, I'd meditate the jhanas.

This high degree of stillness, focus, single-pointedness (ekagata), laser-like concentration is generally developed or cultivated (bhāvanā) by the practice of one of the 40 subjects of tranquility meditation (samatha-kammatthāna).

The next four absorptions -- finer, more exalted, more refined, subtle, and sublime) are the four immaterial (arupa) absorptions. These (arūpāyatana) absorptions correspond to planes of the Immaterial Sphere (arūpa-jhāna or arūpāvacara-jhāna).

The text often met with in the sutras runs as follows:

Fine-material absorptions (rupa jhanas)

There was bliss, rapture, focus, lucidity...

(1) "Detached from sensual objects, O meditators, detached from unwholesome states of consciousness, connected with applied (vitakka) and sustained (vicāra) attention, born of detachment (vivekaja), and filled with rapture (pīti, joy, bliss) and happiness (sukha, satisfaction, contentment), one enters the first absorption.

(2) "With the subsiding of applied and sustained attention, and by gaining inner tranquility and unity (coherence, oneness, lucidity, cogency) of mind, one enters into a state free of applied and sustained attention, the second absorption, which is born of stillness (samādhi) and filled with rapture (pīti) and happiness (sukha).

(3) "With the fading of rapture, one dwells in equanimity, mindful, clearly conscious, and one experiences that feeling of which the noble ones say, 'Happy lives the person of equanimity and mindfully attentive mind'; thus, one enters the third absorption.

(4) "Transcending pleasure and pain, and through the disappearance of previous happiness and grief, one enters into a state beyond pleasure and pain, the fourth absorption, which is purified by equanimity (upekkhā) and mindfulness.

Immaterial absorptions (arupa jhanas)

Before and beyond form, there is consciousness.

(5) "Through the overcoming of perceptions of matter, however, and through the vanishing of sense-reactions and non-attention to perceptions of variety (papanca), with the notion, "Boundless is space," one reaches the sphere of boundless space (ākāsānañcāyatana) and abides therein.

• ["By 'perceptions of matter' (rūpa-saññā) are meant the absorptions of the fine-material sphere, as well as those objects themselves" (Vis.M. X.1). "By 'perceptions of sense-reactions' (patigha-saññā) are meant those perceptions that have arisen due to the impact of sense-organs (eye, etc.) and the sense-objects (visible objects, etc.). They are a name for the perception of visible objects, as it is said (Jhāna-Vibhanga): 'What are here the perceptions of sense-reactions? They are the perceptions of visible objects, sounds, etc.' Surely, they do no longer exist even for one who has entered the first absorption, etc., for at such a time the five-sense consciousness is no longer functioning. Nevertheless, this is to be understood as having been said in praise of this immaterial absorption, in order to incite the striving for it" (Vis.M. X.16). "Perceptions of variety (ñānatta-saññā) are the perceptions that arise in various fields, or the various perceptions" (ibid). Hereby, according to Vis.M. X.20, are meant the multiform perceptions outside the absorptions.]

(6) "Through the total overcoming of the sphere of boundless space, and with the notion, 'Boundless is consciousness,' one reaches the sphere of boundless consciousness (viññānañcāyatana) and abides therein. CONTINUED BELOW

ARTIST BIO

Shop - Juliana Garces Art

Juliana Garces, spiritual seeker and visionary artist, does artwork that reflects her deep commitment to raising the collective consciousness.

Her art journey is a continuous exploration of how visual forms can transcend language and open pathways to the infinite (boundless).

Grounded in her daily spiritual practices—meditation, yoga, mindfulness, and deep study of mysticism—her work reflects visions and experiences from realms that words cannot fully describe.

Juliana sees herself as simply a channel for cosmic creativity, doing her best to step aside and let the cosmic visions flow through her.

She doesn’t view the work as her own, but rather as something greater that she’s fortunate to be part of.

By tapping into the infinite space within all of us, she hopes to create pieces that serve as gentle reminders for others to reconnect with their own eternal nature. More

• (7) "Through the total overcoming of the sphere of boundless consciousness, with the notion, 'No-thing is there,' one reaches the sphere of nothingness (ākiñcaññāyatana) and abides therein.
• (8) "Through the total overcoming of the sphere of no-thingness, one reaches the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception (nevasaññā-n'asaññāyatana) and abides therein."

"Thus the first absorption is free of five things (the Five Hindrances), and five things are present (the Five Factors of Absorption or jhāna-anga).

Whenever the meditator enters the first absorption, the Five Hindrances vanish:

1. sensual craving
2. ill-will
3. sloth-torpor
4. restlessness-scruples
5. skeptical doubt.

And these [in their place] are present [the Five Factors of Absorption]:

1. applied attention (vitakka)
2. sustained attention (vicāra)
3. rapture (pīti)
4. happiness (sukha)
5. stillness/concentration (samādhi).

In the second absorption, there are present: rapture, happiness, and concentration. In the third: happiness and stillness/concentration. In the fourth: equanimity (upekkhā) and concentration" (The Path of Purification, Vis.M. IV).

Having felt bliss, point me to nirvana!

The four immaterial absorptions (jhanas 5-8) are said to still belong, technically speaking, to the fourth absorption because they possess the same two constituents.

The fourth fine-material absorption is also the base or starting point (pādaka-jhāna) for the attainment of the higher paranormal spiritual powers (abhiññās). More

• Juliana Garces (julianagarcesart.com)/YouTube; German Theravada Buddhist scholar-monk Ven. Nyanatiloka (born Anton Gueth); Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Prince Siddhartha's wife: Yasodhara

The Buddha did not have a wife, but the person who became the Buddha (Siddhartha) did.

Princess Yasodhara (Bimba Devi, aka Rāhulamātā)

Sid and Bimba agreed leaving would be good.

Rāhulamātā is the name, generally given in the ancient texts, of "Rāhula's mother" (e.g., Vin.i.82) was Prince Siddhattha Gotama's wife.

She is also called Bhaddakaccā* and, in later texts, Yasodharā (BuA., p.245; Dvy.253), which is a descriptive title not a name. Her name was Bimbā (J.ii.392f.; DA.ii.422), and "princess" is the human meaning of devī. She was probably also called Bimbāsundarī (J.vi.478 [12]), "Beautiful Bimba."

• *For example, Bu.xxvi.15; Mhv.ii.24 calls her Bhaddakaccānā ("Lucky Kaccana"), but see Thomas, op. cit., 49; she is also called Subhaddakā, this being probably a variant of Bhaddakaccānā.
• The Untold Story of Yasodhara: Prince Siddhartha's Wife (Tricycle)
• VIDEO: What about the Buddha's WIFE?

Scythian Princess Bimba/Yasodhara

The Northern (Mahayana) texts seem to favor the name of Yasodharā, but they call her the daughter of Dandapānī. (See also Rockhill, op. cit., where various other names are given as well).

It is probable that the name of Gotama's wife was Bimbā, and that Bhaddakaccā, Subhaddakā, Yosadhāri, and other names were descriptive epithets applied to her, which later became regarded as additional names.

It is also possible that in Gotama's court there was also a Yasodharā, the daughter of Dandapānī, and that there was a later confusion of names.

The Commentarial explanation (e.g., AA.i.204), that she was called Bhaddakaccānā because her body was the color of burnished gold, is probably correct. To suggest (e.g., Thomas, op. cit., 49) that the name bears any reference to the Kaccānagotta seems to be wrong because the Kaccāna clan (gotta) was a Brahmin clan, and the Sākiyans (Scythians, Sakas) were not Brahmins but "nobles" (khattiyas, deemed "warrior caste" though they were not likely part of proto-India's caste system).

Rāhulamātā was born on the same day as the Bodhisatta (J.i.54; BuA. 106, 228). She married him (Prince Siddhattha Gotama) when they were both 16 years old. (The following account is taken chiefly from J.i.58ff). She was placed at the head of 40,000 women, given to Siddhattha by the Sākiyans after he had proved his manly prowess to their satisfaction.

Siddhartha Gotama renounced his riches and royal position and left the household life on the day of the birth of their son, Rāhula. (According to one account, referred to in the Jātaka Commentary, i.62, Rāhula was seven days old).

It is said that just before he left home, he took a last look at his wife from the door of her room, not daring to go nearer, lest he should inadvertently awake her.

When as the Buddha he returned and paid his first visit to the country/seasonal capital city of Kapilavatthu after his great enlightenment, on the second day of that visit, he walked for alms in the streets. This news of this quickly spread, and Rāhulamātā looked out of her window to see if it were true.

She saw the Buddha and was so struck by the beaming glory of his personality that she uttered eight verses in its praise.

These verses have been handed down under the name of Narasīha-gāthā; on that day, after the Buddha had finished his meal in the palace, which he took at the invitation of his father, King Suddhodana, all the ladies of the court, with the exception of Rāhulamātā, went to pay him honor.

She refused to go, saying that if she had any virtue in her the Buddha would come to her. The Buddha went to her with his two chief male disciples and gave orders that she should be allowed to greet him as she wished.

She fell at his feet, and clasping them with her hands, put her head on them. King Suddhodana related to the Buddha how, from the time he had left home, Rāhulamātā had herself abandoned all luxury and had lived in the same manner as she had heard that the Buddha lived:

• wearing saffron robes,
• eating only once a day,
• sleeping on the ground,
• and so on.

The Buddha then related the Candakinnara Jātaka, to show how, in the past, too, her loyalty had been supreme.

On the seventh day of the Buddha's visit, when he left the palace at the end of his meal, Rāhulamātā sent Rāhula to him saying: "That is your father. Go and ask him for your inheritance."

Prince Rāhula followed the Buddha and, at the Buddha's request, was ordained as a monk-in-training (samanera) by Ven. Sāriputta. The account of this event is given in Vin.i.82; this is probably the only passage in the Pitakas where Rāhulamātā, is mentioned by name.

Later, when the Buddha allowed women to join the Order, Rāhulamātā became a nun under Mahā Pajāpatī Gotamī (AA.i.198).

Buddhaghosa identifies (AA.i.204f) Rāhulamātā with Bhaddakaccānā who, in the Anguttara Nikāya (A.i.25), is mentioned as chief among nuns in the possession of supernormal powers (mahābhiññappattānam).

She was one of the four disciples of the Buddha who possessed such attainment, the others being Sāriputta, Moggallāna, and Bakkula. She had wished for this achievement ta the time of Padumuttara Buddha.

In this account Bhaddakaccānā is mentioned as the daughter of the Sākyan Suppabuddha and his wife Amitā.*

• *Cf. Mhv.ii.21f. It is said (DhA.iii.44f) that Suppabuddha did not forgive the Buddha for leaving his daughter; Devadatta was Bhaddakaccanā's brother, and it has been suggested that Devadatta's enmity against the Buddha was for reasons similar to her father's.

She joined the Order of Nuns under Pajāpatī Gotamī in the company of Janapada-kalyānī (the "Belle of the Land," the Buddha's half-sister Sundari Nandā).

In the Nuns' Order she was known as Bhaddakaccānā ("Lucky Kaccana") Therī ("senior nun"). Later, she developed insight and became an arahant (fully enlightened). She could, with one effort, recall one asankheyya (indeterminate kappa or kalpa) and 100,000 ordinary kappas (AA.i.205).

In the Therī Apadāna (Ap.ii.584ff) an account is found of a therī (senior nun), Yasodharā by name, who is evidently to be identified as Rāhulamātā because she speaks of herself (vvs. 10, 11) as the Buddha's pajāpatī before he left the household (agāra) and says that she was the chief (pāmokkhā sabbaissarā) of 90,000 women.

In the time of Dīpankara Buddha, when the Bodhisatta was born as Sumedha, she was a Brahmin maiden, Sumittā by name, and gave eight handfuls of lotuses to Sumedha, which he, in turn, offered to the Buddha. Dīpankara, in declaring that Sumedha would ultimately become the Buddha, added that Sumittā would be his companion in several lives.

The Apadāna account (vvs. 1ff) mentions how, just before her passing into final nirvana, at the age of 78, she took leave of the Buddha and performed various miracles. It also states (Ap.ii.592f) that 18,000 arahant nuns, companions of Yasodharā, also passed on the same day. More: Rāhulamātā

• Prettiest lady in the universe, the Arhat Yasodhara Maha Theri (Ven. Bimba, Bhaddhakaccana, Rahulamata)
• G.P. Malalasekera, Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, edited by Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Temporary ordination for one Rains Retreat

What is a Rains Retreat? | Learn Buddhism

Observing the Vassa – the Annual "Rains Retreat" – Nalanda Buddhist Society

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(Nick Keomahavong) Many people are looking for the opportunity to become Buddhist monastics, especially Buddhist monks at Thailand's Wat Phra Dhammakaya.

Temporary ordination

All ordination is temp up to enlightenment

There is a specific program for international practitioners who want to become monastics for a few days or weeks is called IDOP, which is short for the International Dhammadayadas Ordination Program.

This program gives Westerners the opportunity to live and train as Theravada monastics. The program is in English and welcomes males from all over the world, not limiting itself to Buddhists.

Once the temporary 30-45 day ordination program is completed, the temporary monks enter the three months Rains Retreat or Phansa or Vassa at Prachinburi Province.

The Rains Retreat is a time for them to continue their monastic training, living a life of Dhamma and meditation.

Life for them slows down as they experience what it is like to truly live the life of a monk. This video was created to give an exclusive inside look and education into what is the annual three months Rains Retreat is like for all Theravada Buddhist monks.

American nun Ven. Tathtaaloka

Thailand also has maechis, or "Eight or Ten Precept Nuns," for females motivated to become monastics. These options are rarer than the traditional male samaneras and bhikkhus. But recent developments have restored even FULL ordination for women in Theravada Buddhist countries so that they can live out the life the Buddha made possible by establishing the Dhamma (Dharma) for their benefit just as well as that of males.

• FREE Video-Led Meditation Retreats: 🔶 nickkeomahavong.com/retreats
• Nick Keomahavong, What is a Rains Retreat? March 6, 2020; Pat Macpherson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist yogis found on Himalayas

The Five Tibetan Rites | Tibetan Yoga Exercises | SRMD Yoga

Strange monks found in the Himalayas – and they’ve been living since the last ice age

Esoteric Vajrayana/Bon shamanism

(Past the Atlas) From legends defying the limits of life and death to spiritual journeys that leave us in awe, Buddhist monastics have captivated the world for centuries. What drives these extraordinary individuals to push their bodies and minds beyond what we consider humanly possible? Let's explore the mysterious monks of various Buddhist schools of the world and uncover their incredible stories.

The rainbow body appeared like a vision

• Vajrayana is an esoteric branch of Mahayana Buddhism heavily influenced by Hinduism, practicing yoga in the snow like sadhu hermits living in the foothills of the Himalayas striving for samadhi and/or the development of the siddhis.
• Luang Pho Daeng (1894-1973): Theravada Thai mummy monk from the island of Ko Samui passed away while meditating
• Esoteric Tibetan practices: Dream Yoga, Sexual Yoga (Tantric), Tibetan tantric practices, Five Tibetan Rites, Yantra Yoga (Trul khor), Vajrayana Yoga, Inner Heat Yoga (Tummo), Dzogchen, Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism, Deity Yoga
• American anthropologist Walter Evans-Wentz explains Tibet

How this content was made: altered or synthetic content. Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated [with an AI voiceover]. Learn more

• Past the Atlas, Jan. 18, 2025; Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Paranormal Buddhists of Tibet (video)

The Mystery of Tibetan Monastics' Paranormal Abilities: Unparalleled Skills and Secrets of Practice

(Mr. Y Talks) May 18, 2023: This video goes deep into the extraordinary paranormal abilities of Tibetan nuns and monks and reveals the secrets of their practice. Some are "living buddhas," which is a misleading translation for bodhisattvas ("being bent on supreme enlightenment, buddhas-to-be"). Westerner Alexandra David-Neel traveled to Tibet in the 1930s and wrote about her experiences in Magic and Mystery in Tibet.

COMMENTARY

Are such things really possible, Wisdom Quarterly? Yes, they are. The basis is samadhi (stillness, superconsciousness, states of emerging from single pointed focus or concentration, which temporarily purifies the mind/heart, leading to a breakthrough in recovering our innate ability as a human species). These powers are known in Buddhism as the abhinnas or iddhis (Sanskrit siddhis). They are well known even outside Buddhism, where they are also warned against. Hinduism and the older Vedic religion is well aware of these miraculous powers and calls those who master samadhi "saints."

These are not saints in Buddhism, which reserves the term for those proficient in calm and insight, who are liberated from the mental hindrances and defilements. The Buddha possessed these powers but was very reluctant to use them, seeing great danger in them. It is hard to attain these powers and they are fickle. They may easily drop away. The Buddha spoke of 11 imperfections in their development to be mindful of if one should wish to exercise them.

But a more telling event about the Buddha's attitude towards them is found in a story in the ancient texts. One day the Buddha and his attendant monk, Ananda, were walking down the road and saw some old yogis who possessed these powers. They were renowned and respected.

The Buddha turned to Ananda and said something to the effect of, "How sad these two."

Ananda replied, "But they are well respected and possess supernormal powers."

"Yeah, but had they developed those powers in this Dharma (herein within the Buddha's Doctrine and Discipline), they would not only have those powers, but they would also be liberated (enlightened and free from suffering and rebirth).

"As it is, although they have spent many years of spiritual effort to develop these trifling 'powers,' they have not worked on the much more important skill of release, of making an end of ignorance, of uprooting the defilements of the heart/mind greed, hatred, and delusion. Now they have these powers, but they will eventually lose them. Having gained nothing else because they were so busy to develop them, if they are not destroyed by these very powers, what will they have? They will have wasted all those years and, what's worse, wasted the opportunity to strive for real liberation (moksha) and actually be free."

Who needs Buddhism? Let's do magic instead

This is a shocking thing to say because within their own tradition, they were regarded as "saints" the way a Catholic nun or monk could live cloistered, fasting, praying, purifying their morality, faith, karma, and concentration and, in doing so, may indeed gain mysterious abilities, magic powers. If anyone sees them displaying such powers, they will be hailed as "holy" and "saved" and "destined for heaven," objects of veneration, respect, and petitionary prayers and prayers to intercede on behalf of the faithful.

But they will not be "saints" in the Buddhist sense. They are not free of the defilements (which have only been suppressed by many and various spiritual practices). They will not have made an end of greed, hatred, and delusion only of obvious and overt signs of them while they are still latent in their psyches (layers of their personality bundles within the Five Aggregates clung to as self). They may even be reborn into a heaven, but as that heaven is not the end all be all it is advertised as being, they will neither be "saved," purified, free, attaining to the deathless, nor anything else of note. It will be as if all those side effects were for not nothing but not anything really worthwhile, admirable, or spiritually desirable like nirvana, awakening, the end of rebirth or, there is a remainder of defilements, rebirth in exalted worlds where they are able to complete the training in very conducive circumstances and be freed from there.

We can meditate to purify the mind then practice for insight to be free?

Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism is very esoteric, partly because it is mixed with the more ancient indigenous Himalayan shamanic practice of Bon and partly because it is a Mahayana school, which itself is very much mixed with Hindu, Vedic, yogic, and Brahmanical ideas. These are ideas and assumptions the historical Buddha rejected and went to great pains to point out for disciples to avoid.

What to do about "Karma"? (film)

COMMENTARY

Why would anyone in her right mind move to the secluded Himalayan foothills to live in caves or caverns, alone, striving, practicing for calm and insight?

To traffic beings for slaughter/slavery=heavy karma

What is karma? A deed, which the Buddha defined as an "action" or, more accurately as the intention (cetana) behind an action, the motivation, impulse, volition, guide, ambition. Therefore, to burp in public is disruptive and impolite, but it might just happen.

Intentionally burping to disrupt someone's talk or to offend others, that is the karma of interrupting or offending. Taking a sharp knife and stabbing someone is a good deed motivated by skill and compassion. so long as it is done when practicing healing, perhaps as a surgeon or old time barber. Taking that very same blade and piercing a living being is some of the worst karma. It's the very same action but a very different motivation.

• 

  Cayce could see karma as cause

  There are in a sense only six kinds of karma manifesting in infinite complexities and nuances. The general six are those classes of actions motivated by greed (liking, lust, desire, avarice, craving), hatred (disliking, aversion, fear, revulsion), delusion (ignorance, wrong views, blindness, confusion); nongreed (letting go, generosity, charity, sharing), nonhatred (love, kindness, compassion, conscientiousness, joy in their joy), or nondelusion (wisdom, knowing-and-seeing, right views, understanding). Results (vipakas and phalas) are not punishments or rewards because no one is standing in judgment dishing out consequences, comeuppances, crowns, or gold stars. Indeed, karma is very strange in how actions find their results, infinitely complex, one of the Four Imponderables. So it is always good and to one's advantage to have a greater store of skillful karma and less unskillful. Think of a cup of water spiked with salt. It becomes very salty and undrinkable (intolerable). How to make it drinkable (tolerable) again since we cannot take out that salt now dissolved into the mix? Easy! Increase the water. Pour water (skillful karma) into the mix to dilute the salt (unskillful karma), until there's so much good that there's no trace of salt at all.

This is the distinction between the action we see from the outside and the intention we don't see motivating it.

But we ourselves, if we are mindful, patient, and honest with ourselves may be able to discern our motives. Then we can see what results and fruits (vipaka and phala) are to be expected when those deeds ripen. It is a regularity or law of the universe, the Buddha taught, that actions beget results, whether they are consequences to endure or delights to enjoy. "Karma is a B," they say.

Who's Karma? In this Tibetan film, it seems to be this nun or ani, who reminds us of Maria in The Sound of Music, the loveable troublemaker and rule breaker with a kind and innocent heart. What are we going to do about the problem Maria? Just enjoy her. She may have much to teach monastics who start to harden or ossify like the back of an unhealthy and inflexible elderly woman. Wouldn't it keep her younger if she relaxed, lightened up, and enjoyed Karma and Maria's antics?

Now why would anyone choose to be a hermit, ascetic, recluse, withdrawn and intensively practicing austerities as if they were penance? There is a very good reason -- to quickly make an end of suffering by reaching the path of calm-and-insight. Most are in no such hurry, so we live as laypeople. But some ascetics are well-motivated and follow a course of conduct others can hardly understand. Even among ordained people, it must be unusual to ever meet someone taking up the 13 "sane ascetic practices" (dhutangas) the Buddha recommended.

The Buddha, being wise about people, did not ask people to become wandering ascetics or shramanas like him and be miserable. Seeing the wisdom of morality, silence, mental withdrawal, stillness, concentration, and living in the company of noble friends (kalyana-mittas), which refers to monastics on the paths of awakening -- from the first stage (stream entry) to full enlightenment (arhatship). Such friends are rare, extraordinarily rare, in the world.

Among these the Buddha is the best friend of beings, showing them the way to freedom, liberation, awakening, and the deathless state of peace (nirvana). People fear it, thinking it will cramp their style and hedonistic pursuits. But as the Buddha said, he would never recommend to someone to let go of a higher thing for a lower thing.

Butcher Cunda: terrible karma of killing animals

However, letting go of a lower thing for a higher thing, that he would recommend. Leaving a wealthy life of beauty, power over others, youthfulness, pleasure, and a heavenly destination -- who would call that a "lower thing"? The Buddha would. Why? He would because he points the way to a "higher thing" -- letting go, something that cannot be lost, power over oneself, deathlessness, supersensual pleasures (bliss, joy, contentedness, sukha, piti), and a destination beyond rebirth and beyond the reach of any suffering whatsoever. What wise person could fail to see the advantage of what the Awakened One is making available. Still, most of us will not believe and will be afraid of any suggestion we let go of anything. It's mine! I need it. I earned it. I must have it and never lose it!

How silly we. It is not ours (as even "self" is not ours). It is not needed but a hindrance. Was it earned or was the result of previous good karma wasted on it? I do not have to have it and losing it, no matter what, is inevitable. Therefore, would it not be much wiser to let go of the lesser and go forth from the home life to the "left home life" of a nun, a temporarily ordained monastic, or at least an intensive retreatant meditating in earnestness to taste the fruits of letting go and being free?

There is a reason why for hundreds of thousands and even millions of years of life on the human plane some have opted to abandon the lay life of a householder on a spiritual quest seeking the meaning of things and freedom from the mundane. The goal of such wise one was spiritual liberation and peace. Some find it.

The others gain samadhi and mystical powers, psychic abilities, seeing other realms, a higher rebirth, and peace in this very life. If they choose and continue to develop their wisdom, they gain the final liberation the Buddha was pointing at.

Before the Buddha, and therefore before Buddhism, there were already

wandering ascetics who renounced the world, lived on alms, and meditated.

• TEXT: Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly