Dalai Lama, how do we find our dharma?

How to choose your dharma [religion, doctrine, or social duty] and end your confusion forever

• dharma is a multivalent term with at least a dozen distinct meanings. In India, dharma usually means "social duty or obligation," and Dharma (capitalized) customarily refers to the Buddha's Dharma or Doctrine, the Teachings of the historical figure Siddhartha Gautama. The word can loosely be construed to mean "religion," but religion did not mean religion in pre-British invasion India (Maha Bharat), so equating the terms is incorrect.

If we're not in control, how should we live?

• Buddhism Podcast: If you can't control life, how should you live - a Buddhist view

Master Oogway's wisdom in Kung Fu Panda

Our present and past deeds (karma) shape our future destiny (kismet) (Kung Fu Panda).

• Buddhism Podcast, Sept. 29, 2025; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Alan Watts: Zen breaks our illusion of control

Eastern wisdom sneaks its way into a Hollywood film, like Christ quoting Asian traditions

• Alan Watts: What does Zen teach us about living? The Zen truth that breaks our illusion of control

If life is so short, what really matters?

If life is so short, what truly matters? Buddhist wisdom

(Buddhism Podcast) Buddhism Explained. In a world where everything fades—youth, success, even our own identity—what truly matters? This video explores the Buddhist teaching of impermanence (anicca, pronounced /AH-knee-chah/, that everything is in constant flux, hurtling towards destruction) and how it can help us live with clarity, peace, and freedom.

Drawing from the Noble Eightfold Path, the true nature of the self, and the roots of suffering, it offers not just reflection, but a way to live meaningfully—especially in the face of constant change.

• 00:00 - The One Truth No One Can Escape
• 03:32 - The Shadow We Mistake for Ourselves
• 07:46 - Why Letting Go Isn't Loss – It's Freedom
• 11:15 - The Noble Eightfold Path: Living with Clarity, Not Control
• 17:25 - What Truly Matters: Freedom from Suffering

#BuddhistWisdom #Impermanence #EndSuffering

• Buddhism Podcast, Aug. 3, 2025; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Did we choose this life?

First 40 days after death; Bardo Thodol

Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?

Edgar Cayce was once America's "Sleeping Prophet," a healer who channeled many healers, guides, and a mysterious consortium of helpful beings trying to give a message to humanity and those who came seeking cures and answers as to why they were sick. The cures were provided in many case studies preserved by the A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment) in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The reason for strange illnesses that didn't seem to have a cause was often found to be past karma from past lives. Cayce was a Protestant Christian. He didn't believe in past lives, as that did not seem biblical nor in line with the belief system of the official church. He, however, studied the Bible and saw that it did teach that there were past lives and it certainly taught that karma (sowing what we reap) was real and an official position of the church today. His psychic abilities were present from childhood, but his greatest power came when he stepped out of the way in a trance like state (mistaken for sleeping) when he channeled information for those seeking it for themselves or others. He worked on much more than health and wellness. He predicted wars, discoveries, stock market trends, and even engineering through remote viewing, once going through a bridge to find defects in its construction. Cayce, who live a century ago, is alive and well today, reborn as David Wilcock (divinecosmos.com). You or anyone can talk to him and ask him questions about that life or this, as he is glad to answer. We almost traveled to Egypt with him to see the pyramids. He is now very busy with his ongoing research and his show on Gaia.com TV. (How can we know Cayce was reborn as Wilcock? Author Wynn Free proved it in his book on the subject, The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?: Interdimensional Communication and Global Transformation).

The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Bardo Thodol

(ReligionForBreakfast) What is the "Tibetan Book of the Dead"? The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or the Bardo Thodol, is arguably the most popular Vajrayana Buddhist text in Europe and the United States. Freud's protege Carl Jung loved it. So did Beatle John Lennon. But why? What is this text all about?

Sources

• Lopez, Donald S. Jr. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011.
• Coleman, Graham, and Thupten Jinpa, eds. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation. Translated by Gyurme Dorje. New York: Penguin Random House, 2005.

Sponsor

• Thanks to Wondrium for sponsoring today’s video. Signup for FREE trial to Wondrium: ow.ly/BBou50N4T0f. Join Patreon community: religionforbreakfast. One-time donations: paypal.me/religionforbrea... Check out favorite religious studies books by following this affiliate link to Amazon page: amazon.com/shop/religionf...

Edgar Cayce via AI; Religion for Breakfast, March 23, 2023; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

How to pick up: clubbing in the wild

Clubbing in the Wild (David Attenborough nature documentary parody)

Verbal communication is just 7% of the whole?

(Viva La Dirt League) Let's have a never-before-seen glimpse at the human mating ritual that is clubbing, not the baby seal kind but rather the even more gory dance that is pre-dating (predation) of the species in its efforts to perpetuate the species.

Get a 12% discount off all SteelSeries products by using code VLDL12. Not only does one get a special discount but VLDL makes 8% on all sales. So get a great deal and help support VLDL. Link: https://bit.ly/31ltYT2 Code: VLDL12. HUGE THANKS to attenbro420 for doing the voiceover on this one. Check out more of his stuff here: bit.ly/2Lm6fuU. SUPPORT ON VIVAPLUS: vivaplus.tv. MERCH: vldl.shop. ALL SOCIALS: vldl.info. WATCH STREAM: bit.ly/VLDLtwitch. SERIES PLAYLISTS: bit.ly/VLDLplaylists.

• Viva La Dirt League (VLDL), May 23, 2018; Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Chappelle's Guide to Abortion (Wood)

Ana Kasparian harming rights with her outrage

• David Wood (Apologetics Roadshow), Dave Chappelle; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Prostitution: Do escorts have O’s?

(Ms Jessica Jaye) Do I have 😮rgasms with clients working in a business that is so condemned?

Do I 😮? 

Dancer Josephine Baker 1926

(Ms Jessica Jaye) March 14, 2025: Brisbane, AUSTRALIA, Down Under, working it in Sydney. Can a sex worker be candid about the oldest profession in the world? It is not all a sleazy street exchange. In some places, like parts of the state of Nevada (outside of the county Las Vegas is in places like The Love Ranch) in the USA. In countries around the world, this is going on every day. In fact, some would argue that there is no country, no state, no city where it is not. Instagram: msjessicajaye. TikTok: msjessicajaye1.

• Sex workers legal in some parts of the world
• Is it prostitution if there's no pimp or pressure?

Courtesan Cora Pearl

The Five Precepts would seem to preclude this line of "work," given that it is a kind of sexual misconduct (abusing sex) in the eyes of society. Moreover, one might argue that it is "trade in living beings," one of the forms of Wrong Livelihood (from the Noble Eightfold Path), exploiting oneself and/or others, and for all appearances it is corrosive to the individual engaging in it. Does it have to be?

Geisha girl in traditional garb

Weren't there always courtesans (royal call girls) and geishas (well-mannered conversationalists for the rich)? These high-class escorts may not exactly be the same thing. They may be. But they are not regarded as such by the society.

One must take care not to rationalize that all wives are engaged in this line of work for fear of falling into specious reasoning and logical fallacies.

Buddhism and Sex (M. O'C. Walshe)

Ultimately, who is responsible for me but me? The buck stops here. We simply wish to share the Buddha's advice. The British scholar Maurice O'Connell Walshe dared to tackle this topic from a Buddhist perspective.

See Wheel #225 — Buddhism and Sex (Buddhist Publication Society)

• Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Peace is a choice for evolution (1/29)

PEACE CLASS with Mandy Kahn

Friends, Peace Class meets tonight (Wednesday). To join us, simply click on this Zoom link at 6:00 pm (Pacific Time) on Jan. 29th:

• Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/j/84439689810?pwd=SVo2a3hsRVA1RWY5UW42YW1SaGJhdz09
• Passcode: 495948
• Meeting ID: 844 3968 9810

Feel free to share this link with friends and fellow humans. ALL are welcome. At last week's class, we talked about THE LAW OF PEACE-BY-CHOICE.

THE LAW OF PEACE-BY-CHOICE

Mindfulness Yoga at PRS: Meditating w/ Chaos & Uncertainty, multiple dates (Eventbrite)

.

Peace, Love, and Happiness versus? Your choice.

Sooner or later, all beings choose to live in a way that is peaceful, one that honors all beings. Peace-by-choice is the direction of all spiritual evolution. Choosing is not enforced; there is no need to enforce it.

A peaceful way of being is always ultimately chosen. There is no expected timeline for choosing to live in a peaceful and loving way. There is simply a natural law that all will choose to live this way eventually. Notice that it was not said that all must choose to live this way. No one ever has to choose it.

What's so great about sustainable practices?

But time is unending. In all that time-without-end, eventually everyone does choose it. We'll call this the Law of Peace-by-Choice. Think of it as a natural law, a bit like gravity. Gravity is not enforced; it simply exists. Peace-by-choice is not enforced — it is simply a path that all will eventually walk. [Could there be war without end? That would me unmanageable, untenable, and ultimately unsustainable, whereas peace is sustainable].

There is no external expectation regarding how quickly peace is chosen, and there is no time limit. Some may spend many lifetimes exploring other choices before choosing a peaceful way of being. And others may choose a peaceful expression right away. It is up to every being to choose how quickly that being wants to evolve.

Peace-by-choice is always the forward direction of evolution. Here's an analogy that helps explain how this law functions: Imagine a person lives in a hotel and that, at every meal, she may choose to eat whatever she likes from a large and varied buffet. Among the many options available is a cookie that we'll call the Peace Cookie. This person has complete free will to eat or not eat that cookie. There are many other desserts to choose from — war cakes and cruelty pies, massacre meringues and mass bombing mousses, and of course smart-Alec tarts.

The great clock in the sky says time's passing.

Perhaps this person might go an entire lifetime without trying this one delicious cookie, given there are so many other options to explore. But to understand how the law of peace-by-choice works, one must come to understand the endlessness of time (going on for aeons as explained by the Buddha).

If that person does not choose the cookie of peace during her first lifetime, she will be reborn again and will again have absolute free will to choose whatever she'd like from the buffet. And if she doesn't choose peace during her second lifetime, there will be a third and so on ad nauseum.

This process can go on as long as the chooser likes [that is, until she does something about it to bring all suffering to an end and gain nirvana]. Eventually, that cookie will be chosen. It might take thousands of lifetimes to choose it, or it might be chosen quickly.

It's not that it must be chosen but rather that, eventually, it always is chosen. Why? Eventually, everything else is unsustainable. Eventually, that person becomes curious about that cookie. At some point, all other options will have been tried. At some point, that cookie will become the most appealing option. Then it will be chosen.

And only when the cookie of peace has been eaten will the person realize that it is unlike every other food available at the buffet. It's not just a food — but a doorway to a new kind of experience. It's a doorway out of this dingy hotel for good. There is never any external pressure to try that cookie. It is simply always made available. There may even be obstacles to it. It is the free will of every person to choose it or not to choose it at any given moment. Free will is always honored by the universe.

• THE PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY
• EVENTS at The Philosophical Research Society
• The Zen of Alan & Elda: The Films of Alan Watts & Elda Hartley
• A Historic Trip: Altered States at Esalen (An Illustrated Lecture) Tickets, Wed, Jan 29, 2025, at 7:00 PM | Eventbrite

And the law of peace-by-choice functions everywhere in the universe. All beings, wherever they reappear and whenever they are reborn, are subject to this law.

This law is how we evolve. There is a gravity-like pull that draws us towards choosing peace, but there is also a spirit around us that respects our timing and honors our free will. This law applies to us, and it applies to our neighbors. No matter how our neighbors might act, they are evolving towards their own peacefulness.

They might be evolving by not choosing peace yet. They might be evolving by eating a massacre meringue, or by shoveling slices of war cake right down others' throats. They might be evolving by appearing to do whatever seems to be the furthest thing from expressing peacefulness that they can find to do. Our neighbors might choose to furiously sample everything at that buffet, life after life, until they tire themselves out, until they discover for themselves how it feels to choose what isn't peace.

We might look at our neighbors and think, "No people could be further from peacefulness." However, there isn't anyone who isn't evolving towards choosing peacefulness at their own pace at all times. We do not need to regulate our neighbor's peace-choosing process because it is already regulated by natural law.

All-that-is has already determined that our neighbors will choose peace eventually. Knowing that, we can feel free to focus on our own evolution. Our neighbor's pace is our neighbors' choice to make. The opportunity we were reborn to have is the opportunity of the self. The question we came here to consider is this one: How quickly do I choose to evolve?

• PEACE CLASS with Mandy Kahn (Eventbrite)
• Mandy Kahn, Philosophical Research Society (prs.org), Hollywood, Jan. 29, 2025; edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly Lunar New Year's Day

(Inner) Peace Class weekly on Zoom

Friends, Peace Class meets every Wednesday night on Zoom and starts at 6:00 pm (Pacific Time). Join a Zoom meeting. Share link with friends. All are welcome at Peace Class. The most recent peace talk was delivered at last week's class:

 

Inner peace and World Peace

I was thinking, Where does peace begin?

Inner peace is World Peace that one person experiences first before the world feels it.

 

Inner peace is World Peace happening locally, radiating globally.

 

Inner peace is World Peace that one person has just grown in the garden of oneself.

 

Inner peace is World Peace. We call peace “World Peace” when enough people are experiencing individual peace and flowing it into the collective consciousness so that the peace experience becomes the common experience in society. But before profound peace is the most common experience, it's a notable if unusual individual experience. We call this “inner peace” because we are not yet in a world where profound peace permeates everyone's experience all the time. We can see the contrast between the inner peace we are feeling and the lack of peace that many others are feeling. For now, inner peace is still an unusual experience. It is not yet World Peace.

 

It is “still” this way because experienced peace will be the baseline experience for all beings eventually. But for those of us who were born in the Era of Belligerence, an experience of inner peace will most likely be something we must cultivate — something we move into and out of over the course of a day, week, or year.

 

When many (consider the 100th monkey theory) have brought forth their own peacefulness, collective peace will begin to manifest. First it will be experienced by small pockets of humanity. Then it will spread out into the surrounding areas.

 

Imagine being in a swimming pool and adding a drop of food coloring. The water will reflect that new color most strongly where the coloring was first placed, but eventually it will be incorporated more widely. It cannot help but spread. It will first make itself powerfully apparent locally.

 

Peace works this way.

 

One person in an experience of peace sends the flow of that peace into the collective consciousness, and it enters the collective at the precise point where that person is situated. One's peace begins a collective consciousness of peace, first locally then more widely. It can be felt most potently locally, where it is most concentrated.

 

World Peace begins as inner peace experienced by one person, two people interacting, or a group directly impacting one another. It eventually spreads into the collective, which is a term for all of their indirect contacts or all the people we impact without being aware of it.

 

World Peace is a result, not a cause; it comes last. Inner peace is a cause of World Peace and a result of it just as a stone cascading makes a sound that keeps reverberating every time it newly impacts a surface.

 

Eventually, experienced peace is the standard, the common experience. Then individuals are able to build on that standard, that foundation of peace. When there is standard peace, what will we see? Flowing creativity. Self-actualization. Self-exploration. New collaborations. New forms of art. New inventions — acts of genius. That's what's waiting for us when we arrive at World Peace.

We think of World Peace as the end of war. But in that state of generalized inner peace, war will not begin. Generalized peace will look like the absence of war to those who lived before during the Era of Belligerence. But for those who were born in the Age of Peace, it will look like flowing creativity, inventiveness, collaboration, artmaking, inspiration, and flowing ideas. It won't look like the end of war because war will sound so odd — such a strange thing for anyone to choose — that war will simply seem like a historical curiosity, the way we now think of outdated medical practices such as bloodletting. We look back at bloodletting and think, Why would one think becoming healthier is achieved by purposely losing blood? What a strange thing to do! What a strange way to treat one's body. Why would anyone ever do that? We look at bloodletting as a historical curiosity — as a marker of how things were at a peculiar moment in history, a time when humans were doing the best they could but were living in confusion that led to certain aberrations we now see clearly and would never choose today. That's how war will appear to us. We will look at it as a marker of a particularly strange time in human history.

From a peaceful mindset, we will not judge ourselves, or previous humans, for what they did not yet understand; we will have compassion for ourselves and for others. Knowing more, we will not again choose that which does not serve us.

 

War is a marker of a time in our development. It is an indicator of where we are in our evolution. The lower mind wants to know the answer to this question: Is war bad or good? The higher mind is so loving, so peaceful, that it does not judge. It simply says, War indicates that a society is very early in its development. We will know that we have evolved, we will know that we carry more peace, when we do not choose war — when we find that we, as individuals, simply would never choose to harm another person.

 

We will know that we have evolved when we look at the practice of harming another and find it puzzling. We will think, Why would anyone ever do that? It simply won't make sense. We will think, I'd never choose to hurt someone; I respect everyone here too much. I wouldn't chop down my own beloved house; I wouldn't throw away a cherished gift. And I wouldn't harm anyone, as everyone brings something valuable to the collective; everyone bears a gift, and therefore everyone is a gift.

 

We look at a loving world, a world where there are no skirmishes between individuals, a world where there is no violence, and we call what we see “World Peace” — and to us that means The End of All War. But it won't feel like the Age of No War, except to those who began their lives in the Era of Belligerence. It will feel like the Age of Inspiration, the Age of Creativity, the Age of Invention, the Age of Innovation. It will be the Age of Feeling Just Right, the Age of So Much to Get Out of Bed to Experience. It will be the Age of What Can I Build Next.

 

When we are in the Age of Peace, we will see it for what it is, not for what it isn't — not the contrast to what came before.

 

Only by living in peace will we truly understand its nature.

 

We do not call our time the Age of No Bloodletting. We don't notice what isn't there so much as we notice what is here. That's how we'll feel in the Age of Peace. We'll notice how good it feels to express ourselves, to be creative, to be full of innovative ideas. We'll notice how good our own kindness feels whether expressed towards ourselves or others. And the idea of not feeling these things will seem strange to us. We will think, What would possess anyone to treat another cruelly when expressing kindness feels so good and cruelty feels so terrible? Why would anyone choose to act in a way that feels terrible? What a strange way to live!

 

Those who feel called to build inner peace even as they are living in the Era of Belligerence are getting a preview of coming attractions. They're getting a taste of what will one day be the standard. But they're also seeding a world where one doesn't need to cultivate inner peace because it has become the standard. One only needs to choose what to focus into existence by way of one's already peaceful, already connected self. For that reason, the Age of Peace will also be the Age of Choice; all will have the freedom to concentrate on what they enjoy doing rather than spending their primary energy creating safety for themselves and making sure their basic needs are met.

 

Some of us in the Era of Belligerence already carry the perspective that will be common in the Age of Peace. Such people might look around at their society and think, How do I get out of here?

 

One “gets out of here” by building a future from where one is moving in the present.

 

One builds the Age of Peace by building inner peace. One builds peace for oneself in whatever increments one can and is grateful for whatever slivers of peace one can experience. One lingers in appreciation of peace whenever it arrives. One revels in the feeling of peace and thinks about what one loves about peace and speaks of the joys of peace and does what brings one more peace. That's how one builds the Age of Peace before it is here. This is how one gifts the Age of Peace to everyone.

Where do I begin?

Peace Class every Wednesday at 6:00 pm PDT

Sign up for this mailing list: mandykahn.com. Zoom link to join Peace Class: us02web.zoom.us/j/844396... (changes weekly). To get the latest link, sign up for mailing list.

To convert our 6:00 pm PDT meeting time to any other time zone, see: dateful.com/time-zone-converter.

To learn more about Peace Class and to sign up for future classes: eventbrite.com/e/peace-class-with-mandy-kahn....

If only Buddhism had anything to contribute to a discussion about peace

How can we cultivate inner peace?

Passaddhi, in the Buddha's language, the ancient lingua franca of Pali, is a noun (Brahminical Sanskrit prasrabhi, Tibetan ཤིན་ཏུ་སྦྱང་བ་, Wylie shin tu sbyang ba) that has been translated as "calmness," "tranquility," "repose," and "serenity" [1]. It is inner peace.

The associated verb is passambhati (to calm down, to quieten) [2]. In Buddhism, passaddhi refers to tranquility of body, speech, and mind (thoughts, consciousness on the path to enlightenment).

As part of the cultivatable mental factors, passaddhi is preceded by "rapture" or "joy" or "bliss" (pīti) and precedes profound stillness (samādhi).

Passaddhi is identified as a wholesome factor in the following canonical contexts:

• kāya-passaddhi is one of the "beautiful mental factors" in Theravāda Buddhist Abhidhamma ("the Doctrine or Dhamma in Ultimate Terms") tradition
• citta-passaddhi is one of the beautiful mental factors in Theravāda Abhidhamma tradition
• one of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (sambojjhangas)
• meditative absorptions (jhanani)
• transcendental Dependent Origination (lokuttara-paticcasamuppada)

Pali canon references

In various Buddhist canonical schema, the calming of the body, speech, and various mental factors is associated with gladness (pāmojja, pāmujja), rapture (pīti), and pleasure or happiness (sukhaṃ) and leads to the stillness (and effortless concentration) needed for release from pain and suffering (dukkha). More

• Inner peace (passaddhi) is a vital element in Buddhism's Seven Factors of Enlightenment, just as happiness is
• Peace and Sustenance | Dictionary of Buddhism | Nichiren Buddhism Library
• Mandy Kahn (mandykahn.com), Philosophical Research Society, Hollywood, California, Jan. 22, 2025; edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly with added Wiki edit

Bashar: Reincarnation, Manifestation

Bashar exposes the Reincarnation Myth! | Channeled by Darryl Anka

(Messenger Of Good News) Bashar’s Greatest Teachings: Best Conversations 🌟 Join Bashar [an intelligence, entity, or collective channeled by Darryl Anka just as Seth spoke through Jane Roberts, Edgar Cayce was used by spirit beings, "Galactica" and the woman channel in LA or the parallel "Abraham" as channeled by Esther Hicks from the original The Secret (yes, there are two versions, the latter with Abraham-Hicks deleted)] as he delves into the fascinating topic of reincarnation, revealing surprising insights that challenge our commonly held beliefs!

We already are manifesting; we just don't know it.

In this thought-provoking video, "Bashar" shares his unique perspective on the concept of reincarnation, exposing the myths and misconceptions that have been perpetuated for centuries. It is an illusion; it exists, but it is nonetheless an illusion (like most things in life).

Let's get ready to have our minds blown as Bashar sheds light on the truth behind this age-old topic with a New Age twist. Whether skeptic or believer, this video is sure to leave one questioning everything one thought one knew about reincarnation (rebirth, samsara, maya). Sit back, relax, and get ready to have an attitude adjustment and mental expansion.

For more of Bashar's exclusive meditations, consider joining a membership: @messengerofgoodnews1111

What's The Secret, Abraham?

Esther Hicks channels spirit collective "Abraham" (abraham-hicks.com)

• "The Universe [Source energy] knows all things and is responding to the vibration that you are sending. When you are sending your vibration on purpose, you are orchestrating what the Universe is aligning for you" -- excerpted from Atlanta, Georgia, on 9/13/98. With love from Esther (Abraham and Jerry) Hicks.
• Darryl Anka as "Bashar," YouTube.com, Nov. 25, 2024; Esther Hicks, Abraham; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Did the Buddha teach 'We are all One'?

Of course, there are ways in which we ARE all one, all the same, all connected, and that is almost certainly what most people mean most of the time when saying, "We are all one." To say we are separate is obvious. You're over there, I'm over here, and we are in no way connected whatsoever -- except that we're breathing the same air, exchanging the same ions, sharing the same environment, eating the same sustenance, digesting it in the same way, culturally validating one another by contrast and comparison, using nearly identical bodies in roughly the same ways, appearing as twins or clones of one another to anyone standing at a sufficient distance, and so on and so forth.

Is it useful to tell Jews harming Palestinians, "We are all One"? Yes, for if they knew the similarities, they would not harm themselves (by trying to harm the other). Is it useful to tell scientists look at a single blob under a microscope, "It is all one"? No because under a microscope one is looking for distinctions and differences to compartmentalize and categorize. Can we see similarities? Yes. Can we see differences? Yes. What are we looking at? Could the Buddha? Yes. What was he looking at?

So except for all of those ways in which we are all one, and too many more to mention, we are not all one. We're in the same boat, searching for the same things, going about it in similar ways, thinking each other's thoughts, having each other's ideas, feeling each other's feelings (like suffering, joy, empathy), mirroring one another, and so on. So the question is, Is there any value in seeing ourselves as separate? (There certainly is value in seeing ourselves as One, as part of the same whole, as interconnected and interdependent).

Of course, it's useful to see the distinctions and rather than relying on this Hindu saying "We are all One," it's useful to see the Path the Buddha taught to awakening here and now in this very life. Waking up to what? Waking up to the true nature of reality. It is not what we expect, and it may just take a shock like this to push us out of our comfort zone to investigate and penetrate for ourselves what is ultimately true.

• There are two truths, the conventional (the way we speak using everyday terms) and the ultimate (the technical details which often up-end the conventional ways of viewing things).

The Buddha never taught: We are all One

Ego Podcast (Buddhism) Dec. 20, 2024: Did the historical Buddha (Siddhartha "Shakyamuni" Gautama) teach that "We are all One"?

This video explores the misattributed idea of universal Oneness (a more Hindu idea of nonduality or advaita) in Buddhism. Drawing from the Buddha’s Teachings, the Dhamma, let's discuss why the concept of Oneness is considered an extreme view and how it contradicts the path to awakening.

With references to key suttas (discourses), we reveal why seeing all things as separate — not One — is essential for clear knowledge and bringing about the end of suffering.

Discover the true wisdom behind the Buddha’s Teachings and why they go beyond simplistic notions of Oneness.

#Buddhism #BuddhaTeachings #Oneness #Awakening #Nonduality #Individuality #Dhamma #truth

COMMENTS

• (@russellmason5095) Thank you so much for producing this video. It helped me to reconsider some points of ignorance about Oneness and Gautama Buddha's original teaching. Good luck on your path! Thank you for your efforts to bring an end to suffering.
• (@IamMae72) This channel explains things in such a precise and clear way.
• (@annieyip2176) (edited) Not easy to understand Dependent Origination [Dependent Co-Arising] correctly but I applaud your attempt to discern Oneness from interconnectedness
• (@SwissWalker) thank you
• (@WisdomLife9) What a great and useful video! Thanks. I will follow your channel for more interesting videos, stories!
• (@avinashjagdeo) This perspective is so much centered on the physical, which is a very narrow band of existence that some are passing through. If we are experiencing eating, then that is to know eating and to know being eaten. There is no evidence that all things at all levels have to eat or that we will always have to operate that particular way. There appears to be constant transformation which can include merging and diverging of consciousness. The word 'oneness' is just a concession of a finite mind to talk about a something that is beyond conceptualization. It could just as easily be called the 'all' or the 'totality' or 'infinite being'.
• (@priyadarshanachandrasena2062) 🙏🙏🙏🌼🌼🌼
• (@collinsharrelson6887) (edited) I do have a feeling we’re all one in the sense that we share in our conscious awareness with all other conscious beings. I mean just think about it. We’re all experiencing a base level conscious awareness so in an intrinsic way we are related. Furthermore, we all suffer the same fate (i.e., Old Age, Sickness, and Death), which means we all share in the same suffering and are all deserving of one another’s compassion because of that fact.
• (@noself-onlykarma) (edited) When you realize the Absolute Truth the Buddha was pointing to, you see why he used the word "Middle Way" vs. "Advaita" (non-duality). Too many people conceptualize, analyze, and interpret the Buddha's teachings intellectually. The teaching of Anatta/Anatman [the impersonal nature of all things] is meant to dissolve any types of identification since there's no inherent independent entity/identity (self). The entirety of everything depends on the entirety itself, so everything is interdependent. However, if you "identify" the entirety as "one" then you've fallen into relative conceptualization. How can you have "one" when there's no "two"? That's why we use the word "is-ness" or "thus-ness" to describe the reality. The Absolute Reality is already Here and Now. We just have to realize it through directly seeing that all that can be claimed is the witness itself (only awareness functioning). [There is n]othing to claim as subject therefore, no object. Then you see there's nothing we can [identify with or] be identified with. Even Buddha-Nature is a conceptual description, just a word to the many who only think in a linear way and see everything as existing independently. The reason we can't find our "mind" is because it is not a "thing," not even a subject. It's wrong to say it exists; it is wrong to say it doesn't exist. Neither both nor "one" is correct since they're all conceptual. Start with moral/ethical discipline and compassion for all sentient beings. Then discipline your mind to be focused (still/concentrated) so you can rest the thinking-mind. Then the wisdom (absolute reality) that has always been radiating is (infinite) Here and (eternal) Now.
• (@tanned06) Perhaps contrary to the early teachings preserved in the Pali canon suttas and Chinese Āgamas, the later development of Buddhist philosophy in Mahayana and Vajrayana [being so heavily influenced by Vedantic Hinduism] does recognize an ontological/metaphysical conception of allness/oneness as in realization of the pure consciousness/awareness or the hidden away Tathagathagarbha or the potent Buddha Nature/dhatu or the cleansed Alayaviñāna that's said to form the source of ultimate and peaceful ground of all [being and/or] 'beings.'
• (@thekaizer666) (edited) thank you for this. thanks for confirming all of these which i had contemplated, even before discovering Theravada. thank you. PS: In Mahayana/ Vajrayana, one of the central concepts is that of "we are all one," such that a wave is part of the ocean. And it just felt so very...full of friction. Like many, I started off with Mahayana/Vajrayana but steadily got disillusioned with so many of their doctrines. :(
• (@kib3571) When view is no view, only then you can see what everything is happening. 😅
• (@duanpienaar9755) We are one consciousness not one karmic body. The Buddha taught that the consciousness that realizes Buddha Nature is one.
• (@ElmerTan-ut4qn) The Buddha told us that people's relationship in the world is only for a very short period of time. A person dies. Each has its own path. And the majority of people are dragged away by their karmas. Even if they ever meet again, they would not be able to recognize each other. Once reborn in the Six Realms, the soul [??] will take on a new form. For example, we are now human, but the next life we may be in the lower three realms as animals, ghosts, or suffering beings in hell[s]. Those who cultivate kindness and compassion, they will have a beautiful appearance in their next life as a human. Those who are full of ignorance, they will have the appearance of an animal that is worse than human. Those who are full of greed, hatred, and delusion, their appearance will be like a ghost, which is worse than the animals. The Six Realms is the cycle of vengeance and revenge. Nobody can help you. [Many can help, not that they will. The Buddha helped countless beings.] Each has to bear its own karma [but not alone but rather in the company of others]. This is the true reality of life in the Six Realms of reincarnation [rebirth]. Why is one reborn again and again in the Six Realms? It is because we love this world too much and create a strong clinging. If we have no clinging for this world, we won't be reborn again into this world. If one chooses Western Pure Land for one's next life, then we have to chant Amitabha Buddha, that is, if one really wants to migrate there. No one can bring you to the Land of Ultimate Bliss except Amitabha Buddha himself [but remember nobody can help you, oh, except Amitabha Buddha and your family and friends and strangers who are kind, and bodhisattvas, and people and devas from long ago past connections with you in the Six Realms, but other than those, no one can help you because you are all alone and by yourself]. 🙏🙏🙏 Amitabha Buddha
• (@saddha1) Excellent analysis!
• (@Lifeisbrutal.) If there is interconnectedness, there is no oneness in a literal sense More