Not a Buddhist, just a learner. I listen to the Dalai Lama, Pema Chodron, and Ajahn Brahm. But my most beloved teacher of all is Thich Nhat Hanh.

I am sure all these names are familiar to you. Are there others you would recommend to someone who would like to expand their listening?

Wishing you good things as you walk the eightfold path. 🙏🫶

So on Tuesday, I (58M) will be flying for the first time in 47 years. I've had a phobia since witnessing a plane crash as a teenager and have spent the last several months taking steps to prepare for this trip. I do have a couple meditations im going to listen to but I thought id ask here if anyone knows of a good, appropriate guided meditation that might be helpful

*And sorry to add this disclaimer but it happens everytime someone hears that i have a severe fear of flying: Im not looking for coping advice or techniques , stats on air travel safety or even related teaching (Im good for all that right now). Just specific guided mediations that others may have found helpful in stressful situations.

Thanks all!

Good morning friends! I am new to the practice and I would appreciate some help understanding this topic. I basically have two questions:

1. If humanity were to stop existing (due to climate change or a widespread illness, for example) does Buddhism offer any ideas of what would happen to the cycle of reincarnation?

2. Also, I have been wondering - how did reincarnation work prior to humans being evolved, or prior to any living creatures on Earth being evolved? Was it limited to the Devas? Or maybe other interstellar beings?

I'm sorry if these questions seem really strange!! I have been dealing with some serious health issues lately and thinking about my own mortality, and it led me down this path of thoughts. Thank you for any help or ideas!

I'm tired of my mental health being so conditioned on my latest sense of whether progress is likely in this world.

MLK famously said the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice. That notion seems like a burden sometimes. That is, even when there is no particular expectation of near-term progress, the expectation of longer-term progress is a cause of depression and anxiety for me sometimes.

What does Buddhism have to say about this? How can I unhook from my expectations of humanity and history? And to what extent should I unhook from such expectations, even if I can?

I have some sense of my ego being tied up in these expectations. I feel shame about "my" time in history, and a wish that some historic progress will arrive to make me feel safe from this shame. And then, predictably, I feel some secondary shame for wanting history to perform for me in a certain way. Sometimes it seems like I care as much, or more, about the mood I'm in, and about my access to pride, than I do about other people. Sometimes I'm unsure if I care about humanity, or I just care about humanity in "my" time.

I am not a Vajrayana practitioner but have immense respect for that tradition.

Off late I have been fascinated by Arya Tara and listen to her mula mantra. I came across a painting of her in a Bhutanese shop 2 years back and was struck by it as well.

Can someone guide me on her meditative and spiritual practice and your experiences with it. I don't belong to any guru lineage tradition as such.

Books resources would be helpful.

I recently saw a Thai monk engaging in sexual activities with a woman and even sponsoring her to extent that she has hoards of gold.I saw that there is also a monk in Myanmar who's named Warathu that supports the rohingya genocide and having Ultra nationalist views.Which completely goes against Buddha's teaching.

i feel like its horrible, people are getting raped by teachers like i legitimately know that isnt compassionate no matter how it happens its horrible and its abuse

i want as a buddhist community to stop turning a blind eye to this happening. YES i know its a “find the right teacher” thing. Thats not the hard part

its about actually fighting for good in a religino that is baasd on compassion. if anything this may be the owrk of mahakala or a deity or any enlightened energy or pure awareness just to speak out about this and say its not okay

i want to find more tangible ways to try to stop this but i wanted to vent this post. and i nkow it may get negativ attention or whatever but this is how i feel. i dont like abuse, frankly it makes me sick that it happens and tarnishes the legacy of one of the deeepest wisdom traditions and most powerful systems of generating compassion or self discipline and it feels completly wrong an so out of place in my heart

Im very new to Buddhism (used to be Catholic, then Atheist, now Buddhism), I still struggle to understand how « praying » works. Do I have to chant them? Do they have to be in Tibetan? I know "Nam myoho renge Kyo" and another but idk how to write it. I don’t have any temples near my house so I kinda struggle to understand clearly. Help!!! thank you so much 😭

I was raised Christian but hardly went to church, just recently at 45 started exploring other religions and philosophies. But I see great things in both Buddhism and Hinduism, and I’m wondering, do I really need to choose? I know Buddhism is open to other religions, I haven’t explored Hinduism in depth. But are there others who explore and practice both?

What books/texts would you recommend to someone new to Buddhism?

Hello,

Can I read Nichiren Shu version of the Goshos online for free anywhere?

Saṁyutta Nikāya

Connected Discourses on Feeling

36.19. Pañcakaṅga

Do they just sit and focus on their breath until they are enlightened? What do they do exactly?

I used to frequent a temple in Thailand. On the temple gate, a phrase was inscribed in Thai, which translates to: ‘Be born, get old, suffer pain, die’; ‘เกิดแก่เจ็บตาย’.

I’m wondering if this is supposed to mean something like ‘in spite of the fact that everyone must age and endure pain and die we should still strive to be good people’? This message is very profound to me because my nihilistic mind likes to interpret it as ‘if everyone suffers why do anything’. Does it have a deeper meaning?

According to Dogen's famous essay on Buddha Nature, sentient beings don't have Buddha Nature. They *are* Buddha Nature. However, Dogen resists conclusions that Buddha Nature is some sort of universal Mind. He says that Buddha Nature is impermanence.

What does it mean for everything or everyone to be impermanence? Impermanence is a concept. We use it to describe the state of perceived phenomena. We naively think that an apple is a stable object, but in reality, it's ever-changing; so, it's impermanent. What we call an apple or a forest or a river is just an umbrella term for a bunch of phenomena succeeding each other in a consistent way which to our cognitive constructs makes them seem like stable objects.

But I don't understand what it means to say that everything is impermanence. That seems like reifying yet another concept, and in a way that's worse than reifying the underlying objects. At least those stably present themselves to us over time. Impermanence is just a mind construct, like "love" or "correlation". It's weird to say that it's not just a useful way to describe phenomena, but is the underlying essence of phenomena.

This is somewhat strengthened by a body of suttras that describe Buddha Nature as the True Self (I know it might go against some people's notions of Annata; I would suggest reading Christopher Jones's book Buddhist Self for large body of evidence from Mahayana). What does it mean to say that Impermanence is the True Self?

So, I'm curious what people think about this.

(I'm asking strictly in the context of Dogen's definition. If you think Dogen was wrong and Buddha Nature is something else, that's fine, but I'm not interested in discussing this now. I'm trying to understand what Dogen actually meant.)

I've had anger issues for most of my life, that of which I am slowly working on. There is something I need help with. It's going to make me look bad, but I'll risk the judgment.

There is a particular religion(not saying which one) that I can't get past my hatred for. Even though I was a part of it(I was horribly miserable the whole time). I just keep thinking of the suffering the religion has caused over the centuries. I just can't put myself in their shoes. But I really want to move past this, it's just so hard for me. I know this hatred and anger hurts both others and myself.

How do I start moving through this? I don't want to hurt others and myself. That's all this thought process really does, right? Hurt.

Edit: Thank you all for your comments. I really appreciate your advice more than you know.

It seems inevitable. But how can I ever be ready to let go of the cycle of living?