You are welcome. Much of the Buddhist writing I see on Substack is pretty limited, filled with misconceptions, and caters to various political agendas. This includes Tricycle’s offerings, etc. These agendas are fine in their own place, but really ought to be left out of Dharma discourse. This does not mean that followers of Buddhadharma should not be political—we live in society so we have no choice—but mixing worldly politics with the Dharma is a huge mistake. We have learned and forgotten this over and over again. The history of Buddhist countries is very much the history of the failure of the merger of Dharma and politics.
Why people are so immune to the lessons of Buddhist history is beyond me. So I am writing to point out what are baseline principles, especially baseline principles Mahāyānīs should understand.
I think much of the urgency on the part of many politically active Buddhists is that many of them reject rebirth, or try to finesse the idea into some scheme the Buddha never intended, likewise with the teachings on karma. Thus, their focus is solely on this life. But it is obvious even in the Kalamas Sutta that the Buddha’s focus was primarily oriented towards karmic results in the next life since that sutta he never even mentions the attainment of the four śrāvaka attainments.
Re: Urgency of politically active folks, esp. Buddhists
While there might be something that amounts to an implicit rejection of rebirth involved, my personal pet hypothesis is that it has to do with an inability to be present in the midst of another's suffering, which requires accepting that the suffering is occurring and they are powerless to alleviate it in that moment (as i believe you've written elsewhere, you can't force someone to wake up).
Notes does not go out to your mailing list. That is why notes seems to be an echo chamber. It is used by people as a twitter substitute, because Blue Sky is lame.
I know. I'm using it as a Twitter or Instagram substitute... with way better art and writing. I mute most of the political Buddhist stuff, and I'm assuming most of them have blocked me. They are mostly nice people, but have stopped my political intake in general. My newsletter subs come mainly from Vajrayana outside Substack, word of mouth I guess.
Since they are basically Buddhists in everything sense but name, yes. Whether one considers them a proper refuge or not, is a personal choice, but I myself do not see a problem with Bonpo teachings. Though I admit, I can't really get into Bon mantras.
Thank you for teaching the Mahayana in a scriptural manner on Substack. This is quite rare these days.
You are welcome. Much of the Buddhist writing I see on Substack is pretty limited, filled with misconceptions, and caters to various political agendas. This includes Tricycle’s offerings, etc. These agendas are fine in their own place, but really ought to be left out of Dharma discourse. This does not mean that followers of Buddhadharma should not be political—we live in society so we have no choice—but mixing worldly politics with the Dharma is a huge mistake. We have learned and forgotten this over and over again. The history of Buddhist countries is very much the history of the failure of the merger of Dharma and politics.
Why people are so immune to the lessons of Buddhist history is beyond me. So I am writing to point out what are baseline principles, especially baseline principles Mahāyānīs should understand.
I think much of the urgency on the part of many politically active Buddhists is that many of them reject rebirth, or try to finesse the idea into some scheme the Buddha never intended, likewise with the teachings on karma. Thus, their focus is solely on this life. But it is obvious even in the Kalamas Sutta that the Buddha’s focus was primarily oriented towards karmic results in the next life since that sutta he never even mentions the attainment of the four śrāvaka attainments.
Re: Urgency of politically active folks, esp. Buddhists
While there might be something that amounts to an implicit rejection of rebirth involved, my personal pet hypothesis is that it has to do with an inability to be present in the midst of another's suffering, which requires accepting that the suffering is occurring and they are powerless to alleviate it in that moment (as i believe you've written elsewhere, you can't force someone to wake up).
Also, writing about Vajrayāna here, as I am sure you will agree, in anything but the most general terms, is not appropriate.
Yeah. I'm just opening the temple door a little bit for people with a karmic connection.
Very few of my subscribers come to my newsletter through Substack notes. Single digits. Likewise, I mostly follow artists and tree-huggers.
Notes does not go out to your mailing list. That is why notes seems to be an echo chamber. It is used by people as a twitter substitute, because Blue Sky is lame.
I know. I'm using it as a Twitter or Instagram substitute... with way better art and writing. I mute most of the political Buddhist stuff, and I'm assuming most of them have blocked me. They are mostly nice people, but have stopped my political intake in general. My newsletter subs come mainly from Vajrayana outside Substack, word of mouth I guess.
Since they are basically Buddhists in everything sense but name, yes. Whether one considers them a proper refuge or not, is a personal choice, but I myself do not see a problem with Bonpo teachings. Though I admit, I can't really get into Bon mantras.