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idk about vidya games but the Kuunmong (Nine Cloud Dream) is a true Buddhist classic. Penguin published a good translation with plenty of footnotes for people who need the Tang Dynasty references explained to them.
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Dec 26, 2025 16:46
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I had a pleasant, kind of illuminating experience over christmas. I was taking a train and this guy came up to me with his wife and baby carriage. Asked if there were something wrong with my legs, or could I go sit in another seat? Apparently, where I was sitting was reserved for baby carriages and wheelchairs. He was a bit pushy about it, but fair enough, I found another seat. I wasn't really bothered by this interaction but I could clearly observe my ego being bothered. Like I had this angry little gremlin in a mason jar. Going "Where does he get off taking my seat? What an rear end in a top hat!" etc. But it was without influence in that situation. It was nice to acknowledge that, as a little signpost. Like "Huh, that would probably have bothered me a lot a year or two ago".
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Dec 30, 2025 09:13
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I've been having almost identical outcomes and it's done wonders. May have saved my marriage. Therapy was my wake up call that gives me direction, daily practice gives me time to sit with the outcome. I get to put things in that little jar, identify them, and ask myself "Why are you feeling that and reacting that way? Where does it come from?" Turns out a lot of the answers to those questions end up being, "There is suffering in you from ABC, and it has controlled you." Weird how that works, almost like someone was talking about it years and years ago.
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Dec 30, 2025 12:32
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yeah, same. I am not somehow all liberated or never having suffering or a bad thought or a harmful behavior, but I do have that little pocket of dry air in the sunken ship.
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Dec 30, 2025 19:34
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At the bottom of the sea of ise Ten thousand feet down there is a sunken ship, with a pocket of air I wish to breath that air without getting wet
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Dec 30, 2025 19:51
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Yiggy posted:At the bottom of the sea of ise Ooh, that's the good stuff right there. Just this. Right here, and right now.
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Dec 30, 2025 21:45
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Thirteen Orphans posted:I appreciate everyone’s responses to my, as I see now, very emotionally driven request. Your questions and comments were thought provoking and helpful. I especially appreciate those of you who offered condolences. For some reason, as bad as I knew the situation was, hearing those condolences opened up my heart and I saw my grief, and it is grief, much more clearly and honestly. Fortunately he is completely out of the picture, so I know my mother is safe. Thanks, Buddhism thread Sangha. This is from a while back but idk still worth responding to. Above all I'm sorry you and your mother went through that and I hope he's fully and permanently out of the picture. First, even if you do try to boddhicitta or whatever to the situation, idk you can still see the situation for exactly what it was, eg an abusive piece of poo poo who hurt someone you cared very deeply for. Personally I'd put my compassion for my mother far above any need to feel an abstract (or even less abstract) degree of compassion for him and presumably whatever circumstances led to him turning out the way he did. To some extent I think that seeing the truth of the situation is all you can do more than that applying some compassion to it is going to really help or change anything that already happened. Perhaps this is my own bias, but I feel like recognizing the truth of a situation is how you do some things justice. Second, and no doubt the reason why you were bringing this up, is that the situation felt (probably understandably) unresolved and did (or does) need something more to set the processing in motion so you can eventually forgive, and move on. btw I don't mean forgive in some absolute and unconditional sense, but rather a more functional forgiveness that lets you move on. hell, depending on the circumstances, you might need to forgive yourself (even though that very likely wasn't a situation you could control whatsoever---who people choose to be in relationships with is ultimately 100% their own choice). idk tho, it is hard to say too much that is useful from a distance without knowing more, grief is really complicated stuff. To perhaps paraphrase the 'I wouldn't start hiking with climbing everest' post, I would strongly suggest putting all of your energy into compassion for yourself and your mother (and other family or siblings?) and revisit that question of compassion and understanding for him later, possibly much later, if even ever. Some people find it useful to eventually forgive, and others literally never feel the need to and don't seem any better or worse for it. Once again, I'm sorry that you and your mom had to deal with all of that and I wish I had anything more useful to offer beyond just some words. Herstory Begins Now fucked around with this message at 12:02 on Dec 31, 2025 |
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Dec 31, 2025 11:59
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bird food bathtub posted:I've been having almost identical outcomes and it's done wonders. May have saved my marriage. Therapy was my wake up call that gives me direction, daily practice gives me time to sit with the outcome. I get to put things in that little jar, identify them, and ask myself "Why are you feeling that and reacting that way? Where does it come from?" glad to hear it's been useful. zen has the concept of 'the step back' which reminds me of what you're describing, which is roughly a way of articulating sort of a break in your reactivity to situations by taking a figurative step back from situations such that you can take them in from a more objective and less reactive and hopefully more thoughtful, understanding perspective. that's a kind of grandiose description, but it's amazing just how beneficial even getting a little bit of distance and a little less reactive about things can be for both you and those around you. e: strictly speaking i think it would be considered a practice more than a concept, but leaving it like that because it makes sense either way Herstory Begins Now fucked around with this message at 12:40 on Dec 31, 2025 |
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Dec 31, 2025 12:25
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Hi thread. I've posted in here before a few years ago and am very much still a novice, but I've made the commitment to deepen my practice in the upcoming year and just wanted to say hi. I feel like my practice has just kind of floundered for a while with no real tangible progress made (and also a lack of consistency, to be honest), until just recently. I ran an ultra marathon almost two weeks ago, and the effort forged an ironclad connection to my breath in a way that was never present before - allowing me to finally focus on my object and get the feet wet in the deep pool of shamatha. The past few weeks since then have held more tangible progress than the last few years combined, and after a particularly trying year and the loss of my mother, I am grateful to have finally found my "in", as it were. Anywho, wishing you all the best in the new year 👁️
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Jan 1, 2026 04:56
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Happy new year, folks, here's to relieving the suffering of beings in a new year. Also  to you Objurium for your breakthrough, though I am sorry for your loss. You might find this practice at Mt. Hiei interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaih%C5%8Dgy%C5%8D
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Jan 1, 2026 05:11
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Happy Western New Year to all. May all of your Dharma activities flourish in this new year. My son took refuge a few months ago, and my working situation has stabilized such that I've been able to re-establish my daily practice. I have faced maras that challenged my commitment to practice and while it was a close game at times, I remain in the Dharma. These obstructing karmas now exhausted, I was blessed to finally be able to obtain a copy of a text on medicine and astrology written by First Drikung Chungtsang R. Rigdzin Chökyi Drakpa, and have started on an English translation. This is a huge step towards fulfilling a charge I was given by the late master Drikung Lamchen Gyalpo Rinpoche, who hoped that I might restore the Drikung astrological tradition. It seems almost unreal to me that that was nearly a decade ago, as the days I spent in the flow attending my own root Lama and working with such dedication at that time resonate with great clarity like something that happened yesterday or a dream from which I've only just awoken. This thread has been a steady companion, and I am grateful for everyone who reads my too many words, and I hope someone finds something useful in all this mud. May everyone's practice bear fruit in this Western year 2026 and in the coming Fire Horse year 2153, which will begin on 18 February. Paramemetic fucked around with this message at 07:47 on Jan 1, 2026 |
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Jan 1, 2026 06:51
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Any of y'all on the route of the Walk for Peace? https://dhammacetiya.com/walk-for-peace/overview-map/ I actually will be in Washington on the 12th, or thereabouts... might have to go give them a holler.
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Jan 4, 2026 05:13
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Felt in a funk much of the latter half of today due to coming back to the holidays as well as the various Events; was in the shower thinking gloomy thoughts and the Ksitigarbha mantra just came to me spontaneously, and I just leaned into it and let the gloom fade. It also meant the shower was longer, but so it goes. A win for the bodhisattvas, imo. Definitely a reminder of how it is, in a sense, a rescue to follow the dharma.
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Jan 6, 2026 04:11
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Question for former Christians: does anyone else sometimes conceive of the Buddha as "colder" than Jesus? Sorry, I may be having difficulty expressing it, but when I was a Christian, I conceived of Jesus as a deep, abiding love, and could see him as someone who would pick me up off the ground, listen to my problems, and love me as a friend. I have trouble thinking of the Buddha in that way; he's always shown as so serene and unattached that I can't help but feel a distance, if that makes sense.
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Jan 18, 2026 23:10
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Question for former Christians: does anyone else sometimes conceive of the Buddha as "colder" than Jesus? Sorry, I may be having difficulty expressing it, but when I was a Christian, I conceived of Jesus as a deep, abiding love, and could see him as someone who would pick me up off the ground, listen to my problems, and love me as a friend. I have trouble thinking of the Buddha in that way; he's always shown as so serene and unattached that I can't help but feel a distance, if that makes sense. TBH I feel like Jesus was a dude that found enlightenment separately or at least touched it, given how he is portrayed and the compassion he showed everyone.
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Jan 19, 2026 00:13
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Question for former Christians: does anyone else sometimes conceive of the Buddha as "colder" than Jesus? Sorry, I may be having difficulty expressing it, but when I was a Christian, I conceived of Jesus as a deep, abiding love, and could see him as someone who would pick me up off the ground, listen to my problems, and love me as a friend. I have trouble thinking of the Buddha in that way; he's always shown as so serene and unattached that I can't help but feel a distance, if that makes sense. it's your mind that's cold or warm
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Jan 19, 2026 00:24
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My own sentiments at this is that the Dharma is itself an embrace of loving-kindness. I have felt some analogous feelings to Ksitigarbha that sound similar to the "feeling loved and loving back" experience I have heard Christians describe.
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Jan 19, 2026 00:41
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Question for former Christians: does anyone else sometimes conceive of the Buddha as "colder" than Jesus? Sorry, I may be having difficulty expressing it, but when I was a Christian, I conceived of Jesus as a deep, abiding love, and could see him as someone who would pick me up off the ground, listen to my problems, and love me as a friend. I have trouble thinking of the Buddha in that way; he's always shown as so serene and unattached that I can't help but feel a distance, if that makes sense. nice obelisk idiot fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Jan 19, 2026 |
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Jan 19, 2026 00:44
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Question for former Christians: does anyone else sometimes conceive of the Buddha as "colder" than Jesus? Sorry, I may be having difficulty expressing it, but when I was a Christian, I conceived of Jesus as a deep, abiding love, and could see him as someone who would pick me up off the ground, listen to my problems, and love me as a friend. I have trouble thinking of the Buddha in that way; he's always shown as so serene and unattached that I can't help but feel a distance, if that makes sense. were you raised protestant? because you're talking an awful lot about your personal relationship with jesus! 
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Jan 19, 2026 01:49
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...Yeaaaah, I was. I've just been thinking more about my relationship to Christianity compared to Buddhism. It can feel hard sometimes, leaving something that was so valuable, and wishing you could still have it, in a way.
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Jan 19, 2026 11:53
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My mom is full-in on Christianity and I discuss things with her here and there. When distilled and getting to the core of things, if you focus on what Jesus taught, is really not much different from Buddhist lines of thought and ways to approach it (not specific technique). Like, if Jesus was enlightened, and knew he could not reach people by trying to preach enlightenment and took a different tack. "I am the way" and things along those lines where he seemingly directly referenced himself as the path to salvation - when the messages were love and compassion - I suspect the individual receiving the messages is 'meant' to realize the I is literal - the you I. The actual consciousness and not the illusory image of self.
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Jan 19, 2026 17:24
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Question for former Christians: does anyone else sometimes conceive of the Buddha as "colder" than Jesus? Sorry, I may be having difficulty expressing it, but when I was a Christian, I conceived of Jesus as a deep, abiding love, and could see him as someone who would pick me up off the ground, listen to my problems, and love me as a friend. I have trouble thinking of the Buddha in that way; he's always shown as so serene and unattached that I can't help but feel a distance, if that makes sense. Budda seems more laid back and not as serious. Jesus is nice, but way more serious. I'm Christian just because I believe Jesus is my only hope.
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Jan 19, 2026 17:45
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Justin Credible posted:My mom is full-in on Christianity and I discuss things with her here and there. When distilled and getting to the core of things, if you focus on what Jesus taught, is really not much different from Buddhist lines of thought and ways to approach it (not specific technique). Like, if Jesus was enlightened, and knew he could not reach people by trying to preach enlightenment and took a different tack. There appear to be recurring issues in devotions to Christianity, which mostly seem to be excesses of asceticism (imposed on self or others) and a recurring embrace of anger, both within the context of the faith and in people with that cultural background. Here too it is not entirely misplaced, I have seen people praise anger due to its role for many individuals as a motivator and a source of energy for positive change... my view is that in these cases anger is more like a co-arising challenge and emotional state with the salutary parts, but I can see where they're coming from. I also think the frequency of 'actually, getting angry led directly to a good outcome' is a lot rarer than people think, possibly because they are very familiar with anger. (This may also be 'a specific thing I see due to the quirks of where I sit and what my thoughts go to' - I would say it is real but it may be over-indexed to my sight, due to whom I hang out with.) Buddhism is not perfect either, and I do think Christianity in particular has a more dramatic narrative. I do not think the Buddha's accomplishments are in any way deficient or worthy of condemnation, but I can see how from the outside you have on the one hand: A guy has a comfortable life, realizes it sucks, goes into an ascetic life and nearly kills himself, realizes that sucks, sits his rear end down and Figures It Out; teaches for decades until some mushrooms do him in, probably with sideplots about colorful characters like Ananda and Angulimala. And on the other hand: A guy has a prophecied birth, grows to adulthood, speaks against an occupying government, builds a following, gets betrayed, killed horribly, returns in triumph, has a last soliloquy with the faithful, peaces out to Heaven. I assume Shakyamuni knew what he was doing on this front; indeed I find it somewhat more compelling because he did not strongly parallel the Campbellian narrative.
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Jan 19, 2026 18:32
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Hiro Protagonist posted:...Yeaaaah, I was. I've just been thinking more about my relationship to Christianity compared to Buddhism. It can feel hard sometimes, leaving something that was so valuable, and wishing you could still have it, in a way. nice obelisk idiot fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jan 19, 2026 |
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Jan 19, 2026 18:48
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e: n/m you literally said it. i shall observe noble silence for a few drat minutes
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Jan 19, 2026 18:51
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No you're good... also I kinda feel like many modern Christians either openly or semi-covertly have pretty heterodox views about creation and what that means- ones that would be pretty foreign to say the guys at Nicea
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Jan 19, 2026 18:58
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Spacegrass posted:Budda seems more laid back and not as serious. Jesus is nice, but way more serious. I'm Christian just because I believe Jesus is my only hope. I mean, like half of the sutras I've read have the Buddha calling a monk an idiot who isn't worth teaching.
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Jan 19, 2026 19:06
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nice obelisk idiot posted:No you're good... also I kinda feel like many modern Christians either openly or semi-covertly have pretty heterodox views about creation and what that means- ones that would be pretty foreign to say the guys at Nicea One thing I have thought about, more with bemusement than anything, is how it seems to take a few years, but not many years, until people assume a certain state of affairs is simply the natural condition and must have been extended back into the past - if it seems like something disrupted it, that was just a temporary local condition, and the way things are now is surely the natural and eternal condition of Society. Hiro Protagonist posted:I mean, like half of the sutras I've read have the Buddha calling a monk an idiot who isn't worth teaching.
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Jan 19, 2026 19:07
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Nessus posted:One thing I have thought about, more with bemusement than anything, is how it seems to take a few years, but not many years, until people assume a certain state of affairs is simply the natural condition and must have been extended back into the past - if it seems like something disrupted it, that was just a temporary local condition, and the way things are now is surely the natural and eternal condition of Society. I have young children and occasionally I’ll mention to my oldest how there didn’t used to be internet or such and such gadget or I’ll mention how previous generations did things differently and always prompts a  . It’s such a banal anecdote, but the kids were born yesterday. The delusion that the present condition stretches back unchanged forever and will issue forth unchanged is reborn every generation.
Yiggy fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Jan 19, 2026 |
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Jan 19, 2026 20:02
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Yiggy posted:I have young children and occasionally I’ll mention to my oldest how there didn’t used to be internet or such and such gadget or I’ll mention how previous generations did things differently and it’s sort of a banal anecdote but it always prompts a the good news? it can, and will, change
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Jan 19, 2026 20:10
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Nessus posted:I have seen people praise anger due to its role for many individuals as a motivator and a source of energy for positive change... my view is that in these cases anger is more like a co-arising challenge and emotional state with the salutary parts, but I can see where they're coming from. thank you for this (and the rest of your post), it has improved my understanding of my relationship with anger
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Jan 19, 2026 20:13
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for more.
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https://www.lionsroar.com/a-glimpse-of-the-buddhist-monks-walk-for-peace-across-the-united-states/ https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/buddhist-monks-on-peace-walk-receive-new-escort-vehicle-following-near-fatal-crash/ The part about a guy in Dayton basically giving them (or at least loaning them) a new escort vehicle is something. I suspect that man may not have already been a Buddhist. It's inspiring when people are moved, even if that movement may not come at the time or way we might have foreseen. enahs posted:thank you for this (and the rest of your post), it has improved my understanding of my relationship with anger I guess thinking about it it's like a fire producing light and heat and smoke, and taking the smoke for the important part.
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Jan 20, 2026 16:47
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There's an Instagram account for the dog walking with them and aside from the occasional well-meaning AI slop post it's very cute
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Jan 20, 2026 19:54
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