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The Open Buddhist University

buddhistuniversity.net

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Re: The Open Buddhist University

#61

Post by [deleted] »

EddieEngineers wrote: post #47
eclectic29 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow! I mean it's good to know that he has only a few yrs of experience but to say that take his website with a grain of salt is definitely not the most Buddhist way.

I don’t know… I think talking from a point of authority with a year or twos experience is very HN-ish of the OP, and if someone’s dedicating their life to a spiritual journey then they are going to rightfully want to make sure people know a ‘university’ is possibly wrong on those topics. Could have been said with more tact for sure

[deleted]

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#62

Post by tomrod »

esbeeb wrote: post #59
fnordpiglet wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would note he’s not claiming to be a teacher or a dean or claiming anything other than: Khemarato Bhikkhu (Chief Librarian) I’d note also he’s not written anything of his own “teaching” but instead provides a curated set of texts. I think the wise thing to do in these situations is to carefully review what you’re going to criticize publicly to be certain your accusations are merited. As a lay student of Buddhism fo…

> Khemarato Bhikkhu (Chief Librarian) ...well then, it would make more sense to me, that he call his collection of very likeable, commendable Dhamma resources a "library", rather than a "university".

A universal undertaking is built in small steps toward a larger vision.

My gratitude to the Librarian seeking to establish a place for people to learn advanced topics, appropriately named a university.

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#63

Post by org3 »

esbeeb wrote: post #58
p-e-w wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So take his authority to run a "university" with a huge grain of salt. What does "authority" mean in a Buddhist context? From what little I know about it, Buddhism isn't like the Catholic church, where everything is a hierarchical pyramid with a single individual at the top, through which authoritative declarations can be made. Plus, schools like Theravada and Zen seem to differ quite significantly from each other,…

>What does "authority" mean in a Buddhist context? That's a fantastic question, and the short answer is: "given my expertise is in the Theravada world... how authority works is complicated". An overly simplistic answer is: the number of years of a monk's seniority is the easy and fairly-reliable gauge of a monk's authority. It would take a good 1-hour Dhamma Talk for me to explain what I know. Most people would be bo…

I do!

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#64

Post by esbeeb »

low_tech_punk wrote: post #17

This site beats 99% of the crappy eye candies out there. A few things I really appretiate: Content QA: https://buddhistuniversity.net/tests/content Easy cookie opt-out: https://buddhistuniversity.net/settings/ Zero latency search: https://buddhistuniversity.net/search/ Granular RSS feeds: https://buddhistuniversity.net/feed

I agree he did a great job designing his site. :)

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#65

Post by nxpnsv »

esbeeb wrote: post #38

Actual Buddhist monk here (Ajahn Subharo), in the Theravada Thai forest lineage. Khemarato Bhikkhu - who is much more junior a monk than me, and is not formally any sort of Ajahn (teacher) yet - and myself both have Computer Science degrees, which are rare things for Buddhist monks to have. So take his authority to run a "university" with a huge grain of salt. He would get roundly mocked in subtle ways by senior Budd…

I don't know much about Buddhism, but that thing sure is no University. However, maybe this is missing the point. As you are qualified, what do you think about the content? Would this be a good place for me to learn about Buddhism?

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#66

Post by cgio »

esbeeb wrote: post #54
logicchains wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't sound like a very Buddhist thing to say? I thought Buddhists were supposed to be about "no ego", not "don't listen to this guy because I'm more senior/got more titles than him".

Who's decision was it to call the website a "university"? Was that my decision, or his? The decision to call it a "university" is what makes me want to clarify what peer-perceived credentials he might have to that extent. If you were considering enrolling in a university, would you look into the reputation of that university? I'll bet you would. You'd want to know what it's reputation is like. Well, I'm offering insi…

A student asked the teacher, “teacher can you teach me?” And the teacher asked “can you?” The student said “no” and then they were both silent.

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#67

Post by newusertoday »

r_singh wrote: post #52

I’ve learnt that every religion is a framework (school of philosophy) and even as an atheist I have benefitted from learning some mental models a few religions offer. I would never brand myself or be a part of the cult though (claiming that one is better than the other or that everything said is holy). Even though one of things religions are good at is to also be to give people a sense of belonging to a community wit…

Buddhism is atheist religion that is it rejects god and if you follow 8-fold path than you have become Buddhist though you don't want to admit it :-)

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#68

Post by p-e-w »

esbeeb wrote: post #58
p-e-w wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So take his authority to run a "university" with a huge grain of salt. What does "authority" mean in a Buddhist context? From what little I know about it, Buddhism isn't like the Catholic church, where everything is a hierarchical pyramid with a single individual at the top, through which authoritative declarations can be made. Plus, schools like Theravada and Zen seem to differ quite significantly from each other,…

>What does "authority" mean in a Buddhist context? That's a fantastic question, and the short answer is: "given my expertise is in the Theravada world... how authority works is complicated". An overly simplistic answer is: the number of years of a monk's seniority is the easy and fairly-reliable gauge of a monk's authority. It would take a good 1-hour Dhamma Talk for me to explain what I know. Most people would be bo…

> the number of years of a monk's seniority is the easy and fairly-reliable gauge of a monk's authority

Authority, or expertise?

Authority requires either enforcement, or widespread recognition, or both. The government has authority because it has the ability to use violence. Doctors have authority because most people view them as authority figures.

Does the average Buddhist say "that monk has X years of seniority, so I'm going to take him by his word"?

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#69

Post by snthpy »

wraptile wrote: post #48
logicchains wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't sound like a very Buddhist thing to say? I thought Buddhists were supposed to be about "no ego", not "don't listen to this guy because I'm more senior/got more titles than him".

Spending 5 years in Thailand I've learned that Buddhism while funamentally different from other religions in the best ways operates just the same in practical reality. It's almost like classification and status is inherit to any group activity and not in a good way unfortunately. To give perspective on the "dark" side of Buddhism I highly recommend "Come and See" documentary on Netflix which is hard to explain withou…

It's not on my Netflix unfortunately and I just find this Russian anti war film: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_and_See

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#70

Post by snthpy »

wraptile wrote: post #48
logicchains wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't sound like a very Buddhist thing to say? I thought Buddhists were supposed to be about "no ego", not "don't listen to this guy because I'm more senior/got more titles than him".

Spending 5 years in Thailand I've learned that Buddhism while funamentally different from other religions in the best ways operates just the same in practical reality. It's almost like classification and status is inherit to any group activity and not in a good way unfortunately. To give perspective on the "dark" side of Buddhism I highly recommend "Come and See" documentary on Netflix which is hard to explain withou…

Found it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_and_See_(2019_film)
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