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The Open Buddhist University

buddhistuniversity.net

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Re: The Open Buddhist University

#91

Post by becquerel »

newusertoday wrote: post #67
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 :-)

Most forms of Buddhism recognise the existence of multiple gods. They're just in the same situation as the rest of us, e.g. in samsara.

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#92

Post by kome »

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…

your comment is involuntarily funny for some reason, not because anything you say, but because of the tone :) you talk of buddhism like a computer scientists would do, HN-style

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#93

Post by srge »

tasuki wrote: post #86
esbeeb wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'd expect a buddhist teacher to be a lot more chill. You took issue with him calling himself a "dean" while he only called himself a librarian. The website is called a "university" but obviously he's not pretending to be a real credentialed university, it's just a cute website title. Here you had a good chance to reflect and backtrack. But no, he's quite a junior monk to be running his own website. Well, I'm not eve…

I agree with you.

He seems so full of hate and preconceptions that it almost sounds like a troll.

Also who calls himself a monk and spends time on social media? Not that it’s supposed to be forbidden but social media is basically the death of attention…

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#94

Post by wirrbel »

tontomath wrote: post #88

Surprising, from (1): Theravada Buddhists have traditionally believed that women had to be reborn as men to achieve nirvana or become Bodhisattvas. https://factsanddetails.com/world/cat55/sub398/entry-5668.ht...

There is also an issue with women’s ordination. Orthodox theravāda believes women’s orders died out and cannot be revived.

There is also progressiv theravāda that doesn’t hold certain views that seem anachronistic today.

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#95

Post by denton-scratch »

tasuki wrote: post #86
esbeeb wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'd expect a buddhist teacher to be a lot more chill. You took issue with him calling himself a "dean" while he only called himself a librarian. The website is called a "university" but obviously he's not pretending to be a real credentialed university, it's just a cute website title. Here you had a good chance to reflect and backtrack. But no, he's quite a junior monk to be running his own website. Well, I'm not eve…

> I'd expect a buddhist teacher to be a lot more chill.

Not me. Teachers are like anyone else; they come in all shapes and sizes. They have personalities, passions and emotions, just like everyone.

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#96

Post by dhoe »

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…

It's great that he's able to build such a useful resource despite the lack of seniority then. I guess some elders who try to protect themselves from the winning enthusiasm of youth can be found in many environments.

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#97

Post by denton-scratch »

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…

> given my expertise is in the Theravada world

My experience is in a Tibetan tradition. In that context, "authority" derives partly from lineage, i.e. who your teacher's teacher ('s teacher, etc.) was. It comes partly from their training and experience; and it depends partly on what you are hoping to learn.

Some "senior" Tibetan monks derive their authority from their birth-family; being the nephew of a very senior monk conferred "authority" on the discredited Sogyal Rimpoche. Other monks are authoritative because they've spent decades meditating in a cave.

But really, I don't think authority is a good guide for choosing a teacher. They usually say you should try a few, and see which one works for you. But that's risky. In general, choosing a teacher is laden with risk, because you're going to commit a lot of time to that relationship. It's probably best not to start :-)

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#98

Post by denton-scratch »

esbeeb wrote: post #71
nxpnsv wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I've taken a look at only a small portion of all the things which he's posted on his site. So I can't vouch for everything there, giving all the content of the site a wholehearted endorsement or not. From what I saw, yes, it seemed quite solid, and doesn't misrepresent Theravada views. > Would this be a good place for me to learn about Buddhism? It wouldn't hurt, as a start. If you want to learn more about it on an e…

I would definitely not recommend a ten-day retreat to a beginner.

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#99

Post by fnordpiglet »

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".

It’s just a title to a web page meant to be interesting. Regardless, he didn’t represent himself as a teacher. He didn’t teach. He represented himself as a curator of a webpage, and the tittle of the page I don’t think it meant to be misleading just compelling. It’s a bit of a stretch to take it any other way, and a shifting of the goal posts. I think if you agree he didn’t do as you said he did, it isn’t self diminishing (after all the self is an illusion!) to simply state there was a misunderstanding.

Re: The Open Buddhist University

#100

Post by jerednel »

becquerel wrote: post #91
newusertoday wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 :-)

Most forms of Buddhism recognise the existence of multiple gods. They're just in the same situation as the rest of us, e.g. in samsara.

Existence is a funny term in Buddhism. The end goal of development stage practice is the recognition that the deity is inseparable from one’s self because the nature of any given deity is equal to our own in an absolute sense. After all, everything is empty of inherent existence and are all self arisen manifestations from a primordial ground of being, hence no you and no I as separate.

So some people do see them as external things to ask things of but others see them as mind created and used as supports for meditation to realize our own true nature. Depends on lineage and teacher.

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