Can a non-Buddhist get Nirvana?

Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam etc. are just words, conventional language. What is important is the teaching and practice of the teaching.
In the famous Maha-parinibbana Sutta, there is a passage where the Buddha explains to the wandering ascetic Subhadda, that "in any doctrine & discipline", that does not contain the Noble Eightfold Path, enlightened beings cannot be found.
It shows that only teachings that contain the Noble Eightfold Path can lead to freedom from suffering, to Nibbana.
The quoted passage can be found below.

Then Subhadda went to the Blessed One and exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One, "Venerable sir, these brahmans & contemplatives, each with his group, each with his community, each the teacher of his group, an honored leader, well-regarded by people at large — i.e., Purana Kassapa, Makkhali Gosala, Ajita Kesakambalin, Pakudha Kaccayana, Sañjaya Belatthaputta, & the Nigantha Nataputta: Do they all have direct knowledge as they themselves claim, or do they all not have direct knowledge, or do some of them have direct knowledge and some of them not?"
"Enough, Subhadda. Put this question aside. I will teach you the Dhamma. Listen, and pay close attention. I will speak."
"Yes, lord," Subhadda answered, and the Blessed One said, "In any doctrine & discipline where the noble eightfold path is not found, no contemplative of the first... second... third... fourth order [stream-winner, once-returner, non-returner, or arahant] is found. But in any doctrine & discipline where the noble eightfold path is found, contemplatives of the first... second... third... fourth order are found. The noble eightfold path is found in this doctrine & discipline, and right here there are contemplatives of the first... second... third... fourth order. Other teachings are empty of knowledgeable contemplatives. And if the monks dwell rightly, this world will not be empty of arahants."


Teacher S.L. gave the following examples of attachments: attachment to basic pleasures, attachment to possessions, attachment to "good looks", attachment to comfort, attachment to stability of life, attachment to predictability, attachment to plans, attachment to knowing "exactly how" before you do anything, attachment to skills and abilities, attachment to being right, attachment to intellect, attachment to accumulating knowledge, attachment to the idea of success, attachment to what others think about you, attachment to committed relationships, attachment to fairness, attachment to high moral standards, attachment to spirituality, attachment to doing everything right, attachment to how it is "supposed to be", attachment to a theory, attachment to Dharma, attachment to Enlightenment.

Another teacher explained these as simply attaching way too much importance to ideas...

Teacher I.L. further explained these as preconceptions - overgeneralizations of our past experience that we identify with. We are so convinced that these are justified that we consider them part of who we are, of our values - which we assume to be absolutely correct because they are based on our limited experience.

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche further explained these as appropriating some familiar ground or territory, from which we then engage in dualistic relationship with the rest of the world. From his explanations, these attachments are the constituents of the ego. Feeding them is feeding the ego and therefore feeding Samsara.


Taking refuge can take many forms. You do not have to recite a mantra, although you may find it a helpful means. Taking refuge is as simple as placing your faith in the Buddha, the Dharma, or the Sangha.

For example, if you are suffering, and you remember the Four Noble Truths, and you settle your concentration on the Noble Eightfold Path -- then you have taken refuge in the Dharma.

Buddhism is a method of practice. If you follow the method, then you are already a Buddhist.


It's all about mental context, my friend. If in your mind there's a (silent) conviction that you see, you act, you were born, you will die, this is you etc. - if your subjective experience is like that - then for you there is Self. Even if you don't use the word "I", there's is still belief in I in your mind.

If in your mind there's a silent understanding of how things work, how mind works, and how illusion of I is generated - then for you there's no "Self" or "No-Self" - you clearly see how it really is. Even if you use the word "I", there's no belief in I in your mind.

All talk is conventional, because "conventional" means we assume we are more or less in agreement what each word means. What matters is your mental context.


OP: Is it right from a Buddhist point of view to say that you and me are the same because there is only one consciousness playing
  different minds (egos, personalities, psychologies, etc) and bodies of
  all sentient creatures at the same time. Eg. "the same driver driving
  all the cars at the same time in present, past and future"

No. That's a classic teaching of Hinduism.

According to the Hindu text Shvetashvatara Upanishad:

  God, who is one only, is hidden in all beings.
  He is all-pervading, and is the inner self of all creatures.
  He presides over all actions, and all beings reside in Him.
  He is the witness, and He is the Pure Consciousness

According to the Hindu text Bhagavad Gita 13.14:

  Everywhere are His hands and legs, His eyes and faces, and He hears
  everything. In this way the Supersoul exists.

What did the Buddha teach?
(from the Theravada perspective)

From MN 38:

  "Just as fire is classified simply by whatever requisite condition in
  dependence on which it burns — a fire that burns in dependence on wood
  is classified simply as a wood-fire, a fire that burns in dependence
  on wood-chips is classified simply as a wood-chip-fire; a fire that
  burns in dependence on grass is classified simply as a grass-fire; a
  fire that burns in dependence on cow-dung is classified simply as a
  cow-dung-fire; a fire that burns in dependence on chaff is classified
  simply as a chaff-fire; a fire that burns in dependence on rubbish is
  classified simply as a rubbish-fire — in the same way, consciousness
  is classified simply by the requisite condition in dependence on which
  it arises. Consciousness that arises in dependence on the eye & forms
  is classified simply as eye-consciousness. Consciousness that arises
  in dependence on the ear & sounds is classified simply as
  ear-consciousness. Consciousness that arises in dependence on the nose
  & aromas is classified simply as nose-consciousness. Consciousness
  that arises in dependence on the tongue & flavors is classified simply
  as tongue-consciousness. Consciousness that arises in dependence on
  the body & tactile sensations is classified simply as
  body-consciousness. Consciousness that arises in dependence on the
  intellect & ideas is classified simply as intellect-consciousness.

Think about it. How can the silent witness witness anything except through one of these media: eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch or mind? There was never a time, when there was consciousness being aware of something except through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch or mind. There is therefore no independent consciousness.

Consciousness is dependent on and conditioned upon these six media. It does not exist independently connecting all beings. The consciousness in every being may be of a similar type, but it's not the same consciousness.

For example, I can say that every candle has a similar flame, but it's not the exact same flame that appears on every candle. Each flame is different.

From Sabba Sutta (also see this question):

  "Monks, I will teach you the All. Listen & pay close attention. I will
  speak."

  "As you say, lord," the monks responded.

  The Blessed One said, "What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear &
  sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations,
  intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All. Anyone who would
  say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe another,' if questioned on
  what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable
  to explain, and furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it
  lies beyond range.


What is the relation between Nirvana and Parinirvana?

What the Buddha experienced at 35 was called sa-upādisesa-nibbāna - nirvana with remainder. What he experienced at 80 was called anupādisesa-nibbāna - nirvana without remainder:

“dvemā, bhikkhave, nibbānadhātuyo. katame dve? saupādisesā ca nibbānadhātu, anupādisesā ca nibbānadhātu.
There are these two, monks, elements of nibbāna. What two? The element of nibbāna with remainder and the element of nibbāna without remainder.
-- Iti. 44

The difference is that after the former, there is still sequences of physical and mental formations that continue as a consequence of the birth of the being and have to work themselves out, which they do at the latter, signifying an end to all such physical and mental formations.
The actual experience of nirvana during the former (which can last from a few moments up to seven days) and the latter (which, due to there being no remaining sequence of formations and no craving to create new ones, is permanent) is the same.


Śvetaketu and Bodhisattva in Sanskrit are Setaketu and Bodhisatta in Pali.
There was one person called Setaketu in the Setaketu Jataka, but this is the story of a human on Earth, but I'm not sure if this is the same as Śvetaketu of the Chandogya Upanishad. In any case, this Setaketu is not a Bodhisatta.
From this page, we find this story:

And, having ended his life span in the human abode, the future Buddha
was reborn as a deva by the name of Setaketu in the abode of Tusitā.
....
In this way, after making the five great investigations, the
Bodhisatta Deva Setaketu resolved: “I will descend to the human abode
and become a Buddha.” Having so resolved, to the devas and Brahmās
from the ten thousand world-systems who had assembled to request him,
the Bodhisatta gave his consent thus: “O devas and Brahmās, now is the
time for me to become a Buddha as requested by you. You may now take
leave as you please, I will go down to the human abode to attain
Buddhahood.”

That story of Bodhisatta Setaketu appears to be from the Buddhavamsa.
From the wikipedia page on Buddhavamsa:

The Buddhavaṃsa (also known as the Chronicle of Buddhas) is a
hagiographical Buddhist text which describes the life of Gautama
Buddha and of the twenty-four Buddhas who preceded him and prophesied
his attainment of Buddhahood. It is the fourteenth book of the
Khuddaka Nikāya, which in turn is the fifth and last division of the
Sutta Piṭaka. The Sutta Piṭaka is one of three pitakas (main sections)
which together constitute the Tripiṭaka, or Pāli Canon of Theravāda
Buddhism.
Along with the Apadāna and the Cariyāpiṭaka, the Buddhavaṃsa is
considered by most scholars to have been written during the 1st and
2nd century BCE, and is therefore a late addition to the Pāli Canon.

Apparently the Buddha spoke to Sariputta and the contents of this is recorded in the Buddhavamsa.
The Buddhavamsa, Cariyāpiṭaka, Apadāna and Jataka Tales are later additions to the Pali Canon, a few centuries after the Buddha's passing. I believe it was not recited by Ananda at the First Buddhist Council right after the Buddha's passing.
Furthermore, I could not find the Buddha ever mentioning Bodhisatta Setaketu in the main nikayas of the Sutta Pitaka (by searching AccessToInsight and SuttaCentral).
So, it is hard to concretely state that it was the historical Buddha who first spoke about Setaketu.
As such, in my opinion, this can be considered an unverifiable, though inspiring, legend.

After writing this answer, I discovered that the Acchariyaabbhuta Sutta (MN 123) has Ven. Ananda talking about the Bodhisatta before his birth, in the presence of the Buddha, apparently recalling something the Buddha told him before, but he does not explicitly mention the name "Setaketu". Tusita heaven (host of Joyful Gods) is mentioned.
From Acchariyaabbhuta Sutta (MN 123):

“Sir, I have heard and learned this in the presence of the Buddha:
‘Mindful and aware, the being intent on awakening was reborn in the
host of Joyful Gods.’ This I remember as an incredible quality of the
Buddha.
I have learned this in the presence of the Buddha: ‘Mindful and aware,
the being intent on awakening remained in the host of Joyful Gods.’
This too I remember as an incredible quality of the Buddha.
I have learned this in the presence of the Buddha: ‘For the whole of
that life, the being intent on awakening remained in the host of
Joyful Gods.’ This too I remember as an incredible quality of the
Buddha.
I have learned this in the presence of the Buddha: ‘Mindful and aware,
the being intent on awakening passed away from the host of Joyful Gods
and was conceived in his mother’s womb.’ This too I remember as an
incredible quality of the Buddha.

If you're interested in topics surrounding Bodhisattva-hood, you can read the book "The Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal" by Ven. Anālayo.


Canonical passages mentioning the 13 dhutaṅga practices

I doubt passages will be found in the Sutta Pitaka (discourses and sermons of the Buddha) however they are mentioned in the later Canonical texts, such as the Milinda Pañha and Mahā Niddesa.

And what are these thirteen? Wearing raiment made up of pieces taken from a dust-heap—Wearing three robes, and three robes only—Living on food received by begging—Begging straight on from house to house—Eating only once a day, at one sitting—Eating from one vessel only—Refusing food in excess of the regulations—Dwelling in the woods—Dwelling at the root of a tree-Dwelling in the open air—Dwelling in or near a cemetery—Not altering the mat or bed when it has once been spread out to sleep on—and sleeping in a sitting posture. It is he, O king, who, in former births, has undertaken and practised, followed and carried out, observed, framed his conduct according to, and fulfilled these thirteen vows, who acquires all the results of the life of a recluse, and all its ecstacy of peace and bliss becomes his very own.
Milinda Pañha Book 6 The Voluntary Extra Vows


The Buddhist practice revolves around 3 practices:

development of morality and ethics with a view to developing control over the mind
development of control over the mind with a view of developing wisdom through direct and empirical experience
developing wisdom through direct and empirical experience

There is no shame in doing any of the above. Regardless of if you are from a particular culture or religious background you can practice them.


Enlightened Lies - Can lying be the correct action in certain situations?

There are no Enlightened lies. Fourth precept is the one precept that the Bodhisatta has never said to have broken since he started cultivating Paramita, many Kalpas ago.

Four conditions must be met to break this precept

The statement must be untrue.
There must be an intention to deceive.
An effort must be made to deceive.
The other person must know the meaning of what is expressed.

Causes of False Speech

The root causes of false speech are greed, hatred and delusion.

Greed is the root cause when false speech is used to obtain
material gain or status for oneself or someone dear to oneself.
Hatred is the root cause when false speech is used to cause loss
and bring harm and suffering to others.
Delusion is the root cause when it is used neither for one's gain
nor to cause loss and harm to others, but for the sake of
enjoyment such as lying for the sake of a joke, exaggeration to
spice up a story, or flattery to please others, etc.

But what people forget is that not giving information is not the same as lying.
In the case of the Nazis example, they wouldn't have taken your word even if you did lie. They would have searched your house in any case. It's not like they needed a warrant back then. So, instead of saying "yes we do have jews hiding in our house", you could improvise and say something to throw them off.

ex: "What?? You think we are that crazy? Heil hitler!!" :)


With regards to your first question, yes, loving-kindness meditation aids concentration because, well you focus on an object (or more) while (trying) to suspend every distracting thoughts.

Initially, mindfulness with breathing can be difficult because the breath is too subtle for the "over-active & over-stimulated" mind.
That's why you can use thinking meditations such as loving kindness meditation, reflection on virtue, reflection on Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, reflection on death etc. etc.

Also, loving-kindness elicits positive emotions, which make the mind calmer and brighter. That's the reason why the Buddha praised Sila so much, and it's Sila that leads to joy, tranquility so and so forth which, ultimately, lead to concentration and seeing things as they are (vipassana).

To quote:

  Ananda:] "What, O Venerable One, is the reward and blessing of wholesome morality?"
  [The Buddha:] "Freedom from remorse, Ananda."
  "And of freedom from remorse?"
  "Joy, Ananda"
  "And of joy?"
  "Rapture, Ananda"
  "And of rapture?"
  "Tranquillity, Ananda."
  "And of tranquillity?"
  "Happiness, Ananda."
  "And of happiness?"
  "Concentration, Ananda."
  "And of concentration?"
  "Vision and knowledge according to reality."
  "And of the vision and knowledge according to reality?"
  "Turning away and detachment, Ananda."
  "And of turning away and detachment?"
  "The vision and knowledge with regard to Deliverance, Ananda."

~


Your own thorough practice of Metta is your best protection.
Being reborn in a God realm is not the goal in Dharma Practice.
Leaving Samsara is the initial goal, and Buddhahood is the Ultimate Goal.
Gods and Devas also are within the rounds of Samsara.
As beings who take rebirth in the God realm also eventually have to leave that realm when their karma for that lofty position is finished.
Actually this human rebirth is the best for the full attainment of Enlightenment.

Here is funny talk on just this topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibx_2nmHyV0&feature=youtu.be&t=960


In what suttas are the "4 resolves" (adhiṭṭhānī) discussed?

MN 140.

Bhikkhu, this person has four foundations.’ So it was said. And with
reference to what was this said? There are the foundation of wisdom,
the foundation of truth, the foundation of relinquishment, and the
foundation of peace. So it was with reference to this that it was
said: ‘Bhikkhu, this person has four foundations.’
'One should not neglect wisdom, should preserve truth, should
cultivate relinquishment, and should train for peace.’ So it was said.
And with reference to what was this said?


Should I do reflection before eating if I don't plan to keep it

So my question is should one say a reflection on food ("i use this almsfood not for beautification but for supporting the holy life etc etc ...") when he knows he probably isnt going to keep it ?

As a lay person: Probably not..

As a monastic: Definitely not!

Reflecting on Alms food belongs to the The Four Requisites, namely:

  "Properly considering almsfood, I use it: not playfully, nor for intoxication, nor for putting on weight, nor for beautification; but simply for the survival and continuance of this body, for ending its afflictions, for the support of the chaste life, (thinking) I will destroy old feelings (of hunger) and not create new feelings (from overeating). Thus I will maintain myself, be blameless, and live in comfort."

As explained in the footnotes/commentary - then a monk should make use of offerings properly and not do anything with them which will make the donors faith decline.

  What about when he thinks theres a tiny chance he will ?

If his intentions are wholesome, then yes of course.
Even a small amount of wholesome intention, serves to strengthen the Adhiṭṭhāna (resolution) pāramī.

  What about most likley will keep it ?

Yes of course.

Actions that reduce distance to Nibbana should be undertaken.


What are the different Buddhist views on marriage?

The Pali scriptures say:

Parents have a duty to arrange or find a suitable marriage partner for their children (DN 31); therefore marriage appears to be viewed favorably (for non-monks) in the Pali scriptures.
A suitable marriage partner in one that shares four qualities (AN 4.55).
In marriage, a husband serves his wife & gives the wife authority in the home. (DN 31)
There are seven kinds of wives (AN 7.6).
Marriages where one or both partners do not follow the five precepts & do not practice unselfishness are doomed for problems &/or failure (AN 4.53).
Difficult is life as a monk; difficult is it to delight therein. Also difficult and sorrowful is the household life. (Dhp 302)


Samatha meditation feels a space at the top of the head?

It's just a sign that your mind is starting to enter access concentration.  It's really quite common.  People also report sensations like their head swelling, body twisting, face disappearing, hands inflating, etc., etc., etc.  How these feelings manifest is as unique as the person experiencing them.  They're kind of like your own personal brand of samadhi entry.  The sensations themselves are also not particularly important; you don't need to pay them any mind.  Eventually, as your concentration deepens and you move closer to jhana, your meditation will start to take on a character more reminiscent of those described in the sutras.


Meditation and being aware in your sleep while dreaming

This is Lucid Dreaming and (AFAIK) it isn't typical practice in most schools of Buddhism, nor should it be used as a gauge for how your meditation practice is going.

With that said, there are some connections.

Dream Yoga.  A set of practices in Tibetan Buddhism for using dreaming (including Lucid Dreaming) to further the path.
Using your improved concentration (thanks to meditation) to enter the hypnagonic state intentionally and from there initiate a Lucid Dream.


What kind of pleasure is the one we get by pursuing Mathematical problems and solving them? Is it a kind of sensual pleasure?

I think it would be classed as household joy;

"And what are the six kinds of household joy? The joy that arises when one regards as an acquisition the acquisition of forms cognizable by the eye — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, connected with worldly baits — or when one recalls the previous acquisition of such forms after they have passed, ceased, & changed: That is called household joy. (Similarly with sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, & ideas.)

The other types of joy are tied up with renunciation;

"And what are the six kinds of renunciation joy? The joy that arises when — experiencing the inconstancy of those very forms, their change, fading, & cessation — one sees with right discernment as it actually is that all forms, past or present, are inconstant, stressful, subject to change: That is called renunciation joy. (Similarly with sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, & ideas.) MN137

One like this thinks; i am good because of this [solving], delights in thinking, dwells in solving, neglects seclusion and does not attend to the teacher's message.
I think it's like entertainment, a hobby or a sport.


Different lineages / teachers would advice on this differently. My answer is based on what I picked from different teachers.

Before doing metha best to to do a bit of breath meditation and insight meditation. Come to the stage that you have Piti or Passaddhi or at least you feel comfortable. Then wish that other share your peace and happiness. Keep wishing your self and others to be well and happy. Ideally keeping your attention around your mouth. Lips touching or above the upper lip and base of your nose. Also try to bring out a mild smile (this generally relaxes tension) as this will influence your mood. Also in the process if possible try to calm the fabrications, i.e., realise the speed and length of your breath from start to end.

This should not a mere recitation of words. You should wish from the bottom of your heart. In the process uproot your defilements to make your mind pure.

One of the objective of Metta Bhavana is the reduce the defilements based on aversion, dissolving ego as well as the hindrance of ill will, especially towards other beings. So you should be mindful when doing it that aversion does not arrive and also you are not in any discomfort as this also sometimes lead to aversion and tension (which intern creates new unwholesome fabrication and conditioning). Doing this after breath meditation and awareness meditation can help the cause in identifying 1) defilements arising based on aversion 2) any hidres arising due to enmity or any pre conceived notion of the person. Always be aware of the metal factors arising during the meditation and if they are unwholesome try to tame them by being aware that they have arisen and the sensations they bring up and then the dissolution of it.

Also when you think of some one keep a note of how thoughts proliferate and what feeling this brings up. You think about a friend you might then remember some other incident with them. All this creates feeling and sensations when you react to them. Try to be equanimus. Similarly when you think about a foe or even an attractive person. Also then you think about animals or other life forms, you might experience emotion, feelings and sensations. Suddenly you might remember a rat who ate your favorite piece of furniture. Or the fear of a snake when you think of this type of animals, or the disease they spread if it is a cockroach or rat. Then these thoughts arise you mind make a contact followed by reaction and sensation. Keep focused on this element. The sensation this causes trying the be equanimous about the sensation and realising the sensations have the 3 marks of existence. Also notice how your are reacting or sensation that are created with perception of an entity / being. Look at the feeling when you recall incident or people who attacked your ego or what ever you call me, mine, etc. and realise how ego is hurting you. Also realise how your react when remeber someone praises you or has been benevolent to you. Also look at how perceptions about an entity / being also contributing to stress in the process. Look at mental image -> recognition -> reaction -> sensation -> craving -> clinging ...  Try to see the dependent origination, factors of enlightenment and 4 noble truths at work even through Metta meditation. When practiced in the right way Metta can take you far.

Meditation based on the Four Sublime States help expand upon the type of defilements which to reduce through these meditations.

If you feel any discomfort take this into awareness while radiating Metta. Keep your attention on these parts which hurt. Also be mindful of perspiration while doing it.

Also refer to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mett%C4%81
http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/scrn_metta.pdf
http://www.dhammasukha.org/metta-barebones-booklet.html (very good guide)
http://www.dhammasukha.org/forgiveness-meditation.html (very good guide)
http://www.dhammatalks.org/mp3_guidedMed_index.html
http://www.vridhamma.org/en1992-02
http://www.vridhamma.org/en2008-08
In simple words, how are body sensations linked to moods and feelings? (Un related but helpful in advance stages of any meditation)


What is meant by "divorcing the view and the action" and why is it considered so dangerous?

...we should at least hope for additional evidence, better controlled
experimentation, showing that it is possible to recover memories that
are not encoded in neural tissue, that it is possible to sustain
consciousness in organisms that lack nervous systems, that it is
possible for mental causation to cross time and space and alter
physical substrates.
Negative experiments along these lines are legion, though they rarely
find their way to the front page of your local newspaper, since nobody
has any reason to promote them. One can find mention of them in places
like Skeptical Inquirer magazine, or outlined at websites like the
Skeptic’s Dictionary or Quackwatch.
It is for reasons such as these that any contemporary, scientifically
informed Buddhist practice should reject belief in rebirth and its
associated kammic causation.

Quoted above is from the link you attached with regards to Secular Buddhists. In short, the set of arguments is... because we can't experimentally recover memories that are not encoded in neural tissue, etc.. it follows that rebirth is false. That right there is a pure materialist view, similar to the Charvakas idea which the Rinpoche said has no place in Dharma.
Following the same analogy, the Secular Buddhist will not find a different neural tissue memory imprint representing intention between the monk approaching a certain nun and the lover.
So the danger in the materialistic view is that the modifiability of Kamma (intention) is denied and without that, there is no liberation from the samsaric cycle of suffering.
Quoted below is from Kamma and its Fruit by Nyanaponika TheraNyanaponika.
However, a scientist's view is not finalized, a scientist doesn't start with a premise that everything is material or that the equipment he/she has can recover everything knowable thus will not reject the unproved rebirth idea or any unproven idea for that matter. That is why I think Rinpoche says a scientist could be a vessel for the Dharma.

Most writings on the doctrine of kamma emphasize the strict lawfulness
governing kammic action, ensuring a close correspondence between our
deeds and their fruits. While this emphasis is perfectly in place,
there is another side to the working of kamma — a side rarely noted,
but highly important. This is the modifiability of kamma, the fact
that the lawfulness which governs kamma does not operate with
mechanical rigidity but allows for a considerably wide range of
modifications in the ripening of the fruit.
If kammic action were always to bear fruits of invariably the same
magnitude, and if modification or annulment of kamma-result were
excluded, liberation from the samsaric cycle of suffering would be
impossible; for an inexhaustible past would ever throw up new
obstructive results of unwholesome kamma. Hence the Buddha said:
"If one says that in whatever way a person performs a kammic action,
in that very same way he will experience the result — in that case
there will be no (possibility for a) religious life and no opportunity
would appear for the complete ending of suffering.
"But if one says that a person who performs a kammic action (with a
result) that is variably experienceable, will reap its results
accordingly — in that case there will be (a possibility for) a
religious life and an opportunity for making a complete end of
suffering."
— AN 3.110


Is self enlightenment achieved through contemplation of impermanence?

It really depends who you ask, and what you mean by "contemplate". The Buddha said:

When one sees with wisdom that 'all formations are impermanent', this is the path of purification.
(Dhp. 277)

So the actual path is through "seeing" impermanence. One might correct your question to say that self-enlightenment can be achieved through seeing impermanence.
It can also be achieved through seeing suffering, or non-self.
One could also adjust and say that self-enlightenment is achieved through contemplating the impermanent, i.e. the five aggregates, since contemplating them - or observing objectively, rather - is what leads one to see impermanence, suffering, and non-self.

"Bhikkhus, how do you conceive it: is form permanent or impermanent?" — "Impermanent, venerable Sir." — "Now is what is impermanent painful or pleasant?" — "Painful, venerable Sir." — "Now is what is impermanent, what is painful since subject to change, fit to be regarded thus: 'This is mine, this is I, this is my self'"? — "No, venerable sir."
-- SN 22.59 (Nyanamoli, trans)


Does contemplation activity, before hand, give rise to the mental image?

The mental image (Nimitta) as per some teachers appear as a bright radiant light. You have to bring your attention to a particular stimuli and retain the attention on the chosen stimuli by continuously bringing your mind to the chosen stimuli. At some point you might get the Nimitta. This does not happen for everyone and every time. You should do active thinking about the subject of concetration followed by letting go of it altogether to progress futher before the Nimitta apears.

If you are doing the above as Vipassana you have to look at sensation (or phenomena that is know and felt) and continuously keeping your mind on it. Then you will see the arising and passing of sensations, which perhaps you can consider the Nimitta.

Also see: Nimitta: The radiant and blissful sign [How to enjoy and benefit from your meditation] and Nimitta and Anuvyañjana: Signs and Details [Sense-restraint & wise attention: how to master the senses] by Piya Tan


How to use inner feeling (intuitive feeling) while taking refuge

Taking refuge in the Three Jewels means to make effort to receive the blessings of Buddha, making effort to put Dharma into practice in our daily life and making effort to receive help from our Sangha community and in particular our teachers.
Blessings are anything that transforms our mind from negative to positive, that increase  our faith etc. A great way to do this is to remember that we are always in the presence of living, loving Buddha.
There are a myriad of ways to put Dharma into practice such as simply being mindful of a verse of the teachings that has touched our hearts, developing equanimity and love, practicing patience, giving etc.
Taking positive advice and encouragement from our Dharma brothers and sisters and considering advice from our teacher helps with the last one. Also, seeking to clarify confusion by discussing and debating are good too.


In what Sutta(s) is there a References to Imagine the Body Inside Out and What is Below the Skin

Could it be the Puttamansa Sutta: A Son's Flesh SN 12.63 that you are seeking?
In this Sutta, Buddha speaks of four kinds of nutriment: edible food, sense-impressions, volitions, and consciousness. Under Sense-impression there is this simile of a skinned cow that points out that wherever she stands, will be ceaselessly attacked by the insects and other creatures living in the vicinity.

"And how, O monks, should the nutriment sense-impression be considered? Suppose, O monks, there is a skinned cow that stands close to a wall, then the creatures living in the wall will nibble at the cow; and if the skinned cow stands near a tree, then the creatures living in the tree will nibble at it; if it stands in the water, the creatures living in the water will nibble at it; if it stands in the open air, the creatures living in the air will nibble at it. Wherever that skinned cow stands, the creatures living there will nibble at it.
"In that manner, I say, O monks, should the nutriment sense-impression be considered. If the nutriment sense-impression is comprehended, the three kinds of feeling are thereby comprehended. And if the three kinds of feeling are comprehended, there is, I say, no further work left to do for the noble disciple.

Like a skinned cow, man is helplessly exposed to the constant excitation and irritation of the sense-impressions, crowding upon him from all sides, through all six senses.


Should we encourage children to find their interest?

First, I believe the simple answer is: Yes, it can be proper.
One of the teachings of the Noble Eightfold Path is “Right Livelyhood”. In this teaching the Buddha laid out the requirements for a job to be helpful to moving forward toward enlightenment – even for non-monks.
As long as the encouragement to follow their interests includes teachings on how to recognize a Right Livelyhood I would say such encouragement would be quite proper.
As to the specific issue of ‘Attachment’ in this:
Most lay persons need to have a job / livelyhood to live. To my way of thinking, just because one finds a job one enjoys and has an affinity for, does not imply they must also have an exaggerated or unhealthy attachment to that job which would hinder their spiritual development.
Again, if the parent or teacher imparts teachings of how to recognize symptoms of unhealthy attachment to things of this world and of the proper perspective as to what a job is, in the wholeness of a person’s spiritual existence; again, I would say such encouragement would be proper.
Best, Jim


How to deal with loved ones who don't support you?

Try to understand her perspective. Why does she not support your choices? What is her intentions? Perhaps she just loves and cares for you and her thinking/rational is how she is trying to care for you. If you can better understand her it will help her to better understand you.

Practice metta (loving kindness) meditation with her as your focus. Perhaps even practice loving-kindness meditation together.


Where are the references of Vesak in the Pali canon?

Without looking too deeply, it seems that the word "visākhapuṇṇamadivase" (day of the full moon of Visākha) only appears in the commentaries. I don't think there is any canonical reference to that date; though I can't think offhand of any sutta that is precisely self-dated.


Why five aggregates instead of just three?

Very good question, which i imagine i will post more about at a later time.
Firstly, about the translations, I suspect the translations of "paññāpeti" as "delineate", "describe" or "declare" may possibly be questionable. "Paññāpana" (from "paññāpeti") is found in SN 22.82 and taken by Bhikkhu Bodhi to mean "manifestation", which fits the context of SN 22.82. Therefore, substituting into MN 43, it might read as: ???????
Secondly, the three types of feelings are related to the arising of the three types of defilements, such as explained in paragraph 30 of MN 148. Therefore, it appears most essential to highlight the feeling aggregate. As said in paragraph 15 of AN 3.61:

Now it is for one who feels that I proclaim: ‘This is suffering,’ and
‘This is the origin of suffering,’ and ‘This is the cessation of
suffering,’ and ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of
suffering.’

Again, AN 10.58 says:

vedanāsamosaraṇā sabbe dhammā
All dhamma practices converge/meet on feelings.

As we understand by MN 148, MN 38, MN 37, AN 3.61, etc, feeling can arise without there being the arising of craving and suffering. Before the Buddha, I imagine people were seeking a nirvana that was without feeling. Even today on the Buddhist internet, we witness individuals posting obsessively and mistakenly about the cessation of perception & feeling as though it is Nibbana. But the Buddha declared the only possible here-&-now Nibbana and Liberation cannot be without feeling. Therefore, it appears essential to the Buddha-Dhamma, as already explained, to highlight the importance of feeling.
Also, there are conscious experiences that are predominantly feelings, such as jhana. While consciousness arises & lands on such pleasant jhana feelings, obviously the feeling aggregate starts apart in and dominates such jhana consciousness.
Thirdly, as for "perception", at least in relation to what is 'supramundane', there are many suttas about perverted perception and enlightened perception, such as AN 4.49 and AN 10.60. Therefore, it appears to highlight the perception aggregate is also important and it needs to be distinguished from consciousness and feeling.


I can't find the reference at the moment but if I recall correctly, the Buddha continued to meditate after enlightenment for two reasons, according to the Theravada tradition: (1) To dwell in a pleasant abiding here and now (jhana) (2) to set an example for his followers


Deva,
Devaputta means Deva by birth, one with a lot of merits, enjoying pleasant things, your-kind's largest trap, here in the realm of internet, in union with Maras host.
[Note that this isn't given for stacks, exchange, other world-binding trades, but for release from this wheel]


If i use visualization mediation will the nimatta still appear?

the question is regarding nimittas, following of visualisation . A little effort to answer you,aroused  after  thought giving based on understanding of buddhist teachings after simple teachings of goenka guruji and book by william hart "The art of living-vipassana as taught by goenka". teachings of buddha as per my understanding is very simple. not developing new sankharas and eradicating accumulated sankharas since many lives  and thus attaining shunyata i.e no volitions left (nibbana). to attain this simply observations of bodily sensations arised upon the contact of the sensory bases,remaining neutral i.e not to avert the unpleasant and not to crave for the pleasant ones , and thus slowly weakening the habit of mind of reacting(aversion or craving) and finally totally liberated from the habit/conditioning of reacting of mind.  now in your case the visualisation . who will visualise? the answer is mind and the mind is solely responsible for the suffering. it is master in deceiving and keeping the self engrossed in innumerous nimittas . Afterall how it will allow to eradicate its habit/conditioning which will be its death. buddha has stubbornly discouraged being distracted/engrossed by the so called nimittas,visions,some ecstasic  feeling .   I  have not tried the visualisation bcs from the very beginning i had mis or right conception that , if at all it is matter of visualisation then why not to visualise that nibbana is attained. alas it would have been so simple. hope little bit light upon your question . to add one thing , in indian language the meaning of nimitta means excuse. in english "catalyst" but advantageous in reverse way i.e instead of boosting the chemical reaction the nimitta here retards it . hoping and wishing to you for getting still more right understanding of buddha's teachings and starting the journey.


You are asking not about how to eliminate kamma, but about how to escape the results of kamma.

There is no escape from the experience of the results of kamma. What there is is modification of the subjective experience of those results. This modification takes place as a result of changing your mental set.

The simile is: Imagine a small cup of water into which is placed a large spoonful of salt. It would taste salty. Then imagine placing that large spoonful of salt into River Gangha. It would affect the water but hardly noticably.

So your job, escaping the results of kamma, is to create a river Gangha of good deeds.

Make a practice of Giving with the intent that the consequences be directed at relief from your depressive mental state.

Do the same thing with the good wishes of the Brahma Viharas: Wishing all beings in all realms of being friendly vibrations, sympathetic understanding, empathy with other's situations and objective detachment.

And any and every other good deed you can think of for as long as it takes.

Guilt and remorse are, by the way, themselves bad kamma. They are willful self-indulgences. You may not like the sound of that, but it is your salvation here in that it being self-made, it can be self-corrected. You should make a conscious effort at the impulse to dwell in misery to change your mental state. Again this is easily and rapidly done with doing good deeds.

Finally: If your interest is in escaping kamma (doing intentional deeds of thought, word and body), you need to ask that as a separate question. Hint: learn from your experiences by examining them objectively, not emotionally, and alter your behavior in the ways suggested by the Ariya Atthangika Magga: High Working Hypothesis, high principles, high talk, high works, high lifestyle, high self-control, high mind, high serenity, high vision and high detachment.


Any benefit from meditation, if your mind is already completely blank?

Mumonkan - Case 4: The Western Barbarian With No Beard
The Case:
Wakuan said, "Why has the Western Barbarian no beard?"
Mumon's Comment:
Study should be real study, enlightenment should be real
enlightenment. You should once meet this barbarian directly to be
really intimate with him. But saying you are really intimate with him
already divides you into two.
Mumon's Verse:
Don't discuss your dream
Before a fool.
Barbarian with no beard
Obscures the clarity.

When I first started out, I had a very similar experience with meditation as you.  It was never really difficult for me to sit.  I mean, seriously - butt, cushion, breath, calm.  It's not that hard, right??  I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but for most people, it's not so easy.  For them, that place of calm that you experienced so quickly can be years away.  For these folks, a chattering mind and fidgeting body are obstacles that will take all sorts of sitting and sweat to unseat.  Believe it or not, though, these people are at an advantage.  To practice Buddhism isn't to sit well and have blissful experiences on the cushion.  On the contrary, to practice Buddhism is to work through our bullshit and burn through our karmic obstacles.  And it takes one hell of a hot fire to do that.  If we were to liken Buddhist practice to a forge we have to stoke, then those who struggle with sitting are blessed with a huge, nearby wood pile of problems and difficulties that they can quickly burn up.  They come out of the gate burning like stars.  And it's that blazing inner fire their struggles have helped establish that make it that much easier for them to incinerate their deeper, psychological obstacles.  People like us, well, we have to go searching much deeper in the forest in order to find enough wood to keep our practice fueled.
Which brings us to the question of what you should do now.  How do you fuel the fire of your practice?  The first thing I'd ask is whether your practice is going as well as you think it is.  When you sit, do you remain completely motionless the entire time?  If not, start there.  Next, if an hour is so easy, why not try an hour and a half?  I actually find that my meditation sessions don't really start to take off until after the first hour.  Longer sitting can lead to better sitting.  The same goes for frequency.  Are you sitting everyday?  If not, why not?  If you are, why not try sitting twice a day?  And even if you've got all that going, when was the last time you meditated 10 hours a day for a week long retreat?
So now that we've got that out of the way, onto beards and barbarians.  Remember how I mentioned that Buddhist practice isn't about sitting well and being blissful?  This is key.  Real practice is when you meet the western barbarian face to face and are really intimate with him.  You are the Western Barbarian.  When was the last time you really took a look at your beard in the mirror?  Once an adept has establish a good sitting practice, the rest of their days are spent examining that beard - those mental hangups and karmic obstacles - through a variety of insight practices.  These can come in the form of Vipassana, Zen koans, sutra study, keeping the precepts, etc. etc. etc.  These are the true forges of enlightenment.
So that should keep you busy for a couple of decades.  Have fun!!!!  :-D


Horescopes did exist at the time when the Buddha was born but they aren't mentioned often in the Buddha's teachings. One mention of horosopes is in the
Samaññaphala Sutta, this sutta lists many types of fortune telling as wrong-livelihood for monks.

  "Whereas some contemplatives & brahmans, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such "animal" arts as: reading marks on the limbs [e.g., palmistry]; reading omens and signs; interpreting celestial events [falling stars, comets]; interpreting dreams; reading features of the body [e.g., phrenology]; reading marks on cloth gnawed by mice; offering fire oblations, oblations from a ladle, oblations of husks, rice powder, rice grains, ghee, and oil; offering oblations from the mouth; offering blood-sacrifices; making predictions based on the fingertips; geomancy; making predictions for state officials; laying demons in a cemetery; placing spells on spirits; earth-skills [divining water and gems?]; snake-skills, poison-skills, scorpion-skills, rat-skills, bird-skills, crow-skills; predicting life spans; giving protective charms; casting horoscopes — he abstains from wrong livelihood, from "animal" arts such as these.

Horoscopes existed in many cultures, the reason why it remained more prevalent in Buddhist countries is more down to speculation. It depends both on Buddhism and on other religions' attitude towards horoscopes. Some reasons might be:

The idea of seeing peoples' future is very present in Buddhism which gives credibility to the idea of seeing others' fortunes based on astrology.
In other religions it may be offensive to predict peoples' fates because it is believed that only God has the ability to do so.
The Buddha didn't say that predicting the future is wrong livelihood for lay people (probably because only holy men did such things in the Buddha's time)


Why do Buddhists believe there is no creator?

For most people God is a dualistic concept. Meaning, for a typical person the unspoken assumption is: "I am here and God is over there". So when I think about God, when I speak to God -- I inevitably imagine some power outside of myself. It is in this power that I place hope for good life and for salvation; it is this power that I blame for unfairness etc. According to Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, by attributing to God the power to save us or to send difficulties etc. we alienate ourselves from our own power.

Instead, in Buddhism our liberation is always in our hands. As Trungpa Rinpoche said, no one is going to descent in the golden chariot to take care of you. As long as you keep looking up to some higher power, how can you be the master of your life?

Two of my teachers emphasized such "master consciousness". My Zen Master said: "People say, 'God bless you', but Enlightenment is when you bless God". My last teacher said: "Utilize God". Both remind us to take ownership of our lives.

Not that [Mahayana] Buddhists deny the Absolute. What they deny is existence of independent "I" in the absolute sense. "I" is a label, a nominal designation that only exists relatively to other things. However, because the relative is subsumed in the absolute - not opposed to it - we can't deny existence of the relative either. This (here simplified) position is known as the unity of two truths. From this non-dualistic perspective, my power and the power of Absolute is the same power, my will and the will of Absolute is the same will, and my spontaneity and the spontaneity of Absolute is the same spontaneity. Using it and being used by it refers to the same activity. As Jesus said, "I and the Father are one." So, like I said in this answer, "Could we go as far as to say that Buddhist path culminates in the first-hand knowledge ... of God?"


This is a limitation of we who inhabit a three-dimensional world IMHO. We are not aware of other dimensions, and do not have the ability to see past existences because of the limitations of our physical senses. We experience only a very small part of reality, the three-dimensional world of physical forms.  But also we could quite rightly say that we humans live in a four dimensional world; in other words, humans are aware of four dimensions -three dimensions of space plus time.

This is why we see only two realms (human and animal) out of the other realms of existence like that of Pretha, Deva and Brahma. Of the newest scientific theories, the M-theory says that ours is a 11-dimensional universe, even though we can see only four dimensions (including time). So Prethas live amongst us, but they live in a differnet dimensional world.

Our consciousness (vinnana) is not like that of an Arahant. Ours is contaminated by defilements. This our awareness is not pure; it is like looking though a foggy window. But it is not so for some Arahant who got to open the divine eye in them. Twenty five hundred years ago, the Buddha achieved the ultimate state of the mind and became “all knowing” (or “perfectly conscious”). He came to know about the boundless universe, the endless cycle of rebirths, and about the complex process of cause and effect (paticca samuppada) which sustains everything in the universe.


What are the main differences -- in meditation practice and discipline -- between different schools of Theravada?

The question quoted Theravāda subschools on Wikipedia.

There's another list on Wikipedia -- i.e. Monastic orders within Theravāda -- that identifies specific characteristics of various "monastic nikayas", which is part of what the question is asking about.


The reason the body do not need as much sleep when one do a lot of meditation is because while we meditate, we are getting some rest that the body needs. Meditation increases the production of melatonin in our bodies. Melatonin is a hormone known for creating restful sleep.

This article might help.


Welcome to the site.
There are (many) people on this site who have practised meditation themselves, but perhaps there's no-one who is very experienced as a teacher of meditation? It seems to me that this ("Body feels like crying") would be a question which an experienced meditation teacher will have heard before: so, one small bit of advice is, can you try to make contact with an experienced meditation teacher?
There are several forms of breathing (during "breathing meditation"): see for example Active breathing, passive breathing.

Anapanasati is most commonly practiced with attention centered on the breath, without any effort to change the breathing.
In the throat singing prevalent amongst the Buddhist monks of Tibet and Mongolia the long and slow outbreath during chanting is the core of the practice. The sound of the chant also serves to focus the mind in one-pointed concentration samadhi, while the sense of self dissolves as awareness becomes absorbed into a realm of pure sound.
In some Japanese Zen meditation, the emphasis is upon maintaining "strength in the abdominal area" (dantian or "tanden") and slow deep breathing during the long outbreath, again to assist the attainment of a mental state of one-pointed concentration. There is also a "bamboo method," during which time one inhales and exhales in punctuated bits, as if running one's hand along the stalk of a bamboo tree.

The above spends more words talking about chanting and the "bamboo method" than it does in the first paragraph about "passive breathing", but it might be right in saying that "passive" breathing is the way in which it's most commonly practised.
There's a book about Anapanasati, Unveiling the Secrets of Life:
a Manual for Serious Beginners by Buddhadasa Bikkhu, which has information about several (not all) techniques of breathing meditation, and which people recommend.

At the risk of going off-topic I'll also mention two non-Buddhist forms of breathing, from my own experience

Aerobic exercise (e.g. bicycling) -- I'm not sure how you can do "deep breathing" when you're not exercising, but exercise is recommended e.g. by (non-Buddhist) doctors as a way to help your body manage 'stress'. I mean, a bicycling fast enough that it begins to affect your breathing (and/or cycling up-hill), at e.g. 20 km/hour; or, various forms of running if you prefer (though I prefer cycling, myself, because it's easier on my joints). The experience (of well-being from being physically fitter) may make you more 'attached' to feeling physically fit (and perhaps monks don't recommend physical exercise, except perhaps "walking meditation"); nevertheless it (exercise) is meant to be one of the ways to cope with stress: see for example Exercising to relax from Harvard Medical School.

I've also sometimes enjoyed practising a "Tai Chi" form, which is also called a "moving meditation". There's a description of that (with links to videos) here. The caveats are that you need a reasonably good teacher; and a form with a reasonably low stance; and maybe a couple of years of lessons: because you need to learn the form before you can practice it, and you have to practice repeatedly (having already learned the movements) to learn to integrate the breathing with the movements; and learning a long form (e.g. 108 moves), which takes about 20 minutes to practice, might take a year (or more) to learn. Still I found that's it's good for breathing and posture (so, "physical well-being" again), and there's something to be said for its way of handling conflict.

Another (Buddhist) form of meditation which you might like to investigate is Metta Bhavana.

There are various ways of practicing metta-bhavana, the meditation on universal love. Three of the principal methods will be explained here.

In terms of insight about suffering, it might be worth considering "the Three Poisons" i.e. ignorance, desire, and aversion; for example:

Aversion: I don't want to feel sad
Desire: I want to feel happy
Ignorance: I don't know why I feel sad

A common problem is, apparently, that if you think you're averse to something then you may try to avoid it. If you "feel like crying" and are averse to that feeling then there's a tendency to avoid inspecting that feeling, avoid thinking about that feeling. Instead maybe you need to be willing to investigate (accept, work out) such a feeling if it arises. I presume you'll find that such a feeling is transient (impermanent), because most feelings eventually are.


What are the Pali's suttas commentaries on the three higher knowledges?

The Threefold knowledge(Tevijja) is mentioned in many suttas. In MN 36, the Buddha describes obtaining each of these three knowledges on the first, second and third watches respectively of the night of his enlightenment. A nonexhaustive list of other suttas is available here


I will provide a hint to your question grossly, since I'm running out of time. Provided chance, I shall attend to this question if needed.

  Some Pure Land masters are popularly quoted as saying that even the unrepentant and evil gain access to Sukhāvatī via niànfó in this very life in which they are criminals or evil men.

If you understood the Pureland doctrines thoroughly, you should learn that there are 9 grades for entering Sukhāvatī, called 九品蓮花 (Nine Platforms of the Lotus [transportation vehicles?!]): best, better, good x 3 = 9). The lowest of these 9, i.e., the good of the good (下品下生), is that when a practitioner who's committed incl. the Five Grave Sins (五逆罪) such as killing the parent, by the time of dying is able to remember/ think of (憶念) Amitābha he will be born in Sukhāvatī. However, the Lotus Platform that carried him takes 12 Great Kalpas to open, i.e., he will arrive in Sukhāvatī after 1612800 million years(?) [161.28 亿年]. The Best of the Best takes a blink of eyes. The criteria must be met is that he should be able to remember/ think of Amitabha - top importance; he repents/laments his wrong deed (懺悔) though he couldn't mend it; he himself has the full confidence of being able to be born in Sukhāvatī.

If any teacher just stating that Niànfó is the one-fix-all, without explaining the above, he is misleading and that's why Pureland to outsiders, even insiders, are sometimes criticized rigorously. I knew there is one very popular and famous Pureland School's Bhikkhu living in Singapore migrated from Mainland China who's teaching an abridged version of the doctrine [his own doctrine?]. He is also called into question by Buddhists of if his meeting the qualification of being ordained as a Bhikkhu because in one occasion in defending himself he revealed that he was born incompetent (黃門), this video with his voice is circulating in the internet. I hope you are not the students following his teaching ;).

If you want to learn properly, I suggest you read the original Classical Chinese       《佛說無量壽經》 《佛說觀無量壽經》, 《佛說阿彌陀經》 is translated by Kumarajiva; or letters of 印光大師. They are not that hard to read, if you know Chinese.

Also, for Pureland practice, Niànfó is just one of the many methods. Such as above Sutras, it is in fact in it recorded the visualization method, the 《佛說觀無量壽經》 there are in total 16 visualizations one of it is visualizing the setting sun as described in the Sutra.

But the sad thing is, practitioners just follow the teachers, and the methods reduced to one single Niànfó, it is not sure the teachers if they studied the Sutras, or just busy writing articles giving talks to invoke more audiences to recognize their names/fames. No one care to learn from the original Sutras, from directly the Buddha himself.


Does knowing Pali/Sanskrit (and to which level) give one more insights while reading Buddhist scripts?

Pali is difficult to translate into western languages due to lack of expressive power. Though there is much effort to study the Pali cannot there are instances where translators / teachers / lineages have disagreed on meaning. E.g.  What is the Interpretation of Parimukham in the context of Buddhist Meditation?

In instances like this Goenka advices to take meaning:

Easy to understand on how it is to be practiced, i.e., which is not abstract, philosophical or purely theoretical
Which is actionable, i.e., which can be put into practice, not pure theoretical conjecture or not purely theoretical which cannot be put into pratice

E.g. "keeping your mindfulness in front" is not like keeping a glass or something in front of you. This is abstract and not practical. Keeping your mindfulness around the mouth is neither astract nor impractical. Since these are instruction to be practiced it should be practical and actionable.

Especially in English some translations are loose fit hence some argue that the particular rendering though they principally agree on the meaning can lead to confusions. E.g.

  In order for meditators to understand the term sampajanna, we have translated it as-'The constant thorough understanding of impermanence'. It is felt that this translation conveys more fully the precise meaning of the term used by the Buddha. If the term sampajanna is translated too concisely into English its meaning can be lost. It has usually been translated as clear comprehension, bare comprehension, etc. At first glance, these translations appear to be correct. However, some have taken this to mean that one must merely have clear comprehension of bodily activities. Interpretations such as this may have had the effect of misleading some meditators on the path of Dhamma. To try and minimize any confusions for meditators the more wordy translation- 'the constant thorough understanding of impermanence'- has been chosen.

Source: Sampajanna-the Constant Thorough Understanding of Impermanence

Though strictly necessary knowing Pali would definitely help in understanding the teaching. There are many books which still has not being translated into other languages. E.g. Parajikan Atthakatha see: U Ba Khin and his reference to Parajikan Atthakatha

There multiple research groups which research the scriptures like:

http://atbu.org/
http://www.iabu.org/
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/religion/buddhist-centre/
http://ocbs.org/
http://gsas.columbia.edu/content/academic-programs/buddhist-studies
http://www.cbs.ugent.be/
https://www.bcbsdharma.org/
http://www.shin-ibs.edu/
http://buddhist-studies.uchicago.edu/
https://www.soas.ac.uk/buddhiststudies/
http://www.buddhism.hku.hk/
http://buddhiststudies.berkeley.edu/
http://www.international.ucla.edu/buddhist
http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/
http://www.bpu.ac.lk/
etc.

In addition the institutions which does Etymology studies:

http://vridhamma.org/
http://www.palitext.com/

Also there are prominent people who does research on this front. Excluding people tied to universities and institution following are very prominent:

Ven. Sujato - https://sujato.wordpress.com/
Piya Tan / http://dharmafarer.org/. E.g. on essay written in this area is: Language and Discourse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhikkhu_Bodhi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanamoli_Bhikkhu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyanaponika_Thera
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanavira_Thera


Interference from another meditation technique in my vipassana meditation

You do not go into any detail about what vipassana you are practicing but with the information on hand the following advice:

In insight meditation (vipassana) ALL phenomena have the following qualities:

Anicca - they are impermanent.
Anatta - they are not-self.
Dukkha - that if we cling or have aversion to these impermanent phenomena this creates suffereing.

You 'sound' experience is fairly common, I have it as a constant meditation companion in some form or other, but it falls into the same category of any other phenomena.

  These moments can feel very blissful. I made a conscious effort to ignore these events and have mainly succeeded but sometimes I still get sucked in because I want to or as a 'treat'.

There is both clinging and aversion here. Do neither (push away or hold onto) - just view both the bliss and the sound with equanimity. Equanimity is a core skill you are learning in any vipassana practice. So let go of the need to 'control' any of this and just try to see that all these phenomena have the same intrinsic nature as a 'thought', a body sensation, a physical sound. They are all phenomena with the same above three characteristics.


What is the origin of Buddho meditation?

Mantras come from the fantasy of puthujjanas that sensual objects will purify their citta, which is very idiotic.

For instance the hindus have their Om sound and they say a sound will get them to nirvana.

The Buddhists have heard that samadhi is about the lack of hindrances, for instance lack of doubt, and as usual with people infatuated with sensuality, they claim that when they fix an object, like a word or some visual mantra like a kasina, the hindrances stop and therefore whatever samadhi they get from that is the samadhi that the buddha teaches.
So they say that when they repeat buddho buddho buddho for a long time, they do not have doubt, therefore the citta is purified like the buddha says.

As usual with puthujjanas they create secret stuff and they applied this to mantras so they even have secret mantras.

You can view the first tetrad of the breath mediation as the mantra, but the breath mediation is not about watching the breath, contrary to what some buddhists say, but about calming and killing some sankharas which is a lot of work.


How compatible are the beliefs of atheists and Buddhism?

I would say compatible. There is a significant Secular Buddhism movement based on agnostic, humanist and skeptical values. Stephen Batchelor is a notable proponent of this school for instance in his book Buddhism without Beliefs.

I don't think you need to go the whole way to Secular Buddhism though to appreciate the Buddha's pragmatic approach to the Dharma. In the Cula-Malunkyovada sutta he refuses to answer a whole list of metaphysical questions regarding them as a distraction for instance

  "Malunkyaputta, did I ever say to you, '[...] that 'The cosmos is
  eternal,' or 'The cosmos is not eternal,' or 'The cosmos is finite,'
  or 'The cosmos is infinite,' or 'The soul & the body are the same,' or
  'The soul is one thing and the body another,' or 'After death a
  Tathagata exists,' or 'After death a Tathagata does not exist,' or
  'After death a Tathagata both exists & does not exist,' or 'After
  death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist'?"

  "No, lord."

Also in the arrow sutta he insists that the thing to do is engage in the practice and not to be put off by useless questioning. To paraphase if you are struck by an arrow don't concern yourself about who made it, where it came from, what direction it was fired from - just pull it out. So if you are experiencing suffering, don't worry about rebirth, the gods, ritual etc.. just pull the arrow of suffering out. Engage with the Dharma as soon as you can.


What did the Buddha mean by the four types of reasoning in his advice to the Kalamas?

From Help! The Kalama Sutta, Help! by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu:

  Ma takkahetu: Don’t believe something solely on the grounds of logical reasoning (takka). Logic is merely one branch of knowledge
  that people use to try to figure out the truth. Takka or Logic is not
  infallible. If its data or inferences are incorrect, it can go wrong.
  Ma nayahetu: Don’t believe or accept something merely because it appears correct on the grounds of Naya or what is now called
  "philosophy." In Thailand, we translate the Western term philosophy as
  prajna. Our Indian friends cannot accept this because "naya" is just a
  point of view or opinion; it isn’t the supreme understanding properly
  referred to as panya or prajna. Naya or nayaya is merely a method of
  deductive reasoning based on hypotheses or assumptions. Such reasoning
  can err when the method or hypothesis is inappropriate.
  Ma akaraparivitakkena: Don’t believe or accept something simply because of superficial thinking, that is, because it appeals to what
  we nowadays call "common sense," which is merely snap judgments based
  on one’s tendencies of thought. We like to use this approach so much
  that it becomes habitual. Some careless and boastful philosophers rely
  on such common sense a great deal and consider themselves clever.
  Ma ditthinijjhanakkhantiya: Don’t believe accept something to be true merely because it agrees or fits with one’s preconceived opinions
  and theories. Personal views can be wrong and our methods of
  experiment and verification may be inadequate, neither of which lead
  us to the truth. This approach may seem similar to the scientific
  method, but can never actually be scientific, as its proofs and
  experiments are inadequate.


Well, here's my take on Identity view.  I think it's relatively compatible with the Sutras, but should not be considered an exposition of them.

First, what is this "self"?  One answer is that it's your reaction when contemplating the following questions...

1. When you feel pride in an accomplishment, what is the recipient of this pride?
2. When you feel offended at being insulted, what was insulted?
3. Who is the "star" of your narrative?
4. What is the agent that wills and acts and controls thought?

Identity views cause pain since this self is something that can come under attack and hence becomes a source of worry and regret (see #3) and conflict (see #2).  Further, suffering continues because experience becomes filtered and emotionally laden because of how it's seen to relate to this "self" (see #3). Then there's the fact that desires are in reference to a "self" -- when you seek desires, you seek to feed this "self".

So the goal is to suspend belief in a self.  This doesn't mean claiming it doesn't exist -- but rather, letting all beliefs about it go.  That's the only way the apparently contradictory claims of the Sutras (and the various view fetters) make sense to me.

You suspend these beliefs by inquiring into the nature of this self.  Be mindful and present to your experience, especially when confronted with 1-4, and inquire deeply into this "self" that seems to present itself.  During meditation (or in quieter times) try to focus on this sense of "I" and go through the Skhandas to see if you can find any self there.  You can even look at it logically; if the self is "you", the thing behind your consciousness (not that I'm claiming it is), then how can you be aware of it, as to be aware of anything means its an object of consciousness and not the subject?

As for Western approaches to the self, I think the most systematic treatment is Derek Parfitt.

After that, there's David Hume.  Here's a PDF outlining his identity views.

And here's a passage from Hume (from here) about his views on a self.  This may make a good object for meditation, and the relationship to Skhandas is clear:

  For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I
  always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or
  cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can
  catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe
  any thing but the perception. When my perceptions are remov’d for any
  time, as by sound sleep; so long am I insensible of myself, and may
  truly be said not to exist. And were all my perceptions remov’d by
  death, and cou’d I neither think, nor feel, nor see, nor love, nor
  hate after the dissolution of my body, I shou’d be entirely
  annihilated, nor do I conceive what is farther requisite to make me a
  perfect non-entity. If any one upon serious and unprejudic’d
  reflexion, thinks he has a different notion of himself, I must confess
  I can reason no longer with him. All I can allow him is, that he may
  be in the right as well as I, and that we are essentially different in
  this particular. He may, perhaps, perceive something simple and
  continu’d, which he calls himself; tho’ I am certain there is no such
  principle in me… But setting aside some metaphysicians of this kind, I
  may venture to affirm of the rest of mankind, that they are nothing
  but a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed
  each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux
  and movement.


"I'm just trying to figure out how extinction can avoid the extremes of eternalism and annihilation."
And therein lies your problem.  If you are trying to figure it out, you are dealing in concepts, not nirvana.  Every word you speak answers itself.  It is a closed loop.  A closed system.  Step outside.  How would you define a word without using language?  See the following:

Case 5 of the Mumonkan Kyogen's "Man Up a Tree"
The Case:
Kyõgen Oshõ said, "It is like a man up in a tree hanging from a branch
with his mouth; his hands grasp no bough, his feet rest on no limb.
Someone appears under the tree and asks him, 'What is the meaning of
Bodhidharma's coming from the West?' If he does not answer, he fails
to respond to the question. If he does answer, he will lose his life.
What would you do in such a situation?"
Mumon's Comment:
Even if your eloquence flows like a river, it is of no avail. Though
you can expound the whole of Buddhist literature, it is of no use. If
you solve this problem, you will give life to the way that has been
dead until this moment and destroy the way that has been alive up to
now. Otherwise you must wait for Maitreya Buddha and ask him.
Mumon's Verse:
Kyõgen is truly thoughtless; His vice and poison are endless. He stops
up the mouths of the monks,  And devil's eyes sprout from their
bodies.

Instead of worrying about concepts, search for the word that has neither sound nor meaning.


Can a lay person observe the ten precepts on uposatha days?

The recommendation is for lay persons to observe the Eight Precepts on Uposatha Days.
The Eight Precepts are included in the Ten Precepts, thus the Ten Precepts conform to the above recommendation.
So, there's no problem observing the Ten Precepts on Uposatha Days.
It's just like the case where monks need not do more than what is required by the Vinaya. But if they want to, they can optionally choose to observe the stricter Dhutanga rules.
In any case, it is useful to remember that the Buddha taught the Middle Way between excessive indulgence and excessive austerity.
The analogy from the Sona Sutta is applicable here to illustrate that energy and effort applied to the practice should not be too much or too little:

“What do you think, Soṇa? When you were still a layman, weren’t you a
good harp player?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When your harp’s strings were tuned too tight, was it resonant and
playable?”
“No, sir.”
“When your harp’s strings were tuned too slack, was it resonant and
playable?”
“No, sir.”
“But when your harp’s strings were tuned neither too tight nor too
slack, but fixed at an even tension, was it resonant and playable?”
“Yes, sir.”
“In the same way, Soṇa, when energy is too forceful it leads to
restlessness. When energy is too slack it leads to laziness. So, Soṇa,
you should apply yourself to energy and serenity, find a balance of
the faculties, and learn the pattern of this situation.”


I have not heard of a ‘Atapirikara’ from Maha Brahma, but the legend says: “When Maitreya Buddha appears in the world, he will come to Kukkuta-padagiri (the Cook's-foot Mountain) – presently known as ‘Gurpa’, awaken Maha Kassapa, receive the Buddha’s robes from him, and then begin to announce the new dispensation.
Maha Kassapa had been praised by the Buddha as being equal to him in many respects. He had been the only monk with whom the Buddha had exchanged robes.

Then both Master and disciple walked towards Rajagaha. On the way, the Buddha wanted to rest and went off the road to the root of a tree. Maha Kassapa then folded his double-robe fourfold and requested the Master to sit on it as this would bring him, Kassapa, much benefit for a long time. The Buddha sat down on Kassapa's robe and said: "Soft is your robe of patched cloth, Kassapa." Hearing this, Kassapa replied: "May the Blessed One, O Lord, accept this robe of patched cloth out of compassion for me!" — "But, Kassapa, can you wear these hempen, worn-out rag-robes of mine?" Full of joy, Kassapa said: "Certainly, Lord, I can wear the Blessed One's rough and worn-out rag-robes."
This exchange of robes can be regarded as a great distinction bestowed on Kassapa, an honor which was not shared by any other disciple. By that exchange of robes the Buddha may have intended to motivate Kassapa to observe some other "austere practices" (dhutanga) as for instance, wearing only the triple set of robes, going for alms and not omitting any houses on the almsround. This would be a mode of conduct in conformity with wearing the Buddha's patched rag-robes. Thus the commentator says. However, the Buddha's offer may have been a quite spontaneous act in response to his being offered Kassapa's robe.

It is this very same rough and worn-out rag-robe that the Blessed One first wore and then given to Maha Kassapa, and in turn he too wore till his Pari-Nibbhana, that Maitreya Buddha will come to accept. Some say that Maha Kassapa didn’t attain Pari-Nibbhana. Instead, he took Samadhi within the rock - that Maha Kassapa will offer the robes of the Gautama Buddha to the future Buddha when Maitryea Buddha descends to this realm in order to share the next basket of teachings with the world. Others say it is an “Adhisthana” (by the power of his will to make such an event happen) that he made at the time he attained Pari-Nibbhana.


In case of the mind-sense(the stream of Bhavaangha cittas), the object received by the sense is a thought itself. There's no physical element involved. That's why Arupa beings only have the mind sense.

'Energy' is a concept. There's no such thing according to Buddhism. Even sunlight is said to be containing the pure octad. Anything physical is Rupa and the rest is Nama.


I used to think much the same thing. I thought that the main problem according to Buddhism is suffering. But the Buddhist resolution to suffering isn't extinction or happiness, but is more like an in between peace.  The bit about nirvana, is the historical Buddha attempting to explain his program of ending suffering, by using a word that sounded a lot like moksha. Re-using the language of his time (karma, reincarnation, brahma, etc) actually makes it more difficult for modern people to understand the core message.
Next, the central solution in Buddhism isn't re-evaluating one's desire, but a realization about who one is, in particular, we aren't a permanent, easily identifiable thing or soul, we're a temporary collection of things, and we can reframe our sense of self as being everyone. So the problems of suffering that anyone has is our problem too. So in with a Mahayana sense of how anatman (selflessness) works, to "solve" the problem with suicide, we'd have to kill everyone.  This particular argument works regardless of whether we think we rebirth or reincarnate or not.
Anyhow, with everyone dead, they aren't happy, unhappy or anything. Which brings us back to the goal, which is to chart the path between seeking pleasure (by working on your dad's farm, serving in the provincial Maghadan government) and asceticism (doing without) and living a life without suffering, but instead something close to "peace" or "equilibrium".  The Dalai Lama had a good quote about this, he usually uses the word "happiness" to indicate the goal of Buddhism, but noted that the English isn't quite right, Buddhist happiness means neither clinging to pleasurable thing, nor pushing away from things that make us suffer, leaving us in between. (Ah, I found it, it's in the video: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/11/the-dalai-lamas-guide-to-happiness-and-farting/ ) "Happiness is a neutral experience that can bring a deep satisfaction"
(I won't go into why traditional Buddhists thought suicide wouldn't work, except they said people who commit suicide would go to Buddhist hell. For a Buddhist extinctionalist (one who believes we do not reincarnate), then suicide is an uninteresting solution. It brings no peace, it brings something entirely different, like asking for a cake and getting the color blue-- not even in the same category)


Is there a Tantrayana (Tibetan Buddhism) training related to "burning" past bad karma?

In the Theravada pali cannon:
In this Devadaha Sutta , the Buddha refutes the theories of the Jains — here called the Niganthas — and heaps ridicule on the idea of trying to burn kamma by asceticism. First he notes that none of the Niganthas have ever come to the end of pain by trying to burn it away in this way;

"Going to Niganthas who teach in this way, I have asked them, 'Is it true, friend Niganthas, that you teach in this way, that you have this view: "Whatever a person experiences — pleasure, pain, or neither pleasure nor pain — all is caused by what was done in the past. Thus, with the destruction of old actions through asceticism, and with the non-doing of new actions, there will be no flow into the future. With no flow into the future, there is the ending of action. With the ending of action, the ending of stress. With the ending of stress, the ending of feeling. With the ending of feeling, all suffering & stress will be exhausted"?'
"Having been asked this by me, the Niganthas admitted it, 'Yes.'
"So I said to them, 'But friends, do you know that you existed in the past, and that you did not not exist?' (*basically, have you seen your own past lives?)
"'No, friend.'
"'And do you know that you did evil actions in the past, and that you did not not do them?'
"'No, friend.'
"'And do you know that you did such-and-such evil actions in the past?'
"'No, friend.'
"'And do you know that so-and-so much stress has been exhausted, or that so-and-so much stress remains to be exhausted, or that with the exhaustion of so-and-so much stress all stress will be exhausted?'
"'No, friend.'
"'But do you know what is the abandoning of unskillful mental qualities and the attainment of skillful mental qualities in the here-&-now?'
"'No, friend.'
"'So, friends, it seems that you don't know that you existed in the past, and that you did not not exist... you don't know what is the abandoning of unskillful mental qualities and the attainment of skillful mental qualities in the here-&-now. That being the case, it is not proper for you to assert that, "Whatever a person experiences — pleasure, pain, or neither pleasure nor pain — all is caused by what was done in the past. Thus, with the destruction of old actions through asceticism, and with the non-doing of new actions, there will be no flow into the future. With no flow into the future, there is the ending of action. With the ending of action, the ending of stress. With the ending of stress, the ending of feeling. With the ending of feeling, all suffering & stress will be exhausted."


Why do i look sad, while doing things consciously?

It is difficult to be around non-meditative people when you are meditative. Dhammapada 302 states:

  Suffering/difficulty comes from association with unequals.

When they say: "You are looking sad", this is a reflection of their own lack of knowledge, their own sadness & their own underlying fear. This has happened to me a few times before, when I used to work in an office.

The Buddha taught that a person accomplished in meditation can in a 'finger-snap' generate metta (loving-kindness).

  Monks, if for just the time of a finger-snap a monk produces a thought of loving kindness, develops it, gives attention to it, such a
  one is rightly called a monk. Not in vain does he meditate. He acts in
  accordance with the Master’s teaching.

  AN 1:6.3–5

Yes, you probably should smile, say you are fine & offer an easy explanation, such as you are training yourself to work/do things with calmness & without stress.

As for the essence of the Lord Buddha, this was explained in MN 37 as:

  Nothing is worth clinging to...


What does Buddhism say about dealing with negative people?

With an ensō (and "the beauty of imperfection") as an avatar, you might like a Zen story: Obedience. The story reminds me of my mother, a nursery school teacher (very young children) -- she said that instead of trying to control their behaviour by criticizing them, "I wait until they do something right and then praise them" (e.g. "Thank you for putting your work away", or "Thank you for sharing", or etc).

One of the funniest stories I remember was of one of her assistants who, instead of directly addressing and criticizing the whole class, raised her voice just loudly enough for everyone to hear and said to my mum: "Mrs. Teacher, where have all the quiet children gone?"

I can't easily fathom your relative's motive. You're talking about "self image": could it be that he wants you to be like him (or, like his image of himself), or that he wants to be like you?

Would it be fair to say that you are already behaving well? You say that your peace is stolen and your equanimity robbed, but I'm hoping you don't fuel the flames, e.g. try to take revenge on him and so on. If you can stay untainted by misbehaviour, harsh speech and so on even when he's making "cold remarks" then you're already doing well. This article for example claims that, "The satisfaction of leading a blameless life is the highest form of satisfaction that a layman can have".

I just want to add that "blameless" doesn't mean "holier than thou", which would be more self-image.

Anyway, to answer your question, "I'm wondering what Buddha taught on this?"

I wonder whether you might be interested in reading about "fame". That might be another side of the coin of what you're talking about -- i.e. being motivated by how we think others see us (and maybe identity-view too, how we see ourselves).

This search for 'fame' and 'lay' on Access to Insight finds articles that may be a useful introduction, or another perspective.

One more thing, is that your language includes the feeling of being "robbed" of your equanimity.

I think that's kind of a dangerous view to have; for example the Dhammapada starts with,

  "He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me." Those who harbor such thoughts do not still their hatred.

Perhaps that should be contrasted with the Zen story, The Moon Cannot Be Stolen.

You wrote, "Sometimes I am mindful of it, and realize the attachment is there"; but attachment isn't only to "self image or sense of self-worth in life" -- an attachment can also be to a "feeling" (such as equanimity), so thinking of it as "my equanimity" might be dangerous.

And maybe you're treating equanimity like glass, as if an equanimity could be broken; instead maybe you could see it as more fluid, less rigid or resistant, perhaps more like water (an ocean) or air or fire.

Or maybe a traditional metaphor is of the moon reflected in water, if the water is troubled then the image is harder to see, but the moon itself is not troubled.


I recommend the book In The Buddha's Words by Bhikkhu Bodhi. It is an anthology or selection of translated suttas from the Pali canon. It is also thematically and systematically arranged. You can look at the Table of Contents on the Amazon page I linked. It is 512 pages long, which is quite alright. PDF version here.

I quote from the Preface:

  In an ongoing series of lectures I began giving at Bodhi Monastery in
  New Jersey in January 2003,1 devised a scheme of my own to organize
  the contents of the Majjhima Nikaya. This scheme unfolds the Buddha's
  message progressively, from the simple to the difficult, from the
  elementary to the profound. Upon reflection, I saw that this scheme
  could be applied not only to the Majjhima Nikaya, but to the four
  Nikayas as a whole. The present book organizes suttas selected from
  all four Nikayas within this thematic and progressive framework.

  This book is intended for two types of readers. The first are those
  not yet acquainted with the Buddha's discourses who feel the need for
  a systematic introduction. For such readers, any of the Nikayas is
  bound to appear opaque. All four of them, viewed at once, may seem
  like a jungle—entangling and bewildering, full of unknown beasts—or
  like the great ocean—vast, tumultuous, and forbidding. I hope that
  this book will serve as a map to help them wend their way through the
  jungle of the suttas or as a sturdy ship to carry them across the
  ocean of the Dhamma.


Does hosting guests at home with meat and alcohol (because they are fond of it) amount to aiding the guests break their Sila?

"So, when I host a party at my place, it becomes obligatory of me to host them with alcohol and non-vegetarian food (bought from a restaurant). "

I don't see how it is obligatory. You could serve delicious vegetarian food and non-alcoholic drinks. If you take your Buddhist precepts you are not supposed break them yourself or encourage others to break them. I think your instincts on this are correct.

Would it be so boring? Have you spoken to your friends about this? Why not raise the subject and see what they say?


Zen's concern with "reality" vs. being in the present

Though I might soon sound like a stuck record, the Wild Fox Koan from The Gateless Gate is worth studying when you first become aware of these things.

Zen holds building conceptions and understanding of the world its nature and causes, -- of causation, dependent origination, etc -- distinct from a direct insight obtained by practice. A conceptual understanding is considered necessary but insufficient (and distinct from) to insight through practice, just as owning an almanac is useful in seeing the moon and planets but is not actually seeing them, and is certainly not the planets themselves. This is also a great help when understanding issues of will and agency (which are never far behind).

Conceptions of the past and future are not a part of what is: they are a part of our understanding of what is. The future will come in time or else it will not, and the past, well, you've already missed it. It's very easy to mistake the present for our understanding of it: to have a head-up-display so full of symbols and geometrical constructions that it completely obscures the view.


Nine Purification Breaths and Channels in Genderqueer and Intersex Individuals

I've heard of one Tibetan Lama who refuses to give a traditional Buddhist wedding to homosexuals. During the wedding he invokes some Buddha form in union and the bride meditates on the female Buddha while the groom - on the male Buddha. The Lama explained that he cannot tell where is the female and male element in a homosexual relationship so it is not straightforward how to carry on the ritual. He received a detailed transmission from his teacher in a certain form and he doesn't want to alter it.

Although it doesn't answer your question directly, a few things should be said. Techniques involving working with energy channels are very advanced and usually were directly transmitted from teachers to students for centuries. It is rather dangerous to practise those without a guidance and protection from the guru, especially if the female/male energies are supposedly mixed as in the cases listed in the question. It is possible that although one Lama refused to alter the ritual, another one will be able to correctly identify energy channels and will willingly perform the 'individualized' ritual. Having said that, I don't think a general advice can be given. If one wants to practise some advanced technique, a qualified teacher is essential and only he can resolve the issues concerning the practice. The advice from the teacher is individual and should not be broadcast as it can only confuse other people rather than help them.


When I focus on my breath, it becomes shallow

Doesn’t matter if your breath is deep or shallow.  Just let it do what it wants to do.  If you force it, you are introducing volition.  All that’s going to do is lead to tension and doubt.  Just let go of your expectations of what meditation ought to be.  Meditation is what happens, not what we make happen.


In Theravada Buddhism, we call it pāṇa, which is just the Pali cognate of the Sanskrit prāṇa. The word itself just means breath, though it has connotations that come from Hinduism, regarding the concepts of life essence, soul, energy, etc. The PED gives some idea of how it is used in Buddhism:

Pāṇa [fr. pa+an, cp. Vedic prāṇa breath of life; P. apāna, etc.] living being, life, creature D iii.48, 63, 133 S i.209, 224; v.43, 227, 441 (mahā -- samudde); A i.161 ii.73, 176, 192; Sn 117, 247, 394, 704; Dh 246; DA i.69 161; KhA 26; ThA 253; PvA 9, 28, 35; VvA 72 DhA ii.19. -- pl. also pāṇāni, e. g. Sn 117; Dh 270. <-> Bdhgh's defn of pāṇa is "pāṇanatāya pāṇā; assāsapassās' āyatta -- vuttitāyā ti attho" Vism 310.
 -- âtipāta destruction of life, murder Vin i.83 (in "dasa sikkhāpadāni," see also sīla), 85, 193; D iii.68, 70, 149 182, 235; M i.361; iii.23; Sn 242; It 63; J iii.181 Pug 39 sq.; Nett 27; VbhA 383 (var. degrees of murder) DhA ii.19; iii.355; DA i.69; PvA 27.  -- âtipātin one who takes the life of a living being, destroying life D iii.82; M iii.22; S ii.167; It 92; DhA ii.19.  -- upeta possessed or endowed with life, alive [cp. BSk. prāṇopeta Divy 72, 462 etc.] S i.173; Sn 157; DA i.236  -- ghāta slaying life, killing, murder DA i.69;  -- ghātin   âtipātin DhA ii.19.  -- bhu a living being J iv.494  -- bhūta=˚bhu M iii.5; A ii.210; iii.92; iv.249 sq. J iv.498.  -- vadha=âtipāta DA i.69.  -- sama equal to or as dear as life J ii.343; Dpvs xi.26; DhA i.5.  -- hara taking away life, destructive M i.10=iii.97; S iv.206 A ii.116, 143, 153; iii.163.

In Theravada Buddhism this is as far as the concept goes, and it is only conceptual; there is no sense of an actual "spirit" or "energy" living inside of the body that can be called pāṇa; it is only the concept of a living, breathing being that is described as pāṇa.  As the Visuddhimagga explains:

Breathing things (pāṇa): so called because of their state of breathing (pāṇanatā); the meaning is, because their existence depends on in-breaths and out-breaths.
Vism. IX.54 (Nyanamoli, trans)

In Tibetan Buddhism, though, there seems to be more of a recognition of the existence of an energy flowing through the body, a "psychic wind" (Tibetan: rLung), so to speak:

Some of the different usages of the term lung include:

the psychic winds (sanskrit: prana) that travel in the internal channels, or nadi (Sanskrit) of the subtle body and are manipulated in certain Vajrayana yoga practices.
specifically the five psychic winds that are a manifestation of the Mahabhuta. These five are the lifeforce that animate the bodymind (Sanskrit: namarupa) of all sentient beings and are key to certain tantric Buddhist and Bon sadhanas and Traditional Tibetan medicine.
to the vayu and prana of ayurvedic medicine.
as a component of the term for a type of prayer flag, named after the allegorical Wind Horse (Tibet: lung ta).
a type of tantric buddhist empowerment that involves the transference of spiritual power from master to augment or refine that of the disciple through the recitation of scripture or song. This oracular transmission received aurally defines Mantrayana and Ngagpa traditions and provides them with their nomenclature.
the "reading transmission" of sutrayana texts, in which the entirety of the text is read aloud from teacher to student.

-- Wikipedia, Lung (Tibetan Buddhism)

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche devotes an entire section of his book "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep" to the topic of prana.
In answer to your auxiliary questions, it again depends somewhat on which tradition you follow, but I think the consensus is that only sentient beings share the quality of prana, however it is understood.


In the Theravada tradition, when one dies, he/she is reborn immediately. There's no gap between death and birth. I think this confusion comes becauses of the stories about people floating around, looking for a suitable womb, after death. But those beings who float around can still see and hear. That means they have a body with functional senses. So they are born already into a new existence.


Sutras says that there is nothing to attain: but is there a beginning to attaining nirvana?

The teachings that describe how there is nothing to attain can easily be misleading. I think, the answer to your question is twofold.

Nirvana is not something that can be attained. This is simply because when you experience the highest truths, you realize that there is no self.
Since there is no self, there is no one present to attain anything.

For the illusory self who has not yet experience enlightenment, it appears as if there is a path to walk. It begins as soon as you choose to learn who you are. The illusory self will learn things and practice meditation. Then, the illusory self will see itself as a farce.

Do not get caught up in the trap that some do when reading these quotes. The Buddha very specifically tailored his teachings to the level of understanding those listening had. These quotes are not useful for people who are still experiencing suffering. They are an arahants understandings, meant for other enlightened beings. They are very easy to be misunderstood.

Someone commented on your post and said something id like to clarify. When it is said "Realizing there is no learning then all the learning is completed", what is being referred to is not the path of the illusory self, but what occurs once enlightenment occurs. If you still believe you are this and not that, there is still more to learn. If you still feel suffering, there is still more to learn.

The bottom line is, be careful while reading some of these teachings. Know who they were meant for, because although they may be true from a perspective that holds specific knowledge, that may not be the readers perspective.