Is Buddhism the fastest growing religion in the West

Is Buddhism the fastest growing religion in the west?

Well according to Asian Tribune, an internet daily newspaper, in a story Buddhism fastest growing religion in West from April 7, 2008.

  Buddhism is being recognized as the fastest growing religion in Western societies both in terms of new converts and more so in terms of friends of Buddhism, who seek to study and practice various aspects of Buddhism.

It should be noted this article did not contain demographic numbers. It was a report on a public lecture given at All Ceylon Buddhist Congress Hall Colombo and "was delivered under the auspices of the Buddhist and Pali University, All-Ceylon Buddhist Congress and the Buddhist Times Trust".

Demographic numbers, were however available at Pew Research-Religious & Public Life Project dated December 18, 2012 The Global Religious Landscape – Buddhists give an overall look at Buddhist demographics.

This project noted that while 7% of the world's total population is Buddhist, 99% of these Buddhists live in the Asia-Pacific region. All other areas including North America, Latin America, and Europe have 1% or less of their populations identifying as Buddhist.

If only 1% of Western populations are Buddhist, what is the remaining makeup? (At this point I had to narrow the question to the US as I was unable to find comprehensive info for the west in general.)But for the US, for example, according to Pew Research Center, U.S. doesn't rank high in religious diversity Americans are:

Christians - 78%
Unaffiliated - 16%
Jews - 2%
Buddhist - 1%
Muslims - <1%
Hindus - <1%
Folk Religion <1%
Other Religion <1%

But these figures are far from static. According to the most comprehensive Pew Research document I found, U.S.Religious Landscape Survey, a full 28% percent of Americans have changed their religious affiliation since childhood. (This does not include changing from one type of Protestantism to another; it would be 44% if that was included.) So what are they converting to? Lots of things including Buddhism.

  • In sharp contrast to Islam and Hinduism, Buddhism in the U.S. is primarily made up
  of native-born adherents, whites and converts. Only one-in-three American Buddhists
  describe their race as Asian, while nearly three-in-four Buddhists say they are converts to
  Buddhism.

72% of American Buddhists are converts as compared to 27% originally born Buddhists.

An interesting fact is that the report states that only 50% of those raised as Buddhists in the US, still consider themselves Buddhist. So Buddhism in the US has simultaneously one of the highest rates of conversion from other religions to it and one of the lowest rates of retention of those born into it. (Lots of folks looking for something new I guess!)

But these American Buddhists tend to be satisfied with their personal lives. In a survey question (from the Pew Landscape report) asking "All in all, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in your personal
life?" 90% of Buddhist respondents stated satisfied; the highest percentage of any religious group. Only 8% reported "dissatisfied"; the lowest of any religious group.

But I'll wind it up with the observation from the Pew Landscape report that all religious groups in the US are continually gaining and losing members at all times. With the US Buddhist population being 72% converts, the half of the originally born Buddhists who leave Buddhism still leave it in a net gain category (based on "Childhood Versus Current Affiliation of U.S. Adults" on page 24 of U.S.Religious Landscape Survey).

Buddist gains are .3%. That sounds small until you look at all mainstream groups which are in the negative. In fact, the only groups that have a higher percentage gain are "unaffiliated" which is not a religion and "other faiths" which is the very small group of religions so small they are not broken out separately. So in that sense, you could perhaps say Buddhism is the fastest growing religion in the US. :)


There are two descriptions here of the Dalai Lama's morning routine:

Routine Day

When His Holiness is at home in Dharamsala, he wakes up at 3 am. After his morning shower, His Holiness begins the day with prayers, meditations and prostrations until 5 am. From 5 am His Holiness takes a short morning walk around the residential premises. If it is raining outside, His Holiness has a treadmill to use for his walk.

At Home With the Dalai Lama

At 3:45 a.m. ... At a time when only the street dogs were up, the Dalai Lama began his prostrations. ... I lost count after a while, but I figured he must have done about three dozen full prostrations. ... With his prostrations done, he walked to a treadmill tucked away by the window. He hung his prayer beads on the handle bar next to a draped towel and began to pace rapidly on the moving belt. Almost immediately he closed his eyes as he surrendered to the machine's rhythm, and meditated as he exercised. it was a much faster version of walking meditation. ... After showering, the Dalai Lama took me up to the roof of the residence. ... The Dalai Lama stared into the distance, absorbing the quiet, allowing all his senses to experience the tranquil majesty of the surroundings. ... It was chilly and we didn't stay long on the roof. After we returned to his room, the Dalai Lama immediately went into meditation. He sat on a cushion behind his desk ...

Perhaps this indicates how the Dalai Lama awakens his body before and during morning meditation.


How is enlightenment or mindfulness reflected in the functioning of the aggregates?

How are the aggregates affected by a person's becoming enlightened or more enlightened?

As far as I understand , for an enlightened mind the aggregates will cease to exist because the mind will no longer cling to the aggregates. Because with the cessation of clinging, cessation of existence … cessation of birth … aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair cease. The cessation of this whole mass of suffering will happen. This includes cessation of forms, feelings,perceptions, consciousness and volitional formations.

How does "mindfulness" affect the aggregates, what's the change (in the functioning of each aggregate) depending on whether or not you're being mindful?

To be mindfully aware of not clinging to the aggregates(as long as they are present) is mindfulness. Logically for a mindful person aggregates will cease to exist once enlightenment is achieved.

Is this a wrong question -- were/are the "aggregates" only taught in the context of their being something inconstant and not worth attaching to?

Aggregates are taught with reference to getting rid of the idea of self which is present in most of us. Conceiving self is like a disease and a person conceives self through the aggregates. Aggregates are taught in this context.

I have tried to answer logically based on whatever I have learned till now. Hope this helps.


Prostration and attachment to rites and rituals

Preforming a ceremonial act isn't the same thing as clinging to rites and rituals. Clinging to rites and rituals specifically means that you think that some ceremonial action has some sort of power in it that can take you to enlightenment.


What is the definition of 'fool' in Theravada Buddhist text?

In SN 12.19 (Bala-pandita Sutta: The Fool & the Wise Person) the Buddha explains "what distinguishing factor is there between the wise person & the fool":

The Blessed One said, "The ignorance with which the fool is obstructed, the craving with which he is conjoined, through which this body results: that ignorance has not been abandoned by the fool; that craving has not been destroyed. Why is that? The fool has not practiced the holy life for the right ending of stress. Therefore, at the break-up of the body, he is headed for a [new] body. Headed for a body, he is not entirely freed from birth, aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. I tell you, he is not entirely freed from stress & suffering.
"The ignorance with which the wise person is obstructed, the craving with which he is conjoined, through which this body results: that ignorance has been abandoned by the wise person; that craving has been destroyed. Why is that? The wise person has practiced the holy life for the right ending of stress. Therefore, at the break-up of the body, he is not headed for a [new] body. Not headed for a body, he is entirely freed from birth, aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. He is, I tell you, entirely freed from stress & suffering."


If you throw a rock at a window, there is the expectation of it hitting the window. Where is this expectation stored?
Likewise with all intention, intending one acts, throwing a rock is an action which begets results. Where are the expected results stored?
If you analyzed the properties of the rock mid flight along with all of the relevant circumstances in the entire world, you could for sure deduct it's trajectory and arrive at it eventually hitting the window.
So the information about the world [incl the result of actions] is the world and is in the world and nowhere else.
In the Dhamma that which perceives & conceives the world is called the world.
If you conceive & perceive someone throwing a rock at a window, you quickly deduct the consequences in as far as you understand the circumstances which the senses present and the more you know the more you can deduct about the outcomes.
If you knew everything about everything you could know everything that is going to happen as a result of a particular action but this is impossible because samsara is beginningless.


Was the London Buddhist Society the first Western Sangha?

I am not sure if this fits your definition but the Pali Text Society was older.


Are dark night problems a common thing? It worries me that if I practice they might happen

Yes, passing through what you called "dark night" is a prerequisite for Enlightenment.
The term refers to existential crisis experienced around the time of fully realizing Emptiness and the Three Marks of Existence. In Vajrayana tradition this is also referred to as the death of the ego. As Chogyam Trungpa said,

  Enlightenment is ego's ultimate disappointment.

(On a separate note, I would not blindly believe anything I read on dharmaoverground.org -- that community does not seem to be grounded in genuine teaching.)


What is the actual status of the Dalai Lama in regard of Dhamma-Vinaya?

The 14th Dalai Lama has no standing in the Theravada Buddhist tradition.
However, in the Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist tradition and conforming to the Dharma and Vinaya of Tibetan Buddhism (and in particular, the Gelug school), the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso is:

a Tibetan Buddhist monk
a Tibetan Buddhist lama i.e. a teacher of the Dharma (as taught in Tibetan Buddhism)
a tulku (reincarnate custodian of a specific lineage of teachings)
incarnation of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara
head of the Gelug ("Yellow Hat") school of Tibetan Buddhism

The bodhisattva's achievements in Mahayana Buddhism is measured in bhumi levels. However, it's unclear to me what is the bhumi level of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.


The Buddha is a source of suffering if you cling to his form, but not his teachings. By understanding the Buddha's teachings, you understand what is great and important about him. His form or voice or personality is not considered as great or important as his teachings.

Even his teachings (the Dhamma) are meant to be a raft that carries one to the other shore (Nibbana) but one should not cling to it, as one might cling to a raft after crossing the river.

From the Vakkali Sutta:

  "For a long time, Lord, I have wanted to come and set eyes on the
  Blessed One, but I had not the strength in this body to come and see
  the Blessed One."

  "Enough, Vakkali! What is there to see in this vile body? He who sees
  Dhamma, Vakkali, sees me; he who sees me sees Dhamma. Truly seeing
  Dhamma, one sees me; seeing me one sees Dhamma."


What is the sutta in which the Buddha described focusing the mind as similar to whittling?

I am not sure that these are what you asking for.

Maha-Malunkya Sutta: Insight Meditation To Be Anāgāmi-Ariya

http://tipitaka.wikia.com/wiki/Maha-Malunkya_Sutta

Maha Saropama Sutta: The Longer Heartwood-simile Discourse

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.029.than.html

Angulimala Sutta: About Angulimala

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.086.than.html


Eradication of identity view is a cause or effect of stream entry?

To me this question sounds like an example of reification. In my opinion, in real life the numerous factors of Understanding and Liberation develop gradually, supporting each other in lockstep.

The more someone sees through the numerous simplistic assumptions underlying our idea of "self" - the more one can be said to be free from the self-view. In practice the stream-entry is gradual, just like Enlightenment itself (I believe).

The entire maturity model is pretty much a reification - defining clear-cut categories where even the criteria for delineation are not well-defined. This is why in Mahayana we are advised against obsessing over categorization too much, because it can lead to dead-end arguments, but also supports the self-view. On which level am I? - this very question already presupposes existence of "I" that can occupy a level.

I think the whole model is a bit sarcastic on Buddha's part towards the junior students (and Buddha WAS known for his sarcasm) in the spirit of "oooooh, sounds like you still have many more lives to go, brother" etc.


Why is the problem with the personal pronouns 'I, me and mine'?

Begin with these 3 characteristics which are true of all things:

impermanence (also called change): nothing ever stays in one state or eternally the same. Use things like flowing rivers and growing plants, or the effects of time/gravity/erosion to visualize this constant growth, decay, transformation, evolution.
unsatisfactoriness: although we may feel for brief moments that some things are "perfect" (wonderful), we quickly begin to realize that there are imperfections, flaws, difficulties, and obstacles in all things/situations.
non-self (also called unsubstantiallity):

When you refer to something as "mine" you are labeling it as something stable and unchanging. That's nicca (permanence). But it is truer to say that it is momentarily (at best) "yours", because your hold on it is impermanent. Even (as an example) if you call land "yours" it was there for an unmeasurable time before you arrived, and it will outlast you by an even greater period of time. It is also changing constantly, and it is unaware of you.

A human is the sum of :
1. Body,
2. Feelings,
3. Perception,
4. Thoughts/Mental Formations,
5. Consciousness.

I numbered them because you will often hear them referred to as “5 aggregates” that means that everything you can list about your ‘self’ can be put into one of these 5 categories.
Although you may feel that each of them are solidly “you” if you take a little time you will begin to see that all of them are constantly changing. For example, your thoughts feel as though they are “you”, but just because you had a negative thought doesn't mean that's who you are. You are not that thought, and it is not you.
Observing these 5 parts of “you” changing during meditation will help you achieve the understanding of their impermanence. Buddhism is mainly concerned with experiential knowledge and through meditation you may achieve this insight.  The practice of mediation is where the conviction of non-self (anatta) grows. These 5 are always changing in response to continuously changing conditions and this makes them unsubstantial, also described as without a "solid core".

Often these 5 aspects give us the impression that we are them, and they are us. But try meditating on the question:

How can it be "you" or "yours" if you can't really grasp it?

In the beginning you may feel that you are grasping (one or all of) these aspects, and there may be a sense of attachment to one or all of them, but gradually you will perceive that it's futile because they are changing and not completely under your control.


Avoiding inner narration while practising Anapanasati

Inner talking is fairly standard with all practitioners. In your case it takes a form of instructions, in other cases it can be songs, arguments with imaginary adversaries, all sort of replayed conversations that had some emotional charges in them, or simply commenting on what one's currently doing.

All teachers I worked with always said I must learn to stop that talking.

At the end of the day, it takes a level of integration and control over one's mental faculties when you can directly feel where this talking is coming from and can let go of it, in the same kind of way as you relax a muscle.

Until you reach that level of insight and control, you can try several tricks:

reading meaningless mantras, out loud or in your head
holding your tongue and lips in a fixed position, e.g. tongue up against the roof of your mouth, lips closed
switching and holding your attention onto external auditory environment (background noises)
rolling your eyes and/or engaging your peripheral vision
humming

At some point you will reach a level of integration when the talking will be very easy to stop. Until then just try to see how inner talking is (usually) connected with some sort of inner neurosis and see if you can relax that. Meanwhile you can try using the tricks above to stop it when it gets too annoying.


"Kundalini" experiences during meditation

I've experienced this myself on a number of occasions though I never heard it called kundalini. Sometimes the experience has been exactly as you describe it. Sometimes it's a tingling feeling all over the body. Sometimes it feels like electric jolts. Sometimes the jolts manifest in physical movement.

I was advised that this was probably a manifestation of piti (rapture). This would be in the context of the rupa-jhana factors going from

applied thought (vitakka)
sustained thought (vicāra)
joy/rapture/happiness (pīti)
happiness/pleasure/bliss (sukha)
equanimity (upekkhā)
one-pointedness (ekaggatā)

So you could expect this to be proceeded by strengthening concentration and perhaps develop into a calmer more pleasurable state (sukka). Here is a further breakdown of piti which again feels familiar to me. Yours might fit into the last two classification - exalting and fulfilling rapture.

From conversations I had with other people the exact manifestations of these very much depend on the type of person. I'm more the anxious, type A type of person so I feel a lot of energy. I often feel it trapped in me then it comes out in great surges. Other people never feel this.

I think the important thing with these kind of experiences is not to get attached to them and not to pursue them. They are as they are and they come and go. In the experience themselves there is no insight nor is there lasting benefit. Like everything these things are ultimately impermanent and unsatisfactory.


In (Pali) Buddhism, what leads to suffering is craving & attachment rather than opinions. Opinions in themselves are not necessarily suffering. It is only attachment to opinions or opinions born of craving that are suffering. For example, the opinion that the 'sky is blue' is not suffering.


The Justice Thought & System & its Morals?

Justice system is driven by unskillful intentions, but a necessity to maintain society. Essentially any action rooted in hatred, greed or ignorance is not skilful. For many justice is a form of retribution for some action done by another which is based on hatred which and unskillful root.

If you are judge you are expected to judge justly.

Reporting crime one needs to weigh the karmic consequences one may willing to bear and impact or betterment it brings.

If you are a witness brought forward by subpoena then you have to tell the truth. In many cases of coming forward to report a crime may not be skilful if it is motivated by hatred, greed or ignorance. Generally when coming forward one has sympathy towards the victim and hatred towards the perpetrator.


What is the proper etiquette when greeting/meeting a Venerable?

You bow one time when you meet the monk and you bow one time when you depart. You bow to the Buddha statue when you offer flowers, incense sticks, oil lamps etc. or when you chant some verse in front of the statue.


If the literal truth causes confusion, but a lie portrays the truth via a careful misunderstanding, is it really a lie?

As a counter to the other answer, Wikipedia's article on upāya ('skillful means') describes the Parable of the burning house:

  The Lotus Sutra contains a famous upaya story about using the expedient means of white lies to rescue children from a burning building.

There's a similar, modern. non-Buddhist term for this called Lie-to-children:

  Because some topics can be extremely difficult to understand without experience, introducing a full level of complexity to a student or child all at once can be overwhelming. Hence elementary explanations are simplified in a way that makes the lesson more understandable, though technically wrong. A lie-to-children is meant to be eventually replaced with a more sophisticated explanation which is closer to the truth.

Some lineages also apparently have secrets which may be similar to this.

I wonder whether to deduce that it's OK as long there is no intent to deceive. But saying "there are toys" (in the 'Parable of the burning house') seems like an actual deception. It's beneficial/compassionate, at least. And skillful/necessary. Maybe it's not even deceptive (it's hard to tell when it's a parable or metaphor).

So, yes: "portraying the truth via a careful miunderstanding" seems to have a basis in literature (Mahayana and Vajrayāna, even if not Theravada). Upāya is apparently a Mahayana concept.

Havig said this I hope you won't use it as an excuse to deceive people. I think there's some justification for saying that ignorance is a cause of suffering, and that deception goes with ignorance, so I hope you won't be deceiving people.


The scriptures (AN 3.38) report, before his enlightenment to Buddhahood, when the unenlightened Gotama lived in three palaces, he had the vision he would get old, sick & die and this vision made him lose intoxication with his youth & life.
Then upon enlightenment, he fully realised the five aggregates that compose life (body, feelings, perception, thought function & sense consciousness) are 'not-self'; and one reason why each of the five aggregates cannot be a 'self' is because each can be subject to affliction & sickness that cannot be controlled (refer to beginning of SN 22.59).
It is reported the Buddha once taught to an elderly man that:

The body is afflicted, weak & encumbered. For who, looking after this body, would claim even a moment of true health, except through sheer
foolishness?
SN 22.1

Therefore, although Gotama's original vision of death as a youth resulted in great angst in his mind & a long experimental spiritual search, in the end, his Buddhahood was merely the full acceptance & thus being at complete peace with his original vision of inevitable decay, death & impermanence.
In your situation, the place to go is the development of meditative calm (samatha) & clear insight (vipassana) so the mind is at complete peace & freedom with illness, aging & death (rather than having discomfort with this initial vision). In Buddhism, this is called reaching the 'Deathless'.

Monks, mindfulness of death — when developed & pursued — is of great fruit & great benefit. It gains a footing in the Deathless, has the
Deathless as its final end (culmination).
AN 6.20


Looking for a clear explanation of "interdependent origination" in English (one that doesn't rely a lot of Buddhist terminology)?

The Wikipedia entry on dependent origination is pretty good and simple. Similarly there is a good essay called Dependent Arising by Piya Tan.

In simple terms this is as follows:

When the cause is present, the effect arising from the cause is present as well
When the cause arises, the effect arising from the cause arises as well
When the cause is not present, the effect arising from the cause is not present as well
When the cause ceases, the effect arising from the cause ceases as well

The 12 links dependent origination (found in numerous Suttas like (Avijjā) Paccaya Sutta) you fill in specific cases and their resulting effects and how these affects in turn become a cause to create more effects.

The most elaborate of specific cause and effect relationships are found in the Theory of Conditional Relations. This maybe above the head for many.

Another rendering of this is the 4 Noble Truths.


Is too much of good kamma an obstacle for enlightenment?

First of all some information in the question needs enplaning before going any further.

About devas aspiring to be humans

This is the full story...

Just like any other being the karma of devas run out.Then something amazing start to appear.The flowers they ware start to loose their beauty and die (Like our flowers in the evening),their body's start to sweat for the first time,They loose the appeal for the comforts in deva realm.

When others see this they come to these friends who are about to leave them and say this "Focus on the Human realm,you can continue your path there.You can even come back to us."

Then they follow as advised and come for a birth here.

The common misunderstanding

Do this before believing what i am about to say.

Go to "Youtube" and watch few executions by terrorists,If you watch anymore than half a dozen you will need some help to sleep today.

So what's the point of doing that?

This is why,

That was only few videos Devas are not bunch of playboys having a good time without a care in the world.As to "Suttas/Sutras" they are given territories
to look after,Some come down to earth to help the people in need (After all we are their children,parents,relatives),Some travel between realms to teach other the path to nirvana.

Unlike us they do not look away,You only experienced few tragedies and cruelty.They see it million times bigger all over the globe everyday.Not to mention the other realms with life.What is our pain they do see the pain in hell (the naraka / apaya).pain in those realms are nonparallel with any other,it is that high.
They are not covered from reality of life.

One day a monk who genuinely tried his best to reach nirvana died
before reaching nirvana.Now he opens his eyes as if he just woke
up.He is terrorized by what he sees,"The deva realm." A lot of devas
were gathering to greet him knowing that he was a good monk.They were
beautiful and kind but our ex-monk deva saw them as if they were ugly
ghosts.With immense pain he came to see lord Buddha and told what
happened to him.Lord Buddha kindly advised him and asked him to
continue his practice.He went back to his realm and told his many
female devas (who were born for him) "I am continuing my practice and
i consider you all my sisters."

This is only one story,Let me present the details directly from lord Buddha..

Lord Buddha said that what happens there is more like what happens here.Just like in our world people who look away from pain and go get lost in joy exist there.The people who want an understanding search for truth,They get help from others and they even have discussion sessions with "Brahmas (Beings from the highest realms)".

If you think having anything on demand is going to harm concentration or the path to nirvana itself do this.

Look at yourself,now you are on the internet.Whatever you wish to have is on demand, you can entertain all of your six senses,go after any temptation for free!

Let me remind you...

Instead of reading about Buddhism you can do anything else right now.I mean what's wrong with us?, reading texts on some page about Buddhism!

This is the difference between common people and people like us.It's the fire that keeps burning leading us to try to find more meaning to life.This my friend is the spark that burns in any wise being in higher realms!

Also let me tell you some less known fact!

I hope you know about "Albert Einstein's - Relativity" because it will help you to understand this easily.

"Lord Buddha said beings in Deva realm have very long lives".The relativity comes in to action making us live in different speeds of time.

I know it was a bit hard to understand.Let me tell you a story mentioned in Buddhism that would do the trick.

One day a female in deva realm went to a garden with her husband and their friends.While spending time there she died because of her birth karma expiring.She was born among humans,she remembered her last life so she became a follower of lord Buddha and did many good things in hope of seeing her husband again.she lived a full human life and lied.She was born back at her place like she wanted.S she rushed to that garden of her last life they were still there and they asked an amazing question "Where were you in the morning we searched everywhere" she replied saying i was born among humans and lived a whole life time there.They were very sad and said "Oh how short is a human life!"

Get ready for the surprise of your life!

As to calculations given in Buddhism to deva Realms it has been only five days from Lord Buddhas leaving (death).There are still arahants there who offer doubtless advice to the ones who practice the path.

Looking at the Extra long life,A mind that is way faster and better than ours,Being in the company of arahants it is way better than being human!
Here in my country (Sri Lanka) where there is a Theravada practice we are often advised to focus on Deva realms because of the growing evilness of the world.Most of us plan to leave here,honestly i advice you the same if you do not reach nirvana in  this life.The future world is not for us,it is for "kill or be killed" people.

About too much of good karma

There is no such thing,Lord Buddha said that any good karma is good no matter the size.

This is Lord Buddhas words.....

"There is only one friend to the beings who wander in sansara,it is nothing else but their own karma"

May triple gems bless you!

Please comment if you have any questions.


Do you need to be taught the nembutsu? Are some personalities better suited to it?

Nembutsu - repeating a name of a Buddha - is a practice which might help us to

let go of worries,
abandon self-centeredness,
develop exalted qualities,
and develop concentration.

If you understand and do this practice sincerely, it might bring you benefits even if nobody particularly taught you.

The first effect, helping to drop worries, comes from the fact that people usually live in a lot of insecurity. Practising nembutsu, they don't need to rely on their weak skills anymore, they rely on Buddha. So they find a ground to feel well and secure.

The second effect, abandoning self-centeredness, results from the same change of perspective. Rather than relying to ourselves, worrying about ourselves etc., we might wish to become selfless. Nembutsu practice can constantly remind us about that, so we change our mental habits from being self-centered to a selfless view.

The third effect, developing exalted qualities, comes from concentration on qualities of Buddha, such as the wisdom of clear seeing, calmness, compassion etc. Concentration on such qualities helps them to grow in our mind and around us.

The fourth effect, developing concentration, actually reinforces our mastery of the mind, feelings of strength and security. I didn't practice nembutsu very much, just a couple of months, but I noticed that through that practice my personality became more direct and self-confident. That was an effect of chanting "námó dìzàng wáng púsà" or reciting "Kshitigarbha" (I tried both approaches) 1000 times a day. When you are walking down the street or riding a bus, regardless of other people looking at you etc., you naturally develop perseverance, confidence, and drop imaginary barriers between yourself and others.

Thus this practice can work well, and might help you to come closer to awakening.

Different people have different situations and affinities, so it's hardly possible to say in advance, how well the practice will work for you. To see the effects of practices, we should try them and directly observe our experience.

Chinese Chan (Zen) teachers might say that they use mantras and nembutsu in a different way, not like in Pure Land school. Not for reliance on Buddhas but just for developing concentration. As Buddhas are projections of the mind, why not work with the mind directly? So in Zen it's rather a supplementary practice than the main one.

Nembutsu practitioners might be criticized, because in place of attachment to self they might develop attachment to nembutsu, or to their fantasies about Buddhas, to images of Buddhas, to pleasant feelings of deep concentration etc.

Therefore, it might be recommended to keep wide awareness of your experience as a whole, rather than just immersing in chanting and forgetting everything around. The purpose of Buddhist practice is not to escape from this world but to transform our experience remaining in the midst of life.

If we overdo developing concentration-tranquility, and neglect awareness, that might develop dullness, "lazy mind", not conductive to good practice. And the opposite, developing awareness without tranquility might lead to exhaustion, because as our concentration grows, vexation also might become stronger.

So if you explore the practice of nembutsu, it's best if you keep the balance of tranquility and inquisitiveness, and keep wide awareness in order to avoid developing attachments. To let go of attachments, it's advisable to practise active helping others, Six paramitas.


Suppose we call "extinction" (by which I mean nirvana or final nirvana) whatever puts out the wandering mind / mental states.

I think the first paragraph, "extinction or nirvana is whatever puts out the mind", suggests that nirvana has been reified and is seen as an agent which acts to put out the mind.

FWIW I don't know that it's that: I see it as a description of a state (perhaps a state of mind), not an agent: it's the state-of-being-extinguished (or of having-been-extinguished), not the agent-which-does-the-extinguishing. It's like the difference between Enlightenment (which is a noun) and enlightened (which is an adjective).

Also the word "extinguish" comes I think from the analogy of a flame: if you look at it, a flame appears to cling to what it's burning ... if it's burning a match or a log, the flame kind of clings to and dances around the wood.

I think that the "nirvana is an extinguishing" analogy comes from saying, "what would happen to a flame if it stopped clinging to its fuel source?"

So if you're asking "what puts out the mind" then that's like asking "how do you attain nirvana or become enlightened", and I think that the answer to that is "Buddhist practice" e.g. the Noble Eightfold Path (or something else though maybe perhaps similar in later versions of Buddhism).

you might like to add extinction of greed, hate and delusion, which are the fuel. :)

In case it would help you to know, there's some debate about "what is the fuel?" in the analogy.

Wikipedia's Nirvana with and without remainder of fuel references Gombridge. On page 66 of Gombridge's How Buddhism Began (in a chapter titled "Metaphor, allegory, satire") he claims that:

He showed in an earlier paper of his that the "three fires" was a reference to the (literally) three fires which a brahmin householder was expected to keep alight.
Later generations of Buddhists weren't interested in debates with Vedic brahmans and forgot the origin of the metaphor.
In later (e.g. Mahayana) times the "three fires" became associated with the "three poisons".

You can maybe kind of see that:

Wikipedia's Three fires (Buddhism) link redirects to the three poisons
The comments/conversation underneath this answer suggest that the "three poisons" are more central in a later version of Buddhism than an earlier version.

In contrast, the following suggest that it's the khandhas which are the fuel:

In Five Piles of Bricks – The Khandhas as Burden & Path
Thanissaro Bhikkhu writes,

  The Buddha introduced the concept of the khandhas in his first sermon in response to the first of these questions. His short definition of suffering was "the five clinging-khandhas." This fairly cryptic phrase can be fleshed out by drawing on other passages in the canon.

  The five khandhas are bundles or piles of form, feeling, perception, fabrications, and consciousness. None of the texts explain why the Buddha used the word khandha to describe these things. The meaning of "tree trunk" may be relevant to the pervasive fire imagery in the canon — nibbana being extinguishing of the fires of passion, aversion, and delusion — but none of the texts explicitly make this connection.

In The Fire Sermon the Buddha asks, "What is burning?" and answers, that sense organs (e.g. eye), form, sense-contact, sense-consciousness, etc., are burning with the fires of lust and hate and delusion.

So apparently the three poisons are the three fires, but the khandhas (to which these fires cling) are the fuel.

is nirvana categorically not an agent?

Well, who knows, right? That's how I categorized it. If other people think I'm wrong then hopefully they won't let me mislead you, and will instead downvote this answer, or post a comment or post an alternative answer (currently it appears that two people agreed with it). Some people didn't understand your question though, which might be why it doesn't have more answers.

FWIW I think that maybe later schools of Buddhism might 'reify' more:

Later schools might (I don't know) see "Buddha-nature" as an agent.

Buried in Wikipedia's Buddha-nature article is the following quote,

  The Lankavatara-sutra contains tathagata-garba thought, but also warns against reification of the idea of Buddha-nature, and presents it as an aid to attaining awakening:

    Is not this Tathagata-garbha taught by the Blessed One the same as the ego-substance taught by the philosophers? The ego as taught by the philosophers is an eternal creator, unqualified, omnipresent, and imperishable.

    The Blessed One replied: [...] it is emptiness, reality-limit, Nirvana, being unborn, unqualified, and devoid of will-effort; the reason why the Tathagatas [...] teach the doctrine pointing to the Tathagata-garba is to make the ignorant cast aside their fear when they listen to the teaching of egolessness and to have them realise the state of non-discrimination and imagelessness

Would you say that "egolessness, non-discrimination and imagelessness" can be "categorized as an agent"? I'd say no, that's not an agent. That might be splitting hairs though, because although not an "agent" I could call it a "condition". The theory of Dependent Origination (and the second noble truth) emphasizes that things are conditioned/conditional/dependent, they arise or don't arise depending on certain conditions. Perhaps the condition could be called an "agent", if it causes or allows something, but maybe it's not "acting" or "taking an active role", not a doer of an action, not a subject of active verb, it is "devoid of will-effort".
I think that, certainly, some view Bodhisattvas as agents.
There are other 'states' which I view as being more 'active' than nirvana (although they're still just 'states' and not 'agents' themselves): i.e. the brahmavihāras (or appamaññā) i.e. the states like 'metta' and so on.
Gombridge also claims that nirvana is viewed differently between Mahayana versus earlier schools.

  I hope it is not too farfetched
  to suggest that this may have contributed to an important
  development in the Mahayana: that it came to separate nirvana
  from bodhi, ‘awakening’ to the truth, Enlightenment, and to put a
  lower value on the former (Gombrich, 1992d). Originally nirvana
  and bodhi refer to the same thing; they merely use different
  metaphors for the experience. But the Mahayana tradition
  separated them and considered that nirvana referred only
  to the extinction of craving (= passion and hatred), with the
  resultant escape from the cycle of rebirth. This interpretation
  ignores the third fire, delusion: the extinction of delusion is of
  course in the early texts identical with what can be positively
  expressed as gnosis, Enlightenment.

After all that, it's still difficult to be sure of what nirvana is w.r.t. death. Wikipedia summarizes it as follows (and includes a lot of quotes to support that summary),

  What happens with one who has reached nirvana after death is an unanswerable question. The five aggregates vanish, but there does not remain a mere "nothingness."

*... puts out the wandering mind / mental states.

And even apart from whether it's an agent, I don't know that nirvana (assuming you attain nirvana during your life, which is the only time you can attain it) "puts out the wandering mind / mental states".

The bit I mentioned earlier, above, about fire, suggests that nirvana puts out clinging (or craving), and/or that putting out of craving results in nirvana.

The mind continues (that's part of the "burden" that's talked about, which people put down when they die). Whether you'd call it a "wandering" mind I'm not sure. Ability to concentrate (right mindfulness, right concentration) are part of the eightfold path, so maybe not "wandering".

On the other hand some people (even before nirvana) are said to acquire unusual types of special knowledge so in a way perhaps you could say that their mind is able "wander" even further than usual (e.g. to see things far away, to view past lives, etc.) – but maybe just this last paragraph is "Buddhist doctrine" and contradicts what you asked for i.e. an "atheistic" view.


Don't people who are more compassionate suffer more because they
  experience the suffering of other people?

The above appears to be the Western/Christian meaning of compassion, namely, "to suffer with".

In Buddhism, the term "karuṇā" (often translated as "compassion") is the wish to ending suffering. It does not mean "to suffer with".

  karuṇā - “ahita-dukkh-âpanaya-kāmatā,” the desire of removing bane and sorrow (from one’s fellowmen)


North American: Where Can I Ordain Under The Tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw?

Good householder,
Sadhu, at first, for general desire in going forth.
Good to let go of consumer-behaviour at first place and approach ordination like a backpacker a new journey idea, or a worker his next holiday... good householder. One who closes the doors behind, at his home, with right adpiration, will be opened the gates by the Devas along his way for seeking the join the sages and trace the path to Unbound.
In regard to 1: Best ask Bhante Yuttadhammo, as he dwells in Canada, personally. Usually one approaches a Bhikkhu in proper way, and ask's for going forth. The rest would be careful organiced by the Bhikkhu, approaching the Sangha. He might ask if good householder has a Nissaya, teacher. So seeking for a Bhikkhu accepting one as disciple, is propably first to make.
Generally it's not so straight toward homeless state to ask in regard of going forth in lay communities and have geografical, national (identification with home, house, group) preferances, wishes, as such is merely seeking for another home rather that desire the going forth, good householder.
What does householder expect to hear from householders, or to household returned, in regard of going forth? Like to ask about work on the rice-fields in a city coffee-shop, or to google wikipedia...
See also: Q&A How to ordain as a monk of the Buddha?
In regard of 2: Usually traditions upholding Vinaya accept each other, althought sticking to wrong views can be everywhere a hindrance. How ever: it actually does not really depend on Branch or near relation but on personal Upanissaya with particular communities, individuals and kamma of beings is all different. So useless to make founded predictions. Good theacher, knowing one, knowing others, would know if fitting together in regard of Vinaya, way of conducts for pleasing dwelling for Sekhas.
Mudita and may good householder make good use of all his good condition and past merits for fast reaching security in the homeless - state.
(...and there is not such as "my tradition" idea on a journey to liberation. Good to seek for the Buddhas and Noble ones tradition, making such never ones own before it actually is by reaching Arahat-hood)
[Note that this isn't given for stacks, exchange, other home-binding trades but for release from this wheel]


Why are the 16 Unwise Reflections ("shall I exist in future" etc.) considered unwise?

Is there a better (than Wikipedia) explanation why we should not reflect on these questions?

Perhaps a better explanation is the Sabbasava Sutta itself.

The 'unwise reflections' are diverse (16 if you count them) opinions about the 'self':

  "This is how he attends inappropriately: 'Was I in the past? Was I not in the past? What was I in the past? How was I in the past? Having been what, what was I in the past? Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I be in the future?' Or else he is inwardly perplexed about the immediate present: 'Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? Where has this being come from? Where is it bound?'

This causes views or opinions about the self:

  "As he attends inappropriately in this way, one of six kinds of view arises in him: The view I have a self arises in him as true & established, or the view I have no self... or [etc.]

These views aren't helpful:

  This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is not freed from birth, aging, & death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. He is not freed, I tell you, from suffering & stress.

The are other views to be attended to instead:

  "He attends appropriately, This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the way leading to the cessation of stress. As he attends appropriately in this way, three fetters are abandoned in him: identity-view, doubt, and grasping at precepts & practices. These are called the fermentations to be abandoned by seeing.

(i.e. the 'four noble truths').

And the rest of the sutta describes dwelling with restraint; using things moderately; tolerating various things; abandoning various things; destroying (not tolerating) various evil thoughts; developing various virtues.

When the practitioner is successful, then he or she will have abandoned 'fermentations' by the various things above (restraint, use, tolerating, abandoning, destroying, and developing), and will have achieved the goal:

  He has severed craving, thrown off the fetters, and — through the right penetration of conceit — has made an end of suffering & stress."

Even though what I gather generally is that Science and Buddhism are consistent in approach, is Science's relentless search for answers bad for people as well?

Buddhism doesn't try to answer everything.

Science tries to explain why the gravity on the moon isn't as strong as here; why chemicals react with some chemicals but not others; how photosynthesis produces oxygen; how the universe began and whether it will end; etc.

Buddhism is more like a single scientific procedure, a (repeatable) experiment, or a recipe: i.e. Buddhism is a way, teaches a way, to end suffering.

Within that context, and assuming that you want to end suffering, questions or view which don't lead to the end of suffering (which includes 'attending to' those views about the self) are called "unwise".

I don't mean to say that Science itself, or the pursuit of science, is wrong: it may be in the category of Right Livelihood.


Sankharas, once eliminated. Do they have a chance of coming back?

There are ten fetters eliminated in Vipassana meditation. Elimination does not occur before you reach the Sothapanna(stream enterer) state. Until then, fetters are only subdued. Once a fetter is eliminated, it's gone for good. Refer to the table below to know the fetters eliminated at each stage of the path.

Yes, if you stop doing vipassana short of attaining Sothapanna, your mind can fall back to an ordinary corrupted state again.


It's not desire that leads to pleasure, it is ("good") action that does.

Desire in and of itself is blind, it just wants, craves. Desire does not always translate into good action.

Instead, 1) There could be passive frustrating hopeless desire. 2) There could be blind desire that makes you act in self-destructing ways.

So desire for pleasure could very well lead to suffering. Either (1) suffering of frustrating hopeless desire, or (2) suffering of a bad side-effects of careless action.

What leads to pleasure is "good" action. Good action is action that not only creates short-term pleasure, but creates indirect/latent causes for more pleasure and peace and harmony in the long-run! Good action is strategic!

What's wrong with desire for pleasure? Desire for pleasure is not strategic. Desire for pleasure tends to be either short-sighted or careless in terms of side-effects.

Now, you could ask, how can there be action without desire? Very simple! It is action informed by education, or right understanding, or shame, or honor, or fear etc. Not all action comes from desire.

Finally, you should understand that in Buddhism pleasure is seen as inherently short-term and prone to side-effects, so per Buddhism the better goal is "peace" or "harmony". Therefore in Buddhism we say that right action, the one that comes from right understanding, leads to peace and harmony.


I'm pretty sure the belief is not that earthworms become mothers, it's that every earthworm has most likely been your mother at some point in the past, as per the mata sutta (SN 15.14-19):

At Savatthi. There the Blessed One said: "From an inconstruable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. A being who has not been your mother at one time in the past is not easy to find... A being who has not been your father... your brother... your sister... your son... your daughter at one time in the past is not easy to find.
"Why is that? From an inconstruable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. Long have you thus experienced stress, experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling the cemeteries — enough to become disenchanted with all fabricated things, enough to become dispassionate, enough to be released."

So, the point is that the love and care we have for our mothers should really extend to all beings, since we are all intimately related - a corollary is that your boy/girlfriend has also probably been both your mother and your father at one point :)


Does any other sect of Buddhism have the stages of insight?

Other sects definitely have plenty of "stages", just not necessarily the same ones.
For example in Tibetan Buddhism there's not just one text but a whole genre of texts called "Stages of the path" (usually shortened to Lamrim in Tibetan). These are not stages of meditation, rather it is the overall stages of insight and realization of the practice of buddha-dharma. You can see a sample of titles in this genre on the corresponding Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamrim
Zen has the stages of taming the bull, as described in the other answer. Again, these are overall maturity not specifically meditation.
Although if you ask me, Visuddhimagga's stages don't read like in-meditation stages either, by that I mean they look more like (slightly obscured) stages of the realization of Emptiness than stages of progression of one's meditation skills. This gets more obvious when we see similar lists from other early schools, each of them having a slightly different description of the stages all clearly pointing to the same overall sequence of investigation => realization => denial => acceptance => liberation.
When it comes to meditation stages proper, Mahayana ones actually seem to be more to the point. For example in Tibetan tradition one traditional list is known as the "stages of taming the elephant" and counts anywhere from 10 to 30+ stages. Another one is called "The Nine Stages of Settling the Mind" etc. These actually describe one's meditation skills at each level of maturity - unlike Visuddhimagga's that mentions more generic things such as disenchantment, conformity, and knowledge of how the overall path works.
To summarize, indeed "separate sects of Buddhism ... have formed their own "maps" - just not necessarily by walking the same exact trail, though the overall landscape is undeniably recognizable to anyone who has walked it.


How to find motivation to overcome a hindrance in the moment of truth?

the only motivation possible is the internal readiness to cultivate the mind and the virtue, understanding that this is what's the Noble Eightfold Path is about

the motivation to follow the path proposed by the Buddha comes from the very understanding of the 4 Noble Truths at least at the intellectual level

so if one does have desire to end suffering they'll follow the path which facilitates attainment of that goal, and strive for proper maintenance of mindfulness

if such understanding and desire are not there, then there's no point in forcing oneself and looking for other types of motivators

speaking of hunger, it's the same as forcing oneself to eat without being hungry or even have an appetite

if one understands the concept of suffering but the understanding still doesn't engender enough will power to follow the Path, there's a good chance that the understanding isn't profound enough and so more reflection on suffering and its ubiquity is probably required

here maranasati may come in handy to develop a certain degree of samvega

Maranasati sutta 1 (AN 6.19)
Maranasati sutta 2 (AN 6.20)

in the Capala sutta (AN 7.58) the Buddha instructs Ven Moggallana on the strategies of dispelling drowsiness during  meditation, which may be of help in cases of waning mindfulness

in the Vitakkasanthana sutta (MN 20) the Buddha explains how to counteract unskillful mental states with appropriate attention

in the Aggi sutta (SN 46.53) he explains what mental states are appropriate for development of certain factors of awakening


Why walking meditation is not mentioned in the ways of attending to mindfulness?

I think that walking is mentioned in DN 22 -- in the translation you referenced, it is this:

  Moreover, monks, a monk while going knows “I go”; or, standing he knows “I am standing”; or, sitting he knows “I am sitting”; or, while lying down he knows “I am lying down”; or, in whatever way his body is disposed, he knows it is (disposed) in that way.

Ven. Sujato's translation:

  Furthermore, when a mendicant is walking they know: ‘I am walking.’ When standing they know: ‘I am standing.’ When sitting they know: ‘I am sitting.’ And when lying down they know: ‘I am lying down.’
  Whatever posture their body is in, they know it.


How to prevent the development of insight to become ignorance anew?

Well, Buddhism is not simply a doctrine or belief system that needs to be defended through clinging to its knowledge or the view. The wisdom mentioned here that is acquired through reading, thinking or studying has to be experienced through Vipassana meditation. Unless it is experienced through this way, this knowledge will become just another view among many other views in this world subject to decay and misinterpretations.
There's a seven step purification process in Vipassana where you begin simply from practicing virtue, give up all the wrong views midway and finally end in wisdom.
You go through the entire process similar to using seven relay chariots until you arrive at the destination where each chariot is used only to achieve its designated purpose and then you abandon it without clinging to it; this is explained nicely in Ratha-vinitha sutta.

"... purity in terms of virtue is simply for
the sake of purity in terms of mind. Purity in terms of mind is simply
for the sake of purity in terms of view. Purity in terms of view is
simply for the sake of purity in terms of the overcoming of
perplexity. Purity in terms of the overcoming of perplexity is simply
for the sake of purity in terms of knowledge & vision of what is & is
not the path. Purity in terms of knowledge & vision of what is & is
not the path is simply for the sake of purity in terms of knowledge &
vision of the way. Purity in terms of knowledge & vision of the way is
simply for the sake of purity in terms of knowledge & vision. Purity
in terms of knowledge & vision is simply for the sake of total
Unbinding through lack of clinging. And it's for the sake of total
Unbinding through lack of clinging that the holy life is lived under
the Blessed One."
Ratha-vinita Sutta [Thanissaro Bhikkhu]

If the steps are followed properly, then it doesn't become a vicious cycle.


Do not meditate with music. It's distracting. Go to a quiet place with the least number of distractions.

There's no such thing called 'breathing'. Breathing is a concept. What you should focus on is the feeling at the nose when the air hits inside. Do not make more than what the senses can feel. All that is felt is the cold, warm, smooth or rough sensations rising and falling. Simply keep noting that. If you happen to hear something, just note it as hearing. Don't make more out of it. Same attitude with any other sensation or thought.

Do not try to thinkup impermanence, suffering and non-self. That is like digging a hole in the ground, putting water to it and calling it a water well. The proper way is to keep digging until you find water. In the same way, keep noting the sensations/thoughts and the 3 characteristics will reveal themselves when the mind is matured.

Here is a handbook for you: https://www.sirimangalo.org/text/how-to-meditate/


Are there other people, according to Buddhism?

The practice of a bodhisatvva

  The entire practice of a bodhisattva is divided into six perfections, which are generosity, discipline, patience, effort, meditative concentration, and wisdom.
  In order to fulfill the hopes of others, it is very important to engage in the practice of generosity, which in turn should be strengthened by a strict observance of ethical discipline, that is, of non-violence.
  The practice of discipline must itself be complemented by that of patience, because you will need to have forebearance when facing the harm inflicted on you by others.
  In order to succeed in these practices, your endeavour must be strong and stable.
  And without meditative concentration that effort will not be so effective.
  Finally if you do not have the wisdom that realizes the nature of all phenomena, you will not be capable of guiding others on the path that leads to enlightenment.

  The sweet taste of bodhicitta

  If there is one practice that is sufficient to bring about buddhahood, it is the practice of great compassion.
  Chandragomin, a sixth-century Indian poet, said that it is stupid to expect to change the taste of a very bitter fruit by simply adding one or two drops of sugar to it.
  In the same way, we cannot expect the fragrance of our minds, which are so contaminated by the bitter taste of delusion, to change instantaneously into the sweet taste of boddhicitta or compassion on the basis of just one or two sessions of meditation.
  Sustained and continuous effort is extremely important.

  As the Buddha himself said, on th strength of their wisdom bodhisattvas abandon all delusion, but through the vigour of applying compassionate methods, they never abandon beings.

The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner Peace -- The Essential Life and Teachings

There was also a video in which the Dalai Lama said,

  I never consider myself as something special. If I consider myself as something different from you, like I am Buddhist, or even more, I am His Holiness the Dalai Lama, or even if I consider I am Nobel Laureate, then actually you create yourself as a prisoner. I forget these things, I simply consider I am one of the seven billion human beings. We are mentally, emotionally, intellectually, we are the same.

He goes on to say that people get fulfillment of purpose, and "always feel happy", from helping others, etc.

It's not that other people "don't exist": it's that there are not "other" people, not different; i.e. "we are the same".


Can we cancel out a kamma by doing a strong opposite kamma?

Bad kamma once sown cannot be erased completely, but by cultivating Sila, Samadhi, Panna, the suttas say it's possible to lessen the intensity/severity of it. See the case of Ven. Angulimala in MN 86 and the Buddha's famous quote:

  Bear with it, brahman! Bear with it! The fruit of the kamma that would have burned you in hell for many years, many hundreds of years, many thousands of years, you are now experiencing in the here-&-now.

Also see the Lonaphala Sutta - AN 3.99


Can you explain how cessation of existence is known to be possible?

I'll use the analogy of the Lute Sutta.
You hear beautiful music coming out of a lute, a stringed musical instrument. If you break it down into its constituent parts, you cannot find music anywhere.
Similarly, reification (papanca) creates the idea of the self, and also the idea of all the non-self things and their relationship to the self. When the existence of the self i.e. the mental idea of the self ("I am the thinker" - from Snp 4.14) ceases, then suffering ceases.
The music in the analogy is the self. The lute in the analogy is the being or satta (Vajira Sutta), an assemblage of the five aggregates.
The different parts of the lute are like the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, mental formation and consciousness. Similar to how different parts of the lute work together to make music, the five aggregates work together according to dependent origination to build up and keep functioning the existence of the self, which is just a mental idea.
By cultivating wisdom, one eventually attains Nirvana, uprooting ignorance. Dependent origination is like a row of cards, the first of which is ignorance. When ignorance falls, the five clinging aggregates (SN 22.48) cease, hence the tainted version of mental formation, consciousness, name-and-form, six sense bases, contact and feeling, all fall. However, the (non-clinging) aggregates remain, which is what is meant by the Nibbana element with fuel remaining in Iti 44. With this, craving, clinging, becoming / existence, birth (the idea of a self) and suffering (aging, death and this entire mass of suffering) all fall and cease.
So, in this case, the lute remains, but no music comes out of it anymore. It may make sounds (i.e. the operation of the five aggregates), but it does not make sweet music (the self) any more. The arahat can feel the physical sensations of pain and pleasure, but does not suffer from them. The arahat can also have intentions and plans, without being tainted with defilements and the three poisons.
When the arahat's physical body dies, it's referred to as Nibbana element without fuel remaining in Iti 44. Here, the lute is broken into pieces and no sound comes out of it anymore. The five aggregates are no longer experienced. Also, the appearance of a being (satta), the assemblage of the five aggregates ceases. This is an emergent phenomena.
Back to the original analogy of the lute - when you break down the lute into its constituent parts, you cannot find music. There is no single thing or object such as music. It is simply an emergent phenomena that appears when different parts of the lute work together.
Upon Nirvana, what disappears is the emergent phenomena of a self - a mental idea, and also the rest of the reification of non-self mental ideas that relate ideas of the world to the self. Nothing concrete gets destroyed. No single object or thing that can be isolated gets destroyed.
Upon the physical death of the arahat, what disappears is the emergent phenomena of a being (satta), the assemblage of the five aggregates.
What is an emergent phenomena? If you arrange pebbles on a beach to look like a human face, then from the sky you can see the emergent phenomena, which is the form of a human face. But if you look closely, it's just an arrangement of pebbles.
To say that there is a concrete object called music or in this case the self - is eternalism. To say that there is no music at all or in this case, no self at all - is annihilationism. Instead, we explain the emergent phenomena of music by way of how it emerges from the inter-working of the different parts of the lute. Similarly, we explain the emergent phenomena of the self by the inter-working of the five aggregates, by means of dependent origination. This is discussed in the Acela Sutta.
Just like music, the lute is also an emergent phenomena - it is composed of various parts. Similarly, the self and the being are also emergent phenomena.
The self understood as an emergent phenomena, is the concept of anatta (not-self). The self and being understood as emergent phenomena that is objectified and classified by the mind into concrete things, is the concept of papanca (reification).
"Turning something into nothing" combines eternalism (something) and annihilationism (nothing). Instead, the explanation above takes the middle way of dependent origination and emergent phenomena.

Another analogy similar to the lute analogy is that of the scent of a flower in Khemaka Sutta.
A similar discussion occurs in the Yamaka Sutta on whether the Buddha ceases to exist after death. There it is proven that Buddha as a person is also an emergent phenomena that is not something concrete or something that can be isolated as a single object or thing.

Addendum based on discussions in the comments:
As answered by Andrei, "existence" in "cessation of existence" refers to bhava. Sometimes also translated as "becoming".
This is on the chain of dependent origination after clinging and before birth (the mental idea of the self). Cessation of existence is really cessation of the mental idea of the self, which is a reification, along with the reification that objectifies and classifies things into non-self objects according to their relationship to the self.
It's the cessation of the mental ideas that lead to suffering, which is next on the chain of dependent origination after birth. "Cessation of existence" is not cessation of the non-clinging aggregates. Of course, when ignorance ceased, the clinging aggregates ceased.
For e.g. a piece of cooked meat. To a non-vegetarian, it's delicious food. To a vegan, it's a disgusting thing.  If the vegan becomes a arahat, he drops thinking "I am a vegan", "this is my car"  and he sees cooked meat as what it really is, rather than associating with his self-identity.
These mental ideas are reification of emergent phenomena, that leads to suffering. The cause of it leads back down the chain of dependent origination all the way to ignorance.


AN 4.233 what exactly is the relation between kamma, saṅkhārā?

'Abhisaṅkharoti' refers to 'generating', 'constructing' or 'concocting' using thought, as follows:

And why do you call them sankhara (mental formations)? Kiñca, bhikkhave, saṅkhāre vadetha?
Sankhara construct conditioned phenomena (sankhatam); that’s why they’re called ‘sankhara’. Saṅkhatamabhisaṅkharontīti kho, bhikkhave, tasmā
‘saṅkhārā’ti  vuccati.
SN 22.79

In AN 4.233, the word 'sankhara' most likely refers to 'sankhara' as the mental formation of 'intention', as follows:

And what are choices?
Katame ca, bhikkhave, saṅkhārā?
There are these six classes of intention:
Chayime, bhikkhave, cetanākāyā—
intention regarding sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and thoughts.
rūpasañcetanā, saddasañcetanā, gandhasañcetanā, rasasañcetanā, phoṭṭhabbasañcetanā, dhammasañcetanā.
These are called choices.
Ime vuccanti, bhikkhave, saṅkhārā.
SN 22.56

The above is supported by SN 12.25, which refers to "intention" ("cetana") together with the same genre of terminology, including 'manosankhara':

Ānanda, as long as there’s a body, the intention that gives rise to bodily action causes pleasure and pain to arise in oneself.
Kāye vā hānanda, sati kāyasañcetanāhetu uppajjati ajjhattaṃ sukhadukkhaṃ.
As long as there’s a voice, the intention that gives rise to verbal action causes pleasure and pain to arise in oneself. By oneself one instigates the choice that gives rise to bodily, verbal, and mental action, conditioned by which that pleasure and pain arise in oneself. Sāmaṃ vā taṃ, ānanda, kāyasaṅkhāraṃ abhisaṅkharoti, yaṃpaccayāssa taṃ uppajjati ajjhattaṃ sukhadukkhaṃ. SN 12.25

Therefore, AN 4.233 most likely refers to constructing (abhisaṅkharontī) intentions (saṅkhāraṃ) related to the body (kaya), speech (vaci) or thought (mano).
Also, AN 4.233 looks like 'puthujjana dharma'; not to be mixed up with Noble MN 44 Dhamma.
The word 'mano' is about 'thinking', as found in the term 'manokey mind'. Where as 'citta' refers to 'the heart', which is something directly felt & observed in Satipatthana; similar to how kaya-sankhara is an object of Satipatthana.
In the lofty Dependent Origination, the Buddha taught about 'citta sankhara' rather than 'mano sankhara'. The Noble Disciple takes an interest in 'citta sankhara' rather than grasps the banana of 'mano sankhara'.
In conclusion, kaya-vaci-citta sankhara are internal objects of deep Noble meditators. Where as kaya-vaci-mano sankhara are external kammic behaviours of puthujjana. AN 3.233 & MN 44 are as far apart as hell from heaven. MN 117 says:

And what is the right view with effluents, siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions?.... There are fruits & results of good & bad actions (kamma).
And what is the right resolve that is noble, without effluents, transcendent, a factor of the path? The thinking, directed thinking, resolve, mental fixity, mental transfixion, focused awareness & verbal fabricators (vaci sankhara) in one developing the noble path whose mind is noble, whose mind is without effluents, who is fully possessed of the noble path.

Therefore, the Noble Kaya Sankhara is breathing (MN 44; MN 117; MN 118; SN 12.2) and the puthujjana kaya sankhara is physical behaviour.
Since physical behaviour is a form of 'becoming' or 'kamma-ripening' (AN 3.76), obviously the kaya sankhara of AN 4.233 is not the kaya sankhara of Dependent Origination because craving or intention in Dependent Origination is required before physical kamma can occur. SN 14.12 clearly explains this:

Mendicants, sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts arise for a reason, not without reason.
And how do sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts arise for a reason, not without reason?
The element of sensuality gives rise to sensual perceptions. Sensual perceptions give rise to sensual thoughts. Sensual thoughts give rise
to sensual desires. Sensual desires give rise to sensual passions.
Sensual passions give rise to searches for sensual pleasures.
An uneducated ordinary person on a search for sensual pleasures behaves badly in three ways: by body, speech, and mind.
The element of malice gives rise to malicious perceptions. Malicious perceptions give rise to malicious thoughts. … malicious desires …
malicious passions … malicious searches …
An uneducated ordinary person on a malicious search behaves badly in three ways: by body, speech, and mind.
The element of cruelty gives rise to cruel perceptions. Cruel perceptions give rise to cruel thoughts. … cruel desires … cruel
passions … cruel searches …
An uneducated ordinary person on a cruel search behaves badly in three ways: by body, speech, and mind.
SN 14.12


This Wired article shows how AI has been used to enhance Google Search.

You can search the Tripitaka and other Buddhist articles, on Google Search by adding site:accesstoinsight.org or site:suttacentral.net/en.

For e.g. I Google-searched for:

did the buddha feel pain? site:accesstoinsight.org

And I got the first result below:

  Nibbana as Living Experience / The Buddha and The Arahant: Two ...
  https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/desilva/wheel407.html
  There is plenty of evidence to show that an arahant does feel
  sensations caused by physical changes. For instance, the Buddha felt
  acute pain when he was wounded by a stone splinter[19] and when he
  suffered from indigestion.[20] But he was able to withstand the
  painful sensations with mindfulness and clear ...

There are more tips on this page on refining Google web searches.


When I empty out intentions and relax in meditation, what is this force that moves my body in complex patterns?

That's chi, not wu wei.  Wu wei is more of an approach - one that can give rise to feelings of chi, aid in samatha meditation, etc.  Using chi is outside the scope of Buddhist practice, although Jwing-Ming Yang mentions its role in Buddhism in many of his qigong books.  Personally, I appreciate his effort, but his writings on the subject seem like a bit of a stretch to me.  You're better off just sitting on the cushion.  Meditation practice is complicated enough.  No need to add additional complexity.


Can lay people acheive enlighment (Arahanthship) in this life by adhering to Buddhist principles?

If you analyse the Sutta, you will find those who became Arahants by just listening to discourse are people who have already perfected Sila and Samadhi. For instance Buddhas first disciples, five ascetics.


'Impermanence' during vipassana practice

Yes. This is impermanence, at the experiential level. You are getting the hang of the fact that experiences come and go, and they get affected by mere looking at them.

There is also impermanence at a deeper or subtler level, where every sensation becomes ripply or vibratory - that can be seen when mind is trained to see impermanence at a deeper/subtler level.

edit: I don't know a better term to use than ripply to describe it, anyways my usage of the term comes from Shinzen Young's meditation manual, page 41. (A beautiful illustration of meditation path up to the arising and passing away stage can be found in pages 40-45)


Hatred never ceases through hatred in this world, only through non-hostility. This is an eternal law.


There's a passage from the daodejing that I always find appropriate on questions like this. It goes, roughly:

When one man hears of the dao, he sets out to embrace it.
When another hears of the dao, he is interested, and thinks about it sometimes.
When a third hears about it, he laughs out loud at how silly it sounds.
If no one ever laughed at it, it wouldn't be the dao.

In order to appreciate the philosophy of Buddhism, we have to appreciate the problem of Buddhism: the problem of discontent and its cessation. And it isn't enough to appreciate the problem intellectually — in that, "Yeah, I know, a lot of people are miserable" sense — we have to feel the problem. We have to embrace the problem down in the core, because until we embrace the problem, we will have no reason to embrace the solution.

Not everyone can embrace the problem in this visceral way, and so we find a wide range of 'intellectual' Buddhists, who are quite devout (in their own way) but carry on a shallow practice. And we find other people who cannot even appreciate the problem intellectually, and write the philosophy off as mere farce. That is... what is.

When we talk about people with personality disorders, we are talking about people with (in general) a pervasive debility in both self-reflection and other-reflection. At best they make a mental beeline towards immediate gratification without considering secondary consequences; at worst they see the world as a zero-sum game of misery, where the more misery they inflict on others the less they think they will experience for themselves. Such people would have no interest in Buddhism (which they'd probably denigrate as 'sop for losers'). You couldn't get them to sit on the cushion without offering them some immediate, tangible reward (which would be counterproductive). I'm not saying it wouldn't be good for them in the long run — practice benefits everyone — but we'd have a job getting them to take the idea seriously in the first place.

I sometimes find it helpful to remind myself that we can't always help damaged people, but we can aim for a world that damages people less. That is (I think) the essence of the bodhisattva .


I think the answer is in the article. They were not answered because they were formulated around finding the consequences of premises which are not true, the findably existent self or universe.

There is at best no sense in answering them "I believe the moon to be made of cheese: is it Wensleydale or Gorgonzola?"; more likely they would lead to misunderstandings and cause suffering.


How does one effectively understand & navigate through the suicide cases found in the canon?

First of all you are equating the breakup of an Arahant's body to the breaking up of the body of a non-Arahant, the two are not the same.
Death is spoken of a as a requisite for birth. There is no birth for an Arahant, this is a difference. An Arahant doesn't die, with the breakup of the body they become completely released from all modes of being.
You are also slipping by the fact that Arahants are more or less the same in mind, different only in body.
It's not like one Arahant is depressed and kills himself whereas another is more psychologically resilient.
As i see it, Ven. Channa used the the knife because he considered that his being there wasn't needed as he was gravely ill. He had done his work here and had every right to end it as he sees fit.
In some circumstances Arahants do choose to go early but that is as far as it goes.
As for Ven. Nanavira and Ven. Samahita, i have little to no interest in reading works of disciples and will probably never know what Nanavira wrote in his notes. I just think reading the words of the teacher is superior that's all.
I was sympathetic to Ven. Samahita due to him always taking the time to pay homeage but he also said some strange things like 'consciousness being like radiation', went on that anti-muslim rant earlier due to a medicine and later killed himself.
Whether he was this or that doesn't matter to me as even if he was an Arahant it is of no help to me now.
As to controversies, imo the Sutta are explicit enough for anyone to make up their own mind and even writing commentary.


What was the 1st attempt to have a Theravada monastery in the West?

According to this timeline, Theravada had the following significant times

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/thera_timeline.htm

  1899  • First Western Theravada monk (Gordon Douglas) ordains, in
  Burma.

  1958   • Ven. Nyanaponika Thera establishes the Buddhist Publication
  Society in Sri Lanka to publish English-language books on Theravada
  Buddhism. • Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement is founded in Sri Lanka to
  bring Buddhist ideals to bear in solving pressing social problems. •
  Two Germans ordain at the Royal Thai Embassy in London, becoming the
  first to take full Theravada ordination in the West.

The Insight Meditation Society predates the first monastery

  1970's     • Refugees from war in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos settle in
  North America, Australia and Europe, establishing many Buddhist
  communities in the West. • Ven. Taungpulu Sayadaw and Dr. Rina Sircar,
  from Burma, establish the Taungpulu Kaba-Aye Monastery in Northern
  California, USA. • Ven. Ajahn Chah establishes Wat Pah Nanachat, a
  forest monastery in Thailand for training Western monks. • Insight
  Meditation Society, a lay meditation center, is founded in
  Massachusetts, USA. • Ven. Ajahn Chah travels to England to establish
  a small community of monks at the Hamsptead Vihara, which later moves
  to Sussex, England, now known as Chithurst Forest Monastery.

  1980's     • Lay meditation centers grow in popularity in North America,
  Australia and Europe. • First Theravada forest monastery in the USA
  (Bhavana Society) is established in West Virginia. • Amaravati
  Buddhist Monastery established in England by Ven. Ajahn Sumedho.

Depending on what your thoughts are on The Insight Meditation Society, you may consider that an earlier "monastery" and how strictly you interpret monastery.


I found the translation here:
http://accesschinese.com/divination/guanyin/your-lot.php?tile=9

Now that I read it, I don't think it has anything to do with Buddhism


What does Buddhism say about having dreams about the Buddha?

The dreams Bodhisatta had about his future Buddhahoood are given in the Supina Sutta.

  "When the Tathagata — worthy & rightly self-awakened — was still just
  an unawakened bodhisatta, five great dreams appeared to him. Which
  five?

  "When the Tathagata — worthy & rightly self-awakened — was still just
  an unawakened bodhisatta, this great earth was his great bed. The
  Himalayas, king of mountains, was his pillow. His left hand rested in
  the eastern sea, his right hand in the western sea, and both feet in
  the southern sea. When the Tathagata — worthy & rightly self-awakened
  — was still just an unawakened bodhisatta, this was the first great
  dream that appeared to him....

You might also be interested in knowing the meanings of the dreams, queen Maya(mother of the Bodhisatta) saw.


How many hours of Meditation in single sitting during Vipassana?

Each session is about 1 hour in courses organised in groups. E.g.

4:00 am             Morning wake-up bell
4:30-6:30 am        Meditate in the hall or in your room
6:30-8:00 am        Breakfast break
8:00-9:00 am        Group meditation in the hall
9:00-11:00 am       Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions
11:00-12:00 noon    Lunch break
12noon-1:00 pm      Rest and interviews with the teacher
1:00-2:30 pm        Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30-3:30 pm        Group meditation in the hall
3:30-5:00 pm        Meditate in the hall or in your own room according to the teacher's instructions
5:00-6:00 pm        Tea break
6:00-7:00 pm        Group meditation in the hall
7:00-8:15 pm        Teacher's Discourse in the hall
8:15-9:00 pm        Group meditation in the hall
9:00-9:30 pm        Question time in the hall
9:30 pm             Retire to your own room--Lights out

Source: https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/code

4:00 am          Wake up
4:30             Meditation in hall
5:30             Morning discourse
6:30 - 8:00      Breakfast and rest
8:00 - 9:00      Group meditation in hall (for all)
9:30             Individual instruction (for all)
11:00 - 1:00 pm  Lunch and rest
1:00 - 1:45      Meditation
2:00 - 3:00      Group meditation in hall (for all)
3:30 - 5:00      Meditation, and interviews for new students
5:00 - 6:00      Tea and rest
6:00             Evening discourse
7:30 - 8:30      Group meditation in hall (for all)
9:00             Retire

Source: http://www.internationalmeditationcentre.org/uk/guidelines.html

MORNING SESSION

03.30 – 04.00 a.m.                 –         Wake-up / Dress-up

04.00 – 05.00 a.m.                 –         Walking Meditation

05.00 – 06.30 a.m.                 –         Sitting Meditation

06.30 – 08.15 a.m.                 –         Breakfast dana, cleaning common areas, toilets and dorms etc.

08.15 – 09.15 a.m.                 –         Sitting Meditation

09.15 – 10.15 a.m.                 –         Walking Meditation

10.15 – 11.15 a.m.                 –         Sitting Meditation

11.15 – 12.00 p.m.                 –         Lunch Daana

AFTERNOON SESSION

12.00 – 01.00 p.m.                 –         Walking Meditation

01.00 – 02.00 p.m.                 –         Q&A / Dhamma Discussion (Every Day)

02.00 – 03.00 p.m.                 –         Walking Meditation

03.00 – 04.00 p.m.                 –         Sitting Meditation (Except the Last Day)

04.00 – 05.00 p.m.                 –         Walking Meditation

05.00 – 06.30 p.m.                 –         Dhamma Talk (Except the Last Day)

06.30 – 07.00 p.m.                 –         Mindfullness Gilanpasa (Tea) Break

07.00 – 08.00 p.m.                 –         Walking Meditation

08.00 – 09.00 p.m.                 –         Sitting Meditation

09.00 p.m.                         –         End of Day’s Program

All the access doors to the meditation premises should be closed and the lights should be turned off by 10.00 p.m.

Source: http://www.nissarana.lk/meditate-with-us/retreat-timetable/

If you are tailoring a private course for yourself maybe you can have longer sessions.

The time tables are set so both new and old students can meditate in reasonable comfort. There is nothing to worry about the time of the session lengths as many meditators do not find this an issue.


Are there any alternative formulations of the five skandas?

Here is a fairly comprehensive list of alternatives:

Onefold: saṅkhāra

formations; everything that arises and ceases
all five aggregates fit in this category.

Twofold: nāmarūpa

name and form (body and mind); divided into material (rūpa) and immaterial (arūpa)
the first aggregate is rūpa, the rest are nāma.

Threefold: paramattha-dhamma

ultimate reality; divided into citta, cetasika and rūpa (excluding nibbāna, which is khandha-vimutti - liberated from the khandas)
the first aggregate is rūpa, the fifth is citta, the other three are cetasika.

Fourfold: satipaṭṭhāna

objects of the establishing of remembrance; body, feelings, mind, dhammas
body is first aggregate, feelings is second, mind is fifth, dhammas is all five.

Fourfold: ariyasacca

noble truths
all five fall under the first noble truth, besides tanha (under the fourth aggregate), which constitutes the second noble truth.

Twelvefold: āyatana

bases; the six internal (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) and six external (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, thoughts)
all five aggregates arise based on the contact between each of the first five internal bases with their external counterpart. As for the sixth, rūpa is excluded (but still present as hadayavatthu) since thoughts are not physical, nor is the mind.

Twelvefold: paticcasamupāda

dependent origination; ignorance, mental formations, consciousness, body and mind, six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, clinging, becoming, birth, suffering.
ignorance and mental formations are part of the fourth aggregate; consciousness is the fifth; body and mind are all five; six sense bases as above; contact is fourth; feeling is second; craving, clinging, and becoming are fourth; birth is probably fifth?; suffering is all five except tanha.

Eighteenfold: dhatu

elements; as with the āyatana, adding the six viññāṇa
as with āyatana, but described as contact between the three.

Twentytwofold: indriya

faculties; the six sense faculties, the two genders and the life faculty, the five feeling faculties, the five mental faculties, and three enlightenment faculties (see here for details)
the first group involves all five aggregates, the second is part of the first aggregate,, the third is equivalent to the second aggregate, the fourth falls under the fourth aggregate, and the fifth may be khandha-vimutti, but I'm not sure.


More than ego, it could be the high level of stress involved in working for a big company.

In any case, Marananussati meditation would be a good start for both of you.

  "The disciple who devotes himself to this contemplation of death is
  always vigilant, takes no delight in any form of existence, gives up
  hankering after life, censures evil doing, is free from craving as
  regards the requisites of life, his perception of impermanence becomes
  established, he realizes the painful and soulless nature of existence
  and at the moment of death he is devoid of fear, and remains mindful
  and self-possessed. Finally, if in this present life he fails to
  attain to Nibbana, upon the dissolution of the body he is bound for a
  happy destiny."   -Visuddhimagga

Another reason could be the wanting to control each other. Have a cordial discussion with her and come to a solid understanding of each other's expectations. As long as you two don't exceed that framework, don't try to control each other too much.

Come to an agreement on how to resolve issues. Make a determination with her to always use kind words and wisdom to find a solution rather than disrespectful words and emotional thoughts.


Does a virtuous Buddhist indicate when making a turn and no-one (else) is watching?

Does signaling with no traffic help to reduce suffering? Is signaling or not signaling when making a turn with no traffic related at all to the Four Noble Truths??


Difficulties Maintaining Balance In Between Buddhism Teaching in Today’s Lives

I've experienced some of these issues as well. Before I began a regular meditation and study practice my success at work and in society was much more important to me. Now, quite frankly, it's not important.

Work - I work hard in a focused way but I don't try to fit in (using wrong speech) or be seen as a go-getter. I see the benefits of actually not being promoted as leaving me more time to study and practice. And that's more important than the increase in salary I might have received if I had continued to be ambitious.

Society - I've found myself socializing a lot less. Really doesn't feel like time well spent; especially when you are socializing with people who want to judge you or your practices. It's ok if some old friends move on. Trying to cling to old relationships that don't work anymore will definitely lead to suffering. Trying to forge new relationships with people who don't understand your journey will likely be a waste of time. Finding new friends who are on the same path can be very helpful though.

Family - Going home and getting upset then avoiding family does sound draining. I have only a suggestion to try to keep in touch primarily by phone or email (or letters) or Skype or social media or anything that breaks the pattern of going home and getting involved in old issues all over again, until you have reached a point where others behavior won't upset you so much. Once you have reached that point, a visit home might be more doable.

But meditation can help you be more detached and less inclined to get upset about any of these things. Best wishes.


Is austerity [as defined above] necessary in Buddhism?

The answer depends as follows:

As a householder, austerity, as you defined above, is not required since it's not part of the five essential precepts prescribed for him.1 However, this austerity, also know as the 8 precepts, is usually applied during retreats and Uposatha days.2
As a monastic, it is required consistently since it will help to develop the meditation practice more effectively by diminishing unwholesome obsessions & available distractions.

This distinction, however, is not "set in stone" or "black & white" since householders are encouraged to follow this kind of austerity more consistently if they can and feel inclined to do so.