Waxing Techniques - Strategies Frequently Asked Questions
Well, the Buddha didn't want people to worship him. Anyway, after his Parinirvana(passing), his followers cremated his body and took some relics. Many of these followers (specially the lay ones) started to worship these artifacts that had a relationship to the Buddha. They could be the relics of his cremation or simply objects that the Buddha touched during his life, like his begging ball. Eventually, they built great and beautiful shrines to hold and worship these objects.
Sit on a cushion on the floor with your legs crossed. If this is not possible, sit on a chair. In order to have good concentration, it is important not to be in pain. However you sit, be sure that your spine is straight.
BN: But in the Tipitaka, you have so many references from the Buddha himself that refer to rebirth. Even in the Dhammapada we have these two verses that the Buddha announced after he became enlightened which refer to rebirth and the ending of rebirth. And doesn't "dependent origination"--which Batchelor accepts-- include the notion of rebirth?
Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddharta Gautama, known as the Buddha. His basic teachings are The Four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold Path.
Before I left for the Southern Hemisphere, however, I needed a place to practice for awhile, to get back on track, and I knew the perfect place; at Bhante Gunaratana's monastery outside of Washington, DC. The Bhavana Society (bhavana in Pali translates as mental development) is tucked away in the picturesque hills of West Virginia just down the road from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Bhante Gunaratana is the founder of Bhavana, a Sri Lankan monk who has been in robes for almost seventy years, and a world recognized meditation teacher.
BN: Yes, the Buddha did criticize the idea of the atma as a permanent self. There is no underlying or essential soul, which is reborn. What does non-self or no-self mean? In theravada, in the teaching of no-self and karma, there is no storage of your past actions in some entity, but there is conditionality. There is a continuity that is caused, including the effects of your own intentionality. What you will has a consequence, a fruit (vipaka is the Pali term). So your actions can lead to a rebirth in this sense.
BN: Laughing. We may be getting some goats soon. You know the economics of this? They milk the goats. The female goats give birth to billy goats, but there is no use for the billy goats. So after 40 days, they kill the male goat to eat. So we are going to adopt a male goat. And see from there if we can add more. We do eat seafood here, but I'd like the monastery to become completely vegetarian. We still follow the practice of not eating after noon.
