I'm curious, as a Buddhist, I answered a question someone had regarding whether it is necessary for a Buddhist to believe in God or, Gods. I answered, of course not, and that the Buddha was not keen on establishing a religion rather, urging that each be a light unto themselves. The bigger mistake came when I offered a story about a conversation I had with a priest at my temple, who taught that vigorous doubt was neccesary to enlightenment. My feedback was kind of aggressively religionist and I was suprised. Does anyone else have odd interactions on r/buddhism?

Hello everyone,

I am currently doing an assignment studying World Religions. My topic is a compare and contrast about concepts of what happens after death in Catholicism and Buddhism and I need to collect some primary data. Therefore, I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a couple minutes to complete this survey for me. :)

https://forms.gle/mhAkpseDRxkBa6vE7

Thank you so much !!!

Dear friend in the Dharma, I am reaching out to you with folded hands for a generous appeal for DONATION for construction of Aryagiri Vipassana Meditation Center.

It is said that through wisdom can the mind be freed from defilements, but Dana is also a prerequisite for meditation, and Samadhi leads to wisely reflection, and wisely reflection leads (together with the power of Samadhi) to wisdom, and wisdom leads to detachment, and detachment leads to awakening.

The subject of this letter presents just such an opportunity and it is for the most worthy of causes-to support a place of worship and cultivation of mind, at Aryagiri Hill situated near Indo-Bangladesh Border in southern Mizoram, India.

We are some thousand of Buddhist living here in Mizoram and unfortunately 95% of Buddhist people are very poor and unable to gather sufficient fund to build a Vipassana Meditation Center.

In so doing through your generous support make manifest the words of the most basic Buddhist prayer, to support the teachings of the Vipassana Meditation, the remembrance of the Buddha, and the followers of the Buddha.

Establishment and construction of a Vipassana Meditation Center at this remote areas will serve the diverse spiritual needs of all Micro minority chakma Buddhists and non-Buddhists with warmth and spiritual openness. It will also serve as a center to teach and practice the techniques of meditation for the purpose of spiritual development.

The main purpose of this project is to establish first meditation centre in this areas, where Samadhi and Vippasana meditation will be practised according to Goenka ji method, which is based in Buddhas teaching (Dhamma), Buddhist canon and commentaries. We wish to speak out to all Buddhists and people, who are ready to support this project, who accept Buddhism teaching of mind development through meditation. All these people are welcome to take part in this project.

The first phase for construction of Buddha shrine hall and two rooms for the monks have been completed with the generous donations made by various donor's from different countries.

The second phase will have to be built for the meditation hall and it's the second floor of the vihara.

So, Please help Bhante to raise funds to build a Vipassana Retreat Meditation Center at Aryagiri Hill. I am really compelled to reaching out to you on behalf of Ven. Suman Jyoti Thera in this meritorious deed, to raise funds required to contribution the main building for the Vipassana center.

Bhante live alone in the hill surrounded by deep jungle in search of the ultimate truth.

The contribution will help and in its entirety go towards a new Vipassana Retreat Meditation Center.

By making a donation to your ability, you are indeed lending a hand to continue this precious effort to spread the lucid word of the Lord Gauthama Buddha.

So please help Venerable Sumanjyoti Bhante with your donations to build the Vipassana Meditation Center at Aryagiri Hill.

Let us share the wonderful and rare gift of Dhamma, learn it, understand it, and live accordingly.

The plan estimate for construction of second floor of the Ariyagiri Vipassana Meditation Center can be sent if required.

All the pious Dharma friends are requested to ask for the bank details to send your donation towards building the Vipassana Retreat Center of Bhante Suman Jyoti of Ariyagiri Hill near Bangladesh Border.

May you all have the blessing by the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.

With Metta, Sudip Chakma Primary School Teacher, Fundraiser of The Ultimate Truth Preaching Mission (A registered Buddhist Organization based in Mizoram, India) Website: tutpm.in & Volunteer of Aryagiri Vipassana Foundation. Lunglei District, Mizoram, India. Email: sudip.utpm77@gmail.com WhatsApp 91+9612602899

Donation can be sent to the following methods:-

Our PayPal Email: Sudip.utpm77@gmail.com

Our Bank Transfer method- Account Name: Sudip Chakma A/c No: 1463104000036962 Bank Name: IDBI BANK, LUNGLEI BRANCH. IFSC: IBKL0001463 MICR: 796259102 SWIFT CODE: IBKLINBB136

Sabbe Satta Bhavantu Sukhitatta🙏

This would just be the solidification of western ignorance, to throw away the parts of a religion you disagree with. Secular Buddhism is going to be popular as it does not challenge your cultural false views. Secular buddhism is as beneficial to you as eating cardboard is to your stomach. secular buddhism is an oxymoron,emphasis on MORON

The IMPRINT project will be the largest study to date exploring the relationship between personality traits, meditation practice preferences (e.g. types of meditation, retreat experience, intentions, frameworks), and the varieties of meditation experiences (e.g. spectrum of meaningfulness, difficult experiences).

You can support this research project if you have meditated at least 3 times per week during the last 12 months. You can find more details and a link to the survey on www.ways-of-looking.com

Thank you for supporting meditation research. The time you dedicate to this project and the experiences you share are very valuable to us.

Forwarded ( not my forum )

"Independent Buddhist" is a new web board designed to be a friendly Buddhist community, with its roots in the teachings of the Buddha in the Pali Canon, while setting aside ancient cosmology, and supernatural beliefs in order to enable practical investigation of the core teachings of the Buddha which are relevant to daily life in the twenty first century.

http://independent-buddhist-forum.com/forum.php

Richard Dawkins' latest UK offering. Notable here for his skeptical yet sympathetic approach to Buddhist practice toward the end. Alas, only easily available to those in the UK, but going through a good proxy site may fix this.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:4RuTnz-UKRsJ:www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Miscellaneous/two_buddhisms.pdf+&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiufmQN1_NltGjlxn6fw3LW7YjKHb5EPwpljMjGR75Tx2YMnTBpOy_T9Q7csacVvsydfMPw4zE8RToeLa61vEjrWX0hXehWYi21vKRb7kGv5ddrQXZrFlyeQk9ThPZo7FUrfD_1&sig=AHIEtbQhsYq5sryRPEmqEC8ntCLfif_r6w

PD Numrich's controversial thesis of a divergent evolution of buddhism in the West revisited and considered.

A Sceptical 10 Step Program (adapted from Phil Plait on the SGU Podcast 15th Sep 2012)

1. Admit that cognition, perception, and memory are flawed – and that pseudoscience and gullibility are rampant.
2. Accept that the process of thinking critically is more important than any belief.
3. Acknowledge the utility of methodological naturalism as a way of empirically understanding the world.
4. Make a thorough study of the various mechanisms of self-deception, cognitive biases, and logical fallacies. Again, recognising that we are all susceptible to this at any point, with any kind of argument.
5. Acknowledge to ourselves and others that we are sceptics.
6. Endeavour to examine our premises and logic, and correct any misinformation or misconception we may have spread.
7. Correct errors or false statements on blog posts and forums, unless doing so would make you a troll.
8. Continue to make all opinions and conclusions tentative, and revise them in the face of new ideas or information.
9. Seek through study and research to improve critical thinking skills, and keep up to date on basic scientific literacy.
10. Having become more sceptical, engage in sceptical activism and outreach to help make the world a more sceptical place.