[vdw4Epsi]

Hi Kaarine,
Wow! I can see that you have far better things to do with your time than spend it on Twitter! This is all really interesting stuff and relevant for my students too. Many thanks for taking the time to reply. In the meantime I have found what I was looking for on Twitter, Matthieu Ricard and Thicht Naht Hahn are both on Twitter which gives me short injections of info on the Buddhist world . There is also a guy who does a thing called Mikes dharma which is good. However, very many thanks for your informative precis of the End of Certainty. Next year I am hoping to teach philosophy of religion and this looks like a really useful book. I will get my library to order a copy. Respect to you. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

[chipkluchi]

Hi plwk,

Thank you for this. It looks as though you have to be really careful of scam, as well as dodgy quotes when you are social networking: i wouldn't follow elephant journal having read article on twitter scams (3). Community of Buddhists stopped twittering because of lack of participation. However, as I said to Karine, I have also found the Dalai Lama and Matthieu Ricard and they are worth tracking down and following. I also teach French and have an excellent book by Ricard on meditation. I got it out of my local library as an audiobook in English. Really beautiful. "Looks like you're into 'Twanga' huh LOL (For the 'blur' ones...its the 'Sangha' or Community of Buddhist Twitter peeps " ??????????? Many thanks. xxxxxxxxxxx

[Zzvukttz]

This is all really interesting stuff and relevant for my students too.

What are you teaching now, Podgerl?

[Keendwainge]

What are you teaching now, Podgerl?

Hi Karine,
I am going to be looking at the relationship between karma, samsara and nirvana next week and as my students also do philosophy of religion as a separate component of their course they should be familiar with the concept of determinism. In Christianity, they may have come across the contradiction between determinism and free will: some of them may even come from strict Calvinist backgrounds which mean that they believe that they have been chosen by God. What about their free will in that case? Have been looking at some of the threads here on Karma and am interested in how determinism works in Buddhism....

[carinsurancess]

What about their free will in that case?

Wow, what a tough issue!

Well, take this just as a very personal opinion, please.

I do not believe that something as a god really exists at all. Still less, one who chooses people for his own personal interests. I think that any idea about god are delusions of mind or convenient ways to endure an existence so to dwell in a comfortable cocoon. We have free will within a set of conditions like culture or like biological conditioning as a genetic heritage in a way people is born with some sort of limitations; and happens sometimes that we also are attached to this "comfortable" limitations. As we understand and realize this, as we understand how this condition our own will, there is free will and it can be widen into unsuspected heights. One different thing is to have some sort of limitations and other very different is to say we are determined by something or someone we imagine. But I know that for some people to tell them that the idea of god or any sort of metaphysical entity they have chosen is delusional can be truly threatening.

When we contemplate a flower and its beauty or we hear a tune and its beauty we are contemplating just that and I think there is no need to put god in all this. In simple terms there is a flower and a tune and we react at those with mental fabrications. Where once was a beautiful tune, maybe in an other moment it will not be so; there is the unaware fabrication.

The real choice is about giving up all our delusions about life, god, and the like that makes us to be tightly attached to them. I really think that the teachings given by the historical Buddha, especially in the Pali Dhamma, are about this core aspect of our life. Most of the time we act through our own personal delusions and fabrications and the attachments to them.

Maybe the important determinism is the one that makes us run away form what we do not like, to get attached to what we like and to ignore that most of our life is about this given conditioning. At the base of all this is the not well understood fact about that all things are by nature unsatisfactory, also the most beautiful fabrication about god, because of their impermanent same nature.

[soprofaxelbis]

Hi David,

This is what I was looking for. Would you have any names of dharma teachers who tweet so I can have a look, as a novice tweeter who actually doesn't have time for it but would make time if it was for Buddhism!

Many thanks. xxxxxxxx

I follow Jack Kornfield, ZenNBackAgain, thichnhathanh, mindfuljustice, dzigarkongtrul, Dammapada, dhammametta, LamaSuryaDas, sharonsalzberg, PemaQuotes, MettaaBhaavanaa, BhikkhuSamahita, DalaiLama, HisHoliness, among others.

[RokgroofeTeme]

Maybe the important determinism is the one that makes us run away form what we do not like, to get attached to what we like and to ignore that most of our life is about this given conditioning. At the base of all this is the not well understood fact about that all things are by nature unsatisfactory, also the most beautiful fabrication about god, because of their impermanent same nature.

Many thanks for this detailed reply. We have come a very long way from Twitter! Apologies, however, for my Twitter-style response. All this is fascinating and I particularly like your definition here. May I use it in discussion with my lovely students? It is great to get a genuine Buddhist response to a question like this as the text book can't do this. Very clear. Loving it. xxxxxxxxxxxx

[TNOULbr2]

I follow Jack Kornfield, ZenNBackAgain, thichnhathanh, mindfuljustice, dzigarkongtrul, Dammapada, dhammametta, LamaSuryaDas, sharonsalzberg, PemaQuotes, MettaaBhaavanaa, BhikkhuSamahita, DalaiLama, HisHoliness, among others.

Thanks again David. I really like the meaningful tweets on thichnhathanh and DalaiLama . I am currenty reading Thich Nhat Hanh's "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching". It is beautiful. I love Jack Kornfield too. I first got into Buddhism via his Meditation for Beginners, but I'm not sure he comes across so well on Twitter. Looking forward to checking out the others. Amazed at how much there is when you start looking. xxxxxxx

[xqkAY7Lg]

May I use it in discussion with my lovely students?

Sure. That is cool podgerl

I particularly like your definition here.

Well, it is not completely mine. It is about the three poisons known as Greed, Hate and Ignorance. Those are at the base of some of the teachings of the Buddha, and if we contemplate carefully we can see that they determine and explain human behaviour. So, I think this is the true determinism from which we can awake.