[xkQCaS4w]

Dear friends,

Do any of our members who are newcomers to Buddhism have any questions to ask the group, or any reflections to share about their practice and understanding ?

[andrekuper]

Dear Sir,
I want to get away from my shortfalls which are clinged to me very deeply, for which i had learnt vippassana in a ten days course but after all it has been found that the bads are still have their roots inside me then i read about the walking meditation in nibbana.com and found it very interesting. My question is this that if i do the meditation very sincerily, may the bads inside me will automatically be erased or i have to strictly abide the five moral disciplines first?
Regards,
Shekhar

[alegsghed]

Hi, welcome to the group, Shekhar, I hope you'll enjoy being a member of our community. (I'm female, by the way )

I think that its important that you continue with your meditation on a daily basis, lead a moral life, be kind to others , and try to relax a little and not worry too much about your negativities. If you meditate regularly as you have been instructed - and also practice some Metta meditation, it will be beneficial for you, I'm sure.

Here's a link for metta practice and you can also read about the Four Sublime States.

http://www.buddhanet.net/metta.htm


Kind wishes,


Aloka-D

[Njxatsbf]

My question is this that if i do the meditation very sincerily, may the bads inside me will automatically be erased or i have to strictly abide the five moral disciplines first?

Shekhar,as Aloka has written try and live a moral live,but very important is to be gentle with yourself.
Please don't try and become Enlightened over-night.
Go at your own speed,yes try to bear in mind what your trying to do,this may mean pushing it a little,but not too much.
Some people are more restless than others so maybe a walking meditation is more appropriate.
Hang in and it will work for you.

[SmuffNuSMaxqh]

Some people are more restless than others so maybe a walking meditation is more appropriate.
Hang in and it will work for you.

Yes, I highly recomend walking meditation when we are starting at meditation practice. Sooner or later you will feel the "need" for sitting meditation. Be patient.

[RG3rGWcA]

Hi,
thanx a lot for answering me in such a prompt way but my question still remains unanswered i.e. " if i do the meditation very sincerily, may the bads inside me will automatically be erased or i have to strictly abide the five moral disciplines first?"
I think that I am on a right path and as the time will pass the cravings for bads inside me will be gradually erased, the same is being felt by me while I works on the meditation steps.Is it true?

Regards..

[YmolafBp]

from post #6

Hi Shekhar,

Do you mean the 5 precepts? It is certainly beneficial for Buddhists to follow them.

Perhaps you could be more specific about what you mean by "the cravings for bads inside me " ?

Kind regards,

Aloka

[Sarah Armstrong]

from post #7

Thanks Aloka,
Before learning the Vippassana technique I was the victim of alcohol and tobacco. After some time the alcohol problem was seem gradually disappeared but the tobacco problem is still there and at many times the thoughts of alcohol are still arose inside me , thats why I called these the bad inside me.
Hoping my problem is now quite clear to you.

[levitratestimon]

Be gentle with yourself Shekhar, but also be firm in your resolutions. Just let go of those thoughts about craving alcohol again and don't be tempted.

I used to smoke cigarettes years ago and then I cut down to 3 a day and then finally said 'that's it now! "and stopped completely. If you really, truly want to stop then I'm sure you can do it. Tobacco smoking is very bad for your health.

This 2 page article by Pema Chodron called "How to work with addictions" might possibly be helpful to you because some people find her words helpful.

URL

and there's another 2 page article by her here :

URL


Kind wishes,


Aloka

[JohnMitchel]

if i do the meditation very sincerily, may the bads inside me will automatically be erased or i have to strictly abide the five moral disciplines first?

Sila (morality) must come first. It precedes Samadhi in the Noble Eightfold Path, and the Suttas record Sila as being a necessary preparation for Samadhi in the gradual training.

That being said, one mistake is in thinking that one 'finishes' Sila before moving on to Samadhi - morality and meditation are recursive to one another, each of them doing their part to perfect ones initial Panna, and as such both ought to inform our practice.

If you break a precept, re-affirm your commitment to Sila by re-taking the precepts at the earliest opportunity. With this as a preparation, your meditation practice will be greatly improved.

[ElenaEvgeevnaa]

Aloka, the first link provided by you has shown the line "You step in the stream, but the water has moved on. This page is not here"
But I am feeling quite exciting about how lucky I am who found the nice persons giving me the necessary support to cut my bads.
But the another link may be useful to me a lot, I have copied the pages and decided to read those continuously to achieve my sobriety and to step forward on the noble path.
Thanks a lot Aloka. Nice discussion with you.

Shekhar

[TineSeign]

[quote=Shekhar #11: ]
Aloka, the first ]

Hi Shekhar,

That's odd if you mean the link #3, it goes straight to the Buddhanet website when I click on it myself.

Here it is again URL

Nice to chat to you too.

[CaseyFronczekHomie]

Hi Madam
Iam from a Christian background and have been drawn to Buddhism due to its emphasis on self understanding and self empowerment in relation to the murky world of spiritual matters.
My concern is what happens to God ....the God who answered my prayers during a lifetime?
This is a sincere post, Iam confused I want to progress and admit feeling love inside after church is fine but I have no understanding of what I call The Eternal ...God, but I know I prayed to him and he listened.
Now I meditate (the minfulness of Breathing ) and I know it is training my mind to focus on the objective,but I feel adrift when I want to pray to God.
My concept of God is LOVE, and unlimited power.
A personal God who through love has compassion and the power to redeem all and change all.
But I know nothing of me, and Iam very very lost and getting old.
I feel like Iam returning home sometimes as I hear Buddhist teachings, but I still feel this unease.
How can I abandon my God?

[KaterinaNJq]

Hi Blythspirit and welcome to the community !

Buddhists don't believe in God and so you might like to read this article on the subject.

http://www.buddhanet.net/ans73.htm

I think perhaps you should study Buddhist teachings, ask questions to the rest of the group, - and relax and be gentle with yourself, rather than feel that you have to forcefully abandon anything you're unsure about straight away.

You will find lots of info about loving kindness and compassion if you read everything here:

URL


Kind regards,

Aloka-D

PS....You might like to choose a different avatar to avoid confusion because a couple of people are alreay using that one.

[Vomazoono]

Thank you for the prompt reply , I will absorb your advice ....thanks



**NOTE**

Red Thread - I have closed this old thread and started a new thread "A new meditation question" with your post.


Kind wishes,

Aloka-D

[irrehoobe]

How can I abandon my God?

Please don't misunderstand this,but which God are you talking about?
Catholic or Protestant?
Now would be a good time to review the early history of American,l'm now writing of the slaughter of the indigenous natives. (Eg Do Soto's (mis)-adventures) l mean to bloody battles between Catholic and Protestant.

[AntonayPina]

Blythspirit,

Thank you for your post. It's interesting that I'm having some of the same issues but in a weird reverse kind of way. I was raised protestant, but became kind of disillusioned with that and ended up for quite a long time in the Unitarian Universalist Church - which for anyone who doesn't know is almost a free for all of spirituality encompassing everything from non trinitarian protestantism to humanism. That was sort of a little too lacking in direction for me, and then I had some really bad experiences in life and decided God was dead.
Not long after I stumbled on Buddhism and it reflected so much how I already felt about the universe it seemed like a perfect fit.
Then an odd thing happened. As I practiced and became more at peace with my life and whatnot - I started to miss God. Weird, huh?

Back in my UU days one of the pastors gave a sermon which I will not recount anywhere near as eloquently as he did, but the basic idea of it stuck with me. He compared our relationship with God/The Ultimate Reality or whatever we want to see it as to a stained glass window, with "God" (for lack of a better word) being the sunlight and humanity being the window. Each person or culture would be a different piece of glass. Being made of different stuff the light passes through each piece differently making a different color ( or a different way or perceiving the light, or God) But then when you step back and see all those different pieces together they make a picture or a pattern that is even more beautiful and complete than that one shard of glass. Yet even that is nowhere near as beautiful and complete as the light itself, but being human we can't look at the light directly, so we have to make due with our interpretation of it through the glass...

So maybe this doesn't make me strictly a buddhist, but to my thinking anyway, it's not that there is no God it's that our limited understanding of the Ultimate as some personal god, a guy in a throne in the sky, is so inadequate. Humans can no more understand "God" or the Universe than an amoeba can look up at a human and understand what we are.

For me anyway, with Buddhism I don't have to understand. God is inconsequential to the right now. It's something that can be sorted out later - if ever and in the mean time I can focus on what I am to do in the here and now in this world to live a good life and make the world a better place - which ironically is what most people would agree any God might want from us if he did exist.

[gundorana]

Hi xirei,
I had similar experiences with Christianity, it was the start of a long journey for me. I hope we can help you a little on your path. Welcome on board.
Namaste
Kris

[Gosxjqum]

from post #13

What a great question! There are so many good responses as well that I don't think there is much I can add, except that the conflict is essentially in your mind, not "out there" in reality somewhere. Because of this, if you work with self-growth, spiritual development, and training the mind the conflict with be resolved.

The way you describe feeling like you are coming home in regards to BuddhaDharma sounds like you have a strong connection and that something in you is being awoken from a previous life, what an auspicious occurrence and cause for rejoicing! I have heard one of my teachers say that you do not need to abandon your Christian beliefs in the beginning. Eventually, one will follow a single path primarily and everything will fall in around it, but that choice does not have to be made at the beginning.