Also, in the ordination rules ceremony slaves are excluded from the possibility of ordaining. ref . Has any modern sangha made a point of allowing current or former slaves to ordain? Historically landed Buddhist monasteries have owned slaves. ref At least this appears to be over. **UPDATE**: Ancient slavery and modern slavery look different. Modern slavery generally is tolerated, but officially illegal. Example include prostitution in Japan, where immigrant women often can't quit or flee their "employeers" because the police won't assist illegal immigrants or "guest workers" trying to do something else on a guest visa. Also, a theme in ancient restrictions in joining the sangha was that someone who owed someone something (not necessarily full on slavery) wasn't allowed to join (e.g. need to get permission from parents and spouses). So would a modern sangha turn away a soldier who had deserted or dodged the draft? Or even further down the spectrum of slavery-- what if someone was just heavily in debt to their boss, bank and so on? I'm particularly interested in what the modern institutions are doing. I'd google it myself, but I'm mostly find references to how the situation was long ago.

And as a follow up, what institutions are charged with expanding the list of canonical works, if any?

As Buddhism is growing in the west, we see this "conflict" a lot. In Asia I met some Buddhists-Hindus, Buddha, Shiva and Ganesh were equally important to them. Here in the west there are some Christian-Buddhists, people who believe in the Dhamma, but cannot stop Praying to Jesus. Let me add here that according to the Bible if you stop believing in God, you will go to hell no matter what, it is a serious offense for Christians. I live in an almost 99% Christian country. You only find churches here, you don't find stuppas, temples or monks. It also contributes to the "Christian-Buddhist" phenomena as there is no strong Sangha. According to the Buddha's teachings you should give up rituals, believe in the Buddha's enlightenment and follow the Dhamma, but on the other hand many people are claiming the Dhamma is more a "way of living" than a religion, so it could be adapted to another friendly religion. Can a person follow the Dhamma and be a Christian at the same time?

So I've been a Buddhist since around 2007, but I've never been to a temple. I don't think I've ever actually met another Buddhist. I just go by what I read in Bodhi's translations and Thanissaro's lectures and practice on my own. A few months ago, I started working in Raleigh, NC, and my drive home now goes right by [this Dhammayut temple](http://www.buddharaleightemple.org) ([map](https://goo.gl/maps/UkvYp)) . It's only something like 8 minutes out of my way. I had called their number a few years ago and asked if--I forget what I said specifically--something like do you have any services? (I may have said "Sunday services." Ack.) The response was something like: > Aah.. uh, no... Sort of like a [Consuela "no.. no.."](http://youtu.be/FshkO8HqQ10) . It didn't seem that the person spoke English very well, although I think he understood my question. At the time I had figured that a Thai temple is probably just not very interested in westerners. (I've noticed typical western converts to Buddhism don't tend to wholeheartedly buy into one tradition or another, they might read books on Zen, listen to lectures by the Dalai Lama and also watch videos by Ajahn Brahm. They often totally disregard the idea of rebirth. I can see how some of this might be off-putting to conservative Theravadins.) So I figured their interest is just in attending to the Thai community there, and/or they may have few or no people that speak English well enough to teach in that language. Since then I've sort of alternated back and forth between this view and thinking maybe I ought to pursue it further. Now that I'm so close to the temple, I'm thinking more about trying to attend. **So my question is does anyone here have first-hand experience with Thai temples in the United States and how those tend to handle westerners wanting to attend?** I'm really only interested in practice. I'm only interested in devotion-based actions (e.g. veneration of Buddha statues, kathina ceremonies) insofar as they inspire practice, because I can imagine a scenario where the only thing being done is offering of incense, giving robes and alms to monks and maybe listening to Pali chanting, with little or no meditation or English-language talks. If that's the case, it might not be worth it. (Although this is a Dhammayut temple, so I would tend to think they would certainly be doing meditation there?) **I'm specifically interested in anyone who's Thai and attends Thai temples in the United States, especially a Dhammayut temple like this one, and could give me some insight as to how they operate, what practices they do and how useful it would be to someone who's interested primarily in practice, less in ritual..**

what is the effectiveness of removing triggers for temptations (food, entertainment etc ) ? i for example took apart the stationary (to avoid watch youtube videos for example for fun) computer i have but after some time i reassembled it if there wont be one attachment there would be others than even if less obvious attachments - can they be less bad ? monks try to avoid this triggers as well i believe (like asking woman to dress modest when visiting monasteries) so i guess it has its merits i wonder how much of a change to a practice this can make - would love to hear general thoughts on this subject

How is mental health dealt with by Bhuddists? Is it believed to be a tangible issue e.g. imbalances of chemicals in the brain? Or an issue of the spirit (not sure if spirit is the right word)? Is treatment with western medicine (i.e. antidepressants/mood stabilizers, talk therapy) condemned or accepted? Is there *stigma* surrounding these illnesses like in the western culture? Is depression thought of an extreme form of dukkha or similar? How are hypomania/major depressive episodes handled?
I hope this makes sense, thanks :)

Government army need to follow orders by Government. In the war, army has to kill the terrorists. That is the nature of war and defeating terrorists is their job. So is it consider as bad karma? I know some army mens who killed more than 100 terrorists. What will happen for them in next life?

Does a realization or just thorough understanding of impermanence, as it appears in Buddhism, benefit a non-believer in the rest of Buddhism, at all, especially not karma? I'm not asking if they can reach samadhi or be on the path, but if the effect of karma is really quite small and more a matter of character than empirical events, what good does an understanding of impermanence grant, in that sort of world?

Is there any school or institution dedicated to teaching Jhana? Teaching "Jhana" means: 1. Accepting students to learn only about Jhana 2. Proper courses and guidelines for student: step by step, from first Rupa Jhana to Four Arupa Jhanas, in Theravada Buddhist teachings (see Dhyāna in Buddhism ) It could be a monastery or public institution or school, which people can join by paying fees or free; but well disciplined and helping students to experience and acquire the capabilities to enter the state of various Jhanas above. Are there any printed courses or lectures about entering Jhanas, published by such a school or institution (or by an author at least)?

Assume that the earth destroyed just a fraction of second as a result of massive meteoroid collision and there are only 10000 humans live at the moment. A one human being possess strong qualifications to get the rebirth as human again.(karmic effects,exact "chuthi citta" at the moment of death and etc....). So what happen next as there are no conditions to get the rebirth as human again?

I have ups and downs in my practice (time doing formal mediation - time being mindful in daily life - doing good stuff avoiding bad stuff etc) and also ups and downs in completely mundane issues as well being lazy not doing anything for days to do stuff for my own benefit than doing lots of stuff (washing the house - exercise etc) than back to nothing ) I had times in the past where i mediated every day (in retreat but also at home) and times i did stuff like exercise study stuff etc now im in a slump for a few months doing almost nothing - i wonder how is it explained kamma wise .... bad kamma from the past ? lazy kamma ? is there no way to prevent this ? again asking from a kamma point of view - how to make a steady practice and steady good mundane stuff can be great (do i need some tipping point of good vs bad kamma done in this specific lifetime) but more than that WHY it happens also : how effective is current life kamma compared to past live kamma ? and recent kamma (1-3 months) in comparison to kamma made before (3months -99 years)

Auto-pilot mode is there for a reason. It is to prevent us from re-inventing the wheel. This is solely my understanding. My question is how do I decide when to go on auto pilot mode and when not to? Is auto-pilot mode always bad?

The first precept tells us to refrain from killing living beings. If everyone in a city practices five precepts, everyone will become vegetarian. Is it true the spirit Buddha wants us to develop is vegetarianism?

Do they both play a role in getting rid of the hindrances or is one better then the other? How do they eliminate them?

As far as i understand the having opposing views about what happens between after you die until you are reborn again right ? or do they "sit together" some how ?

If I let go of craving by doing Vipassana, then according to dependent origination, there would be no clinging. With no clinging, there would be no volitional actions - without these actions, how would I do duties to family members?

Now I feel lazy to meditate because less thoughts no breath to observe. once I observe the body ,it isn't disappears .experience the vibration of mind and feel there is a connection between brain and mind through blood.

In the quote " Sabbe Sankhara Anicca", what is the meaning of word Sankhara? Is the word "Sankhara" derived from Sanskrit word "Sanskara"?

Now no sounds were experienced during meditation only thinking was there.what shall be done here?

I have observed that when I am envious of somebody, I feel an impulse to malign them, and sometimes experience feelings of hostility toward them. Is there a textual explanation for this phenomenon?