Is there a point sending metta to fictional characters like in a movie or a computer game ?

I would like to know what Buddhism says about both our own anger and other people's anger. Especially how to cope with other people's anger, how to handle it, how to avoid suffering from it? Also what are the origins and consequences of anger?

***Is the disciple of Lord-Buddha Mahakashyap still Alive?*** *"The Venerable Mahakashyapa is still present in the world. When he left home under the Buddha, he was already one hundred sixty years old. At the time Shakyamuni Buddha had spoken Dharma for forty-nine years in over three hundred Dharma assemblies, Kashyapa was already over two hundred years old. After Shakyamuni Buddha entered Nirvana, Kashyapa went to Southwestern China, to Chicken Foot Mountain in Yunnan Province. It has been over three thousand years since the Buddha's nirvana, but Mahakashyapa is still sitting in samadhi in Chicken Foot Mountain waiting for Maitreya Buddha to appear in the world. At that time he will give Maitreya the bowl which the Four Heavenly Kings gave Shakyamuni Buddha and which Shakyamuni Buddha gave him, and his work in the world will be finished.* *** > Is that all true that he still's exists? ***

Before I would meditate on floor in Burmese position 30 min in morning, and 30 min at night. My mind was very busy, but when it would calm down, I would get few "Creative Attacks" For the past week, I felt a supernatural force make me meditate sitting on bed with back straight, leaning against pillows and legs straight (right after I wake up and right before I go to sleep). While I meditate in this position I have noticed myself inhaling and exhaling most of the time. I could even feel my chest expand and contract. And I barely get any noisy thoughts compared to meditation while sitting on floor in Burmese position. I am missing those "Creative Attacks", but the reason I started meditation is so I can have deepened awareness in my surroundings (I'm called Absent-Minded) Is my approach ok. I mean, these "Creative Attacks" are helping me endure some rough patches right now (almost to the point that these patches are slightly dry skin). Can I hear from novice and experienced meditators alike.

I was wondering what Buddhism teaches or says about the concept of Tolerance and the acceptance of differences more generally speaking.

I suppose that there is (are) differences between the *tilakkhana* (anicca; dukkha and anatta) and the so-called *three dhamma-seals* (anicca; anatta and nibbana). Can anyone help me?

What is the phonetic of the word "Buddh" spoken in time 21:47 to 21:48 minutes of this video . I am a novice in phonetics. The phonetic of the word Buddha is wriiten as [bud̪ːʱə] in this wikipedia article However, to my taste, the english prononciation of the B and U in the word Buddh does not matches exactly with that of the video. Let me know how to phonetically write the word "Buddh" spoken in time 21:47 to 21:48 minutes of the video.

I once read, I don't recall where, that Buddha stated that spiritual enlightenment is not suffering. That he put it in a negation on purpose. Ok, I get that, not suffering. With NLP I learned there are 2 types of motivation. 1). Moving away from. 2). Moving towards to. The second is more valuable in my experience, because it brings me want I want, instead of something that differs from what I do not want, but isn't necessarily something I would want instead. So to be able to move towards experiencing spiritual enlightenment I need to know what is. I would like to known, in simple words, what spiritual enlightenment is. So the question is, what is the essence of spiritual enlightenment?

What is the real meaning of Bhagava? Or are there any multiple meanings? Sutta references are appreciated. -Metta

**My experience of letting go and detaching** I know that meditating on letting go and detachment is a fruitful activity. I experience physical discharge when I see I am holding on to something, that isn't true, and I let it go. In other words, I detach from it. As a variant to this meditation practice I also attach again. That is, I try to get myself back into that feeling that I had when I was attached. The moment that I notice the slightest mental activity of getting carried away again, I reevaluate that it isn't true and keep my focus there until I feel I am detaching again. I do this a couple of times until I know longer feel any interest arise anymore when I focus on attaching, and thus, the attachment doesn't happen anymore. To me it is like getting bored with the subject. There is nothing in it for me anymore that I want to grasp. It seems that all energy that caused any attachment dissipated. **Stop creating mental constructs instead of letting go of them** Now on the the purpose of this question. Today I realized that what I attach to is always a mental construct. And that mental construct is always created by myself. Then I came to think about the words 'letting go' and 'detaching'. These words seem to imply there is something there, that exist on their own, of which you 'need' to 'let go' and 'detach'. There is something, but not there in objective reality, but here in subjective mental constructs. What if, the moment I observe a mental construct, I realize I don't want to create that mental construct in the first place. Then there is nothing to let go, there is nothing to detach from, as it simply doesn't exist anymore. It isn't being created in the first place. That puts me in the chair of being the 'creator' of all my experience. So then I do not practice the 'letting go' and 'detachment' from anything anymore, I practice the 'stop creating' of unfruitful mental constructs, which leaves energy for creating mental activity that is fruitful. **Questions:** - Then I came to wonder, did Buddha really ment 'letting go' and 'detach'? - What are the actual sanskrit and pali terms for 'letting go' and 'detach'? - And do they really mean the same, or is it more like 'Dukkha' which is best translated to 'suffering', while it is not exactly the same. But suffering is the closest matching description.

My dog has run away and I am sad. To be honest I was probably not taking care of him the best as one possibly could. We both excelled or declined based on my success, but I tried to allow him his own freedom and now he is gone. Do I grieve? I mean I know that I am but should I? Is this precisely the type of attachment I should and must choose to sever? This dog has been my friend and cohort for almost 10 years. He helped me recover from heart attacks and multiple surgeries. How could one not grow attached? So should I feel relieved or guilty and sad? I made sure to ask this while he was missing. Now he has since been found and returned.

We are consciousness housed inside a physical form. We started off as the nothingness of the universe ... all potential. Then we were bound to this form just as someone capturing air in a bag. Although we are normally formless and all one big lump of consciousness instead of a bunch of individuals - this circumstance changes that. We are now identified as that bag. That bag, our body, interacts with the universe and sets wheels and gears in motion every which way. Those movements ripple repercussions both onward and back as cause/effect. There is no "time lag" so a consciousness is just immediately changed and as long as that change deviates it from the whole then it is bound to be constantly reborn until it can balance out that equation. It can't just blend back into the whole again until it is neutral. This make sense to me without being bound in mysticism. Where is it incorrect? Or is it? I really think I have something here.

I have read from abhidhamma book saying that our thoughts generate inside heart and heart is invisible to naked eye and untouchable. this statement in abhidhamma can't be accepted with modern day science. my certain question is when heart transplant took place what happen to person's thoughts? will the thought of heart owner transfer to the patient? Can someone give proper explanation on this?

I have often read that you shouldn't meditate to try and have a pleasant experience because meditation is about "letting go" and cultivating equanimity etc and not about trying to feel something else. But then what is samatha? It's tranquility ie a calm pleasant experience so therefore if you do that kind of meditation then aren't you trying to have an experience?

How do I know if I enjoy answering questions because I feel helpful or because it strokes my ego? Why does this program demand that I add more words to my question?

In other words, by not conceptualizing sensations of physical pain, do fully enlightened people still experience unpleasantness and simply not label it as such, or is the experience fundamentally without anything that an unenlightened mind would label as unpleasant, so that the degree of pain becomes like pitch in music?

In Vinaya, there is this rule (copied from Buddhist Monastic Code II ): > "One should not knowingly consume meat killed on purpose (for a > bhikkhu). Whoever should consume it: an offense of wrong doing. I > allow fish and meat that is pure in three respects: One has not seen, > heard, or suspected (that it was killed on purpose for a bhikkhu)." — > Mv.VI.31.14 How should we interpret "heard"? I can think of some possibilities: 1. Heard from someone that it was killed for me, i.e., someone told me that it was killed for me. 1. Heard the sound of killing, e.g. sound of the animal or action of killing 1. Both of the above.

Usually, the word enlightenment is not directly understandable; a newcomer might understand incorrectly. In the Visuddhimagga (Path to Purification, p. 6), Nibbana is illustrated as follows: > "Herein, purification should be understood as Nibbana, which being > devoid of all stains, is utterly pure." On page seven it is further explained as follows: > "Formations are all impermanent: When he sees thus with understanding > And turns away from what is ill, That is the path to purity" Are enlightenment and Nibbana the same? If so, does enlightenment mean achieving purity?

What is the path or practice leading to ultimate happiness in the light of one's own practice which has lead you to achieving true happiness?

I live in Dickinson, North Dakota USA and I am wanting to follow Buddha but have no one to teach me or to ask questions to. I has wondering if there is anyway to get in to contact with a Theravada Buddhist Monk to help guide me down my path? I have checked my local library and online for books but nothing comes up helpful.