My understanding of "taking refuge" is reciting a mantra. However, is there a certain ceremony to become fully Buddhist? Is it just repeating the mantra X number of times, or is there more to it?

On Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha said that in the last ninety-one aeons, no fatalist who denies the power of volitional acts, has ever gone to heaven, except one, who happened to follow the doctrine of kamma and of morally effective deeds. How does this power of volitional act or volitional act happen with in the frame work of Pratītyasamutpāda? My intension is not to discuss about non-self rather about the volitional act done by the self-doer as explained in Attakārī Sutta. Also not so much about the change or motion, the being stepping forward or backward, but the volition or intention that brought about the change. Pratītyasamutpāda states that everything except Nirvana are conditioned, and from ignorance (Avijjā) comes mental formations (Saṅkhāra) which includes volition. So if every mental formation is conditioned by ignorance including human volition (choice), how come a being by choice, which is volition, which has ignorance at its base root out ignorance? On the other hand, if volition (choice) is not conditioned by ignorance, then the beings choice is out side Pratītyasamutpāda which has ignorance at its starting point? Similarly, if the answer is yes and no, this still implies that volition (choice) can be out side Pratītyasamutpāda? Many thanks.

One of my teachers has said that practicing Buddhism isn't about having a good time. That's always struck me as a bit harsh. If I practice Buddhism to feel a bit better about myself and to be happy is that a wrong view. If it is, then why would anyone start to practice at all unless they had been brought up in that tradition and it was a cultural thing.

For a long time I was told that when the Buddha touched the ground and became enlightened that his hair went up and formed a ball on his head and that that is what we see on the statues. But recently I heard a different story, that they are **snails**! That is something that really made my day, but is it true? Are there only snails or did his hair also stand up?

Did Buddha ever weep while in his days of Enlightenment? What does Buddha say about weeping? Did he ever weep, for instance, a death of a relative?

When the mind or person experiences 'suffering' ('dukkha'), which 'aggregate' ('khandha') is producing this suffering or which aggregate does this suffering fall into?

What is the concept of "Ego" or "self "? In buddhism there's concept called no self.Does is mean there's no "me" at all or does it mean that "me" cannot understood with out " you ".

Brain is directory connected to mind. Examining the differences of wave patterns that emit from brain when someone is mad or meditating explains there is a direct connection. What if someone achieved nirvana or a lower state of the path to nirvana, and met in an accident and lost all his memories or had permanent brain damage due to a disease . As an example in alzheimer’s disease brain shrinks and it losses its memories and abilities to think . So in a situation like this , can someone loose his state in the path to nirvana ?

If i realise anatta will it help me calm and focus my mind in meditation? If so how?

I would like to know how Tendai or indeed Tiantai, views its use of zazen or zen. I would provisionally assume it serves a different role than it does or is in Soto and Rinzai and contemporary Chan.

What is the difference if the snake was eating a frog or a human? What do Buddhist scriptures say about this?

What is the relation between the [Eight Consciousnesses](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Consciousnesses) and the [Five Aggregates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha#The_five_skandhas) ? Are all the 8 consciousnesses subtypes of the fifth aggregate (vijñāna/viññāṇa)? The name suggests so, but it looks strange to me: the first 5 of the 8 consciousnesses seem to be more related to the third aggregate (samjñā/saññā). I would be glad for a clarification.

I have been a staunch follower of the Buddha's words for the past 1.5 years. I do believe in the Buddha in so far as the Denial of God, Creationism, Destiny is concerned but considering the events in my life and what I see around, I am now absolutely sure that there is no Karma nor Rebirth. In my own life experience, I was married about an year back, arranged by my family according to the traditions. Obviously I did not know the Girl before marriage nor had any sexual relations with her. It so followed that after marriage following a few days of sex with me she went ahead and had sex with her boyfriend (her friend close to her before marriage). What followed was - She obviously found him to be more suitable for her sexual desires and immediately after that she started mentally irritating me and abuse followed. She did other stuff (like creating fissures in family) and ultimately left me after a few months. Now she is extremely happy and posting happy messages and photos in social networking and abusing me happily. The marriage laws in my country are pro female and I cannot do absolutely anything. But the fact of the matter is that she is extremely happy (both sexually and otherwise) while I feel cheated and wronged. Further I do see in my country in India due to a hierarchical Caste system, extremely poor people made to clean others toilets etc and pick trash due to their birth. I just spoke to an old man (about 65 years old) who told me (while crying) that he has been doing this job (cleaning toilets and picking trash) for 45 years and he is not allowed to do any other work except this and there is nobody to help him because the traditions in the country are like that. I would like to ask you for those who believe in Karma: Where is Karma acting?

Are attachment, aversion, ignorance Kamma? Are they leading to a bad destination? If they are not Kamma how do they lead you to a bad destination?

In our world, (Earth) there were 28 Buddha born with Gautama Buddha. Some people say that Maitreya Buddha is the 29th & last Buddha. My question is, in the future how many Buddhas will born.

The world is going to a point of no return, with the thirst for materialistic grandeur and power to rule over nature; after the conquered of Oriental by the Occidental. This article talks about Cyborg. Cyborg, Bionic Man, Clone, Trans-human... these could be the future of you and me, friends and colleagues walking on the streets. Or programmed, or with specific "functions", or one prototype of "human resources", it could all be tailor-made. When human falls into such situation, are Buddhist self-cultivation practices such as meditation, mantra chanting, concentration of mind... etc still viable; can enlightenment still be reachable for these types of humans? **Explanation Added:** Especially for certain schools of practices, it's about the Wind (氣), Nadi (脈), Bindu (明點) related to the human body, e.g., the Tibetan School. Certain other schools, included is the Hinayana, that the practice of the White Skeleton Visualization is depended upon working on the body to transform the consciousness - can a "Re-made Human" *(Cyborg, Trans-human who has his body parts enhanced, replaced by organic or inorganic components, partially human partially machine, with devices implanted to achieve certain supernatural abilities such as remote viewing, mind control with micro-wave... all could be imagined... in short, Iron Man or Wolverine type of human)* do the Buddhist practices and achieve enlightenment? **Remarks Added 14/02/2017** Excerpt from MarketWatch : > Musk also touched one of his favorite topics: artificial intelligence. Specifically, he spoke of humans eventually merging with machines, like something out of a "Terminator" movie. ...merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence ...the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself... _____ The future human destiny is approaching us with rapidity: In a beautiful name called *upgrading* human.

I've read several reports of people remembering past lives. In many cases, in their current life they tend to have a very similar personality, repeat many of the same life patterns and often have many of the same interests they had in their previous life. This would suggest that we incarnate into lives which were similar to our past life, repeating similar karmic patterns. However, I have also read many sources which claim that we incarnate into life situations which are the complete reverse of our previous life in order to experience the karma 'from the other side' of the situation. For instance, if you were an abuser in a previous life, many claim that in this life you would be the victim of an abuser who was your victim in your past life. The two paradigms seem rather mutually exclusive. I was wondering if Buddhism could help shed some light on to this.

There's a lot of emphasis within the insight tradition on "seeing things as they are" , "turning towards difficult emotions" etc etc. But in my experience it's not always the best advise. For example if I'm feeling sad,lonely, depressed etc, I find it's not helpful to sit there and look at it at all. I end up feeling worse. Going for a walk or swim and getting into my body seems to be far more helpful. I end up feeling happier. Why is there so much focus on this kind of passive acceptance? Sure I can accept that right now I feel sad but ifs it's within my power to change that then why wouldn't I?

In *AN 8.36: Ways of Meritorious Action* , the Buddha speaks about different ways of making merit. He teaches that one can make merit by *Giving, by practicing Virtue (Morality) and by developing Meditation*. He also mentions in what sphere of existence a being will be reborn according to which meritorious deeds are practiced and to what degree (small, high, very high). In the sutta the Buddha only mentions *Giving* in combination with *Virtue*. Making merit by practicing *Meditation* is not mentioned. - Why is that? - What are the merits made by practicing Meditation in combination with Giving and Virtue? Below is the quoted sutta. Thank you for your time. >WAYS OF MERITORIOUS ACTION > >"There are, monks, three ways of making merit. What three? > >"There are ways of making merit by giving, by (practicing) virtue and by meditation. > >"There is a person who, only to a small degree, has practiced the making of merit by giving; and, likewise to a small degree, he has practiced the making of merit by virtue; but the making of merit by meditation he has not undertaken. This one, after death, when his body breaks up, will be reborn among humans in an ill-favored condition. > >"Another person has practiced to a high degree the making of merit by giving as well as by virtue; but the making of merit by meditation he has not undertaken. Such a one, after death, when his body breaks up, will be reborn among humans in favorable conditions. > >"Or he will be reborn in the company of the deities of the Four Great Divine Kings. And there, the Four Great Divine Kings, who had practiced to a very high degree the making of merit by giving and by virtue, surpass the deities of their realm in ten things: in divine life span, divine beauty, divine happiness, divine power, divine sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. > >"Or he will be reborn in the company of the Thirty-three gods. And there, Sakka king of gods, who had practiced to a very high degree the making of merit by giving and virtue, surpasses... > >(The same statements are made for rebirth among the Yaama gods, Tusita gods, the gods of creative joy, the gods controlling others' creations, and for the respective rulers of these realms.) > >"These, monks, are the three ways of making merit." > >— AN 8.36

Why do Buddhists pray to Buddhas in temples? I heard that Sakyamuni didn't approve of that and even criticized Bodhisattva for telling other people that he can help them with things that only God can help with. Sakyamuni considered himself and Bodhisattva as ordinary human beings without any divine abilities. Is that true? Is there any reference or source which confirms this?