Who can realize the nirvana easier?As male one or female one?

Im 42 years old man...i have a girlfriend..and studying Yoga, Meditation and some basics of buddhism. I came from a Hindu religion but somehow the buddhism suits me more. I wonder if someone that is practicing buddhism or being a monk can be married to. Cos i love my girlfriend and thinking about getting married in couple of months...on the other hand i also feels like spending more time to study the buddhism and i also feel like to become a monk in the future. Is there a middle way..like being married, studying buddhism and become a monk or is that not possible ? thank.

When I wake up in the morning I don't feel like meditating straight away. I usually feel heavy and drowsy. So I have some breakfast and coffee and then I will sit. This morning I tried to sit for an hour as soon as I woke up but it was really difficult. My mind was not clear at all. Not sure I was thinking about anything in particular but I felt cloudy and uncomfortable with strong cravings to go back to sleep. I was so uncomfortable that I decided to open my eyes at 45 minutes. My meditation feels like a struggle a lot lately. I feel like I've kind of lost touch with why I'm doing it. It feels like a bit of a chore. Sitting there day in and day out watching the breath for years and years but failing to become any more concentrated unless on retreat has become kind of pointless. Does anyone else feel like this? I was hoping that after all this time that maybe something would change in my life and I might see more clearly about how I cause myself suffering, that I would have "insights" but it seems to just be this endless watching the breath, thinking, watching the breath, thinking. I'm not sure if maybe I'm expecting too much but it doesn't feel like I'm gaining any benefit for the amount of time I put in to it so then I start thinking that I'm doing it wrong etc. I can't believe that after 6 years I'm still thinking/feeling this way. Feeling intense Dukkha today.

What is the buddhist perspective on lucid dreaming? I am very curious about my first lucid dream last night.

I was listening to a talk on YouTube about vipassana practice as taught by Goenka. The woman doing the talk said that the Buddha taught that every time a stimulus enters the sense door there is a sensation in the body and it is these sensations that we react to not the stimulus itself. I have tried the body scan technique quite a few times but not very successfully and so have ended practicing Mahasi Sayadaws technique instead which is focusing on the abdomen rising and falling. I have to say I'm not very aware of these sensations that are happening to every stimulus. Of course when I sit and meditate I notice some sensations such as itching, pulsing, pain etc but as far as the ones that are the result of every stimulus entering I'm not sure how I go about noticing those before I react. Also my understanding is that Buddhism also sees thought as a sense door so therefore thought also causes these sensations. Is that correct? In order to be a successful practitioner do I need to train myself to notice all these sensations? Is it good enough to just notice some like itching, trembling? Do I need to understand what causes them? Or is noticing them enough? Or do I need to notice the feeling tone associated? Or both?

This question came up when I really thought back on both my and many others' spiritual journey. In the New Age community, especially, the sense of viewing things as illusions and making progress in one's spiritual path can easily steer you to be more condescending or arrogant (i.e viewing others as somehow lesser or more immature than you) and in the process, feed the Ego. Often you see this in spiritual teachers as well, who seemed to have, in their journeys to eliminate the Ego, fueled their Ego. Did the enlightened Buddha ever touch on this subject?

Seongcheol 's parinirvana gatha reads: > Deceiving people all my life, my sins outweigh Mount Sumeru. > > Falling into hell alive, my grief divides into ten thousand pieces. > > Spouting forth a red wheel, > > It hangs on the blue mountain. Has anyone written about what this means? I see that Seongcheol had this explanation > I've lived my entire life as a practitioner, and people have always > asked me for something. Everyone is already a Buddha, but they do not > try to realize that fact and only look towards me. So, in a way, you > could say I've deceived people all my life. I've failed to get this > message across to everyone so I'm suffering in a kind of hell. But I wonder if it is definitive? You read people who think it's an admission that he's wasted his "entire life", whereas I thought it could be a statement about "saving all sentient beings".

I am looking for a specific sutta wherein the conditionality and insubstantiality of the existential process of a sentient being, or consciousness, is made plain by use of the simile of a resonating musical instrument being struck by the player's hand, the sound of which, resonating for awhile, then slowly fades away. Any references, anyone ? Thanks :)

I just did a mistake while commuting. I told sorry to the person and wished him well in my mind. This brought me to think, > Are there any suttas staring how to go about a mistake done which resulted in hurting another person?

I've been looking into this lately and am curious how should we address crime and punishment? I know all about the story of Angulimala, but we can't expect all murders, rapist etc., to experience liberation in this fashion. If capital punishment is out and so many seem opposed to excessively long prison sentences what's the practical alternative? Yes programs and such to deal with the root cause of these issues are needed but in the here and now how can we best protect society and give these individuals an opportunity to reform. Also people don't like the idea of prison as retaliation or revenge "justice", but shouldn't all social actions have social consequence other than just allowing for kamma? And maybe the social consequence of jail is your kamma.

I am not sure if Buddha said it or not, I was flipping around some Buddha quotes pictures and found an image saying "Its better to travel well than to arrive". can anyone explain What does it mean ? Thanks

Say i am a Differently able person and i cant move my arms so how does my Vinyana work? Is that part of my "Kaya Vinyana" (The vinyana that works with the body) deactivated or lost contact with the arms? What is the connection between the Vinyana and a uncontrollable body part like arms or legs? I am not reffering this question about Blind,Deaf or Mute people only about the people who are not able to use existing and functioning body parts

I am doing research on the Burmese Weikza traditions and wanted help as to the usage of the skull in their magical practices.

I really know what does love means even my prior question was also "What does love means?" but as I'm going through. When I tried to let person know I'm loving then it gets angry at me so how love conquer anger/hate when I found person hates me. Neither has affection nor kindness towards me, no respect for my feelings towards that person. So is this love crime that I found someone who I Iove hates me after knowing I'm loving that person. I don't know what's their psychology or perspective of love. So I've question that is love crime?

I've seen a video where the Sr Monk's feet were being washed by laity or even Jr Monk. Anybody know what purpose does it serve?

"Homosexuality" is a hot topic everywhere in the world now. But is it a sin according to Buddhism? Does it cause a breaking of the third precept? I have heard in a sermon that people are born gay because of breaking the third precept severely in previous births and people are born as females for also breaking the third precept (not as severely I suppose). I know that where I come from if the government accepts gay marriages the monks will be the first to protest even before the church does! Is it because it is a sin? (PS: I am totally fine with someone being gay)

If someone would hide from the Nazis and then the Nazis came and asked me if I'm hiding a Jew - should I say "yes" or "no"? When is it ok to lie?

I'm wondering what the Buddha said about **spiritual friendship with the Buddha himself**. From [SN 45.2](https://suttacentral.net/en/sn45.2) : > By the following method too, Ānanda, it may be understood how the > entire holy life is good friendship, good companionship, good > comradeship: by relying upon me as a good friend, Ānanda, beings > subject to birth are freed from birth; beings subject to aging are > freed from aging; beings subject to death are freed from death; beings > subject to sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair are > freed from sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair. By > this method, Ānanda, it may be understood how the entire holy life is > good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship. **Are there any other texts that bring up this subject? What have later Buddhist teachers said about this?** References (from Sutras or otherwise) are welcome! Grateful for help and with kind regards, Tord *** ***UPDATE to make the question more clear:*** **The question is specifically about friendship with the Buddha himself (not general friendship on the path).** I have chosen to call this friendship "spiritual" but maybe "virtual" or another word would be better, or another word that describes that the friendship is different from a person alive in the typical sense

Why is a lie for the purposes of self defence necessarily unwholesome? Why is using a lie as defence for another from attack considered parajeeka for a monk when a monk can use physical self defence and it's not parajeeka? Why can't a monk misrepresent reality(lie) for self defense instead of resorting to physical violence? As long as you know what the truth is why give it to someone who would exploit it? I was thinking that our intentions aren't unwholesome because we lie but a lie is unwholesome because of our unwholesome intentions. -Metta

Is Buddhism accepting homosexuality? It is a famous question now.I want to know "Is lord Buddha accede homosexuality?