The Sasana of Gautama Buddha will last for 5000 years of which more than 2500 years are over. Ariya Maitreya will be the next Buddha. How long will the Sasana of Ariya Maitreya Buddha last?

My own experience with meditation is that it works best when I'm alone and it's quiet. But in the dharma center they sell lot of cd's and many of them are titled "for meditation". Is it absolutely and definitely not "Comme il faut" to meditate with music? Is this music they sell for meditation more for rituals etc? Or is there some kinds of music that can be used for meditation? By "music" I don't necessarily mean melodic compositions, but ambient sounds like fex theta waves. Any experiences and/or advice?

Considering whatever atrocities Muslims did (I don't know if they did any) or are going to do, is killing Muslims the only solution the Myanmar Buddhists could adopt? Is it wise? Is violence recommended in Buddhism (or by Buddha) under any extreme circumstances?? If no, why have the Myanmar Buddhists chosen that path? For context, here are some news links on this topic: * [BBC: Why are Buddhist monks attacking Muslims?](http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22356306) * [CNN: Anti-Muslim tension simmers ahead of Myanmar election](http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/02/asia/myanmar-burma-buddhist-muslim-violence/)

I have been meditation using Mindfulness of Breathing mediation. I will continue for a while, while increasing the duration. When can I say that I "master" a type of meditation? Are there a natural next type of meditation after Mindfulness of Breathing?

I have been doing regular shamata meditation for three months now. By regular I mean at least two sessions of 24 minutes every day and sessions in between, f.ex ten minute sessions at work whenever it's quiet. Two questions 1 When I sit, after about 3 or 4 for minutes, I get real warm. It's not really that bothering but interestingly this seems to happen in many sessions. After about 12-15 minutes the heat cools off again. Does anyone recognise this? 2 I am a "lucky" man and try to respect my fortunate karma. Not only do I have a stable familiy life, after many years of drugs and drink. I also have a job that I really like. I look forward to work every single day of the year. And my family supports meditation practice and Buddhism. But my contentment with work actually makes meditation more difficult in the morning, because I'm so expectant. I am getting better at not "looking forward to work", but it's so much easier for me to keep focus in afternoon/evening. Any tips?

My teacher says that the Buddha said there are four ways to practice Shamata; sitting, walking, standing and lying down. Which one of these produces best are the most effective in you experience? I also practice Qi Gong every day. Is it an idea to combine (simple) Qi Gong with Shamata? Does anyone have any experience?

Does Buddhism accept Existence ? If it does what is Existence?

I am quite new to Buddhism. One of the reasons for starting practice was that I don't believe in God. But I belive in the four Noble Truths. I believe it because the more I think about it, the more I see it is true. And practicing accordingly strenghtens my faith. My question is, is the four Noble Truths the "correct object of faith" in Buddhism?

I have heard about the beings called Brahma who do not have a Physical appearance.But they have different names. How does the identity factor come into this scenario. Is there some Suttas or texts explaining their lives?

I recently came across the in depth teaching of Buddhism and have a few questions. Can a human through the right path be reborn a Deva or Asura? And is there a type of "god karma" that will run out causing highly divine beings to be reborn as a human or can they repeats the cycle forever becoming higher devas

It's said that Sotapanna has perfect morality. For example, AN 3.85 says: >"There is the case where a monk is wholly accomplished in virtue, moderately accomplished in concentration, and moderately accomplished in discernment. With reference to the lesser and minor training rules, he falls into offenses and rehabilitates himself. Why is that? Because I have not declared that to be a disqualification in these circumstances. But as for the training rules that are basic to the holy life and proper to the holy life, he is one of permanent virtue, one of steadfast virtue. Having undertaken them, he trains in reference to the training rules. With the wasting away of [the first] three fetters, he is a stream-winner, never again destined for states of woe, certain, headed for self-awakening. And in AN 9.12: >Again, Sāriputta, a certain person is complete in virtues, incomplete in concentration and incomplete in wisdom. Destroying three bonds he transmigrates as a human or god the most seven times and makes end of unpleasantness. Sāriputta, this is the eighth person who dies with substratum, released, from hell, from animal birth, from the sphere of ghosts and released from loss and hellish births. But we do wrong thing from time to time. Our deeds are not perfect. So what does it mean by having a perfect (wholly accomplished) morality/virtue?

I'm an American living in Bangkok. I have Parkinson's disease and have recently (last week) developed restless leg syndrome. It's now 4:30 AM & I can't sleep - because of the discomfort in my legs. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a long time. I'm trying different therapies for the legs but nothing seems to work so far. Although I have an Angel looking after me, she doesn't really know what I'm going through - and I'm trying to keep a positive outlook, which is getting harder with this sleep depravation! I'm feeling afraid and alone. I've been attracted to Buddhism for a long time and have meditated off & on for quite a while. When I try to meditate, I'm just too uncomfortable to do so, even while lying down. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Any advice?

Tathata has been described as the ultimate goal of Buddhism. What is tathata? What is the closest thing we experience in everyday life close to tathata? How can we attain knowledge of tathata?

As we know there are lower realms mentioned in Buddhism, like the animal realm. If you have heard the story of the "Alavaka yaksha/yakkha" (He was an evil being by birth) You might also think "If beings like "Alavaka" can reach goals in the path are they considered lower because they are evil by birth?" After all he is not the only one of his kind to reach goals of the path on the spot where they learned Buddhism.As to Suttas/Sutras these beings serve as soldiers in armies of Gods/Devas, so they clearly aren't some primitive things like our animals.These beings also have ridiculous strength and amazing abilities like shape shifting. ---- *So what i'm asking is...* Are they labeled Lower realm creatures because they are Bad or Evil from birth or is there any other reason? *(Please note that i am only asking about the Race/Species/Beings called Yakkha or Yaksha)*

I'd like to ask a few questions, if I may. I am having some trouble seeing meanings or attributes being assigned to some things in Buddhism. > The yellow robe worn by monks is an emblem and reminder of the Triple Gem, as is the Buddha Statue. Therefore one is really bowing to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, not to some person or statue. - I've also heard that one bows to show respect for the monk/nun/Buddha image. What is the actual meaning of bowing? I don't think that it makes the respect I already have for people any different. I can't seem to understand if it is right to assign a meaning to such simple act. Shouldn't we be seeing this just for what it is? (Bending the body, moving) - Another example that I could use is the general idea of beauty. I know it results from the personal interpretation of the things that surround us, and we should set ourselves free from any kind of personal point of view. Yet, i've seen people (monks) talking about the beauty of the nature, and at the same time I disagree with such thing, I can only see nature as a beautiful thing. How do I deal with that? - Different people find different things pleasant. Therefore, pleasure is something personal and results from our personal interpretation of reality (an example of this is humor). The buddhist teachings tell us that there's no problem on feeling pleasant sensations, yet one can't cling to them. But if we should see things for what they truly are, finding something pleasant is not right, is it? Thank you in advance, Nicolas

I’d like to hear some reflections on mindfulness. I’m not talking here about meditation on the three marks or any kind of visualization, but mindfulness. I am quoting here from B. Allan Wallace’s *The Attention Revolution*. > [One] approach views mindfulness as nondiscriminating, > moment-to-moment ‘bare awareness’ [and the other] characterizes > mindfulness as bearing in mind the object of attention, the state of > not forgetting, not being distracted, and not floating. Which one of these is the most “genuinely Buddhist” kind of mindfulness?

I am looking for a pair of earmuffs to wear while meditating that are effective at reducing noise and comfortable to wear for at least 2 hours. Does anyone have any recommendations of brands that they have actually used? **Note**: I would like to preemptively state that I am in no way interested in any answer that has to do with noticing my aversion to noise or doing vipassana; anything along these lines does not answer my question and will be down-voted.

I'm having trouble framing this question right so please let me know if it needs clarification. I'll first describe the issues surrounding the question and then ask the question itself. I've been reading "A Buddhist Bible" compiled by Dwight Goddard. In one of the sutras the Buddha says that all perceived reality is like a dream. Essentially that all we touch, see, taste, hear, and feel is no more real than a dream. It's hard for me to see this because dreams don't seem to follow consistent rules as does the reality we seem to perceive. It seems that in our reality there really do exist laws of physics and mathematical truths and consistency amongst these things. From my understanding, the Buddha said that all phenomena is generated by the mind, but then why is there so much consistency within the laws of physics if it is the case that the mind generates it? I can easily imagine so many inconsistent things, not only that but I can dream them as well, so what distinction exists between activities of the mind such as those that "generate reality" and those that "generate dreams" such that one produces consistent laws of mathematical truths and the other does not? Before I labor on and generate a confusing sequence of unrelated questions let me please clarify the question I wish to be answered: If it is the case that the reality that we perceive is no more real than the dreams that we have, what is the Buddhist explanation for what accounts for the consistency in the laws of physics and mathematical truths which we do observe? Secondly, since so many minds are generating this reality, how is it possible that everyone agrees upon laws of physics and mathematical truths? Doesn't consistency among observers imply an external reality independent of the mind? If consistency does exist then is there really only one mind? Or are there many? If there are many then how can consistency be satisfied?

What is the canonical reference if I wanted to read about breath patterns and their mapping to specific mind states? A while back I came across an online text which contained some very hard-to-remember tables of breath sequences. It was, if I remember correctly, a *Visuddhimagga* style Theravada text. It listed breath sequences such as a 2s-4l-2s breath sequence (s-short, l-long) followed by 2s-2l-2s etc. and mapped them to specific stages on the way to Jhanas and nanas. It also had explanations about the kind of person who would get a certain sequence - for example a person who's upheld sila would get so-and-so breath pattern as opposed to a person strong in samadhi etc. Does this sound familiar to anyone? I'm open to such texts from any tradition.

Shōbōgenzō (正法眼蔵?, lit. "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye") is the title most commonly used to refer to the collection of works written in Japanese by the 13th century Japanese Buddhist monk and founder of the Japanese Sōtō Zen school, Eihei Dōgen.