I have started practicing Vipassana meditation and seek information on the Mahasi Sayadaw tradition. Could anyone provide me with some sources for learning about and understanding this tradition? Thank you!

This month is Buddhist Action Month in the UK when we try to be a bit more socially engaged. To quote from the website > Despite Buddhism's reputation for stillness and withdrawal from the > world, UK Buddhists are engaged in a wide range of social-change > projects, alleviating suffering at home and abroad So leading on from this, I was wondering whether the Buddha promoted this kind of social engagement. Was the Buddha active in addressing political and social injustices of his time or did he more work within the social norms and bring about liberation in that way. I'm particularly interested in references to the Pali Canon to illustrate answers but answers from other traditions and texts would also be interesting.

Within the Pali canon the Buddha often vigorously debates with Brahmin priests. However in the Buddha's time there were a lot of other spiritual traditions too. Did the Buddha have more cordial relationships with teachers of other faiths too? Are there examples of him working together with spiritual teachers of other traditions? I'm specifically asking about his teaching after he became enlightened. I know he studied with several teachers before that point.

Specifically, is there a difference between equanimity as a corruption of insight and the insight stage "equanimity in regards to formations"?

What is the difference between Shikantaza and Zazen? I used to think that Zazen was synonymous with just sitting but I'm starting to doubt that. Is it Shikantaza that is synonymous with just sitting practice? It would help me if someone could define them and bring out the relationship between the two and the relationship between them both and just sitting practice. Thank you.

Suppose a monk is invited to a house for food and the lay person asks how the food is? How does a monk reply to such a question. I am sure a monk in his lifetime comes across many such subjective questions. How should he deal with them? Does he: 1. Just reply something to satisfy the lay person 2. Give him/her a teaching on impermanence of everything From the stories in Buddha's life, it is clear that he laid great emphasis on timing his teachings to someone. Many a time he would say that this is not the right time for him/her to learn the Dhamma. Having this in context, does it make sense to impart teaching at every possible opportunity. Please incorporate any stories if any to showcase the tradition.

My interest was caught by an article talking about the mundane and supermundane powers which are mentioned in the Samaññaphala Sutta (The Fruits of the Contemplative Life, DN 2): The first five mundane powers: (_can be attained through perfection of samādhi_) - Supranormal powers > With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the modes of supranormal powers. He wields manifold supranormal powers. Having been one he becomes many; having been many he becomes one. He appears. He vanishes. **He goes unimpeded through walls, ramparts, and mountains as if through space**. - Clairaudience > With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the divine ear-element. He hears -- by means of the divine ear-element, purified and surpassing the human -- both kinds of sounds: divine and human, **whetever near or far**. - Mind Reading > With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to **knowledge of the awareness of other beings**. He knows the awareness of other beings, other individuals, having encompassed it with his own awareness. - Recollection of Past Lives > With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to knowledge of the recollection of past lives. **He recollects his manifold past lives**, i.e., one birth, two births, three births, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, one hundred, one thousand, one hundred thousand, many aeons of cosmic contraction, many aeons of cosmic expansion, many aeons of cosmic contraction and expansion, [recollecting], 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. - The Passing Away & Re-appearance of Beings > With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to **knowledge of the passing away and re-appearance of beings**. One supermundane power (_Can be attained through Vipassana_): - The Ending of Mental Fermentations > With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, the monk directs and inclines it to the **knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations**. However, the Buddha emphasized to attain only the last through the realization of Arahatship. It might be unfair to ask for scientific proof, but is there any backup for the first five supposedly attainable powers, any personal experiences maybe?

A meditation teacher I once had said that access concentration (the stage before the jhanas) is the same level of concentration that one has when reading a good book or when fully engaged in conversation. However when I've read about it in other places it makes it seem like it is a more special level of concentration, perhaps one that you wouldn't ordinarily experience in your day to day life. Which point of view is more correct? How concentrated is access concentration and how would one recognise it?

I have done meditation for 6 week now. My pulse has now become so electric even not when I am meditating, before i was Activated my pulse used to pulsating back and forward but now its more alive. When i make a triangle/pyramid with my hands, i can make one electric ball inside and if really focus it will become a beam of electricity that feels like Oneness. When i breathe i feel a cold layer of electricity on my skin, the breathing is controlling my electricity. My feelings are growing everyday i feel like i am getting strong for each day I have very little experience with this so if anybody know anything please talk to me.

When I first started meditating and after a while, I had a period where I experienced extremely wonderful sensations in my body. It culminated one day when I was meditating, laying on my bed: I felt like my body has vanished, time stopped and extreme pleasure arose in my body. It was like I was floating in a substance full of pleasure to my mind. I didn't feel my body, it was like my body vanished, I had no thoughts, but was fully aware. I was in this state for 4 hours, and if it wasn't for somebody calling me, I would be even longer. When I emerged from this state it felt like 10 minutes passed. This experience was the most wonderful, joyful, pleasant experience I had ever experienced in my life. The next time I went into meditation, I had "a kind off" similar experience as described above, but it was different: It was less "mentally powerful". I didn't search for it, nor wanted to have it - I just went into meditation as in my last meditation session when the pleasurable experience arose, but this time the experience had a lesser impact on my mind and body: it didn't give that much pleasure to my body and mind as the first time. It was like I got accustomed to it, and my body and mind were more calm, thus I never noticed that much pleasure and joy as the previous time. At one moment in the meditation I made an attempt to search for the pleasure I experienced the first time, but I quickly noticed that it just makes my mind wander away from meditation and fills it with "want". So, I stopped "wanting" and just let it go. The third time I went into meditation, the described experience subsided completely and only calmness, emptiness, no thoughts, neither pleasure nor non pleasure, remained. I was not bothered forcing the described experience, because I knew that the experience came by not "wanting" it to came. I noticed that if I wanted it, the calmness, no thoughts, neither pleasure nor non pleasure, would subside and my mind would be permeated with "want". Thus, I abandoned "wanting" completely and just let it go and never ever tried to search for it. I read about the 8 jhanas and during my meditation sessions I experienced "infinite space", "infinite consciousness", "emptiness", "neither perception nor non perception". I noticed this pattern: when the experience arose for the first time, it was the most powerful experience ever. It was like eating the most delicious cake for the first time in my life! The second time, it was less powerful. And so on, until it subsided and the experience "just was". Nonetheless, these experiences were never that much powerful as the first experience I described at the beginning of this question. Is this normal? Now when I meditate, my mind is calm, one pointed, with no thoughts arising, and neither pleasure nor non pleasure. I can clearly see how and why everything is arising and ceasing in my mind. But I choose not to observe that anymore, I just let go of everything and the arising and ceasing in my mind stops. Everything stops, but I'm fully aware, and the experience is not that powerful as the experiences I described, when they arose for the first time. The experience that I have now during meditation "neither is nor it isn't". I could turn my meditation in an experience that "is", but i choose not to, because then "I'm not". It's hard to explain. From a Buddhist perspective, is this ceasing and letting go of extremely blissful experiences during meditation normal? Or does meditation lead to more and more powerful experiences? Since that first time, when the described pleasurable experiences arose, they were never again as powerful as the first time they arose. It's like they subsided and only the core remained. From a Buddhist perspective, is this normal? Or should the described experiences always arise and be as powerful as the first time they arise?

In my readings so far (mostly Theravada based), I come across many scriptural references - for example, "AN," "MN 118," etc. To what do these designations refer? Is there some sort of concordance that summarizes the actual texts that these designations refer to?

This page mentions the following: > The Commentaries say (SNA.ii.476; SA.i.155) that he was an Anagami > Brahma born in the Suddhavasa, there to pass a whole kappa... I'm looking for an online resource for SNA.ii.476; SA.i.155. Thanks!

Can a person be an atheist and a Buddhist at the same time? Or are some beliefs in deities too important to the practice of Buddhism?

In this answer , I mention that the Bodhisatta had trouble keeping down coarse alms food, to the extent that he felt like his stomach was going to leap out of his throat. @ThiagoSilva asked in a comment where the story is found, and I can't quite remember. Does anyone have a reference handy? EDIT: Here's an example of how the passage is described, though no mention of where it comes from: > Having enjoyed the kingly bliss which was as great as that of a Universal Monarch only a matter of days ago, he made an effort to eat a morsel of food which was a mixture of coarse and fine edible things in assorted colours. As he was about to put the morsel into his mouth he felt miserable and almost vomited with the intestines turning upside down, for he had never seen such kind of food in his life and found it particularly disgusting. Then he admonished himself by saying; "You Siddhattha, in spite of the fact that you have been reigning supreme in a palace where food and drinks are available at your pleasure and where you have meals of three-year-old seasoned fragrant rice with different delicacies whenever you like, you, on seeing a recluse in robe of rags contemplated, "When shall I eat the meals obtained by going on alms round from house to house after becoming a recluse like him? When will the time come for me to live on meals thus collected? And have you not renounced the world and become a recluse with such thoughts? Now that your dream has come true, why do you like to change your mind?" Then without the slightest revulsion he took the meal that was so rough. > >(source )

This blew, and is still kinda blowing, my mind: > "The Buddha never, afaik, used a term that could be translated as > "rebirth". In fact, the idea of anything being reborn goes against > orthodox early Buddhist teachings." (from this comment by > Yuttadhammo ) So... I have always thought of "rebirth" as being a fundamental concept of Buddhism. Sure, it's "real" meaning is debated, but the fact that there is *something* to it has, in my studies thus far, never been brought into question. My real question might be something like, "What the heck?!".... But in terms of presenting something here more formal, I ask: If this is the case (and if not, perhaps you can explain why you disagree with Yuttadhammo's assertion), then **where did the concept of "rebirth" come from?** Why is it a topic of discussion?

What is reason of Buddhism mostly spread on hilltops of India then in plains of India? Moreover Dalai Lama lives on Hilltop; as he can live in plains. Is there any reason of choosing mountains for residence?

As a student, is it beneficial for me to take the practice of Buddhist meditation? If so what type of meditation should I incline myself into improving my concentration(tone down distraction) and dealing with stress? I am however familiar with the breathing meditation and have practiced it for some time. However, I call myself a beginner of this meditation and haven't reached any considerable depths in this technique. I would also like to know the benefits of using such method in a situation like this, if you are familiar with anapanasati. I understand that their is another question related to 'exams'. However, I am not narrowing on just exams, but university life in general. And please don't hesitate to give any type of meditation within Buddhism that you would see somewhat useful for me, I am very pleased to hear such.

I meditate for 30 minutes each day, focusing on the feeling of my breath moving through my throat. When I am not meditating, I try to mentally "say" whatever it is I am doing (e.g. if I am angry, I say "angry" in my head). I also adhere to the five precepts. I have been following this routine for about six months now, and at this point I feel like I am seeing fewer results than ever before. I often am unable to maintain focus for the full 30 minutes or even a substantial part of the meditation time; I still find myself becoming irrationally angry towards people...it is discouraging. How can I augment or change my practice to find peace and be less angry? Thx!

Lord Buddha preached about the importance of physical, social, mental and spiritual health. Lord Buddha has taught about the characteristics of the four Good friends and the four evil friends. Apart from that, what are the teachings on Buddhism which help somebody to have a good social health, trustworthy friendships etc.? Thanks for any answer in advance!

Following on from this and this thread, I'm going to expound my understanding / of the relevance of the Buddhadharma. To avoid the extremes of thought, right up to any kind of differentiating consciousness if you can, is to live meaningfully. Because the mind cannot find meaning in fragments. > Consciousness has two aspects. The first is known as discriminating > consciousness. This is taken to be the activities of cognition, of > apprehension, and of discrimination (commonly, what we take to be > memory, judgment, and reasoning.) And to life valuably we do so without affirming either. Because there is no reality to the negative value of either extreme. > The object of inference is not ultimately real, it is a conceptual > construction. And part of what the mind puts into it when the mind > constructs the object of inference And so to live the middle way without affirming either extreme, is an active / creative life. Because our world really does consist of both these facts, of no self and impermanence. So my actual question is just: does this put me in any particular group of Buddhist thinkers?