I am an ordinary western man willing to start learning Buddhism, for now - just for curiousity. I have a B.Sc as for education (if the field DOES matter, that is either economics or computer science, because there are actually two of us, and we both are willing to learn). I do not have any previous knowledge of Buddhism besides pop culture references which are what Buddhism looks like to absolute most of people living. I also do not want to learn about Buddhism based on online videos and random texts. I think there is some academic treatise on the topic. And there should be - science of religion should be interested in it. It is religion, learning about religion from random sources is potentially devastating. Any misconception that was just sounding appealing to a not so educated mind could ruin his worldview. I know these misconceptions could also arise from reading academic texts. But to a much lesser extent and only if you have exceptionally rich imagination - academic texts do not look to convert or convince you, just to educate you. I would be so glad if someone, and preferably one who holds a university degree from a science of religion course could share some of titles on topic and explain why they are so good. I am also aware about this question: https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/60/introductory-books-to-buddhism but the author seems to seek for books on Buddhism for a different purpose and never insists on "academicity" of text. I do. It would better be not so insightful about the meaning of life but rather about what Buddhism is taught like to students. Thank you!

In a lot of images of the wheel of life there are Buddha figures in each of the realms. You can see them in the image below of the full wheel of life and I've also put in a close up of the hell realm with the Buddha figure clearly visible. So a Buddha is in hell, animal, hungry ghosts, human, heaven and titan realms. Who are these Buddhas and what are they doing in each of the realms. What is their significance? **Wheel of Life** **Hell Realm with Buddha on the right**

This individual has been belligerent in the past causing a lot of grief to myself. I've felt a great deal of animosity towards this individual in the past but after some time forgave them. The forgiveness felt cleansing, but I still avoid contact. I feel that the spirit of forgiveness should be like starting from a *tabula rasa* but am concerned about a repetition of the past. How should I react according to the precepts of Buddhism ? I feel that if I avoid the person, I have not truly forgiven them in my heart.

I have been listening to free buddhist audio (FBA) podcast and have watched some videos about buddhism but i would like to see some introductory literature. Where to start?

I understand Buddhists don't technically worship, but pray to the Buddha or meditate (apologies for any mistakes). My question is: do Buddhists have a certain number of times a day to worship/pray/meditate? And is there a certain day/days out of the week they congregate together to worship/pray/meditate?

Uposatha (a.k.a. Poya Day) is the traditional Buddhist observance day. Observances vary but one traditional pattern is to celebrate this day on the lunar calendar on each of four moon events; the new moon, full moon, and quarter moons. For those living in traditional Buddhist countries or communities, there may be opportunities to visit a monastery. But how do those in non Buddhist countries celebrate the holiday?

Some suttas and the dhammapada contain stories with things not very easy to verify, such as people flying, living 8.000 years, teletransportation, etc. Some of those are related to the psychic powers of the Buddha and that is easier to believe as he was an enlightened being; however some are not related to that. Buddha always encouraged us to verify and contemplate things. Will having doubt about Buddhist stories and legends interfere with Buddhist practice?

Is there anything I can do to avoid sleep paralysis? Has this got anything to do with astral projection?

Just as a companion question to this I want to ask if Buddhists believe in the theory of evolution by natural selection. The aforementioned question makes me think that the answers might be different depending on which tradition you are coming from. I'm interested in canonical scriptures and more modern commentaries and reinterpretation of the texts.

Vasubandhu is known to be the teacher of Dignāga. When did he live? What are the sources that say so?

Considering the notion of our future being the result of our actions in the past, is there any room for the concept of unfairness in Buddhist philosophy? What is the right/skillful view one should take when witnessing suffering in a loved one? From my understanding, one should be compassionate towards the person and keep a calm mind as much as possible, but at the same time I find discomforting the idea that somehow, the present condition of a loved one has to do with his/her past actions, specially when considering more extreme examples of suffering without any apparent reason (e.g. childhood traumatic events, such as sexual abuse).

Torma are sculpted butter and flour cakes set on mandalas and on altars during Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies. Does anyone know what the story is with Torma and why are we doing offerings anyhow? Is there anything that is distinctively Buddhist about them, or is this really a syncretic tradition (i.e. is this just Hindu sacrificial rituals, but without the Hinduism)? Everyone talks about offerings as if the internal mental model for offerings is obvious. As largely a secular Buddhist, I want to understand, but I don't have a lot to go on here. Offerings in a Christian church is money donated to the institution to fund the minister, etc. This isn't that sort of offering. Is this an offering to goose a Buddha or Bodhisattva or other diety or demi-god into doing something for us? The dieties don't actually eat the torma, so do the just appreciate the gesture, i.e. it's the thought that counts? Does this work via depriving oneself of something of value, a sort of austerity? Are these intended to more like a symbol to carry meaning?

In Buddhist iconography the figures are illustrated or depicted with various hand gestures. The symbolic hand gestures are called mudras. What is the significance of a Buddhist mudra? What are the various meanings for different popular mudras? Courtesy of Jordan Courtesy of

Where does the ideology of afterlife in Buddhism and Hinduism come from and why are they different?

Buddha's knowledge or Wisdom which cannot be achieved by his disciples comprises six kinds. They are called the Saya Asadharana Nana . Did the Buddha attain them at the same moment he attained Nibbana? If so, are they part of Nibbana and are they considered as Asankara as well?

The list of 13 Buddhas (which is actually Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Wisdom Kings) plays a role in Shingon gongyo and funerary rites. What accounts for why these particular 13 are set aside for special attention? - Fudo (Acala) - Shaka (Sakyamuni) - Monju (Manjushri) - Fugen (Samantabhadra) - Jizo (Ksitigarbha) - Miroku (Maitreya) - Yakushi (Bhaisajyaguru) - Kannon (Avalokitesvara) - Seishi (Mahasthamaprapta) - Amida (Amitabha) - Ashuku (Akshobhya) - Dainichi (Vairocana) - Kokuzo (Akasagarbha) Minor update: I did some googling on this, it appears that lists of Buddhas, sometimes very long lists of Buddhas, occur throughout the Mahayana cannon .

Recently, I heard a Tibetan nun Venerable Robin Courtin mention on a video that a meditator saw a green light while meditating. She mentioned it was associated with Green Tara. What is the green light for the Green Tara about? Courtesy of gardenofthefareast

If you look at the countries where Theravada Buddhism has historically taken hold (Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar/Burma) they are all in fairly close proximity to each other in the southern part of Asia. Countries where Mahayana Buddhism has historically taken hold tend to be considerably more widespread geographically in Asia and include the northern regions of Asia. I remember reading on the internet (so it must be true! ;-)) that the reason for this was that in the Theravada tradition it was required that robes be made in very specific ways and made of cotton. Cotton not being suited to colder climates impeded monks from traveling north. The article continued that Mahayana had more flexible interpretations of robes so robes were simply made of wool and other heavier materials as monks moved north to spread the Dharma. Is this explanation considered true and accurate or is there another explanation for the historical movement of Theravada Buddhism to areas south of India and Mahayana Buddhism to areas north of India?

We have a lot of feral foxes in Australia which decimate the local wildlife. Foxes are not native to Australia but where introduced by humans. Local wildlife is not adapted to these predators and are an easy prey for foxes. What is the Buddhist view on killing an invasive alien species destroying the local environmental life cycle?

I've been off and on following the writings Glenn Wallis, et al . I am honestly bemused at what they are driving at. I don't mind that there are critical of something about various parts of modern Buddhism-- it's good to read criticism and write apologia, but much of it is couched in a certain, I don't know, "grad school" style. What is non-buddhism? Is it some sort of pro-Buddhist Buddhist reform movement, or more as atheism is to Christianity?