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Two things: Skillful means, upayakausalya, is, even in non-Tantric Mahayana, always seen as needing to combine or wed with the perfection of wisdom, prajnaparamita, the two usually abbreviated as the union of upaya with prajna. They are also portrayed as compassion and emptiness (karuna and sunyata) -- and I always thought reflected the fact that you can pursue the eightfold path to the ends of the earth but unless emptiness/wisdom arises, you don't complete what you are trying to do. The other thing is that in Tantra, I'm not sure the "passion" one needs to be freed from (raga) is the same as the "passion" or more closely, "bliss" (sukha) that frees. Even if sukha is taken to be the term for both, Yogini Cinta, e.g., distinguishes between mahasukha (great bliss) and pravrtti sukha (the bliss of daily life) -- the former leads to the union of upaya and prajna, the latter leads, quite explicitly in her text, to pregnancy and childbirth continuing the wheel of samsara.
Thanks for your thoughts! Yes, for sure in order for the means to be skillful, they must be imbued with wisdom. As for the issue about Tantra, IIRC Anālayo doesn't go into a lot of detail in it in his paper, but it might be interesting to hear more of his thoughts on that.
I have heard that martial arts in the context of Buddhism are also seen as Upaya which is used to justify their practice despite the fact that it seems contradicting that a religion of peace espouses the use of violent combat methods. Though not all Schools of Buddhism encourage the practice of martial arts contrary to the misconception attributed by pop culture.
Hi! I am learning about Buddhist teachings. Can you please share on which suttas teaches in detail about the four noble truths and the noble eightfold path? Thanks!
Doug had decided “ teaching skillful means would be tiresome for me “ StevePutra said : ahhh the DougDharma has decided not to teach .. all is lost RU-vid appeared and , lowering its algorithm to right of its shoulder StevePura circles Doug to right and says There are RU-vid watchers with little dust in eyes , and some with much Doug emitted a white light , from the tuft of his forehead, illuminating the 10 directions RU-vid universe “Very well , I shall speak the Dhama using skillfull means various illustrations ❤
off topic, but I would like to ask since you havent made a video on the topic, did the Buddha ever advise the practice of mantra? if yes, did he talk of the benefits?
I was walking with a group through a haunted house. It was said that in one room there was a very beautiful ghost woman, but it was tricky and risky to find the way into that room because that section of the house was off limits. I tried to imagine what the beautiful ghost woman looked like. Then I thought she may not be as beautiful as a celestial maiden, and I imagined a celestial maiden waiting for me outside. I decided to just head out, and I was fine. The party that went into forbidden section of the haunted house ended up in the dungeon for a time, and I got to go out and eat my favorite ice cream and watch Netflix instead.
Dear Doug - Please make more videos outside amidst the trees 🌳 - I'm sure your likes and views will increase - Your words are so kind and wise - but the background you've chosen is always claustrophobically clinical and artificially blue these days - I for one would watch many more of your videos if you were surrounded by nature like your older videos - Please try - Thanks !
I hear you, it's nicer to record outside. But it will be very infrequent I'm afraid, since weather and noise makes it very difficult to do on a regular basis.
Very interesting, very well told and explained. But to be frank, a bit disappointing that the Buddha might have proposed such "muslim" tactics to his disciple taking him to a " heaven" and showing him and then promising beautiful women. Nothing justifies such base and vulgar story. Shocking.
