u/miguel-elote

My Buddhist center tied together Dependent Origination and No-Soul in this interesting way:

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Our sense of self is entirely the product of our causes and conditions. Broadly, three things form the "I":

• Sense Impressions. Things we perceive outside of us. Everything from a broken fingernail to a gripping novel.
• Judgements. Opinions we form from our impressions. "People should trim their nails more often." "Camus was more accurate than Sartre."
• Actions. Includes mental thoughts, spoken words, or physical actions.

Our identity is constantly shifting because sense impressions, judgements, and actions are constantly shifting. The person you were before reading Camus or breaking a nail is different from the person you are afterward.

This is oversimplified and incomplete, but I think it's in line with Buddhist psychology.

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This seems to come down pretty hard on the "nurture" side of the "nature vs nurture" argument. I don't see any room for a person being born with certain personality traits, nor for genetics to play a role in identity.

Is this a correct view of Buddhist psychology? Does Dependent Origination imply that there is no lifelong fixed self?

I've read that, in the last days of World War II, many German and other Axis soldiers fled West in the hopes of being captured by US, UK, French or any other Allied force besides the USSR. How true is this, and how widespread was the movement?

• When did a significant movement of desertion begin? Surely there were always some deserters fleeing back to Germany. When did units desert explicitly to surrender to Western allies? As the Soviets entered Berlin? After the failure of Stalingrad? Or did some units move even sooner?
• How widespread was this movement? Have the actions of a few hundred Wehrmacht been exaggerated? Or were there entire companies/battalions/brigades fleeing West?
• How successful were they? Were the majority of deserters caught, shot, or put back into service? Or did a large number slip through Germany's rear lines?

What level CPU and RAM should I look for in a SAN to run 4k videos on Emby?

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I run Emby on my Windows 11 desktop computer. MKVs are stored on an external HDD running at 5400RPM and connected via USB3. It's not an ideal setup, but internal SSDs have gotten too expensive.

I mostly stream this over Wifi 6 to a Google Streamer connected to our living room TV. We sometimes stream to other devices in the house, but we don't stream to anything outside. Really, 99% of our streaming is either on the desktop PC or the living room TV.

1080p files run fine. 4k videos, especially those with HDR and audio in FLAC or EAC3 stutter a lot. Sometimes they simply lock up and we have to exit and restart.

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I'm now looking at a basic home NAS. I can get 7200RPM HDDs, and I can connect it to a 2.5gbps Ethernet port. I see I can get a Synology NAS and a pair of 2TB HDDs for about $400. I can afford that.

What I'm curious about is: What CPU and RAM do I need? My newer MKV files are 4k video encoded with H265 10-bit and FLAC audio. I believe the Google Streamer can play these formats natively; no need for Emby to transcode.

Would I need some hefty processing power in my NAS? Or can I go with something basic like the Synology DS223J?

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UPDATE: Thanks for convincing me that a new NAS isn't what I needed. Saved me some money.

I turned on "Stats for Nerds" while playing a 4k movie on my Google Streamer. It showed 4k HDR 10 HEVC and EAC3 at 48khz. Those are the same settings I used to rip the movie in Handbrake, and the same stats it shows on the local server in both Emby and VLC.

So I imagine the server isn't transcoding. Now I wonder if (a)my wi-fi is seeing some interference, or (b)the Google Streamer can't handle a stream that size for 2 hours straight.

Is there a widely accepted definition of "agriculture" among historians? Would academics agree or disagree with Patrick Wyman's definition below?

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In Patrick Wyman's sprawling Tides Of History podcast, he spends several episodes on the beginnings of agriculture. He defines the term much more broadly than most people would expect.

His definition is "Humans intentionally modifying a geographical area in order to get plant or animal resources." This includes a huge number of practices that go beyond "putting a seed in dirt, watering, monitoring it, and harvesting it."

Some examples he provides:

• A family scattering seeds on a river bank after a flood recedes. Then moving nomadically for most of the year. Finally returning at a set time to harvest the mature plants. Wyman says that, although, the family does nothing more than toss some seeds on the ground, it's agriculture because the choice of plants and the timing are intentional.
• A tribe cutting down and uprooting trees that don't produce tasty acorns. Over the years, trees that do produce tasty acorns grow in their place. Although the tribe might not plant acorn-bearing trees, Wyman says the removal of undesirable plants constitutes agriculture.
• A tribe burning underbrush in a small part of a forest. This attracts animal that the tribe likes to hunt. While they might still be hunter-gatherers, Wyman considers this a form of agriculture, because they're modifying their environment to make hunting easier.

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These are very broad definitions. I'm not so interested in learning if an individual poster thinks they're agriculture or not. I'd like to find out if historians of ancient societies consider these activities agriculture or something else.

Did indigenous Australians (Aborigines? Which is the preferred term?) build agricultural and/or sedentary societies? Why or why not?

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I can only think of a few regions of the world that never had any sedentary society. Even places that seemed (seemed) uninhabited (the Amazon Basin) or populated by hunter-gatherers (southeast Africa) had either experienced urbanization in the past or had sedentary societies that Europeans overlooked.

Australia, however, never had any permanent settlements. No cities, no year-round settlements. Only semi-nomadic groups that changed settlements throughout the year.

I'd love to be corrected if this is false. In either case, what were the factors that prevented Australians from developing sedentary societies?

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I know almost nothing about pre-contact Australian history. Forgive my ignorance. Also, I'm not implying anything about ethnic/genetic factors in this question.

Sony's PS5 sale has a lot of good deals. Can you help me pick one of these? Please read my personal criteria here:

• I get dizzy pretty easily. Sitting games (Moss, Beat Saber, Super Hot) are great. Games with slow deliberate movement (Walking Dead Saints and Sinners) are ok. Games with fast direction changes (RE Village) are a bad choice.
• I don't like driving or flight sims. MSFS and GT7 look awesome, but I wouldn't get much enjoyment out of them.
• I like story-driven games. If there's a great story behind all the action, that's a plus.
• My time is more important than my money. I'd rather pay $60 for a great game than $10 for a game that wastes my (very limited) leisure time.

Given those criteria, which of these would be my best choice?

• Arizona Sunshine Deluxe. This looks scary, funny, and gross. And not much nausea-inducing movement. The first one is $18. The second is $40. Should I jump into the second or start with the first?
• The Dark Pictures: Switchback. I liked Rush Of Blood on PSVR1. Is Switchback more of the same?
• Alien: Rogue Incursion VR. I love the Alien series. This has good reviews. But...what's the hurl factor on this one?
• Metro Awakening. Arken Age. Thief Legacy of Shadow. Reviews are good. Settings are good. But they all look like fast-action FPS's. Are they likely to make me sick?

tldr: Recommended some good books/lectures on the second of the Eightfold Path: Samma Sankappa, Right Intention.

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My sangha encourages us to write down our intentions every morning. The sangha also says that "intentions" are different from "goals." I'm confused.

I'm told: Goals focus on future expectations. Intentions focused on the present. But...When I use the word "intend," it's always about the future. "I intend to eat my meals mindfully." "I intend to pause 3 times today for meditation." "I intend to show metta to a co-worker I want to strangle." How can you have an intention that doesn't look to the future?

I've heard that the Pali word "Sankappa" (Chinese canon Zheng Siwei) is better translated as "resolve." That makes more sense to me. I think of "resolve" as a decision or dedication. "I resolve to enjoy silence and mindfulness." "I have the resolve to stay mindful of my food and avoid doom-scrolling while eating."

Yesterday, I heard "Sankappa" described like a moral framework. Your moral framework might be "Eat drink and be merry" or "Always get revenge" or "YOLO bro!" Right Sankappa, then, is having the right moral framework to guide your life.

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Is any of that accurate? Does that sound right? Does Intention (Sankappa) influence Volition (Cetana) which then causes your Action (Kamma)?

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This is a complex topic, and I know you can't answer in short Reddit post. If you can recommend good books, suttas, or videos on the topic, I'd really appreciate it.

tldr: Recommended some good books/lectures on the second of the Eightfold Path: Samma Sankappa, Right Intention.

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My sangha encourages us to write down our intentions every morning. The sangha also says that "intentions" are different from "goals." I'm confused.

I'm told: Goals focus on future expectations. Intentions focused on the present. But...When I use the word "intend," it's always about the future. "I intend to eat my meals mindfully." "I intend to pause 3 times today for meditation." "I intend to show metta to a co-worker I want to strangle." How can you have an intention that doesn't look to the future?

I've heard that the Pali word "Sankappa" (Chinese canon Zheng Siwei) is better translated as "resolve." That makes more sense to me. I think of "resolve" as a decision or dedication. "I resolve to enjoy silence and mindfulness." "I have the resolve to stay mindful of my food and avoid doom-scrolling while eating."

Yesterday, I heard "Sankappa" described like a moral framework. Your moral framework might be "Eat drink and be merry" or "Always get revenge" or "YOLO bro!" Right Sankappa, then, is having the right moral framework to guide your life.

.......................................
Is any of that accurate? Does that sound right? Does Intention (Sankappa) influence Volition (Cetana) which then causes your Action (Kamma)?

.......................................

This is a complex topic, and I know you can't answer in short Reddit post. If you can recommend good books, suttas, or videos on the topic, I'd really appreciate it.

tldr: Recommended some good books/lectures on the second of the Eightfold Path: Samma Sankappa, Right Intention.

.......................................

My sangha encourages us to write down our intentions every morning. The sangha also says that "intentions" are different from "goals." I'm confused.

I'm told: Goals focus on future expectations. Intentions focused on the present. But...When I use the word "intend," it's always about the future. "I intend to eat my meals mindfully." "I intend to pause 3 times today for meditation." "I intend to show metta to a co-worker I want to strangle." How can you have an intention that doesn't look to the future?

I've heard that the Pali word "Sankappa" (Chinese canon Zheng Siwei) is better translated as "resolve." That makes more sense to me. I think of "resolve" as a decision or dedication. "I resolve to enjoy silence and mindfulness." "I have the resolve to stay mindful of my food and avoid doom-scrolling while eating."

Yesterday, I heard "Sankappa" described like a moral framework. Your moral framework might be "Eat drink and be merry" or "Always get revenge" or "YOLO bro!" Right Sankappa, then, is having the right moral framework to guide your life.

.......................................
Is any of that accurate? Does that sound right? Does Intention (Sankappa) influence Volition (Cetana) which then causes your Action (Kamma)?

.......................................

This is a complex topic, and I know you can't answer in short Reddit post. If you can recommend good books, suttas, or videos on the topic, I'd really appreciate it.

tldr: Recommended some good books/lectures on the second of the Eightfold Path: Samma Sankappa, Right Intention.

.......................................

My sangha encourages us to write down our intentions every morning. The sangha also says that "intentions" are different from "goals." I'm confused.

I'm told: Goals focus on future expectations. Intentions focused on the present. But...When I use the word "intend," it's always about the future. "I intend to eat my meals mindfully." "I intend to pause 3 times today for meditation." "I intend to show metta to a co-worker I want to strangle." How can you have an intention that doesn't look to the future?

I've heard that the Pali word "Sankappa" (Chinese canon Zheng Siwei) is better translated as "resolve." That makes more sense to me. I think of "resolve" as a decision or dedication. "I resolve to enjoy silence and mindfulness." "I have the resolve to stay mindful of my food and avoid doom-scrolling while eating."

Yesterday, I heard "Sankappa" described like a moral framework. Your moral framework might be "Eat drink and be merry" or "Always get revenge" or "YOLO bro!" Right Sankappa, then, is having the right moral framework to guide your life.

.......................................
Is any of that accurate? Does that sound right? Does Intention (Sankappa) influence Volition (Cetana) which then causes your Action (Kamma)?

.......................................

This is a complex topic, and I know you can't answer in short Reddit post. If you can recommend good books, suttas, or videos on the topic, I'd really appreciate it.

We last visited Adventure Island in 2024 and had bad experiences. Insanely crowded by opening time. Overpriced and bad tasting meals. Staff that was bored an inattentive. We never went back.

A post from last year indicated it was just as bad. Has it gotten any better this year?

Amigos of my son want to go to the park. I'm debating whether to:

-Buy him a one day admission and send him with his amigos parents.

-Buy two annual passes (his and mine) so we can go a few times in the next year.

If Adventure Island is still overcrowded crap, then I'll just send him alone. If it's improved at all this year, I might get the pass.

Your thoughts?

PS Why does the English word for "amigos" trigger a an automod that tells me to repost in tampasocialevents?

I've been encoding 4k Blu-Rays and playing them in Emby for years. I want to do the same with music.

I have a ton of questions that aren't related directly to Emby. Questions like the best store for digital audio files, encoding settings and best software, file organization and lots more.

I don't want to get answers to these questions here. I'd like to know where to go to ask questions about home music collections. When it comes to building offline music collections, what are your favorite:

Reddit subs?

Other online forums?

Sites/blogs with reliable information?

YouTube channels with good tutorials and recommendations?

While Secular Buddhism doesn't have a strict orthodoxy like other branches do, most Secular Buddhist don't believe in existence after death. The majority of Secular Buddhist scholars have a positive belief that when the physical brain stops functioning, the person in that brain ceases to exist.

However, the "secular" in Secular Buddhism leaves room for belief, or at least disregard, for existence after death. Many Secular Buddhist writers take an agnostic viewpoint; that death is a sort of event horizon, beyond which nothing can be known. A small number of Secular Buddhists do believe in existence after death, but focus on this life rather than any future states.

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For members of this subreddit, I'm curious: Do any of you believe in existence after death? I personally don't. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone in Secular Buddhist circles does.

If, like me, you believe that death is the absolute end, feel fee to chime in. I'm not looking to start a debate on the issues; I'd just like to hear the thoughts of people in the sub.

I'm using the term "existence after death" to be as broad as possible. Feel free to use terms like "rebirth," "reincarnation," "karmic continuation," or any other term you like. I don't want to limit any description of your ideas.

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This post is specific to people (like me) who follow Secular Buddhism. It's a casual query of members' beliefs, not an advocation of non-secular ideas.

In other words, please don't ask mods, bot or human, to remove this post.

Many crops from the Americas are crucial to South Asian cuisines. Chiles, tomatoes, potatoes, and peanuts, found in recipes throughout Pakistan, India, Burma, and Bangladesh, were exclusive to Central and South America prior to Columbus. And although I haven't seen Indian recipes using maize, apparently it's the third most grown crop in India, behind rice and wheat.

How did these American crops reach South Asia?

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I know little about Indian history, but a fair amount about the Colombian Exchange. For the 16th and 17th centuries, I can think of four routes by which American foods reached Eurasia:

1. Spanish trade through the Philippine Islands. The Philippine archipelago had large Chinese trading ports long before Spain claimed it. Spain used those ports to transport huge amounts of silver from Peru to China. Many New World crops came along with the silver, especially sweet potatoes and peanuts. Did these spread west from China?

2. Ottomans and The Silk Road. As European colonists brought back tobacco, tomatoes, chiles, and other crops, they became crucial parts of Ottoman culture and cuisine. It seems likely that these crops would have kept moving east into Safavid and Mughal territories. Is that the case?

3. Early European colonization. Portugal and France established trading posts in South India and Sri Lanka before the East India Company arrived. Had New World crops penetrated European cuisine by that point? Were Portuguese trading chile peppers for black peppers :) ?

4. The EIC. Did English colonizers bring over American food? I don't know much about the British effects on Indian cuisine.

Did any, all, or none of these routes bring American crops to South Asia?

I'm reading about the partition of India. Books go into deep detail on inter-religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims. But there's no mention of intra-religious conflict within these groups. I'd made a post asking about Muslim groups. Here I'd like to ask about diversity in the Indian Hindu community.

1. How unified was Hindu religion during the Raj?

Prior to the 19th century, "Hindu" was a catch-all term for spiritual movements based on the Vedas. Or indigenous Indian religions (including non-Vedic groups like Jains and Sikhs). Or just "Not Muslim." It's like how we use "pagan" today: An identifier for what it isn't rather than what it is. Pre-modern Vedic Indians often (not always) did not consider their diverse movements a single "Hindu" religion.

During the Raj, to what extent did Vaishnavites, Shaivites, and other Vedic schools consider themselves "Hindu"? Would an Advaita Vedanta practitioner consider a Shivadvaita practitioner to be the same religion?

2. To what extent was "Hindu" an ethnic rather than religious marker?

Were mainstream Hindus open to conversion by non-Indians? Did religious conversion disqualify an Indian from the "Hindu" label? If a group of Europeans converted to Hinduism, would south Asians accept them? If a South Asian person converted to Islam, were they still considered Hindus because of their race?

3. How popular/common were Gandhi's ecumencal pacifist Hindu views?

Gandhi believed that Christianity and Islam held universal truths that were applicable to Hindus. This drew the ire of the growing Hindutva movement. While Gandhi himself was always popular, did Hindu Indians broadly share his beliefs in the value of non-Vedic movements?

Two Chrome customizations I want to make. I haven't found a way to do either of them. It might not be possible, but I thought I'd ask here:

1 Limit searches to a set of sites. I know limit a Google search to one site (mysite.com my search terms). Can I do the same for a group of sites.

Example: When I search for recipes, there are five sites I like to search. Sadly, those sites aren't great at SEO. The first 20-ish results for, say, "mango curry" are for sites that never have good recipes. I could search for "seriouseats.com mango curry", "bonappetit.com mango curry" and so on. Ideally, I'd like to list the 5 sites as a group and search for "my5cookingsites mango curry". Is that even possible?

2. Change download destination based on file type download source. Can I set the download folder to change based on criteria such as the file type or the site it's downloaded from?

Example: I download STL and 3MF files for 3d printing. I generally download them from the same three sites. I'd like for most downloads to go to the default Downloads folder. I'd like for files with extension .stl or .3mf, or files downloaded from those three sites, to go to my 3d files folder. Is that possible?

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I'm new to this sub. If this post isn't appropriate here, can you guide me to a sub where it would fit better?

I'm reading about the partition of India. Books go into deep detail on inter-religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims. But there's no mention of intra-religious conflict within these groups. I'll make another post asking about Hindu groups. Here I'd like to ask about diversity in the Indian Muslim community.

1. What was the proportion of major Islamic schools? Not just what percentage Sunni and Shia. I'm curious about particular schools like Hanafi, Maliki, and Twelver. Was a particular school dominant in Indian Islam?

2. I read that Salafi Islam was largely developed by Indian Muslims in the 19th century. I've always associated it with Saudi Arabia. Was Salafi popular in India in the late 19th/early 20th centuries?

3. Were there a large number of secular Muslims, who were spiritually agnostic but felt cultural ties to the ulemma? I believe Jinnah was secular.

4. Speaking of Jinnah, were most Indian Muslims supporters of The All-Muslim League and the push for Pakistan? Or was there disagreement and dissent among South Asian Muslims?