▲ 0 r/niagara
I secretly miss the fireworks world cup timbit. It was sprinkled with pop rocks. I told the cashier in the drive thru that I missed them but she didn't seem to care.
reddit.comu/purelander108 — 13 hours ago
u/purelander108
r/psychologyofsex r/Buddhism r/ratsinthecage r/OnCinemaAtTheCinema r/Commanders r/BuddhistStatues r/spirituality r/Guanyin r/Celibacy r/niagara r/ChineseBuddhism r/Mahayana r/PureLand r/ChanPureLand r/niagaramoms r/niagarafallsontario
Function of the Amitabha Sutra. Rebirth & Non-retreat (from The Amitabha Sutra commentary by Ven. Master Hua, trans. by BTTS)
u/EmptyMind76 — 8 days ago
Re-Thinking Desire: Beyond Good, Bad, and the Search for Ourselves
We love to put sexual desire into neat little boxes, labeling it as either a beautiful expression of love or a dangerous temptation. But pull back the curtain, and it’s not that simple. It’s a massive, surging wave that pulls together our bodies, minds, and deepest emotions.
Ancient Buddhist philosophy offers a different way of looking at it. It doesn’t judge desire just because it’s there. Instead, it looks at where the energy is actually taking us. Is it moving us toward clarity, freedom, and compassion? Or is it locking us into cycles of grasping, dissatisfaction, and suffering?
This leaves an obvious question, why even bother examining desire? Why not just accept it as part of being human, forget about it & move on?
From a Buddhist perspective, the goal isn't to punish ourselves for enjoying pleasure, or think that being human is a mistake. The real focus of the practice is liberation, getting free from the cycle of birth & death, and from that friction, that anxiety that happens when we ignore how things actually work.
Desire itself isn't the enemy. The trouble starts when we convince ourselves that something outside of us can finally make us whole. We chase experiences, relationships, validation, etc., hoping they’ll give us permanent grounding i.e. peace. But because everything shifts, that search always leaves us empty handed.
Buddhist practice isn't about trying to become an unfeeling robot. It’s about seeing clearly. When we understand desire deeply, it loses its grip on us. We can finally take that raw energy and channel it toward true wisdom and genuine compassion.
The Energy Drain
There’s a reason sexuality feels so heavy and significant. It’s directly wired into how life keeps going. It is one of the most intense examples of the mind reaching outward, searching for fulfillment or a sense of completion in another person.
In Buddhist psychology, this is called an "outflow." Think of it as a leak. Instead of cultivating clarity, our awareness drains into objects of attachment. We get completely caught up in seeking, grabbing, and identifying with things outside ourselves.
This doesn't mean sex is evil. Evil isn't some independent, spooky force floating around the universe; it needs a driver, and its revealed through our everyday thoughts, words, & habits. Wisdom works the exact same way. It’s something we actually live.
We show exactly where we are heading through three specific gates: our body, our speech, + our mind. The real issue isn't whether desire exists, but the momentum it builds over time.
Chasing Our Own Shadows
Carl Jung and modern psychology look at this exact same loop from a different angle. Jung talked about the anima + animus, the hidden, unconscious parts of our own minds that we project onto the people around us.
Often, when we fall hard for someone, we aren’t only reacting to who they are. We are also projecting our own hopes, fears, or missing pieces onto them. Sexual attraction frequently acts as a cover for much deeper psychological cravings:
A frantic need to feel accepted and validated.
A search for basic safety or a place to belong.
A drive for status, power, or conquest.
A desperate attempt to escape feelings of inadequacy, fear, loneliness.
This is why our cultivation is so necessary. When you build a solid relationship with your own mind, you stop treating other people like a prescription to cure your emptiness. A relationship can stop being a scramble to fill a void and actually become two people relating with greater freedom rather than using each other to fill what feels missing.
The Ultimate Rebellion
You may have heard the phrase, "sex is the fear of death." Our desires aren't just about physical pleasure, they are deeply tied to our struggle with impermanence, the painful fact that everything we love changes and passes away.
Sexual desire expresses this drive to continue, to connect, to create, and to break through the terrifying wall of human isolation. So desire is a literal rebellion against mortality. It’s a way of loudly choosing life while knowing the clock's ticking.
The Buddhist path doesn't ask us to hate or fight this energy. It just asks us to understand it. When we clearly see the roots of our cravings & projections, we stop being blindly driven by them. We can finally transform that same chaotic energy into compassion, and real freedom. Sexual fire turned into wisdom light!
Amitofo.
u/purelander108 — 12 days ago
I am trying to learn how to translate the sutras into a language that my children can understand. This is the Ten Grounds Chapter of the Avatamsaka (Flower Adornment) Sutra. And to my Buddhist friends, I welcome any criticism of my translation for possible refinement.
u/EmptyMind76 — 28 days ago
Taking Refuge with the Triple Jewel (in english). Happy full moon day, refresh & renew!
u/purelander108 — 2 months ago
▲ 49 r/BuddhistStatues
Fo Guang Shan (Mississauga, Canada) for Buddha's birthday
u/purelander108 — 3 months ago
▲ 19 r/Buddhism
The Buddha told the monks, “Be careful not to trust your thoughts...
The Buddha told the monks, “Be careful not to trust your thoughts as those thoughts ultimately cannot be trusted. Be careful not to meet with physical desires, as meeting with physical desires will see misfortune born. It is only when you attain the path of the Arhat that you can trust your thoughts.” --from the Sutra in 42 Sections
u/purelander108 — 3 months ago
▲ 1 r/Buddhism
In this short interview, Bach (BA ’26) asks Prof. Doug Powers for a Buddhist approach to romantic relationships and how young people can cope with relationship anxiety.
drbu.eduu/purelander108 — 3 months ago
▲ 241 r/Buddhism
HAPPY DAY! Peace from Canada! Verse for Bathing the Buddha, "I am bathing the Buddha, who is pure, brilliant, magnificent, and meritorious. May all sentient beings in this world of suffering distance themselves from defilements and realize the pure Dharma body of the Buddha."
From Fo Guang Shan's website:
Origins of Bathing the Buddha
According to the first fascicle of the Sutra of the Auspicious Birth of the Prince, Queen Maya of Kapilavastu in India delivered Prince Siddhartha on Apr. 8, and on this auspicious occasion the four Brahma kings appeared and proceeded to bathe the prince with fragrant water.
The Sutra of Universal Brilliance tells us that after Prince Siddhartha’s entry into the world, nine dragons also came to shower him with fragrant water. Nowadays, Buddhists throughout the world annually organize Bathing the Buddha Celebrations on Apr. 8 of Chinese lunar calendar or on the day of the full moon in May as a way to honor their teacher of Buddhism, Sakyamuni Buddha.
What does bathing the Buddha mean? Does the Buddha need a bath? In fact, the act of bathing the Buddha is designed to help us cleanse ourselves and purify our minds.
Participating in Bathing the Buddha Celebration should act as a catalyst which helps us to enhance our morality, cultivate our compassion, and increase our respect of others. By doing so, we will also be following Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s guidance.
Meaning of Bathing the Buddha
The fourfold significance of bathing the Buddha：
While bathing the Buddha, we are cleansing our defilements. At that moment we should vow to get rid of greed, hatred, and ignorance, and purify our body,speech, and mind. We should resolve to do good deeds, speak good words,and think good thoughts so as to reveal our good nature and realize the pure Dharma body of the Buddha.
In our daily lives, we use water to clean our bodies and wash our dirty clothes. To purify our defilements, we need to use Dharma water. Bathing the Buddha will help us purify our minds by diminishing our defilements.
Bathing the Buddha reminds us to always keep a pure mind. When bathing the Buddha, we should contemplate whether our mind is pureor not. By praying to transform defiled minds into Bodhi minds, we can help society maintain peace and harmony. We can thereby transform the world into a pure land of truthfulness, virtue, and beauty.
Besides paying respects to the Buddha, we must have a pure mind. We should transfer the merits of bathing the Buddha to our parents, ancestors, and relatives of previous lives, and to all sentient beings in the six realms to liberate them from suffering.
Benefits of Bathing the Buddha
The Sutra of the Merits of Bathing the Buddha says, “Of all offerings, bathing the Buddha is the best one. In fact, it is even more superior to offering seven kinds of treasures in quantities as plentiful as the sands of the Ganges River.” By making this offering, one will
Enjoy wealth, happiness, good health, and longevity.
Have all his/her wishes fulfilled.
Help his/her relatives and friends enjoy peace and happiness.
Avoid the eight conditions which make it difficult for one to see aBuddha or hear the Dharma.
Realize enlightenment quickly.
Decorum While Bathing the Buddha
Have unconditional faith in the Buddha. Cultivate a mind of joyfulness.Respectfullyjoin palms and bow to the Buddha.
Fill the ladle with fragrant water. Don’t spill it.
While bathing the Buddha, be serene, concentrate your mind, and contemplate the Dharma.
Sprinkle water from the right shoulder of the Buddha and vow silently: I vow to stop doing evil deeds (i.e. do good deeds).
Sprinkle water from the left shoulder of the Buddha and vow silently: I vow to cultivate good deeds (i.e. speak good words).
Sprinkle water from the right shoulder of the Buddha again and vow silently: I vow to liberate all sentient beings (i.e. think good thoughts).
At the end of the ritual, your faith and vow, virtue and wisdom will be enhanced. Make another bow to the Buddha.
u/purelander108 — 3 months ago
▲ 7 r/Buddhism
"...ultimately, when you use consciousness in the way in which it was designed to function in a profound sense, it will actually experience every moment as incredibly meaningful, incredibly interconnected, and incredibly profound.Every moment is a kind of awe-inspiring moment of existence."
u/purelander108 — 3 months ago
Panera Bread on the Lane sucks, you guys.
Tasteless egg & cheese on a bagel with reg. coffee, $12 (taxes included). One & done, for me. Dead vibe, no warmth (the one in Amherst, NY feels like a cozy ski resort lounge). This feels like a hospital cafeteria. Cheap generic AI art on the walls , no music (no music?!), took 15 mins to deliver this plain, sad offering. I had to go up to the counter to ask for salt & pepper. Have to ask for packets of hot sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper, none is provided, and you'll need it. It is tasteless. Absolute waste of a space. Will not survive. So come get this bland, dry depressing hospital food before its gone!
u/mrs_thn — 3 months ago
▲ 6 r/Buddhism
This morning I asked my 5-year-old daughter what her favorite number was & to my surprise she said zero. I asked her why zero and she said because it's like an egg. It's like a mom. Did not expect her to stumble into imagery that resonates with both mathematical symbolism & Buddhist metaphysics!
share.googleu/purelander108 — 3 months ago
Don't 'watch' movies. WHAAAAAT?!??!! Settle down, let a buff explain:
u/purelander108 — 3 months ago
▲ 4 r/Buddhism
Silent Ilumination, by Chan Master Hongzhi (11th century)
u/purelander108 — 3 months ago
▲ 10 r/Commanders
Theme song for #22 "Don't Mess with Bill" by Spanky Wilson
youtu.beu/purelander108 — 3 months ago
"64 years ago, on May 17, 1964, the first Tim Hortons opened in Hamilton, Ontario, under the name Tim Horton Donuts."
I miss those days (1980s). There were rotating treats behind glass, brick wall interior, large framed portrait of Tim Horton in either Sabres or Leafs jersey, the row of stools at the counter, the dresses and lil hats worn by the employees, the little silver ashtrays on all the tables, the smell of cigrarette smoke, the ceramic cups, the fresh donuts, it was coffee + donuts, before all the additions. I got hot chocolate & a honey crueller, usually as a reward for helping my Dad deliver firewood.
u/Sad_Palpitation6844 — 3 months ago
▲ 6 r/Buddhism
Dr. Martin Verhoeven lectures the Flower Adornment Sutra @DharmaRealmLive on YouTube. Check out the channel for a real treasure trove of wonderful Dharma.
u/purelander108 — 3 months ago