Pannobhasa Buddhism Q&A

Questions include: oppression of advanced spiritual beings; what to do about Internet addiction; the ethics of buying and selling pygmy meat in the Congo; the case of Lindsay Clancy; the possibility of human immortality; is immortality even desirable; would I want to be immortal; the justice of material inequality; would equity be equitable (and just); why the Buddha didn’t condemn slavery; vibrations in Nirvana; was the Budd...

My apologies to Rui for overlooking his question. It was on the list but somehow I scrolled right past it. It will be answered first on the next one, insh'allah.

Questions include: my preferred translation of the Mulamadhyamaka Karika; why I didn’t want to master the Burmese language; Buddhist hells compared to earthly tortures; the Buddha’s last words; losing interest in things once held sacred; dealing with depressi...

Questions include: what to do if one’s wife doesn’t like sex; troubles with organic evolution; more on the ethics of lying; karma as a mental state; why sobriety can be less pleasant than drunkenness (even though one sees reality more clearly); the ethics of sarcasm; enlightened beings owning cell phones; cases in which people were openly disrespectful to the Buddha, and how he dealt with it; what Trump will do with Ira...

Questions include: what Buddhism says about the origin of the universe and the human race; my personal opinion on the same question; taming the animal mind; the concept of the kalāpa in Buddhist philosophy; the ethics of preventing a metaphorical zombie apocalypse; stealing without a concept of property rights; the phenomenon of modern video gaming; Nietzsche and Buddhism; why the “noble lie” is unethical; lying with go...

Questions include: does meeting Dhamma in this life require having met it in a previous one; Right Concentration vs. self-hypnosis; are western monks LARPers; funny experiences or eccentric moments as a monk; cultivation of trance states vs. just watching TV; Schopenhauer’s understanding of consciousness; lucid dreaming; why people consider their childhood to be the happiest time of their life; the ethics of confession and Ch...

My apologies to Rui for scrolling completely over his question without noticing it: it will be answered first on the next one. Damn, and Gnostic Rocker's email wasn't included on the list. Those questions will be on the next one too.

Questions include: enlightened Vikings and Mongols; Burmese opinions about other religious systems; does time slow down for practicing monks; the purpose of the brain; how to know if one isn’t ...

Questions include: whether Taoist enlightenment and Buddhist enlightenment are the same; the purpose of American birthright citizenship; the significance of American Independence Day and the semiquincentennial; neo-Luddite movements against AI; Alan Watts; telling coworkers about my past as a monk; the lives of ex-monastics I have known; do more advanced monks become more free-thinking; astrology; changing one’s personality t...

Questions include: should one be optimistic or realistic about the future; is one better off not thinking about the future much at all; Slavoj Zizek on introspection and freedom; moral development in societies; does an enlightened being still have a subconscious mind; why did individualism arise in Europe and not somewhere else; is individualism or group conformity more conducive to the survival of a culture; have I met any arahant...

My apologies to the two questioners who asked questions right as I was signing off. Your questions will be answered in the next episode next week, insh'allah. Also my apologies to all for the strange lag that occurred during the livestream. My channel is being sabotaged by Mara the Evil One as a way of preventing good folks from hearing Dhamma, and if it's not one thing it's another. At least the audio problems of previous weeks wa...

Questions include: the difference between podlings and normies; the simile of the Simsapa leaves; dualism vs. non-dualism; the ecclesiastical legality of monks smoking cannabis; do baby boys play with their willy; the pursuit of happiness with a woman; karmic retribution and Angulimala; essentials for 21st century Buddhism; the etymology of the word “shaman”; keeping robes dry in the monsoon season; stream enterers and ...

Questions include: would I ever be ordained again; similes for Samsara; the Jain version of the five precepts; why monks are forbidden to accept uncooked grain and raw meat; the karma of children…; painful karma alleviated by spiritual practice; Sri Acharyaji’s insistence on a permanent self; “diversity is our strength”; “in the seen only the seen…” in actual practice; is my wife a Buddhi...

Questions include: whether the Buddha himself lay down the 5 and 8 precepts; a sutra about haircuts; karma, volition, and NDEs; the anarchists’ non-aggression principle; honesty about transsexuals; karmic crime and punishment; meaningless dreams; the ethics of enjoying a meal; serious illnesses when I was a monk in Burma; whether me being a layman is appropriate; jhāna as a mystical state; inseparable aggregates; the karmic e...

I'm not sure what the deal is with the audio this time. I checked the audio before recording and it seemed OK...anyway...

Questions include: electromagnetic examples of dependent co-arising; my more or less Christian wedding ceremony; wedding videos; new job, car, and wife; thoughts on paganism/polytheism/deva worship; friction with another person; extremes of emotion as mystical experiences; in the seen only the seen (etc.); mea...

Questions include: how consciousness could arise from non-consciousness; the karma of eating meat etc. (revisited); earning merit from severe illnesses and other calamities; what if I had taken the blue pill; the earth trumping Mara the Evil One; a binary choice thought experiment; an overlooked aspect of the Noble Eightfold Path; ecclesiastical discipline involving insane monks; why people prefer ancient wisdom to modern wisdom; g...

Questions include: Saint Josaphat; disturbances in the Q&A schedule; ancient Egyptian influence on Christianity; Abraham and Uriah; cosmic balance and meditative bliss; my best argument for philosophical idealism; the karma of Epstein; spiritual benefits of being vegetarian; what meat do I eat; Buddhist monks smuggling drugs; when Buddhist monks started handling money; one hand clapping; animals earning merit; why birth rates a...

Questions include: whether the earliest Pali or the Ashokan inscriptions are older; why Buddhist ethics are necessarily delusional; arguing, curiosity, and Buddhism; is Buddhism realistic; how to start meditating again; my opinion of various religions; the decline of civilization and the rise of the merchant class; how Judaism would fit into the Indian caste system; how to go to heaven (in order to avoid World War III); the continu...

Questions include: the ethics of “crossing the bridge” in a near death experience; how one becomes a hungry ghost; the depth of the body of water of these questions; wading the ocean and staying dry; bumping into Buddha; the Buddha’s goal; health and performance boosters; Hume vs. Schopenhauer on causality; the ethics of following more than one system of ethics; Islam vs. neo-Marxism (which is worse); palmistry; w...

Questions include: my opinion on Natural Law; Natural Law in relation to Buddhist morality; Christians vs. Pagans taking over the postmodern west; the motivation of sensuality in conflicts; cleaning a cemetery; the most difficult rule in the Patimokkha; a Zen monastery I visited; the special event of Q&A #200; volition and the uncarved block; what mindfulness is; what the mind is; attachment to enlightenment; what enlightenment...

Questions include: why there are fewer enlightened beings nowadays; would the Buddha be surprised to see the current state of the world; thinking about dying; Nagarjuna’s interpretation of dependent co-arising; robot Buddhist monks; overcoming aversion for death and decay; what the Buddha said about death; unwholesome intentions and bad results; supporting conscientious objectors; the ethics of fanatical tattoos; Easter; the ...