/lit/ - Literature

>>23098839
Among other things, modernity values delusions such as self-view, nihilism, materialism, and hedonism. Ancient aristocracy/monarchy may not lead all of its citizens directly to enlightenment, but it at least quashes these and has more pro-social "delusions" like caste, duty, hierarchy, and a belief in the metaphysical (both in terms of supernatural beings and a supreme ultimate reality). These kinds of social-political teachings usually take a back seat to the actual pursuit of enlightenment, but they can be found in the suttas.
>>23098868
This is a reductionist view. For example the Buddha teaches about social stability in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, and on reflection afterwards applies his teaching to the Sangha. The Sigalaka Sutta and Cakavatti Sutta also contain social teachings for the laity, so it's clear that from a Buddhist perspective there are good societies and bad societies, just as much as there are good and bad people, or good and bad realms (heaven/hell).
>>23098871
While both Christian and Buddhist monks write books and give spiritual teachings, I think you've hit on an important difference here. By caste, Christ was a peasant and Buddha was an aristocrat. So it makes sense that the followers of the carpenter would busy themselves with proletarian affairs like making food and medicine, whereas the followers of the prince would either meditate or provide guidance to their followers. Though the Buddha did teach generosity is a virtue, an ordained monk should pursue liberation above all else, so in their voluntary poverty the only thing they can give is wisdom.
>>23100096
That would be Nietzsche, but I remember seeing similar criticisms in Borges.

>>23050398
Happy to oblige

>>22989497
>invented by the British
What actually happened was that the old guard lost its authority. They were teaching alchemy, magick, and other weird stuff that looks more like maha and vajrayana. They even had a parallel idea to mappō that jhāna is impossible in the modern age. Once they lost the backing of the old government, you could have more diversity of teachings, and textual conservatives who referred to the actual tipitaka could spring up. Mahasi Sayadaw, Ajahn Chah, etc. were not British but benefitted from British rule; the old guard spoke out against them but ultimately lost out for lack of both royal and scriptural authority.
Even long before the British you still had textual conservatives. Sautrantikas stuck with the suttas only, and all of the savaka schools (Sarvastivada and Theravada) stuck up against the Mahayana inventions.
Don't listen to the bullshit communist narrative that everything native to Asia is actually because of European exoticism.

>>19685227
based and dhamma-pilled

>>19270977
Alright then. The One True Way says:
>Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised him to them that love him. (James 1:12)
>Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. (Romans 6:12)
>For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Romans 8:5-6)

But now the words of prideful sinners:
>Only the man who is unmoved by any sensations, the wise man indifferent to pleasure, to pain, is fit for becoming deathless. (Bhagavad Gita 2.15)
>Driven by insatiable lusts, drunk on the arrogance of power, hypocritical, deluded, their actions foul with self-seeking, tormented by a vast anxiety that continues until their death,
convinced that the gratification of desire is life’s sole aim, bound by a hundred shackles of hope, enslaved by their greed, they squander their time dishonestly piling up mountains of wealth. (Bhagavad Gita 16.9-12)
>Whoever avoids objects of desire, as with one’s foot the head of a snake, He, being mindful, transcends this attachment in the world. (Atthakavagga 1.3)

>>18934286
What would be the point of such rigorous training and codified practices if it all had the same effect as a bullet through the head? And for that matter, how could "proper suicide" cause the Buddha to glow, levitate, teleport, etc?