Question & Answer #146: from the Buddha Converting People to Problems with Karma

Questions include: was the Buddha trying to convert people; protection chanting in Burmese caves; the 18 faults of a monastery; what I would ask the Buddha; traditionalists vs. futurists on the political right; eating alms in order; followers of Jesus misunderstanding his teachings; higher teachings for a spiritual elite; Julian the Apostate; the warrior ruling class of ancient India and feudal Japan; ancient Indian republics; the noble lie; my favorite languages; Tolstoy vs. Dostoevsky (again); America if the Confederacy had won the Civil War; Buddhist politics; the New World Order; why Pali didn’t become a lingua franca in SE Asia; Theoria Apophasis; obese enlightened beings; monks teaching laypeople on the internet; the merit of teaching Dharma; the second famous Nyanamoli; dependence upon a preceptor or teacher; preparing my own food after 30 years as a monk; the effects of taking refuge on karma; if I were Pope; the location of Mount Sumeru; the ethics of boiling water; the ethics of killing animals with the idea that killing animals is not immoral; enlightened beings “steering” unenlightened ones towards enlightenment; the Buddha’s own meditation method; the thousand-petalled lotus; Buddha vs. Arahant; and a modern western understanding of karma.

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current blog (mostly philosophy and caustic critiques of Marxism): https://politicallyincorrectdharma.blogspot.com/
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MY BOOK, “Essays in Theravada Buddhism”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096ZHKY9D
ALSO, MY OTHER BOOK, “Philosophical Dharma”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097XGM71P/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=philosophical+dharma&qid=1624827134&s=books&sr=1-1
3rd BOOK, “Buddhist Ethics, Buddhist Practice”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0991DQBLZ?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860