วีดีโอ

If you go to Samanadipa’s website, the monks are pictured there with their names and brief background information.

Maybe not exactly as you mean it (the way I think you mean it). More like: The flip side of "I am responsible for X" is "The power is in my hands", so once one starts taking that seriously (the responsibility) it can become quite invigorating and much less unpleasant and that's a good thing. An example: I have terrible eyesight (-12 diopters in both eyes), so I could say: "I can't just go to Sri Lanka to ordain, I'll step on some snake that I won't be able to see in time and get bitten..." And, aside from Slovenia and Canada (both of which are at full capacity and with very few options available in general), Sri Lanka is pretty much the only place left where one can find decent practice conditions (in line with the suttas). I recently checked quite in depth... Anyways, death takes both people with good and bad eyesight, and existence will rob me of this super rare opportunity for enlightenment all the same, so it doesn't really matter what my condition is, as long as I can function on my own (which I can, for the most part, as I've got my compensatory tricks). And the payoff is very much worth the risk. Once one understands that one does not really have a choice, taking responsibility is almost inevitable. It is mostly things that narrow down the perspective that hinder it. Btw, I will be ordaining in SL in a couple of months. And sorry if I got a little sidetracked.

Through understanding, an anagami has abandoned any possibility whatsoever of acting out of the pressure of sensuality and ill will (by body, speech _and_ mind), since the fetters of sensuality and ill will have been uprooted. Whatever the “state” of his _citta_ might be, mental action by _mano_ cannot possibly be tainted by sensual desire and ill will anymore, though there can still be “craving for (non-)being”, which is of course subtler.

@@SamanadipaHermitage Thank you 🙏 I actually have further questions on vibhava tanha since it's something that I think keeps coming up for me. I'm not sure if it would be worth doing a video on the three types of craving in the future including how and when they're abandoned?

We know. They can be switched off once a channel has more than a thousand subscribers. So keep watching our videos, and hit that like and subscribe button...

Keep watching their videos, you'll start getting it eventually. :)

wrong view

@@tristanm8250 Please explain what you believe is 'wrong view". This is the truth I have found after five years of daily practice. This truth I have found is peaceful. I am happy to not believe/be free from the nonsensical.

@@stefanvidenovic5095 no thanks, I have no desire or need for fantasy.

The true dhamma is practiced by those who seek their own welfare. To say: “if everybody abandons sensual desire, in one generation there would be no dhamma practitioners left...” is to make a theoretical (or academical) objection. The _reality_ is that hardly anyone is prepared to put the Buddha’s teaching into practice. So there is no need to worry that humanity becomes extinct on account of people practicing dhamma. The task of a true practitioner is to completely abandon greed, hatred, and delusion in his own life. And to accomplish that is nibbāna, the goal of the Buddha’s teaching. Afterthought: if you take a look at the many problems that humanity faces these days, and the risk of global catastrophes that comes with them, you will see that they are all the result of human beings acting out of greed, hatred, and delusion. So if you are concerned with a sustainable future for mankind, what is necessary - if anything - is _more_ people who establish themselves in virtue and who restrain their desire for sensual pleasures, not less.
 But the dhamma is not about saving the planet. In fact, the Buddha himself was even reluctant to teach, because he saw entire generations being consumed by the desire for sensual pleasures, which is a direct obstacle to understanding the deep insights he had awakened to. But if you abandon greed, hatred, and delusion in your own life, you will _factually_ no longer contribute to the darkness of our times, and that is a very real contribution indeed.

What is wrong with being the “good guy” in a world full of people following their cravings? When you see that acting out of craving is unwholesome, that it is not in your welfare and long-lasting happiness (nor in the welfare and happiness of others), you give it up - and this is what the entire teaching of the Buddha is about (regardless of what other people might think or say). The gradual training begins by establishing yourself in virtue and generosity, and your “ego” will naturally be involved. There’s no problem with that, particularly. When you keep _including_ your sense of self in all your efforts, you will gradually purify your virtue and generosity of remaining traces of selfishness, and this is how there is progress in dhamma. But note that there can only be purification of virtue and generosity when you _actually_ establish yourself in these qualities first. And if your “ego” wants to make something special out of that, you just include those tendencies, but you don’t allow them to compromise your virtue and generosity. Finally, it is actually impossible to abandon the sense of self (or “ego”) unless your actions have been purified beforehand, and this is the whole point of the gradual training (gradual here does not mean that it is slow, but that things have to happen in the right order). For more on the gradual training, see this talk: th-cam.com/video/2gBSOK_8fXA/w-d-xo.html

There is no creator God and Jesus was merely a man.

Just say you don't understand.

Everything is empty

I think he meant by that that things should be done in the correct order. You first need to gather the cleaning supplies to clean your house. Once the house is clean, then all these supplies are in the way (hoover, broom, cloths, detergent, etc.) and you need to remove them and tidy them up to really be done with the cleaning. It's the same with the dhamma.

Do it gradually and according to your tempo (no matter how gradual or slow), and you will change your mind. In fact, many times will the mind go through the changes of values and wishes and such, as it progresses along the path (towards the Noble Eight-fold Path). :)

Absolutely!