@@gibranhenriquedesouza2843 Try the Lord Jesus Christ. I promise you won't regret it. True Christianity isn't religion. It is a Person - Jesus Christ died and shed his blood on the cross for all your sins, past, present, and future. Was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. God offers Free Salvation as a gift through His Son Jesus Christ. All He requires for you to have eternal life is that you simply BELIEVE IT, my friend.
Your version has made the same mistake many in the West has made. The first noble truth is commonly translated as life is suffering, life sucks, life is pain, etc A better translation is that Life can be stressful, life can suck, etc. Not that life always sucks, just that there is stress alongside peace. Dukkha and Sukkha. Dukkha means stress(the best translation) and Sukkha means happiness.
I am a Sri Lankan Therawada buddhist. This video is accurate at many points but there is one single mistake he has done. He said the enlightenment for lay buddhists is almost unachievable. Thats not true. Even in Buddhas life time Kings, queens and lot of normal people achived nibbana . Being a monk will help one to get in to the path with a speed. But everything depends on the intelligense level and the practice of person. So bright lay peolple have achieved nibbana quickly at some points.
You are correct. Being a lay follower is full of commitmentso and distractions, therefore not many in recorded history attained Enlightenment... but it IS possible. That's why it's easier to do so as a monk or nun.
@@austinhill5825 One can remove themselves from those distractions without becoming a monk. A homesteader living in the countryside, for example, isn't a monastic but they are away from distractions.
I was someone that felt burned by religion for most of my life. Then in by far my darkest hour I stumbled upon a few stories from Buddhism. After becoming a Buddhist I found that I stopped being stressed and angry all the time. I started to accept things as they were. Later I started reading the book of the 5 rings by musashi miyamoto and truly started to learn how the world really worked. I thank you for this video. As the past couple weeks I was in a bad place, this video reminded me of the revelations I'd come to. I suppose that is the wonderful thing about our brains tendency to forget, you get to rediscover wonderful things all over again.
Funny considering Buddhism originated from Hinduism. Buddha himself was a Hindu prince ( born into Hindu family ). But, anything seems to be eXoTiC to un.cultured aWaKeNeD westerners 😂🤡
I am an Indian Buddhist and is very happy to see this video. You literally summerised all of our Teachings. I go with my parents to Buddhist Monastery and all of them teach is I found in your video. Greetings from India.
70% of all disease are self imposed. People's minds are so weak because they have cast out the Divine. When one refuses God, God respects that request and then the devil smiles...................Falun Dafa
Suffering is healing. Enlightenment consists of two things, suffering and enlightenment.................Buddha. The highest school of Buddhism is Falun Dafa which explains many of the mysteries of creation.
I am a Chinese. Even though I am atheist myself, my mom practice some aspect of Buddhism. She has a tea room in the attic with a Buddhist sculpture. She also volunteers for a charity devoted to give free surgery to children with cleft placate and lips. I have plenty of time to observe Buddhism. Some Buddhist monks are just greedy people. My parents used to donate money to a local temple. And they have a monument in the temple dedicated to them. After the divorce and my dad remarried. My mom visited the temple again and found her name on the monument replaced by the new wife. Needless to say that she never visited there again. But there are also Buddhist monk who did truly amazing things. In 2008, there was a devastating earthquake in Sichuan china . A local mother and baby hospital was destroyed. Mothers about to give birth have nowhere to go. The head of hospital ask the head monk of a local temple if they could take refuge there. She was nervous because a temple is supposed to be a clean and serene place. Blood are seen as ominous and animal killings are strictly forbidden. There are monks who voiced their objections. But the head monk said, “ there are many taboos in Buddhism, the biggest one, the biggest one is doing nothing to save people in danger”. The mothers all moved in to the temple. The temple breaks many taboo for them. They put the sculpture away and used the table underneath as make-shift surgery bed. They allow blood in the temple. They even allowed meat to be eaten in the temple by these mothers. Because they needed the protein. All monks in china practice vegetarianism. Some monks in the temple puked at the smell of cooked meat. The head monk went into the kitchen himself to prepare the meat. In the end, 108 kids were born in this temple. And the temple is dedicated to 108 arhats. I don’t believe in Devine powers or miracles. But if any story shows you there are good in religion. It should be this one
The biggest taboo is doing nothing to save people in danger? So the monks are militarized against invaders? No, they aren't. So they established hospitals to care for the sick and the destitute since early in their history? Nope, the Christians brought them those concepts relatively recently. So what did this monk mean? That Christian principles trump Buddhist ones, I guess... *shrug*
"Life sucks, here's why, you can fix it, here's how" - I LOVE it! Is that original to you or you get it from someone else? Either way, I will be sure to remember and pass that on to my students. Thanks for that succinct and contemporary way of expressing the Four Noble Truths.
Video co-writer here! I heard that phrase from a teacher of mine, and have seen it around several places, but don't know it's original origin. And glad you like it! I love using it to teach as well.
It isn't "life sucks," rather it is life is off kilter. The metaphor used is riding on a cart that has a loose wheel, you are jolted here and there. Life is "suffering" is a limited translation of the Pali word dukkha, which still limited, is better captured with multiple English words such as "stress," "dissatisfaction" etc. as stated in the video. The concept of hedonic adaption or treadmill is helpful here. One cannot understand dukka without understanding impermanence (viparinama-dukkha), conditioned states (samkhara-dukkha), and ordinary suffering (physical, emotional, and mental pain- dukkha-dukkha). The life sucks part focuses on dukkha-dukkha without the understanding that all states, negative and positive are impermanent. One can easily say, "Life is full of joy," or "Life is great," and that will still miss the mark. Joy and happiness are impermanent; therefore, without this understanding one peruses them only to be dissatisfied. The "fixing" part is realizing all of this including the realization that there is no self: it too is impermanent, a process. This is not achieved primarily through the intellect but experientially. One has to know this is the case. Oddly, the video proposes all of this. Hence, the use in the video of "Life suck..." contradicts the accurate statements about dukkha etc. in the video.
@@Rabbithole8 Thank you for the detailed explanation, it was very informative. However, IMO a simple statement that "life sucks" can also encompass external (dukkha), internal( samkhara) and systemic (viparinama) causes for said suckage. It is the explanation of causes, and our interpretation of them, (the 'Here's Why') that is more important to the philosophy and practice of Buddhism, and the lay and academic understanding of Buddhism.
This channel is of unprecedented value, it makes the history we went trough as humans so much clearer. Thousand years of cultural development, thousand ideas of "why we are here and what should we do", comprehensively explained and showed. Thank you. :-) It gives me hope.
Suffering exists because Adam and Eve fell into sin, and since that time we suffer from rhe effects of living in a fallen world, not all suffering is caused by ourselves
Andrew should certainly do an episode on religion and the web. Things have certainly changed, especially the last few years. I don't think the internet is as secular as people think.
A measured and inspiring note - from yourself. Stay positive - it alone gives strength - in the Light - as one moves through the darkness. Always move - with the Spirit and even laugh - when others throw their 'words' around - in an undisciplined way. You seem to be a being - who thinks for themself. Good luck and fare thee well.
Enlightenment consists of two things, suffering and enlightenment.................Buddha. The highest school of Buddhism is Falun Dafa which explains many of the mysteries of creation.
I learned it as: Life sucks, Life sucks cause you want stuff, If you want life to stop sucking stop wanting stuff, follow the eightfold path. A bit more focused on the greed element I suppose but it stuck with me:)
Partially correct. It's more like life sucks because of several reasons like death, aging, sickness which goes around the samsara. If u want this to stop, u try to achieve Nirvana which people usually assume it's the heaven counterpart of Abrahamic religions but it's more of a state. More like getting the first place in an exam. U achieve nirvana, ur samsara ends, no more rebirths, reincarnations, therefore, suffering ends.
Samuel Hill, I just want to correct your comment a little bit. Life sucks not simply because we want stuff. It's that we want things to remain as they are, coz we get attached to them. This is a problem. Why ? Coz it is the nature of things to change. Everything, according to Buddha, is characterized by IMPERMANENCE. So, it is pointless to get attached to anything. So, the solution is NON ATTACHMENT. If we are not attached, we will simply do the right things without identifying with them and therefore, not suffer mentally. That's it ...
There's a tendency for Westerners to fetishize Buddhism as some sort of magic Eastern wisdom, but I can kind of see why it happens. Buddhism's basic precepts fit pretty comfortably in our secular, scientific understanding of the world and has enough of a spiritual/community aspect to fill that emotional-social void as well. It's not perfect - no religion or community is - but, even as a non-Buddhist, I totally see why it has so much appeal.
Yes, I am culturally a Hindu, but I think that Buddhist similar to Daoist philosophy are superior and more logical. I might follow a mixed religion between these 3 in future.
How does chanting a buddhas name (such as amita) to get into a magical world after death "fit pretty comfortably in our secular, scientific understanding of the world"?
I think it’s not too far of a stretch to consider any religion a philosophy And I’m glad you explained dukha in this way. Rarely do I hear it explained so well outside the Buddhist community
Enlightenment consists of two things, suffering and enlightenment.................Buddha. The highest school of Buddhism is Falun Dafa which explains many of the mysteries of creation.
I hope we will get to learn about Korean Buddhism, it is often forgotten or conflated only in the context of Japanese or Chinese Budddhism, when it has its own rich background and history
Im a Buddhist from Sri Lanka. And I'm curious about Buddhist forms of different cultures and countries. Can you please tell me about Korean Buddhism? Is there any channels about Korean Buddhism please comment. Namo Buddhaya..! 😊😊🙏🙏
1. Life is good but not good enough, life sucks if it is not as good as it could be (enough) Life sucks Life is bad but not too bad Life rules if it is not as bad as it could be (worst) Life rules. 2. How do we make life rule more than suck? 3. Understand the nature of both adjectives helps us understand the causes 4. and thus helps us control the causes
Enlightenment consists of two things, suffering and enlightenment.................Buddha. The highest school of Buddhism is Falun Dafa which explains many of the mysteries of creation.
@@jeff_forsythe I don't condone Falun Dafa, and Buddhism does not emphasize anything about "revealing mysteries". For Buddhism, the truth is directly accessible to everyone who's willing and able to discipline their mind. The truth cannot be revealed to you, and you have to walk the path for yourself.
@@NarutoUzumaki-hu2rp Did it? Genuine question. From what I've read (cursory readings), it seems like it thrived in India for a long time, and that most people did not consider it to be a separate religion from Hinduism, but just one of it's forms. And today, depending on who you ask, the Buddha is an avatar of lord Vishnu. I'm just curious as to if it really failed in India, per se, or if it's just yet another of what RFB called "highly localized forms."
@@codyofathens3397 It could be argued that Buddhism didn't so much as "fail" in India as much as it inspired Hinduism to alter its approach and adopt (and thus co-opt) Buddhist ideas. Buddhism was a challenge of sorts to the priests and their Brahmanic traditions, and indeed Hinduism became more successful in India once a more Vedantic tradition arose, one which focused more on liberation ("moksha") which is akin to the concept of "nirvana".
As a Vietnamese Buddhist , you guys did better than most of us here , I know some European monks whose level is higher than most of Vietnamese Buddhists
Good job. I'm learning to be Buddhist. You got me with a light bulb on my mind. When we refuge to the three jewels. When we light up a bulb for someone. It brights a path for us. -The Buddha.
I know what causes me to suffer, wondering what is in that case under the pyramids. Every time I watch one of your vids (which are very good and highly informative) I stare at that case thinking "is he gonna show us"
@@Delphink seconding this. My grandparents used to travel and do the flea market circuit, and my folks and I did, too, when I was a kid. We've sold about a billion backgammon cases, and I'm like 85% certain that's what that is. Of course, a backgammon set is basically just a fancy briefcase with some stuff in it... So who knows what's actually in there?
It actually contains the Holy Grail. Andrew is its keeper. If you perform the right rituals to cleanse yourself of sin, a new option appears on his Patreon subscription tiers called the Joseph of Arimathea tier, and one of its rewards is getting to see the Holy Grail.
"The Dhammapada holds timeless truths, and every verse feels like a nugget of pure wisdom. This video is a treasure trove for anyone seeking a more mindful existence."
Not only is Dr. Hartmann helping to democratize religious studies around the world, it has been said that she also knows how to shred a mountain bike trail.
"If you do good things good things will happen to you" makes it sound like karma is a value judgement. Karma is simply cause and effect, no judgement included (it just so happens that bad causes often lead to bad results.) It also leaves out how by making causes you increase your tendency to create similar causes, which is also part of karma.
@@ramsesclviii2584 Sort of? Imagine the surface of a pond on a windy day. The wind blows across it, causing ripples. The wind is dukkha. The ripples are karma. If there was no wind, and therefore no ripples, then that is nirvana.
Yes it seems as many teachers trying to explain buddhism tend to make it sound very mystical, atleast much more than it should be. As karma in sanskrit literally means action, and whenever there is action, whether physical or an act of the mind that conditions the ego and it’s desires, there is an effect and that effect creates a cause and it is on going as “dependent origination”. It isn’t much of “Do good and you get good” it is more so “Do good, that cause effects one to lose the forceful sense of self interest because when there is compassion there is loss of self interest and hence loss of self rooted suffering. Thus the cause of good action makes good mental clarity which also leads to good action which is good karma which leads to the end of egotism which is suffering :D”.
I belong to Bihar state of India. The state gets its name from Viharas(Monasteries). There used to be huge monasteries in ancient and early medieval times like Nalanda(a district of this state) and Vikramshila. This state contains all the major important places pertaining to Lord Buddha like Bodhgaya, Vaishali, Pataliputra, Nalanda. Lord Buddha was one of many Buddhas as per Buddhist scriptures. He lived during 6th Century BCE. That time Northern India had 16 strong states(Shodash Mahajanapada). These states stretched from Afghanistan, Pakistan to eastern India. Some states were kingdoms while others were Republics. Lord Buddha Shakyamuni was originally from Shakya republic. His father was chief of this republic- King Sudodhana. They belonged to Ikshavaku clan of Kshatriya warrior caste. It was thought to have come out of Sun god so also called as Solar race. Lord SriRama also belonged to this race of warriors. Lord Buddha's original name was Siddharth Gautam. He was prophesied to become either the emperor(Chakravarti- The carrier of wheel of Dharma) or the great resolute enlightened being(Buddha). His father wanted him to be distracted. But he saw 4 visions of suffering/meditating people and left the palace to know the truth. He found the 4 Arya Satyas(The 4 noble truths) and Ashtang marg(8 limbed ways) to cross the suffering. This was propounded at Sarnath, UP(India) and was referred as the first sermon of Buddha- Dharma Chakra Pravartan Sutra(Sutra of setting the wheel of Dharma in motion). It was propounded to 5 Brahmins of Shakya Republic who were his first disciples/apostles. One of these was his erstwhile master- Ajnat Kaundinya. He was also one of the Brahmin astrologers who by his confidence predicted that the prince will become a Buddha for sure.
When I was a very young kid, I remember being incredibly fascinated by Buddha ever since I saw a movie about two brothers going around the world and staying in a Buddhist monastery, I also had many picture books featuring Asian buildings and Buddha statues. ....because I couldn't read that good, I thought that Buddhists worship both Hindu gods and Buddha by dressing up as asian dragons, and that Buddha statues will make people that do bad things in front of them instantly die.
Before I left Korea it was important for me to visit the Three Jewel Temples. Haein Temple represents the Dharma; Tongdo Temple represents the Buddha; Songgwang Temple represents the Sangha. I'm really excited for this series.
Im a Christian but Buddhism has been such an amazing religious/philosophical study. Ive had so many people say I act like a Buddha, or at the least think that I’m some kind of monk. I can definitely say I am not, I love a lot of different things in life, like surfing, and I refuse to think I’ll ever be finished with it. But I’ve been told I’m such a kind person, for whatever reason. So it makes sense that a religion that could explain my place in the world itself more than just Christianity. Maybe Christianity is supposed to be my own form of Buddhism. I sure as hell don’t act like a traditional Christian regardless, haha. Idk, but I can definitely say I’ve been more kind and caring for people since everything in my life had gone for the better. (Mostly getting away from the negative people in it.)
Theory part is 4 noble truths, 8 fold path etc. Practical part is awareness in every moment, that means you just be, understand the theory part and just be, identify everything, feelings,everything.
Oh man, this is _so_ good! Like your Confucian series, this is one of the best, well put together, edited, and thought out series/presentations on a topic that, I find everyone else seems to struggle to explain. I _thoroughly_ enjoyed this video, and I look forward to your future ones! This is really relevant to me too as I was doing some research on the topic, so great timing!
Awesome video! One problem I’m noticing in the comment section is that there seems to a lot of people misinterpreting Buddhism as a kind of nihilism, which I think is a misunderstanding. It’s a very complex topic to try to address in a TH-cam comment but basically Buddhism is a “middle way” between nihilism and essentialism. Things do not have an essential nature but they are not totally without meaning. As the saying goes: first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then finally there is a mountain again.
@@TheGuiltsOfUs I find it quite freeing personally. you don't have to confine everything into a finite box of meanings and definitions. at the same time there's no need to throw out all meaning all together. I find positions like essentialism and nihilism to be the most paralyzing lenses to view reality
As a practicing Buddhist - wow! I think you did a very good job giving a 30,000ft view of the practice, easily the best I’ve seen on TH-cam (although I do love the “Buddhism is Pretty Out There, Man” video haha) The term religion is indeed pretty funny, and you’re spot on with a lot of westerners being put off by it. I think it is, but my general response to the question is it is mysticism - a unity with all. It really just depends on the practitioner. Only thing I think should’ve been mentioned more was non-self, but I’m sure you will touch on that later. Been very excited for this series, glad you took it up!
@@roshanantony64 No, it's an idea quite different from that. Like Nicholas said, the concept of "no-self" or "anatta" is not easy to grasp, but I'm sure the next few videos in this series will discuss it.
Thank you for the educational & helpful video. I was born into Buddhism, but my family was not active practitioners. My first formal introduction was in college was 37 years ago. Although, I earned my “A,” it was extremely difficult to understand, because the books then were written too formal. I saw a TH-cam video in which the Dalai Lama states,” Buddhism has 3 aspects: (1) Religion: is for practicing Buddhists only. Do not try to convert or confuse others. As a philosophy, it complements other religion. (2)Psychology (3)Science: each individual should do their own investigation to seek facts, knowledge, understandings… Ironically the current & modern societies now are still suffering, even more, especially in our children & adults despite we have more advance technology & easier access to resources . There are so much stress, anxiety, and depression. Suicides are rising from students to Billionaires. Perhaps if business corporations & schools introduce Buddhist philosophy & meditation practices, perhaps each persons will have the understanding & skills to be flexible so that he/she can cope with life’s impermanence. The concept of suffering seems so depressing, but No, the Buddha identified the causes of suffering and the way out of suffering. So, it’s a very positive religion / philosophy. Lastly, whether it’s Tibetan, Mahayana, or Theravada, Buddhism teaches compassion. True compassion is the caring of others, especially strangers. But also, an individual has to be happy & understands himself/ herself first, then he will be able to help others.
Being a buddhist, I can clearly say that this is the best video about Buddhism I have ever seen. Very accurate and enjoyable. Thank you very much for it.
I'm orthodox Christian and approach to Buddhism as philosophy and wisdom. I don't need new religion but the knowledge and wisdom leading to enlightenment of mind. That's how I see at this point the Buddhism
@sheeliekittie9298 the Buddha never condemned meat consumption. He taught to eat whatever is provided by the lay community. The Buddha reportedly died from spoiled pork.
I think the reason why the Books of Job and Ecclesiastes are my favorite books in the Old Testament are because it reminds me of the concept of Dukkha. Even with an atheistic lens while looking at the Abrahamic God as a representation of truth itself, suffering, unsatisfactoriness, and dis-ease are truths worth accepting and humbling ourselves towards.
No. You don't get it. "Life is Suffering" OR "Life is uneasiness" are all or nothing positions. But that's not how the phenomenal universe works. It has no ability to "direct" the course of your life anymore than astrology does. Not only that, a TRULY accurate view is more song the lines of,"Life is both suffering and not suffering." OR "Life is both suffering AND pleasure." Now, a Therevada monk takes over 200 vows, most with the angle that they're renouncing all forms of pleasure because pleasure leads to more suffering to them. So they can't even listen to music. They can't go swimming. They can't see a movie. They have to avert their eyes on the real world in case they notice something so beautiful they get addicted to the pleasure. So, in general, it's a quite Unbalanced perspective. It's more accurate to say,"Life has both good and bad experiences in it." rather than,"Life IS Suffering."
The book of Job is my favorite too! When I was a practicing Christian I’d read it when I was feeling like unaliving myself. I felt less guilt and shame when reminded that no matter what we do, we are simply god’s toys. Now I just find it interesting for a historical/philosophical perspective. It’s SUCH an effed up story and it makes me sad that’s what I read to help me with my struggles. Gross.
I'm very glad that you introduced this series. I've been curious about buddhism for a long time, already when I was a kid, and, having been an atheist forever at the same time, I guess I was first inclined to see it as a philosophy and not a religion, as if it would be "better" this way. But when I was confronted, even only theoretically, with the ideas, rituals and other practices of buddhism, and its diversity, it pretty soon seemed clear to me that it was indeed a religion (and one I couldn't follow, as any other, but that's not the point). And, well, that was OK, just not for me. Interesting to study, though. And the noble truths still speak more to me than most things christian or whatever. Which absolutely does not make me a Buddhist, that's for sure. But this misconception, opposing philosophy and religion, certainly seems quite prevalent. As for me, to still proclaim that buddhism is "a philosophy and not a religion" leaves so many things out of the concept that it actually makes no sense. Sure, as long as personal beliefs and ways of life are concerned, this is probably not that of an issue. But broadened misconceptions about buddhism have their own issues, as all religious illiteracy. And I must say I feel a bit sorry when I hear a person really into meditation say it's "zen". Zen is so much more... and definitely religious. However, once again, if those people can find help this way, good for them, not an issue for me. But downgrading such a complex and diverse social phenomenon to a digest of quite naive and simplistic personal development method (and many times as far of the Buddha and buddhism as you can get) is something that I find a bit disturbing. And sad, probably.
This is the first video for Buddhism series. There will be five episode totally. I think it is just a general introduction and they will go into details for the rest episodes.
I grew up Protestant Christian but always felt that it was wrong in my soul. I’ve believed in past lives my entire life as I can remember moments from them. I’ve never found a religion that feels right to me until now. Thank you for this enlightening video. ❤️
As a buddhist myself, well done video. Buddhism is a very simple yet complex tradition. Those seeking intellectual and philosophical material will find that buddhism has a robust metaphysics and very sofisticated means of investigation of reality. Sadly, very often buddhism is simplified to the point it loses a lot of it's complexity. I'm looking foward to the rest of the series.
I like that you are diving into this finally. Only thing I had issue with was the idea that karma can be judged as good or bad. Though I imagine you were using this analogy for simplicity sake it does present a myriad of problems when understanding the teaching of Buddhism. Love your channel.
i think that a colloquial sense of "good and bad" is fine, as long as we recognize that we make moral judgements from a contingent, subjective position. good and bad as Buddhism sees them, for the most part, you could more accurately call "harm and benefit," as those imply that there is a perspective. to cause suffering is broadly "bad" and to alleviate suffering is broadly "good," at least so far as humans think in those categories. ultimately the goal is to transcend that dualism, but in practical terms it's hard to talk about Ethics without "good/bad."
@@TheGuiltsOfUs if you find the idea that humans judge things as good or bad based on whether they are beneficial or harmful to them difficult to understand, that sounds like a "you" problem.
If you want to get enlightened, it's actually easy. It just requires full commitment. There's just 3 major steps. 1. Clean up your behaviour 2. Clean up your mind 3. Use your cleansed mind to examine reality directly. Once you can see reality as it is, you'll realise that; 1. There is no such entity as "you", there's only a cluster of physical and mental forms, processes and states all pretending to be "you" because they all share the same label "I". 2. Everything that can be experienced by the 6 senses (5 physical + mind) are always changing. They're impermanent and thus; 3. Dissatisfactory. Nothing here or anywhere can satisfy. Even if "you" find something satisfactory, it is still impermanent. Even the super blissful states experienced in deep meditation are impermanent and dissatisfactory. These realisations, will cause "you" to let go of "your" attachments to all conditions, and cause you to stop identifying with them. This then frees you from the cycle of suffering. After all, there's no such thing as you, and nothing is yours. This is the end of suffering. This is freedom. This is nirvana.
Karma should better be understood as: "If you do things, things will happen" (the fruits of our actions are without prejudice for "bad" or "good" - those are mere human constructs). The practice of karma yoga centers around giving up the desire for these fruits of our actions, or for a specific outcome.
Video co-writer here! Thanks for the comment-- I love when TH-cam becomes a place for thoughtful exchange! You raise an interesting point about karma, but I do think it's helpful here to point out that while South Asian religions broadly share the idea of karma theory, there are different understandings particular to different religious traditions, or even thinkers within these religious traditions. You're pointing to karma theory as explicated in texts like the Bhagavad Gita, which outlines the practice of karma yoga just as you said, and which emphasizes that we should not be attached to the fruit of our actions. But Buddhism actually has a different theory of karma, one which supports the claims I made in the video script. I'm drawing here on the work of the philosopher Vasubandhu in particular. According to Vasubandhu, karma is determined by intention (centanA), and is morally definable. Actions, and therefore karma, can be good/skillful (kusala), bad/unskillful (akusala), or neutral (avyakrta). They will they produce fruits in accordance with their moral quality. On this basis, Buddhist theory suggests that you should try to do more good actions and less bad actions. For more on this, check out Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa, chapter 4.
same as you reap what you sew, all universal truths have places in all "religions" find whats similar find what united us in the divisions of good and bad sift through knowledge and wisdom shows there is no monopoly on love no buddhist no christian no satanist can be in existence without it and all have the same end due to it.
I find that those who insist that Buddhism isn't a religion are indeed coming from the mindset that religion equals blind devotion to a monotheistic deity and the edicts handed down from that deity. But that's a very narrow definition of religion. Religion is a dirty word to a lot of Westerners, and I think many who embrace Buddhism do so as a kind of rejection of what they've been conditioned to perceive as religion. And then they proceed to strip all the religion out of Buddhism until it ends up looking something like Stoicism with extra steps, or, worse, a commodity that makes you feel better about yourself.
People also call Taoism a philosophy rather than a religion, especially if you only take the two main canon texts into account, as Taoism by it's very nature is function over form, and denounces ritual and faith in the Tai Te Ching, I believe it says they are the husk of chaos. Therefore, what I would call mystic Taoists often follow very individual paths. But so do atheistic Satanists. These questions really does go to the heart of the question, "What is religion?". I'd argue it's spirituality given structure.
@matchboxmango I agree Taoism is a religion, structureless structure, as I see it, or the structure of no-structure. Meaning one may get up and do Qigong every morning, but may change if a better method were found. As to "spirituality" being a loaded word, I don't see it that way either. An individual may be very spiritual, even if raised by wolves. Famous atheist Sam Harris wrote "Waking Up: a Guide to Spirituality without Religion", though you may see him as muddying the waters. I see spirituality in poetic terms as the space between the body and mind. In an accordion to Hoyle way, I'd say it's a system of emotional self control, reflection, and contemplation of the non material or intangible.
@matchboxmango Let me give it a re-read and think carefully about how I want to word my response. For example, I wasn't insinuating that you didn't think Taoism is a religion, I was merely making my own position clear. I'll respond after a shower to clean my head. Enjoying the conversation.
Is it just me, or do scholars have a tendency to reserve the title “religion” to Abrahamic spiritual practices? Buddhism has sacred texts, clerics of varying rank and status, numerous denominations, temples, political support groups, and etc. Why is this not enough?
Because idiots will be idiots. Buddhism is a religion plain and simple, and tbh anyone arguing the contrary either has an incomplete understanding of Buddhism or is intentionally muddying the water and arguing semantics.
Simple. No god. And I don't mean god in the monotheistic, abrahamic sense, i mean god in the supernatural being sense. For example, Hinduism is pretty easy to call a religion because they have deities (or one deity, depending on who you talk to) that are worshiped, prayed to, etc. Same with shinto, same with the Mediterranean mythologies. It's the lack of any gods in the core tradition that make it difficult to call Buddhism a religion. The cultural practices and the organization aside, the real separation of religion from self-help or vacuum commercials is the supernatural element, which the definition he uses misses. Sure you can call reincarnation that supernatural element, but it's still a far cry from all the other examples. It's most certainly not the Abrahamic thing. Even scholars from 400 years ago knew that. Buddhism is just... tricky.
The problem is that some of these scholars still wanna believe that god is an essential thing for a religion, because if a religion doesn't contain a god in its belief system. Then, therefore, it cannot be classified as a religion to them. But what they tend to forget to realize is that religion is a lot more complicated than just believing in some deities. Religion is a social organization that involves a unified system of beliefs, and practices. That's what makes a religion. It's an institutionalized system, not a personal practice that you do on your own. It's not just the scholars who wanna believe this. It's also some atheists who still wanna believe this. If you dare to say that you believe in "god without religion". They'll still wanna believe that you're still religious, because according to their logic. Theism is synonymous with religion to them.
@@graysonbaker1744 *For example, Hinduism is pretty easy to call a religion because they have deities (or one deity, depending on who you talk to) that are worshiped, prayed to, etc. Same with shinto, same with the Mediterranean mythologies.* Religion is a lot more to it than just believing in deities, dude. Religion is a specific set of organized beliefs and practices that are usually shared by a community. Believing in some god doesn't constitute you being religious, because literally, anybody can do that. You actually have people who believe in the existence of ghosts. But that still doesn't make them religious. What makes some people religious is when they belong to a social institution whereas they share the exact same belief, and practices from each other. *It's the lack of any gods in the core tradition that make it difficult to call Buddhism a religion.* ummmm....Dude. Religions don't have to be theistic in order to be one. They just need to have a unified structure within their belief system. That's it. The reason why buddhism is classified as a religion, because: 1. It has its own followers. 2. it has its own sacred doctrines, and principles. 3. it has its own ethical system. 4. It has its own rituals. 5. It has its own sacred temple. So, in other words. Theism is not synonymous with religion, because there are plenty of "non-theistic religions" that don't even focus on deities as much.
That sounds about right. Buddhism is very applied. One achieves the benefits by ones own actions rather than praying for them. Not to say other religions don't talk about actions but most of Buddhism is about actions and taking responsibility for you own happiness and future.
I am happy all the time because I am good, and kind and chose to be happy. Sad or miserable look for what they feel as do I and its that state of mind that makes it bad or good and that a happy person can also have painful lessons in life and be thankful for the lessons looking beyond the pain finding more joy and happiness.
No mention of the 16 breathing exercises/discourse on the full awareness of breathing? That sutra enables one to use conscious breathing to heal mind, body, and leads to enlightenment. I practiced this sutra and healed my panic attacks, my chronic pain became so much easier to bear, that I was able to come off of pain meds I had been on for over 10years. When practiced properly- it's almost magical in it's ability to transform suffering.
Good call, Grimstad. Grimstad is referring to the Satipatthana and Anapanasati Suttas (MN 10 & MN 118, respectively). Both are worth studying and putting into action, and you will find them referred to often throughout the Pali Canon. One of my favorite, but rather text-booky, books on the two suttas is Right Mindfulness, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (It can be ordered free of charge through snail-mail directly from Metta Forest Monastery).
Sign up for Buddhist Studies Online courses here!: www.buddhiststudiesonline.com/a/2147490400/veXuWE2W
Why did it get popular in the west ?
Hey can you do a video on upanishads and schools of vedanta.
Disciple band with lyrics God of Elijah
I always suffered from anxiety and anguish, some people recommended me to try meditation, but I never tried. Maybe I should?
@@gibranhenriquedesouza2843 Try the Lord Jesus Christ. I promise you won't regret it. True Christianity isn't religion. It is a Person - Jesus Christ died and shed his blood on the cross for all your sins, past, present, and future. Was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. God offers Free Salvation as a gift through His Son Jesus Christ.
All He requires for you to have eternal life is that you simply BELIEVE IT, my friend.
The best version of the Four Noble Truths I have ever heard:
1) Life Sucks.
2) Here’s Why.
3) You can fix it.
4) Here’s How
That is brilliant.
haha simple right?
Your version has made the same mistake many in the West has made. The first noble truth is commonly translated as life is suffering, life sucks, life is pain, etc
A better translation is that Life can be stressful, life can suck, etc. Not that life always sucks, just that there is stress alongside peace. Dukkha and Sukkha. Dukkha means stress(the best translation) and Sukkha means happiness.
Memorable tongue in cheek description.
Absolutely.
Unless one understands the cause of suffering, there is nothing one can do about it.
Beautiful. Thanks!
I am a Sri Lankan Therawada buddhist. This video is accurate at many points but there is one single mistake he has done. He said the enlightenment for lay buddhists is almost unachievable. Thats not true. Even in Buddhas life time Kings, queens and lot of normal people achived nibbana . Being a monk will help one to get in to the path with a speed. But everything depends on the intelligense level and the practice of person. So bright lay peolple have achieved nibbana quickly at some points.
You are correct. Being a lay follower is full of commitmentso and distractions, therefore not many in recorded history attained Enlightenment... but it IS possible. That's why it's easier to do so as a monk or nun.
I am Buddhist and I disagree. It's almost impossible for a lay person to become enlightened because we live in a world of distractions.
@@austinhill5825, in your own words, define “ENLIGHTENMENT”. ☝️🤔☝️
@@TheWorldTeacher the 9th jhana
@@austinhill5825 One can remove themselves from those distractions without becoming a monk. A homesteader living in the countryside, for example, isn't a monastic but they are away from distractions.
I was someone that felt burned by religion for most of my life. Then in by far my darkest hour I stumbled upon a few stories from Buddhism. After becoming a Buddhist I found that I stopped being stressed and angry all the time. I started to accept things as they were. Later I started reading the book of the 5 rings by musashi miyamoto and truly started to learn how the world really worked.
I thank you for this video. As the past couple weeks I was in a bad place, this video reminded me of the revelations I'd come to. I suppose that is the wonderful thing about our brains tendency to forget, you get to rediscover wonderful things all over again.
Funny considering Buddhism originated from Hinduism. Buddha himself was a Hindu prince ( born into Hindu family ). But, anything seems to be eXoTiC to un.cultured aWaKeNeD westerners 😂🤡
@@melg6834 Geez who hurt you? Resentment comes flowing out of your every comments.
@@melg6834 your bad person
Your comment is Deirty rasist
What a wonderful testimony, I too embraced Buddhism!
@@CCPJAYLPHAN1994 me too :)
I devour this stuff it’s so fascinating. I kind of feel bad about how ignorant I am about this topic so I really appreciate this video in particular
Ignorance is ignoring your lack of knowledge. Wisdom is acknowledging lack of knowledge and learning! Godspeed fellow uninformed lad
Ignorant no more...🎍
You should really only ever be ashamed of ignorance if you choose not to learn something
at least you should have mentioned Buddhism! you came here for likes and subs!
@@gyansagari maybe he's not converting. What's wrong with free-thinking and exploring knowledge
I am an Indian Buddhist and is very happy to see this video.
You literally summerised all of our Teachings.
I go with my parents to Buddhist Monastery and all of them teach is I found in your video.
Greetings from India.
which sect of buddhism do you follow?
@@coolpanda7132 All of them. Every path is sacred.
In which Indian state do you live? In the monastery where you go, in what language are monks' scriptures or sutras or text? Tibetan or Pali?
You are buddhist or a Bhimta?
Buddhism's highest school is Falun Dafa, its originator is an enlightened being..................truthfulness-compassion-tolerance
"So much of our suffering results from our own ingrained mental habits". Well said!
Not just so much, rather, all...
@@PaeBabblingDefinitely not all suffering comes from the mind.
Buddhism's highest school is Falun Dafa, its originator is an enlightened being..................truthfulness-compassion-tolerance
70% of all disease are self imposed. People's minds are so weak because they have cast out the Divine. When one refuses God, God respects that request and then the devil smiles...................Falun Dafa
Suffering is healing. Enlightenment consists of two things, suffering and enlightenment.................Buddha. The highest school of Buddhism is Falun Dafa which explains many of the mysteries of creation.
I am a Chinese. Even though I am atheist myself, my mom practice some aspect of Buddhism. She has a tea room in the attic with a Buddhist sculpture. She also volunteers for a charity devoted to give free surgery to children with cleft placate and lips. I have plenty of time to observe Buddhism. Some Buddhist monks are just greedy people.
My parents used to donate money to a local temple. And they have a monument in the temple dedicated to them. After the divorce and my dad remarried. My mom visited the temple again and found her name on the monument replaced by the new wife. Needless to say that she never visited there again.
But there are also Buddhist monk who did truly amazing things. In 2008, there was a devastating earthquake in Sichuan china . A local mother and baby hospital was destroyed. Mothers about to give birth have nowhere to go. The head of hospital ask the head monk of a local temple if they could take refuge there. She was nervous because a temple is supposed to be a clean and serene place. Blood are seen as ominous and animal killings are strictly forbidden. There are monks who voiced their objections. But the head monk said, “ there are many taboos in Buddhism, the biggest one, the biggest one is doing nothing to save people in danger”.
The mothers all moved in to the temple. The temple breaks many taboo for them. They put the sculpture away and used the table underneath as make-shift surgery bed. They allow blood in the temple. They even allowed meat to be eaten in the temple by these mothers. Because they needed the protein. All monks in china practice vegetarianism. Some monks in the temple puked at the smell of cooked meat. The head monk went into the kitchen himself to prepare the meat.
In the end, 108 kids were born in this temple. And the temple is dedicated to 108 arhats.
I don’t believe in Devine powers or miracles. But if any story shows you there are good in religion. It should be this one
I don’t believe in religions but I believe in good people and certainly that head monk was one.
A helpful person put aside arbitrary religious rules so a bunch of kids were not born in the street. Best religion everrr
i hate abrahamic religion's
I love dharmik religions Hindu buddist Jain folk ext.
important to read a kalama sutta. So u don’t get stuck by formalities. Read it then practice it
The biggest taboo is doing nothing to save people in danger? So the monks are militarized against invaders? No, they aren't. So they established hospitals to care for the sick and the destitute since early in their history? Nope, the Christians brought them those concepts relatively recently. So what did this monk mean? That Christian principles trump Buddhist ones, I guess... *shrug*
"Life sucks, here's why, you can fix it, here's how" - I LOVE it! Is that original to you or you get it from someone else? Either way, I will be sure to remember and pass that on to my students. Thanks for that succinct and contemporary way of expressing the Four Noble Truths.
Video co-writer here! I heard that phrase from a teacher of mine, and have seen it around several places, but don't know it's original origin. And glad you like it! I love using it to teach as well.
It sounds like something one might hear on an Infomercial.
It isn't "life sucks," rather it is life is off kilter. The metaphor used is riding on a cart that has a loose wheel, you are jolted here and there. Life is "suffering" is a limited translation of the Pali word dukkha, which still limited, is better captured with multiple English words such as "stress," "dissatisfaction" etc. as stated in the video.
The concept of hedonic adaption or treadmill is helpful here. One cannot understand dukka without understanding impermanence (viparinama-dukkha), conditioned states (samkhara-dukkha), and ordinary suffering (physical, emotional, and mental pain- dukkha-dukkha). The life sucks part focuses on dukkha-dukkha without the understanding that all states, negative and positive are impermanent. One can easily say, "Life is full of joy," or "Life is great," and that will still miss the mark. Joy and happiness are impermanent; therefore, without this understanding one peruses them only to be dissatisfied. The "fixing" part is realizing all of this including the realization that there is no self: it too is impermanent, a process. This is not achieved primarily through the intellect but experientially. One has to know this is the case. Oddly, the video proposes all of this. Hence, the use in the video of "Life suck..." contradicts the accurate statements about dukkha etc. in the video.
@@Rabbithole8 Thank you for the detailed explanation, it was very informative. However, IMO a simple statement that "life sucks" can also encompass external (dukkha), internal( samkhara) and systemic (viparinama) causes for said suckage. It is the explanation of causes, and our interpretation of them, (the 'Here's Why') that is more important to the philosophy and practice of Buddhism, and the lay and academic understanding of Buddhism.
Well, it's NOT Original. It's just the 4 Noble Truths ...
This channel is of unprecedented value, it makes the history we went trough as humans so much clearer. Thousand years of cultural development, thousand ideas of "why we are here and what should we do", comprehensively explained and showed. Thank you. :-) It gives me hope.
Suffering exists because Adam and
Eve fell into sin, and since that time
we suffer from rhe effects of living
in a fallen world, not all suffering
is caused by ourselves
Andrew should certainly do an episode on religion and the web. Things have certainly changed, especially the last few years. I don't think the internet is as secular as people think.
A measured and inspiring note - from yourself.
Stay positive - it alone gives strength - in the Light - as one moves through the darkness.
Always move - with the Spirit and even laugh - when others throw their 'words' around - in an undisciplined way.
You seem to be a being - who thinks for themself. Good luck and fare thee well.
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
Enlightenment consists of two things, suffering and enlightenment.................Buddha. The highest school of Buddhism is Falun Dafa which explains many of the mysteries of creation.
I learned it as: Life sucks, Life sucks cause you want stuff, If you want life to stop sucking stop wanting stuff, follow the eightfold path. A bit more focused on the greed element I suppose but it stuck with me:)
Partially correct. It's more like life sucks because of several reasons like death, aging, sickness which goes around the samsara. If u want this to stop, u try to achieve Nirvana which people usually assume it's the heaven counterpart of Abrahamic religions but it's more of a state. More like getting the first place in an exam. U achieve nirvana, ur samsara ends, no more rebirths, reincarnations, therefore, suffering ends.
Samuel Hill, I just want to correct your comment a little bit. Life sucks not simply because we want stuff. It's that we want things to remain as they are, coz we get attached to them. This is a problem. Why ? Coz it is the nature of things to change. Everything, according to Buddha, is characterized by IMPERMANENCE. So, it is pointless to get attached to anything. So, the solution is NON ATTACHMENT. If we are not attached, we will simply do the right things without identifying with them and therefore, not suffer mentally. That's it ...
Ramses, there is no Evidence for Rebirth. That's why, we should not worry about it. This life is all that matters ...
@@DipayanPyne94 yea and i own the church and the monastery.
@@ramsesclviii2584 Sarcasm ? Well, if yes, drop it. Look at the Evidence. That's all ...
There's a tendency for Westerners to fetishize Buddhism as some sort of magic Eastern wisdom, but I can kind of see why it happens. Buddhism's basic precepts fit pretty comfortably in our secular, scientific understanding of the world and has enough of a spiritual/community aspect to fill that emotional-social void as well. It's not perfect - no religion or community is - but, even as a non-Buddhist, I totally see why it has so much appeal.
Yes, I am culturally a Hindu, but I think that Buddhist similar to Daoist philosophy are superior and more logical. I might follow a mixed religion between these 3 in future.
@@Yash-wm1nj Buddhist similar to Daoist philosophy = Zen
Adherents of the religious would call it perfect.
How does chanting a buddhas name (such as amita) to get into a magical world after death "fit pretty comfortably in our secular, scientific understanding of the world"?
Buddhism says that this world has no existence, except as a dream in our own minds.
I think it’s not too far of a stretch to consider any religion a philosophy
And I’m glad you explained dukha in this way. Rarely do I hear it explained so well outside the Buddhist community
It's a very far stretch if you know what philosophy actually is.
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
Enlightenment consists of two things, suffering and enlightenment.................Buddha. The highest school of Buddhism is Falun Dafa which explains many of the mysteries of creation.
I hope we will get to learn about Korean Buddhism, it is often forgotten or conflated only in the context of Japanese or Chinese Budddhism, when it has its own rich background and history
Indeed. Writings of the Korean Son masters need more attention, even beyond Chin Nul.
more interested in korean shamanism. esp korean shamanism and christianity.
@@ramsesclviii2584 The syncretism is incredibly interesting there too! Buddhism had a role to play with all of that as well
Im a Buddhist from Sri Lanka. And I'm curious about Buddhist forms of different cultures and countries. Can you please tell me about Korean Buddhism? Is there any channels about Korean Buddhism please comment. Namo Buddhaya..! 😊😊🙏🙏
What is this?
Life sucks
Here’s why
You can fix it
Here’s how (guitar shredding sounds)
I practice Buddhist meditation while listening to metal, so this is pretty accurate.
@@DanteTorn Might be a reference to the American rock band Nirvana.
1.
Life is good but not good enough,
life sucks if it is not as good as it could be (enough)
Life sucks
Life is bad but not too bad
Life rules if it is not as bad as it could be (worst)
Life rules.
2. How do we make life rule more than suck?
3. Understand the nature of both adjectives helps us understand the causes
4. and thus helps us control the causes
This is a fairly balanced and nuanced description of Buddhism, given that it is a 2500 years tradition with diverse practices and views. Kudos.
Enlightenment consists of two things, suffering and enlightenment.................Buddha. The highest school of Buddhism is Falun Dafa which explains many of the mysteries of creation.
@@jeff_forsythe I don't condone Falun Dafa, and Buddhism does not emphasize anything about "revealing mysteries". For Buddhism, the truth is directly accessible to everyone who's willing and able to discipline their mind. The truth cannot be revealed to you, and you have to walk the path for yourself.
@@KenoticMuse If you do not condone Falun Dafa then you do not condone wisdom. You have obviously made up your mind, good luck.
I've been waiting for an episode on Buddhism as I've always been fascinated by its teachings. Thanks for finally uploading one!
same
Yeah Buddhism is good but it failed in india.
@@NarutoUzumaki-hu2rp Did it? Genuine question. From what I've read (cursory readings), it seems like it thrived in India for a long time, and that most people did not consider it to be a separate religion from Hinduism, but just one of it's forms.
And today, depending on who you ask, the Buddha is an avatar of lord Vishnu.
I'm just curious as to if it really failed in India, per se, or if it's just yet another of what RFB called "highly localized forms."
@@codyofathens3397 It could be argued that Buddhism didn't so much as "fail" in India as much as it inspired Hinduism to alter its approach and adopt (and thus co-opt) Buddhist ideas. Buddhism was a challenge of sorts to the priests and their Brahmanic traditions, and indeed Hinduism became more successful in India once a more Vedantic tradition arose, one which focused more on liberation ("moksha") which is akin to the concept of "nirvana".
@@manakin5 I'd love to learn more about Hinduism in the era before Buddhism to see what it was like before it's influence.
I follow Burmese Buddhism and I am happy to be one.
Buddhism's highest school is Falun Dafa, its originator is an enlightened being..................truthfulness-compassion-tolerance
As a white, western, religious Buddhist, I’m so excited to see you finally doing a series on the Dharma!
I am glad to find a European Buddhist.
Greetings from India.
As a Vietnamese Buddhist , you guys did better than most of us here , I know some European monks whose level is higher than most of Vietnamese Buddhists
Buddhism's highest school is Falun Dafa, its originator is an enlightened being..................truthfulness-compassion-tolerance
Buddhas old dharma has lost its power. There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
The centre of Buddhist and buddhism is Bodh Gaya.....in the state of Bihar..in eastern India....and i love the place..it's so peaceful ....
Super excited about this series…I’ve studied Buddhist philosophy in an academic context for some time now, so this is particularly exciting for me
Truly excellent, as someone who dabbles in Buddhist practices and moral conduct. So grateful for this channel.
Good job. I'm learning to be Buddhist. You got me with a light bulb on my mind. When we refuge to the three jewels. When we light up a bulb for someone. It brights a path for us. -The Buddha.
I know what causes me to suffer, wondering what is in that case under the pyramids. Every time I watch one of your vids (which are very good and highly informative) I stare at that case thinking "is he gonna show us"
It might not be, but to me it REALLY looks like a backgammon case. That's my huess anyways.
@@Delphink seconding this. My grandparents used to travel and do the flea market circuit, and my folks and I did, too, when I was a kid. We've sold about a billion backgammon cases, and I'm like 85% certain that's what that is.
Of course, a backgammon set is basically just a fancy briefcase with some stuff in it... So who knows what's actually in there?
@@Delphink I thought it might be as well, but it bugs me that I can't be sure
It actually contains the Holy Grail. Andrew is its keeper. If you perform the right rituals to cleanse yourself of sin, a new option appears on his Patreon subscription tiers called the Joseph of Arimathea tier, and one of its rewards is getting to see the Holy Grail.
I would enjoy a video where he shows and explains a lot of the books and stuff on the shelf behind him.
"The Dhammapada holds timeless truths, and every verse feels like a nugget of pure wisdom. This video is a treasure trove for anyone seeking a more mindful existence."
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
Not only is Dr. Hartmann helping to democratize religious studies around the world, it has been said that she also knows how to shred a mountain bike trail.
"If you do good things good things will happen to you" makes it sound like karma is a value judgement. Karma is simply cause and effect, no judgement included (it just so happens that bad causes often lead to bad results.) It also leaves out how by making causes you increase your tendency to create similar causes, which is also part of karma.
nirvana and good karma. nirvana and karma are they antithetical
@@ramsesclviii2584 Sort of? Imagine the surface of a pond on a windy day. The wind blows across it, causing ripples. The wind is dukkha. The ripples are karma. If there was no wind, and therefore no ripples, then that is nirvana.
Karma is cause & effect ----> could only be said by aWaKeNeD (?) confused typical Abra.hamic westerners 😂
Nicely put
Yes it seems as many teachers trying to explain buddhism tend to make it sound very mystical, atleast much more than it should be. As karma in sanskrit literally means action, and whenever there is action, whether physical or an act of the mind that conditions the ego and it’s desires, there is an effect and that effect creates a cause and it is on going as “dependent origination”. It isn’t much of “Do good and you get good” it is more so “Do good, that cause effects one to lose the forceful sense of self interest because when there is compassion there is loss of self interest and hence loss of self rooted suffering. Thus the cause of good action makes good mental clarity which also leads to good action which is good karma which leads to the end of egotism which is suffering :D”.
Whew! Excited for the 5 part series!
9:05-9:25 This bit made my day. The whole video is good, but that summary and analogy were gold!
I belong to Bihar state of India. The state gets its name from Viharas(Monasteries). There used to be huge monasteries in ancient and early medieval times like Nalanda(a district of this state) and Vikramshila. This state contains all the major important places pertaining to Lord Buddha like Bodhgaya, Vaishali, Pataliputra, Nalanda.
Lord Buddha was one of many Buddhas as per Buddhist scriptures. He lived during 6th Century BCE. That time Northern India had 16 strong states(Shodash Mahajanapada). These states stretched from Afghanistan, Pakistan to eastern India. Some states were kingdoms while others were Republics.
Lord Buddha Shakyamuni was originally from Shakya republic. His father was chief of this republic- King Sudodhana. They belonged to Ikshavaku clan of Kshatriya warrior caste. It was thought to have come out of Sun god so also called as Solar race. Lord SriRama also belonged to this race of warriors. Lord Buddha's original name was Siddharth Gautam. He was prophesied to become either the emperor(Chakravarti- The carrier of wheel of Dharma) or the great resolute enlightened being(Buddha). His father wanted him to be distracted. But he saw 4 visions of suffering/meditating people and left the palace to know the truth. He found the 4 Arya Satyas(The 4 noble truths) and Ashtang marg(8 limbed ways) to cross the suffering. This was propounded at Sarnath, UP(India) and was referred as the first sermon of Buddha- Dharma Chakra Pravartan Sutra(Sutra of setting the wheel of Dharma in motion). It was propounded to 5 Brahmins of Shakya Republic who were his first disciples/apostles. One of these was his erstwhile master- Ajnat Kaundinya. He was also one of the Brahmin astrologers who by his confidence predicted that the prince will become a Buddha for sure.
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
I feel calm every time i watch your videos. Thank you ❤
When I was a very young kid, I remember being incredibly fascinated by Buddha ever since I saw a movie about two brothers going around the world and staying in a Buddhist monastery, I also had many picture books featuring Asian buildings and Buddha statues.
....because I couldn't read that good, I thought that Buddhists worship both Hindu gods and Buddha by dressing up as asian dragons, and that Buddha statues will make people that do bad things in front of them instantly die.
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
I am Nepalese Buddhist 🇳🇵Glad to see this video thank you so much 😊
Before I left Korea it was important for me to visit the Three Jewel Temples. Haein Temple represents the Dharma; Tongdo Temple represents the Buddha; Songgwang Temple represents the Sangha.
I'm really excited for this series.
U should visit Bodh gaya in bihar in India..the place where buddha attained enlightenment....
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
The ad placement right after “one major cause of suffering is….” Is incredible
This is the best short summary of buddhism I've found so far. I love your work.
There is an even better summary. Wanna know ?
Im a Christian but Buddhism has been such an amazing religious/philosophical study. Ive had so many people say I act like a Buddha, or at the least think that I’m some kind of monk. I can definitely say I am not, I love a lot of different things in life, like surfing, and I refuse to think I’ll ever be finished with it.
But I’ve been told I’m such a kind person, for whatever reason. So it makes sense that a religion that could explain my place in the world itself more than just Christianity.
Maybe Christianity is supposed to be my own form of Buddhism. I sure as hell don’t act like a traditional Christian regardless, haha. Idk, but I can definitely say I’ve been more kind and caring for people since everything in my life had gone for the better. (Mostly getting away from the negative people in it.)
For me Buddhism is a method to the learn how you can liberation from painfulness and suffering.
Theory part is 4 noble truths, 8 fold path etc. Practical part is awareness in every moment, that means you just be, understand the theory part and just be, identify everything, feelings,everything.
As a Buddhist I think that was an excellent description of Buddhism! 🙂
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
As an Tibetan Buddhist this is very much accurate and well researched.
I doubt the (supposedly) historical Gautama would even recognize tibetan buddhism as having a connection to him. It's the buddhist mormonism.
@@TheGuiltsOfUs The brilliance of Buddhism is that nothing needs to be recognised by an authority - Buddha encouraged your own findings.
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
This video is extremely helpful! Thanks for explaining a complex subject so intelligently and concisely! I love your videos!
Oh man, this is _so_ good! Like your Confucian series, this is one of the best, well put together, edited, and thought out series/presentations on a topic that, I find everyone else seems to struggle to explain. I _thoroughly_ enjoyed this video, and I look forward to your future ones! This is really relevant to me too as I was doing some research on the topic, so great timing!
Fascinating content. I hope you do as many videos as necessary. I'll watch them all. I have so little knowledge on Buddhism. Thanks for the vid!
Thank you for doing about Buddhism. Love from Nepal🇳🇵❤️
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
Awesome video! One problem I’m noticing in the comment section is that there seems to a lot of people misinterpreting Buddhism as a kind of nihilism, which I think is a misunderstanding. It’s a very complex topic to try to address in a TH-cam comment but basically Buddhism is a “middle way” between nihilism and essentialism. Things do not have an essential nature but they are not totally without meaning. As the saying goes: first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then finally there is a mountain again.
Yup ! There's another Extremely Good Channel on Buddha and his Teachings. Wanna know which one ?
@@DipayanPyne94 yeah for sure
@@TheGuiltsOfUs I find it quite freeing personally. you don't have to confine everything into a finite box of meanings and definitions. at the same time there's no need to throw out all meaning all together. I find positions like essentialism and nihilism to be the most paralyzing lenses to view reality
the only constant is change
i absolutely adore your channel, thank you ❤️
As a practicing Buddhist - wow! I think you did a very good job giving a 30,000ft view of the practice, easily the best I’ve seen on TH-cam (although I do love the “Buddhism is Pretty Out There, Man” video haha)
The term religion is indeed pretty funny, and you’re spot on with a lot of westerners being put off by it. I think it is, but my general response to the question is it is mysticism - a unity with all. It really just depends on the practitioner.
Only thing I think should’ve been mentioned more was non-self, but I’m sure you will touch on that later. Been very excited for this series, glad you took it up!
I think the concept of anātman or anattā is a bit difficult for an introductory video, and also different schools view this teaching in many ways
What's "non-self"? Something along the lines of sacrificing our needs to fulfill others?
@@roshanantony64 No, it's an idea quite different from that. Like Nicholas said, the concept of "no-self" or "anatta" is not easy to grasp, but I'm sure the next few videos in this series will discuss it.
I heard a monk once say "yes, Buddhism is a religion, 100%. And it's a religion for one ancient and profound reason: tax purposes"
@@manakin5 Hey! Do you speak/read greek, or you just figured out my name? 🙂
I love Buddhism! I've always been interested in it but got heavily involved when my close friend took his life. It has helped me understand a lot.
I'm from a Taoist+Buddhist+Confucianism Folk Belief background and I look forward to hear some wacky aspects about this.
Thank you for the educational & helpful video. I was born into Buddhism, but my family was not active practitioners. My first formal introduction was in college was 37 years ago. Although, I earned my “A,” it was extremely difficult to understand, because the books then were written too formal.
I saw a TH-cam video in which the Dalai Lama states,” Buddhism has 3 aspects:
(1) Religion: is for practicing Buddhists only. Do not try to convert or confuse others. As a philosophy, it complements other religion.
(2)Psychology
(3)Science: each individual should do their own investigation to seek facts, knowledge, understandings…
Ironically the current & modern societies now are still suffering, even more, especially in our children & adults despite we have more advance technology & easier access to resources . There are so much stress, anxiety, and depression. Suicides are rising from students to Billionaires.
Perhaps if business corporations & schools introduce Buddhist philosophy & meditation practices, perhaps each persons will have the understanding & skills to be flexible so that he/she can cope with life’s impermanence.
The concept of suffering seems so depressing, but No, the Buddha identified the causes of suffering and the way out of suffering. So, it’s a very positive religion / philosophy. Lastly, whether it’s Tibetan, Mahayana, or Theravada, Buddhism teaches compassion. True compassion is the caring of others, especially strangers. But also, an individual has to be happy & understands himself/ herself first, then he will be able to help others.
Being a buddhist, I can clearly say that this is the best video about Buddhism I have ever seen. Very accurate and enjoyable. Thank you very much for it.
Well, there is one channel which is EVEN better than the video above ! Do you want to know which one ??
@@DipayanPyne94 yes, we'd like to know!
@@mariondapsance7803 This : th-cam.com/video/3yU3C-b6hII/w-d-xo.html
@@DipayanPyne94 - Troll?
@@MossyMozart Who ? Me ?? Lol. No ...
Been waiting for this one 😎
Thank you for this video! The doctor Buddha was priceless 😁
This is fascinating, thank you
I'm orthodox Christian and approach to Buddhism as philosophy and wisdom.
I don't need new religion but the knowledge and wisdom leading to enlightenment of mind. That's how I see at this point the Buddhism
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
😂😂😂@@jeff_forsythe
Great start to a complex subject! Looking forward to your subsequent episodes.
I wish more people would learn about religion from your channel. I really appreciate your input.
Thank you. I've been practicing for a while and this has cleared up a number of things.
Your videos are such a gift to my heart and mind.
Thank you!
Religion, Is a Philosophy and Way of Life!!
I could Teach You in Many Ways of Understanding.
Always so respectful. Appreciate you.
Buddhism is about finding peace in chaos and accepting that pain and pleasure are temporary.
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
Recently become a Buddhist ❤️
👍👍👍👍💐💕 💕
#ARAcademyOfficial
Me too :)
Does buddhism say we must be vegan? Is it enough if we are vegetarian?
@sheeliekittie9298 the Buddha never condemned meat consumption. He taught to eat whatever is provided by the lay community. The Buddha reportedly died from spoiled pork.
❤️
Amazing video! Looking forward to the entire series!
Great primer on Buddhism! Buddhism strikes as an especially pragmatic and useful religion, and a really fascinating one, too.
Thank you for all your work.
Buddhism has helped me deal with the pandemic...🎋
I think the reason why the Books of Job and Ecclesiastes are my favorite books in the Old Testament are because it reminds me of the concept of Dukkha. Even with an atheistic lens while looking at the Abrahamic God as a representation of truth itself, suffering, unsatisfactoriness, and dis-ease are truths worth accepting and humbling ourselves towards.
No. You don't get it.
"Life is Suffering" OR "Life is uneasiness" are all or nothing positions. But that's not how the phenomenal universe works. It has no ability to "direct" the course of your life anymore than astrology does. Not only that, a TRULY accurate view is more song the lines of,"Life is both suffering and not suffering." OR "Life is both suffering AND pleasure." Now, a Therevada monk takes over 200 vows, most with the angle that they're renouncing all forms of pleasure because pleasure leads to more suffering to them. So they can't even listen to music. They can't go swimming. They can't see a movie. They have to avert their eyes on the real world in case they notice something so beautiful they get addicted to the pleasure. So, in general, it's a quite Unbalanced perspective. It's more accurate to say,"Life has both good and bad experiences in it." rather than,"Life IS Suffering."
The book of Job is my favorite too! When I was a practicing Christian I’d read it when I was feeling like unaliving myself. I felt less guilt and shame when reminded that no matter what we do, we are simply god’s toys.
Now I just find it interesting for a historical/philosophical perspective. It’s SUCH an effed up story and it makes me sad that’s what I read to help me with my struggles. Gross.
"Dwelling in a dewdrop fallen from a waterfowl’s beak, the image of the moon." -A monk named Dogen
Zen?
There is a new Buddhist scripture entitled Zhuan Falun that uncovers many of life's mysteries.
Vietnamese Buddhist here 🙏 👋🫰
I'm very glad that you introduced this series.
I've been curious about buddhism for a long time, already when I was a kid, and, having been an atheist forever at the same time, I guess I was first inclined to see it as a philosophy and not a religion, as if it would be "better" this way. But when I was confronted, even only theoretically, with the ideas, rituals and other practices of buddhism, and its diversity, it pretty soon seemed clear to me that it was indeed a religion (and one I couldn't follow, as any other, but that's not the point). And, well, that was OK, just not for me. Interesting to study, though. And the noble truths still speak more to me than most things christian or whatever. Which absolutely does not make me a Buddhist, that's for sure.
But this misconception, opposing philosophy and religion, certainly seems quite prevalent. As for me, to still proclaim that buddhism is "a philosophy and not a religion" leaves so many things out of the concept that it actually makes no sense. Sure, as long as personal beliefs and ways of life are concerned, this is probably not that of an issue. But broadened misconceptions about buddhism have their own issues, as all religious illiteracy. And I must say I feel a bit sorry when I hear a person really into meditation say it's "zen". Zen is so much more... and definitely religious. However, once again, if those people can find help this way, good for them, not an issue for me. But downgrading such a complex and diverse social phenomenon to a digest of quite naive and simplistic personal development method (and many times as far of the Buddha and buddhism as you can get) is something that I find a bit disturbing. And sad, probably.
This is the first video for Buddhism series. There will be five episode totally.
I think it is just a general introduction and they will go into details for the rest episodes.
Great historical story 💯💯💯
These videos are invaluable resources for my classes. Thank you for all your hard work.
This is one of the best examinations of Buddhism I've seen on TH-cam.
I grew up Protestant Christian but always felt that it was wrong in my soul. I’ve believed in past lives my entire life as I can remember moments from them. I’ve never found a religion that feels right to me until now. Thank you for this enlightening video. ❤️
The only to heaven is threw Jesus Christ
As a buddhist myself, well done video. Buddhism is a very simple yet complex tradition. Those seeking intellectual and philosophical material will find that buddhism has a robust metaphysics and very sofisticated means of investigation of reality. Sadly, very often buddhism is simplified to the point it loses a lot of it's complexity. I'm looking foward to the rest of the series.
What a great informative Chanel. Fantastic. I’m so interested in this. Thank you❤
Interesting as always. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
I was just hoping last week you would do a video on Buddhismm thank you so much!
👍👍👍👍👍💐💕
#ARAcademyOfficial
Only a minute in, but I am so excited to see my own faith tackled by you.
Best overview of Buddhism I have heard or read. Good job, thanks
I like that you are diving into this finally. Only thing I had issue with was the idea that karma can be judged as good or bad. Though I imagine you were using this analogy for simplicity sake it does present a myriad of problems when understanding the teaching of Buddhism. Love your channel.
i think that a colloquial sense of "good and bad" is fine, as long as we recognize that we make moral judgements from a contingent, subjective position. good and bad as Buddhism sees them, for the most part, you could more accurately call "harm and benefit," as those imply that there is a perspective. to cause suffering is broadly "bad" and to alleviate suffering is broadly "good," at least so far as humans think in those categories. ultimately the goal is to transcend that dualism, but in practical terms it's hard to talk about Ethics without "good/bad."
@@nondescriptcat5620 Sounds incoherent, but then all karma "theories" are.
@@TheGuiltsOfUs if you find the idea that humans judge things as good or bad based on whether they are beneficial or harmful to them difficult to understand, that sounds like a "you" problem.
thanks! excited for more videos on buddhism
I wanted to learn a introduction of Buddhism and I'm glad I watched this video to get a better understanding.
👍👍👍👍💕💐
#ARAcademyOfficial
Thank you for this. I can't wait for the other entries in the series.
Thank you so much for doing this!!!
👍👍👍👍👍💐💕
#ARAcademyOfficial
If you want to get enlightened, it's actually easy. It just requires full commitment.
There's just 3 major steps.
1. Clean up your behaviour
2. Clean up your mind
3. Use your cleansed mind to examine reality directly.
Once you can see reality as it is, you'll realise that;
1. There is no such entity as "you", there's only a cluster of physical and mental forms, processes and states all pretending to be "you" because they all share the same label "I".
2. Everything that can be experienced by the 6 senses (5 physical + mind) are always changing. They're impermanent and thus;
3. Dissatisfactory. Nothing here or anywhere can satisfy. Even if "you" find something satisfactory, it is still impermanent. Even the super blissful states experienced in deep meditation are impermanent and dissatisfactory.
These realisations, will cause "you" to let go of "your" attachments to all conditions, and cause you to stop identifying with them. This then frees you from the cycle of suffering. After all, there's no such thing as you, and nothing is yours.
This is the end of suffering.
This is freedom.
This is nirvana.
Karma should better be understood as:
"If you do things, things will happen" (the fruits of our actions are without prejudice for "bad" or "good" - those are mere human constructs). The practice of karma yoga centers around giving up the desire for these fruits of our actions, or for a specific outcome.
Video co-writer here! Thanks for the comment-- I love when TH-cam becomes a place for thoughtful exchange!
You raise an interesting point about karma, but I do think it's helpful here to point out that while South Asian religions broadly share the idea of karma theory, there are different understandings particular to different religious traditions, or even thinkers within these religious traditions. You're pointing to karma theory as explicated in texts like the Bhagavad Gita, which outlines the practice of karma yoga just as you said, and which emphasizes that we should not be attached to the fruit of our actions.
But Buddhism actually has a different theory of karma, one which supports the claims I made in the video script. I'm drawing here on the work of the philosopher Vasubandhu in particular. According to Vasubandhu, karma is determined by intention (centanA), and is morally definable. Actions, and therefore karma, can be good/skillful (kusala), bad/unskillful (akusala), or neutral (avyakrta). They will they produce fruits in accordance with their moral quality. On this basis, Buddhist theory suggests that you should try to do more good actions and less bad actions. For more on this, check out Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa, chapter 4.
same as you reap what you sew, all universal truths have places in all "religions" find whats similar find what united us in the divisions of good and bad sift through knowledge and wisdom shows there is no monopoly on love no buddhist no christian no satanist can be in existence without it and all have the same end due to it.
Thanks for sharing ☺️👍, nice video on practicing Buddhism ☺️👍
I'd love a Buddhist series, this video was great
👍👍👍👍👍💐💕
#ARAcademyOfficial
I find that those who insist that Buddhism isn't a religion are indeed coming from the mindset that religion equals blind devotion to a monotheistic deity and the edicts handed down from that deity. But that's a very narrow definition of religion. Religion is a dirty word to a lot of Westerners, and I think many who embrace Buddhism do so as a kind of rejection of what they've been conditioned to perceive as religion. And then they proceed to strip all the religion out of Buddhism until it ends up looking something like Stoicism with extra steps, or, worse, a commodity that makes you feel better about yourself.
People also call Taoism a philosophy rather than a religion, especially if you only take the two main canon texts into account, as Taoism by it's very nature is function over form, and denounces ritual and faith in the Tai Te Ching, I believe it says they are the husk of chaos. Therefore, what I would call mystic Taoists often follow very individual paths. But so do atheistic Satanists.
These questions really does go to the heart of the question, "What is religion?". I'd argue it's spirituality given structure.
@matchboxmango I agree Taoism is a religion, structureless structure, as I see it, or the structure of no-structure. Meaning one may get up and do Qigong every morning, but may change if a better method were found.
As to "spirituality" being a loaded word, I don't see it that way either. An individual may be very spiritual, even if raised by wolves. Famous atheist Sam Harris wrote "Waking Up: a Guide to Spirituality without Religion", though you may see him as muddying the waters. I see spirituality in poetic terms as the space between the body and mind. In an accordion to Hoyle way, I'd say it's a system of emotional self control, reflection, and contemplation of the non material or intangible.
@matchboxmango Let me give it a re-read and think carefully about how I want to word my response. For example, I wasn't insinuating that you didn't think Taoism is a religion, I was merely making my own position clear. I'll respond after a shower to clean my head. Enjoying the conversation.
I can already tell this is going to be a great series.
👍👍👍👍💐💕
#ARAcademyOfficial
Thank you for this gift.
Is it just me, or do scholars have a tendency to reserve the title “religion” to Abrahamic spiritual practices? Buddhism has sacred texts, clerics of varying rank and status, numerous denominations, temples, political support groups, and etc. Why is this not enough?
Because idiots will be idiots. Buddhism is a religion plain and simple, and tbh anyone arguing the contrary either has an incomplete understanding of Buddhism or is intentionally muddying the water and arguing semantics.
Simple. No god. And I don't mean god in the monotheistic, abrahamic sense, i mean god in the supernatural being sense. For example, Hinduism is pretty easy to call a religion because they have deities (or one deity, depending on who you talk to) that are worshiped, prayed to, etc. Same with shinto, same with the Mediterranean mythologies. It's the lack of any gods in the core tradition that make it difficult to call Buddhism a religion. The cultural practices and the organization aside, the real separation of religion from self-help or vacuum commercials is the supernatural element, which the definition he uses misses. Sure you can call reincarnation that supernatural element, but it's still a far cry from all the other examples.
It's most certainly not the Abrahamic thing. Even scholars from 400 years ago knew that. Buddhism is just... tricky.
Theism is theistic.
The problem is that some of these scholars still wanna believe that god is an essential thing for a religion, because if a religion doesn't contain a god in its belief system. Then, therefore, it cannot be classified as a religion to them.
But what they tend to forget to realize is that religion is a lot more complicated than just believing in some deities.
Religion is a social organization that involves a unified system of beliefs, and practices. That's what makes a religion. It's an institutionalized system, not a personal practice that you do on your own.
It's not just the scholars who wanna believe this. It's also some atheists who still wanna believe this.
If you dare to say that you believe in "god without religion". They'll still wanna believe that you're still religious, because according to their logic. Theism is synonymous with religion to them.
@@graysonbaker1744 *For example, Hinduism is pretty easy to call a religion because they have deities (or one deity, depending on who you talk to) that are worshiped, prayed to, etc. Same with shinto, same with the Mediterranean mythologies.*
Religion is a lot more to it than just believing in deities, dude. Religion is a specific set of organized beliefs and practices that are usually shared by a community.
Believing in some god doesn't constitute you being religious, because literally, anybody can do that.
You actually have people who believe in the existence of ghosts. But that still doesn't make them religious.
What makes some people religious is when they belong to a social institution whereas they share the exact same belief, and practices from each other.
*It's the lack of any gods in the core tradition that make it difficult to call Buddhism a religion.*
ummmm....Dude. Religions don't have to be theistic in order to be one. They just need to have a unified structure within their belief system. That's it.
The reason why buddhism is classified as a religion, because:
1. It has its own followers.
2. it has its own sacred doctrines, and principles.
3. it has its own ethical system.
4. It has its own rituals.
5. It has its own sacred temple.
So, in other words. Theism is not synonymous with religion, because there are plenty of "non-theistic religions" that don't even focus on deities as much.
May we find joy in simple things around us
I went into a Buddhist temple in Seattle and one of the first things they told me was it’s not a religion in the way that I might expect
That sounds about right. Buddhism is very applied. One achieves the benefits by ones own actions rather than praying for them. Not to say other religions don't talk about actions but most of Buddhism is about actions and taking responsibility for you own happiness and future.
I am happy all the time because I am good, and kind and chose to be happy. Sad or miserable look for what they feel as do I and its that state of mind that makes it bad or good and that a happy person can also have painful lessons in life and be thankful for the lessons looking beyond the pain finding more joy and happiness.
No mention of the 16 breathing exercises/discourse on the full awareness of breathing? That sutra enables one to use conscious breathing to heal mind, body, and leads to enlightenment. I practiced this sutra and healed my panic attacks, my chronic pain became so much easier to bear, that I was able to come off of pain meds I had been on for over 10years. When practiced properly- it's almost magical in it's ability to transform suffering.
Good call, Grimstad.
Grimstad is referring to the Satipatthana and Anapanasati Suttas (MN 10 & MN 118, respectively). Both are worth studying and putting into action, and you will find them referred to often throughout the Pali Canon. One of my favorite, but rather text-booky, books on the two suttas is Right Mindfulness, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (It can be ordered free of charge through snail-mail directly from Metta Forest Monastery).
It's a 5 video series. It's probably in one of the upcoming videos.