Dhamma doodles šŸ˜

I was just joking, however, the gifs and your words remind me that I should be putting more time into my practice :slight_smile: .

PS - not sure if others have noted this already but Yodha apparently means warrior in Saį¹ƒskį¹›ta. Wouldnā€™t be surprised if this was inspiration for the naming of Yoda in Star Wars.

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Yes, same in Pali. :grin:

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Rag-rice, Iā€™ll smack your ear!

Thag 2.40

This fellow, ā€œRag-riceā€, he sure is a rag.
This place has been made for practising jhāna,
Like a crystal vase filled to the brim
With the nectar of the deathless,
Into which enough Dhamma has been poured.

Donā€™t nod off, Ragā€”
Iā€™ll smack your ear!
Nodding off in the middle of the Saį¹…gha?
You havenā€™t learnt a thing.

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Ohā€”the poor one! This sounds quite familiar to meā€¦ :sleeping: :sleeping: :sleeping:

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169%20Mothers%20day

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Continuing the discussion from Dhamma doodles :grin::

Thank you so very much for your beautiful drawings. I can not express how much they have touched my heart and deepened the Dhamma for me. What a beautiful colouring book and coloured book they would make for people of all ages and following. Again thank you so very much for sharing this wonderful talent for communication. with mega metta.:pray::pray::pray:

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Thanks for your kind words, @Robyn!

Iā€™ve moved back into my tent two months ago, so it has become very difficult to make drawings.
We are also building our new monastery Tilorien, and thereā€™s not much time to drawā€¦ :grin:

Anyway, hereā€™s a new one (my plan B, in case Tilorien isnā€™t ready in time before the next winter drives me out of my tent):

Dhamma Pirate

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Is it completely wrong that I now want to start thinking of ways to delay progress at Tilorien? I think the world needs Dhamma pirates! :grinning: :anjal:

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Iā€™ve been trying to convince my fellow sangha members that Tilorien urgently needs a flagpole with a pirate flag, but no success so farā€¦ :joy:

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:laughing: :rofl:

Here Ayya Vimala said that ā€œDonations should always be used for the purpose for which they were givenā€, so would it be just be a matter of giving a donation specifically for that purpose? :smiling_imp:

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Fossilized Heart

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What exactly does it mean to have a fossilized heart?

It probably means different things to different people. :wink:

I was thinking of the perception in meditation when your heart feels like stone, and all the defilements seem stuck in there.

If it means nothing to some people, thatā€™s fine tooā€¦ :woman_shrugging:

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Jain Convert

Thag 4.5

For fifty-five years
I wore mud and dirt;
Eating one meal a month,
I tore out my hair and beard.

I stood on one foot;
I rejected seats;
I ate dried-out dung;
I didnā€™t accept food that had been set aside for me.

Having done many actions of this kind,
Which lead to a bad destination,
As I was being swept away by the great flood,
I went to the Buddha for refuge.

See the going for refuge!
See the excellence of the Dhamma!
Iā€™ve attained the three knowledges,
And fulfilled the Buddhaā€™s instructions.

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Oh, well done! I particularly love the clothes line with the cow dungā€¦ :joy:

Life as a Jain monastic is indeed hard!

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i donā€™t think i have ever met a Jain in this life.

Are there actual people who identify as this?

Yes, but they donā€™t wear dirt or eat dung anymore. Some of them however wear no clothes at all. Their lay community is possibly more numerous than Buddhists in India nowadays. Theyā€™re split in two main sects and many subsects. I work with a Jain indian. Theyā€™re very kind people and very diplomatic in terms of talking about spirituality it seems.

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As I understand it they (the ā€œhard coreā€ monks) donā€™t wear clothes and also donā€™t washā€”so theyā€™re ā€œwearingā€ mud and dirt. I donā€™t know if this is still practised today. Anyway, for lay practitioners it is quite different.

(Probably the monastic community has decreased in number considerably because the pulling out of hair as part of the ordination ceremony has become somewhat unpopularā€¦ )

We may certainly find some of their practises quite silly today, but @Gabriel_L is right, we shouldnā€™t ridicule the people; and we should bear in mind that a core part of their teaching is about non-harming.

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They still pull their hair, beard and eyebrows. It is a very important event called Kesha locha and lay disciples are happy to witness such acts - search for it in YouTube and youā€™ll see it.

I personally think it is very brave of them. It is a pity that most of their original scriptures is now lost.

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When saying that a Jain monastic has a hard life it was really meant that way, not ironically. And of course this requires a lot of bravery.

But I canā€™t easily see the benefit of such a self-torture, and the author of the above verse (after having become an arahant) even seems to find it harmful. The Buddha too didnā€™t describe self-torture as leading to any genuine spiritual progress. So what is it good for?