SuttaCentral
@Gabriel_L thank you for the sutta reference; inspiring. 
Perhaps for newcomers to buddhism, AN 5.174 offers a start https://suttacentral.net/an5.174/en/sujato
A person in the world doesn’t kill living creatures,
speak falsely,
steal,
commit adultery,
or indulge in drinking
alcohol and liquor.Giving up these five threats,
they’re said to be ethical.
When their body breaks up, that wise person
is reborn in a good place.”
What do you think?
Yeah, and to me the Pali is quite unambiguous:
Giving up these five threats,
Pahāya pañca verāni,they’re said to be ethical.
sīlavā iti vuccati;
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply such a thing !
I had a couple of posts in mind. From last year’s essay:
And the post in which you made clear that the Vinaya places limits on public speech: Rebirth, rebirth, rebirth - #268 by Brahmali
But the straightforward advice that the path of renunciation and meditation is all that is required to steer one’s mind away from the stagnation of scepticism and doubt regarding rebirth, and attain personal knowledge, resonated strongly with me.
Hope this clarifies things and again, my apologies if my earlier post implied something else…
Yes, that is very clear.
Markers indicating possible lateness to me, would be:
oh, that was taken out of context.
I started the sentence with ‘I certainly believe…’ and have ‘but that’ after the comma, meaning, ‘I certainly believe that we first have to define what it is’. This is in line with Right View being at the start of the Path.
I was expressing my view, not dictating what people (beginners) must do.
best wishes
In my experience a teacher is very important. I have seen people interpreting Buddhism in their view and not the right view due to not having a good (hopefully an enlightened kalyanamitta) teacher in their lives. This dhamma is beautiful as buddha said (beginning, middle and end) and the more you unravel it, if the (dhamma)
smell:rose: doesn’t get more and more pleasant you have to look for guidance. Also people can go nuts if the snake is grasped by the neck. (MN 22)
If not * 
… i identified the specific phrase and especially word which gave me hesitation, as “the phrase” and “specific word”, after you characterized my less specific feedback as “unclear, unhelpful or not promoting discussion”. It does not seem imo that quote was “taken out of context”. But if you felt misrepresented, that is unfortunate, and i regret if my effort to reply was/is not seen in a peaceful light.
Title of thread is “What advice do you give to newcomers of Buddhism?”
I suggest we let this go, or take it to PMs.
I havent been on here for over a year… I sure do miss the chats. I still consider myself a newbie even though I started practicing about ten years ago and later on in the Mahayana school linages. Ive always came back to study in the Pali Canon because its more distinct in explaining life.
I started off with meditation. I didnt have insight. I live in america; and, I agree, we are a me-ism country which isnt bad in itself, just a diferent cultural perspective. It has is pros and cons.
First, I had to get more aquinted with my culture and environment. Start with what you know first and branch out. I never knew American had a culture until almost recently. Challenging the identity without having a balance in perspective is hard. So, learning and assessing what you know best is a good start.
Second, meditation and reflection. It doesnt need to be perfect. Meditation schools here are mostly breathing rather than insight. Start simple and dont get bogged down that youre not “buddhist” enough. Before The Buddha found his enlightenment, he asked himself questions such as: should I do this. will they understand. how do I start. Type of thing. I used to be an ESL teacher; so, learning The Buddha’s Words seeing him as a teacher helps a lot.
Finding a way to relate to The Buddha is another way for newbies to come into practice.
What else?
I dont have this yet; but, having a community is a huge plus. A teacher if you’re lucky in these parts.
The four noble truths and the eightfold is also a good place to start. Branch out from each truth and read suttas related to that Truth.
And there goes the sense of excitement at reading Sujith’s comment lol
I had a strong desire to trawl through SC discussion to dig out and find these comments in the hope I could glean some additional understanding from them. Oh well, tanha is dukkha anyway - best I go and sit instead 
If you haven’t read this thread before:
It was eye-opening for me.
Thanks - I hadn’t stumbled across this before.
Here’s me trying to let go of the renewed sense of excitement that has been reborn in me now that I have some interesting posts about rebirth to read! 
no problem
I noticed not comment on my linking with Right View.
best wishes
Correct. As we seem to have difficulty communicating, I chose to not engage with that comment.
so you agree with my statement! 
and I agree with yours: we have difficulty in communicating
I do not choose to cut communication on a topic, unless there is obvious disrespect. I choose to use patience and try to listen for positive, as well as negative, but I value your time management and accept you don’t want to talk about it.
I try not to say: you are/that is correct (right) or incorrect (wrong), but rather: I agree or disagree.
it seems we speak different languages, thus the communication difficulty
best wishes
oh, thanks for that
This seems to be the same idea I came across in Plum Village. They called it Dhamma discussion, but there was no room to disagree and suggest a different way to look at it, i.e. to debate, which for me, is part of discussion. I suggested to them to change the name of the time from ‘Dhamma discussion’ to ‘Dhamma sharing’. Because there was no room for what I consider true discussion including debate, I decided, after 2 months, Plum Village was not the place for me.
This ‘discussion’ forum may not be the place for me, if the quote is an accurate expression of the intention. Then maybe it is supposed to be just the intention of the particular post, as it is titled ‘reflecting…’.
Regarding statements you made referencing Right View: Did/do not agree; did/do not disagree. It is not the right time for me to engage with the statements; perhaps at another time.
Regarding the “noticed not comment”, yes, i did not comment.
I am not terminating our conversation due to any seeming disrespect; it is possible your cultural conditioning is just very different. Not just different “languages”; different maps perhaps.
May all be happy, peaceful, ultimately free of suffering.
yes, I already got that message, thanks.
that was supposed to be ‘I noticed no comment’, typo.
I know you did not comment and understand you will not at this time.
I wasn’t commenting on your motivation. I was just giving the reason why I would cut the conversation.
probably different maps, as I doubt anyone who had not applied what I believe to be the Buddha’s instructions for studying his teaching, would come up with the same map as I did.
hopefully we can stop this off topic discussion here, now.
best wishes
I used to be involved in an Interbeing group, and we did “mindful listening” - is that what you mean? Basically one person spoke at a time, and everyone else listened mindfully, without interrupting.
Yes, mindful listening was part of it, as I recall and it can, and I think should be, part of discussion and debate.