Hello. It would be great if you both, with venerable Bhante, will make the second round of this talk in the light of the war in my country - Ukraine. I am strongly interested in it because I am actually a Buddhist Theravada monk from the Northern Thai, forest tradition, who together with other two monks from Sri-Lanka ( we are all Ukrainian ) are trapped now within Ukraine. And I am not talking about that we are worried or anxious about this, but mostly about in which way we should continue our practice and the way of spreading the Dhamma. Because, the old ways of teaching do not work now. It's hard to explain but it turned out to be very difficult. All buddhist communities in the post-soviet countries are divided into two camps. And not around only the Buddhist attitude towards the fact of war, but also in terms of where are you from. And even those who tended to be strong Buddhist now are turning towards such a feeling like hate, revenge, aggressive, cruelness. And I am myself do not see the way to turn them back. I do not mean not to defend our country, families, freedom, but about how to stay aware, compassion, kind towards Russian in particular. And not only towards the soldiers but towards all the Russians. Thank You
After listening to Bhante Bhikku Bodhi in interview, I have even higher respect for him. Like the late Ven Thich Nanh Hanh, he is talking about "Engaged Buddhism". He is walking the talk & putting the Dharma into action. There are so much injustice all over the world. Many agressions & violence are carried out in the name of human rights & democracy. As buddhists should we stay silent for our selfish attainment or be engaging to fight Injustice? Even Pope Francis is speaking out regard the War in Ukraine, not forgetting who provoke the War. ✌
I was reading about Sri Lanka and the history of Theravada recently. You can trace Sinhalese nationalism to the Mahavamsa and other chronicles, because there was constant conflict with Southern Indian Tamil kingdoms. But Theravada Buddhism as an institution almost died out several times in Sri Lanka, and the oldest monastic order in Sri Lanka is called the Thai school or something like that because Theravada was reintroduced to Sri Lanka just 300 or so years ago I think, and some people argue it was Buddhist revivalism in the colonial period when the nationalism became particularly virulent.
Also the image of Theravada as the super austere, no-superstitions Buddhism is kinda misleading. As you pointed out most practitioners don't meditate. Sri Lankans believe in several protector Gods and Goddesses. Burmans believe in Nat spirits. There's a medieval statue of the tantric goddess Tara in Sri Lanka. So esoteric and ritual elements and things like prayer were definitely common and the western view of Theravada as a sorta philosophical Buddhism as opposed to religious Buddhism is probably misleading. Pali texts are older than Mahayana texts from what I understand though.
Joey Burt well in pali canon there is no mention of such deity. So the local culture assimilated into theravada practice as it usually happens wherever buddhism spread.
"The Buddha’s Teaching As It Is" On BuddhaNet dot net seems to have the best quality (full spectrum, no warbling) that I can find. I can look it to making it in a podcast format. Problem is right at the bottom "Audio recordings Copyright by Buddhist Vihara Society - Washington DC."
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![Buddhist Ethics | Robert Wright & Bhikkhu Bodhi [The Wright Show]](/img/tr.png)
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Hello.
It would be great if you both, with venerable Bhante, will make the second round of this talk in the light of the war in my country - Ukraine. I am strongly interested in it because I am actually a Buddhist Theravada monk from the Northern Thai, forest tradition, who together with other two monks from Sri-Lanka ( we are all Ukrainian ) are trapped now within Ukraine. And I am not talking about that we are worried or anxious about this, but mostly about in which way we should continue our practice and the way of spreading the Dhamma. Because, the old ways of teaching do not work now. It's hard to explain but it turned out to be very difficult. All buddhist communities in the post-soviet countries are divided into two camps. And not around only the Buddhist attitude towards the fact of war, but also in terms of where are you from. And even those who tended to be strong Buddhist now are turning towards such a feeling like hate, revenge, aggressive, cruelness. And I am myself do not see the way to turn them back. I do not mean not to defend our country, families, freedom, but about how to stay aware, compassion, kind towards Russian in particular. And not only towards the soldiers but towards all the Russians.
Thank You
After listening to Bhante Bhikku Bodhi in interview, I have even higher respect for him. Like the late Ven Thich Nanh Hanh, he is talking about "Engaged Buddhism". He is walking the talk & putting the Dharma into action. There are so much injustice all over the world. Many agressions & violence are carried out in the name of human rights & democracy. As buddhists should we stay silent for our selfish attainment or be engaging to fight Injustice? Even Pope Francis is speaking out regard the War in Ukraine, not forgetting who provoke the War. ✌
This is one great episode! Thanks a lot! The questions were very relevant and down-to-earth, and of course Bhikkhu Bodhi is a great teacher
Great guest, and great subject. One suggestion: ask short, pointed questions, and let your guest do most of the talking.
I was reading about Sri Lanka and the history of Theravada recently. You can trace Sinhalese nationalism to the Mahavamsa and other chronicles, because there was constant conflict with Southern Indian Tamil kingdoms. But Theravada Buddhism as an institution almost died out several times in Sri Lanka, and the oldest monastic order in Sri Lanka is called the Thai school or something like that because Theravada was reintroduced to Sri Lanka just 300 or so years ago I think, and some people argue it was Buddhist revivalism in the colonial period when the nationalism became particularly virulent.
Also the image of Theravada as the super austere, no-superstitions Buddhism is kinda misleading. As you pointed out most practitioners don't meditate. Sri Lankans believe in several protector Gods and Goddesses. Burmans believe in Nat spirits. There's a medieval statue of the tantric goddess Tara in Sri Lanka. So esoteric and ritual elements and things like prayer were definitely common and the western view of Theravada as a sorta philosophical Buddhism as opposed to religious Buddhism is probably misleading. Pali texts are older than Mahayana texts from what I understand though.
Joey Burt well in pali canon there is no mention of such deity. So the local culture assimilated into theravada practice as it usually happens wherever buddhism spread.
Great to see both of you again.
Can't wait to watch it .
"The Buddha’s Teaching As It Is"
On BuddhaNet dot net seems to have the best quality (full spectrum, no warbling) that I can find.
I can look it to making it in a podcast format. Problem is right at the bottom "Audio recordings Copyright by Buddhist Vihara Society - Washington DC."
Really interesting talk. Thank you for sharing :)
LA İLAHƏ İLLƏLLAH MUHƏMMƏDƏN RƏSULULLAH LA İLAHƏ İLLƏLLAH ƏLİYYƏN VƏLİYULLAH
fuck allah