FAQ

This website forum was created for those who are in favor of Classical Theravāda which will be known as CT and the members as CT’ers. CT was created for those who seek a supportive environment or safe haven to discuss such topics in English without the entanglements of other “schools” which seem to be the majority in the English Dhamma world.

Who Should Not Join?

If you are not in favor of Classical Theravāda, which means the full Tipitaka including Abhidhamma with the commentary explanations and most of the sub-commentaries, it would be best join another group such as Dhammawheel or Suttacentral. You should not join under another username if you have been suspended or banned.

Disqualification Checklist:

  • Are you one who passionately follows other sects of Buddhism?
  • Do you wish to spread these other nonCT teachings here?
  • Have you previously been suspended from CT?

What if I’m not a pure orthodox Theravādan?

Some who want to learn CT but not convert are welcome, but “learning” must be the intent rather than “sharing”. It is a one-way experience if you wish to join.

An Example of What Should Not Be Done

Christians surely have similar teachings, but it is really not proper for them to be here. For them to try to draw connections with Sakka and Jesus, God, or Christian angels and then dwell on isolated topics to repeatedly say it is okay to ask Sakka for help is flat out wrong, even though Theravāda mentions Sakka helping monks, and sharing merit with devas is common.

In the same way, if you are part of a nonCT group or believe in such theories, you really don’t have the privilege to take small isolated quotes that might relate to your own religion and “set the stage” like a Christian might do as stated above. Even so, a CT’er would have full rights to do this.

Certain ethnic groups can use certain types of speech internally, but outsiders cannot. It is a little bit like that.

What category on this website can I share about other forms of Buddhism not related to CT?

There is no such category here. CT has no such subgroups by design.

What if someone talks bad about my nonCT group and I want to defend it?

CT is biased and this is not a place for defending nonCT. You would not defend negative Buddhist posts inside a separate online Christian group. The same is true here.

Try to keep it Classical Theravada

While it is allowed to speak negatively about other nonCT groups, too much of this is not good. We might even warn our most devoted CT members about this if it is dragging the group down into negativity. Furthermore, bringing up modern issues that challenge orthodox Theravāda which never ends is not allowed. It distracts from the classical theravada core discussions. SuttaCentral is a great place for those issues. CT’s motto is,

CT has so much wonderful stuff, why do we need to focus on anything else? Talk about what you like and have faith in.

If you want to generate a new topic, just pick a favorite sutta or commentary explanation and say why you like it. Randomly open a book and report on it. Go for it. This is what CT is all about. Post what floats your CT boat and share it with others.

Fairness

We make the rules and we do not need to be fair. However, we will try to be fair to those who belong here. When you join, you recognize this and surrender all personal work/ownership posted here to the public domain which has no rules. If we don’t like a topic, we can shut it down or even delete it. Your real name can be demanded for future participation but not for others. Membership can be downgraded, limited, suspended, or deleted for any reason in the name of protecting the well being and purpose of this website.

Flagging Posts

If you see a problem, flag it.

Moderators and Admin

There are only two founders, owners, admins and moderators of this website and they share all roles. If there are any problems, you may contact either of these two by clicking on the name(s):

Posting Media

Our server has Amazon S3 Buckets set up for backups on a free tier system. If you don’t know what that means, we don’t really know either. If we ever need a backup, we will need to find out what these mean. The more photos/media you post here, the bigger these buckets get. So please use remote images and media whenever possible. You can simply upload to archive.org or wiki media commons (where it is appropriate for those sites) and then put the link to a photo, etc on its own line and it will show up just as you did locally.

Please do not violate copyright laws on this website.
Try to stay on topic and see if a topic fits by searching first before creating a new topic.

Terms of Service

Yes, legalese is boring, but we must protect ourselves – and by extension, you and your data – against unfriendly folks. We have a Terms of Service describing your (and our) behavior and rights related to content, privacy, and laws. To use this service, you must agree to abide by our TOS.

Copyright and Permissions

The three Pāḷi books used in the Logo was modified from Michael Backman and used with permission www.michaelbackmanltd.com The logo is also used for Tipitaka Pāḷi Reader