So …
I’m friendly with this monk (online-virtually) and I saw this video. I thought it was the dumbest video anyone can make, so I sent him a message. I asked him who his friends are and why he associates with them. He told me that this “view” actually comes from Hillside Hermitage. If you know about the place, then you will know that many people follow that monk at that monastery. I told “Bhante Joe” that I don’t deal with such people and I just move on. However, he is involved with many Westerners, so he felt he had to clear things up for them.
We are lucky that we follow a clearly defined Path. The problem with Suttanta is that monks or lay people can re-define things as they wish. That is my theory of why they reject the Abhidhamma and Commentaries. They end up disagreeing with each other and that is why Classical Theravada has survived over time. People don’t know this, but although the Suttanta groups are big in the West, they are still a very, very small minority of Theravada.
I’m so glad we have our group here. Like I say in the FAQ, we want a group that already accepts the Right Dhamma or wants to learn the Right Dhamma. For the most part, everyone has been harmonious. I think only one user has been blocked since we started this discourse group.
In any case.. give the video 5 or 10 minutes to listen to this. Feel grateful that you follow Classical Theravada.
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Hello Venerable Sir, thank you for creating this website. I’m so grateful that we have this group. It makes me feel connected to others who have faith in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.
May we be able to continue doing good things and grow in faith, virtue, learning, generosity, and wisdom.
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Could you fill in the gaps here? I watched some of the video and I’m not seeing what the problem is (although I admit I didn’t watch that much). Like the nickle version of the issue? I’m not agreeing with the video at all. But if you tell what the actual problem is it would be easier to spot.
I realize you might not want to get into a debate about it; neither do I.
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I couldn’t get myself to listen to much of the video. It was really strange.
The topic is “dumb” as it is impossible to become a sotapanna or close to it without meditation (excluding those born as sotapannas).
So it is really dumb to ask such a question. Excuse me.. “Unskillful to ask such questions.”
As for the content of the video.. it seemed to be very strange. I could not really understand what he was trying to do. It would sound “intellectual” to someone who does not know anything about Buddhism, but I know and it was “strange”. It was like trying to prove the Buddha did in fact eat at least one time per day and then finding quotes with the The Buddha and meals, presumably to defend a point that “The Buddha did in fact eat” against a person who thinks the Buddha did not eat. It is strange.
It is wild what people believe and follow. I’m not really blaming Bhante Joe. It is just that he gets sucked into this. However, it is his fault, since he is a “Thai Forest Monk” and will encounter people who like that stuff. I’m not sure what his world is filled with and how many followers of his also follow “Hillside hermitage”. If it were a follower of me, I would explain it in 2 minutes and if they asked many times, I would just tell them I’m not the right person for you.
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Ah, right, right. Thank you.
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Hi Bhante,
I believe it has that style because the Hillside Hermitage followers are so insistent that until one has overcome all sensuality any sort of “meditation” is completely pointless and, according to them, counterproductive. As far as I can tell, they justify this by reading the the gradual training suttas as a strictly linear process: perfect sila, then perfect sense restraint, then…
So any discussion with them requires quoting suttas to support one’s point, as Bhante Joe does in that video.
As you say, on one level it seems like a waste of time. But perhaps it helps some practitioners.
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