Theory Freak

I don't think the love between two people can ever be called unconditional love. The moment the love becomes exclusive to two people, the love becomes conditional. If your lover cuts your ear off, can you still love him/her? The person we love can change, for the bad or good but will we ever be able to sustain the same love throughout? Unconditional love is always directed to all beings, without judgment, good and bad, towards people of different moralities, to the person who ran his/her car over your dog, etc. It sounds impossible, impractical and naive, and that's why unconditional love is rare. Only an enlightened person can love unconditionally, which is often reflected in the stories of great humans such as Lord Buddha and Jesus. Do you concur?

Even though my favorite Dhamma teacher Ajahn Brahm rejects astrology, I believe that astrology is not all untrue. Among other things, astrology deeply fascinates me. In my grandfather's horoscope, it is clearly said that his first born son will die prematurely and he will not have a sound relationship with his sons. His newborn son did not survive a week, and I know much about his relationship with his only son to say that his horoscope reading was true. Can that prediction be a coincidence? I don't think so. Though highly debated, there is scientific evidence to prove that planetary movements affect the human psychology and physiology together with other natural changes. 81 percent of mental health professionals, according to a University of New Orleans study, believe that lunar cycles affect human behavior. 12 Zodiac Signs For more information see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect The term lunar effect refers to the belief that there is correlation bet...

by Venerable Visuddhacara "Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it." - Tagore Pain is a fact of life and the sooner we learn to live with the better. It has often been said that Buddhism is a pessimistic religion because it harps on the fact of suffering. It has also been pointed out that Buddhism is not pessimistic but realistic. Refusing to acknowledge pain in our lives does not make the pain go away. Like it or not, all of us have to succumb to old age, disease and death, that is if our life is not suddenly cut off at an early age. It has also been said that Buddhism is in fact optimistic in that Buddha precribes a way out of the vicious cycle of birth and death and suffering. So there is hope for all of us. We need not despair. We can work towards liberation. Buddhism is actually a teaching of liberation. It harps on suffering only because it has to wake us up from out pathetic ignorance of the unsatisfa...

By Venerable Panyananda Bhikkhu from his book Love Your Children The Right Way  DEAR PARENTS, Please listen to me again about this important matter. Several days ago, a lady came to see me at the temple. She said she had only one son but he was trouble for her. I asked her how. She told me that her son was very stubborn. He did not listen to her at all and always acted as he pleased. Any time she disagreed with him there would be big trouble. When he became angry he would break things, which were close to him at the time. I listened and could not help feel pity on her and on that boy as well. Mothers always have problems with stubborn children. If the children cannot be cured, the stubbornness will become a bad habit. When they grow up they may become hotheaded and cruel. I knew another boy. When he was young he would always be angry at something. When he became angry he would hit his head against the wall every time. The parents had to help each other hold him and tal...

If one day I realize that there is no life after death, I would commit suicide instantly. I am not depressed. I experience a fare share of depressive moments as everybody else. I experience extremely joyous moments as well. I am loved. I have people around me to love. But its still more filled with trying, troubles, pain, monotony, expectations, grief, separation. I undergo all those negative feelings to achieve those limited periods of joyous moments. A hot cup of tea is refreshingly delicious. But the feeling doesn't last for a long. We get bored. We might not have money to buy another cup. We buy an SUV, only to find that there is a better car in the market. We are always worried about the safety of the car. The bliss of sex last for a very short time. There are so many luxuries in the world that we cannot afford. We have all the luxuries but we are  still jealous of others. By committing suicide I can avoid all those. If there is no life after death, people will be forced/in...

Religion cannot be found in the holy books or scriptures but should be cultivated in our hearts. One can keep arguing for aeons about the scriptures to find what is right and wrong. Any religion that forces people to blindly follow scriptures are in danger of going extinct. They will not survive the modernization if they bind people to those religious texts. Religious scriptures should be read, understood and respected but they should not be taken as absolute truths. It would be unrealistic to see religious scriptures as exact words of God.  What is written on scriptures can be influenced and reinterpreted by the writer. Sometimes these texts are sourced from the word of mouth and in the process original meaning could have been lost. Religious texts are subjective to the times as well. What may have been right in the past might be wrong and impractical today. May be that is why there are so many sects within religions and there are many contradictions as well. If an...