Ask a Buddhist

[Xyan]

Sadly, the religion I am in is filled with controversies that even atheistic moralists love to pick at

Indeed. There are many people who are in the state of asura. (See post in Ultimate Heaven thread). All of us have this tendecies and ought to guard against it. They are dictated by arrogance and jumps into conclusion without throughoutly understanding.

 

[Xyan]

So, I heard about the concept of the Wheel-Turning Monarch, who rules by righteous presence rather than giving orders, and immediately thought of Terry Pratchett's remark that even if the king is sleeping, there is still monarching going on, in a sense.
I suspect that that isn't entirely appropriate, so how should I go about thinking about the concept and learning about it?

Actually, the concept of Wheel-turning king came from ancient Indian mythology. He is described as an ideal ruler who governs with justice rather than force and brings tranquillity and comfort to the people. He possesses seven treasures: a wheel, elephants, horses, jewels, jewel-like women, excellent ministers of financial affairs, and generals. He also possesses the thirty-two features as a Buddha does, as well as the four virtues of great wealth, admirable fea-tures and form, freedom from worries, and long life.

In a nut-shell, it defines the ideal leader of the secular world. In today terms, it would be an honest and upright politician with strong logistic and administrative support (metaphorically described as the seven treasures).

This leader will create a conducive environment for the common people to strive in their chores and for Buddhism to flourish.

 

[GenMarshall]

There are so many schools to chose from, I dont know which would be the right for me. There are no temples within my area and going through the scriptures is tedious for me.

 

[Xyan]

There are so many schools to chose from, I dont know which would be the right for me. There are no temples within my area and going through the scriptures is tedious for me.

Chosing a school is definitely a difficult choice when we have limited information. Every school will have slightly different things to offer.

But regardless, if you are interested, why not let me know which area you are from and I may point you to the nearest center/temple of my own school of Buddhism and you may try out to see if it suits you.

 

[cybrxkhan]

I think for many newcomers to Buddhism trying to find a school, or even those that have long been Buddhist but simply want a new school, many speak of a sort of "special" moment when they just "magically" discover the school thats right for them.

im pretty sure there are a number of books on the basics of Buddhism, also outlining the differences between the major schools. i think that would be a good place to start. in the end though, even if the schools are "different", they all fundamentally have the same goals and follow the teachings of the Buddha.