baker

What does Nietzsche say about nobility: Is it something that one either has or doesn't have, or is it something that can be learned, developed?

What is your canonical support for this claim?

That's the official party line, yes -- that he was a saint. But if you stick around Buddhism -- different schools of Buddhism -- long enough, you'll s...

The limits of my language are the limits of my world. If I widen my linguistic abilities, I will be able to talk about things that previously seemed i...

List three examples of people who were faced wtith a bad predicament and who were not filled with resentment.

That would be specifically a Mahayana/Vajrayana perspective, but not generally a Buddhist one.

So how about the perpetrator? What about his feelings? They don't matter? The other person -- oh, the perpetrator -- is, thinks, intends, and feels wh...

By all means, non-Christians are dangerous persons who deserve to burn in hell for all eternity!! So that they can no longer bring harm and misery to ...

Please explain how his suicide contributed to the betterment of his society. Where is the "love for others" in his killing himself? How?? By shocking ...

Most people disagree. So you're in the minority.

Some historical background for the practice of auto-cremation in Chinese Buddhism: /.../ In Chinese Buddhism, for example, self-immolation has a long ...

How is immolating oneself an example of altruism??

In dharmic religions, suicide is not seen as an end to suffering. In those religions, killing oneself in an effort to end suffering only leads to anot...

Not at all. For further discussion, you need to be more specific which religion or culture you want to talk about.

Self-realized masters are said to have first-hand knowledge, while aspirants don't. For an aspirant, Buddhist doctrinal claims are epistemically, dogm...

I suggest you look up neti neti and ex negativo. It's a way to define something by pointing out what it saliently is not.

Who is commanding you, and where, to "treat everyone equally"??

It would help if the flag/report function would allow for some explanation for why the post is being flagged, in order to make moderation easier (such...

Of course. If one has the feeling that one is talking about a topic in a blind-men-and-an-elephant manner, then one is, clearly, not talking clearly. ...

Read what I said.

Deep in martyrdom. His self-immolation was a political protest, similar to others of this kind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_self-im...

Based on how you talk down to me, and that you see fit to comment on my posts without even reading them.

In terms of early Buddhism, what you're describing in roundabout fits what is called bhava tanha and vibhava tanha: the craving for becoming (for exis...

I see you're learning the basic lesson of religion/spirituality: becoming authoritarian.

Whenever one speaks beyond one's competence, one is bullshitting.

And they are so "esoteric" to a large extent because people feel so free to share all kinds of opinions about them, even though they don't have the re...

If you think that was a long passage ... And if you're replying to a post without having read it ... Not for me. What use are the opinions of the unen...

The idea that people who have not even attained stream-entry can meaningfully discuss nirvana based on their personal experience, is patently absurd. ...

?? I prefaced the part in italics with: "From Nibbana by Thanissaro Bhikkhu:" and provided a link. Usually, this means it's a direct quotation.

In the West, we're used to thinking like that, and to think those are the alternatives. In contrast, in some other cultures, the relevant dichotomy is...

But do you know what that actually entails? Heaven help the person who jumps off that bridge, with certain death imminent, and who, in those five seco...

From Nibbana by Thanissaro Bhikkhu: We all know what happens when a fire goes out. The flames die down and the fire is gone for good. So when we first...

It's not clear that such is the case. Bad for whom? Certainly not for bacteria and fungi that will feast on the corpse, and not bad for the undertaker...

Of course. Whatever philosophy Descartes devised, it's always is reference to RCC doctrine. The moment one divorces Descartes' thoughts from the doctr...

Because it's never been about the OA argument itself. It's always about the social hierachy, power games, one-upmanship. IOW, about the argument from ...

A glimpse of divine karmic justice! :p

Why do you want to figure this out? I'm asking because sometimes, getting clarity about one's motivation to solve a problem can be more useful than so...

If your basement hasn't been flooded, why would you worry about your basement becoming flooded? IOW, a problem only has relevance to a person by its r...

No. I'm talking about actually being certain about one's sense of right and wrong. I'm talking about being certain that A is morally right, and that B...

Look at this, for example: So there are Western feminists who severely criticize some men for how they treat women, saying how those men are oppressin...

THERE is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fun...

I suppose it is so for some people, but I'm not sure it was a choice for them for as long as they can remember.

It's not just about prejudice: It's that the religious/spiritual resent to ever live up to what they preach. They resent to be called on to fulfil the...

Given the way that theists tend to treat others, this is no surprise. This is simply shifting the responsibility onto the atheists. It's the theists, ...

In one sense, it all comes down to emotions, one way or another, depending on how one defines "emotion". I already mentioned Matthew Ratcliffe earlier...

What gets to me in these discussions is that feminists (be they women or men) propose to have so much concern and compassion for women somewhere on th...

On the other hand, spirituality/religion is not a charity organization. The religious/spiritual are not here to help people; they're just "doing their...

Is it morally right to eat ice cream?

No, read on what I said: This isn't merely about competing desires. It's about being sure that one is doing the right thing, the ethical, moral thing....

I blame Start Trek for popularizing a false understanding of the term "logic".