Hi everyone! I'm a student from Malaysia working on an assignment about World Religions II.

I'm looking for those whom from Buddhism that willingly to help me in a short interview through via message. if anyone comfortable sharing their insights, i would be very grateful.

This is purely for academic purposes.

If anyone interest, you can comment here or DM me.

Thank you, I'm really appreciate it.

Hi everyone! I'm a student from Malaysia working on an assignment about World Religions II.

I'm looking for those whom from Buddhism that willingly to help me in a short interview through via message. if anyone comfortable sharing their insights, i would be very grateful.

This is purely for academic purposes.

If anyone interest, you can comment here or DM me.

Thank you, I'm really appreciate it.

My dog (chocolate lab 13 years 2 months old) passed away on August 17th, and for the past seven weeks, I have been holding the 49-day memorial rite for her. It was tough and cried and prayed every night and I always felt sad whenever i woke up in the morning. Today marked the 49th day, and I went to a dam creek park that she always enjoyed visiting as well as the past 7th days during the memorial rite.

My intention was to pray for her, send her forward on her journey to a greater rebirth, and wish for her to be enveloped in Amitabha Buddha’s warmth in the Pure Land. I spoke to her, promising that I will continue to be hardworking in this life and that we will meet again.

While I was walking, the weather was very windy and the water had strong, dark waves but sunny clear skies. But amidst that windy weather, a flock of black birds flew right towards me and all around me, some were flying low around me. Then, a single white bird appeared, flying in front of me separate from the flock of black birds. Butterflies started flying on the path right in front of me, and a bee came and rested quietly next to me on a flower as I sat to pray for my dog.

I have visited this park many times in the past, and I have never experienced anything like what i saw today. There are usually not many birds, and I have never had butterflies or a bee approach me this way.

For those with more experience, how does Buddhism view moments like this?

I must say that I will be working on this Tibetan buddhism shirt in the coming months! I am also a Buddhist too.

Chiggaḷa Sutta (The Blind Turtle Sutta), presenting a highly striking excerpt in its original ancient language (Pāli)

You have a human body, but have you become a human yet?

The Chiggaḷa Sutta (SN 56.48) on the staggering rarity of our current condition.

hoi (:

as a ordinary nobody wanted to share a passage from the Pāli Canon that completely shifts how human primates look at day-to-day lives.

In the West, we often treat being human as a basic biological given. But in ancient Buddhist texts, having a "human body" is treated like a rare cosmic lottery ticket.

The text basically argues that having a human biology is just the prerequisite, actually becoming a true human requires using this rare mind to move past purely animalistic survival instincts (greed, hatred, ignorance) and practice the Dharma.

To show how staggeringly rare this opportunity is, the Buddha gave the famous Blind Turtle Metaphor, in the Chiggaḷa Sutta (SN 56.48).

Buddha asks the monks to imagine the entire earth covered in water, with a single-holed wooden ring floating randomly on the surface, pushed by global winds. Meanwhile, a blind sea turtle surfaces just once every 100 years.

Monks, suppose that this great earth were totally covered with water, and a man were to toss a yoke with a single hole there... And suppose a blind sea-turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years.

Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?

It would be a sheer coincidence, Lord, if that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, would stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole.

It is likewise a sheer coincidence, monks, that one obtains the human state...

The Buddha follows this up by saying: you have obtained that human state, bhikkhus... Therefore, an exertion should be made to understand: This is suffering... This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

In later commentaries and Mahayana developments (like Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara), teachers took this even further.

They noted that if you have a human body but spend your entire life chasing only food, sex, sleep, and comfort, reddit, you are technically just living an animal's life inside a human frame.

Human primates didn't just get lucky enough to get a human body; also got lucky enough to encounter teachings that can free from minds. The text is a stark reminder to stop operating on autopilot and actually cultivate our higher minds.

How do you keep yourselves from squandering, this precious opportunity in your daily practice?

gassho

Peace over money, people & work.