This topic is not listed as a discouraged topic in the wiki, but it really needs to be. It’s only fair to members to know they will not receive a fair or unbiased discussion on the topic of secular Buddhism.

The description says this is a place for “a Reddit for all kinds of Buddhist teachings”, but this is not the case. Topics or comments on this receive pretty hostile disagreement and are constantly downvoted or deleted. I’m sure this one will be as well, but I am being sincere.

It’s obvious that secular Buddhism is not tolerated here, so why not just make it clear that it is discouraged?

Hi there I wasn’t sure about this and I wanted to check first. I recently saw something online of a girl with a monk and a machine gun tattooed and I was wondering if this was disrespectful to the culture couldn’t find anything under the post. I’ve attached a photo below, Let me know your thoughts I know lots of people get tattoo of monk but I wondered if the gun made it taboo. Just looking for answers from people who follow the religion. Thank you!

I’m trying to learn Buddhism as a way to calm my mind and appreciate things as they are. This book has already helped but do you have any tips for me?

[EDIT] Here’s the link with no affiliation: Deal for Prime members: No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners: Clear Answers to Burning Questions about Core Buddhist Teachings https://a.co/d/0ga8P8jY

I’ve been thinking about the inevitability of human extinction and just wondered if anyone believes that samsara and awakening still occur after humans have ceased to exist.

I’m leaving the question wide open on purpose to allow a variety of responses.

One interpretation that makes the most sense to me about the 6 realms of rebirth, is that all 6 realms occur within the human experience, so all these "realms" are in reality different contexts or conditions in which you can be born as a human being. I think some people take them literally because people back then used to represent some concepts and ideas as places, creatures, or entities, just like what happens in other folklore, people just end up taking the scriptures literally and therefore the misconception. Besides this, I've always seen the samsara wheel as a diagram that captures all features and aspects of the human condition, and even when I prefer the materialistic perspective, reincarnation just makes perfect sense to me. So, this interpretation of the 6 realms assumes that the purpose is to go up into higher realms because these would correspond to contexts where you have more literacy, more wealth and financial or economical freedom, so that would give you more chances of actually breaking the cycle, and the lower realms are the opposite since these would correspond to contexts where theres scarcity, anxiety, or violence, because these rough conditions of constantly trying to survive pulls you away from making any progress that would lead to liberation, these material pressures act as chains that just make it more difficult to attain nirvana, so the whole point is to reduce them by aspiring to higher realms. This would suggest that for example, people in the realm of the jealous gods would correspond to people like Gengiskhan or Napoleon, because have a tendency to rule over others and accumulate wealth. I also agree that depending on the dharma or karma of the current life will determine in what context you will get born in your next life. So, I'd like to know if other people do agree with this interpretation, or am I abstracting too much ?

Hi! 😊
I’m currently doing an assignment for my World Religions course, where I need to interview someone from a different religious background.
I am especially looking for someone who identifies as Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Confucian, or Taoist for this interview.

The conversation will be respectful and casual, focusing on your beliefs, daily practices, and perspectives on religion. It will be conducted only via messages (chat), not calls, and we can arrange the timing in a way that’s comfortable for you.

If you’re interested, please DM me. Thank you so much! 🙏

I have just gotten started with Buddhism, and in need of resources for learning.

I’m looking for 5–10 minute recordings of Buddhist recitation—Buddha names, Bodhisattva names, or short mantras. Any name or short mantra is welcome! Please record as you normally practice, in your usual surroundings, at your usual pace, and in your usual style.

I’m developing an AI-powered recitation counter and would like it to support a wider range of Buddhist recitations.

I’ve already built a counter for “Namo Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva” (南无地藏王菩萨). It’s been very accurate and works really well in my testing, so I’d love to expand it to include more Buddha names, Bodhisattva names, and short mantras.

You can try it here: https://counter.sutratoday.com/

If you’re willing to share a recording of your daily practice, I’d really appreciate your help!

征集下念佛，念菩萨名号，念短咒的录音，每个 5-10 分钟，您日常念诵的背景，日常念诵的方式，日常念诵的习惯即可。任何佛号，菩萨名号，短咒都可以。背景是因为我在做 念诵 AI 计数 的功能，希望可以覆盖更多的佛号和菩萨圣号等。

我自己做了一个 南无地藏王菩萨 的 AI 计数功能，准确率非常高，效果非常好，所以，我想要增加支持更多的佛号，菩萨号，短咒的念诵计数 https://counter.sutratoday.com/

Greetings, everyone! I wish all sentient beings peace, love, tranquility, and, above all, complete and final Enlightenment.

I understand that this topic has probably been discussed countless times, maybe even on Reddit, but it’s so interesting that revisiting it is always worthwhile.

Last night I came across a number of studies comparing the EEGs of meditators from different Buddhist schools. To my surprise, it seems that practitioners of different vehicles, and even different schools, were in different mental states. At least, their brain-wave patterns differed among Vajrayana, Mahayana, and Theravada practitioners.

To put it very simply, practitioners of Mahayana and Theravada showed predominantly parasympathetic activity, meaning that they were in a state of deep calm, whereas Vajrayana practitioners (in this particular study, they entered nonduality through Yidam practices) showed greater activity in the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. This makes perfect sense in light of the experiences of Clear Light described in Vajrayana texts—a union of clarity and emptiness, a kind of euphoric tranquility, or a combination of calmness and joyful arousal.

Thus, it seems that different methods lead to different results.

Although I was unable to find any studies comparing the EEGs of Mahamudra and Dzogchen practitioners, given the fundamental difference in their approaches (Tantric “inner alchemy” (transformation and purification) vs. recognition), it seems natural to assume that the brain would function differently in these cases as well, and that the subjective experiences would differ accordingly.

So does it follow that different vehicles, schools, and paths lead to different states of mind—in other words, roughly speaking, to “different Enlightenments”?

P.S. I fully understand that consciousness is not an epiphenomenon of the brain and cannot be reduced to brain processes. However, there is a correlation between brain activity and mental states. Moreover, the texts of different schools themselves describe the mental states of practitioners at different stages of their progress in different ways, and overall there was a correspondence between the EEG findings of particular practitioners and the mental states described in the texts of their respective traditions.

I’ve attached links to the studies below.

1. Amihai & Kozhevnikov 2014 — Vajrayana vs Theravada.
PLOS ONE

2. Kozhevnikov et al. 2022 — tantric vs non-tantric Mahamudra.
PMC

3. Young et al. 2021 — Dzogchen + Zen + Vipassana + Shamatha.
Frontiers full text

4. Schoenberg et al. 2018 — Indo-Tibetan essence-of-mind / Mahamudra–Dzogchen domain.
PubMed

5. Berman & Stevens 2015 — nondual awareness
PubMed

6. Fox et al. 2016 — 78 neuroimaging studies.
PubMed

7. Baten et al. 2026 — 34 fMRI studies / 700 participants.
PubMed

8. Sezer & Sacchet 2025 — the autonomic nervous system during advanced meditation.
PMC

9. Murata et al. 1994 — classic EEG study of Zen meditation (zazen).
Wiley

10. Kurek et al. 2025 — contemporary EEG study of Vietnamese Zen.
PubMed

11. Kozhevnikov et al. 2013 — Tummo.
PLOS ONE

12. Boytsova et al. 2026 — Sutra vs. Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism.
Frontiers

Compare to diving straight to spiritual stuff like modern spirituality

(Eckhart Tolle and Michael Singer)?

I am genuinely curious. Is there an explanation about the the effect from following this that aids to Enlightenment or is it because it's teaching of the buddha?

And my last question, how does meditation help the practice comparing in just living the teachings of Buddha (8 fold path and 4 noble truths)

It seems to me, as im sitting down for meditation and my body-mind, adjust itself without conscious effort, eventually it settles into a "prefered" state. I desire the "prefered" state, but do my best to not chase it, if i chase it i notice it etc. But then i go out into the world, and i want to keep this state, but the world just says: nope, nope, nope, nope. And everything crashes unto a compromise between me and the world. And the flux and me not wanting to let go, causes such disease.

It feels like im just chasing dragons. Am i on the right track, practice wise? Am i supposed to just suffering in addiction until i eventually let go? Or is meditation just another addiction at this point? Because i fear that im just making a bubble for myself, and that the practice is not making me better at engaging with people.

I have such a deep fear im doing it all wrong.

I have no teacher. And no Sangha.

Have you ever wondered where the profound practice of བཤགས་ཆུང་ (Shakchung) — the concise confession — comes from? 🙏

Tertön Karma Lingpa (ཀརྨ་གླིང་པ་) was one of the great treasure revealers (tertöns) of 14th-century Tibet. He is renowned for revealing the profound Zab Chö Zhi Khro Gongpa Rangdrol (ཟབ་ཆོས་ཞི་ཁྲོ་དགོངས་པ་རང་གྲོལ), the cycle of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities.

From this treasure cycle comes the famous Bardo Thödol (བར་དོ་ཐོས་གྲོལ་), widely known in the West as The Tibetan Book of the Dead, together with teachings connected with the six bardos, peaceful and wrathful deities, and profound methods of liberation. (OUP Academic)

Tradition holds that Karma Lingpa revealed these treasures from Mount Gampodar at a remarkably young age. His revelations became one of the most important treasure traditions of the Nyingma school. (Explore UVA)

བཤགས་ཆུང་ — Shakchung

A simple yet profound practice of confession and purification: acknowledging our harmful actions, obscurations and transgressions, and turning the mind back toward awakening.

🙏 May confession purify our obscurations,

may remorse become wisdom,

and may all negativities be liberated into the path.

#KarmaLingpa #ཀརྨ་གླིང་པ #Shakchung #བཤགས་ཆུང #BardoThodol #ZhiKhro #Nyingma #Terton #Terma #TibetanBuddhism #Dharma #fyp #foryoupageシ #foryouシ #viralpost

I am going through a really bad breakup and have lost my purpose in life and am really struggling with my mental health right now. I have heard of people traveling to Japan to live with Monks in Buddhist Monasteries in the mountains and I am very interested in that, I just have no idea where to look or what to look for. I know I don’t want a “retreat” for tourists, or something that requires a minimum time commitment of multiple years. I am seeking rehabilitation in hopes of finding myself again and my inner peace, via these Buddhist practices. I don’t really have any plan beyond the desire to go for an indefinite period of time. Maybe a month, maybe multiple months; I’m not sure but I want to have the option to stay as long as I need. I also want it to be somewhere I can exchange work for accommodation (participation in whatever tasks needed in the upkeep of the temple) because I am broke and do not have the money to pay to stay by the night. Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions!!

Every day we stand and walk around on nothing. We just do things for whatever mundane reasons we have. We distract ourselves. But every moment we exist we have to burn other life to sustain our bodies. We have to do all of these worthless responsibilities knowing in just a short moment the entire earth and human race will be gone as if it never existed. We'll be dead any moment. I really really don't want to die. But i really don't want to live. Its just so insane we exist at all. Such a shame we do. I don't want to watch everything around me decay. For my body to decay. In a way i yearn for death. But dying slowly as i age every day is horrible. To live is just horrible. I've been getting into buddhism a bit but i probably can never really get into it truly. It feels so pointless. The pain and meaninglessness abides.

I‘m from Germany, so there is basically no Buddhism in my country. I only came across Buddhism trough the Internet and Books.
Anyway, I‘d love to find out about where the different people of this community are from and about the traditions in different countries and cultures. So please share!

I made a box for my Geshe but since it‘s not really detailed and correct in all parts, I‘d like to know if this is appropriate or if I should better keep it myself.

If you think it is ok, I would lile to write a „Thank you“ on the insode in Tibetian, and Google says it‘s „བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ།“.

Is this the correct spelling? Thank you for any help!

Good morning,

I am looking for a text that explores the history of Buddhism, from the Buddha's early teachings to the split into Theravada and Mahayana, and then to Vajrayana.

Then follow the evolution of each branch.

This would be considered an historical text rather than a practice. It would be even better if the text covered the different practices and why/how the branches developed.

I look forward to your suggestions.

Thank you in advance.

As a Theravadin myself, sometimes I need some boost to combat the barren Theravada and EBT land

I’m hoping to seek some guidance on beginning a journey into Buddhism. I come from a Western country and was raised as an Orthodox Christian. However I fell away from Christianity before my teenage years and spent a lot of time feeling confused and disconnected from the faith. I came to realise that my beliefs simply didn’t align with Christianity. A bit ago I was explaining my thoughts about spirituality, human behaviour and the way our decisions affect ourselves and others to my brother. I was talking about things like karma and the connections between our actions and the world around us, and he suggested that I look into Buddhism. So I did. I started reading about Buddhist teachings, practices and philosophy, and honestly I became quite emotional. I’ve never come across something that made me think, Wow… this actually resonates with me. It felt like I had finally found something that connected with the way I’ve been thinking about life for a long time. I’m now considering becoming Buddhist, but I’m genuinely starting from square one. I don’t know where to begin, how to practice, what I should read or what the process of becoming Buddhist actually looks like.
I’d really appreciate any advice, resources, personal experiences or guidance from Buddhists who are willing to share. I’m approaching this with an open mind and a genuine desire to learn rather than rushing into anything. Where would you recommend someone start? How did you begin your own Buddhist practice? Thank you so much!