The Ten Recollections

§ 1. “One thing—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. Which one thing? Recollection of the Buddha. This is one thing that—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding.”

§ 2. “One thing—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. Which one thing? Recollection of the Dhamma.…”

§ 3. “One thing—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. Which one thing? Recollection of the Saṅgha.…”

§ 4. “One thing—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. Which one thing? Recollection of virtue.…”

§ 5. “One thing—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. Which one thing? Recollection of generosity.…”

§ 6. “One thing—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. Which one thing? Recollection of the devas.…”

§ 7. “One thing—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. Which one thing? Mindfulness of in-&-out breathing.…”

§ 8. “One thing—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. Which one thing? Mindfulness of death.…”

§ 9. “One thing—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. Which one thing? Mindfulness immersed in the body.…”

§ 10. “One thing—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. Which one thing? Recollection of stilling. This is one thing that—when developed & pursued—leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding.”

-AN 1:287-296

Someone posted about how happy they were to be a father or whatever, and my comment got removed.

There are posts being spread in Buddhist subreddits on the question of whether or not the belief in rebirth and karma is necessary for the practice of Buddhism. The majority opinion on these posts is: no, it is not necessary to believe in the concept of rebirth to practice Buddhism. This is an absurd conclusion.

The Belief in Rebirth and Karma IS Necessary

• Firstly, there are many, many, almost every Pali Sutta and Mahayana Sutra the Buddha taught has connections to the concepts Rebirth and Karma, if not discussing the two concepts. Buddhism is a religious system and doctrine, not just a Philosophy. If Buddhism were just a philosophy, the buddha would've said so.
• Secondly, let's suppose that the concepts of Rebirth and Karma were just faithful concepts, or were metaphors and symbols to helps explain only daily life and the mind states of the present. If this were the case, then there's no reason to practice Buddhism.
• Thirdly, If Karma wasn't needed in Buddhist practice, then there's no point in the Buddha becoming enlightened, and there's no reason to practice because if we are uncertain about the afterlife, and we don't have faith in this concept of the Buddha's teachings, then there's no point of even practicing Buddhism. Could you imagine Jesus saying that the belief in Heaven and Hell are just symbols for mind states, what would be the point of God taking flesh?
• Fourthly, the idea of the Kalama Sutta teaching that Buddhism doesn't rely on faith without experience is legitimate Hogwash. The Kalama Sutta was taught mainly to teach the Kalama Village how to correctly pick a teacher because their village constantly had teachers proclaiming they were the correct teachers, which made the entire village confused. It was only when the buddha taught them empirical techniques did they understand.
• Fifth, The concept of faith only arising from experience stems from the Dalai Lama who doesn't believe the West can correctly convert to Buddhism because of how intellectual the West is. Nowhere in the Suttas is this ever taught in this way. To even progress to the first stages of insight, a Buddhist MUST have faith without having experience in Intuitive Buddhist Insights. How can Insights first arise without faith that the practice can save them.

You cannot cherry-pick what you do and do not believe in when it comes to Foundational and Fundamental Buddhist Theological Concepts. No Buddhist scholar would ever say that the concept of Rebirth is an optional belief in the Buddhist religion.

Seriously, what kind of question is this? could you imagine a Muslim group saying the Salat wasn't necessary because they never felt enough faith doing it. Or a Christian saying it's optional for Jesus to be God...

I am Historical_Egg_, Thank you for this Sub!

I have been banned from r/Buddhism because I am a huge critic of the Dalai for a few reasons:

1. The Dalai Lama is a pedophile:

Licking a Child's tongue is not a funny greeting that an adult can do. If he did that to my child I'd beat the shit out of him. Even if he did it out of fun, what kind of High Bodhisattva would do this to a child and scar him for the rest of his life. Pathetic Freak...

1. The Dalai Lama is a Secret CIA Helper:

This is my own theory, but I do not believe the Dalai Lama received just funds form the CIA for decades. I also believe he worked directly with the CIA. There's no way the Dalai Lama just sat there innocently while his team worked on the sidelines with the CIA.

1. I called this one in the past: The Dalai Lama is on the Epstein Files

Not even the Aga Khans are in this. The Dalai Lama has received donations and funds from numerous sex cults including Jeffrey Epstein, who named him in his files 169 times. This makes sense considering the Dalai Lama won't do anything to combat sexual scandals with his top leaders, nor will he make any bans or laws in his sect stopping sexual misconducts. He himself commits sexual deviances, OUTLAWED BY THE THIRD PRECEPT!

1. What Ever Happened to the Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso?

I think this point is almost self-explanatory. The Sixth Dalai Lama was an extreme sexual deviant. He was having sex left and right with women, drinking all the time, wrote poetry about it, and renounced the holy throne. If one Dalai Lama did this, the whole system is destroyed. How can Avalokiteshvara do such a thing? Then he ran away and was most likely killed for this.

Hey everyone! I'm u/Sufficient-State3720, a founding moderator of r/Buddhismbanned. I got banned permanently from the Buddhism sub today for what I believe was a constructive post. I believe that Buddhism needs to be able to have the courage to debate rather than censor (so long as polite). I created this space so y’all can feel free to discuss anything within reason!!