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Comment by skadamou | Hacker News Reader

Thank you for suggesting this book. I'm not 100% sure what to make of it but it's all available for free online and the introduction is really intriguing. If nothing else, I now know something exists that I didn't before.

https://www.mctb.org/

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Wow. The author of this book calls himself an arhat. That is, shall I say, presumptuous? Not what I think I would look for in a Buddhist teacher (though, full disclosure, I practice Buddhism with a school I am very happy with so already have some opinions on the subject).

His whole schtick is "plain talk about enlightenment". I agree that it "sounds" egotistical, but if someone really had attained arhatship, and thought that the best way to promote spiritual training was to talk about it in a plain way, I don't think he's being unreasonable. And his lineage confirms his attainment.

Can't tell what his lineage is from what I have read.

The temple that I belong to was founded in Japan. The honorifics we use to describe our High Priest and other priests are never used by then to describe themselves. That posture is consistent in Japanese society in general, not just the sect of Buddhism I belong to. So this does seem very strange to me.

America is very different from Japan, and Americans respond to different social signals when choosing who to follow. This obviously a terrible idea for society in general, but you gotta promote to the market you're in :/

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