A good fortune teller or should I say a practitioner with fortune telling ability should also tell you how to change your destiny after you develop confidence with him.Originally posted by pureland_zen:Anyone believe in fortune telling ? i have been to a few fortune teller and all the bad things they told me actually happens but the good things they said abt my fortune seldom happens ! Although i have been learning buddhism since young and been trying hard to change my destiny , things just dun get right in my life , in the end i turn to fortune telling , medium etc....! im feeling veri stress out and seem to lose faith in buddhism and all the religion . can somebody guide me ? tks

Good points. Thanks for sharing.Originally posted by longchen:If you think religion can save you from bad things happening, then you will be sorely disappointed. This is a fact of life.
Enlightenment can reduce your suffering, but it can never take away the pain of samsaric existence. Many people who seek enlightenment think that they will be free from pain. As long as existence is still in physicality, there is no escape from the trials and tribulation of life.
But, you may be able to gain a better understanding of life through the spiritual path. However, if you are looking for something or someone to shield and save you, Buddhism is not for you.
I do know abit about fortune telling. But i think one should not be too concerned with what the fortune teller told you. It is not that it is not accurate, but because there are some conditions for learning in those situations. Please also remember that there is more than one lifetime, the learnings may benefit future existences if insights are gain from the experiences.
Many of the things that happened in life are karmic. In another word, something happened in the 'past' left imprints. This causes us to experience or re-experience something. We must learn to not react to a situation with what we have been doing many many times in many many lifetimess. We must learn to dissolve the 'karmic' imprints.
regards and all the best.
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an08/an08.006.than.html
[b]Lokavipatti Sutta
The Failings of the World
"Monks, these eight worldly conditions spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions. Which eight? Gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. These are the eight worldly conditions that spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions.
"For an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person there arise gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. For a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones there also arise gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. So what difference, what distinction, what distinguishing factor is there between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person?"
"For us, lord, the teachings have the Blessed One as their root, their guide, & their arbitrator. It would be good if the Blessed One himself would explicate the meaning of this statement. Having heard it from the Blessed One, the monks will remember it."
"In that case, monks, listen & pay close attention. I will speak."
"As you say, lord," the monks responded.
The Blessed One said, "Gain arises for an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person. He does not reflect, 'Gain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' He does not discern it as it actually is.
"Loss arises... Status arises... Disgrace arises... Censure arises... Praise arises... Pleasure arises...
"Pain arises. He does not reflect, 'Pain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' He does not discern it as it actually is.
"His mind remains consumed with the gain. His mind remains consumed with the loss... with the status... the disgrace... the censure... the praise... the pleasure. His mind remains consumed with the pain.
"He welcomes the arisen gain and rebels against the arisen loss. He welcomes the arisen status and rebels against the arisen disgrace. He welcomes the arisen praise and rebels against the arisen censure. He welcomes the arisen pleasure and rebels against the arisen pain. As he is thus engaged in welcoming & rebelling, he is not released from birth, aging, or death; from sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, or despairs. He is not released, I tell you, from suffering & stress.
"Now, gain arises for a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones. He reflects, 'Gain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' He discerns it as it actually is.
"Loss arises... Status arises... Disgrace arises... Censure arises... Praise arises... Pleasure arises...
"Pain arises. He reflects, 'Pain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' He discerns it as it actually is.
"His mind does not remain consumed with the gain. His mind does not remain consumed with the loss... with the status... the disgrace... the censure... the praise... the pleasure. His mind does not remain consumed with the pain.
"He does not welcome the arisen gain, or rebel against the arisen loss. He does not welcome the arisen status, or rebel against the arisen disgrace. He does not welcome the arisen praise, or rebel against the arisen censure. He does not welcome the arisen pleasure, or rebel against the arisen pain. As he thus abandons welcoming & rebelling, he is released from birth, aging, & death; from sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs. He is released, I tell you, from suffering & stress.
"This is the difference, this the distinction, this the distinguishing factor between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person."
Gain/loss,
status/disgrace,
censure/praise,
pleasure/pain:
these conditions among human beings
are inconstant,
impermanent,
subject to change.
Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don't charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.
His welcoming
& rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
Knowing the dustless, sorrowless state,
he discerns rightly,
has gone, beyond becoming,
to the Further Shore.[/b][/quote]
----------------
[quote]Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
Questioner: What is the best way to freedom?
Vishrant: Like the wind gently blowing through the trees , life gently carries on , the wind does not worry about where its been or where its going , it just keeps going , following the path of least resistance , what it can't go through , it goes around , no problem , just what is , life is just happening , let go , go with the flow , follow the path of least resistance . When there is no resistance life is beautiful . Accept everything.
Thanks for the sharingOriginally posted by An Eternal Now:And here is a teaching by the Buddha on the eight worldly winds:
.....
True. As Ven Master Baiyun's favourite line:Originally posted by longchen:Even the Buddha cannot escapes from karma.
Those who seek religion to escape from pain will be disappointed.
Fortune telling in buddhism?? Which temple???Originally posted by pureland_zen:Anyone believe in fortune telling ? i have been to a few fortune teller and all the bad things they told me actually happens but the good things they said abt my fortune seldom happens ! Although i have been learning buddhism since young and been trying hard to change my destiny , things just dun get right in my life , in the end i turn to fortune telling , medium etc....! im feeling veri stress out and seem to lose faith in buddhism and all the religion . can somebody guide me ? tks
Originally posted by nehpyh:He didn't say Buddhism lah...
Fortune telling in buddhism?? Which temple???
You sure???? Or is that Taoism?
You are too ignorant to understand religion. Just be good to others and yourself can liao la....Nobody is too ignorant to understand Buddhism.
Being good, avoiding evil, is not enough.Originally posted by nehpyh:You are too ignorant to understand religion. Just be good to others and yourself can liao la....
So the elder brother and his stupid little brother went to the Buddha, for the Buddha was extremely wise, kind, and compassionate. He scanned the past lives of this young, stupid boy, Chunda. He saw in there one tiny root of merit that could help him get enlightened. He said it didn't matter how dull-minded he was. It didn't matter that he couldn't memorize anything. It didn't matter if he could remember even one rule. The Buddha said to Ananda, "Ananda, you're not the Buddha, so you couldn't see that this kid can get enlightened. But I'm the Buddha and I'm going to ordain him because he can get enlightened. He has one good root of merit from a past life. He can do it, too. Watch over this little child.I wonder if I should mention this... some time ago I had some minor meditative experience. Thusness asked me do you know why you had such experience... I don't know. He told me it was due to the ripening of my merit of helping a particular person gain right understanding of dharma.. I will leave out the details here.
Care to elaborate what you meant by the above statement?Originally posted by longchen:But, you may be able to gain a better understanding of life through the spiritual path. However, if you are looking for something or someone to shield and save you, Buddhism is not for you.
Hard to put years on a spiritual path in a few words.Originally posted by justdoit77:Care to elaborate what you meant by the above statement?
The three qualities of self-liberation as stated by Thusness: fearlessness, non-attachment, non dualityOriginally posted by longchen:Hard to put years on a spiritual path in a few words.
In summary:
The insights gained along the way is useful. But it may not be what a person wishes for initially.
Because along the way, one has dropped the need to be saved or escape from suffering. Usually when we first embark on a spiritual quest, we wanted to escape from the suffering of life. But as insights and maturity grows, the old fears about escaping gradually drop away.
A fully enlightened person (not talking me) has not escaped from the pain of life. Instead he or she has gain the fearlessness to face 'what is'. This fearlessness is significantly attributed to the realisation of the deathless.