text:
Bodhicitta and the path of knives?
Is cutting off the "path of knives" (i.e. avoiding rebirth into lower realms) not the ultimate?
I mean, obviously it's unlikely any Buddhist seeker would affirm that. But, given life on earth can be improved for humans, is it not very like the ultimate, to never again accrue evil karma and rebirth into hell or animal or ghost realms?
Also, do any of the schools which say some sentient beings lack a seed for buddhahood, self enlightenment, and arhatship, claim that those sentient beings can forever avoid rebirth into the evil destinies?
And in what way can they work for bodhicitta?

if anyone can remember the name for that seed, then let me know in a comment. thanks.

I think that's called "Buddha seed" (佛種), or "Bodhi seed" (菩提種). It is said that contacting serious wrong fake teachings could cause permanent damage of that seed. Although it's the first sentence Buddha exclaimed when 1st arisen from his enlightenment that historical morning after seeing the stars, that "all beings are already with the Buddha nature (seed)..."

@Mishu米殊 Is that tathāgatagarbha?

in a loose sense you may say that. Tathagatagarbha, Buddha-nature, Bodhi... talking about "that" in different perspectives maybe - but perspectives do matter, ChrisW

The aim should not to be to avoid reincarnation in 'lower' realms, but to alleviate suffering for all sentient beings. Please do keep that in mind. Focusing on reincarnation encourages selfish thinking.

hm well ofc i don't disagree but there's merit before there is bodhicitta etc

Good if asking not for them, but for yourself first! What does it require that a desire for awakening whould arise in me? Bodhicitta, unsakeable.
When wise speak how incredibly seldom a human existance is, people are for the most incapable to imagen. Why? Because they see permanent in what is impermanent, believing that all they experiance is their own. Signs, sounds, smell, taste, touch and thoughts: the world.
But it might for those be possible to imagen how seldom a live not stupid, living in a civilized country and meeting even the good teachings of the/a Buddha is, given how seldom such one appears in this world.
Just that, imagen it proper, putting on honest meassures, one is properbly cabaple, if not stupid, to understand such as the highest blessings.
If, when understanding this, seeing that one is for now not blessed in this or that point, then to seek for that, to nurish it, that would be possible cause that it might arise one time for one.
For those who, if meeting such auspicious blessings but get not aware that those are not for sure, will not last in ways of that they might come in touch with teachings telling them, that they own inherent goodness or inherent capacities, a seed, or a nature, a tendency, yet having not entered the stream, are total insecure, open to all evil and pain for long long time: What do you think, are they blessed? Who ever could help them, if they whould not give the causes and conditions by themselves?
Why it is important to value our Conditions?
So each of you would do good to reflect wise and deeply if, now if so gifted, is it really smart to believe now others than the Buddha and those thinking even to know it better of what he thought behind simple words?
Is it wise to listen to those who for themselves are not able to renounce, still hold on everything, still hold on home, kind... still possessed with all fetters, living like you intrade and dependency, or whould you, reflecting on the kalama sutta, not be wiser to tend to those who have left normal ways of life, if seeking advice?
All my person is able to give here, are some small doors for freedom of "Buddha nature".
If you are capable to get (take) the message, is totally up to your conditions of wish association is the most importand, the only real importand outwardly condition, so here you are: alone as before, but maybe now with a small light for refuge.
Study just this tiny but very deep, very deep short sutta, here rendered and commented by a nearly 90 years old dutch living Bodhisatta, Upasika Nina Van Gorkum: The Greatest Blessings
The Maha Mangala Sutta contains all for your good journey, where ever you desire to arrive.
If you after having read and possibly listen, do not experiance tears running from your face, then remember those gifted who experianced it.
May you, may all beings, be blessed with the highest gift!
It's really time and urgend to leave the path of knives and imagen how long one used so many others and pain, to condinue it for selfish sakes, "cheated", "insane".
[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]


text:
What is the Pali word for mundane knowledge ?
What is the Pali word for mundane knowledge

see also pali word (chat)

Lokīya ñāṇa, as opposed to lokuttara ñāṇa (supramundane knowledge)

You should give use more reference, because there are many difference definition from each teacher.
However, I guess your question refer to objects, knowledge, of mundane right view in mahācattārīsakasutta:

“And what, bhikkhus, is right view? Right view, I say, is twofold: there is right view that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions; and there is right view that is noble, taintless, supramundane, a factor of the path.
“And what, bhikkhus, is right view that is affected by the taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions? ‘There is what is given and what is offered and what is sacrificed; there is fruit and result of good and bad actions; there is this life and the next life; there is mother and father; there are beings who are reborn spontaneously; there are in the world good and virtuous recluses and brahmins who have realised for themselves by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world.’ This is right view affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions.

How to translate this sutta-pāli by only pāli context without commentary and without own opinion:

sāsavā puññabhāgiyā upadhivepakkā

[saṅkhāra, kamma-bhava] right view that kilesa-vaṭṭa-paṭiccasamuppāda depending on [kāma-āsava (kāma-upādāna), diṭṭhi-āsava (diṭṭhi-upādāna, sīlabata-upādāna), bhava-āsava (attavāda-upādāna), avijjā-āsava],
right view that is kammavaṭṭa-paṭiccasamuppāda,
right view that give vipākavaṭṭa-paṭiccasamuppāda.

atthi dinnaṃ [sukatadukkaṭānaṃ kammānaṃ phalaṃ vipāko],

There is given-gift-action['s fruit and result of good and bad given-gift-actions].

atthi yiṭṭhaṃ [sukatadukkaṭānaṃ kammānaṃ phalaṃ vipāko] ,

There is worshiped-action['s fruit and result of good and bad worshiped-actions].

atthi hutaṃ [sukatadukkaṭānaṃ kammānaṃ phalaṃ vipāko],

There is given-oblation-action['s fruit and result of good and bad given-oblation-actions].

atthi sukatadukkaṭānaṃ kammānaṃ phalaṃ vipāko,

There is fruit and result of good and bad actions.

atthi ayaṃ loko [sukatadukkaṭaṃ kammaṃ],

There is this-aggregate (=cause) [loka sutta].

atthi paro loko [phalaṃ vipāko],

There is another-aggregate (=effect).

atthi mātā [imā lokā sukatadukkaṭā kammāikā],

There are benefactor mother (=cause).

atthi pitā [imā lokā sukatadukkaṭā kammāikā],

There are benefactor father (=cause).

atthi [imā lokā sukatadukkaṭā] sattā opapātikā,

There are benefactor deva (such as died mother, died father).

atthi loke samaṇabrāhmaṇā sammaggatā sammāpaṭipannā ye imañca lokaṃ
 parañca lokaṃ sayaṃ abhiññā sacchikatvā pavedenti.

There are teachers who have done right path then have clearly viewed this-aggregate (=cause) and another-aggregate (=effect) by themselves.

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Were all Buddha's born in India?
As per below List their was 28 buddhas with Gotama Buddha. so my question is did all the Budda's born on India (Jambuddeepa) in different times?
The names of the 28 Buddhas
Taṇhaṃkara
Medhaṃkara
Saraṇaṃkara
Dipankara
Koṇḍañña
Maṃgala
Sumana
Revata
Sobhita
Anomadassi
Paduma
Nārada
Padumuttara
Sumedha
Sujāta
Piyadassi
Atthadassi
Dhammadassi
Siddhattha
Tissa
Phussa
Vipassi
Sikhi
Vessabhū
Kakusandha
Koṇāgamana
Kassapa Buddha
Gotama Buddha

Accprding to the records, within a kappa (world period), sometimes only one Buddha appears. It's hard to imagen that such as "India" is either linguistig nor geological, in it's location, even within a imagenable period very constant and "existing" in a sphere of common perception. It can be not valid said that such as India could be regarded as a certain place, and it's for sure not possible to imagen reasonable that such as India would appear for other Buddhas. Now think how the planet rushes even now through the worlds and minds of beings. Such as "India" was even at the time of our Buddha not "existentk in the sense it might be today common defined.
But let that question be a matter of stories, historical grasping and philosophy. How ever one feels common with, one might regard it who ever it might not cause one stress. To remind that form as well as perception are subject to change, would the wise remind not to grasp it otherwise, so that it will not unavoidable hurt.
[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

Well, all these Buddhas have Indian names.  In other places they have their places of birth, in India.  This can't be.  The time frame is too large.  They could not all be born in India.  They would have been preaching to dinosaurs.  The amount of time and place don't fit.  It makes no sense.

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Only thoughts were experienced during practice
Now no sounds were experienced during meditation only thinking was there.what shall be done here?

If thoughts are experienced, find out who's the experiencer of your thoughts. Be a spectator or witness to your thoughts. Be relaxed, don't treat your thoughts just leave without dabbling with them. Be a mute witness.

from Kaṇṭaka sutta

.........First higher state of the mind, sounds are a thorn. To one in the second higher state of the mind, thoughts and discursive thoughts are a thorn...

congrats and anumodana on you accomplishment.  Seems to me you are well into first Jhanna.  What is next? If i have accomplished what you have done, would try to let go/not involve with thoughts since it is thorn to second jhanna.
Kantaka Sutta

I would say for most, myself included, that it can often be difficult to get to and sometimes maintain the state you describe. I too experience this on a regular basis. Most of my meditations that is to say. Wasn’t always this way. In my opinion, it is progress and not to be concerned about. It’s all just part of the process.
All the best.

If mind is attached, concentrated on a certain object well, the other animals lose. One does not hear sounds most and many times, yet far away from right concentration.

Just as if a person, catching six animals of different ranges, of different habitats, were to bind them with a strong rope. Catching a snake, he would bind it with a strong rope. Catching a crocodile... a bird... a dog... a hyena... a monkey, he would bind it with a strong rope. Binding them all with a strong rope, and tying a knot in the middle, he would set chase to them.
"Then those six animals, of different ranges, of different habitats, would each pull toward its own range & habitat. The snake would pull, thinking, 'I'll go into the anthill.' The crocodile would pull, thinking, 'I'll go into the water.' The bird would pull, thinking, 'I'll fly up into the air.' The dog would pull, thinking, 'I'll go into the village.' The hyena would pull, thinking, 'I'll go into the charnel ground.' The monkey would pull, thinking, 'I'll go into the forest.' And when these six animals became internally exhausted, they would submit, they would surrender, they would come under the sway of whichever among them was the strongest. In the same way, when a monk whose mindfulness immersed in the body is undeveloped & unpursued, the eye pulls toward pleasing forms, while unpleasing forms are repellent. The ear pulls toward pleasing sounds... The nose pulls toward pleasing aromas... The tongue pulls toward pleasing flavors... The body pulls toward pleasing tactile sensations... The intellect pulls toward pleasing ideas, while unpleasing ideas are repellent. This, monks, is lack of restraint.
"And what is restraint?...The Six Animals

"Just" be mind"full"! Observe the animals within the frames of references.
[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

What should be done is to continue with the meditation work diligently and work on understanding the instubstantiality of questioning experiences during meditation, which are based on judging and  comparing and finds its roots in doubt.
All meditation effords will be fruitious when done with the right efford and intention and will naturally evolve in subtler states. Sole volition as the driving force and understanding of creation of karma  will be enough to progress.
Be well.


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How does a monk cope with all the bad things happening in the world if the only thing monks do is sitting and meditating?
Don't monks have any urge to be an activist against for example all the violence against animals and human rights where they can help other people for their needs. How do they deal with those feelings of injustice, how can they justify themselves not to declare or demonstrate or be active in other way to stop these cruel things if they have a heart for the world. How can they just sit and meditate in a monestary?

This question is more broad than monks and monasteries.  Just because they focus solely on meditation does not mean that everyone else is involved in addressing injustices... so, let me just slightly change your question to "how can one sit and meditate while..."
Where does all the suffering in the world come from?
Anyone who inflicted any suffering on a human being or an animal - wasn't it something in their minds that caused them to do that? Isn't the addressing of those causes in the minds critical to the lessening of suffering?
From the perspective of the one suffering - one can see quite quickly that the mind plays a huge role in interpreting events that happen. The sole difference between a painful event and something that happened and got taken in the stride, is the mind.
These two aspects taken together, argue strongly for mind training as the single biggest tool to counter suffering.
But...one may ask "How is working on my own mind helping anything? A is causing suffering to B. If anything, it's their minds that should be trained, not mine. My job is to fight A and save B".
Anyone who sits in meditation knows pretty soon that one has little control over one's own mind, let alone on anyone else's.  At least, with one's own, there is some chance of influencing it. And why does that matter? Because we ourselves become A or B in situation after situation, many times a day (if we are mindful enough to notice that). Hard as it is to admit that I am an inflictor, it is easy enough to see that on the other hand, every inflictor is an "I".  It is a fallacy to think that some people are of a different type (evil) and the rest of us are not. It is just the same type of mind, having been conditioned by different circumstances, which acts out differently.  It is rare that one does harm for the sake of it. It is far more common that one just seeks what one desires and acts in a way that doesn't care about what happens to anyone else because of that.  That includes some of the most heinous crimes in history like slavery and various kinds of exploitation happening up until today.
Are we aware of how, in the pursuit of convenience, fun and pleasure we ourselves cause harm without meaning to? Plantation owners in the American South and farmers under apartheid were just "trying to work the land..." right? The brutalities committed in Africa and elsewhere were just to "help industries back home in Europe by finding them resources", right? Or perhaps it was even the noble cause of "scientific and technological advancement of society back home".  Until recently, we thought we were just driving to and from everywhere, having fun and convenience, enjoying the freedom of the road, not hurting anyone at all until having to face the catastrophic effect on the climate. Think my choices of buying and consuming something has no effect on human and animal suffering? I need to think again! So the mind, even of "us innocents who aren't hurting anyone" could use a lot of examination and cultivation.
This is not to say that one should not do anything externally to help anything. By all means. But while doing so, no need to come to it from a place of anger and agitation towards anyone. We can work towards goals but not neglect what is happening with the mind.
Also not to say that protest and activism don’t have their place, but it is a huge mistake to think that focusing on the mind is not one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. If you don't believe that, try this experiment - every time we ask "how can I deal with this person at work/school who is being a _____?" Also ask yourself "how can I make sure I'm not myself being like that person?", see what in the mind is causing such behavior from oneself.  And see the magical effect this has on the environment around you after a period of time.  Quite a different thing from taking refuge in identity ("they" are bad ones) instead of seeing what one can do on one's own end.
There is also something odd about asking this about monks and meditation alone - as if it is the sole alternative to human rights work or even remotely a factor in the causing of suffering? One can ask the same about a whole lot of other things - "how can someone watch TV while so many people are suffering?". Or going to the movies, or a bar or studying mathematics or philosophy, doing photography, sleeping in on a weekend, going on a trip with friends, playing with your children.. do people do all this because they "don't have a heart"?
As for monks...every field benefits from people who do it full time. Monks are those "pros" in the context of cultivating the mind. So if you can grok the value of mind work, such a question would not arise about monks.
Finally, I might add, it was precisely with the goal of reducing human suffering that the Buddha chose to go forth and search, and then to teach the path he found to others - not in disregard of it.

There are many examples of monastics actively involved in society issues, the  Dalai Lama and Thích Nhất Hạnh likely being the most notorious figures worldwide. There are also monastic institutions that are explicitly geared towards being part of society and engage with it's problems, Fo Guang Shan being one.
Then, there are the many other monks who sometimes voice or actively participate in efforts to solve social problems. One example of the latter is a group of monastics including Bhikkhu Bodhi who gathered in Washington, USA and discussed climate change.
Other times, monastics participate in protests. And sometimes it's not pretty and quite polemic.
Then there are the monks who even took their own lives through self-immolation, sometimes for causes such as the one you mention.
So, this is a gist of state of affairs, which is one thing. Another issue is what the Buddha intended for the monastic community he created. In what is considered to be the earliest buddhists texts, we find the Buddha praising monastics who are secluded from worldly matters. In this case, monastics are training to attain Nirvana. And this goal, for a large part, does require "just sit and meditate" protected and away from distractions of the world.
However, there's no unanimous or simple position for whether buddhist monastics ideally should or not be involved, and to what extent, in such issues. It may depends of the tradition and particular sect values or teacher values -- his/her active engagement with the community, etc.
For one example of how buddhism  might promote this, in Mahayana, the bodhisattva path is often associated with being part of the world, as opportunity for making meritous acts and helping beings.
I believe ultimately, though, it depends on the personal inclination of the monk or nun. And many are inclined and do actively work on such issues, even if not as famous as the monks mentioned above.

It would be great, it would be a gift, it would be for the heal and luck of many, if it would be the case that monks generally "just sit and meditate".
Actually it just one under maybe 10.000 of even monks who really has given up what all beings, from the ant to the king, are after.
If you should have the luck to meet not only the first three heavenly messager but even the forth, stick with him, you met a real hero, a "lord of compassion".
Be informed, althought you might not understand today, that when coming accross of social active monks, as for example presented by Thiago, that you have met those destructing the path to liberation, wordlings, living on the faith of the country, not doing their task, causing much harm and suffering for many, for a long time. If calling them the greatest thieves in the world, one, if right investigated and proved, is out of that destinated to heaven.
One may find additional under:
[Q&A] Vinaya Rule which prohibits on engaging in political/social activities
[Q&A] Did the Buddha teach Engaged Buddhism?
And maybe you/one likes to read a touching and importand story of the Brahman "Tiger paw", to gain some more understanding, aside of honestly investigating the effects and origin of food.
Be informed, that one who would "just sit and meditate" for the sake of becoming, for gain others then release, would be not much different to those silly engaged.

No matter what
      the praise from fools
      or the censure from those who know,
  the censure from those who know
              is better
      than if there were praise
      from fools.
  And as for the pleasure
      from sensuality
  and the pain from seclusion,
      the pain from seclusion
              is better
      than if there were pleasure
      from sensuality.
  And as for living through unrighteousness
  and dying for righteousness,
      dying for righteousness
              is better,
      than if one were to live
      through unrighteousness.
❇

No other gifts as that of being engaged in virtue, concentration and discernment, and it's share, giving of what one might own, in regard to their stand, would actually help.
If one, even if "blessed", is capable to accept a gift... beings are owner of their actions, and even such Dhamma giving can, if strong defiled, run out into harm, not to speak that it could be made in corrupt manner easily, as we know todays busines with Dhamma.
Feel free to take (upon the task to investigate honest) or throw gifts away. Your actions are just your destiny.
To understand the topic in all it's deep ressons this explaining is most useful, especially for "western" or better very wordily and short timely orientated mind: Wisdom over Justice.
[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

The truth is that the causes of suffering are vast in number. Violence against animals and human rights are causes that certainly contribute to this number. It is true that Buddhist psychology focuses upon the more personal causes of suffering. Mahayana Buddhism, for example, focuses on the fact that we often lack sufficient compassion for others. By meditating on the development of compassion, we reduce the suffering of our friends and our children. In other words, Buddhist monks “sit and meditate” in order to deal with how they cause suffering to others. Being concerned about violence against animals and human rights is primarily concerned about how other people cause suffering. Which cause of suffering we decide to address, of course, is a personal choice to be respected but also to be investigated. The practice of Zen and Theravadin practice of mindfulness meditation can help us understand our own motives. Perhaps you may want to understand better why you direct so much anger at a group of people you obviously know almost nothing about.

Since everything is mind, by purifying ones own mind and setting that right, all the interactions you have will cascade peace throughout the universe rather than confirming the stored and untransformed chaos within oneself and ones community. Monks are in other words also working on an astral level. Also by meditating, one can see more clearly where. That being said, even though many monks are not practicing correctly, some practice far worse than laymen even, at least they have taken themselves out of the consumerist chaos and are propagating the Dharma on a social level. Lastly, anyone who meditates is basically not doing evil... It is basically a social boycotting of consumerism by just sitting... Even if it is for an hour. If everyone were to do this more we would have world peace and self awareness throughout the day... If there was a global culture of nightly 2 hours meditation and silence, we humans would evolve rapidly past all karma. GDP and other indices precious to capitalism would drop though.

My personal opinion:

Have you tried, "to be an activist against for example all the violence against animals and human rights"?
Maybe I just wasn't very good at it, but my "activism" seemed to have limited (small or non-existent) benefit, especially with people who weren't already persuaded.
So I'm not sure that "being an activist" is a worthwhile, beneficial alternative.
So far as I know, most religions (and most people) approve of some violence -- of violence against animals, for example, not to mention against some people.
Buddhism is one of the few ethical doctrines, that I know of, that's "against violence". By being or becoming a monk, by acting and studying as a monk, monks help to transmit Buddhism (and Buddhist ethics), to keep Buddhism "alive" in the world.
Monks may be the more effective activists, if they ever do find occasion to act or speak.
If I tell you, "Don't kick the dog", why would you listen to me? If a monk tells you, "Don't kick the dog", perhaps you'd listen, out of respect.
Monks set a good example, practice what they preach, and (ideally) control themselves even if they can't or won't control others.
For example what should you do if you think that "consumerism" is a bad system, which encourages violence and exploitation? Perhaps an answer would be to live as a monk.

As for "how do they deal with those feelings of injustice", I think that would take a long answer -- but, in summary, I think that they practice Buddhism:

"Feelings of injustice" are presumably among the feelings identified in the four noble truths;
The feeling that you can or should do something about what others do may  be a conceit;
There are rules for monks (the Vinaya) which help ensure they lead harmless and blameless lives;
There's doctrine (e.g. about the Brahmaviharas) which teach what the ideal social interactions/attitudes are;
etc.


text:
Time and duration to meditate
I think I somewhere read that the Buddha said that when you meditate (on breath) for 30 minutes in the morning and in the evening, you will be accompanied by happiness and peace throughout the day. Is that true and if yes, can you tell me the sutra? Thank you!

There are three considerations: getting into meditation, establishing connection with (whatever it's called), and maintaining connection.
First, to get into meditation you need to be careful not to scare yourself. If you start too rough on yourself you may end up secretly hating it. So all my teachers always said, start gentle and enjoy, little by little. Maybe 15 mins at a time, once a day. Then maybe 20.
Second, to establish connection with (I still don't know what it's called, but you'll know it once you get there), you need to have a good long meditation session. Maybe 90 minutes. Something like this. This is how long it takes to actually get deep. You don't need to have every meditation session be that long, only when you really feel like it. But it is important to do it a few times, until you catch the right feeling (state? mood?)
Then, once you have it, and feel it remain with you even in postmeditation, you need to maintain it. This typically takes about 30 mins twice a day. Or 45-60 mins once in the morning. Something like this.
These are my numbers. Everyone is different, so I'm sure a bunch of people here will have different opinions. But here it is anyway.

Better to think "what can I give", e.g. on good causes, than "what can I gain", e.g. optimice consuming (off). So the starter is: Better to Give than to Consume. In that way the effects are coming by it's own.
Duration, the ability to gain Jhana, depends on the sacrifies. The more and proper, incl. once past kamma, the longer, the more possible.
Generally one will not find an categorical answer to such a question in the suttas. "Just" lack of stinginess and freedom of remorse, as needed prerequisites for concentration are often mentioned in the suttas.
So generosity and virtue (moral & duties) are the prerequisites, the causes for gain the next step.
If "meditating" without the prerequisites, it will be neither Jhana, nor for the benefit in this, the next world and for a beyound. Just as even the riches would waste his merits continuously when just enjoying them off by dwelling in various kinds of sensuality (of which common usual meditation, consumend by many actually is) task and duties, as well causes for future and required fruits undone.
If one has done his tasks and duties, according to his/her needs/wants, relations one nurishes on, then, being free, gains the joy of remorse. This then, will lead to ease of which leads to concentration and to release.
It's good, having done ones task, having served that and those worthy of being served, to seek from time to time seclusion. Of cause the lesser needs/wants one has, the more could one tend to seclusion. (See Piti Sutta: Rapture on when seclution is proper and good for householder)

'Householder, you have provided the community of monks with robes, alms food, lodgings, & medicinal requisites for the sick, but you shouldn't rest content with the thought, "We have provided the community of monks with robes, alms food, lodgings, & medicinal requisites for the sick." So you should train yourself, "Let's periodically enter & remain in seclusion & rapture." That's how you should train yourself.'

Working on the base, giving right causes for effects, is most importand. There is of course much faith nedded to stick more with just focus on causes and trust that results will come.
Dana - Sila - Bhavana, step by step. And doing all the steps till it's limits (e.g. perfect in ones circumstances/livelyhood) to be able to take the next step. Look for a good stand where you are, right now.
This Dhamma is not for "wellness" and trade, but for the escape from suffering and the welfare of many. It's not thought for compensation but for release.
May all of you become rightouse full time Yogies (one who takes on the task, worker; e.g. practicing the whole path) soon, maybe even renounce the world today, may you day by day, with all your deeps, develop the causes for this auspicious conditions.
(On the generouse request and suggestion of Nyom Lanka, some additions and links, for better understandig are added. There comes also a nice story, provided by the wanderer Isiul-Dhamma, a simile, into mind, describing the path of liberation: under kamma and the pāramīs, the prisoner story.)

A King asking a wise: mil 3.1.3
Now what do you think, O king? Is it when the battle is set in array against you that you set to work to have a moat dug, and a rampart put up, and a watch tower built, and a stronghold formed, and stores of food collected? Is it then that you would have yourself taught the management of elephants, or horsemanship, or the use of the chariot and the bow, or the art of fencing?'
'Certainly not, Sir.'
'Just so, great king, is effort concerned now with what still remains to be done, former effort has accomplished what it had to do. For it has been thus said, O king, by the Blessed One:
"Betimes let each wise man work out
  That which he sees to be his weal!
  Not with the carter's mode of thought, but firm p. 103
  Let him, with resolution, step right out.
  As a carter who has left the smooth high road,
  And turned to byways rough, broods ill at ease 1--
  (Like him who hazards all at dice, and fails)--
  So the weak mind who still neglects the good,
  And follows after evil, grieves at heart,
  When fallen into the power of death, as he,
  The ruined gamester, in his hour of need 2."

[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

Mudita, that you have been able to see possible certain importand things and benefits by a for sure not expected kind of answer, straight forward, Nyom @PerseusSagittarius . Wish much effort and success for the good way with aim.


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Will mindfulness help me in observing patterns and learning to keep away from a toxic person?
I have started mindfulness from past 3 days and am experiencing reduced anxiety.
I have allocated a half an hour time at 9 PM to reflect on the thoughts which may have occurred to me during the day time.
So, during the day time I do NOT dwell on the past emotions. I question myself is there a problem to be solved or the thought is only about feeling bad or good. If there is a problem to be solved, then I solve it otherwise I list the thought in a diary to reflect on it in the night.
Since mindfulness is always about being in present, my fear is that with this attitude I may forget how the person x behaved with me in the past and I may allow the bad/toxic behavior to continue.
I want to learn from the past mistakes, I also want to remember what wrongs did the person x do to me - is there a pattern in them, so that I keep that toxic person away from me.
Will mindfulness help or allow me to recognize patterns and learn from them?

Mindfulness must not turn into mindlessness.  You still must be attentive to the world.

Good practical question.
First of all, I have to tell you, in (Mahayana) Buddhism there is no such thing as a "toxic person". The other person has impulses and reactions because of their own bad past experiences, and something in you triggers them. Doesn't mean you are bad or s\he is bad, it is just inertia from the past.
If you really think about it, there is no "you" and "other person", there is just a dynamic process of interaction between the two sets of past experiences, from which emerge new behaviors, whether healthy or pathological.
What you call mindfulness allows you (me, us) to suspend our typical impulses informed by the past and act with a new, fresh perspective. When you dance your part differently, the other participants can't help but alter their dance as well. Remember, they are not really choosing how to act, most people don't, but when you change, you create a new setting in which their impulses play out.
That's for one, and second, in Mahayana Buddhism we do not worry so much about protecting ourselves. Protection is an instinct of the ego, which is always vulnerable. To make the ego invincible one has to become a kind of demon, wearing a steel-strong-shell, never showing true feelings, always taking care of oneself at the expense of others. In Mahayana we go the opposite way. We open up and have nothing to protect. When we have nothing to protect we are invincible in a different way, and this way to be invincible is actually stronger than the first.
It's a very different attitude to what you are used in the normal world, takes a while to get used to.

Mindfullness, sati, lit. remembering, keeping in mind, reflecting, as taught by the Buddha, does not mean to dwell in the present, but to keep certain things in mind, reflect on them, to possible be able to observe more and more focused.
If interested on more understanding, feel given these short talks and essays:
The Agendas of Mindfulness
Mindfulness Defined
[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

The truth is that the Theravadin practice of mindfulness meditation can be helpful in a multitude of ways, including pattern recognition. It is important that you understand how this is the case. First of all, you need to understand what sankhara means in plain English. A sankhara is an unconscious mental process that performs one of two functions: (1) It causes you to make sense of what you experience. For example, on the level of perception, it causes you to recognize or understand a set of sensations. On a more complex level it causes you to understand complex situations, what other people are doing or saying, or even understand your own feelings and experiences. Needless to say, a sankhara is a very sophisticated mental process that has had a long developmental process of learning and modification and is subject to error. (2) It causes you to generate and select action-plans that make sense to you in terms of your past experience, memory, and understanding. These definitions are based upon 50 years of practice and study.
The second thing you need to know is that no sankhara is perfect or complete. This is due to the facts that (1) knowledge is based upon evidence that is naturally incomplete and (2) that the world is endlessly complex. Your unconscious mind takes these two facts into account by engaging what I call safeguard processes. These processes have the function of avoiding, detecting, and correcting errors in your understanding and motivation. You have many built-in unconscious safeguard processes that are being constantly engaged for your benefit. Ordinarily, they do their jobs without you knowing about it. However, they are subject to distortion or limitation by your present beliefs, values, emotions, and preferences. This is normal.
You need to know about some of the more important safeguards. One such safeguard process is what I have called (in my book and in papers I am publishing) the does-this-make-sense safeguard. In order to understand this safeguard, it helps to imagine that your unconscious mind is constantly engaging many sankhara and this particular safeguard constantly asks (unconsciously) the question: Does this make sense? When something does not make sense, then some kind of correction process is always (unconsciously) engaged. For example, if a sensory sensation does not make sense, this safeguard may cause you to look again more carefully. If one of the action-plans you are considering does not make sense, then it may be quietly eliminated from your list of possible actions. When it comes to assessing a potential action you may want to perform, this safeguard (unconsciously) provides a very sophisticated analysis of the circumstances, memories of past successes and failures, and the desirability of probable outcomes. Unfortunately, your emotions, ignorance, and false beliefs can interfere with this analysis.
Another important safeguard discussed in the Satipatthana Sutta, is the “body-in-the-body” safeguard that I will call the focusing safeguard because it involves the process of “focusing” as developed by Eugene Gendlin. This is an advanced form of mindfulness meditation that helps the meditator examine and correct the history of a sankhara.
The next thing you need to understand is how mindfulness meditation engages your safeguards to help you unfold towards Enlightenment and overcome suffering. For example, you report that your meditation has reduced your anxiety. Anxiety arises when you (unconsciously) ask the question: How am I doing? An anxious person tends to assess his mental or physical state as being worse than it really is. During mindfulness meditation practice, you become relatively calm and objective in a matter-of-fact sort of way. When you address the question, how am I doing, things don’t seem so bad and you calm down.
If you put in the hours, days, weeks, or months of meditation all of your problematic sankhara come to mind periodically. Your safeguards will deal with the easiest ones first. Deeper problems may require engaging the focusing safeguard. It would take me too much space to explain it here. I suggest to learn focusing from the book by that name. Or you could read my book.
It is not the case that “mindfulness is always about being in present.” This is a beginner’s view. Concerning the toxic person you speak about, I suggest you learn to find “the body in the body” or the “felt sense” (Gendlin), learn to contact your deeper intelligence, and acquire a deeper understanding of everyone around you. Your problem-solving approach is good but limited until you are able to contact your deeper intelligence. I wish you well.


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How to be mindful while doing routine activites like walking on a street known for years?
I started observing nature as I walked by the street which I take daily to get out of colony.
Problem is that I have already observed it throughly. There isn't anything that I haven't observed. Brain gets in auto pilot mode in such situations.
I tried to keep my attention on my shoes and thus counting my steps. This has a danger of me getting hit by something because I was looking down.
Where am I supposed to look and what am I supposed to think while doing mundane routine activities like sitting in an auto and moving on an already known default path? There is no stimulus for brain to do anything new.
I still have to be on my guards though. I don't want to reach in dreamland where I am totally unaware of what's happening around me.
I tried to focus on "Waiting for my thoughts to appear so that I can acknowledge them". This reduced anxiety and made me happy but this way I had forgotten that I was walking since the brain was on auto-pilot mode.

Not exactly Buddhist, but one way I train my outdoor students in awareness is to play the occupation game.  One day, be an electrician.  Notice where all the power lines go, see what gauge each of them is, how they tie into each home and business.  Inside, see the outlets and all of the lights.  What wattages are each of the bulbs?  How many volts does each outlet supply?  What can you say about the switches?  Where are the breaker boxes?  The next day, be a brick layer.  Notice all of the stone work.  Who has asphalt driveways?  Concrete?  Paver stones?  Which houses are made of brick?  What color are the bricks?  Are they all standard sizes?  Any embellishments?  Look for artistry and craftsman ship.  Look for shoddy work, etc.  The following day be a car salesman.  Which brand is selling best?  Which colors are most often used for each make?  How many new cars are on the road?  Next, be a seamstress.  Notice the cut of clothes, etc.  Be a cobbler.  Be a roofer.  Be a plumber, etc. etc. etc.
While you aren't developing mindfulness in a strictly Buddhist sense, you are developing a number of the factors of mindfulness.  For instance, just playing the occupation game requires you to be ardent and to exert effort.  Remembering what occupation you are that day and noting what should be looking for engages sati to a degree.  Seeing each detail fully can help you develop sampajanna.  Give it a go.  It's actually kinda fun.

There isn't anything that I haven't observed...
My person doubts, even outwardly there is nothing not changing, not different, now it's even more of value to look at the frames of references for mindfulness.
When walking, look where you put the next step, step by step, know, lifting, pushing, setting down, take care not to step on someone, get slowly a "An All-Around Eye".
Giving way, while walking (dana, generosity), not to step on someone, no short cuts, no violation of rules (sila, virtue), walking straight, aware of body posture, like a king/queen, straight, not like a cowboy or a pig, awareness of the body and correct it. When willing to look on the side, stop, turn, then look and watch out the greed that normaly drives one to try to do all at one time. One of the frame of references (meditation), then watch out thoughts, feelings, arising, moods, if the first is already managed good.
Put the sense under control, not letting the eye, ear, nose... follow contact of objects.
One practicing, one being mindful, is never bored and later gifted with right gained ease and re(a)l-ease. And, as a side effect of step by step, one reaches his place faster as any vehicle could provide it.
Start be simply train your body posture, putting your steps straight | not / or \ one after another, not bending more than the head, not walking like a duck or a rooster. Don't swing your arms, don't twist the body while walking. One movement consciously after the other. Simply that training will be maybe very hard for a good time, but give one real good results.
Direct relations are found also in your parallel questions in this answer
[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

If you are walking on a  mostly empty sidewalk a good method would be to be mindful of the movement and sensation of the legs, silently noting right, left, right, left. If the sidewalk is crowded or you have to walk in the neighborhood street then loving-kindness meditation while walking probably would be better.


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When should I stop my brain from going on auto-pilot mode?
Auto-pilot mode is there for a reason. It is to prevent us from re-inventing the wheel. This is solely my understanding.
My question is how do I decide when to go on auto pilot mode and when not to?
Is auto-pilot mode always bad?

Never ever go on "auto-pilot", might it because diffuseness seems to be most unproblematic. That's "animal practice" and absence of mindfulness and investigation, does not lead to discerment and bear a lot of dangers.
When doing, experiencing, what ever phenomena arises: know, investigate, judge it.
As for actions (body, word, thoughts):

The Lost Wallet
It's as if you leave home and lose your wallet. It fell out of your pocket onto the road away back there, but as long as you don't realize what happened you're at ease — at ease because you don't yet know what this ease is for. It's for the sake of dis-ease at a later time. When you eventually see that you've really lost your money: That's when you feel dis-ease — when it's right in your face.
The same holds true with our bad and good actions. The Buddha taught us to acquaint ourselves with these things. If we aren't acquainted with these things, we'll have no sense of right or wrong, good or bad.

A maybe good and helpful talk on this matter, also in regard of the other current question by same questioner, by you:

Seeds of Becoming , by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
The author points out the place where we are able to lean to understand all issues which are moving this world. A Dhammatalk on Bhava (Becoming) and how we are able to transcendent birth, aging, sickness and death, exactly here and now.
...what happens a lot of times when people travel on a road day after day they start blanking out, actually stop noticing things. It's **like a person gets into a state of concentration and then just doesn't want to develop any discernment, just likes the blanking out, or the stillness, and just holds onto that and gets oblivious to other things, like the person who drives the road from the Valley Center to Escondido every day, after a while you just don't notice anything. It's where a lot of people are, their brains just go into automatic pilot...*

[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

Respectfully, I am having difficulty with your answer. You say: "Never ever go on "auto-pilot"", yet when I consider the time it would take to make a single step if I did not, I feel living in this world would be problematic: Thinking of the muscles I need to enact; considering how high I need to lift the leg; figuring our exactly where my foot will fall; individually enacting those muscles; considering how those feel when enacted... Well, you can see where this would lead. There must be a middle ground to between mindfulness and some level of 'auto pilot'?

To understand the The Middles of the Middle Way, Nyom @GVCOJims . Nobody told that it is (always) easy, but if not possible, it would not have been taught by the Awakened. Give it simply a try. Like stopping smoking, drinking... what ever addiction.

Flow with the currents, like a little dandelion seed being adventurously transported along, as if by magic-carpet ride, to your new home where you will be nourished and grow and flower for the bees to enjoy. Where you will breathe fresh air and feel the warmth of the sun. Where you will enjoy the music of life.
Then when it is time to move on, look forward without regrets. Always know that no matter what happens, you did your very best, and that is enough.
There is no need to hurry. There is so much beauty to experience. Every day, say hello to the same trees, the same people, to different people, to the sky, to God... Feel the love.
And avoid too much drama, or the kind that is humorless or malicious. If you absolutely can't avoid it, then handle it with as much wisdom as you are able to muster. And move on.
If someone or something happens to annoys you, don't internalize it, or take it personally. Laugh it off, if possible. Feel anger if appropriate, but don't indulge your emotions. Process your feelings and then release them. But always care, and take care...
That's what I do.

Welcome to Buddhism Q&A. Happy to have you join us in the New Year.

Thank you, I am honored and humbled by such kind hospitality!


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Meditation Retreat Question
I have been following your (yuttadhammo) videos for some time. I had a question that I wanted to ask to someone who is experienced and familiar with meditation and Buddhism. I went to a 60 day meditation retreat in Myanmar last year. I had a great experience there and so as a result I am planning to go back again for 4 months at the end of this year. I have had some experiences during my last trip which puzzled and scared me a bit. I was disturbed on a couple of occasions by beings from other world at night. These were scary experiences that scared me to the core during the retreat. It was difficult for me to meditate and to fall asleep at night as my mind would always stay in that defense mode where it wouldn't relax and fall asleep. I talked to the teachers about it and they said to practice metta meditation and to ask these beings to not disturb my meditation. They also asked me to not be afraid and simply watch the fear. It did that and it did work for the time being but the fear overpowered me during the entire retreat although I am glad that I was able to make some good progress. I want to be better prepared this time around when I am going back again. My question is what can I do better this time so I can be well prepared and so the fear of being  disturbed again does not overwhelms me? I would like to practice meditation this time by leaving fear behind. Thank you for reading this.

Ven. Yuttadhammo doesn't read this site, but other people may answer your question.

@Soham. You can contact Ven. Yuttadhammo here.

You might want to check out https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.004.than.html

Maybe it would be good to change the title into "How to deal with spirits while on Vipassana-Retreat?".
Generally see them as a gift, those "teachers" appearing as spirits, for they are presenting the task that you need to fullfill to step forward.
Such disturbance is something very common and often reported by elders. It's recognised mostly as "prove" of the meditator if he is serious in goodwill, viture and objectives.
No access to vipassana for one not honest in his aspirations, for one with wrong views and lack of metta (right resolve), a person not feeling obligated to those more sublime.
The advices of the teachers, to practice metta and to win over yourself are proper and right. Reading here a discouragement to go their again: That is opposite a warrior nature and the ways even the Buddha encouraged his Monks, who where running away from spirits, to return on that place, giving them the famouse Karaṇīya Metta-Sutta as their tool.

...Because the people in that area were very pious, they invited the monks to spend the three-months rain's retreat in that grove and they even built five hundred meditation huts for them.
Thinking that there is no danger, the monks plunged into meditation with great effort. However, due to the excellence of the monks' virtue, the tree-deities who lived on tree-mansions felt their own excellence diminished. So, out of reverence for the meditating monks below, did not like to reside above them. Hence, they took their children, descended from their tree-mansions and began to roam aimlessly.
Nevertheless, roaming in this manner everyday was not convenient to the deities. Therefore, in order to make the monks leave, they created terrifying forms of demons and produced dreadful noises at night when the monks were meditating. [7]
Being harassed thus, the monks were unable to concentrate. Then their seniormost Elder told them, 'Friends, there are two kinds of rains' retreat laid down by the Buddha — the early and the late. Because it is not easy for us to stay here, let us go back to the Buddha.'
All the monks then went back to the Buddha and related their frightful experience. The Buddha saw, through his supernormal power, that there is no better place for them and told them: 'Monks, there is no other suitable residence for you. It is only by residing at the same place that you will attain the eradication of the mental taints (āsavas). Go back to the same grove and reside there! If you want to be free from the harassment caused by the deities, learn this protective Sutta (paritta) of Friendliness (mettā). This will be for your protection as well as for your meditation practice. Cultivate this meditation on friendliness repeatedly and those deities will not terrify you. They will definitely show you kindness.'...

Many details and how to adjust metta proper, incl. the story behind the Metta-Sutta, you find at the link, generously, compassionated, consciously given by Ven. Nyanadasana, who's Dhammic roots are maybe not that far away the place of you personal challenge.
If the heart is put right (e.g. right view), if all duties are done, even the biggest monsters will not be able to disturbe you, knowing there are no faults present in me, done all my tasks. And so you metta for them and all others will be honest, pure and for all perceivable.
Prerequisite, preparation for Meditation is always Generosity fist, then and incl. firm virtue practice. See some practical advices here in this answer as well.
Best wishes and the effort to train patient and metta, devotion, as a firm and unshakeable foundation. Fear (of unskill kind) falls for one having entered the stream.
[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

I talked to the teachers about it and they said to practice metta
meditation and to ask these beings to not disturb my meditation.

If these are real external disturbances (rather than internal delusions):
(i) they are not beings from another world;
(ii) they are merely minds with psychic powers, as described in the Pali suttas; and
(iii) these minds are engaged in transgressions of the Buddhist Vinaya, as follows:

Displaying psychic powers. A related rule at Cv.V.8.2 states that to display psychic powers to lay people is a dukkata. (page 266)

(iv) this type of activity is cult activity; trying to engage in mind control.
(v) in the Pali suttas, being "captured by non-humans (devas)" is one of many reasons for not reaching the ocean of Nibbana, as follows:

The Lord Buddha continued,
If that log is not caught on the near bank, it will reach the ocean.
If it is not caught on the far bank, it will reach the ocean.
If it is not submerged under the water, it will reach the ocean.
If it does not land on a small island in the middle of the river, it will reach the ocean.
If it is not taken away by a human being, it will reach the ocean.
If it is not taken away by a deity, it will reach the ocean.
If it does not sink into a whirlpool, it will reach the ocean.
If it does not become rotten, it will reach the ocean.
Parable of the Log

They also asked me to not be afraid and simply watch the fear. It did that and it did work for the time being but the fear overpowered me
during the entire retreat although I am glad that I was able to make
some good progress.

The fear overwhelms the mind because what is occurring is psychologically intrusive. It is worse than physical abuse because it is very difficult for the nervous system to control the psychic power sense contact; which causes loss of sleep; because psychic power is external mental energy entered into the nervous system. Because the mental energy is not created by the afflicted mind, the afflicted cannot control the energy; unless the mind is highly developed.
It is ideal to view the sense contact as 'nama-rupa' or 'a sound' (rather than as a "being"). The Buddha taught external objects are merely mind & matter (nama-rupa) and not-self (anatta). Refer to SN 12.19, which is properly translated as:

Bhikkhus, for the wise man, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, this group (of five aggregates) has thereby originated. So there is this group and
external mentality-and-materiality: thus this dyad.

What is experienced is not "beings" but mere "mentality".

I want to be better prepared this time around when I am going back
again. My question is what can I do better this time so I can be well
prepared and so the fear of being disturbed again does not overwhelms
me? I would like to practice meditation this time by leaving fear
behind. Thank you for reading this.

Personally, I would not return to this place because, to me, it sounds like an immoral cult that does not follow the Vinaya of Buddhism.

In Vajrayana Buddhism, there are protective deities such as Mahakala and Vajrapani who are real beings evoked by Tibetan Buddhists to protect meditators. White Tara is also a protector. In order to gain their protection, you must receive a proper initiation from a Tibetan lama who will provide you with a mantra and a visualization. You should also learn how to build a proper shrine. In order to develop a relationship with one of these deities, you must do the practice that usually requires reciting 100,000 mantra with visualization in meditation. Do not accept an initiation from anyone other than a fully qualified Tibetan lama. My main practice has been mindfulness meditation in the Theravadin tradition, which I have practiced for 50 years. I have found these deities to be very effective. (I also found ordination to strengthen meditation.) I wish you well in your practice.

Thanks for the answers. I do plan to go back as the benefits I got last year outweighs the cons. I will go through the fear even if I have to because in the end it is all worth.

Fear comes from respecting those who do an evil that is equivalent to rape. Take care.

What about going to the temple where yuttdhammo himself went ?   wat cham tong in thailand  ?  its a good place  ...   the teachers there have a report (talk) with the students one on one  each day
where did you do exactly in burma ?

I am going there back because I had been there last year for 2 months and had a life changing positive experiences (expect the part I mentioned above). I like the place because they allow us to stay as long as we want to and there are plenty of teacher available at all times at the center. It's a forest center (Hse Main Gon) about an hour drive from the main city Yangon. Here's their website: http://saddhamma.org/html/retreat.shtml
We had interviews with teachers too every other day.


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If every bad event is because of karma, how can anyone ever murder an arhat or buddha?
If every bad event is because of karma, how can anyone ever murder an arhat?

Killing an Arhat (enlightened being)

is one of the ānantarika-kamma actions.

If I remember correctly, Buddha once said that Devadatta's throwing a rock and hurting Buddha's foot was caused by Buddha's past bad karma from a previous life.
Even for Buddha's and non-returners/Arhats past karma keeps getting resolved until parinibbana.

If every bad event is because of karma, how can anyone ever murder an arhat or buddha?

Question premise might reveal an internal inconsistency - every bad event is not only caused by Kamma.
The Buddha taught that there are 5 natural laws (Niyamas), that causes physical and mental events to take place;

1.    The seasonal laws (Utu-Niyama) related to temperature, seasons and other physical events
2. The biological laws (Bija-Niyama) related to seeds and physical organic order
3. The physical law (Citta-Niyama) related to the processes of consciousness, or to the nature of consciousness which recognises objects etc.
4. The Kammic law (Kamma-Niyama) related to the law of Kamma, (good deeds and bad deeds and their results)
5. The Natural laws (Dhamma-Niyama) related to certain events: the general law of cause and effect, causality conditionally and unconditionally
  Trying to further interpretate it will just carry over into  imagination. Only a fully enlightened Buddha can know the intricate workings of kamma.

might, but might not. thanks for the answer, but i won't accept it yet :)

My person wonders about the source and the context of this set of five. Is that known and provide able, Nyom Lanka? Weather,food, beings... is said to be a matter of given strong causes, e.g. kamma, when thinking on 1-3.


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Is Lineage vital?
Lineage is important to teaching by gurus and the succession of teaching because it helps ensure that the teaching is complete and intact, and that the teachers are sincere. One must be granted permission to teach by one's Guru, which means that by using Induction, we can see that all lineages must go back to the Buddha himself.
But I wonder, in the modern world, if this has not become irrelevant? Any person can find the teachings now, in various translations, and so the issue falls on that person to determine what they feel is legitimate. Modern people are unlikely to become monks, and I have never seen any definitive statement that laypeople never can achieve enlightenment (rather the opposite). One need not join a community, follow a guru or even know another person with the same 'theories' to practice and make progress.
So, is lineage still important? Can we not fix down a translation of the books, make them public, offer opportunities for retreats or guidance and just allow people to choose and go forward for themselves? There is no particular lineage in science, even if some persons are well-regarded and often referred to. Anyone with access to a library could become a Physicist, regardless what schools they go to, or whom the teachers studied under. The knowledge is the guru, not a person. In fact, the Buddha said, "Be ye lamps unto yourselves." Is this not what he meant?

Consider the "Four Reliances".

It since ever merely unlikely that many find lineage and liberation, but not impossible, having the "luck" coming in contact.
asked/suggested: In fact, the Buddha said, "Be ye lamps unto yourselves." Is this not what he meant?
The Buddha said that to those having already changed to the "lineage" of the Noble Ones, not at all and never to wordilings.
In fact (the act of) the Buddha did not uphold something more importand outwardly as the teacher/admirable friend and pointed strongly on the ancestorship of the lineage:

It is in dependence on me as an admirable friend that beings subject to birth have gained release from birth, that beings subject to aging have gained release from aging, that beings subject to death have gained release from death, that beings subject to sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair have gained release from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. It is through this line of reasoning that one may know how having admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life."
— SN 45.2

This heritage, to keep it alive, he gave to the Sangha of his disciples, his monks.
Such as Gurus and people outside of the Sangha, especially under lay people, even to draw such as "lineage", is neither given by the teacher nor in any way able to transmit the good Dhamma by nature.
Also that there is such as permission invented in this lineage to teach, is a trader invented mythos, selling pride and identification to merely fools.
Such is pure business and livelihood on Dhamma of which the Buddha put a lot of means into to avoid it.
How ever, "lineage" or better "ancestorship" o the Noble Ones is not gained by birth or outwardly signs and affiliation but by the first stage of awakening, by gaining gotrabhū-ñāṇaṃ
From this moment on, and only from here, one can regard him/herself being talked to when spoken: "make you self an island with the Dhamma (you already have really gained)"

the beginning of lineage...And while this explanation was being given, there arose to Ven. Kondañña the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye—...
...Then ..., having seen the Dhamma, having attained the Dhamma, having known the Dhamma, having fathomed the Dhamma, having crossed over and beyond uncertainty, having no more perplexity, having gained fearlessness, independence of others with regard to the Teacher’s message, ...

While it's not the most bad idea to turn away from Dhamma-dealers and "pyramid-trade" systems, is not smart to turn away from the most needed refuge to stay and have contact with the others, the Sangha.
As maybe observed, there is no such as a formal and regulated disciple-student relation between the members and the Sangha given, as such would neither work, or as we might have faced, leads to very problematic situations. So the relation, aside of natural laws, between lay people and Monks is a total voluntery one, purely based on goodness and generosity, without any formal personal duties.
As it is thought, this field of merits, can possible stay an independent source of teachers of the good Dhamma, others then later developments, copies and thieves for livelyhoods.
On the other hand, by person has not that much doubt that the Juwels, beginning with the Savaka Sangha, will fast disappear in the modern world and not even imagenable for the modern people. That's nature of modern (followed after by many).
Try to be wise and uproot the cause of incapacity of devotion and being capable to be tamed, you ego-tripps.
There would be just immense suffering able to teach you but possible no more refuge avaliable.
Good advices how to find oes good tracher are found in the essay: The Power of Judgment.
More on the topic student teacher relation might be found by one here: [Q&A] Proper way to ask a teacher to become their student
[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

So, there is "independence of others" achieved, but before that, we need the Sangha? Do I understand correctly?

Except for an Paccekabuddhā, lineage is reqired, this is why, so to keep that alive, the Dhamma-Vinaya was given to the Sangha of Bhikkhus, Nyom @nocomprende. Independend means, being one self, part of lineage already. Therfore independent to become, one destinated to liberation. If the Sangha disapears, soon, Dhamma-Vinaya disapears, field of merits disapears, lineage disapears... having disappeared, only paccecabuddhas may arise in the world. Now thinking text could be the carrier of lineage, since the Dhamma is what does allow the change, no more lived, no more understood,

From student's perspective, studying explicitly under a lineage is supposed to give you a sense of reliable traditional foundation empowering your practice. This is similar to the feeling you get when you go to an Ivy League university, you have a very strong sense that the very walls of the institution are permeated with science, and this acts as an inspiration and gives you energy to strive forward.
From teacher's perspective, the main benefit that affiliation with lineage gives you is what I call the "abstract blessings". Meaning, as an authorized lineage holder you would feel entitlement, support, and abstract power of lineage - as something that gives you strength and increases your faith in the teaching and confidence in yourself, esp. in case of adverse circumstances.
This comes with its price of course. Effectively, you are relying on an abstract entity (the so-called spirit of the lineage) which is a relationship of co-dependency. If you think about it, in a mild form it's the same type of contract you get into with a deity in traditional monotheistic or pagan religion. You serve and support the entity and in return the entity gives you it's power and support.
I personally have a philosophical problem with these kinds of arrangements. Call me selfish, but for me freedom from dependency is more important than the support I'd get from an institution, however tempting that may be. Plus, in my opinion, if your Awakening is worth its salt, you should be absolutely able to function as teacher without any official authorization.
Of course your question was more about authoritative/reliable sources of information on Dharma, rather than these more complicated matters - and I will let other people handle those, but here I wanted to share my thoughts on the above, hoping it will be useful for someone downstream.

If you are 'selfish' then I am too, ha ha. I agree that transcendent entities are not useful to be relied on, in the sense that I feel that they do not exist. I also agree that if one is "independent of others with regard to the message" then authorization is not required. Thank you for your coverage of the issues.

Oh yes, I wouldn't say they do not exist. I would not go as far as to say they exist either, in the sense in which e.g. ice cream exists, but they are certainly nasty beasts and one day they'll get us ;)

Ok, well I seem to be different than most people in that I don't understand or gain anything from the shared views of such entities. Participating in groups or religions or even schools has not fed my needs for strength or security. Strange. Instead, I have had a purely individual view of things like a relationship to God, and my sense of it does not really match anyone else's as far as I can tell. So, it was possible for those abstractions to fall off for me because they were entirely mine, not reinforced by surroundings. I overreached in saying that they do not exist for anyone (delusions).

I think most people miss one of the greatest benefits of studying under a particular lineage.  Namely following a lineage very much narrows the scope of your practice.  Lineages aren't so much a heritage as they are a finely honed program of Buddhist study.  Dharma gates are without measure.  Most lineages have their own internal progression and have developed their own spiritual grammar that help their adherents quickly navigate through those dharma gates that offer the most expedient path to the most panoramic views.  Lineages can also require that a student develop a sense of trust in their teachings, lineage holders, and their teaching methodologies.  Developing faith and commitment of this sort is of paramount importance if one is to having any success on the Buddhist path.
These days, it is all too easy to fall into syncretism or dharma cherry picking.  Modern students are very much prone to go from teacher to teacher, book to book, and retreat center to retreat center.  They keep what they like and - and this is the great danger - avoid the things they don't or find challenging.  Rather than question a teaching or look for an easier answer elsewhere, our trust in our own lineage demands that we investigate our resistance and overcome our self-made obstacles.

So, it is like a scaffold: it helps us make progress, but we have to do the climbing. It doesn't much matter which scaffold, as long as we follow one far enough. But people do vary, and there are different forms of practice because there are different temperaments.

Lineage is for those who do not take refuge in the Buddha & Dhamma of the Pali suttas.

Say more? This seems like a very individual approach, which I tend to agree with, but some people require more community. Does your statement cover that?


text:
Rebuke of Jains - resource after Bodhis approach
Recently Ven. Thanissaro sacrified a lot of effort and time, to make certain Jain-ish approaches via the Buddhas better understandable.

The Limits of Description : Not-self Revisited. A response to a critique of Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu’s essay, “The Not-self Strategy” (available in the essay collection, Noble & True). (Also available as pdf format)

Now, it would be maybe good to read Bhikkhu Bodhis previous critic.
Does any one know if there is a non-commercial shared copy avaliable? And if, maybe possible to be quoted.
Here is a reference to the critique, provided by Nyom Chris, the topic is about:

These reflections were sparked recently by reading a critique of an article I wrote in 1993, called “The Not-self Strategy.” ... The critique—“Anattā as Strategy and Ontology,” written by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi—was brought to my attention just over a month ago, even though it has apparently been around for some time.

Using Google I only find it in a book:

Title -- Investigating the dhamma : a collection of papers
Author -- Bhikkhu Bodhi, edited by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
Published -- Kandy, Sri Lanka : Buddhist Publication Society, 2015

Here is a copy of the introduction, taken from a Google preview of the book:

So far as I know there's no free/electronic copy of the book.
The summary of the book on Amazon says,

This book brings together eight essays of Bhikkhu Bodhi, five of which were earlier published in academic journals and volumes, and three not published before. Most of the essays are critical responses to various modern interpretations of the Dhamma that the author considers to be at odds with the Buddha’s teachings, in particular as transmitted and interpreted by the Theravada school of Buddhism. The other essays are in depth discussions of important Buddhist doctrinal terms.

Publisher: Pariyatti Publishing (October 15, 2017) . Is this an old essay or has BB changed his view? Anatta is certainly 'ontology'.

Saddhu for the effort and Zuvorkommenheit, Nyom Chris. It might be left as it is, where it is.

@Dhammadhatu I think the book's publisher is "Kandy, Sri Lanka : Buddhist Publication Society, 2015". I don't know if the essay is written for the book or old, except for the quote in the OP which says, "was brought to my attention just over a month ago, even though it has apparently been around for some time", which implies that this essay is one of the older ones (i.e. "earlier published in academic journals").

Thank you, ChrisW for your helpful information! It is because of your post that I was able to find a free PDF Version: https://www.bps.lk/olib/bp/bp437s_Bodhi_Investigating-Dhamma.pdf


text:
Reincarnation and stem cell research
How do we apply reincarnation to phenomena such as reproduction by binary fission (amoeba) and creating animals like Dolly the sheep from a single cell? Also, why the population is rising in the animal kingdom including humans, surely, it cannot be other beings from different realms are coming to earth. I am so confused about this although I am a  practicing Buddhist.

How do we apply reincarnation to phenomena such as reproduction by binary fission (amoeba) and creating animals like Dolly the sheep from a single sell?Also, why the population is rising in the animal kingdom including humans, surely, it cannot be other beings from different realms are coming to earth.
I am so confused about this although I am a practising Buddhist.

If you want to become an even more confused Buddhist, then keep pondering this :)
If not, then stop pondering this and go practice.
You might also want to take a look at the Four Imponderables:

The four imponderables are identified in the Acintita Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya 4.77, as follows:
The Buddha-range of the Buddhas [i.e., the range of powers a Buddha develops as a result of becoming a Buddha];
The jhana-range of one absorbed in jhana [i.e., the range of powers that one may obtain while absorbed in jhana];
The [precise working out of the] results of kamma;
Speculation about [the origin, etc., of] the cosmos is an imponderable that is not to be speculated about.

These imponderables the Buddha advices not to contemplate, since they will only agitate and destabilize the mind, making it less suitable for practice.

This is not about pondering to be more confused. Buddha also encouraged in Kalama Sutra, not to accept things, because they were in scriptures..... etc etc. so it's not a bad thing to examine what's happening around us, after all Buddhism is a very scientific religion. The question is if from one animal, many animals can be generated, where did it come from? Perhaps there is no answer as I have seen so far. But I am sure there will be an explanation somewhere.

How do we apply reincarnation to phenomena such as reproduction by binary fission?
I don't.

I don't understand it (the theory of rebirth) well, so I try not to use it nor rely on it.
If form is not self, then I'm not sure why you expect there's any one-to-one relationship between "a being" and "a cell".
A sheep is a multi-cellular organism -- do you count it as one being, or as several?

My "science" education teaches me that different theories are used for different reasons, to explain different phenomena. For example, the "theory of gravity" explains why things fall when you drop them, but the "theory of gravity" doesn't explain why water boils when you heat it.
So, part of understanding (or using) a theory is to know when and why to use it, what it's "useful" for, and what it isn't useful for.
I think the theory of reincarnation has some uses, for example:

It teaches that causes can have an effect, even if the effect doesn't seem to be immediate
It may help to decrease ego-centrism, e.g. the view that "Me, this life, is all-important -- and nothing else matters: no-one else, no other time".
It may promote disenchantment (see for example the quote in Samana Johann's answer); and equanimity (if something "bad" happens, does it help to consider that this wasn't the first time it has happened?).
It may help redirect attachment (the theory that a loved one still exists after death, though in a different form)
And more?

However, IMO, trying to relate it to cellular biology, as you did, is  completely off-topic: neither the purpose (use), nor the type of observation (phenomena), for which the theory is or was intended.

I understand the virtues you have mentioned, but they are not related to the question,  yet it doesn't answer the question that if animals can be replicated from one animal, from which past birth they come from?

I thought that "I don't (apply reincarnation to phenomena such as reproduction by binary fission)" was too short to be interesting, and that I should mention as well the ways in which I do "apply" reincarnation.

How do we apply reincarnation to phenomena such as reproduction by binary fission (amoeba) and creating animals like Dolly the sheep from a single cell?

As I understood Nagarjuna, a Being (Self) is neither the Skandhas, nor not the Skandhas; for a Being can't be obtained without the Skandhas. Then it can be said in our worldly wording that each amoeba is a Being though by binary fission; so is each Dolly an individual sheep. And life isn't created, for if it could we can assemble in lab.; even Frankentein needs that "lightening" to give it life. Therefore since life isn't created it can't be annihilated, just changes form of expression from each life-session. That's what called reincarnation, or better named rebirth. Reincarnation is specially for some Beings who are autonomous in it, or with mission.

why the population is rising in the animal kingdom including humans

Because we are now in a declining minor Kalpas, according to Sutras. Things are deteriorating, so to speak, thus more lesser Beings are born. The 6 Realms are like the pyramid, the higher the fewer. In Buddha's time, more Beings are born from the celestial realms to the human world and vice versa, now there are more from lower realms. Homo sapiens is just a vast generalization, in it carried many favours.

it cannot be other beings from different realms are coming to earth

It surely can. If the earth is only good for humans, or the earth also inhabited by non-humans? Why not? When a Being's Karma weight is right for earth, then Terra is the home. Personally I wonder if Saturn and Jupiter homes of the Asuras, maybe the Devas? For there rain diamonds. Different realms can't be seen via naked eyes, unless one has divine vision, or with special apparatus.

I'm more concerned with the "in vitro meat". In reference to the answer in the beginning, how does this lab-meat feel (Vedanā)? If I contemplate, I kind of get that it must be in constant pain. If your skin is torn and flesh exposed, how do you feel? It would be the same for this meat-being sitting only just in plain air, or in the culturing fluid - unending pain.
~§ Due to ignorant, we commit many crimes; they weigh us down, which we thought achievement. §~

I am all for lab meat, although I am a vegan and have never touched meat in my life. Just muscle fibers may not feel the pain due to the absence of nervous system. This will serve the people who cannot go without meat and the animal cruelty will stop in the long term.

I admire vegetarian :). Why pain must be felt via nerve system? If u understood the Buddha teaching, shouldn't be misled by incomplete so-called scientific explanation... how about heartache? Is that our nerves feel the pain when something sad happened?? Kierkegaard said despair is the sickness of the soul, literal. If we can't get beyond the compartmentalizing of later schooling, we won't get the true taste of Buddha Dharma.

Every pain including heartache has something to do with our nervous system and neurotransmitters which are responsible for our feelings,such as happiness, anger,sadness etc. when we understand the dhamma in its purest  form we surrender ourself and that blissful feeling itself is due to the balance of our mind which is at the end of the day, a chemical balance. The difference is that,  by developing our mind we take the control of these chemical neurotransmitters ourselves. We won't let them on cruise control. That's how I see it Mishu.

Hmmm... I heard a New Age talked abt inventing the pill of enlightenment, we hv hope, hopefully ;)). How do u determine if that's the heartache caused the chemical release, or the chemical caused the heartache? If the chemical is the 1st cause, we don't need abiding in balanced mind but just take the pill of dhamma... all will be too very easy, pill of Arahant even pill of Buddha are not far. However, I do see that in the future we don't need schooling, there will be different level of knowledge-set with different price-tag to be purchased and syn to our intellect/brain...

Heartache is the result of the release of neurotransmitters by the constant firing of the agitated amygdala    that keeps firin

yes, agree. in Mahayana knowledge transcends to become wisdom (Prajna Paramita 般若波羅蜜多 ~ most beautiful words ever exist in the entire world!!). incl. scientific knowledge which a Bodhisattva should master, and transcend

There is no literal rebirth of the same "being", Janaki. All entities, including "beings" are approximate abstractions.
Reincarnation is a metaphor for continuity of information and causation, presented in a way accessible to simpleminded ancient people.

That's what I think too, because Buddha's teaching is full of metaphors. But I am open minded and would like to hear any explanation.

Then the thought occurred to the him, "These Users of BuddhismSE... are all still with fetters. What if I were to teach them the Dhamma in such a way that in this very sitting their minds, through lack of clinging, would be released from fermentations?"
So he addressed the monks: "Monks."
"Yes, lord," the monks responded.
The Blessed One said, "From an inconceivable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. What do you think, monks? Which is greater, the blood you have shed from having your heads cut off while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time, or the water in the four great oceans?"
"As we understand the Dhamma taught to us by the Blessed One, this is the greater: the blood we have shed from having our heads cut off while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time, not the water in the four great oceans."
"Excellent, monks. Excellent. It is excellent that you thus understand the Dhamma taught by me.
"This is the greater: the blood you have shed from having your heads cut off while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time, not the water in the four great oceans.
"The blood you have shed when, being cows, you had your cow-heads cut off: Long has this been greater than the water in the four great oceans.
"The blood you have shed when, being water buffaloes, you had your water buffalo-heads cut off... when, being rams, you had your ram-heads cut off... when, being goats, you had your goat-heads cut off... when, being deer, you had your deer-heads cut off... when, being chickens, you had your chicken-heads cut off... when, being pigs, you had your pig-heads cut off: Long has this been greater than the water in the four great oceans.
"The blood you have shed when, arrested as thieves plundering villages, you had your heads cut off... when, arrested as highway thieves, you had your heads cut off... when, arrested as adulterers, you had your heads cut off: Long has this been greater than the water in the four great oceans.
"Why is that? From an inconceivable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. Long have you thus experienced stress, experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling the cemeteries — enough to become disenchanted with all fabrications, enough to become dispassionate, enough to be released."
Timsa Sutta: Thirty

All of Us - Beset by birth, decay, and death
If you have ever read Don Quixote, you'll remember that he was fighting windmills. Everybody (not awakened) is doing just that, fighting windmills. Don Quixote was the figment of a writer's imagination, a man who believed himself to be a great warrior....

[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

This answer might benefit from a little explanation of your own, to clarify the relationship between the quotes and the OP's question. For example the topic of the first quote seems to be "lack of clinging" -- but does that answer, how does it answer, the OP's question?

It does not care the pupose to give an answer but release. If prefering to grasp, one might do so, Nyom @ChrisW The OP does not carry a question either.

'Animal birth' is a state of mind, which is why monks are censured for engaging in 'animal talk'. This is why the sutta SN 56.120 says an animal can realise the four noble truths. In other words, the teaching about "reappearance" as an animal in the Pali suttas appears to be a metaphor.

Bhikkhus, these two bright principles protect the world. What are the two? Shame and fear of wrongdoing. If, bhikkhus, these two bright
  principles did not protect the world, there would not be discerned
  respect for mother or maternal aunt or maternal uncle's wife or a
  teacher's wife or the wives of other honored persons, and the world
  would have fallen into promiscuity, as with goats, sheep, chickens,
  pigs, dogs, and jackals. But as these two bright principles protect
  the world, there is discerned respect for mother... and the wives of
  other honored persons. AN 2.9

I like the idea of metaphor too, it makes sense.


text:
How to recognize stream entry?
Have disappeared the body and thoughts,there is remaining awareness with the knows during practice.what is this stage of practice?how to know whtere this is stream entry?

Stream-entry is to have verified confidence in the Dhamma, which is seen here & now, timeless, inviting verification, pertinent, to be realized by the wise for themselves.
What this means is to fully realise the abandoning of craving, attachment & self-view brings peace (and the opposite brings suffering & disturbance).

Then Anathapindika the householder, surrounded by about 500 lay followers, went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. So the Blessed One said to Ven. Sariputta: "Sariputta, when you know of a householder clothed in white, that he is restrained in terms of the five training rules and that he obtains at will, without difficulty, without hardship, four pleasant mental abidings in the here & now, then if he wants he may state about himself: 'Hell is ended; animal wombs are ended; the state of the hungry shades is ended; states of deprivation, destitution, the bad bourns are ended! I am a stream-winner, steadfast, never again destined for states of woe, headed for self-awakening!'
"Now, in terms of which five training rules is he restrained?
...
"And which four pleasant mental abidings in the here & now does he obtain at will, without difficulty, without hardship?
...
"Sariputta, when you know of a householder clothed in white, that he is restrained in terms of the five training rules and that he obtains at will, without difficulty, without hardship, four pleasant mental abidings in the here & now, then if he wants he may state about himself: 'Hell is ended; animal wombs are ended; the state of the hungry shades is ended; states of deprivation, destitution, the bad bourns are ended! I am a stream-winner, steadfast, never again destined for states of woe, headed for self-awakening!'
...
The Householder

[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]


text:
Why doesn't Mara suffer?
Everyone born in this world is bound to suffer.
Mara tempted Buddha so many times to abandon his quest which he did not. Yet Mara herself never suffered due to her own Karma or due to her belief system. Mara is alive even today.
My question is why not Mara, the tempter, suffers or suffered due to her belief system and actions ?

Are you looking for an answer about Mara, based in an conventional or ultimate sense?

If there are more than one way of answering the question then please enlighten me both ways.

Mara cannot be a woman (refer to MN 115)

Mara (a psychic that decides to harass Buddhists) does suffer according to the suttas:

Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Vajira knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there. SN 5.10

‘Get out, Evil One, Evil One, get out. Do not annoy a Tathāgata or a Tathāgata's disciple, lest for a long time there be woe and sorrow for
  you.’...While he was looking around, Evil One, Dūsin the Māra deceased from that place and arose in the Great Niraya Hell. What was that Niraya
  Hell like where Dūsin the Māra was boiled, For striking the disciple Vidhura
  and the brahman Kakusandha? It was that of the hundred iron spikes,
  all suffered separately. This was the Niraya Hell where Dūsin was
  boiled, For striking the disciple Vidhura and the brahman Kakusandha. MN 50

If Mara suffered so much then why Mara still exists? Why didn't Mara turned down and surrender to Buddha?

My impression is Mara is not the same person over time but merely an advanced psychic that disagrees with Buddhism, such as a Brahman or (today) Christian mystic who believes people should be taught about 'god' rather than about 'anatta'. Thus Mara suffers from attachment but probably does not suffer in a major way (such as portrayed in MN 50, which, together with MN 49, is probably not an authentic sutta & religious propaganda).

Mara is not a living being, like a human being. Moreover, Mara is not of feminine gender.
Mara represents the obstacles on the path to enlightenment, such as:

passion,
greed,
emotional degradation, and
fear of death.

Mara represents our deep inner self and our inner belief system.

Mara tempted Buddha so many times to abandon his quest which he did
not.

Yes, it happens to anyone practicing the path. How many times your inner doubts, your inner voice tells you something to deviate you from the practice; how many times you question the validity or efficacy about the practices; how many times you feel it is useless to practice these practices, and so forth. For example, during your practice of eating two meals a day of simple food, how many times did your mind think about delicious food, how many times did you "miss" certain types of food, and so forth? These are your inner temptations to steer you away from your practice and go back to the materialistic world and be trapped endlessly in samsara. Buddha was also facing inner turmoil. He did not succumb to the pressures of these inner doubts, questions, and temptations.

Yet Mara herself never suffered due to her own Karma or due to her
belief system.

Mara does not represent the feminine energy. Mara is representative of the masculine energy. As I mentioned above, the four major Maras, or inner obstacles on the path to enlightenment, are greed, passion, emotional disharmony/degradation, and fear (of death, and so on). Now, just think. How can your inner quality of greed suffer? How can your inner fear suffer? These are the same inner qualities and belief systems that are the root cause of all your karma, good or bad karma. These inner qualities make you behave, react, or respond in certain ways, intentionally or unintentionally. Therefore, it is you who will suffer when you succumb to these inner qualities or Maras.

Mara is alive even today.

You are correct! Mara will always be alive as long as sentient beings exist. Isn't this exactly what the Buddhist philosophies teach you to abandon? To abandon the Maras that trap you to cyclic existence (samsara)?

Mara isn't necessarily a real being. Mara is our own  propensity to follow wrong views, doubts, defilements, bad habits and to give up on reality as it is.
If Mara is a being then Mara would suffer like any unenlightened being. Is there some scripture somewhere that states that Mara is immune to suffering?
I have never heard that Mara was female. What scripture supports that Mara is female?

Gender doesn't matter. What matters is the actions which cause the blessings or the suffering. Mara has always been badgering Buddha. Such actions cause the suffering but it seems Mara enjoys to annoy Buddha.

I don't know, I would think if the Buddha was annoyed that Mara won and that's why he loves it. So Mara must be delusional if Mara thinks he annoyed the Buddha. What do you think?

Mara is delusional. Mara suffers for its actions yet it doesn't give up its profession of annoying innocent persons.

Initially a reply to this comment:

If Mara suffered so much then why Mara still exists? Why didn't Mara
  turned down and surrender to Buddha?

There is a necessity for Mara's existence. Hot only seems so hot when you have something to compare it to, in fact if you have nothing to compare it to it is not even "hot", and if the temperature of the comparison point changes, then so may the "hot". There cannot be light without darkness, nor darkness without light. If you do not know evil you cannot know good, if you do not know what is 'bad', how can you ever understand what is 'good'?
We start off with things being in a sense 'bad' so that we have freedom, and this doing us a service, instead of just starting off as angels who can never do any harm, we are tempted and given the choice so that it is not by creation, but by choice that we do 'good' and choose who we are. Another thing is that 'suffering' is really just a creation of the mind, it kind of exists until you are free of it and realise that it is not actually really that real, but really it doesn't exist as such. It's just a concept.
I also think that Mara is going to be a very different kind of being to us so we cannot interpret her in the same way. But she has to exist for balance and freedom.
If you have not helped yourself be free from something you cannot hope to help others. Your power comes from your karma, only when you know how deep the hole goes and how to get out of it can you help others, if you never went down the hole you wouldn't be much use to anyone. Mara is a great teacher. When you see Mara you really see yourself. You have the balance within you and it is your choice.