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From: jkahila@world.std.com (John Kahila)
Subject: Buddhism: Intro & Suggestions for newcomers to talk.religion.buddhism (part 1/3)
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Archive-name: buddhism-faq/intro
Posting-Frequency: monthly

                talk.religion.buddhism FAQ -- Part 1 of 3

Mind precedes its objects.  They are mind-governed and mind-made.
To speak or act with a defiled mind is to draw pain after oneself,
like a wheel behind the feet of the animal drawing it.

Mind precedes its objects.  They are mind-governed and mind-made.
To speak or act with a peaceful mind is to draw happiness after
oneself, like an inseparable shadow.

-- The Dhammapada (Richards' translation, see "resources" for info)

------------------------------

The FAQ is in three parts.  Part 1 gives a full table of contents.
The other two parts give only the contents for their sections.

Readers of this FAQ may also be interested in other FAQs mentioned in
the Resources section.

------------------------------

Subject: 1. Table of Contents, etc.

1. Table of Contents, etc.
        1.01 Introduction
        1.02 Significant changes in this edition of the FAQ
        1.03 How to obtain the most recent version of the FAQ
        1.04 How to suggest additions/corrections to the FAQ
        1.05 How to contact the FAQ maintainer
        1.06 Acknowledgments
        1.07 Disclaimer

2. Information for those new to the Net
        2.01 What are WWW, FTP, gopher, archie and veronica ...?
        2.02 About newsgroups
        2.03 Netiquette
        2.04 I am bothered by a person/topic.  What can I do?
        2.05 Ummm ... I'm afraid it's more serious than that.
        2.06 What is a killfile, and where can I get me one?
        2.07 Aren't you being a bit obsessive about crossposting?
        2.08 I only have email.  What can I do?
        2.09 My mailbox is unmanageable.  What can I do?
        2.10 Where can I find other FAQs?
        2.11 What's this "chat" thing I've heard about?

3. Occasionally asked questions
        3.01 Charter? What charter?
        3.02 What is the current flamewar about?
        3.03 Do Buddhists worship the Buddha as a deity?
        3.04 Do Buddhists believe in God?
        3.05 Do Buddhists believe in a soul?
                3.05.01 If there is no self, who am I talking to?
        3.06 Do Buddhists believe in reincarnation?
                3.06.01 If there is no self, what is reborn?
        3.07 What does Buddhism say about sex?
        3.08 What does Buddhism say about homosexuality?
        3.09 What does Buddhism say about morality in general?
        3.10 Are all Buddhists vegetarians?
        3.11 Aren't you being a bit obsessive about not-self?
        3.12 What do you think of Hesse's _Siddhartha_?

4. Glossary
        4.01 Why don't you folks speak English?
        4.02 A note on spelling and usage
        4.03 A random selection of terms and names
        4.04 A random selection of abbreviations and smileys

5. Resources of possible interest to Buddhists
        5.01 Some Internet sites
        5.02 Online scriptures and related material
        5.03 Sites mostly devoted to specific practices
        5.04 Other sites of possible interest
        5.05 Mailing lists
        5.06 Electronic journals
        5.07 Newsgroups
        5.08 A random selection of books
        5.09 Bookstores, etc.
        5.10 Bulletin Boards, etc.
        5.11 Meditation Centers
        5.12 Overlapping interests
        5.13 Cults and other forms of abuse

------------------------------

Subject: 1.01 Introduction

This is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file for
talk.religion.buddhism.  It is posted monthly, on or near the first of
the month, to the following groups:
        talk.religion.buddhism
        alt.answers
        talk.answers
        news.answers
        alt.magick.tyagi (by request)

The purpose of the FAQ is to serve as a single source of (hopefully)
useful answers to common questions of several different types:
        "What does the term 'X' mean in Buddhism?"
        "Does Buddhism say anything about X?"
        "Are there Internet resources dealing with X?"
        "How can I do X on the Internet?"

It has finally been possible to check most of the links listed in the
FAQ.  They should once again be mostly current.  Still working on
getting the resource list up to date.

------------------------------

Subject: 1.02 Significant changes in this edition of the FAQ

Apart from section 3.02 (which is updated monthly), and apart from a
large number of updated URLs that it would be pointless to itemize,
the following changes have been made in the FAQ during the last month:

    * Four new occasionally asked questions
        3.05.01 If there is no self, who am I talking to?
        3.06.01 If there is no self, what is reborn?
        3.11 Aren't you being a bit obsessive about not-self?
        3.12 What do you think of Hesse's _Siddhartha_?

    * 5.01 Al Bloom's site now includes information about HAIB,
        an ecumenical Buddhist organization
        <http://www.aloha.net/~albloom/haib>

    * 5.02 Bibliography of Buddhist scholarly works
        <http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/e-cbs.htm>
        
    * 5.02 Much that is new and interesting at the IRIZ pages
        <http://www.iijnet.or.jp/iriz/irizhtml/>

    * 5.03 Kwan Um school of Zen

    * 5.04 Charley Muller's site now has more resources
        <http://www2.gol.com/users/acmuller/>

    * 5.04 Indology home page
        <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/indology.html>

    * 5.07 Newsgroups
        ucb.org.chinese-buddhist-soc dropped from newsgroup list;
        we all make mistakes =8-O

------------------------------

Subject: 1.03 How to obtain the most recent version of the FAQ

The FAQ is archived, and is available by anonymous FTP from
rtfm.mit.edu /pub/usenet-by-group/talk.religion.buddhism/ and
rtfm.mit.edu /pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/buddhism-faq/.
The FAQ is also archived at rtfm.mit.edu's mirror sites.

If you don't know what "anonymous FTP" is, see 2.01.  For information
on obtaining the FAQ by email, see 2.10.

------------------------------

Subject: 1.04 How to suggest additions/corrections to the FAQ

If there is a topic you would like to see covered in the FAQ, or if
you find any mistakes, please send email to the FAQ maintainer (see
next item).

------------------------------

Subject: 1.05 How to contact the FAQ maintainer

The current FAQ maintainer is John Kahila (jkahila@world.std.com)

------------------------------

Subject: 1.06 Acknowledgments

Many people have contributed to improving the FAQ -- more than can be
named (and some have asked not to be named).  Two people who deserve
special thanks are Hsuan Peng and Connie Neal, whose excellent
comprehensive resource list has made the FAQ maintainer's task easier.
See 5.01.

------------------------------

Subject: 1.07 Disclaimer

This is not an "official guide" (whatever that might be) to Buddhism.
It is only an effort on the part of the FAQ maintainer to provide
useful information.  Inevitably, both the selection and the
presentation of material is skewed by the FAQ maintainer's biases --
but hopefully not too much.

This FAQ does not represent the collective viewpoint of t.r.b.  There
may be errors.  You have been warned.

------------------------------

Subject: 2. Information for those new to the Net

This section is intended primarily for readers who are very new to
Internet services in general.  Many readers will want to just skim the
headings.  If your newsreader understands digest format (tin doesn't),
you should be able to do this painlessly (e.g., by using ^G in nn).

------------------------------

Subject: 2.01 What are WWW, FTP, gopher, archie and veronica ...?

If you are new to the Internet, please obtain a copy of FYI #4,
Answers to Commonly asked "New Internet User" Questions.  You may need
to "bootstrap" this process, by using one of the utilities you are
asking questions about.  This is not as mysterious as it sounds.

In what follows, the computer's side of the dialogue is indicated in
square brackets [].  Do not type that part in.  The indicated
dialogues are only approximate -- details may vary depending on
circumstances.

The rest is your side of the dialogue, which you *do* have to type in
(followed by pressing the Return or Enter key).  I have used my own
email address in the examples; you should substitute your own.

If you have a Web browser, set it to point at
    gopher://ds2.internic.net:70/00/fyi/fyi4.txt

If you have access to gopher, use the following
    gopher ds.internic.net [Connecting...Retrieving Directory...]
    cursor down to InterNIC Directory and Database Services (AT&T)/
        and press <Enter> [Connecting...Retrieving Directory...]
    cursor down to Internet Documentation (RFC's, FYI's, etc.)/
        and press <Enter> [Connecting...Retrieving Directory...]
    cursor down to FYI's (For Your Information RFC's)/
        and press <Enter> [Connecting...Retrieving Directory...]
    cursor down to fyi4.txt
        and press <Enter> [Connecting...Retrieving File...]
    Press s
    A form will pop up.  Just press <Enter>.
    Press q, followed by another q
    You will be asked if you really want to quit.  Answer y.

If you have access to FTP, use the following:
    ftp ds.internic.net
    [Connected to ds.internic.net]
    [A long welcome message.]
    [220 ds2.internic.net FTP server ready.]
    [Name (ds.internic.net:kahila):] anonymous
    [331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.]
    [Password:] jkahila@world.std.com
    [230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.]
    [Remote system type is UNIX.]
    [Using binary mode to transfer files.]
    [ftp>] ascii
    [200 Type set to A.]
    [ftp>] cd fyi
    [250 CWD command successful.]
    [ftp>] get fyi4.txt
    [200 PORT command successful.]
    [150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for fyi4.txt (98753 bytes)]
    [226 Transfer complete]
    [101220 bytes received in 60.71 seconds (1.628 Kbytes/s)]
    [ftp>] bye
    [221 Goodbye.]

If you have only email access, send a message to
mailserv@ds.internic.net.  In the body of the message, put the line
    document-by-name /ftp/fyi/fyi4.txt
The document will be sent to you by an automatic mail server in two
pieces, which you will have to splice together yourself.

As of 27 March 1995, FYI4 had a size of 98753 bytes as a UNIX file and
101220 bytes as a PC file.  If you use the mail server, the two
received messages -- as of 27 March 1995, on UNIX -- have sizes of
67287 and 34803 bytes.  I don't know if the server is smart enough to
break them into smaller chunks for mail systems that require that; if
anybody knows the answer to this, please tell me.

FYI4 is sometimes cited by RFC number (currently RFC1594).  It is
possible to retrieve documents by RFC numbers, but you should not do
so in this case.  RFC numbers change if a document is revised, FYI
numbers do not.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.02 About newsgroups

If you are new to USENET newsgroups generally, please subscribe to
news.answers, news.announce.newusers and news.newusers.questions if
you have not already done so.  General questions about USENET (and
some other topics) are addressed regularly in these groups.  By
subscribing, you can learn a lot in a short time about how to use
Internet resources.

Other sources for information on USENET and the Internet in general
can be found at
<http://www.isu.edu/departments/comcom/internet/toc.html>.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.03 Netiquette

Consider reading "Emily PostNews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette"
if you haven't already done so.  It is available from many sites, e.g.
<http://www.clari.net/brad/emily.html>.  Besides being informative,
Emily is very funny (and becomes funnier as one learns more about how
news works).

Less whimsical guides can be found at various locations around the
Net, which you will probably see mentioned from time to time in
news.newusers.questions.  In particular, there is a more or less
"official" discussion of netiquette that can be found at
<http://ds.internic.net/fyi/> as FYI-28.  Recommended reading.

Please do not crosspost carelessly or broadly.  If you are replying to
something crossposted by somebody else, please ask yourself if the
original crosspost really needs to be preserved.

When responding to long posts (such as this one), please do not embed
the entire original post into your reply.  Preserve only what is
needed for context.  Many people pay for Internet service by the byte.

Newsgroups are public; email is private.  Many people consider it
extremely impolite, and an invasion of privacy, to post email to
newsgroups without the permission of all parties involved.  On the
other hand, remember that this is not a "rule"; it is only a
politeness guideline.  Don't say anything in email that you would not
want to have publicly displayed in a newsgroup, or your 15 minutes of
fame could be painful.

Please try to avoid debates of the "my religion is better than yours"
variety (is not! is too! not! too!).  If you feel like telling a
non-Buddhist what it is about the Dharma that enriches your life,
that's great.  But if you feel like ridiculing the person, please
think twice and reflect on the example that you will set.  If others
disparage your practice, try to respond with restraint and compassion.

Certain people in t.r.b. (including the FAQ maintainer) have been
known to modify the principle of the preceding paragraph when dealing
with missionaries.  Your conscience will have to be your guide.

Here are a few gentle thoughts on netiquette for Buddhists, adapted
from the Insight mailing list FAQ:

Keep discussions friendly.  View this newsgroup as an opportunity to
practice both ahimsa (harmlessness) and sati (mindfulness).  Let's use
the group as a means of offering encouragement and support to each
other in our shared exploration of Dharma.

Rule of thumb: When responding to a message to which you had a strong
emotional reaction -- irritation, ecstatic delight, anger, whatever --
wait a day or two to cool down a little before responding.  There is
no hurry.  Also keep in mind that silence often speaks louder than
words.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.04 I am bothered by a person/topic.  What can I do?

If a post inspires an unpleasant (or even pleasant) feeling, it may be
instructive to examine how that feeling arises.  Phosphors on screens
have no independent power to influence thought.

Remember that newsgroups and email are very "flat."  There is very
little emotional context, unless somebody is flat-out raving.  Take a
few seconds to ask if the poster might have meant a remark humorously.

OK, you've read this far -- it's serious.  Your simplest choice is to
press the "next" key of your newsreader as soon as you recognize the
poster or the topic as an irritant.  If you aren't sure which key is
the "next" key for your newsreader, read the manual or ask someone who
works for your Internet service provider.  If you are tired of
pressing "next," or if that isn't an option for some reason, consider
using a killfile (see below).

------------------------------

Subject: 2.05 Ummm ... I'm afraid it's more serious than that.

There are three special cases that may require forceful action.

(1) If you are being personally harassed in some major way, and if the
offender does not respond to requests to stop, talk to your
administrator and communicate with the offender's administrator (your
administrator will know how to do this).  Persist until the problem is
fixed.  Most ISPs take a very dim view of having their systems used as
a platform for harassment.

(2) If somebody is crossposting 1700-line off-topic tracts to a large
number of unrelated groups including t.r.b., and does not respond to
requests to stop, talk to your administrator and communicate with the
offender's administrator.

(3) If spammers post off-topic ads to t.r.b. for things like
credit-rating repair services or legal "help" with Green Card
lotteries, consider putting them on the Advertisers Blacklist.
Information about the blacklist is available by anonymous FTP from
rtfm.mit.edu /pub/usenet-by-group/alt.answers/advertisers-blacklist
and also at <http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/BL/>.  The latter
URL appears to be kept more current.

If you find it necessary to speak to a sysadmin other than your own,
remember that the sysadmin has a job and a life and -- at least in
case (2) -- may be trying to fend off dozens of complaints about the
same person all at once.  Be polite and clear in communications.
Provide supporting documentation where appropriate, but try to keep it
brief and readable.  If you submit examples of email messages or news
posts, *please include the complete headers* so that the sysadmin can
investigate the possibility of forgery.  Do not engage in dirty tricks
(like mailbombing) -- that will only increase the confusion, making
the original problem harder to solve and possibly getting you into
trouble.  Remember to consult your sysadmin -- two heads are better
than one, and you will be better protected against counter-complaints.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.06 What is a killfile, and where can I get me one?

Most newsreading software has some mechanism for filtering out
unwanted subjects and/or authors. For example, in tin you can press ^K
for pretty clear instructions.  In nn, the corresponding command is K.
For users of rn and trn, there is a FAQ on killfiles which should be
available at any FAQ site (e.g. by FTP from ftp.uni-stuttgart.de
/pub/doc/faq/news.newusers.questions/rn_KILL_file_FAQ).  For users of
Agent (an offline reader), version .99e supports killfiles.  For Mac
users, a newsreader that supports killfiles is available from
<http://www.ese.ogi.edu/pub/network/newswatcher/>.

If you don't know how to set up a killfile, talk to your administrator
or someone else who is knowledgeable about how things are done at your
facility or on your system.  Please do not email the FAQ maintainer;
he can sympathize, but he knows less about your local setup than you do.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.07 Aren't you being a bit obsessive about crossposting?

Maybe so.  A well-planned crosspost does save resources (only one copy
of the message needs to be kept, instead of one per group).  And
velveeta is preferable to spam any day (see glossary).

However, a poorly-planned crosspost can cause problems even if the
original post was on-topic for all groups involved.  If a tree of
threads and subthreads develops, some of them will inevitably be
on-topic for only one group -- but all of the original groups will see
the thread unless someone remembers to change the addressing.

The problem just mentioned can be eliminated quite easily, by setting
the "Followup-To" line of a post so that it only points at one group.
This also has two nice side effects.  First, you won't have to look in
all of the original groups for replies that have gotten detached from
the thread.  Second, it identifies you as a non-newbie.  :-)

It's not a rule ... just a request to be thoughtful.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.08 I only have email.  What can I do?

A lot more than you think.

In the US, send email to listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu.  Enter just
this one line in the body (not the subject line) of the message:
   GET INTERNET BY-EMAIL NETTRAIN F=MAIL

In Europe, send email to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk.  Enter just this one
line in the body (not the subject line) of the message:
   send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt

Elsewhere, use whichever site is closer to you.

You will receive the most recent version of the standard documentation
for accessing most Internet services (including newsgroups) by email.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.09 My mailbox is unmanageable.  What can I do?

Unix systems (and some others) support "mail filters."  These are
programs that can organize your mail into folders, so that it isn't
just one big jumble.  This can be a great blessing if you subscribe to
a large number of mailing lists.  The FAQ maintainer knows whereof he
speaks.

Some popular Unix mail filters are "procmail", "mailagent" and
"filter".  Also, offline readers for PC users often support some form
of filtering.

Mail filters are sometimes also used to send unwanted mail from
specific senders to /dev/null (sort of the email equivalent of a
killfile).  Personally, the FAQ maintainer finds it easier to use the
'D' key in his mail reading program; but some people like the feature.

More info: <http://www.smartpages.com/faqs/mail/filtering-faq/faq.html>
Also available by anonymous ftp from ftp.ii.com
/pub/ii/internet/filtering-mail-faq.txt.

If you filter mail using Unix "filter", there is a very helpful guide
at <http://rohan.sdsu.edu/filter.html>.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.10 Where can I find other FAQs?

Here are a few locations for general FAQs:
  <gopher://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk:70/1/usenet/news-FAQS>
  <http://www.smartpages.com/faqs/>
  <ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.answers>
  <ftp://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/doc/faq>
  <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/>

In the last case, you can also use the symbolic link /usenet in place
of /pub/usenet-by-group.  Warning: symbolic links sometimes seem to
confuse Web browsers.  If Netscape (or whatever) gives you a cryptic
message like "URL not found", try using the actual link.

If the FAQ you want is archived at MIT, and if you know its name and
the full path needed to get to it, you can get a copy by email.  The
mail filter FAQ can be obtained by sending the message
        send usenet/news.answers/mail/filtering-faq
to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu.  The talk.religion.buddhism FAQ (all
three files at once) can be obtained by sending the message
        send usenet/talk.religion.buddhism/*
or
        send usenet/news.answers/buddhism-faq/*
to the same address.

A complete list of commands understood by the MIT mail server can be
obtained by sending the message
        help
to the same address.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.11 What's this "chat" thing I've heard about?

Interactive Relay Chat (IRC) allows several users to send messages to
each other over a single "channel" in real time.  Some channels are
general free-for-alls.  Others are dedicated to specific topics.

There are two topic channels that may have special interest for
readers of t.r.b.  One is #tibet -- not sure when the channel operator
is around.  The other is #buddhist.  Try 'em out!

If you haven't used IRC before, here are some notes based on the Unix
IRCii client (if you use something else, consult the resource listed
in the next paragraph -- or better yet, consult someone who also uses
the same IRC client).  These notes are not entirely correct for
'advanced' users, but if you know what's wrong with them you don't
need my advice anyway. :-) Otherwise they will be good enough until
you know your way around.

If your system has an IRC client installed, just type IRC to get
started.  If your system does not have an IRC client installed, and
you want to know where to find one (or if you just want more info),
take a look at <http://www.kei.com/irc.html>.

IRC commands start with a forward slash (e.g., /help).  Anything typed
on a line that does not start with / will be sent to the channel(s)
you are on.

If you are new to IRC, it is *strongly* suggested that you look at all
of the following before doing anything else:
        /help intro
        /help newuser
        /help etiquette

Next, try something like /join #buddhist or /join #tibet followed by
/who * (note the asterisk) to find out if anyone other than yourself
is logged on.  If you are alone on the channel, try waiting around for
a bit -- if everybody just looked in and left, there would almost
never be two people on a channel at the same time!

To leave a channel, type /leave * (or just /join a new channel).  To
quit IRC altogether, type /exit or /quit or /bye.
