Absurdity in the SO Buddhist community is dangerous

Question

I want everybody to take time to reflect about their voting and their answers especially high voted users.

I want to state since in the beginning that this is not me lamenting about the rules of the site or anyone in particular however I will adress my concern with examples!

It has come to mine attention that some people here misinterpret(not their intention) the teachings and suttras of the buddha and other buddhists like this.

If someone checks the reference link it does not state anything about attaining enlightenment of people who don't care! The question itself has not stated any type of specifications,yet they clearly are in conflict with the doctrine itself! More absurd is the fact that one has two upvotes while the other answer which states the same thing is downvoted.

This is not the only example I have seen multiple examples of people here that like to interpret teaching or sometimes jump to conclusions.

I would ask for everyone to follow certain rules or at least not to reference at all! I would understand someone who shares his own experience but this is getting ridiculous!

This is a community which I care & I don't like it to be transformed into smth where facts are disregarded!

My life has changed from practising meditation in a good way and the wrong view of someone new may not find it useful at all and disregard it as smth not important!

Answer 1

Nothing new here. This site will probably outlast all of us. Meanwhile it is up to the moderators to either keep enabling bad behavior & censoring inappropriate speech or to make it easy for themselves dropping the overdue permanent ban on toxic pseudo-experts.

I think if one was to go by the Sutta then in case where a certain individual is clearly going the wrong way & is annoying then the community ought to be united in removing that one.

I think this community needs to be more active in the meta and discussing things like this openly because this is a rather small community and if people align on matters like this then it shouldn't be difficult to do things to uphold interesting discourse and learn things.

I have previously complained about DD's excerpts, in general i wouldn't trust neither his inference nor presentation to be what he says or thinks it is. He is the type of person to say 'i can neither refute nor understand what you are saying' and keep arguing.

Answer 2

If someone checks the reference link it does not state anything about attaining enlightenment of people who don't care!

The sutta (SN 22.99) wasn't posted as an example of saying something about "not caring".

It was posted to support this sentence of the answer:

As for the end of this birth cycle, it is when the mind stops conceiving "self".

... because that sutta describes being bound (as if chained to a pole) by assuming the aggregates to be "self".

More absurd is the fact that one has two upvotes while the other answer which states the same thing is downvoted.

We've had meta-topics before, about voting -- not much we can do about it (except decide how you yourself will choose to vote).

I would ask for everyone to follow certain rules or at least not to reference at all!

I suppose you misunderstood the purpose of the reference: the reference was meant to be relevant to the connection between "self-view" and "rebirth" (which is a topic that is featured in many of Dhammadhatu's answers).

Answer 3

I couldn't agree more with InnerFire. Misinterpretations of the teachings are dangerous and are abundant (not just in this community).

On the other hand: everyone is reacting according to their own understanding. There is not other way, that's the way it is.

It would be better if everyone is humble enough to clearly state that what they are writing is their own interpretation of the texts, the situation, the whatever. It would be better if readers realise that what they are reading, what others are writing is always nothing more than an interpretation. But for this to happen, certain understanding is necessary. One has to realise the dangers of misunderstandings and the shortcomings of communication.

Like ChrisW I have no idea how to help with this.

Maybe introduce a mandatory tag like 'my interpretation' or a mandatory note like 'Don't forget, this is just my interpretation'? Of course, that means that said tag and/or note would be in basically every comment and answer. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad to be reminded over and over again that this is just what it is: some unenlightened being's interpretation.