I recently created a community for the practice of semen retention. It is an ancient practice and has ties to Taoism. For me and others it is largely for the sake of self improvement and spiritual / material progress.

I posted on a new communities forum and the post almost immediately has garnered several downvotes. I'm genuinely confused as to why. The practice is not hurting anyone, nor is it rude or offensive.

I am anyway trying to reduce my screen time and time on Reddit, and the new changes they're making spurred me to check out Lemmy when I heard about it. I like the simple feel of it and hope that it will create smaller, tighter knitted communities, encourage individual posting (I never posted on Reddit but it feels more acceptable here somehow), and also help to further reduce my screen time.

I'm glad to see there's a Buddhist instance here. I think this may be the first or second post ever on this instance, so for the sake of encouraging conversation I would like to ask those who may see this post:

1. What sect of Buddhism do you subscribe to? What do you like most about that sect?
2. What is one way you have incorporated the teachings into your life recently, or one thing you would like to incorporate?

For me:

1. Tibetan Buddhism (Gelug tradition). I like the fact that it purports that enlightenment can be achieved in just one lifetime; that negative karma can be purified; and that bad things happening is just our negative karma ripening, which means you are paying your karmic debt in those situations. It's very motivating for this lifetime.
2. I am trying to be more mindful in everyday life because I don't meditate much at all, and I think mindfulness is the next best thing.

I hope this instance / community grows in the future!