silent thunder

I have lived with several zen masters... all of them feline. ~anon Cats above most animals I've spent time with seem to be innate masters of zen, in both their innate emptiness when not engaged, and their unbreakable focused mindfulness when in action. True Masters. As for Tara: She's the quietest in spirit and presence of any I've shared time with.

I love that story! And as I see it, you didn't miss a sit, you gained a sleeping meditation. and at the start of the retreat... those sleeping meditations, couple of them... utterly paradigm shattering. Intrigued to see when my path leads to another meeting with him.

Can I purchase the paperback from your site directly? I may have just missed it when perusing. (Any more, I prefer to avoid amazon completely.)

Sweet! Another Bum Book to add to my stack. Thanks for sharing. I'll seek it out soon.

I recognize those faces! wow... talk about dedication.

Fascinating conversation. Thanks Bums! Master Wang at his retreat, spoke of Mountain Daoists (full time), Temple Daoists (full time) and Household Daoists (cultivate when able). As for Celibacy... my own take is similar to Socrates in that "As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent." Thanks again for a stimulating topic.

I thought the same thing the moment I saw him go after that hip joint without looking, with that giant grin on his face... all while dancing a little jig. Such pure joy and obvious skill. Awesome.

wow. just wow... synchronicity... years ago became a daily companion yet today, on this site... this is whopper number 3! thank you so much for sharing timing... relevance... layers... wow

omg @Nintendao Monty Python's Flying Smoker...

I have not. Though it's been referenced a few times in very compelling conversations over the years by friends. I'm intrigued and may give it a shot when I'm in a watching mood. I'm put in mind of the Tarkovsky films of the mid/late 70's. Stalker and Solaris. Each delves deeply into the notions of automated response, consciousness as reflected in reality perception, our deepest subliminal impulses and how they relate to our surface notions of morality. Tarkovsky was such a master of atmosphere and dialogue as a sprinkling of detail on wave of atmospheric influence. ack... I'm monologuing... lol at least he's Russion and deep... lol

Fully agree. She is just... so fully present. authentic... she wasn't catering, selling she was sharing authentically... of herself. one of a kind, what a force all that from a screen, can only imagine being in the room with her...

Ha, our most recent feline family member, Tara... we call her our Owl Cat. She's a Nordic Forest Longhair but i swear in varying lights, varying times of day... She's 33%Owl, 34%Fox, 33%Feline and 39%Shadow/Mist.

those few images say so much more... than all the words on this forum. wow. just wow. what a miracle our tiny, moist speck of dust is! and yet... perfectly ordinary

Always wanted to take a train to Siberia... preferrably in the Fall/Early Winter transition. This talk of AI has me reflecting on my obsession with the notion of AI in humans, Automated Interaction... i.e. lack of free will, or independent choice. I'm seemingly made of the notion that we do not have much in the way of 'free will' or 'independent choice' in our actions/reactions of life and movement through life. Stimulus prompts response. What is called Choice is a local mind rationalization after the compulsion has played out. The origins of what is called by Society... choice, for my awareness, are made and arise from well below the threshold of local 'waking' consciousness. Most of what folks who claim (often vehemently) that they exhibit Free Will, or 'make a choice' when they get up and get a drink of water, go camping, read a book, or call a friend, or respond to a news article, or reply to Bums thread... I don't consider any of that, nor most of conscious waking trance life, to be a result of local awareness making an independent choice. To me, what most folks call choice, is the localized conscious rationalization of compulsory response to stimuli. In many ways this is a mirror of computer programs, which will respond to prompts in predictable established, programmed pathways. AI... is not artificial intelligence in my analysis It's Automated Interaction and it mirrors (as do all human tools) an aspect of human perception, allowing us to peer just a bit further into the nature of reality, than our senses are tuned to... but being designed by us, is still going to have inherently the same human paramaters and limitations, but in different spheres of relative influence.

intriguing... i didn't intend that post for this thread.

Buddha... Awake. Waking, not as waking up out of sleep... but in the manner of becoming aware of true nature. unveiled in the cave when mind rests without stimulus true nature unveils with the full atrophy of behavioral conditionings self identifications with emotional responses and attractions/aversions when all else falls away what remains? true nature when all that is not true nature atrophies and falls away, what remains is not what is achieved not what is sought, manufactured, or gathered and stored up what is revealed is what abides all along under the trappings and seekings true nature unmarkable spotless untaintable clarity, emptiness, bouyancy

Some of the photos of the ash... Villages buried in ash. Roofs caving in. 11 towns in Batangas, locked down to prevent returns to homes. 160,000 displaced. Livestock, livelihoods, gone. Heart-wrenching.

Me, camping with a buddy in Grizzly country. Him: So, what's your like... bear strategy? Play dead? Get big and yell? Me: ... nope... very simple. Always camp with a slow friend. Him: ... dude! you suck!

“Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.” ― George Carlin

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own” ― Nikola Tesla

this musta been a helluva show too...

if you don't get loose now... you bettah forget it...! cuz you ain't got much tiiiiiiiime.... none of us do.

wow, thanks mate. that is stunning

We are all of us Gardeners. Every word, every interaction... a seed planted in every being we affect. What seeds am i planting? mind asks this daily