Jainarayan

Which I have no problem with; consider the recent bombing of Bodh Gaya. As the Indian Supreme Court stated: "Ordinarily, Hindutva is understood as a way of life or a state of mind and is not to be equated with or understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism... it is a fallacy and an error of law to proceed on the assumption... that the use of words Hindutva or Hinduism per se depicts an attitude hostile to all persons practising any religion other than the Hindu religion... It may well be that these words are used in a speech to promote secularism or to emphasise the way of life of the Indian people and the Indian culture or ethos, or to criticise the policy of any political party as discriminatory or intolerant." But I don't want to turn this into a political issue. That's why I said "rabid" and only brought it up in passing, because some of them are. Any organization has fundamentalist and fringe elements that are more vocal than the mainstream.

That's what I believe.

Hinduism is indeed syncretic from pre-Vedic times. But try telling that to a rabid Hindutvavadi ("rabid" and "Hindutvavadi" are a redundancy). I don't deny being Hindu first and foremost; Hinduism is the foundation for my syncretic beliefs. There are elements of Buddhism (Mahayana especially) and Taoism that I find not incompatible with, overlapping, supplementary and complementary to Hinduism. That cross-pollination I always refer to. And I like variety. This makes me the target of invective from some of those orthodox Hindus who are alpha behind the anonymity of the keyboard.

You may be very right about the game-playing. Shankaracharya did call creation the recreation of God; that God can no more not create than we can not breathe. So maybe we are playing hide-and-seek with ourselves because it's fun. Of course, how does one then explain the causes of evil and suffering? Well, following this convoluted logic (as you get to know me, you'll know this is my logic... convoluted ), perhaps the basic laws of existence were laid out at the beginning, wound up like a clock, and let run to come to whatever results, good or ill. You know... throw it against the wall and see what sticks (incidentally, as an Italian-American that's how we know pasta is cooked properly ).

Can one truly learn from videos, or is a live teacher absolutely necessary when starting out? I made a thread here about starting tai chi classes. And while they are fun in the moment, I'm not sure I'm going to learn much to be able to do it on my own. I'll tell you why... the teacher is very nice, knowledgeable (as far as I being inexperienced can tell), patient, having a grandfatherly manner. However, I'm seeing that in 1/2 hour, I'm not picking up the movements. That's to be expected I suppose. Unfortunately by the next day or so, I can't remember the movements, and in the next session, we move on to something else. That is, there is no reinforcement of what I learned the previous week. Is this to be expected, or is there something amiss? I really would like to learn but I'm not sure this is the way, unless I am missing something. In a video, you can keep backing up to watch a movement over and over again to follow along. It's not working that way in class. I can't ask the teacher to do a one-on-one with me when there are 4 or 5 other participants at different levels.

Absolutely correct from my p.o.v. One of the practices of Vajrayana is yidam yoga... visualizing oneself as one's chosen deity. I call myself a henotheist: someone who believes in one God, a monist or monotheist, but accepts the existence of other deities, either as manifestations of the one God, or as helper deities in their own right. For example I don't think of Hanuman or Ganesha as supreme God. But Devi, Shakti the energy of God takes the forms of Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati, Kali, et. al. I think the bodhisattvas and buddhas are independent, enlightened, helper beings. Yet, like us, they emanate from One (call it Tao, Brahman, Adi-Buddha... ). I compare the idea to a diamond... there is one diamond with many facets, each looks different from a different angle, and reflects light differently to different people (who, as with religion, will fight over what they see ). Or better yet, an ingot of gold. There is one ingot that can take many shapes, for many purposes, yet it is still part of that one ingot and can be melted back into one. Most people believe that moksha is merging into God, Brahman, or whatever one calls It. But it's not a merging because there never was a separation. You may know the phrase "aham Brahmasmi", "I am Brahman", indicating the oneness of all. I think of the Tao the same way. To me, it's another way of saying Brahman... the only thing there is. Though I'm not technically Advaitin because I don't like the idea of maya as understood to be God hiding behind a curtain or illusion: if we are God, why we would be playing hide-and-seek with ourselves? But that opens a whole other can of worms probably best discussed elsewhere. That said, these are great conversations on this site that would without question! cause hurricane force shit storms at the Hindu and Buddhist sites (many of which I unwittingly start because I tend to shoot from the lip and lead with my chin ). Some of the people can be so un-Taoish at times.

I forgot to mention I also include the Hindu and Buddhist deities in my pantheon... Shakyamuni Buddha, Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig, Guanyin), Medicine Buddha, Green Tara and White Tara (whom I believe are forms of Durga), Manjushri (the Buddhist consort of Saraswati), Hanuman, Devi in her many forms, Ganesha, Shiva, and of course Vishnu in his forms as Rama, Narasimha, and of course Krishna. Krishna is my ishtadevata... personal God. I love that image of his universal form. I have a copy of it myself. I'm just beginning to learn little bits about the Taoist deities. I equate The Jade Emperor, who is also the protector of Buddhist dharma, with Indra, as both are known as Shakra. And the Thunder god bears a strong resemblence to Garuda, Vishnu's vahana (vehicle). It's interesting how much cross influence there is among Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist deities. I'm an unabashed panentheistic syncretic henotheist.

Yes you see, that is a perfect example of knowing what works for you and what doesn't.

A great workout is with kettlebells. Swings, when done properly, which are not hard to learn, work the entire body. That means the core, legs, lower and upper back, shoulders, arms, even chest, and most importantly, cardio. One of the best all 'round workouts.

I'm hypothyroid too and taking levothyroxine (T4) and liothyronine (T3) replacement. I'm 55, I still weight train even after lumbar and rotator cuff surgery, walk, started tai chi and do other cardio/aerobic work. Do I get tired? Yes, I run out of steam. It's to be expected being hypothyroid. Replacement meds are not the be-all end-all because the body can't adjust the hormones when it needs to. The simple answer is to push yourself just a little bit more than you feel you can, but not so much that you feel like you're going to die. Hypothyroidism affects cardiac output, so it's easy to get tired.

People like Buddha, Budai (Laughing Buddha) and Ganesha statues to bring good luck. Ironically neither Buddhists nor Hindus regard any of them as good luck charms, rather, as representations of their faiths. It's like someone keeping Fu Lu Shou figurines for good luck.

Energy and emotional vampires; they suck the life out of you.

I'm coming to understand this. I'm looking deeply at myself. Somethings I like, some things I don't. Those things I don't like cause me pain. However, as Paramahansa Yogananda wrote, we have to let the past go. There is no sense in dwelling on it. That's another stumbling block, rather, it's a brick wall. People are afraid to question things, or themselves for fear of the answer. We think "If you don't want to hear the answer, don't ask the question". That's why we don't advance in anything. Just my 2 cents.

Yep, downloaded a .pdf and had it bound in booklet form, along with some of the others.

Have you read The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta by Swami Prabhavānanda? I highly recommend it.

Aw what the heck, I'll jump in too. I rarely have sugar except in fruit. I don't put sugar in coffee or tea (no, just sucralose ). I drink coffee, but I mix 2/3 decaf with 1/3 caff. Once in a blue moon I may have honey with something. Yesterday, however, all bets were off. I had a large brownie with chocolate ice cream, then I had chocolate/nuts/coconut ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. I thought I'd need a tranquilizer dart.

"Jato mat tato path" - "As there are a number of beliefs, there are a number of ways". - Sri Ramakrishna, February 18, 1836 – August 16, 1886. New Age?

Some paths are dead ends or veer way off course, such as Aztec human sacrifice. Adi Shankara escaped by the skin of his teeth from some Kāpālikas who misguidedly wanted to sacrifice him to Goddess Kālī. And they all came under the umbrella of Hinduism. But those dead ends and detours may serve a purpose of the jīva working out karma. Maybe they're not meant to be a way to reach God, but for some reason the jīva is deluded into believing it. That is, the reason the Aztecs and Maya ripped out still-beating hearts was because the gods demanded it, as you said. It wasn't for anything remotely akin to reaching the abode of the gods, but to keep the world from being destroyed by capricious and bloodthirsty gods. So, I see a flaw in the comparison of Aztec human sacrifice and Roman Catholicism as ways to reach God. In my opinion any religion whose goal is to achieve enlightenment, release from samsara, see God "face to face", have eternal joy or bliss, is a valid practice for that practitioner. Judaism is right for a Jew; Hinduism is right for a Hindu; Buddhism is right for a Buddhist; and so on. The Aztecs' practices were for an entirely different reason and not a valid path to the gods; actually it wasn't a path at all.

The only reason I asked is because I've seen another reference to a mālā elsewhere, so I supposed one does something with it. In Hinduism and Buddhism the goal of meditating on a mantra is to invoke, supplicate, thank a deity, or to receive darshan (vision of the deity), and/or enlightenment. Knowing that some Taoists are theistic I thought a Taoist mālā would serve the same purpose. Interesting. So I'd probably use my own mantra.

What does one typically chant when using a mala in Taoism? Are there mantras or prayers? For example, Buddhists and Hindus have mantras like om mani padme hum or om tare tuttare ture svaha; and om namo narayanaya or om namah shiva, respectively, and many others. I have several 108 bead, and one 27 bead malas.

I offer the three recommended items: water, rice, tea (left to right). I've read to feed the rice to the birds (it won't blow up in their tummies). What one does with the water and tea, and any fruits or sweets offered. Consume them? So far that's what I've done. For naivedhya (offerings) to the Hindu and Buddhist deities I either drink the water or water plants with it (they need blessings of prasad too ) and eat the fruit, nuts or other sweets. Sorry if this seems silly.

Btw, speaking of offerings... For those of you who have altars or shrines and make offerings, do you recite a prayer or mantra or something to that effect? I recite (well, read) The Jade Emperor Heart Seal Sutra. Is that OK, is it enough, or is there something else to do? I know there are Laozi's Peace Prayer and Balance Prayer. I like the Balance Prayer, myself.

It just occurred to me, as long as my understanding of wu wei is correct of course, that our goal is to become able to do without making a decision to do, to just do it (apologies to Nike). I can wear the blue shirt or the white shirt. Do I "decide" or do I just grab one of the shirts? Or does wu wei mean not forcing something to be done? Let's say I want to wear the blue shirt but it has to be washed first. Is that what wu wei is not? These are probably really bad examples, but I think you all get the drift.

I think you are so right. If you can handle family, you can handle almost anything. ^ That is the truth! They really don't know me, and I don't know me, though I am getting to know me. That's what this whole journey is about. I've learned some things I like about myself, and somethings I really do not like. But as you said, we can always re-wire our brains; we can unlearn and re-learn.

Thanks. It's true that a smile is usually disarming and steals their thunder. I think the writers of the Star Trek series were reading the Tao Te Ching when they came up with "Resistance is futile". Because it is. It's forcing the issue, which is not the Tao way. We had a gathering on Father's Day (June 16th for the non-Yanks). Actually there was nothing I could eat, being gluten intolerant and trying my hardest to stay vegetarian. This is an Italian-American family that can no more go without meatballs than humans can exist without breathing. I essentially had to pass on everything... the lasagna (wheat & meat), the meatballs, sausage, Italian style cod fish, and the piece de resistance... London broil. After especially passing on the London broil I got (you have to see this coming)... "So now you worship cows!?" I calmly said, "no I don't worship them, but I don't eat them either". I got a "well what can you eat?" I said "not much today" and started a new conversation having nothing to do with food directing it away from my religious eccentricities. Family can indeed put one to the test. However, my sarcasm aside, the entire episode points out how we as a culture put so much emphasis on food and materialism.