TheSongsofDistantEarth

I always seem to have my photos narrowed horizontally. How to fix?

Please note, I said 'the Buddhist', meaning our very own 'Inappropriate Buddha Guy'. Not our other Buddhist brethren here, just Vaj. He's insensate. OK. So, I have been with several teachers who could give shaktipat, many people we crying out, barking, moaning, doing spontaneous kriyas, in bliss and ecstasy, but to what end? Nice phenomenon, but so what? How did it advance me, or anyone spiritually, really? I saw it as a nice sideshow, but not really central to spiritual work or development.

This behavior has always bothered me, but it seems to creep in every discussion when the Buddhist (Vaj) enters it. I don't think there's an off switch.

shaktiplop

What does it mean to be "considered enlightened"? Who cares what one is 'considered'? What counts is: what is 'enlightenment', is it a relative term, are there degrees of enlightenment and finally, who decides? If I decide I am enlightened, and no one else does, what is the reality? Am I deluded? Is it possible that 'they' may decide I'm enlightened after I die? What if you're enlightened, but nobody, even yourself realizes it? Would it make any difference? Why do we seem obsessed with becoming enlightened? Why the focus on this? Why not be judged by the fruits of our actions and the light emanating from our being? Someone who is enlightened does not speak of being enlightened, if they do, they are not. Why do we care so much about this? Life does not become "easier", we just let go of certain troublesome aspects of our psyche. I do not believe being "enlightened" is a goal, rather, it is a by-product of right living and right mind. My suspicion is, that for most of us (especially on this forum), are into enlarging the ego, becoming 'special' and perhaps powerful by becoming enlightened, rather than interested in becoming nobody. Becoming nobody is a prerequisite to becoming enlightened, whatever that means.

Sorry Joe, your cynical posts simply cry out for sarcastic reposte.

Y'all just threw a bunch of gasoline on the Vajrahridaya fire, so stand back! It's going to come pouring out with ultimate certainty and condemnation of all lesser paths. (By the way, I don't appreciate clear, simple and direct communication from him unless you are already a long-time arhat). Well, maybe this will confine him to this thread for awhile, so we can avoid the take-over that was happening before he got married 6 months ago.

Thank you for your kind offering Mr Cow, but I for one would rather hear a personal account of the notion of enlightenment. I think ninpo-me started this thread with the intention of not getting quotes from sutras or other Buddhist thinkers, but rather a very simple and clear translation of the notion of enlightenment. Surely it is way more than 'kundalini activation'. indeed, a being may be enlightened without bothering with kundalini, yes?

I will be very surprised if very many here even understand the concept of enlightenment. This forum is heavy with those who consciously or unconsciously seek to gain power through kundalini, qi abilities, special powers, or their idea of how special they would be if they became what they imagine to be "enlightened". I will not yet say what my views on enlightenment are, I'd like to see what others say. I think this thread would be much better served if it were not directed toward Vajrahridaya. I do not believe he can express himself in language that is simple, clear, easy to understand and free of technical and endlessly circular ethereal Buddhist jargon. We'll see. But why limit the topic with his answers? He certainly needs no encouragement to post here more!

Ah, so...

Are relationships important? Yes! No! Sometimes! Usually! Never! Always! But of course! It depends! Conditionally so! Why? Why not? Why do you ask?! Hel-l-l yes! Hell no! Get a life! Get lost kid, yer bothering' me! Indubitably! Damn straight they are! (In Arizona): Show me your papers! (Everywhere else): Just step away from the vehicle, sir! Gee Mrs. Cleaver, that's a nice dress you're wearing! Gee, Mr. Cleaver, that's a nice tie! What's wrong with relationships? I say Old Bean, it depends on how you define 'important'! Does the Pope shit in the woods? Maybe! Are there any side effects? Ask your doctor if a relationship is right for you! Kinda...kinda important! Maybe not!

I'd like to find out what fellow ZZ'ers do when traveling. Often I am forced to do a 'placeholder' type of practice session where I do maybe five minutes in an inconvenient place, just so I don't miss practicing. I sometimes go outdoors in a parking lot or 10-15 minutes indoors in a hotel room, it doesn't feel right to do much more. As it is, it feels kind of unsatisfactory. Or sometimes I find myself in a room on an upstairs floor, and it feels really wrong to do ZZ without contacting Mother Earth. I won't allow myself to skip a day entirely, but it sure feels weird when I'm not able to get a decent session in for days or weeks at a time on a trip. It also feels like doing another form of qi gong kind of breaks the flow of the ZZ. Even practicing in a hotel room feels very odd. Is it better to just let go of ZZ and do something else? It's funny, meditation doesn't seem to bother me in those settings. Anyone have any suggestions?

OK, big lovefest here for Vajra. I'm obviously the only one who picks up an NPD. and yes, he is sincere, if inappropriate. Well, I'll just shut up and let it be all Vajra, All the Time. Don't say I didn't warn ya. But now that the Buddhists have allied with the KAPsters, we may not have anything else. oh, well...let the emoticons flow! Isn't this thread supposed to be about the short list of Shaktipaters? ah, a portent of things to come...

Vajra, can't you see this is a revolving door, here?? You always believe it's never you...even though you keep coming up against different people in your elitist postings, denigrating others, yet you fail to own your behavior. I believe it's because you are not able, and cannot admit the difficulty one has in viewing himself as others do. You always, always, always turn it around on whoever it is you're preaching to and arguing with that day. You always make the other person wrong. Your 'debating style' is Teflon, so that no true exchange of ideas ever takes place. Your failure to see your patterns astonishes me in someone who claims to be self-aware. But all of this seems to be part of a profound passive-aggressive pattern, it's just that new people keep stumbling into your "debates". At least you are finally admitting that you're here preaching rather than your previous disingenous "Oh, I'm here to debate and to learn". By the way, this is not an ad-hominem argument that dwai is asserting here. To say that "your understanding is narrow", is not an 'ad hominem' argument. This is not ad hominem. See definition:argumentum ad hominem.

huh ? But I do agree with ralis. The elitist sutra pumpers are pretty tiresome... But let's get back to the topic, please... Free Willy

Vaj, you seem to repeat the same patterns with different people here over many months...what is the point of preaching here? You seem to think you are doing some service, but I agree, you reflect poorly on Buddhism and turn off lots of people. I know, I know, supposedly there is a group of people here who PM you and support your efforts to ram your brand of the dharma down everyone's throats, but I really rather doubt that there is more than one or two others who support you in your egotistical embarrassing spectacle. Actually, it seems that you are the common denominator in all of the scuffles and kerfuffles and dustups we have here. But I can already envision your response to this, it's always the same. But I wonder what you get out of creating division and conflict here over and over? I know you think you are approaching Buddhahood, but there really is something wrong with your forum behavior. You sure get into it with lots of people for being such a "realized being".

Miraculously?? How about having real safeguards at every point in the deep water system, with real plans for action if there is failure? Obviously BP was cutting costs and actually did not much care. They got lazy. What if the FAA gets lazy about safeguards and back up plans for the aviation industry, and the inspectors were getting favors and kick backs from the airlines? Isn't the government supposed to 'miraculously' try to foresee any event that might happen, regardless if we've seen anything like certain possible scenarios before? The stakes are enormous, so yes, you must have legitimate plans in place to protect the safety of many people. Same for deep water drilling. They can't just 'blow it off'. When the stakes are so supremely high, it is like what Rachel Maddow said in the video cited already in this thread: "...Never again will any company, anyone, be allowed to drill in a location where they are incapable of dealing with the potential consequences of that drilling. When the benefits of drilling accrue to a private company, but the risks of that drilling accrue to We, the American People, whose waters and shoreline are savaged when things go wrong...I, as 'President', stand on the side of the American People and say to the industry, 'from this day forward, if you cannot handle the risk, you no longer will take chances with our fate to reap the rewards'..." We must demand that the oil companies have these plans and safeguards in place, with many back ups and cross checks, so we can avoid despoiling our waters and smashing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

It bothers me when people write things happening now as "every generation" has thought that the end was upon us. Never before have we faced the problems we now have on many, many fronts, and with the burgeoning world populations, all is concentrated into a smaller time frame for the effects of our human activities to destroy us.

Um, Boy George?

Nice post, Stoner Wolf. We constantly come up against Buddhist elitism here, you take is a fresh perspective.

Thank the Buddha you've got a small army of followers here who cheer you on and then there are the many whom you have converted to your brand of Buddhism from your heady writings. It seems you do come here, humbly, very humbly, to listen deeply and quietly learn from others. And for that I am thankful. And I do think you have attained Buddhahood.

Debating the guy is futile. It's really refined Buddhist twerpitude, and there is no self awareness in this individual. He does like to come in and dust it up with various unfortunates who challenge his views on his Dzogchen path as the ne plus ultra of the spiritual world. Very tiresome, so I like to point out his repetitive narcissistic blather whenever possible. I think he's got me blocked, so he won't even get to read this...he he...

Dang, Joeblast- you are such a smartypants!! Why do we bother trying to argue with you, you smoke us every time! I just wonder how you get to post things in the workday with your mid-level corporate position. Don't they monitor y'alls computers? You are my hero. Resistance is futile. We should all be like you, sir!

Vortex, I am pointing out that big money is powering everything, Republican or Democrat. The way the works is that nobody can be elected president without being fully owned and indebted to the corporate machine. Your thoughts about Obama are beside the point. He opened up modest amounts of new drilling mainly to appease the GOP, not because he 'owed' big oil per se. And you sound like another reactive hysterical person shouting about 'socialized' healthcare. The point is, it's not socialized, and some change needed to happen in healthcare in this country. It was sure to sink our economy very soon, and it probably will just take longer now. My comment was to point out the BIG PICTURE of how corporate money controls our country and the world, and that corporations by their very definition are anti-life (unless for them to act differently creates a profit). Do you have a response to this? You sidestep the big picture and just start sputtering out specific little objections rather than discussing the way corporations have their evil tentacles in every aspect of our lives. Their decisions can mean life and death for millions of people (remember the 'rescissions' that the health insurance industry practices?). And now, with the Supreme Courts decision earlier this year, corporations can now spend whatever they wish in political campaign contributions. Do you think this is a good step for democracy?