TheSongsofDistantEarth

Noooooo!!!!!! Please? C'mon, you said you would... .

yesssss! .

No, it's your writing. Definitely not clear or cogent. I can usually understand Xabir and Michaelz just fine. .

Yeah, nice thought, except that the whole financial/economic structure is really a shaky house of cards that is filled with 'toxic debts' and 'credit swap derivatives' that even the corrupt and greedy players don't understand. And this "structure" remains intact. The current economic difficulties are nothing compared to what could happen. The current situation may get a whole lot worse. Just read some of Nobel Prizewinning economist Paul Krugman. He's very worried. Add something like the fall of Pakistan and nuclear scenarios as a result of that in even a few major cities across the world, and everything shuts down. Look at what the death of just 3,000 in the 9/11 attacks did economically. That' why the government is freaked about Pakistan. The "subconscious creative mind matrix" will be just so much new age pixie dust. .

Hey, don't blame us if you can't write clearly enough for others to understand! .

Ignoring the 2012 date for the moment, it seems very conceivable that a total worldwide economic meltdown could occur in the next several years, given current financial structures. Perhaps inciting events such as the fall of the Pakistani government and the dispersal and use of their nuclear armaments by radical groups would be the trigger that could plunge the world into turmoil and the dawn of a 'new age' after a large die-off of the population and many years of misery and darkness. At the rate at which things are now happening, some sort of similar scenario 'feels' very possible to me in a gut, intuitive sense, not just intellectually. And as an individuals, and even collectively, there is very little we can do. Pole shifts and such seem more like Y2K scares and not real likely. So, what else to do but surrender, and live life as though it may not happen. Those who scheme to find a 'safe place' in this scenario are foolish. .

How did this thread again become yet another tiresome Buddhist debate? The topic is the Tao Te Ching. Why does every thread turn into Buddhist discourse? It's really annoying! . .

eh. thanks. .

"Many years"? Not just several? I'm impressed. Not many Westerners get to spend many years in seclusion. Please tell... how many years? Where, when, with who? What is your definition of 'seclusion'? Were you a monk? How did you support yourself? (Shucks, if you were in an ashram, that doesn't really count). You mentioned elsewhere you were from a very modest upbringing... how did you pull it off? I'm sorry, it's not that I'm disbelieving, it's just that I've never met a real westerner other than Ted Kaczinski who was able to live a life of seclusion for many years and then come back to the hurly-burly...Oh please tell!!! .

The Buddha did not know anything about what would happen next, let alone about after you die. No one knows that. He saw 'Truth', as in the noble ones, but could not know with absolute certainty what would be next. How could he? He had not died before. Answer, please: does consciousness exist outside of the universe? If, in the next instant, all the mass in the Universe were to reverse itself and begin to collapse into a single point again, would consciousness still exist? Could Gautama have said that absolutely would not happen? Do the Buddha realms survive if the universe does itself does not?

There's a few Buddhist newcomers who post a lot, and often seem to hijack many threads over into some way to preach superiority of the dharma. Fine, if the threads call for it, but many of these threads become tiresome continuations of a theme, and end up being about the same thing, no matter the topic. The Buddhist posters seem to have decided what's what, and only seem to want to prove how superior Buddhism is, no matter what the thread is about. They don't seem to demonstrate any curiosity about other points of view, but seem to want to prove how enlightened they are and how Buddhism is the highest way. Every other point of view is batted down, and since at least one of them posts compulsively seemingly around the clock, they take over. It kind of ruins the idea of an open forum when you have a fervent super-poster that monopolizes a large part of it. It's really tiresome and discourages openness since they co-opt everything to their argument. If they were less all over the place all the time, it wouldn't be a problem. I say give 'em their own area, and we police them ourselves when they pull a thread off-topic. I keep hoping eventually that annoying guy (why, who could that be??)will get bored and go off to preach on another forum... but now probably won't just to piss us off. .

Hmmm. thanks for sidestepping the question...again, where in the Upanishads does that qoute come from, and could you more clearly explain it? Could you lead me through what you meant? I am unable to follow your line of thinking. Your words seem like they make sense, but I get nothing out of them. I can read Buddhist teachers and follow them, but forgive me, you're not being clear. Does anyone else agree, or am I the only one left wondering by most of the Buddhaspeak in this forum? Hey, remember, most of us are Taoists...if you cannot state clearly what you have to say, it ain't clear. Have a good dinner... let me guess... Chinese? .

This seems to me like when I have tried to discuss spirituality with an ardent Christian and they keep referring back to the Bible as proof of the rightness of their point of view, when I don't accept the Bible as an absolute source of anything. Can't they argue outside of the context of the Bible? What is the difference? Why is the Buddha's teaching the last word on anything? He was a realized being, but he was a human. And despite any expanded states of enlightenment he or other Buddhists attain, regarding rebirth, etc., nobody, not even the Buddha really knows what happens after death. Not one single being that has ever lived has ever known what comes after they die. Just as there are many races and peoples, the many ways of human beings seeking to return to the Source are many and varied. It is elitist to say that the Buddhist way is the Real Way to the top. It's just the same thing that the fundamentalist Christians claim, or fundamentalist Muslims. It's just Buddhist fundamentalism. Do you expect a Eskimo shaman to convert? Or a Hassidic Jew? Or is it just that, given enough lifetimes, they will ultimately come around to Buddhist reality?

2_HXUhShhmY

Hey, thanks for the insight. Could you cite where in the Upanishads that statement is from? I've thought about your interpretation, and am not sure I agree with you, based on the statement you quoted. It would be nice to see the statement in context to see if that is what is meant by the surrounding context. Maybe you could also expand on what you said, perhaps expand and clarify it? What you said doesn't really make sense to me. Maybe I'm not advanced enough. It's interesting that Socrates also said something similar. Obviously he was not a Buddhist, and is probably just now working his way up to realization in a current incarnation as a minor Buddhist monk in a Bangkok ghetto, but nonetheless, he was a biggie for his limited time and place anyway. "The admission of not knowing is what drove Socrates. 'Wisest is he who knows he does not know' is the key element of Socratic thought. Socrates himself said 'One thing only I know, and that is I know nothing'. This is what made Socrates stand out above the crowd. He was scared by not knowing and so asked questions. The most subversive of people are those that ask questions. For a question can be more explosive than a thousand answers." He obviously possessed a good intellect but was stuck as a pisher struggling in the lower realms, as he didn't even meditate, plus he actually said he doesn't know anything, so why listen to him. Now that the Greater Vehicle exists, it's only a matter of a few crores of yugas until everybody gets with the program and we can dump all the other spiritual pathways into the shitcan where they belong. So it brings up a good point: what about those who had or have no access to the Buddha's teachings, or if they did, would have culturally rejected them (say, the wisest Native American elder)? Does he or she just have to wait for the next bus (i.e., fortunate birth in a Buddhist-friendly land)?

I agree! As long as I am enjoying my life, meditating, do qi gong, I am not affected by insurance companies raising my health insurance premium and denying my claims, identity thieves, corporate scams and rip-offs everywhere, ridiculous bank fees, online surveillance of web activity, and etc.,...I just close my eyes and enter my buddha-spot...then enjoy my toys... ah yes, sweet revenge...they're sorry they tried to mess with me! .

Anyone ever try this? There was a novel, a kind of a cult-book in the 70's called 'The Dice Man', followed up by a book called 'The Book of the Die', both by Luke Rhineheart that described a way of living using a roll of the dice to decide between six different possible courses of action that you have predetermined. Whatever the dice comes up with, you must do. They are all things one would possibly do, but it's especially desirable if there are some possibilities that one has been wanting to do but is afraid of. Would definitely take you out of the usual habit-patterns and decision-making that create ruts in behavior and in life possibilities. I haven't done it (yet). It would make a really fascinating journal for someone to post online. The psycho-spiritual implications are obvious. It seems very Taoist to me. Here' a link that explains more: http://www.freewebz.com/randommess/dice.htm

Newly discovered footage: BjF4_hR3FfQ And he didn't even get to his blah-de-blah about Buddhism, non-duality, lack of malodor on His Sacred Feces!

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." -- Philip K. Dick The Prince and the Magician Once upon a time there was a young prince, who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, he did not believe in God. His father, the King, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father's domaines, and no sign of God, the young prince believed his father. But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace. He came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore. "Are those real islands?" asked the young prince. "Of course they are real islands," said the man in evening dress. "And those strange and troubling creatures?" "They are all genuine and authentic princesses." "Then God must also exist!" cried the prince. "I am God," replied the man in full evening dress, with a bow. The young prince returned home as quickly as he could. "So you are back," said his father, the King. "I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God," said the prince reproachfully. The king was unmoved. "Neither real islands, nor real princesses, nor a real God, exist." "I saw them!" "Tell me how God was dressed." "God was in full evening dress." "Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?" The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled. "That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived." At this, the prince returned to the next land, and went to the same shore, where he once again came upon the man in full evening dress. "My father the king has told me who you are," said the young prince indignantly. "You deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician." The man on the shore smiled. "It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father's spell, so you cannot see them." The prince returned pensively home. When he saw his father, he looked him in the eyes. "Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?" The king smiled, and rolled back his sleeves. "Yes, my son, I am only a magician." "Then the man on the shore was God." "The man on the shore was another magician." "I must know the real truth, the truth beyond magic." "There is no truth beyond magic," said the king. The prince was full of sadness. He said, "I will kill myself." The king by magic caused death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses. "Very well," he said. "I can bear it." "You see, my son," said the king, "you too now begin to become a magician." -- From "The Magus" by John Fowles

Ugh. I'm taking a break from taobums for awhile. Your omnipresence here is, well, tiresome dude. You're kinda manic, posting your take on everything. This kind of forum works best when one or several members aren't constantly vomiting up their smug knowledge CONSTANTLY....You post too much. Wise people listen a lot more than they speak. Sorry, but you're obnoxious, egotistical, condescending and most especially...deeply, profoundly boring. Hopefully when I check back in someday, you'll have moved on to monopolize another forum.

more nonsense. and more boring, if that's possible. hey, i thought you were going to climb into Divine Mother's bed for the night?

You can probably pinch a few of her Xanax to help get you to sleep...she probably won't notice. g'nite!

Yeah, still boring. Maybe a 12-Step group for Recovering Narcissists? .

Say what?? What the hell does that mean? More of your fancy uber-pedantic utterly meaningless buddhaspeak, O Mighty Mighty? But hey. Good times!