Yascra

And although there's no problem in asking for help if some problem is just to severe for you, for those who prefer the approach of "do it yourself" like I tend to, here's an option, too: http://www.meditationexpert.com/self-improvement/s_make_offerings_to_hungry_ghosts_for_accumulating_merit.htm All the best

Hello again, coming back to Marblehead's remark about Philosophical Taoism, I'd like to go into that one a little. I admit I'm kind of new to Taoism in general, so my spontaneous idea of Philosophical Taoism would be some equivalent to "Buddhist discussion" - more dominated by scholars, maybe some exercise in debating etc. and thereby useful for some basic rational understanding of certain terms, BUT .. well, a more theoretical part of the whole. Curious little me would not be me if I wouldn't get back to some offer to have things explained by people who have dealt with certain topics for some time and thereby gained some insights into them So I hereby bring up the topic of Philosophical Taoism, what it is, and what it is (or might be) good for Looking forward to your thoughts and insights, and don't forget to have fun Yascra

Drawing circles around it or around oneself also works

Well, and if cure is not an option, choosing the way to leave might be the way not to surrender, to some degree.

I'd say that depends on what you mean by these words. If you mean avoiding something negative although you yourself were the person who created that, and if you then maybe even let someone else take the negative consequences just to avoid your own suffering, although knowing it would be your responsibility to take that suffering yourself, I'd say that's the way of avoiding misfortune that makes you weaker. If you're avoiding misfortune long-termed, meaning you learn how to know before that something might end up bad, and therefore avoiding even the causes, that's definitely something that will end up making you stronger. Misfortune and the resulting suffering themselves usually doesn't make people stronger. In most cases they will simply eat up a lot of ressources. Still there's the question what you would regard as "misfortune". I would regard it as suffering consequences of negative causes that now inhibit you from getting the possibility to support others. There are a lot of things that are generally considered "misfortunes" about which I personally don't even care.

Hi there, great question Been there Started influenced by Christianity, but more as an atheist, then became a Christian, practiced intensively for some months and ended up with realization of what Jesus had described as "the kingdom of the father is everywhere, yet you don't see" and was thereafter called a servant of the devil by some fellow Christian as he didn't understand me anymore, then took some break, ended up with bad things happening and re-discovered supernatural things, which led me to Western magic, searching for laws of the world my former paths hadn't taught me anything about, then found that buddhism offers further teachings, maybe those teachings which I couldn't find in Christianity, and ended up taking refuge officially, but never really got close connections with the religious part of it, as I feel I'm done with blind belief, and now got also interested in other Asian ways, like Daoism at the moment. My conlcusion so far is that, what you'll be able to work with, is not a question you could answer with your head; it's about your karma, and your karmic connection to things, paths, people. Maybe you have some close connection to a great practicioner who is a Muslim right now, then you might be influenced by him or her and feel yourself attracted to that religion as well; maybe thereby being largely influenced by it's teachings. This way you'll favour this teachings; anyway, the goal is the same and has to be the same no matter which path you're working with. There is only ONE absolute, it must be like that, otherwise it would not be the absolute; and what life is all about is to realize THIS, completely. It does not really matter which road you choose, as long as it has the potential to lead you to realization of this. Now, have all religions the potential to lead you to that aim? - well, I don't have detailed memories of ALL of them, but I've lived a lot of lives, and most of them in different religions. Most religions offer at least methods for you to realize THAT ONE, absolute; anyway, I personally found that Christianity doesn't offer much to lead you any further than that; buddhism and related religions that teach more about karma and wisdom are more prone to this. As long as you don't have that realization, anyway, it is not THAT important whether one particuluar religion has the potential to reach the END-goal of perfect, complete realization of the Tao or of enlightenment; as without that very first realization you won't be able to really progress in spiritual terms at all. Monotheist religions have the advantage that they are not too complicated; having just one god to pray to, and to concentrate on, is more easy than having to ask yourself whether one deity is the "real one", or at least the "real one for you", which I found to be a great problem in e.g. Tibetan buddhism. Finally, for the beginning you should stick to things that teach virtue, for without virtue you can't succeed anyway. I myself can just state that I lack the wisdom to clearly discriminate what can be okay and what not in every case. phew, think I should come to an end for now, it's getting too long for a comment maybe, but actually I could write some things more about it. Final suggestion is that you won't miss too much as long as you lack some basic realization yourself; so I'd advise you to stick to something of which you feel that you can really appreciate it as the greatest holy thing you've ever seen. Most religions also contain dirt, superfluent rules etc. which you'll all have to sort out later, so you'll have to purify that dirt anyway; but that can happen to you either way. The problem with non-virtuous ways is that you'll accumulate a lot of negative karma that way, and cultivating and realizing non-duality if you are in hell, were you'll end up if you accumulate too much of that bad karma, is really an advanced level that will make it more difficult for you. As mentioned, I found some great teachings in buddhism that I found lacking in Christianity, so I can just recommend to establish a connection to that wisdom way - but really the wisdom way, not the religious part of it. But that might be difficult if you lack some initial realization, so if you feel that what you REALLY regard as being holy and of highest virtue is what is presented to you in Christianity or Islam (just as examples), my suggestion would be to first work with that. As mentioned, as long as you can concentrate sufficiently on one path to reach some initial realization of emptiness, you won't miss much anyway, for for a beginning there is not much "more" any religion could offer to you. Afterwards, what I am doing at the moment, you still have the option to fill in whatever gaps you find, concerning wisdom teachigs, knowledge etc. ... Finally, so many words just to agree with OldChi: Find a path which you feel you have a connection too, and then STICK to that and practice All the best to you

Existence.

Still the real "inheritable" potential of epigenetic modifications is highly discussed amongst experts in the field. As epigenetic modifications are also what makes the difference between e.g. a muscle cell, an immune cell and a stem cell. It's not really understood yet how this all works and I wouldn't bet that those mechanism proposed at the moment will still be regard as the best explanation in something like 20 years or so

As it's semi-legal, if legal at all, and maybe more difficult to get human skull from Tibet, I would be surprised if you got one made of human bones for the price and with the declaration of being Ox ;-)

Hi you Ehm, I think I did recommend you to practice meditation In the end that leads one to this Self which you will rely on. Noonoo, that's not what I was talking about. Actually that conclusion is right the opposite of what I aimed at. Realizing the absolute is realizing the in-dependent. But realizing this doesn't work without realizing that things in Samsara (sorry for that buddhist term) will always rely on each other, and therefore depend on each other. So we're quite on topic, I assume

Hahaha I wouldn't know anyone's names anyway, but I'd say he seems to have some humour and potential to be self-ironic, which will usually be a good thing I assume Very basic question: Besides things like "it depends on your karma", could you give some advice what a complete beginner should start with? Advices to just "find a teacher" or use the next possible institutions near your home might be reasonable, but not everybody will receive the training or teachings that way that fit his or her own level of experience. Any suggestions for well-known methods to start with that are secure enough to do them without personal guidance?

In this case I'd look for what's behind everything.

Hi there I found Tibetan Mandala Offering a great practice for creating a wonderful place, which you then offer to the Buddhas/your teacher/whatever you consider a virtuous example of someone who has mastered the path. I know it as a part of the Tibetan Ngondro, and some people seem to think you need an empowerment to do that, but I basically think that's not the case. I also found you don't necessarily need this "Mandala sets" for it - it's more about your visualisation and intention. Put a mixture of rice, (more or less) precious stones, incense, maybe money ... whatever you consider precious.. in one vessel, a bowl or something. (Maybe sit down in lotus posture), then take a round plate, and, putting little bits of that mixture of rice etc. at different spots on the plate one after the other, recite and visualise what you're offering (the sun, the moon, precious cow etc.). There are some patterns (for example starting with dots in north - south - west - east, then adding further spots between them) and texts for it, and you might take those as an example to start with it, but you can basically offer all good things you can imagine - medicine that cures all diseases, food that feeds everyone.. you might be creative. You thereby transform that plate into a wonderful continent of a wonderful world (a universe actually, filled completely with all good things you can imagine), and finally you dedicate all that, to the Buddha(s), the teacher, the sake of every sentient being. Then you might put all that stuff back from the plate to the vessel and start again. It's just a suggestion, but it is a very easy practice, and a very, very helpful one. At the end you might dedicate all the merit you've accumulated to the enlightenment of all sentient beings. I think you'll find some examples of the Mandala practice on youtube, performed by Tibetan monks, and might have a look at them, but it really doesn't need to be in Tibetan, and it absolutely doesn't need to be complicated (as I mentioned, it works well with one plate instead of such a "Mandala set", visualisation and intention is far more important). And dedication to the Buddhas and requesting the Buddhas to stay as teachers is always a good cause that might lead to really getting to know a teacher that's appropriate to you And of course there are other practices like following the breath etc. which might be more what you mean by "nondual" practices, which might finally also be interesting for you. This one here is really an example of a simple practice, which might still be useful in improving your wellbeing and mental stability. Hope that helps, and all the best for you and your practice, Yascra

Well, if you call it Dzogchen, what do stages have to do with it? And why doesn't this guy know anything about merit and karma if it's about stages to Complete Enlightenment?

Ehm, okay, so xabir2005 is this Thusness and Anderson is one of his fans? oO What levels please? Can't you give links to the statements you'd like to discuss or do I have to be a fan who knows what guy you're talking about to participate? Is that thread here part of an advertisement program? So many questions ...

Hello gianni, and welcome to The Tao Bums May I ask you where you're from? Your introductory post is a little bit short, actually the Lobby is the place people will look at to get some first impression of you, so I'd usually ask you to write more.. I approved it anyway, in order to not stress you too much with writing a lot of English right from the start, but I'd be glad if you would add some further information about yourself and your interests ;-) You'll be able to post freely on the forum now. Please keep our Terms and Rules http://thetaobums.com/topic/19575-forum-terms-rules/ in mind when participating here. Good luck and all the best to you! Yascra

Like Shakyamuni Buddha did, and how he attained buddhahood you mean. Sure.Finally he was nothing else than any other Hindu. Which will be why his followers decided not to give this development a name or term on it's own. Which is why we still have no differences between Buddhism and Hinduism. Great comment.

...

Ouh, for sure. Whenever I want to invite someone for a friendly conversation about something I engage in, I'll start with the words: "Let me guess: You've never done any of these, right?" Nice invitation. Well, I don't see why me being a Steward is relevant to the conversation. Obviously that, again, was your idea.

Well, okay, might you get the answer that an Ex-mod might have deserved. Oooh, thank you so much, actually never meditated, or did any of the things you mentioned. And yes, I'll have to read huuundreds of those great posts here until I'll understand what breathing is all about in meditation. Thank you so much for your kindness. I would have been soo lost without your statement about all the things I don't do and therefore have no clue about. Actually, I wouldn't even have known about that they exist. But.. you know.. I'm not so sure about whether I'll do any of them, you know? You guys here are all so great with your wise words, and I really hardly deserve to have such great company. Thank you again. Could hardly been more friendly. ----------------- Might you have your satisfaction. And sorry to the rest of the community. edit: And tell me a reason why I shouldn't. I offered you to be sorry about it. You're not. So why should I be. I've met too many bad persons to forgive people who are too proud to have the insight that their behaviour was not okay. If you like having basically good people as your foes, that's your decision. I'll be able to cope with that. You started that. Your call.

You're still OT and haven't responded yet to my explanation about those 2 statements you said you would have been interested. At least I think you've been mod here for quite a while and still are more interested in drama than in talking about the topic. Maybe having been a mod it is unusual to you that people dare to speak up if you insult them.

Well, I do fight back when I'm offended and treated with disrespect. Actually when reading your first post in this thread here towards me, I felt more like writing on dharmawheel. So don't be too surprised that you get answers according to that. By the way, what would have been so difficult about writing an answer on-topic to my last post? PS: And you're actually the second person on this board I encounter who behaves like that towards me. The other one might now be back at DW.