Yascra

Obviously, you're already at at least two "issues", I'd say

Be assured, I don't mean "everybody". I just play the same tactic games as the starter of this thread and avoid writing names, but describing the situation in such a way that most others who are somehow "in the topic" will know whom I'm talking about. And it's not an offense in any way. You just can't force someone to become a wiser person who doesn't want to be a wiser person. That's simply being realistic. I have to say the tone in here is really great, taking into account that nobody has to pass some kind of tests of character, behaviour or social development who starts writing here. There's quite a good rate of good posters in here. BUT - they are not the ones who turn debates or discussions into flame-wars, and thereby are not really the persons this thread aims at. Persons who cultivate simply have no reason to behave like that.

Haha! Well, I'm another generation obviously. I would never have taken refuge without the information I found on the internet, simply because there wouldn't have been any connection to the topic. Betrayers and bad persons are outside in the "real world" as well, and it's not only "non-authorized Westerners" who "teach" a shit. I still have more problems with the lack of more than interest in just a little Siddhi- and magic-stuff amongst most of the real-life buddhists I met. IF there is at least this interest in cultivating so far that something like Siddhis might manifest. Not even to speak about interest in complete and perfect enlightenment. The internet sets a filter on it - and be honest, who would be able to regard someone who uses a worldly thing like the internet as a "real master"? People want "real masters" to be the person who cultivates in the mountains, who looks foreign and a little strange, has good reputation and behaves like they expect him or her to - to some degree of course. He or she should still behave strange enough to always be a little afraid of him or her, and to leave this small hole in which you can put "blind trust" that there is some "true core" that's better than the rest - better than what you see on the outside. Well, if you'd ask me, a Buddha who is born as a Westerner in the 80ies or later SHOULD be capable of using the internet, it's really quite a helpful tool nowadays. But let's be honest about it, people don't want Buddhas, they want persons who fit their expectations and who they can put some faith in. And actually there's nothing wrong about that as long as you don't aim at the "great goal". Mysteries guard themselves Really doesn't depend on the medium on which they present themselves. Just my few cents.

Well, not all potential participants are masters. I'm afraid you'll have to accept that. You can't make someone think more intelligent, act more wise or be more self-reflective than this particular person is capable of.. and finally some westerns starting to call themselves "buddhists" mainly aim at finding a religion which they can be more proud of than the "inherited" Christianity, and whoever takes buddhism as his or her "religion" is yet alone with this declaration far away from common aims of buddhism, namely self-perfection, improving awareness and all those things that require own efforts. Religious persons don't want to cultivate and don't want own efforts, they mainly want to feel comfortable and serve some of their wordly needs and aims abusing religion and/or spirituality for this. Actually, those particular persons don't give a shit about core-buddhism and it's meanings and in this way are not really "practicing buddhists". You won't ever make religious persons self-responsible, and therefore you shouldn't expect them to behave in certain positive ways. At least that's my conclusion. Not very positive, I'm afraid, but my honest opinion. Another part of the issue: If I'm searching for advise, I don't engage in discussions - I simply ask some person or start a thread and ask. Discussions are usually about ego and about practicing some kind of "violent speech" behaviour. You can have "enlightening discussions", but once again that's more a kind of communication you'll have with a person who educates you or whom you're willing to educate to some degree. Buddhist discussions as I've seen them practised by monks and especially by partially non-practicioners as it's the case on a board like this here are not really meant to be peaceful, they tend to be kind of a fight about spiritual ranks. Next step would be practically demonstrating siddhis, I think. I think it's simply not realistic to expect that much more from it. But I definitely agree with you that it would be worthwhile if participants who call themselves buddhists would try to reflect about their own behaviour The sad thing about such wishes is that usually those who understand the issue will mainly be those who don't need that kind of "hints" or remarks. All the best anyway

Well, if you'd prefer practicing instead of using internet and your computer that's your decision. It would be an old-fashioned decision lacking some sort of reflection about current times, BUT it would be your decision. Don't blame others for your defilements. So if you'd ask me, go being hardcore .. somewhere

I'd say there is no easy way. If you really want to do it, completely, it will take time and practice. Actually it will even take time and practice to just get an idea of what's meant by this few words, ultimately. But as mentioned above, good luck anyway

Pardon, who's that cat?

Outch .. sorry .. yes, it's cool, but guys, if you have so many strings, you need to TUNE them..!! Hmm, maybe you like this here ? The recorder from about 02:30 is really great..

I would add: If it's just about recovering your health, it might be better to just consult a good TCM doctor than try to learn meditation. Meditation doesn't clear up things in a week, it takes months to years. If it's urgent it's not the first method of choice, especially not as the only method. And yes, talking and writing are not the real thing. The real thing is that you'll have to engage, and you'll have to do something. If it's too much work for you to have a look on the contents of a homepage that offers a lot for free, besides having a look on literature, which I answered to your first PM, progress won't happen. If you don't want to listen but just scream around how bad you feel that's not a basis to show you anything or explain anything to you. How do you wanna know something's not worthwhile. Beginners never know what's worthwhile. You have to make experiences and try things out for yourself to be sure about it. Sorry, but that's just the way it is.

Hm, I also don't want to be rude, but I'd suggest you to work a little bit on the trial to keep a friendly attitude to people, not limited to, but especially concerning people whom you're asking to help you. Have a good time anyway

Yes, it is ^^ Anyway, and although it's somewhat inappropriate in this presentation, what happens to the fat guy mirrors exactly how I sometimes feel or felt with esoteric stuff

Hmmhmm, a general rule I'd like to hint you at is that meditation doesn't cause health problems, but tends to bring up and clean up things that are already present in your body, in a latent manner. This process can be quite uncomfortable, but usually it is not harmful in itself. Quite the opposite, it helps you to clear out things before they become serious. Yes, New-Age guys - and this is what most "Yoga-teachers" etc. are - won't be able to help you much with "real" effects. Might you describe your current problem(s), just in a short summary, and what you'd like to do or try out? Sorry, can't help you about details with TM, because I never tried that. And .. hm, 5 Mins is really not so long, I guess that some part of the problem might be that you're kind afraid of this whole thing so that you can't relax and let things happen. Have you ever been a religious person? Best to you Oh, and welcome to the forum!

It's a mail client Little bit like MS Outlook, if you know that, just less annoying Basically this program will contact the server and directly get your mails on your computer, so even if the webpage looks like crap this might do it for you, at least if the yahoo-server is still doing that And of course you should regularly clear cache and cookies, but if it happens from different PCs it might really be a problem from their side. Or try another browser oO

Hmm, do "Mail" and "Sign in" work anyway (if you click those links)? Otherwise, maybe if you use a Mail program like Thunderbird, you could still have access to your mails and messages at least. Everything fine for Germany, even if I use the "UK" preferences.

Totally agree with you, though I would have wished to him some clarity to be able to use the great possibilities of this place here. Maybe he needs some distance, which is indeed difficult with an active account, and will lateron be able to do so .. or find his way elsewhere. Thanks for the information. All the best to him!

Hello and welcome here Don't worry to much about exclusivity, actually enlightenment is just the fundamental state in which you and everybody and everything has ever been. You just need to realize that. So it's really not such a complicated issue. Have fun over here

First two quoted sentences - yes, that might be the problem. Sorry, as far as I see it you are to a high degree more or less repeating what is "officially taught", and seem to invest little energy on the trial to understand the content of what I write, and more focus on words you don't like, and I don't see how PMs would help with this, so let's just let it be, I'm not interested in any kind of religious war or fights. And yes, this thread is not the right place for this, too Have a nice evening anyway Edit: And no, as far as I remember I was not being cynical. Being cynical is based on a mindset that's usually anything but positive, so in few cases it can be funny, but I tend to avoid it

Totally agree on that point with the "next step", and I'm thankful for every of those kind of teachers I've met so far. Though most of them even lacked the power to say goodbye in a positive way, which I am sorry for, but which is again something that's not my decision. Best wishes also to you, thanks

Aye, that's one of the key points. Yes, if I believe someone to be a Buddha, as a complete beginner, that might help me, no matter what this person has realized. But.. .. once you have the eyes to see that someone lacks realization, how could you depend on such a person to guide you? That's like having learned how to manage money yourself, and then give it to a stranger on the street who has less experience in working with it than you yourself. Ridiculous. Especially if those guys draw the conclusion that sitting on a throne automatically makes them a holy person, or compensates for a lack of own realization. If I see that someone's blind I shouldn't close my eyes and ask him to help me cross the street. Simple as that.. difficult as that when there are expectations. And yes, it doesn't mean that none of these guys have helped others.. though few of them due to altruistic motivation. But it's really funny to hear someone talk about the properties a guru should have who completely lacks this requirements, and then see him expect you to bow before him.

Oh, I did indeed hear some teachings that completely contradict virtues and others that discourage practice. But unfortunately, as a Western lay practicioner, you're not allowed to criticize a Tibetan guy who is per definition the holy person, sitting on his throne. It's a teaching, right, and not a discussion .. and the point on which I realized that I am really not welcome with advice or thoughts at such places was the point on which I made the decision to safe my time and practice at home. Actually it is service from my side when I visit buddhist centres, I'm really getting along with spiritual practice and teachings better than some monastic people do. But well, people want to have Tibetans to teach, even if the latter teach shit, so let them have the guidance they want and maybe deserve. I'm really sorry for that, but what can you do about it. If you're not welcome, you're not welcome - full stop. What people are interested in is usually money.. and that's of which I really don't have to offer so much. Well, great disappointment to me, this whole stuff.

Yes, liked that one, too, when I was doing that stuff Anyway, I lacked positive guidance within this system, and yes, as you mentioned, sometimes western practicioners of it are difficult and not very wise in their views and behaviour, and in the way they deal with this "foreign" system. I practiced Ngondro until I found out by own experience what it was good for .. and since then I'm trying to cope with the effects that happen when you do what it is good for. So @CT, though once due to one posting in which I asked you what you consider preliminaries, I well have experiences with Ngondro and know about it. But actually, Ngondro is just one form of preliminary practices, used in this particular system. I mention that here as, thereby a little bit bTT, I started with preliminaries of Christian cultivation in this life, which has the same effect, but a different method. Doing preliminary work is a general step in every kind of spiritual cultivation, so it's quite fair to ask which system one refers to if you use that term .. So I'd ask you to let go of your wrong notion that I don't know what Ngondro is, and stop getting angry whenever you read posts by me just because you've drawn some wrong conclusions in former discussions. Thanks in advance

To be honest, to me that is, or has been, one of the most confusing part. As I don't have such a bond to any of those buddhist guys, and especially not to some buddhist human being, so pretending to regard such beings or persons as my guru is kind of one of the worst lies you can speak, right? Creating an obstacle as you try to find the guru "somewhere outside", while actually you should look for him/her in yourself. The higher part of yourself, to be clear about that, not some non-virtuous emotions or things like this. It's really tricky as a practice for beginners, somehow. You need a lot of merit or wisdom from the beginning on, or a good teacher - but good teachers are not so common. And it's a dangerous road if you don't do it correctly.

Hey, it was a hint/advice, okay, not an opinion in that sense, for I think we don't need to discuss whether dissolving things ultimately might be helpful. And I did indeed write that I'm aware it's not easy because I know it's more easy to say than to do In the end .. you should watch a little and analyse maybe more than one option to find the way that best suits YOU at the actual moment. That's what I'd consider the general rule concerning such issues.

Hmm.. the problem I'd see about this guy is that you clearly see that and how he's suppressing his energy, and unable to work with it or transform it. And that can simply not be the ultimate solution. Sure, discipline is a good start to get some control. But whenever you tread such a path you should be aware of what you can reach with it, and what it can't help you with. It would be better to learn how to use energy in a constructive way .. and dissolve things into emptiness. But I'm aware of the fact that that's not easy, at least not in practice.