seadog

I don't know nor do I care if sucicide is right wrong or otherwise. I do know this though. Those who are in so much pain,who feel for whatever reason that the only viable option for them is to commit suicide,deserve our love, our empathy,our understanding (even if we don't understand) and what ever emotional or physical support we can offer. It has been my fate to see many who have been close to me, suffer from protracted and long suffering. Time and time again I have been humbled by the strenght of spirit in face of overwhelming circumstances. People who suffer to this degree,deserve better then emotional judgement,they deserve what is best from us. And more often then not this is as simple as a shoulder to cry on,an ear that listens without judgement,a smile in a dark time. Please lets refrain from casting our moral judgements and half baked theories of karmic retirbution at those who are suffering and consider instead how we can best aide one another in hard times.

Who cares?

Why?

Ha had a good laugh reading the posts in this thread.The title of the post made me cough up my tea. Nature can be a trickester in deed. Above and beyond anything else the urge to connect with another is a strong command. By disobeying this command, a million years of evolution kick in at full throttle. Can't have a women, then what about a man? Once the access to women is restablished all those homoerotic dreams simply vanish.HMMMM? Chastity has been the scourage of the holy man and women through the ages.The remedy is a hard fix for sure. Perhaps there is just as much to learn in the letting go as there is in the holding on.

Well one of the draw backs, if you can call it that, of acquireing a dergree of health is your bodies response to something it doesn't like. If I eat crap food my body lets me know right away,ditto for ciggies,drugs of any descprition,alcohol,even coffee. Basically I hate the feeling of poisioning myself so much now that anything more then a couple of drinks is out of the question. Which is kinda of a bummer because it sure is fun to get drunk sometimes.

I liked your rant,the questions you have raised are valid and worth investigating.The only thing I would add is Why do you let others behaviour bother you?

Gotta disagree with this. Every person I have met with a high degree of -morality- i.e someone who I felt was a true conduit of the devine. Has made me feel anything but happy.Like a mirror the men and women of high learning have the uncanny ability of reflecting all that is not so nice in oneself. In fact I would go so far as to say if you have a teacher,sifu,master and they don't make you uncomfortable then your wasting your time.

My Mate Brian is enlightened. 70 years old but moves like he is twenty, still surfs big waves takeing off deeper then I could ever hope to.Lives in a house amongst the tall gums he hand built himself without- a single nail- all perfect and percise joinery. He always thinks about what he is going to say before he opens his mouth,he chews his food throughly,walks lightly,speaks gentley and everyone is the better for hanging out with him.His wood sculpture have been sold around the world,he writes great poetry,sings and has a million great stories. Recently he had his annual check up and his doctor told his wife that he had the blood pressure and cardio fitness of a fit forty year old. When I asked his wife what his sceret was, she just laugh and said "No sceret he just doesn't worry about anything,nothing bothers him." Ha

Its funny how the simple things you hear can stick with you forever and have a much more profound effect on you then you first imagined.

What yawning does is warm the brain as the body cools. If you pay close attention you can actually hear the newly oxygenated blood rush to the head immediately after yawning.

Essentially what your teacher is alluding too by "see and don't see" is the fundemental movement of dao. The fundemental aspect of Dao is simultenous expansion and contraction. Your habitual thinking continually reinforces the world you were taught to percieve as a child.Your teacher in an attempt to place a wedge into that habitual world is confounding your intellect with the preposturous notions of seeing and not seeing. Why? Because to have direct revelation of the Dao one must procced past the day to day intellect. The simplest antidote to such a dilema is to relax. When your teacher is speaking just relax. Relax your mind,give up the need to be right, the need to fully understand, the need for everything to be clarified. Rather just listen to hers or his voice, and relax in their voice. Relax your body,when our minds are confronted by challenging ideas we hold tension somewhere in our body by relaxing the body,we allow the mind to further relax. Relax your spirit by smiling,this will help you and those around you. And perhaps one day we will all realise without a grain of doubt that seeing and not seeing are wonderfully the same.

Loved the diary Mal If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man but deteriorate the cat. Mark Twain.

Today I watched as an elderly Man and Women walked painfully slow across a busy road.The traffic stopped in all directions and waited from them to finish their crossing. Today I saw a young girl rescue a grasshopper from a water bowl that had been left on the street for thristy dogs. Today a nurse made my wife laugh so much her hospital bed shook for an instance. Today in the supermarket I saw an old friend and she told me about her life caring for her elderly mother and her old dog. "Emptiness of which compassion is the very essence Is only for those who want enlightenment." Lord Nagarjuna

What a great thread The depth and simplicity of the TTC always brings a smile. Chapter twenty is like a long finger pointing the direction inwhich the sage takes. Unlike the rest of society,the sage is rowing against lifes course. He has jumped out of the cycle of birth and death and gone in reverse. The sage is on a journey of return to the source. So he is the effective opposite of society In appearence seems dull and stupid but in truth vast and free of anything.

I shall have you both in my prayers. Love and peace to your father and yourself.

Merely the calm before the storm my friend.Don't turn your back to it for minute. And What about the moon don't even get me started about the moon. The two of them together are up to no good I tells ya.

Matt&Pranaman. Just want to thank you both. The good vibes from both your posts has help to lift my spirit,which was sorely in need of lifting today. I remember the wise words of seven year old "Life is for living now,the light is for later" At best the most any mind expanding substance can do is to help with the living now. And perhaps the best any meditation practice can do is help with the light for later.

I always suspected the sun was up to no good. Thanks Apepch 7 now I have proof! And a another thing if there is global warming,why aren't we blaming the sun. I mean if my kitchen gets to hot I don't blame the cutlery,I blame the oven. Yeah its the sun.

I remember talking to a ww11 veteran once and he was describing in rather graphic detail what it was like to be in a bunker with live rounds of amunition going off all around. He told me that he had never believed in God or anything vauguely spiritual until that day in the bunker. He laughed when he said "I can tell you,there was not a single atheist in the bunker that day." So perhaps we can only afford to have inflated oppinions of what is or what isn't when we are healthy and in no immediate danger. Often people begin to view things differently when there bodies begin to give out and the crunch time draws near.

Your carnivorous plants must hated when your in a good mood.

I trained with that guy!Cost me a fortune. Still his methods taught me how to defend myself from anyone under the age of ten. DUCK.

Sometimes we simply must change the habits of our thinking.Since you were young your mind has played and replayed a incident were you behaved in a manner that you wish you hadn't behaved in. Perhaps when you catch yourself thinking about how you threatened your sister, stop for a moment. Replace your thoughts of guilt and shame with thoughts of genoristy and love. Imagine instead you are giving your sister something wonderful,something that she would be touched in her heart by. Perhaps flowers,or a fine jewel or some delicious fruit. Imagine instead of violenece you give her a big hug and when you hug her your heart is open wide to the warmth of the embrace. Each time your mind wants to wallow in the guilt of past actions,take control,change your thinking to positive harmonious thoughts.Eventually bit by bit you will starve the monster of your youth and in its place you will have something far healthier and happier.

I have no interest in weather CC was telling truths or tales,what for me was wonderful was a glimpse of world that in many ways is no longer with us. The hunters life,the warriors life which by nature cherishes freedom above comfort. Sometimes I think the invention of agriculture was humankinds greatest mistake.

So the deities of the lineage are contained or connected within the essence of the fu?By showing proper respect in regards to the fu you are then also demonstrating proper respect to lineage deities. As a priest of daoist lineage do you provide a means by which the deities can bestow their blessings upon us by creating the fu and other talismen?

Thats really intresting.So what you are saying is the "users" intent or belief in the fu is just as important or maybe more important, then the actual fu itself?