Miroku

I think this is a solid thread where Wu Ming Jen gives a pretty good opinion on Falun Gong.

I tried reading it. Few months back I had a small qigong revival and was quite interested in Falun Gong as it claimed to be rather effective. I tried it and it was indeed really intense. But! Reading the books I was seriously perplexed. Not only does he claim it to be buddhist, which is weird as it did not touch buddhism even with a long stick, but there are some strange outrageous claims which I just could not accept. Then I also read stories from his students and it acutally sounded more like a cult where they clearly see the master as a god of sorts. I think the most telling thing about Falun Gong is that I could not accept most of its claims, which says a lot since I am a follower of Tibetan Buddhism and I accepted quite a lot of things.

Okay! Let's try it according to the OP. @Earl Grey Is a great fellow and also knows his stuff and seems to be respected by everyone. I myself enjoy his posts, love the nick (although English Breakfast is better sort of tea) and despite being sceptical of many things I am sure that if anybody knows how to do the akashic reading, then it is him. I would like to nominate @steve Who is an extremely helpful member. I very much respect him for his knowledge of and dedication to his tradition. I have some rather unpleasant experiences with some bön followers but Steve was for me always a good shining example of a decent practitioner.

Quite funny I had it opened yesterday, but decided to close it as I didn't have the time. Well, guess it is the time to read it. Thank you!

So many people claiming spiritual realization and powers, yet unable to simply mind their own business.

Look! You made me roll too!!

Well, that is bad.

I know that I am quite a newbie, plus I was not here for about a year because I stormed off. But! I think that the Dao Bums is in a better shape than it was a year ago. At least from my small reduced point of view. For example the buddhist sub is actually having new posts. And yes, many posts end up with insults and fights which is a shame, however it is still kinda living here. Is there actually anybody who is a mod? I would not mind helping out with it. It seems this is mostly what this forum needs, bit more active mod team.

Uuuuu I have always wanted to do this, so thank you for giving me this opportunity. Ready? Here it comes. Ok Boomer.

What do your "snipets of wisdom" have to do with women and buddhahood? What do they have to do with a buddhist subforum? Being a man and a feminist means that you are able to see past your dick and realize that hey maybe a woman can be whatever the heck she wants. And the same applies to men. Maybe neither of us has to feel restricted and dominated by someone elses idea of what is proper for people with your kind of genitalia. How horrible! If you think being a men is such a fragile thing that women with rights and freedoms can hurt it, then I am sorry to say you confuse being a man with being an idiot.

Since this is a buddhist part of the forum I would drop few names here. Lama Tsultrim Allione, Lama Lena, Pema Chödron and others. There are many great and succesful female practitioners and these are just western women. Yeah, they might not be enlightened, at least I have not met them to make such a statement. However they are definitely qualified teachers.

Malcolm Smith and many Tibetan lamas explain this current pandemics in the terms of Mamos (one of the eight classes of beings) being enraged with us. Mostly due to burned food, which also means burned corpses of animals (not sure if human bodies count) because they detest the smell. And China burned a lot of pigs last year due to swine flu. Also many forms of pollution and irresponsible behaviour. It is our karma to go through this, unfortunately. If that is true or not... does not really matter, because the result is here. For practitioners this is a great time to really see how far we have come. Taken down from our tall towers made of marble and "good vibes". See our attachments as Heart mentioned. Truly beneficial. Few weeks back when it was starting here, I heard an elder man call his wife. She was in a hospital and he called her to talk with her as visits were forbiden. That was a powerful moment for me. Hearing the tenderness in the man's voice but also realizing this might be the last time they can talk. Rather unsettling and heartbreaking. Hope they are all right.

Heh, dude you crack me up. And frankly I don't know, nor do I care really. The question is for you, did me sharing male version of what you shared bother you? I asked around and my friends feel like it prolly was homophobic. The words are not the problem I mean I am the first one to call out how gay my boyfriend is. The timing is kinda fishy here. It's not the words that are racist/homophobic/sexist/etc. it is the context and no dictionary will ever provide that. You my friend have a severe case of yellow fever. And I am more concerned with the way you treat women, than how you treat me. Also don't try to manipulate me. "Unless you are ashamed to be gay but I know you are proud to be gay so you won’t be offended by my words gay alert right? " This is a very manipulative sentence and I would prefer if you played clean.

But don't you see? They are Asian, they are hot and they have sixpacks. They are high level cultivators, bodhisattvas! I am starting to doubt your clairvoyance if you cannot see past your member.

Heartbreak might be onto something. Just look at it. The average western male is weak, impotent and his energies are unenlightened. However, asian males are strong and beautiful and enlightened. Their seed energies circulate properly without obstuctrions and they can keep erections for days without getting tired, weak and without orgasm. The more involved they are in K-pop the more enlightened they are. It is called 6-pack because it represents the perfection of 6 paramitas, it's real look it up people!!

Oh, boy I'd rather not. Financial crisis is looming over us, it's better to keep my cents for bad times. Plus he might be truly hurt or deranged. Not much fun in there.

Here are my 2 cents: 1) Being gay is awesome. 2) If an entire nation of women rejects you... there might be a problem with you. Thank you for your time.

There is also medicine buddha dharani, which (if I remember correctly) protects from falling into lower rebirths if it is recited 7 times a day. However, I cannot find the detail nor where it came from. What is definitely great thing to do, is also recite the sutra from time to time.

Basically what Spotless said. Casual sex can be a pretty nice thing. It brought me quite closer to some of my friend I did it with and they stayed in my life afterwards. Also allowed me to meet some interesting characters. What it depends on in the end is you. If you enjoy it, and it does not hurt anyone, why not enjoy yourself? If not, why care about it?

I don't think buddhism is mysoginistic at all. Denigrating women is a root downfall in vajrayana. Concerning the pure land I believe there is the simple fact that everybody is supposed to be equal there, completely so all assume the same form. However can we really talk of male and female at that level? As for buddhas appearing as male, well males always had it kind easier and it might just simply be most conductive for spreading of the teachings. But there is a number of enlightened women, female deities, etc. Also buddhists dont seem to force women into submission so there is that.

Yes! Reciting mani is a reason to rejoice! There are many benefits coming from reciting mani, for example reciting 1000 mani's per day (around 20 minutes of recitation) one's body is being blessed and when wind blows and touches the body, the wind is then blessed and sentient being touched by the wind have a contact with dharma. The same goes with water, or just seeing or being in contact with people. Prayerwheel practice is an amazing thing by itself. It is an amazing method to develop compassion and love and also can help with healing and protection against harm (no, not by being used as a club ).

Hi, my qigong teacher told me it is good to have warm feet baths with sea salt to nourish kidneys. But some sites online say the oposite. What do you guys recommend/think?

Hi, this is my last time here, so I would like to thank so many of you guys. This forum was incredibly useful and entertaining to visit. Especially thanks to such people as @Aetherous, @Wu Ming Jen @Spotless @dawei @steve @thelerner @Starjumper . I have learned quite a lot especially through your posts so kudos. I really appreciate you and your insights. So thank you and best of luck. As for reasons to leave, well the buddhist forum here is quite a ... well. Let's say it is quite hard to visit it as it unfortunately takes a bit too much patience to see the attitudes of some towards something I hold as close to my heart as buddhadharma. Well, this is here to appreciate and celebrate so thank you guys and hope to see you in another dream, or day who the hell knows. Bye!

Steer away from the Geshe he is a cultist (worships a gylpo (demon) Shugden)) and broke his samayas. Not a good person to associate with on any level.

It is a part of highest yoga tantra and can be found in cycles connected with it, such as Chakrasamvara, Hevajra, etc. As such there is no point in practicing it without a teacher, empowerment, instructions and preliminaries.