dwai

I am grateful to have been born in a culture and tradition as rich and diverse as in India. I am also grateful for being born in the family that i was born in, learnt so much from my elders. Am i proud? Perhaps..glad? Definitely!

Nadi shodhana (alternayr nostril) is safe. I will post instructions in a follow up post.

David frawley is amazing....big fan...

My guru does discourses on it..i would love to see more

I hope you enjoy it and learn from it as i did

Atma Shatakam -- http://www.swamij.com/shankara-atma-shatakam.htm

Hi, Would Michael's course be beneficial for those who have a more Martial interest in Energetics?

It is the result of them not understanding the buddha's teachings. But im sure many "buddhists" disagree with me...

I have been moved by sri shankaracharya's compositions on Lord Shiva. There was an extended period of time when i focussed on him...and many interesting things happened. Being the fool that i am, i did not realize it at that time...so if your bhakti has been awakened, immerse yourself. All the best.

The "de" as I understand it is the "Dao" within us. It is not "virtue" as it is generally translated to be. Dharma is the natural course of things...it was called "Rta or Rita" (the natural order). Etymology of the word is "Dhr" and "ma" (Dhr -- to Uphold, Ma -- Mother or source). So if Dao is the Mother, Dharma is to act in accordance with that which harmonizes with the Mother (Dao). Just as the infinite things in this universe have different properties, they also have different Dharma (Based on their context and properties)...I'm making it more complex than it actually is...

Thats because Gandhi wasn't a buddhist. He was a Hindu and he was a karma yogin. So he channeled his energies into doing something (albeit a lot of his doing was actually not doing)... Hindu dharma requires for individuals to do what is his/her dharma (or duty). See the word dharma itself is an untranslatable...it isn't religion. Everything has its own dharma. A tree's dharma is to convert CO2 to O2. it is to provide fruits and shade to other creatures...home for other creatures and so on. Similarly a human being's dharma is to do the right thing while he/she is in the dualistic world. So, by opposing the British rule, Gandhi was merely doing his dharma. He used to say "it is a great sin to commit crime, but a bigger sin to silently stand by while crime is being committed". Since the British colonial rule was a crime against humanity, Gandhi did what he could to live by his yamas and niyamas while at the same time doing by not doing (and encouraging millions to do the same) and broke the back of the British empire.

Er...not sure I understand what you mean. Can you elaborate about how religions tend to use this supposed escape? Escape from what? Escape to where? How can one escape him/herself?

well don't know about the absolute truth stuff...but these habits that are ingrained into us are called Samskaras in Yogic parlance -- they are like grooves on a record...patterns that have ingrained into us (each of us have some different pattern). The way to deal with it has been for me to first recognize the patterns. Some i have overcome while others I'm still trying to work through. The way I was able to recognize these patterns is by slowing the mind down, generating the observer who can then look at every thought that is flying by in the mind... The weird thing is, I don't see meditation as being a necessary step to be able to do this. Just learning to observe one's own mind....quiet time helps...but not necessary. cheers

Master wysun liao if you can manage to get to him....

Toshiro mifune also starred as miyamoto musashi iinm. Great stuff... Kurosawa samurai novies were masterpieces. Its funny we only think of chinese/hk movies when we consider the martial arts genre... The thai movies are pretty good too...tony jaa is impressive.... I actually liked the old seagal movies...tats how i got to know aikido first. Btw i read that sammo hung is actually a taiji practitioner...sad he never made any taiji movies...

I first got a taste of martial arts movies when i was in first grade....back then there were pratically no hollywood movies in india and the chinese movies were the only other choice besides the bollywood melodramatic fare. My dad loved to watch martial arts movies Nd he took me to watch the 36th chamber of shaolin...starring gordon liu. There were some great movies in those days...10 brothers from shaolin, the shogun's ninja, snake in the monkey's shadow etc. Id get fever watching these movies...i mean real high fever. Dunno why....im sure i made my dad feel guilty...but id insist on watching... Most of these i believe were from teh shaw brothers' studio in hong kong. Any how, gordon liu, bruce lee and donnie yen off late. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lrDdfybFhw

There in lies the greatest fallacy of no self. The truth is that the no self is all that is not the real self. That doesnt mean there is no self, only that what people consider self is not the real self. And those who misunderstand this basic fact tend to have all sorts of wishywashy ideas and structures built upon this fallacious foundation. Suddenly they think they know....when really they dont know. It is the case of letting a view nuance the interpretation....its better to experience without interpreting....so no words would be necessary.

And what's peculiar is vmarco always refers to herself in the third person (for e.g.: Vmarco thinks that vmarco's intelligence is so great that sometimes vmarco gets a headache from the very thought of being vmarco...) hmm...wonder why? On a separate note -- I used to know someone who would troll with that style...used to elicit a lot of emotional responses. Of course the other person's purpose was to play devil's advocate and force his friends to come up with better and better counters to his points.

The problem is that your approach is flawed. Like Lerner pointed out, compassion is not that hard to understand intellectually and it is best shown in action. What bothered me about your posts (and that includes all the ones that I have bothered to read), is that you are besotted with your interpretation of something (most of us are however) and get incensed if someone challenges that (that is the issue). And that's what happened here and out went compassion through the proverbial window and out came the gloves and fists (verbal). It is possible to show compassion to another by changing one's tone (even on the internet)...if pain is the root of compassion (in that no pain, no suffering no need for compassion), then the root of pain is ignorance. A truly compassionate human being would not try and blast their ideas down someone else's throat but would patiently and respectfully listen and truly exchange ideas, and try and make their points without hubris (which I see as a gaping deficiency in your posts). I am loath to involve myself in debates on topics such as these (especially since I saw the raw naked egotism of some of the Buddha bums during the buddha bum flame wars and the effect it was having on myself)...but I felt obligated to point this out on the forum in this instance. I honestly dont care if someone thinks I know something or not...I will say my piece and sometimes defend an intellectual stance, but the fact of the matter remains that what I know will either help improve the quality of my life or not (and there in lies the real test of validity of the beliefs I hold). There is an old story I was told as a kid, where a man walks up to a tree and asks -- "O Tree, what is your name?" The tree responds "Phalena parichiyate" (ie you will know my name by the fruit that i bear). It is up to each one of us to take stock of who/what/where/how we are and the actions we take (and their consequences) will define the who/what/where/how we will be in future. Just regurgitating others' take on compassion without demonstrating ( it should be relatively easy, especially in an internet forum) shows where the trickery was perpetrated and who the perpetrator was... I rest my case.

Just so we are clear....i did no trickery. I simply pointed out to the fact that you dont know what karuna means... The reason i asked for the sanskrit is because we can understand the meaning of the word from the root sounds. That will make the intended meaning of the word very clear, in the original language. Secondly english translations are atrocious for screwing with meanings of untranslatables in sanskrit. I did however express my regrets for having shown your inadequacies and reciprocated to your insults and questioning my mental state. I stand by that...i dont however accept or concede that you know what you are talking about....

And then imply, GOTCHA! when there was no respomse to such an elementary, dishonest question as to karuna; of which you imply is a word within your native language, and that you imagine you understand. If you "hubris" is similiar to the disturbing, dishonesty you've displayed in this thread, it should be a wing-dinger of a story. However, if your ego wishes to expose "delusions of exaltedness" of someone who offers 9 sources of discussion on compassion because they upset the imagined nuances of your native languages, as if your own posted delusions of exaltedness, go ahead. At this point in your continuing dishonesty, a prudent person would simply cease,...while an appreciative person would say thank you. All your posts are showing is that you are neither. On the other hand,...perhaps you could ask another elementary question that you presume you already know,...just to: when your next dishonest question goes unanswered. As Chögyam Trungpa said, "Compassion....has no hesitation, no inhibition about reflecting on things, it does not discriminate whether to reflect on a pile of shit or on a pile of rock or on a pile of diamonds. It reflects on everything it faces." V Dear vmarco, My sincere apologies for having written hurtful things to you... Om shanti

Thank you. The brahma viharas are what seem correct to me as well....however it can be said that when prajna dawns it automatically leads to karuna since to an awakened mind, nothing is more painful than the avidya of those who are seeking (or worse do not know about their avidya)? So i understand that perspective...where love, compassion and equanimity rise together as a result of awakening...

Hi creation, Do elaborate. I am interested in learning more...

VMarco does not respond to such an elementry question,...one in which any considerate Westerner would simply type "Buddhist Compassion" on a search engine, and been shown thousands of entries, which among the first would be karuna,.. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karuṇā Then, in response to VMarco's non-response, dwai spews, GOTCHA! "I don't have to rely on wikis to know this. I am very familiar with the nuances of my native languages." Thus, dwai is at the very least an ingenuine person, asking a question he already believes he knows, and second, deeply ignorant, as he actually does not understand his own native language which he implies includes the word "karuna." Dwai's suffering is so profound that he actually believes he is making some sort of contribution on this forum. CT's video above on Compassion and Pity was interesting,...however, if one is paying attention, the monk let it be known that his definition was conditioned by his Tradition and his (mistaken)ideas regarding meditation. A few years ago, a woman named Esther Hicks made a quite pithy observation,...she said, "We teach meditation, or quieting the mind, because it is really easier to teach you to have no thoughts, than to teach you to have pure, positive thought. We would rather you be in a state of appreciation, than in a state of meditation, because in appreciation you are a vibrational match to your [Higher Self]." Within that quote can be seen the nature of suffering. The unappreciative are always in a state in of suffering. For the most part, the majority of posters at TTB are unappreciative. They play games like dwai,...for example, setting up questions they believe they already know so to say gotcha!. Twinner is similiar,...he is writing a book on compassion because he already believes he knows everything about compassion,...for example, Twinner says: Twinner is another unppreciative individual who presumes he knows what compassion is. An unappreciative individual does not, and cannot understand the nature of authentic compassion in the Bodhisattva view, because compassion is a natural byproduct of appreciation. It doesn't come from, nor arise from meditation,...although meditation can be a stepping stone to appreciation. Appreciation is also the core of the admirable friendship of a proper sangha. Every spiritually oriented forum should be as a sangha,...helping and encouraging and expressing a positive message within the forum. Instead, the egoic, gotcha! mentality on TTB is a reflection of the contemporary world today. VMarco is not on this forum to teach, nor to advocate the positiveness of a sangha,...she is predominately here to learn about how negative, insincere people express their unappreciativeness. V And all your posts suggest delusions of exaltedness where nothing of that sort is warranted or demonstrated. I could do a complete deconstruction of the individual behind vmarco, but i wont because i think you arent ready to hear it yet....there is way too much hubris. Remember, the respect you show is reflected back... I also think you +1your own posts because no one in their right mind would appreciate your delusions. You are projecting your own disturbedness onto others... Well...since this thread IS about compassion here's a GET WELL SOON...

I don't have to rely on wikis to know this. I am very familiar with the nuances of my native languages You are the one who's confused. Go learn some sanskrit or pali before trying to teach others what the words used in those languages (and traditions rising from therein) mean... Congrats btw for realizing that the lingam is a sign (ie like a mark) and not a phallus. You are doing better than most other westerners in that aspect...one gold monkey to you. I chose to call you out on it because its obvious to me how much you really know... You can only at best learn interpretations and translated versions if you don't understand the native language. Karuna is not just compassion...it is an active emotion, as is evident because of the "ka" (from "Kr" ie to act) in its etymology. Karuna is the emotion that moves one to do something to help eliminate the suffering that causes pain (in another).