The Apprentice

Hui Neng, the 6th Chan patriarch, neither had a teacher before his awakening nor did he do are advicate doing sitting meditation. His Platform Sutra is considered by many to be the most important historical Chan writting. Taoism and a butchered Buddhism existed in China before Bodhidharma's arrival. Taoism as an ancient system is very much alive in Chan. All these words are just paint for the blank canvas of mind.

Sentimentality blocks the blossoming of awareness. Its something that seems innocent, but its tied into attchment to the past and to melancholy; a state that is ok as a passing thing to indulge in lightly- but it can become addictive, turning into the habit and notion of only being able to experiance happiness in the past tense. When it gets to that point, new joys slip out of our grasp and are reduced to mere triggers that activate memories, instead of their richer role as new experiances that further open us up to a spontaneous blissful awareness. A good practice is too become aware of our mental commentary. When the internal dialog is subdued, greater happiness is at hand; instead of missing half the joy by immediatly transmuting the present moment into dwelling on the past. Don't comment on the emotion to yourself or to others- Just feel it deeply when it comes and let it go when it goes, then joy can expand into more bliss and awareness instead of becoming a high that quickly turns into loss and sadness. There is nothing from the past to work out, just a stream of continuous now to awaken to.

The higher the throne, the harder the falling.

Enter the Dragon

Too true.

Japanese. Green. The Force is strong with you.

You are weak Goku. A little pressure from the masses and you cave.

Feel. Don't think.

I've been reading the posts here as a non-member for some time. I see there are alot of Jedi posting here. There should be a representative of The Dark Side in order to have a fair and diverse view on The Force.