Apech

Plotinus, Proclus, ...Pythogoras, ... oh yes lets have philosophy without those old Greek guys. ... so who are we going to discuss Karl Popper? No thanks.

"everything that happens to us good and evil here below was written above"

Maybe. But would have to be very careful about what it means.

Yes well put. Its a mistake, which perhaps I have fallen into, to deny the possibility of the range of practices and approaches which could be termed Buddhist. I would still say though, that Budhism cannot be contained within the definition of rational atheism.

You make reasonable points but the title of this thread is about whether Buddhism is a form of rational atheism. Materialism and science have a completely different view ... that of reality as an object which can be tested and probed for its true nature. I don't think dressing up dharma as a kind of science will work.

Yes I had to overlook that out of pure compassion.

No it isn't as far as I can see. I have even seen Buddhism described as a kind of science by people who should know better.

Emperor reversed ...exactly.

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Good point ... but Mantak Chia and his books are already out there. So most people who come here have probably already come across them or actually read them. That's up to them ... and as long as we are not actually recommending him ... if he were to post on here or submit to an interview by us then we might get better clarity on what is what. Same goes for Spring Forest for instance which gets lots of mentions and a good deal of promotion on here ... but a lot of us don't know much about it. Same for KAP and even Kunlun ... Wang Liping and so on.

That's funny I could have sworn I saw you at Bull Run in the rebel colours.

Its not about whether the teacher or their system for that matter is any good ... its about putting it up there so people can make up their own minds and at least know what exactly it is and does. That's as far as I would go. So someone teaches a form of Qi Gong ... so tell us about it ... whats the lineage how does it work and so on and bit about the teacher. Then people can ask questions. All that needs to happen is a modicum of respect ... not the immediate attack ... I don't see the problem. We are not endorsing them ... just confirming they exist, what they do and so on. But as I say I have suggested this so many times and been told it won't work ... so ...

I had an idea when I was a mod for a more strictly moderated teachers forum where teachers would be invited to post on a q&a basis about their system and any ignorant trolling etc. would be split out ...but it fell foul of Trunks level playing field. I don't know if anyone recalls the Bruce Frantzis Q&A we did a while ago which was a success. I thought we should replicate that with other teachers where we would invite questions from the members ... construct an interview around them and then post that as a beginning and then take questions afetr that ina controlled way. This would be separate from the main forums in a special sub ...everything else here would saty the same.

Yep its 1 - 0 to Nungali

Hey Nungali thanks for posting your martial arts training video on youtube

Well the best and easily enforcible rules and clear, well understood and minimal - so neither you nor I should be uncertain.

I liked Starjumper. Although I didn't agree with anything he said hardly. But that's not the point. Its a level playing field on here where we can all express ourselves as equals. I picked up a huge amount of information from RomzongFan because of the links to academic works he posted. I miss this because I like my thinking to be stretched. He was the most annoying poster ever because he just repeated the same stock phrases without an elaboration or explanation. I worked hard not to put him on ignore and felt that it was good exercise in mind training to do so. So banning all the irritants may seem to improve the level of conversation on here but actually I don't believe it does really. Sorry but I think we've taken a wrong turn here. Just my thoughts. The others that got banned recently well they were obvious trolls. So no problem there. As to teachers and this forum Trunk has always told me that we operate a level playing field here and there's no room of encouraging or making a place for teachers here. While I see this point of view I think its a shame that very few seem to wish to stay around for very long. So overall I am not convinced anything is really any different. The moderation rules as they were, i.e. no insults worked to improve the board because they were plain and simple and therefore easier to enforce. Now I am lost as to what exactly the rules are as they seem to have all sorts of nuances and interpretations which I don't understand.

It means elixir field or pill field ...

It hasn't made me think so far.

I don't mind ... but if I saw your face I'd get a shock.

I never under Stood that haiku thread either no more so do I.

Thank you. The test here, on this thread, is if you have listened and understood and made the knowledge yours then you can say what you think without quotes. Better that - even if you make mistakes of precision in doing so - than block quote someone else.

Hey its getting like an AA meeting in here! Took me a long, long, time to say anything like that ... cos I resisted being an -ist of any kind. But yes I can say ...my name is Apech and I'm a Buddhist.

The way I have been taught about what is and what is not Buddhist is the Four Dharma Seals ... which I think is Chandrakirti (stand to be corrected). Basically if whatever it is teaches these then it is Dharma if it doesn't it isn't. In my own words so stand to be corrected again ... 1. All compounded phenomena are impermanent. 2. Suffering arises when phenomena are contaminated by the idea of self. 3. All phenomena are pure beyond elaboration i.e. empty 4. Nirvana is perfect peace. So no mention of rebirth, karma and so on. Quite right. So I have been hard on Mr. Batchelor ... and friends ... maybe what they do is dharma ... but I would say still to be treated with some caution and care.

Just revenge for the cricket.