Apech

There’s an ancient Egyptian story called the shipwrecked sailor which is relevant to the question as to what a god may want from us (in return for whatever we ask from them) - and the answer is for their name to be remembered. There is also a quote from I can’t remember who that ‘worship is continual remembrance’ .

Bodhi-cheating The art work of early Buddhism shows what early Buddhism and the Buddha was like. He is not depicted but represented by a pair and sandals, or an empty cushion and so on. He is surrounded by dancing and singing, by nature spirits including voluptuous female nature spirits, and naga serpents. This is a shamanistic scene. Buddha was a shaman who imparted knowledge. A few centuries after his death the great king/emperor Ashoka appropriated Buddhism because it gave a chance of a way out of the otherwise inevitable consequences of the wide-scale slaughter he had perpetrated as part of his empire building. He felt sorry for this - sorry for himself in fact and wanted to save himself from the hell realms. The state subsidised Buddhism he introduced was, unlike the original Buddhism both scholastic and monastic. Early Buddhism had no written texts but under the new Buddhism the collections of texts became everything - where liberation came from listening to the text being read, thinking about them, meditating on them and so on. State funding institutionalised Buddhism into monasteries and universities - much as Constantine did to Christianity - and created a new form of Buddhism which emphasised intellectual learning and religious hierarchies. Early Buddhist monks wandered in groups no larger than three, lived and worshipped in close connection with the local communities on whom they depended for food and supplied services such as healing and spells for good harvests and so on. But for the monastics the text became everything in a kind of 'sola scriptora' approach. Attempts by modern Buddhists to re-find 'early Buddhism' fall into the trap of trying to abstract ideas from the texts and end up with a kind of desiccated secular mental exercise. Oddly to us moderns the closest thing to early Buddhism would be vajrayana even though it has much later historical roots. And it is the main criticism of vajrayana that it introduces magical, yogic and deity practices which places it much closer to what the Buddha was actually like.

Hi Jan look forward to hearing more about your journey.

From my cats I learned that the older you get the more bonkers you can be.

I use the downvote to mean ‘I’m down with that’. But I am unusual.

Just not niche enough?

Try tapering off the sleeping pill dosage instead of stopping completely. Also you could try herbal sleep remedies like valerian. I think these energetic experiences take a while to balance out. If you are going to do sadhanas and so you need to learn how to normalize or ‘re- cover’ from the naked energy experience. You can easily get locked into an altered way of perceiving without knowing how to switch it off. I would suggest going for long walks in the countryside if you can and eat well normal balanced food.

Welcome I hope someone can help you with this.

I bring some very sad news which I just received from her son, that @blue eyed snake (Janneke) passed away on the evening of Good Friday. To quote her last request to her son - “After many years of illness she let go and disappeared into the light.” She was a person of great and gentle wisdom and I will miss her very much, as I believe many on here will also. Prayers for her. May she rest in profound peace.

Welcome.

Thanks I have amended the OP. Sorry for the error.

you’re right I can’t even respond to this.

I did a search for 'Nungali' and all I got was random stream of consciousness verbiage ... so I guess the systems fine

Welcome to DBs.

This thread is not really about food but I will begin with an illustration from today. I was out shopping and decided on a whim to have some fast food for lunch. I went to a KFC and a meal there. This is the first time since November (when I went to macDonalds) that I have had this kind of food. The chicken burger (called a 'classical' or something) was mostly tasteless but with some ice cold salad in it which was kind of off putting to crunch into. The fries were covered in a sweet and sour sauce and bits of bacon. I washed it down with a diet Pepsi which tasted mostly of aniseed. There were an unusually large number of overweight people in the restaurant. Parents and children. Everyone was well behaved and the staff were brilliant. In fact, because we had a loyalty card from a supermarket the meal was free!!! This was the best thing about it. I wouldn't go again, unless forced by circumstances; but I have nothing against the place and am happy to allow its continued existence given the need for variety and complexity in our world. It did get me to thinking though. Why is it, that on all levels, physical, emotional and factual our lives today are overflowing with slop. Why are fries coated with sticky sauce? Why is all the taste in the additives? It's the same with TV, the news, everything that is presented to us as being enjoyable. Anything on Facebook or Twitter. Even in lifestyle choices (to use that terrible phrase) we are encouraged to prefer slop and not things that are truly nutritious or wholesome. Is that why the birthrate is dropping? Because people trade the deeply rewarding experience of having children for self indulgent frippery??? Think about your day my friends and give me your best examples of daily slop. NB. Nothing political please!

When the Buddha achieved enlightenment he touched the earth. What is often not mentioned he then connected the live and neutral wires so that his LED aura would light up.

your Buddha’s wire has come loose

I think it’s better to understand maya as meaning ‘not what it appears to be’ rather than illusion.

Hi and welcome.

Portugal is the land of a thousand yapping dogs ... and I assume you know that sobreiros are in the same family as oak?

Awful

Take the last train to Badgate, And I’ll meet you on the station, You don’t need to buy ticket, Cos I booked a reservation, No no no, No no no. It looks as if your never coming home.

Humans go to war The brave and lusty ones who Also go to whore.

I went down to Bad Gateway, fell down on my knees, Down to Bad Gateway fell down on my knees, Asked the Lord for mercy, “Take me to DaoBums if you please.

Thanks that cheered me up - I’d better get to it.