Apech

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Everything posted by Apech

  1. @Yueya and @Bindi - I feel very flattered by the kind words but really I would not fit in and all is well with the board as far as I can see.
  2. Milquetoast is the expression you are searching for
  3. No, no please
  4. I would not join any group that would have me as a member.

  5. Pandemic Panic - Transcending the Fear

    Apech replied to Michael Sternbach's topic in General Discussion

    Wear a mask, save lives ... don't watch this video ...

  6. New Moderator

    Apech replied to doc benway's topic in Forum and Tech Support

    Boa sorte @dwai I hope you enjoy your time.
  7. ... a level playing field

  8. Pandemic Panic - Transcending the Fear

    Apech replied to Michael Sternbach's topic in General Discussion

    And the lockdown approach magically worked in China but nowhere else. Well, well well. Makes you think.

  9. Pandemic Panic - Transcending the Fear

    Apech replied to Michael Sternbach's topic in General Discussion

    Novel Coronavirus: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good virus, must be in want of a host.”

  10. Pandemic Panic - Transcending the Fear

    Apech replied to Michael Sternbach's topic in General Discussion

    This Tweet hasn't aged well ....
  11. This is what I had in mind: https://themindsjournal.com/the-eight-worldly-dharmas/ I don't know about Dzogchen ... but I guess at a higher level you could say its about letting go of dualistic perceptions.
  12. In Tibetan Buddhism you pray for what is called in Gampopa as 'leisure and endowment' - this means you have a life with limited demands in terms of day to day survival and enough money, food etc. that you can practice Dharma without too much distraction or interruption. So the key is 'not being attached to' rather not having money for instance. In fact Buddhists have a quite positive outlook towards those who become wealthy as they see it being due to positive karma. But it remains true that to practice Dharma properly you have to give up worldly aims.
  13. "Renunciation is the foot of meditation it is said, loosing attachments to food and possessions , to the meditator who cuts attachment to this life, Grant your blessings that he be without attachment to honour and possession." - Short prayer to Vajradhara This is a Mahamudra prayer which is a direct path like Dzogchen. Actually it's not saying you have to be a monk because there were/are many many great Karma Kagyu lay practitioners and masters - its saying that to meditate correctly you have to give up worldly aims like wealth and so on. Buddhists take refuge in the Sangha which on one level is the community of ordained monks - so they are venerated but it is absolutely not necessary to become a monk, in fact tantra was specifically developed for non-monks - although they came to practice it over time.
  14. Baste your fingers in butter or olive oil and bake at gas mark 5 for 15 mins. (sorry I'm sure this works but I just couldn't help thinking about cooking ).

  15. Christianity

    Apech replied to Maddie's topic in The Rabbit Hole

  16. Christianity

    Apech replied to Maddie's topic in The Rabbit Hole

    sorry it won't upload

  17. Christianity

    Apech replied to Maddie's topic in The Rabbit Hole

    Hi The best I can do for now is quote from the book 'Buddhist Thought' https://www.amazon.co.uk/Buddhist-Thought-Second-Paul-Williams/dp/0415571790/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Buddhist+Thought&qid=1610573447&sr=8-1 which is well worth reading IMO: IMG_20210113_0002.pdfIMG_20210113_0002.pdf
  18. Yeah amateur open heart surgery sucks.
  19. Hi, They are not the same path. But on the other hand there is nothing called Buddhist enlightenment - just enlightenment. the goal of Daoist energy cultivation - is immortality. I don't think they conflict ultimately - but for the likes of us it is better to choose one and stick to it. Just my opinion of course.

  20. Atlantis

    Apech replied to Lois's topic in The Rabbit Hole

    You'll be claiming the earth isn't flat next.

  21. Christianity

    Apech replied to Maddie's topic in The Rabbit Hole

    I've also been to Santiago de Compostela - but I went by coach and didn't walk. In Portugal people walk on pilgrimage to Fatima each year - it is the site of the miraculous appearance of the Virgin Mary in 1919. I also went to Cantabria/Astorias in Northern Spain a few years ago and kissed a fragment of the true cross. As a Buddhist - and this is probably a little known fact - I propitiate the local deities as deities of place and people. So if I go to a Christian holy site I say prayers to the saints to help me on my spiritual journey. And I would say subjectively that I did receive help - particularly Jesus, Mary and São Roque. So you could say I uphold the sanctity of certain places and the 'reality' of saintly beings. As to Christianity - there are some things I like and the symbolism is interesting. I think Jesus was cool. But I dislike evangelicism as it seems to me that it makes Christians too keen to convert others and therefore imbalanced. They should focus on their own spiritual well being and leave others alone. I have some Christian mystic heroes like William Blake and St. John of the Cross for instance. But essentially Christianity as it is now lacks the tools and living lineages and so on to really help people - I think it has become empty of its own soul because it does not value its own contemplative tradition and does value huckster tambourine rattling snake oil salesmen. So there!

  22. Non dual Buddhism

    Apech posted a topic in Buddhist Discussion

    This is a vajrayana thread - so leave your sandals at the door. True nature is Buddha-nature or Dharmakaya - the reason you practise is because you have buddha-nature, the goal of practise is to realise buddha-nature, the path is ways to express buddha-nature. The path can be to 'directly rest in buddha-nature' (although technically there is nothing to rest in it but it is a good way of speaking) - this could be direct approach like Mahamudra or Dzogchen for example. The path can be to identify with tantric deity (yidam) and dissolve this identity into emptiness/buddha-nature this is tantric sadhanas. The path can be mind training - for instance sending and receiving which relies on the basis of buddha-nature. The path can be sutra analysis of the nature of things - their emptiness - which resolves to buddha-nature. All these rely on buddha-nature as the basis, path and goal. So the different paths - sutra, mahayana, tantric, mahamudra/dzogchen build like a stupa on the same core which is buddha-nature. The only difference is level of dualistic thinking which remains. So sutra analysis is still quite dualistic, mind training less so ... and so on. Thus there is no contradictions between these paths.

  23. We have a vaccine!

    Apech replied to Toni's topic in The Rabbit Hole

    https://www.medicinenet.com/hippocratic_oath/definition.htm

  24. Pandemic Panic - Transcending the Fear

    Apech replied to Michael Sternbach's topic in General Discussion

    Yeah but they can read in bed without turning on the light! There's nothing wrong with glowing.

  25. Pandemic Panic - Transcending the Fear

    Apech replied to Michael Sternbach's topic in General Discussion

    My Parents had the Pfizer jab already - no effects that they have noticed.