Apech

https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2019/07/the-buddhas-long-journey-to-europe-and-africa.html

Here we are in the middle of one of the most challenging turbulent years (yeah I know its not the middle technically) but we have a lot that's going on that is ... well perhaps unsettling is the best word. We are all cultivators/practitioners of various kinds and hues - and perhaps one mark of good practice or realisation might be how well we can balance ourselves, maintain harmony with change - while not being other worldly or detached from 'reality'. The outer world is fascinating ... sometimes it starts out that way - then draws us in to turbulence - draws us off centre. We recently had a thread 'emotions are the path' and I wonder, bearing that in mind where we strike the balance between being in the world but not worldly? Or is this a faulty concept in itself anyway? Do we see the world as a kind of testing ground - or is it just illusion anyway? I think different philosophies and systems give perspectives on this - and I guess my own approach is almost unconsciously drawn from various places - I tend to see things happening for a purpose to teach me something - although quite often I'm not totally clear what the lesson is. So I'm interested in how other people tackle this tight rope walk we have to do between inner and outer. Anything you have to say on this subject will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you Feral and welcome to this conversation. I guess living nobly is cultivating Te (De) which is where this all takes us. Perhaps the world doesn't have that as a purpose - more that we make it our purpose. How do we 'integrate one drawer into the other' I wonder.

If it's not an either or - then can it be a both/and - and what would that look like? One might be a hero's journey - but most hero's journeys end up with returning home - and usually some distance from the ways of other folk. Oohh I went all Frodo Baggins then!

Time is a mind boggling thing, the more you think about it. The Egyptians had two types - linear and cyclic - in fact they measured things more in terms of time than space. I had a conversation with @Michael Sternbach recently where he pointed out that even when you are looking at light from a distant galaxy, and this is supposedly what was happening billions of years ago because of the light travelling through space, its actually happening now as far as your frame of reference is concerned. Same goes for the Big Bang - which distinct from something which occurred 14.6 billion years ago - is happening now in this sense. The other idea I like to think about is that if you conceive of the spiritual journey as going back to the origin, then that origin is the creative centre of you and your world. The closer you get, the closer you are to the beginning of you. And so the closer you are to that which made the path you are on. So you are walking backwards in time, getting more childlike and innocent as you go - and ultimately creating your own path, then walking it out from the origin to the most 'outer' you can get and back again, symbolically East to West and West to East - in a grand continuous loop or arc - and that as they say is life

I rarely get past the idiots guide (in pictures) at the beginning.

Perhaps one day I'll read the handbook

Welcome to your mid-life crisis

A bamboo duvet! ? !

Toyota ...

My new car tells me when to change gear (I ignore), squeaks if I cross a lane marking (annoying), beeps with increasing intensity if I leave my seat belt off even if parking (very annoying), tells me if my tire pressure is low (kind of useful), beeps if I get too close to another car (ok but off putting). What happened to cars that you just drive?

Ok I'm hoping this discussion hasn't quite finished yet - despite the pause. I'm going to slip into Ancient Egyptian thinking for a while as it feels more comfortable for me - but I think any system applies. Our 'perfected' or original being has three functions. A generation cycle - a generator in fact which creates our energy field. It's unified in its purpose and you might say 'fiery'. It doesn't really care about anything except its own survival and the consumption of what is needed to survive. As a kind of equal and opposite is a clear sighted observational awareness which feeds the being with pattern and insight. Being a pure observer is a passive state for us, so we are being fed what might be called conceptual essences which give us the ideas and patterns with which we make sense of reality. We stand between these two - and what disturbs us is when they interact so that energy disturbs clarity and in turn the clarity resists or impedes the free flow of energy. This is the emotional field. Because the mind-substance is a perfect recording material the imprints of all past activity are recorded in it - this is our personal and ancestral line - our emotional inheritance - our baggage if you like which we have to deal with - it comes to us ultimately from the energy of being but via our own personal history, our parent's emotional state both at conception and during our childhood and beyond that all life through the biological record. Not only does it contain unresolved issues and tensions - but also great wisdom. In a sense unpacking this wisdom is the path.

While there are threats from the natural environment - like earthquakes and floods and so on - they are certainly not of the same quality as the world in the sense of the human environment we inhabit. While recognising the power of nature and respecting it - do we ever feel alienated from it? I suspect alienation is because of unaddressed need. We want things to be a certain way but they aren't - and there is an emotional struggle with this. But I suspect that this is simply because we have forgotten, or lost touch with who we really are. The human world is famous for negative input. Our fellow human beings seem to think they are engaged in a struggle of superiority, whether it is for possessions or ideas. There's a kind of subliminal continuous war going on - which may I suppose be viewed as a battle for power. This is the world as 'the age of man'. And by man I mean mankind not males. So it still leaves the big question - as DaoBums (serious ones who wish to cultivate) what is our best attitude to or approach to the world - is it ok to be a hermit or do we need to take arms against the sea of troubles and by opposing end them?

Hi, This is mainly for the mods. Does anyone keep a track of forum stats like numbers of members, active member posts and newcomers? As I am supposed to be a Buddhist I did a check on the Buddhism sub and it seemed very low in activity - while it used to be quite active. I wondered if this place is healthy or dying down compared to yesteryear???

Seems to be lacking some of the zest it used to have. I hope it is not dwindling into inactivity. I would miss it.

Rouge! he was wearing rouge! How very 18th Century - did he have a powdered wig too????

Enjoying this discussion series based around this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wisdom-Exile-Buddhism-Modern-Times/dp/B07D9VZG8T/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=wisdom+in+exile&qid=1604785690&sr=8-1

I am truly amazed that two men in their late 70's can keep up their election for four days!!!!

If Lois says it's true that's good enough.

"It doesn't make any sense." - Everyone 2020

well you caught me out slipping into male/female ... but they are all YinYang traits.

This bamboo not yarrow - but hey: I came across the idea that the 'broken' yin line is a piece with a join in it, while a yang line a plain piece. Hence 'broken' actually means joined. This is how I think of it - whether its true or not