Apech

Three other serpents worthy of note from Egypt conveniently shown in one illustration (11th Hour Amduat). At the top left hand, the god Atum stands holding the wings of the legged serpent Neheb-kau. Note: winged serpent with legs = dragon. There is also a serpent related to a constellation shown just in front - this is the 11th hour of the night so just before dawn - so this will mean those stars which indicate the sunrise. Neheb-kau means 'Uniter of kas' - kas are expressions of energy and the serpent is the continuum of energy/awareness from which forms of existence emerge. In the centre the Sun on his boat (shown as a a ram) is covered by a snake whose name is Mehen - which means coiled one. This is the same snake which completely enwraps the soul of the sun in the 6th hour and is thought to be the origin of the symbol of the Ouroboros. Again in front of the boat the Sun's attendants carry a huge serpent on their heads - this one is called 'world encircler' and is a form of Mehen which is said to form the boundary of all that exists and has existed.

I see what you mean - and it is true that beginner Buddhist would be taught like that - but in later stages, or at least in vajrayana there is a different approach. I think the insubstantial water is essentially pure but is contaminated by our emotions. One stage in dealing with this alchemically would be to let it settle but this would be followed by transformational processes. From my own experience I would say that we have a bundle of emotions which we are particularly attached to - and we tend to rotate through them in certain moods or thoughts or states of being which have the effect of either agitating us or making us stuck. Both have the effect of robbing us of an awareness of our true selves. Releasing from the 'stuck' state is a heart thing - where if you get it right there is free circulation through all the centres and channels which lays the ground for integrating energy and awareness. Something like that

I haven't had time - but I'll try to start it up tomorrow snake-willing.

Are you finding it difficult to say senility?

I think insubstantial water is a very good term for the mind-substance in which emotions operate. Perhaps you could say the medium of emotional activity - something like that.

Farscape

No its not me - I got this from the jolly old internet.

Obviously no interest to anyone on DBs but in case you have a friend:

It depends who they shot.

a,a,b

Hey I just noticed you got a quote from the Pyramid Texts in your signature! God I love serpent deities - let's start a thread on them!!!!!!!!!

Well I've been told already I'm on the wrong page as far as this forum is concerned but I may as well respond to your remarks. If the DBs about practice and cultivation then why not discuss that, rather than the rights or wrongs of moderation decisions? The shape of this forum is the membership with its 'discussions on the way' not circular arguments about the pathway of one individual or especially about the effectiveness or otherwise of moderation. Effective moderation is almost invisible, it sits beside a stream occasionally pulling out a dubious looking fish and tends the riverbanks to avoid flooding or drought. It is never supposed to be the subject matter. As Lao Tsu said 'justice exists because of injustice' and so you could if you wished discuss, dispute and criticise every moderator decision till the cows come home. But actually maybe we should just accept that they are sincere and doing their best. People are not banned or suspended lightly - in fact you have to work quite hard to make it happen. Moderators may say the wrong thing occasionally just as we all do. So what? They are volunteers and we owe them our support. For my part I am just glad that there are a few good people like them willing to do this. Let's all just beam positive energy at this place and move on.

I think maybe, what separates us from ancient shamans (nod to Nungali that they do still exist) is that we journey to understand and not to gain powers. Also we are a bit limited and much more tied to a rational core - a limit of belief or possibility perhaps. But the advantage of this is that we can explore in a more controlled way? More aqualung than old deep sea suits (?) - I won't stretch this analogy because I don't know anything about diving. The other thing I wanted to dwell on is the difference between 'feeling' and 'emotion'. We use the word feeling in a number of different ways - for instance the sense of touch, the physical sense is 'feeling', but on the other hand we say 'I feel a sense of awe' we don't mean touch of course. In Buddhism there is verdana which is often translated as feeling or sensation but actually seems to mean like/dislike, attraction/aversion assessments. Which is yet another use of feeling - 'I like it, I don't like it'. In fact this like/dislike type assessment seems to be at the core of duality. And to be the basis for emotionality - extreme aversion = hate and so on. But I would prefer to reserve the word feeling to mean a basic sentience, consciousness before it becomes sufficiently differentiated or formed to be called thought. While emotion is a movement of energy in response to stimulation of some kind which can become locked-in so to speak subconsciously, dormant until triggered by an event or situation. Any thoughts?

First a request : please can we have more threads about Early Grey - his banning, his unbanning, his crimes and his innocence - because this is the subject in which we must consume ourselves for all time. Nothing is more fascinating than going round and round the same subject endlessly seeking some kind of eternal and immutable truth. The moderators must be infallible, like the Pope, and their every decision held up to measure against the universal and undying light of the Logos to see that it is perfect. This is how we must spend our time, for if we don't, mountains shall crash into the sea and we shall cease to be, eventually. Is not TDBs the very centre of the cosmos and does not the fiery sun revolve around it? Let us erect the pillars of our certainty, with unshakable resolve, vault the heavens to the welkins infinite breadth and height, so that they may say, these truly are the bums of the Dao. And no one shall doubt it.

terminator

No, I wasn't meaning all of them - but the context was the shadow side and so on - so that's what I addressed.

2525

Which other thread do you mean? There's an Yi Ching section on here somewhere. Happy to discuss anything any time. Don't do skype tho'. But either post here or PM me

Hi, The Yi Ching and Buddhism are compatible - the Tibetans use it sometimes as an oracle. You can see some trigrams on tankas. So I wouldn't worry about that. However of course the Yi Ching pre-dates both the Buddha himself and of course the Dharma arriving in China. Some people might say otherwise but some concepts in Daoism made the assimilation of Buddhist dharma relatively easy. I don't know the Walker version but I do use Wilhelm (as well as Huang and some others) - I think mostly when Wilhelm talks of God he means Heaven - and what you might call the 'numinous' or spirit. It is quite definitely not the Biblical God which is an idea unknown in ancient China. The Daoist path and the Mahayana path of the bodhisattva are not the same. There are however many Daoist schools with a strong Buddhist influence - so in some cases they might appear almost the same. And of course Ch'an and Zen are quite Daoist influenced. I think comparison is valid and can be helpful - but mixing is often not so helpful. All you need to do is decide to which you have a strong connection. This is the one which will benefit you the most. It does not preclude studying the other path by the way but just knowing in your heart which you are most clearly aligned. On praying to Guan Yin and a Biblical God - I don't think this would work. The Yi Ching is about the changes, the interaction of yin and yang in a kind of dynamic field, how situations arise and how one flows into another. It doesn't really involve the will of a supreme being - but dependent origination fits quite well with this idea. Hope this helps. (just my thoughts of course I am no expert) A.

I think there is a distinct advantage in shamanism in treating as real the space which is inhabited by thoughts, feelings and spirits of various kinds. This makes it far more likely that you can arrive at the truth about how these things and emotions work. It's true that there was a lot of darkness in old shamanism but that is only because their intent was skewed and so what they did with their powers was twisted by this. In principle they were masterful. But the things they did with this mastery were in the end either fruitless or mundane. But I think the exceptions to this gave rise to yogic systems and internal alchemy and tantric Buddhism which maintained some of the approach with a new purpose.

satisfactual

Zipetty Doodah.

Biden

de nada

egg nogg