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Well in the UK at least ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14898564

I learnt about the five skandhas on a Rigpa course. Here's a link to a guided meditaion on the five skandhas: http://www.zamstore....oducts_id=13077

First thing I do is remember the metaphor of the doctor: that I am sick, the teacher is the doctor, the dharma is the medicine and practising the dharma is taking the medicine. Then I recall the four immeasurables: limitless love, limitless compassion, limitless joy and limitless equanimity and try with varying degrees of failure (well it is called practising the dharma) to apply as a standard root operating procedure in my outlook and interactions. Added to the four immeasurables is application of the six paramitas which help in all sorts of circumstances, especially work: generosity, patience, discipline, diligence, wisdom, and meditation. In a nutshell - cut out the negative, cultivate the positive and train/tame the mind. In essence nothing especially unique to Buddhism that cannot be found in any other path of good will.

I've read many things about death and heard many teachings but of course can't say for sure that I'm certain about any of it. It's down to personal and spiritual aesthetics. For some death will be a welcome release from a life of misery, I remember some graffitti on the Berlin Wall which said "When I die I am going to heaven as I'm already living in hell." I have visions (not real BTW, more like a fear) ending up in a galaxy size auditorium with my, ahem, 'less than honourable' outer and inner moments being viewed by a massive celestial gathering on a vast stellar screen. The symbolism of Kinkara lends an interesting perspective: "The dancing, grinning skeletons ... express a dynamic vision of death and change, viewed as an estatic dance of transformation, unchanging inner essence transcending the constant mutations of externals. Meditation on the impermanence of all phenomena should lead to a joyful freedom from attachment, and not to a morbid pessimism." [Taken from 'The Crystal and the Way of Light'.]

Well if things are put like this then it's chilling. I'd like to hear the opinion of people with spiritual vision who can see into the hidden side of life and would be able to discern which subtle forces are ensoulng the cells, however temporarily, and whether the whole operation is an affront to Creation. In this respect I'm reminded of the amazing work of the Findhorn Foundation and their work with devis in the plant kingdom.

A cause for cautious optimism. Addresses a big problem through the rational application of realisable means. Takes the bad karma out of meat eating too. Not sure of the subtle effects on the body rather like the difference between synthetic and natural vitamins.

* TESTICULATING. Waving your arms around and talking bollocks. * BLAMESTORMING. Sitting round in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed and who was responsible. * SEAGULL MANAGER. A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything and then leaves. * SALMON DAY. The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die. * CUBE FARM. An office filled with cubicles. * PRAIRIE DOGGING.. When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on. (This also applies to applause for a promotion because there may be cake.) * SALAD DODGER. An excellent phrase for an overweight person. * SWAMP DONKEY. A deeply unattractive person.. * AEROPLANE BLONDE. One who has bleached/dyed her hair but still has a 'black box'. * PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE. The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again. * OH-NO SECOND. That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake. (e.g. You've hit 'reply all'). * GREYHOUND. A very short skirt, only an inch from the hare. * MILLENNIUM DOMES. The contents of a Wonderbra, i.e. Extremely impressive when viewed from the outside but there's actually naught in there worth seeing. * MONKEY BATH . A bath so hot, that when lowering yourself in, you go: 'Oo! Oo! Oo! Aa! Aa! Aa!'. * MYSTERY BUS. The bus that arrives at the pub on Friday night while you're in the toilet after your 10th pint and whisks away all the unattractive people so the pub is suddenly packed with stunners when you come back in. * TART FUEL. Bottled premixed spirits, regularly consumed by young women. * TRAMP STAMP. Tattoo on a female. * PICASSO BUM. A woman whose knickers are too small for her, so she looks like she's got 4 buttocks.

I don't think a source can be truly independent either but when I stumble upon any sources that shed some more light in this area I'll be sure to post. It would be interesting to see which Indian Buddhist deities can be totally separated from Hindu deities. Some share the same name: Hayagriva, Tara, Garuda, (Vajra)Bhairava while others similar, but not exact, mantras and iconography like Chinnamasta and Vajrayogini. There are terma and visionary sources of purely Tibetan Buddhist deities such as wrathful forms of Padmasambhava/Guru Rinpoche in sambhogakaya form, Dorje Drolo being an example.

Thanks! Do you know of a source of independent scholarly research on this that doesn't come from Hindu sources?

Not sure how reliable the information is - Akshobhya another name for Shiva?! - but here's another link on the Hindu and Buddhist Taras: Tara The "Star"

Secret chakra the penis? Models of the subtle body vary according to the particular tantra, practice and tradition. I've heard of a teaching where the 'vajra' is mentioned (i.e. the penis) as well as the secret chakra so in that model they are different.

Maybe they originate from the same place?

Not wishing to clutter up the Traditons and Lineages thread with what some might see as Buddhist detritus there was an interesting discussion developing on the status of emptiness. Here's what the Dalai Lama says about the subject (sorry about the lengthy quote, but H.H says it far better than I ever could): "It is important to clarify that we are not speaking of emptiness as some sort of absolute strata of reality, akin to, say, the ancient Indian concept of Brahman, which is conceived to be an underlying absolute reality from which the illusory world of multiplicity emerges. Emptiness is not a core reality, lying somewhere at the heart of the universe, from which the diversity of phenomena arise. Emptiness can only be conceived of in relation to individual things and events. For example, when we speak of emptiness of a form, we are talking about the absolute reality of that form, the fact that it is devoid of intrinsic existence. That emptiness is the ultimate nature of that form. Emptiness exists only as a quality of a particular phenomena; emptiness does not exist separately and independently of particular phenomena. Furthermore, since emptiness can only be understood as ultimate reality in relation to individual phenomena, individual things and events, when an individual phenomenon ceases to exist, the emptiness of that phenomenon will also cease to exist. So, although emptiness is not itself the product of causes and conditions, when a basis for identifying emptiness no longer exists, the emptiness of that thing also ceases to exist." HH Dalai lama, Essence of the Heart Sutra pp.117-118 (from chapter 10, Developing an Unmistaken View of Reality)

It wouldn't be TaoBums if it didn't I'd call this the process of interdependence. Forestofempitness also touching on this gave a nice resolution of emptiness and being - primal potentiality. Now this is where it gets semantically very difficult. Emptiness is only half the story, as there is also the Buddhist concept of luminosity though H.H.'s excerpt doesn' t mention this - perhaps because he was expounding on a particular Buddhist philosophical viewpoint that doesn't acknowledge luminosity. Though he states that phenomena don't arise from emptiness do they arise from luminosity? Phrases like 'the magical display of the natural state' come to mind. If so, how is this luminosity/natural state different to Brahman which is specifically denied? Are luminosity and emptiness inseparable? These questions will cause endless debate. Speaking for myself and knowing that this is a complex area where you can easily get tied up in knots I just carry on practicing and for the time being let emptiness signify 'limitless potential and the impermanence that liberates.' Edited for typos and clarity

Good to see it back up - a lot of love, experience and dedication has gone into AlchemicalTaoism.com

I think traditions are important as they preserve and transmit a body of knowledge for posterity. Lineages are also important as they can give access to inner sources of support (not that traditions don't). No one tradition or lineage is better than any other, just more appropriate for where people are. The relationship between tradition and lineage can be mutually supportive or sometimes even antagonistic. Traditions are human institutions operating in the world so are not immune to human folly - new lineages may be viewed with suspicion by an older structure and a lineage may exist despite a tradition, almost as if the tradition happened to be an expedient host for a lineage or a ray of sanity and grace working itself through a rigid human culture.

There was an interesting discussion on Tara here: Dharma Wheel - Tara

Fascinating! Thanks!

So you can respond appropriately to the conditions and circumtsances you find yourself in instead of reacting and blundering around.

Maybe he was being humble and you and your companions just didn't appreciate him anyway? Yes!

I'm no scholar but there is a nice exposition in the preface of Issue 3 of Shenpen Osel: http://www.shenpen-osel.org/issue3.pdf In the Nyingma the official view is rangtong though I've been taught to view the approaches as tools. Use shentong to gain confidence, use rangtong not to limit oneself to what arises (though don't disregard it either).

Are you hostile to Buddhism per se or just the way it is presented by the forum's resident 'Buddhist club members'?.

Fanatics? What a lot of old bollocks! As Bernard observes in Yes, Minister "It's one of those irregular verbs, isn't it? I have an independent mind; you are an eccentric; he is round the twist."

Fanatical Buddhists? Fanatical anti-Buddhists?

I read something, somewhere, once, that staring at a wall for nine years was a metaphor. Whether it was a metaphor for an accomplishment or undergoing a specific process that didn't literally involve staring at a wall for nine years escapes me.