doc benway

Welcome to the DaoBums!

As far as I am aware, the Bön and Buddhist teachings and practices in sutra, tantra, and dzogchen are very similar. Buddha Shakyamuni is respected as a Buddha in Bön but not the first, last, or only. The skandhas are considered empty in Bön - the teachings on emptiness are essentially equivalent to madhyamaka teachings. One thing that I have noticed, in my limited experience which is mostly with dzogchen teachings; is that Buddhist practitioners and teachers tend to heavily emphasize teachings on emptiness. In the Bön teachings I've received there is generally a balance of considering emptiness, clarity, and union. This may be a dzogchen thing. I suspect that nihilism can be a consequence of over-emphasizing emptiness. This is something I often see in discussions among Buddhist practitioners, especially at the beginning and intermediate levels. Emphasizing emptiness would also naturally not encourage or value creativity. Once the realization of emptiness is actualized, clarity and union are already present and nihilism has no foothold. Unfortunately, this realization is elusive for many of us. It seems to be the intellectual process of trying to conceptually understand or striving to experience emptiness that lead to problems, IMO.

My experience has been the opposite, although I’m coming from the Bön tradition so it may be a bit different. In my training, creativity is a sign or manifestation of the quality and depth our connection to the nature of mind. It’s something that is emphasized often and incorporated into our practices in a variety of ways. This could be something unique to my teacher but I think it is more a characteristic of the dzogchen teachings. I also know the monastics are encouraged to develop talent and creativity in their lives and some I’ve met are marvelous painters, singers, musicians, storytellers… and joyfully share their talents, even modest ones, with little concern for what others think.

I don't think this is a complete question. Each of us defines our unique path in life based on our qualities, characteristics, and choices we make along the way. So if we ask whether something is a complete system for enlightenment, it is essential to ask 'for whom?' Clearly there have been individuals in history who have followed a Buddhist system (of which there are many) to fruition and others for whom Buddhism was not effective. We would also need to ask, which aspects of Buddhism did that individual employ throughout their life and which did they discard? Were any other views and practices employed in any fashion at any point, other influences? To separate ourselves from the system may allow us to indulge our curiosity but the answer we come up with, IMO, is an artificial construct that does not exist in reality.

It is done.

@Unota You want it? You got it!

Sitting in open presence a gut-wrenching sense of pain, hopelessness, and helplessness comes out of nowhere. With it comes a sense of being victim and perpetrator of every human and animal holocaust in our sordid and illustrious history. It crushed me into a literal sobbing, wailing rage. Not sure this has anything to do with my stange but it was sure something. And equally profound and transformative experiences of pervasive spaciousness, immortality and bliss - far more hazardous to a practitioner, IME. Lots of good and bad experiences have come up in meditation over time. I've received similar advice from my Daoist and Bön masters on the subject. Namely, these are transient, natural, and spontaneous experiences of meditation, energetic expressions of the base. They are more an indication of an obstacle to realization being released than something being achieved. They can be a milestone of progress as well as a teaser or lighthouse to inform and guide our practice. If we get too attached or resistant to the experiences they can be a powerful obstacle. Best to let them, and our reactivity, come and go without too much engagement or sense of significance.

I've always thought of Apech as a stange glass of water, even before I knew what the word meant...

I love it! 新年快乐 to the DaoBums! Great work @Trunk!

“The human mind is not a statistical machine like ChatGPT and its ilk, greedy for hundreds of terabytes of data in order to arrive at the most plausible answer to a conversation or the most likely answer to a scientific question. " On the contrary... "The human mind is a surprisingly efficient and elegant system that works with a finite amount of information. It does not try to corrupt correlations from the data, but rather tries to create explanations. ... ] Let's then stop calling it "Artificial Intelligence" and call it what it is, making "plagiarism software" because "It doesn't create anything, but copies existing works from existing artists and modifies them in such a way that they can escape copyright . This is the largest theft of intellectual property ever recorded since European colonists arrived in Indian communities. " Noam Chomsky, New York Times - March 8, 2023

with jute rope - but tight are sheaves of bulgar best bound to strains of chalga

While it is nothing more than an opinion that I am unable to verify, I suspect dualistic thought is an inherent characteristic of language. I also imagine this coincides, more or less, with a distancing between humans and their environment. Current thinking in biological sciences acknowledges the inherent non-duality of biological systems, eg. organism-environment systems. As our species became less concordant with, and more controlling of, its environment; it seems a sense of separation and individuation would naturally arise.

@Master Solo Your thread was locked as a result of not only the content but the direction the thread was taking and the effect it was having on other members. I felt the topic you intended to discuss - warning male cultivators against masturbation - would be best served in the male cultivation area, particularly in light of the trajectory it was on. This topic is different. It is an appeal to the membership for help regarding a problem encountered with questionable practices with which some here have experience. Members are offering useful suggestions and warm support, a beautiful thing to see. In my opinion, on this particular crisp and clear Saturday morning, this topic is best served in the general forum as anyone may have helpful input and benefit from reading the posts. While some topics clearly belong in one area vs another, many are shades of gray. In those cases the moderators need to use their best judgment and we hope you, the members, recognize that we are flawed creatures volunteering our free time to try and create a collegial and balanced environment for discussion as best we can. Your cooperation and support are very much appreciated.

I like this image and looking forward to seeing our new look!

@blue eyed snake Thanks for tagging me. I agree that discussion of this nature generally degrades into misogyny, as it has here, and is not appropriate for the general forum. I am closing this thread. @Solo Cultivator If you'd like to discuss male sexuality, please request access to the Men's Gender Garden here. You can then start a new thread there. Thanks for your cooperation.

@DynamicEquilibrium It is ready for you.

stripe

The transition from education and theory to vocation and earning a living is always potentially difficult. Adapting our theoretical knowledge to real life skills and sustainable employment is filled with surprises, unexpected and expected challenges, insecurity, and uncertainty; as well as triumphs, excitement, and limitless opportunity. I love blue eyed snake's post. I would imagine an economics education should give one the opportunity for a wide variety of employment possibilities that aren't limited to accounting and number crunching. It's certainly possible that one must "pay their dues" in the beginning, I don't know much about the field. FWIW I'll add that over time, one of the things I find most supportive and gratifying is that my work gives me the opportunity to help people. Whether or not you resonate with the Buddhist idea of "right livelihood," the things that seem important early on in one's career change over time. Eventually the work itself can become boring and repetitive as we do the same things ad nauseum. On the other hand, getting the satisfaction of feeling that we are helping others, either directly or indirectly, can carry us through some tough times and ultimately be more rewarding than anything else associated with our work, even the compensation. Good luck to you! PS - I'm relocating the post to the Rabbit Hole which seems a better fit for the topic

Very cool, it may take me some time to get through the whole interview. I appreciate you posting this here. I also miss having Spotless here.

@NaturaNaturans It is complete

Yes, my Daoist teacher used this method during my meditation instruction. I have no idea if it is used often as I’ve only had one teacher. I can say that it was probably the single most important teaching I received from him with respect to understanding how to practice properly.

Mod note The mod team and admin have reviewed a report regarding posts on mercury and cinnabar. Mutually respectful discussion on the topic is welcome. Due to the highly toxic nature of mercury and mercury containing compounds, including cinnabar, we feel that the potential for misuse and harm is high, consequently advocating or encouraging the ingestion of such compounds is not acceptable here and may be grounds for administrative action. Thanks for your cooperation.

Teachings on desire as a poison can be very helpful to some and harmful to others. We all need different things at different times in our lives. Please take everything I say as nothing more than my opinion and perspective. A few words on desire as a poison. Desire, like poison, is not good or bad in and of itself. There is absolutely nothing wrong with mercury or digitalis. The problem lies in the person that consumes it in large enough quantities to experience toxic effects. IMO there is nothing wrong with the simple experience of desire and nothing wrong with desire serving as a stimulus for creative expression. In fact, this may be one of the healthiest expressions of desire. The poison lies in our tendency to over-identify with our desires, to over-indulge our desires, or even to deny ourselves what we desire, for then it tends to exert a controlling factor in our lives leading to problems. When we simply are present to the experience of desire - how it lives in our body, our inner narrative, our thoughts and feelings, we have the opportunity to see it for what it is, a normal and natural manifestation of human experience. It becomes toxic when it becomes a source of frustration, of unsatisfied longing, as an object of rumination, or when it leads us to take advantage of others. In truth, my experience is that desire is not the only, and certainly not the best, driving force for creative expression. Creativity is far more subtle and spontaneous than that. Creativity comes from a much deeper, quieter, and more intelligent place than desire. One analogy is the relationship between spiritual practice and awakening or enlightenment. Spiritual practice can prepare us for and help us to recognize when we come into contact with deeper spiritual truths. Nevertheless, there is no direct correlation and no guarantee that any particular practice will result in such an outcome. Similarly the desire to create or to own or claim authorship of our creation is not the source of creativity. It can put us in a position where the spontaneity of creativity can come out, it can even give us fuel to keep going when that connection to the creative source is elusive. In this sense, I see no problem with accepting the fact that desire plays a role in our creative process. In fact, the desire to create can help us to connect more deeply to something important inside that we may otherwise overlook. The desire to achieve something in life, be it spiritual or creative, is a useful and appropriate human experience. Certainly there comes a point when desire can be distracting or limiting or lead us in the wrong direction. It is important to be aware enough of ourselves and our creative process to recognize when this is occurring and to redirect; very much like we need to notice when we are distracted in meditation and return to presence, over and over again. At some point I think desire becomes less important as a motivating factor but that is not something that can be forced or denied, that is something that must be permitted to occur when our process and development has matured sufficiently. Another thing I'll suggest is that the tendency to question, judge, and punish ourselves is a symptom of the seasonal depression you describe. There is nothing inherently wrong with this either but it is important to recognize it for what it is - a passing feeling, maybe slow to pass, but ultimately something that will change with time. Like desire, this tendency to judge and punish our motivation and our feelings is just fine as it is as long as we recognize that it is nothing more than a very limited and transient mood and experience. What we truly are as human and spiritual beings is so much more than that and what I am pointing to here is the real source of creativity. All that said I will freely admit that my own connection to a source and motivation for creative expression has been elusive and frustrating for me at times, probably more often than not, so while I may have some thoughts I like to share on the subject I can understand and share your frustration. I think one approach to consider is that when these obstacles arise and seem insurmountable, rather than throwing ourselves against the rocks maybe try to find an alternative way forward. Consider investing a little time and energy into a form of expression that is unfamiliar, something completely different from your usual approach. A different medium or activity, a different color palette (whether that be verbal, auditory, visual, whatever...), a different time of day, a different location, even something simple like different clothing or background music. It's also OK to take a break from your activity. I've found in the past that taking a break allows me to return with a fresh perspective that permits progress in new and exciting directions. Best of luck to you Zoe and may the new year bring you fresh inspiration and creative energy!

Why not give it a try? I just went through 1200 pages of 1Q84 like a hot knife through magic butter. What English translation do you suggest?

Happy New Year friends! I can't recall a resolution I didn't fail to accomplish... consequently I gave up on making resolutions years ago. That said there are things I do want to challenge myself to focus on this year - deepening relationships with those I care most about, revitalizing my martial arts and fitness routine, playing more chess, and devoting more time to creative expression. I also hope to implement a program to bring meditation instruction to people living with chronic pain. Tonight I'll be spending some quality time with family and had a great time today watching the Ravens play football. Cheers to a prosperous and healthy 2024 to all of my DaoBum friends!