doc benway

A few that I will always have on my bookshelf: Fiction - Blindness - Jose Saramago Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien Naked Lunch - William S Burroughs Collected Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez The Magus - John Fowles Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky His Dark Materials - Phillip Pulman Harry Potter series - JK Rowling Dune - Frank Herbert A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris Non fiction - Awareness - Anthony DeMello On Being Human - Jiddu Krishnamurti When the Shoe Fits - Osho The Miracle of Mindfullness - Thich Nhat Hanh Dao De Jing - version of your choice Zhuangzi - " Dhammapada - "

How long have you been practicing the sets Ramon?

I haven't seen the movie but the play on Broadway was the best theater experience of my life. I haven't seen that many plays (maybe a dozen) but Lion King was light years beyond anything else. I'm very partial to Julie Taymor's work in general (Across the Universe, Titus, Frida).

Beautiful post Carol, alas I'm not yet terminal... but I'm working on it!

Shiba Luohan Qigong works best for me although the "ancient" version of the Eight Pieces of Brocade of my teacher is very good for the breath which, in turn, is really good for cultivation of Qi.

Sounds very cool Carol. I personally think teaching a standardized form in the beginning is very valuable. Once the student has a reasonable grasp on the basic principles, I encourage them to link postures together in new ways. Same thing goes for the martial training. We start with specific drills in pushing hands and martial applications. Ultimately, as a martial art, taiji is completely free form but within that freedom is a firm foundation in specific postures and basic principles. I'd also like to see an example if you feel like sharing.

Holy Shit !!!!! I just saw this film and I'm still shaking! What a roller coaster ride... If you like intense, shocking, hilarious, horror you've got to see this one on the biggest screen with the best sound system you can find... Sam Raimi gets back to his freakin' crazy roots! Holy Shit!!!!

It is certainly possible to feel and control the awareness of Qi using the intention, Yi. This is the foundation training of Daoist meditation methods. It is also possible to fool yourself about this. If you're serious, I'd suggest that you seek out someone with experience in teaching Daoist meditation.

My name is Steve and I'm a Tao Bums addict, I haven't been here that long but it's been real. There have been many times when I've walked away and realized that my family, my work, and my cultivation are more important. I keep coming back. There seems to be an exponential growth of membership resulting in a wide variety of material, much of which has been chewed over quite a bit in the past. Maybe this is part of the reason for the ennui? Nevertheless, I find that periodically new personalities will pop up and really wash over the place like a refreshing cool breeze and the old farts will show themselves occasionally with some sage comment or other and make me feel all warm and fuzzy. I'm much more sporadically involved of late but I still like it here.

The Kung Fu TV series was very important to me as a kid as well. Rest In Peace David... You brought a lot of happiness to a lot of folks.

Philosophical debate seems to be very valuable for sharpening your debating skills and learning the opposing arguments so that you can become more successful at philosophical debate... It allows the mind to do what it does best - create images and concepts to represent reality, convince itself that these images are equal to reality conclude therefore, that it truly understands reality But does it really? Great posts cat, CarsonZi and de_paradise.

The Golden Compass is the first in a trilogy of novels called His Dark Materials. The book(s) is infinitely better than the movie. Please read the book(s) first! Thanks for mentioning those - two of my favorite flicks of all time. Santa Sangre is another of his films worth seeing. Some other films a bit farther afield but worthwhile nonetheless: Tom Tykwer's films Run Lola Run and The Princess and the Warrior have an interesting sensibility to them Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book is very good Nostalgia by Tarkovsky Walkabout by Nicholas Roeg Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Last Wave by Peter Weir Tampopo by Juzo Itami Breaking the Waves by Lars van Trier (one of the most intense films I've ever seen) Across the Universe by Julie Taymor (I could watch it every day and not get tired of it) I love a good movie! Oops, how could I forget... ASHES AND SNOW - an amazing film!!! Here's a link to more info about the project: http://www.ashesandsnow.org/

I have no idea how I would ever choose a top Tao Bum. So many folks have so much to contribute in one way or another. Instead, here are 10 bums that I either enjoy reading or feel a personal connection with: mat black kate .broken. stigweard buddy (I miss him) rain hagar evZeny lotus flower unconditioned and 10 more trunk smile yoda sean goldisheavy cameron oolong rabbit mal freeform lozen and 10 more hundun dwai scotty taomeow cat lin karen ian joeblast augustleo I could probably keep going but I'm tired... I love you all Well, most of you anyway...

When the Shoe Fits was like a touch-stone for me and really stimulated me to start looking for truth. The Empty Boat was nearly as good. His stuff on Christianity, Zen, and Buddhism tends to bore me. He embodied paradox - I think it was partly intentional and partly corruption. There are many people with worthwhile messages who are inconsistent or corrupt, some more overt than others. Towards the end of his life he was certainly a mess. I think its worth the effort to read When the Shoe Fits. No reason to avoid reading anything, IMO.

Excellent arguments to all of the points in my post Vajrahridaya! I have no doubt that you are very expert and well read in this area. Nevertheless, many of your arguments do not agree with my own personal experience. We will simply have to agree to disagree (or not). Thank you for the stimulating discussion.

I will take the position of disagreeing with this. This is argument is simply semantics, the difference is not meaningful, but verbal, in my opinion. There are infinite, beginningless, and endless mindstreams - let us all agree to that, shall we? That is obvious from personal experience. Brahman is a label that may be associated with the existence of infinite, beginningless, endless mindstreams. What Brahman implies is the artificial nature of separation. There may be infinite mindstreams yet they can be equally (or more acurately) conisdered as Mindstream - the sum total of the existence of mindstreams, however and whenever many there are. Separation or distinction of each independent (or dependent, more accurately) mindstream is tantamount to attachment. That very distinction is the beginning of human suffering. To take it a step further, it is unknowable whether or not there is some organizing intelligence or awareness at a level beyond the level of human awareness. Buddhism may say no - there's none, Vedanta may say yes - there is, Christianity - yes, Daoism - no; I favor the following position on that question: I don't and can never know and it doesn't matter! None of us knows, we simply are working from a paradigm in order to approximate something that is ineffable - forever and always beyond any level of human comprehension. But if I simply accept the question and sit with that at a deep and open place for a time, something may come of it. Once I think I know the answer, I can never know anything new. The question is alive, the answer is dead. Vedanta does not imply that the mindstreams "come from" something else because they are already that thing - there is no separation. It is only a label used for the convenience of developing a paradigm - a framework for discussion (more words). I hope that we can be mindful of our tendency to use words to create artificial difference in core truths. It simply furthers the tribal rifts that have torn humanity apart since the beginning.

Great recommendation - I loved that series as a kid. I LOVE Stephen Chow's stuff - I've got to check that out - thanks!

Another I thought of is The Fountain by Darren Aronovsky - some folks love it, some hate it, I love it. He also did Pi and Requiem for a Dream which I admired. I think he also directed The Wrestler - haven't seen that one yet.

My teacher is a Daoist and taught me the Gong Fu method of brewing tea. He orders really good quality Wulong tea from Taiwan each Spring and gets me some. That's about it - for him it's more of a social affair than a spiritual or religious matter. He likes very much to simply sit around and chat once in a while over tea. I've adopted the habit with some friends and enjoy it as well.

The Lion's Roar - documentary about the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa Milarepa - historical fiction The Wheel of Time - Herzog's documentary about the Kalachakra Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion - documentary about Tibet's history, very well done! Himalaya - beautiful drama set in ... Amongst White Clouds - documentary about a search for the hermits of the Zhongnan mountains The Scent of Green Papaya - beautiful movie about mindfulness My favorite in the fiction genre is Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring as well...

My favorite martial arts films: Kung Fu Hustle - Stephen Chow - my all time favorite 5.5+++ Versus - Kitamura Ryuhei Sword of Doom - Okamoto Kihachi Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Ang Lee Pushing Hands - Ang Lee Dragon Inn - Raymond Lee Kill Bill 1 and 2 - Quentin Tarantino Gohatto - Oshima Nagisa

Sounds like complete bullshit to me... Everything is spirit - the universe is whole. I'm not saying not to eat meat, just that it's ridiculous to make such an assertion. Show me the measuring stick of spirit and I may change my song.

Think of the most abrasive, arrogant, and confrontational folks on Tao Bums, multiply that by an order of magnitude or two... There are lots of good folks too but the balance is not conducive enough to respectful and open discourse for my tastes.

Death is not the most important part of life. In fact, death is not a part of life at all. Death is the absence of life. Like dark is the absence of light. On the other hand, thinking about death is certainly a big part of life and we all need to reconcile that for ourselves. I wonder why the poster is asking others for an easy and painless way to die? Death and life are both hard. Everything worthwhile is hard. There's a good reason why the samurai killed themselves in a horrific and painful manner. Death is a very serious business and any consideration of death should be very serious indeed. I have two good friends who are watching their sons fight against brain cancer. I watched a young lady face a lifetime of paralysis after a botched attempt at hanging herself - she relished her life after that! I've watched the pain of children, parents, and spouses trying to deal with the suicide of loved ones... it's terrible for those left behind. I feel that those who choose to throw away their lives are weak and cowards. Life is the most precious gift we can ever receive. It deserves to be cherished and worshipped, not tossed away as if by an impulsive adolescent or jihadist. I've thought of taking my own life once or twice. I imagine that most of us do to different degrees. I could think of any number of ways to do it - painful, slow, quick, painless, dramatic, subtle... What's the difference? Death will come for you soon enough. The question is, will you be ready when it does? Live fully and deeply for as long as you can - only then will you understand and appreciate the beauty of death. If the poster is just making conversation, there are better topics to discuss than easy ways to die. If looking for an easy way out - please ask for help, life is worth the struggle although sometimes it can be overwhelming and may not seem like it for a time.