doc benway

My best wishes on a speedy and full recovery. 🙏🏽

@Immortality You are welcome to edit your posts. The moderators do not delete posts. When you have done that, if you want your account deleted let me know.

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing this wonderful moment from Bums past. 🙏🏽❤️🙏🏽

@Ano Eremita Please change back to the tutanota address and try to login let me know when you’ve done it, thanks

You’re as precious as any old mantra… …but that’s just me 🙏🏽 Moderating or Bumming, people come first for me, scripture second. At least I try to see things that way.

If my post was offensive to you, my apologies. I thought it was humorous. It has been removed. _/\_

Om Tat Sat

One thing I’ve learned is that what we experience when connecting to this source is not so much the source itself but rather the opposite of whatever was obstructing us before. So one person may feel incredibly open, another may feel connected to everyone and everything, another may feel all powerful or all knowing. This is simply because they were previously feeling the opposite and when that obscuration drops, the experience of what was being obscured is very profound. The direct experience of the source is beyond words and concepts. The instant we label it or “understand” it we are already grasping and limiting, and we are already mistaken and disconnected. This is why it is said that the conceptual mind can never know it, as it is itself an obstacle in the beginning.

In dzogchen writings, the Natural State is often referred to as "self-secret," meaning that even as we are in the midst of it, being a manifestation of it, or having it directly pointed out to us, it is only reveals itself to us when we are ready. What does it mean to be ready? No one really knows for sure, and it varies from person to person and time to time, but I am certain that a part of it is that we are able and willing to listen actively and openly, we often say nakedly, without the activity of our ideas and beliefs getting in the way. The voice of the source is extraordinarily subtle despite the fact that it is all-pervasive and indestructible. A clue - some voices here, and elsewhere, speak directly from the source. While they may not be Buddhas or fully enlightened, there is a clarity and authority in their words that can be a beacon to finding our own direct taste. We can listen or we can correct them so that they are more in line with our own concepts and opinions. Food for thought, or no-thought as the case may be...

@Ano Eremita I will look into this and see what I can find. I will get back to you in the next day or two.

Thank you @liminal_luke It was wonderful working with you. Your presence on the mod team will be missed!

@refugeindharma your wish is my command

Far more surprising if done and paid for by a capitalist government, no?

@cheya Apparently it was a rescue and this was a photograph of the cat while tranquilized. It was going to be release into the wild. Here's more info - https://thistle25.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/big-kitty/

If I identified with a political party it would be Green.

I think my initial post was just a bit ambiguous. If you would like access to the new sub-forum please ask me here or through PM. Not everyone who posts a thank you (or an F you) here will necessarily want access so it will not be automatic. Thanks

I agree with both points. There is value in self-reliance and finding trust in openness and stillness. There is also value in seeing others' perspectives. At the end of the day we are the ones that decide how to act, whether that action be spontaneous or advice of another. From a spiritual guidance perspective, one way to know a good teacher is that they give you the tools to cultivate that self-reliance. Be wary of a teacher that encourages dependence on their wisdom...

Opposite People! Seems timely...

Good question, for me it is much closer to calisthenics/hatha yoga. It does not substitute for tsa lung or trul khor which are less isometric, more movement/breath/intention oriented. I get a very different result from them - core strengthening, hip flexibility, some emotional release and central clearing. I tried to research the lineage and there is nothing to be found online on Hansard's teacher. I did find some negative accusations related to Hansard and sexual abuse of students - https://forum.culteducation.com/read.php?12,25113,page=1 Not sure I buy that this is Bön in origin.

? I rarely visit Dharmawheel, other than to look at some excellent Bön resources there. There was definitely some … Malcolm says… here years ago during the Buddhist wars. I think he’s very knowledgeable as a scholar and translator, don’t know how realized as a practitioner.

It’s always fun when Malcolm Smith has a go at him…

I would say it is more like taking whatever steps are necessary for the individual to determine which way the door swings before pushing too hard.