doc benway

Please return to and stay on topic. Thank you, Mod Squad

The dog had no teeth! Life is so full of surprises and yes, it certainly seems that you passed the test. Slipped right by the Eagle.

@Sketch Should be good to go. Find at end of PPD list. Can’t reorder on phone... will alphabetize when at laptop.

smooch

@CloudHands Sorry, no can do. Your name need to be a minimum of 3 characters.

I’m reading one of her books now. She was quite a character!

It’s related to the Nirmanakaya (Sanskrit) which is sprul-sku (pronounced ‘trul-ku) in Tibetan.

TDB is an enigma for me. And also very familiar and predictable. Essentially, it is me. Ideas and attitudes are thrown at me, or thrown at the ethers, and I take it in, I react, I process what I take in, maybe give something back. Or I put something out there, something comes back to me, and I react to that. Ultimately, it’s a way to look at myself in the mirror of all of you. It is quite interesting how much inertia it has for me. It’s palpable sometimes.

A thread devoted to sharing and discussion of music. Whatever you like, play, compose, listen to, whatever... In honor of coming Autumn, I made this recording of Qiu (Autumn). It’s a guitar piece from Si Ji (Four Seasons) by French composer Thierry Rougier. It’s written in shang mode, one of the classic Chinese folk music modes.

Bön teachings say the self-knowing is not thought, the equivalent to what you’re saying for me seems like path rigpa. Knowing that has not fully liberated all obscurations... and likely won’t until death for all but Buddha. We call it clarity, the clear aspect of emptiness. Bön defines that as clarity, a characteristic of the base. The closest we come to the base in life, according to the Bön ma gyud teachings is the clear light of sleep.

Returning to “taking emotion as the path,” I thought to share a current practice, a core practice from dzogchen teachings. I imagine others have ways of practicing with emotion. I wonder if anyone wants to share?

death

I'm referring more to the experience than the labels. Is knowing "I am" a thought?

Telling you who I am and knowing/recognizing who I am are two different things. Knowing and recognition may be possible without conceptualization. Of course it all depends on how we define our terms. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche recently offered a talk and guided meditation on the distinction between thought and non-conceptual awareness called Knowing vs Thinking: Direct Realization in Meditation. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet but hope to do so today (I've got a rare day off work, YAY!)

Anything really but the question game up for me in the context of our discussion of emotion. Some seem to suggest that emotion arises from thought, others that thought comments on emotion. While we can certainly offer examples of each that seem plausible, I wonder if our answers go deep enough? Are you certain? When you first recognized/knew the deeper truth of who you are, was thought required or did it come after, offering its commentary?

A few rhetorical questions. I like questions more than answers lately. Is thought primary or secondary? Does thought create or comment? Is there a distinction between knowing and thinking?

Kodiak

Mingus

Pig’s feet

Precisely and even this shows that master-student deference in their practice. Looks like a little wing chun mixed in to my eye... At the end of the day, I find it's good not to be too concerned with what others believe or don't believe. Even more important not to be too concerned with what I believe...

I don't deny the masters shown in the posted videos have skill. The issue I have with videos like these is they generally show star-struck, admiring students trying hard to learn something from their revered master. It's a very particular dynamic and shows clearly when filmed. Nungli described it best. When you are on the receiving end of fajin you don't jump up and down, run backwards, wave your hands, and stomp your feet. You generally end up on the floor, no smile on the face, no chuckle, no bouncing right back for another go. One training tool is to find a small room and pad the walls, usually with mattresses. Then practice with each other. No running backwards, no foot stomping, more like bodies flying against the walls and ending up on the floor when you get it right. These folks are very likely feeling some real internal energy. The master is controlling it so as not to injure anyone and the students are doing their dances, cautiously going along with the master, hungry to learn their secrets.

I’ve trained it, felt it, and also debunked a “master” or two trying to demonstrate with me at tournaments. Demonstrations with one’s own students necessarily bring multiple factors into the equation beyond martial skill alone. For me they are rarely impressive. Not denying there are masters of internal power but they are few and far between and a video will rarely, if ever be adequate evidence for me.

I can’t speak for Mizner’s skills or lack thereof but the guy he’s playing with in the video is intentionally making him look good. Videos like this are embarrassing IMO.

gizzard