Mark Foote

iron sunny day flecks of red around the edges corona effect

I agree that you will need a repair initially. That's my opinion, and it's very true. Dr. John Lee had good results with people gaining bone mass through the use of topical progesterone, which is available over the counter at your local health food store (progest, or emerita cream, by "transitions for health", for example). I would think that it would also be efficacious in the restoration of a ligament that was surgically reunited. 1/4 teaspoon once a day, for men, anywhere that blood circulates near the surface of the skin. No side effects in the physician's desk reference. Also apparently good for the prostate, and a prophylaxis against cancer: see the review of Dr. Lee's "Hormone Balance for Men",here.

a bunch of sore grapes numbing my fingertips so cookies!- num, num, num

wait to be relived actually, they don't wait they're all around us (says here there are four syllables in "actually", so I guess I'm good!)

All set to partay get down- when you just gotta, that's when you let go

From the Terebess site, attributed to Fuxi: "Each night, (one) embraces a Buddha while sleeping, Each morning, (one) gets up again with him. When rising or sitting, both watch and follow one another, Whether speaking or not, both are in the same place, They never even for a moment part, (But) are like the body and its shadow. If you wish to know the Buddha's whereabouts, In the sound of (your own) voice, there is he." From the same site (Fuxi referred to as Shan-hui): One day, wearing a Buddhist cassock, a Taoist cap, and Confucian shoes, Shan-hui came into the court. The emperor, amused by the motley attire, asked, Are you a Buddhist monk? Shan-hui pointed at his cap. Are you then a Taoist priest? Shan-hui pointed to his shoes. So, you are a man of the world? Shan-hui pointed to his cassock. Shan-hui is said to have improvised a couplet on the occasion: "With a Taoist cap, a Buddhist cassock, and a pair of Confucian shoes, I have harmonized three houses into one big family!" We should all be so even-handed!

rebirth would surmise none could be finer- but then, never say never hey Marblehead- how do you do that spoiler thing you're so good at?

I'd like to thank everybody for writing on the topic, and memories like camels and caves and meadows of practice light me up, for sure. On another site, I wrote this about the anatomy: "The anatomy is an aid to me in relaxation. Sort of like sorting out direction and strength as a wave flows back into the ocean, the better to keep my feet." That's true with the wave coming in, too, of course, and it's my own breath that is the tide in my toes. I spent a long time stumbling around in the postword of my piece. When I wrote: "The extension of the boundary of the senses may at times become a matter of necessity in the practice of zazen, and at such times zazen may indeed get up and walk around, yet the well-being of activity in the absence of volition is always close at hand..." I wrote something I needed to hear. I'm aware that Fuxi's poem works on many levels, and I've had many discussions with friends about people like Nisargadatta, who wrote: The key in that short description for me is "the sense 'I am'"; the reference is to a sense. It may look too simple, too crude. When I say the relaxed distinction of the senses, waking up or falling asleep, you might think it's a cup of tea. You would be right.

balanced deficits groaning deck boards underfoot sudden upheaval

You can critique my treatment of the next two lines as well, when you have time- if you would!

lunch stolen from bums and breakfast, and supper too dear bums: i.o.u.

It's a fallen situation When all eyes are turned in And a love isn't flowing The way it could have been. You brought it all on Oh, but it feels so wrong You brought it all on No, no, no, I don't believe this song You brought it all on. It's a sad communication With little reason to believe When one isn't giving And one pretends to receive. You brought it all on Oh, but it feels so wrong You brought it all on No, no, no, I don't believe this song You brought it all on. Pardon my heart If I show that I care But I love you more than moments We have or have not shared. You brought it all on Oh, and it feels so good You brought it all on When love flows the way that it should You brought it all on. It feels so good It feels so good feels good. That would be the lyrics to by Neil Young. So it goes wrong, and it can go right. My way of making sense of these things for a long time now has been to look to the friendship, and leave the magic to the higher power-- like a twelve-step thing it's a confession of helplessness. And how is that working out for you, Mark, you might say... well I'm solo, but I have a lot of very good friends.

"When you arrive at last at towering up like a mile-high wall, you will finally know that there aren't so many things." (Zen Letters: Teachings of Yuanwu", translated by Cleary & Cleary, 1st ed pg 83.)

Wish I could join you on that hike to the river, Nungali!

I haven't seen fireflies since I was five, looking down from the end of the street where my grandparents lived in Rockford at what must have been the Rock River.

to clean the splatters offends Pollock's memory best just leave them be

scanty expose in scarce time, tight against flesh, breathless in motion

bent not broke- you're losing your marbles!

hither and thither in ever tighter circles they ran, like nylons

I'm the one with both knees bent:

as third, you get bronze third stone from the sun, nice tan we're all lab rats, here

artillery strikes mothers, fathers, sons, daughters lose one another

under the tree shade speaking without any words ancients laid to rest

That last- I think that was a thing to say to a young person so they could get back to sleep! Yes, you nailed one of my characteristics- ready to "drastically rearrange the world without allowing for any smooth transitions and adjustments". I recall now the words of John Upledger: he mentioned the sudden release of pressure in a Cesarean birth as possibly damaging; ah, yes: 'I was surprised during my early work to see the strong positive correlation between the presence of significant craniosacral system dysfunctions and delivery by Cesarean section. It was quite puzzling, until I remembered occasions during C-sections when I saw amniotic fluid spout up into the air a few inches as the incision was made into the uterus. This suggests the sudden reduction of pressure inside the uterus where the child has been living for the past nine months. Fetal physiology could be severely challenged by this sudden change in pressure. It seems comparable to a scuba diver surfacing too rapidly and suffering the "bends."' (from here) Question becomes is it possible to correct these injustices to the craniosacral system, through an internal practice, and I suppose most of us on Tao Bums are hoping that this and other maladies may be resolved in such a fashion.

Hey, Taomeow, how about Cesaereans? Wow, checking Wikipedia: "The rate has increased in the United States, to 33% of all births in 2012, up from 21% in 1996. Across Europe, there are differences between countries: in Italy the Caesarean section rate is 40%, while in the Nordic countries it is 14%." I'm thinking about the lion cubs being dragged. I think the ilio-sacral ligaments go through a number in a normal birth, and maybe it's a teaching to the new born. There is another angle to take on people's reticence to move lower, and their eagerness to move higher. The mechanism of support for the 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae against the shear force of the weight of the upper body is subtle and to some extent requires the induction of trance to be successfully realized. The hypnic-jerk phenomena, which is experienced regularly by about 70% of people, may be an expression of the reluctance people have to relinquish volitive control: "Nobody knows for sure what causes them," explains psychologist Tom Stafford at BBC Future, "but to me they represent the side effects of a hidden battle for control in the brain that happens each night on the cusp between wakefulness and dreams." (from here) So I would say it's just a symptom of the proximity of trance that still frightens most people.