Maddie

yes!!!

That is hilarious

True cultivation is non-denominational

Or perhaps we can redirect this topic as an object lesson into the emotion of anger. People have a theory. Someone else disagrees with that theory. Anger. Anger leads to arguing with the goal of "winning" (what ever that means). So what is anger?

I've found the Vajrapani mantra very helpful for removing "negative" energy lately.

I've found at times when I get "stuck" that doing the Manjushri mantra even just a little bit helps. Usually at first after doing it I feel even more confused, but I think that's due to you have to unlearn what you think you know in order to be teachable.

https://aleteia.org/2019/09/23/how-padre-pio-stopped-allied-forces-from-bombing-his-monastery-during-wwii/

My first serious exposure to Buddhism was Theravada and as I'm sure everyone is aware their take on the Mahyana sutras is that they were made up much later and don't come from the Buddha so basically they're not worth much. But then when you listen to Bill Brodi speak about the levels of realization of the Mahayana in comparison to the Theravada he makes it seem like the Theravada are basically training wheels but will only get you so far. This is confusing.

Is there some sort of form to get on a wait list or is it more of a lottery system?

I guess it's about as relevant as saying you study the word of God in all caps on a post about emotions?

Yeah that was a sincere question. Based on the context of a few other posts I gather it's the the Christian God. Which denomination are you and what is your spiritual approach?

Makes sense. Sounds like sankharas then.

Yes I think dependent origination does a good job of explaining why emotions arise, but it still makes me wonder, what are emotions? One thing about dependent origination that I have a hard time understanding in relation to emotions is when you are just sitting there doing nothing and emotions arise out of the blue and the senses are not involved. The six senses give arising to contact which gives arising to feeling which gives arising to craving, but what is the reason for emotions when there is no obvious sensory stimulus? What gives arise to emotions then? And still what are they? Sankhara's?

Which God do you study, and what have you discovered so far?

Is this from the point of view of the farmer or the mouse? But I do agree it is good not to harm others.

If find this fascinating and would like to understand it better. Early on in my qigong practice, I would deal with the emotions rather directly by doing practices related to the organ they were associated with. This did NOT make things better.

I appreciate people finding Tao in their craft. I've listened to professional golfers speak about the intricacies of what goes into hitting a ball with a stick and to me it sounds like Tao. I have listened to professional surfers speak about the same thing and come away with the same conclusion. Same goes for a grandmother that knits, a dance instructor, and a former baseball pitcher that is one of my patients. I find it interesting when people find Tao through what they do.

Is this basically not the view of every one dimensional villain in comic books and superhero movies?

This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately. Usually basically what you hear is that study is nice and cute and a good start but it won't really do much for you and you basically have to meditate in order to get anywhere. As someone who has been in great deal of time meditating I don't know if I agree with this. I think I've had far more breakthroughs from studying and contemplating. I also think meditation has done a lot to make me feel like a crazy person a lot of the time. If you look at the eight fold path concentration which is another term for meditation is the very last step and yet in the west it's usually what people are encouraged to begin with. Right view is the first step and Right view implies study. Obviously study isn't going to lead to you shooting lightning out of your hands like Palpatine but it might prevent you from thinking and acting like him. In my personal opinion I think there's too much emphasis on meditating from the beginning and not enough on studying.

Picking up this topic again but with a slightly different emphasis is the Pali Canon vs Mahayana sutra's debate specifically in authenticity. I know the traditional view of the Theravada is to basically view the Pali Canon as more or less as the authentic word of the Buddha whereas The view Mahayana sutras as stuff that was made up later and not taught by the Buddha. On the other hand the Mahayana have a good point and say that the Pali Canon wasn't written until much later either and happily be certain that it's actually what the Buddhist said?

What are good and evil? To the farmer the cat is good because it rids him of pests. To the mouse the cat is evil because it seeks to end its life.

I think if there's anything I noticed it's that I become much more intuitive to the thoughts and feelings of those I have been intimate with. Also I would intentionally orbit my energy through the other person's orbit during the act and notice that everybody had different blockages in different areas where the energy we could sluggish. Later on when I would contemplate this I would notice that the areas where there was the most blockage would usually correlate to the chakras they had the most issues in.

What is the purpose of wild goose Qigong? Health?

Is that what Taoists think? That is interesting! I wonder where they think emotions come from?

Just from personal experience .... no not at all