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In some Buddhist monastic communities where farming is practiced, the soil is meticulously tilled using small hand utensils just so they will avoid killing any earthworms and other soil-bound critters. But the thing is, they still purchase flour, rice, some seeds and maybe buckwheat from commercial suppliers who in turn source their products from big agri. I suppose the closest one can hope to practice the pure precept of not killing is to wholly rely on foraging wild non-meat foods for sustenance. Dont think many vegans will find this amenable or realistic.

The whole gamut of fruit & veg farming, from domestic to commercial enterprises. Then there is this whole irritating business of having to pay premium prices for 'organic' veg & fruit produce... questionable ethics perhaps.... but this isn't topic-related, so we don't need to go there. Back on topic. In India and elsewhere, most if not all Brahmins are strict vegans/vegetarians. As a group of people, I'd say they are not different from any other community in terms of values, ethics, humanity, compassion, philosophy and so on, although I'm sure some Brahmins will argue to the contrary.

Bearing in mind countless insects' lives are lost in the process of farming non-meat produce, how certain are we that sustaining such a choice, that is, abstinence from killing and also adopting a seemingly gentler vegetarian path, is truly ethical, in a complete sense, and not a subtle game of self deception?

delivered by hand this mighty message of Dloi something about peace

Some years ago I'd attended a talk given by a teacher with a H.E. title, and this subject was broached. Basically he said all actions have residual consequences, including adopting a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle. Less or more karma (accrued), he added, has more to do with intent rather than the choices acted upon. That's about the gist of his reply. I suppose, based on my takeaway from his words, that one who fish sustainably to feed his family should accrue less karma than say one who takes delight in trophy or sport fishing where catches are kept as specimen proofs, and this will probably accrue less karma than say one who catches a dozen fish, takes home 2 and waywardly leaves 10 to die, in which case there arise a valid question... what about the secondary karma of letting the strewn carcasses feed the insects and birds? Is this, in some sense, also a form of dana? Imo, ultimately, intention rather than action determines one's karmic equity. Lastly, the cultivation of vegetables also takes the lives of countless living beings.

That space between wishing for, and wishing away... that's impertubable openness, a resting sweet spot where full potentiality needlessly awaits. Emancipation is but a moment to moment recognition of this actionless presence in that openness. It doesn't even need a name.

hat trick in July the fourth comes before the fifth how do I love thee?

The modern physicists are only now unravelling Gautama's Indra's Net analogy.

QUANTUM VACUUM The Unified Field Scientists have discovered that when all classical sources of matter and energy are removed, creating what is referred to as a vacuum, there is still energy present, even at absolute zero. This discovery has redefined empty space with the definition of a quantum vacuum – a substantive quantized medium filled with harmonic zero-point energy oscillations. This sea of continuous energetic oscillations has now been identified by some physicists as the elemental source of all mass, form, and structure. To give rise to mass, form, and structure, the quantum vacuum must have coherent modes of oscillations. The geometry of these oscillation modes are now being discovered by scientists to have very fundamental functions at the base of reality, and that this constant flux of quantum energy is intrinsically and integrally entangled. ~ Nassim Haramein

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My understanding is that Morality, Meditation and Wisdom forms the crux of the whole Noble Eightfold Path. Each strand is equally vital to the holistic development of a sound Buddhist practitioner. Sila, or Virtue, derives from Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood. Samadhi, meditative equipoise, derives from Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. Prajna/panna, wisdom, arises from Right View and Right Intention.

gremlin on the wing nails clipped, ears cleaned, good to go mosaic tiles for brains

beating my own heart try peeling a pomelo in the twilight zone

must breathe out slowly like polar bears in repose they don't need qigong

This I'm in complete agreement. So please, as a reasonable, sane, decent practitioner, stop bashing whole traditions by scrutinizing individuals' shortcomings.

I doubt you will accept correction because its quite apparent how concretized your biased view about Tibetan Buddhism has gotten. Sadly, its not even a view garnered from any objectivity whatsoever. Your open admission of willingness to change your mind, I think, is said just to feel good, nothing more. Where I live there was a reputable Taoist priest with a huge following and people can't wait to be accepted as patrons at his temple. His popularity earned him massive amounts of donation, and some of the money was channelled into building a boys hostel to house kids from rural towns coming for better education opportunities in the city. Nobody could imagine this repository was to later become his den of lust and sodomy. Per your (faulty) logic, there must be something very wrong with Taoism... but I think mature thinkers won't make the mistake of dissing the tradition/path/religion in the same way you've chosen to apply to faulting Tibetan Buddhism based on the faults of a few. Just to be clear, there are lots of bad apples in Tibetan Buddhism. But it's a mistake to denigrate the whole tradition just based off the failings of the bad ones and ignore the works of the reputable ones. I think people (like you) do it because it's convenient, and it feeds into your confirmation biases neatly. That's okay too.

He was a good teacher until he wasn't. Dont such examples exist in all traditions? For every Trungpa, there are scores of upright, untainted Tibetan teachers, but of course, being you, you would conveniently bash the whole tradition based on your own set of biases and critique formed from what little you know gleaned from 3rd party sources. Yet you will not exact the same discrimination to the many sullied masters and teachers in your own little perfect perception of Taoism. Swell, ain't it?

Such naivete If this is how you judge a tradition, it beggars belief that you're actually practicing Taoism.

Awareness within personality, yes its not enough. It'll never be enough. That's the nature of personalities, formed out of feelings of lack and inadequacies. Awareness as potentiality, it is the sustainer of all life.

no one the wiser don't trust that tree of knowledge grow your own apples

Forgot to mention I didn't pick any of the available options as my experience so far has shown esoterica to be a highly fluid and organic pathway, and therefore, I feel it unwise (for me, not anyone else) to box things up neatly because I have an old, reliable inbuilt habit mechanism that intelligently guides to maintain certain familiar structures that suit my fixations, and often even add layers to my neuroticism. We thrive on familiarity, most of us, don't we? It's comfortable. To do well as a cultivator or meditator is quite a feat. It demands a lot of courage and fortitude to dare enter into places where we know its par for the course to constantly have the rug pulled from under our feet. (Ideally, a trusted spiritual friend or mentor will be there to do the pulling). When we believe an attainment to be literal, that good mentor will throw a curve ball to shake certain deeply held comforters seen to take root. He or she will do the same when we hold to the other extreme view. Without a certain level of maturity, we may well think the issue centres around attainments per se when in fact, the crux of this awakening exercise is aimed at dissolving fixations, often manifesting as a belief in one thing vs a disbelief in another. Talk about dualistic tendencies.... I think a truly established, devoted practitioner knows, or at least have a feel that the nature of reality to be ephemeral and dream-like. How else could it be because fundamental reality is inseparable from potentiality. Isn't this potentiality the only worthwhile reason needed to make us hold fast, and come hell or high water, ride the spiritual windhorse bravely into the unknown? It wouldn't be as much fun if there actually was a real goalpost or destination. Or would it?

Imho (Buddhist) meditation practice, to be authentic, requires a balanced alternation of samatha and vipassana. Its a basic requisite, and personally, I don't give much credence to schools or individuals, regardless of reputation and claims, that ignore one or the other in their jingles. Excessive focus on vipassana can often cause burn out. Its also believed to exarcerbate narcissistic tendencies. Sometimes the burn out is quietly subtle, enough that its imperceptible to the practitioner or to those in his or her orbit. I've known a couple of hard-core vipassana dudes who were deeply committed but also very highly strung all the time, but were clever at disguising their condition due to their level of mental dexterity and self control. Excessive absorption in samatha often leads to unreasonable and unrealistic views, many of which are prevalent in today's new age movements.

Advice to a spiritual friend: Thoughts come and go, the ephemeral play of conscious mind, which in its essence remains always pure and lucid in its own undisturbed clear-light awareness. Expectations always carry us away from the simplicity of perfection that constitutes the ungraspable present moment. So long as we are carried away, we will suffer all the hopes, fears, expectations and desires of an unsettled mind. No matter what arises, there is always the peace of the knowing that cessation is the natural fruit of arising...'all that arises ceases and is not-self!' May you re-find your own inner peace this day, far removed from the disturbances of the discursive mind and the variegated play of outer and inner sense impressions. ~ Paramito

kite on a string, high cut this cord of attachment release that caged bird

Practice and cultivation better be a serious undertaking, and authentic teachers take their students' commitments rather seriously too.