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gone but not forgot dreams are but hidden cravings of tea and biscuits

"In terms of benefiting yourself, when the time comes for your physical and mental aggregates to separate, you need the intention to shoot your consciousness like an arrow, straight to the target as you’ve planned. Without any hesitation, without looking back, take the attitude of looking forward to entering the pure land of Amitabha. As part of your motivation, look forward every day, as much as you can, to transferring your consciousness to the pure land. Also, whenever you practice, it’s important to increase your devotion. Devotion plants us firmly on spiritual ground and makes our realization grow and develop. Without devotion, the ground of our practice is shaky. If we’re not well-rooted, we can get blown off course. As soon as we’re confronted with a disruptive situation, if we don’t have strong devotion, our practice could simply fall apart. In order to make our life meaningful and fulfilling, we need to practice, and devotion is an essential ingredient. When you practice Phowa, cultivate devotion—particularly to Buddha Amitabha. Amitabha embodies all the buddhas of the three times and the ten directions. He is the embodiment of the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya. Please feel in your heart that Buddha Amitabha is your true protector and support. While doing Phowa, meditate on yourself as Vajrayogini and feel the presence of Buddha Amitabha right above your head. Don’t see the place where you are as an ordinary place, but as a pure land. It’s the pure land of Amitabha, Guru Padmasambhava, Vajrayogini, and Yeshe Tsogyal. Bring all your outer perceptions and inner understanding back to the true nature, which is unaffected by dualistic thinking. Whenever we practice transferring our consciousness into the heart of Amitabha, at that moment we’re preparing ourselves to be in the pure land. We could think that Amitabha himself is the pure land. When we merge with his heart, we are in the middle of his pure land. When we practice full of devotion, longing, and confidence, we’re rehearsing and preparing to go there. We need the confidence that we’re going to his pure land so that we can keep moving forward on the spiritual path. We’re not going to be interrupted by the bardo. We’re making perfect preparations for the future. In our regular lives we make plans for the future—like investing in retirement funds, pension plans, and things like that. But this kind of preparation goes much further than a retirement plan. Preparing for Dewachen is very important and special. Please increase your courage and commitment to make this practice successful." ~ Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches The Essential Journey of Life and Death, Volume 2: Using Dream Yoga and Phowa as the Path (pgs 229-230)

as another me this time, in the form of strings stretching forever

this is one take on the vitality of Bhakti Yoga in relation to knowing God.

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Actually, in some sense, Bhakti Yoga (complete surrender in devotion to knowing God) engenders the dissolution of the small self in the service of God Consciousness. Many Indian saints and yogis profess to serve humanity thru that intimate connection with the Divine source. Not saying everyone has to follow this way.. but from my understanding, without Bhakti, the raising of Kundalini would be fraught with problems.

"The Mind is neither large nor small; it is located neither within nor without. It should not be thought about by the mind nor be discussed by the mouth. Ordinarily it is said that we use the mind to transmit the Mind, or that we use the mind to seal the Mind. Actually, however, in transmitting the Mind there is really no Mind to receive or obtain, and in sealing the Mind there is really no Mind to seal. If this is the case, then does the Mind exist or does it not exist?" ~ Huang Po

vomitomancy! almost seven thousand links still weightless, and free

Historical documentary partly tracing the meeting of Buddhism with Greek thinking and Zoroastrianism, and the evolution of it from India, across Pakistan, and into China enjoy!

If i may point out, Mahayana Buddhism makes a lot of reference to 'One Taste', but some people confuse this to mean that everything is subsumed into the All, or the One, but upon deeper investigation, it can be said this is an incorrect assumption. In this sense, on a very mundane level, One Taste is simultaneously a training path and a fruition of the path rolled into one: For example, one who practices Dzogchen or Mahamudra will learn not to discriminate between good and bad to the point of eliciting two different sets of reaction - for example, If one has a good day, thats fine... if its a lousy day, thats fine too. So on this very ordinary level, that sort of attitude in training the mind is called directing it at evenness, a sort of pervasive, non-reactionary, calm, composed and centred way of being. When the fruit of this practice is realized, then one is said to have integrated the wisdom of One Taste into everyday life. On the not-so mundane level, One Taste points to the inseparability of wisdom and compassion as the two wings which completes the path to liberation, and on the absolute level, it points to the undifferentiated essence of samsara & nirvana. Not sure if this helps to explain things in some small way, but its what came to mind.

http://worldtruth.tv/how-the-color-of-your-tongue-can-reveal-health-problems-7-warning-signs-2/

enjoy in HD Buddha in Suburbia tracks the extraordinary journey of 40 year old Lelung Rinpoche, one of Tibetan Buddhism's three principal reincarnations, as he sets out to gather the lost teachings of his faith and to attempt a return to his homeland. For the past seven years, Lelung Rinpoche has been living in Ruislip North London, in the garden shed of one of his students. He runs a dharma or teaching centre locally, attended by British followers. Now a British passport holder, he embarks on a mission to find previous Lelungs' teachings, and the teachers who hold the key to unlocking their secrets. His odyssey takes him to India, Mongolia and China as he tries to find a way of getting back home to Tibet. He meets some of Tibetan Buddhism's most senior teachers, including the Tibetan Prime Minister in exile. Lelung is a young, modern lama, with relationships with many across the globe from teenagers in Rusilip to the Dalai Lama. The film includes an interview with Tibetan Buddhist expert Professor Robert Thurman, father of Uma Thurman. Lelung Rinpoche has a daunting task to complete on his quest to recover lost teachings before they disappear, and to try to take the right steps on his own path towards enlightenment.

“If our body really belonged to us, it would obey our commands. If we say, ‘Don’t get old,’ Or ‘I forbid you to get sick’ does it obey us? No! It takes no notice. We only rent this ‘house’, not own it. If we think it does belong to us, we will suffer when we have to leave it. But in reality, there is no such thing as a permanent self, nothing unchanging or solid that we can hold on to.” ~ Ajahn Chah

I was moved deeply when he, with tears in his eyes, affectionately mentioned how indebted he was to the donkeys that experience such gruelling existences there, and helped so much in carrying heavy loads during the construction of their buildings. _/\_ Rinpoche...

In attempting to gain a deeper understanding of Emptiness, there has to be some groundwork done on finding out the true nature or basis of mind first. Once that is done, then raising awareness around the principle of Shunyata becomes quite smooth, otherwise there will be quite a few hurdles to cross. It has to be ascertained whether the mind is something substantial or not, and also, one needs to find out if everything that is perceived or captured by the senses arise from and subside back into mind, or is there any other source from which things arise and subsequently apprehended by the perceiver, independent of mind. If perception is not independent of mind, and mind essence is formless and ungraspable, then what does that say about phenomena apprehended by this same thing called 'mind'? This would be one of the few methods which can be utilised to further one's enquiry into Emptiness/Form <=> Form/Emptiness.

Some of my friends, and friends of friends, have had the good fortune of meeting their partners at Buddhist retreats. Wonderful setting for connecting with like-minded individuals and sharing stuff that is actually mutually relatable. Im not advocating that you attend Buddhist retreats just to hook a potential life partner - all I'm saying is that there is no need to feel despondent. Instead try to be more open, be more creative, more cheerful, more relaxed - anxiety only compounds your view and make you feel as if you are contracting. When you feel this way, imagine what other people who cross your path will feel. Note though, that if you are considering going for a retreat, with a little hope of meeting someone like-minded, make sure that it does not specify 'silent' ok?

"Every form of meditation must be based on our bodhichitta motivation and our awareness of original purity. These two are always essential. Bodhichitta is the foundation, and awareness of original purity is the inner structure of every practice. Watch out for distractions, such as wandering or discursive thoughts. These are a great hindrance to meditation. Keeping your spine straight, maintain a comfortable posture and let meditation deepen into a calm and clear state. Stay one-pointed, do not be distracted by conceptions, and continue maintaining your mind this way, whatever you’re meditating on. That’s basically it. As Guru Padmasambhava said, “No distractions, no grasping, and free of all aspects.” These three qualities are essential to every form of meditation. Right motivation and joyful effort are also indispensable. During meditation you will be faced with obstacles, clinging, compulsive thoughts and feelings, and other hindrances. To stay on target, meditate without distraction in the limitless expanse that transcends any territorial focus, the all-pervasive nature. Relaxing into this awareness is meditation. Gain mastery of both generation and completion stages. The division of meditation into creation stage and completion stage practices is unique to the schools of Vajrayana Buddhism. These are the means for becoming firm and strong in our meditation. Creation stage, or visualization practice helps us to understand the purity of all phenomena, including ourselves, so that everything is perceived as the buddha mandala. This mandala is not a solidly existent thing. It’s like a reflection, a mirage, a dream, or a rainbow. It is a wisdom display of clear light, the luminosity aspect of the true nature. Even in shorter Zhitro practices, all phenomena appear as the mandala of the peaceful and wrathful deities, and these deities dissolve into rainbow light; all speech and sounds are mantra, and all momentary thoughts are magical emanations of the open sky, space-like nature. This understanding characterizes the creation stage meditation. This means that you are relatively free of clinging, holding, and grasping to self and phenomena, and that you are skilled at merging with the true nature beyond all bias and limitations, where no dualities exist. Relaxing into this state of innate purity is known as the completion or perfection stage practice." Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches The Essential Journey of Life and Death, Vol. 1: The Indestructible Nature of Body, Speech, and Mind (pgs119-120)

That won't be necessary, but thanks for the suggestion anyhow.

to be kung fu star dont paint yourself black and white mix n match... its fun!

into stardust, light tofu-ey soft and fluffy like cotton candy

how very clandestine

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mummified-buddhist-monk-still-alive-after-200-years-nearly-buddha-1486570

Is perception and volition possible without an 'I' thought? The 'I' arise through ignorance, which is the first link in the chain of interdependent origination. Are you familiar with it?

Perception and volition associated with an 'I' leads to solidification of identity - how can it not be 'suffering'? We can investigate and reflect if it were possible to reverse the process so as to deconstruct this 'I' and see if there is still perception & volition occurring.

What can you do if you refuse to be a novice student?