C T

Just watching the first part now. Really Powerful and so, SO inspiring! part 2:

Congratulatory wishes to all in the family!! Fantastic news! Relatively young, and already a greatgrandad. Its a blessing! Some coincidence... my son was that weight too when he was born. me, i was only a minnow at 6 lb something.

Almost all samayas can be repaired, so there really isn't any issue there. The only ones that are considered major transgressions have to do with slandering the Triple Gem and also harming one's guru thru body, speech and mind. I don't think you have any one or more of these as your underlying motive, so why worry about taking refuge? The way i see it we only have 2 choices: either we take refuge in kindness, compassion and wisdom, or by choosing not to, that is like an unwritten declaration that we are not too serious about Buddhism, since these essential 'Gems' are intricately woven into the whole fabric of the path. The outer refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is a reflection of the quality of our resolve to free ourselves. It is not some contract where you find yourself bound by conditions and rules, or a pact of sorts. Anyway, a very crucial note to bear in mind is that its always good to check one's motive, even if one have been practicing for many years. I was with my teacher yesterday and today when he came to visit me for a short break between 2 retreats, and this was one of the reminders that he kept repeating to me. Also that interview with Ani Zamba is worth watching - might help to clarify some of the questions for you. All the best to you.

I know the above is often associated with the encouragement to keep things simple, to stay lowly and make little demands of oneself, but some Zen masters actually use that phrase to teach about putting the 'self' aside, as in the removal of all subtle traces of a self that is chopping wood or carrying water so as to honour/sanctify even the humblest of actions. If one were to be preoccupied with one's thoughts while performing (especially) menial tasks, upon completion, its as if nothing was accomplished, because it will feel as if one did not chop any wood or carried any water at all... In fact, its the menial tasks that more often than not shape character and discipline, ensuring that the basics are pounded deep into the foundation so that even the subtlest aversions are removed and all bases are covered. People think of big obstacles getting in the way, but sometimes what actually floors a person could be the tiniest, subtlest thing, much like how a mice can frighten an elephant, or a professor who takes a boat everyday to cross a river to get to work, where one day, the boat sprang a leak in the middle of the river, and him realising too late he never bothered to learn how to swim even though he supposedly knew the theory/logic of everything like the back of his hand. (sorry, its late, and I'm rambling once more, annoyed that i could be sleeping and I'm not...) edit to add: Goodnite folks

Valid questions, and i have a few of my own too.

or by "continue", do we mean a "ceaselessness"? tantra one O one!

"The period of our particular universe's existence in which we live is called the Fortunate Aeon because during it 1,000 buddhas will appear. All buddhas are equally enlightened, realizing the wisdom of their true natures, understanding the equality of samsara and nirvana, and being free from ego-clinging and selfishness. Their total reality is love, compassion, truth, and honesty. They arise one after another to benefit sentient beings and bring us to an awakened state like theirs. That is their purpose in appearing on earth and giving teachings. So far four buddhas have come, including Buddha Shakyamuni. Nine hundred and ninety-six buddhas are yet to come. Within this Fortunate Aeon there will be eighteen ups and downs altogether. The peak states are the golden ages. The lowest states are the ages of degeneration. In our time, the first golden age has peaked, and our universe is moving downwards or degenerating. When it reaches the bottom of the age of degeneration, then it will start improving into the next golden age. Buddha Shakyamuni came into this world just at the turning point: the crest of a golden age and the beginning of a degenerate age. This was not accidental; he chose the time and place of his birth. Why did the Buddha choose such a time? Knowing that sentient beings would need him, he accepted the challenges and difficulties of that time to benefit us. Thus he is known as a very courageous one. In general, the spiritual audience of that time in India was mature and ready. As soon as practitioners received the teachings, they practiced intensely and very quickly got results. It was called “the time of rapidly actualizing the result.” That period lasted for about five hundred years. With cultural and spiritual changes, our time is called “the time of studying and intellectual knowledge.” Most people will not get immediate results, as practitioners did in ancient times. Why is this? In order to get results people must practice, but as we move further into the time of degeneration, the human mentality is getting heavier, with stronger emotions and more doubt, hesitation, and laziness. All these disturbances keep us from connecting our hearts and minds to the Dharma as easily as people did in ancient times. Our hearts and minds stay hovering over the Dharma in hesitation. All is not bad: at least, from this “hovering” intellectual state we may begin to move towards practice and attain the result. But we won’t get immediate results unless we apply diligence, joy, courage, and commitment." Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches Buddha Sadhana Practice Guide (pgs 8-9) (with thanks to Pema Dragpa - Padmasambhava Buddhist Centre)

That, to a large extent, would depend on one's primary motive, and to a lesser extent, to how the system and techniques therein are measured out and how skilfully these are then integrated. If its done with positive intentions, aiming to mutually alleviate self and other's burden, then why not? It does not help to dismiss belief systems and techniques en masse because essentially these are no more than tools, or pointers, or even support for some parts of one's journey. How often has it been said that we ought not to blame the tools... but seldom do people heed that suggestion - its handy to have a few 'fall guys' lying around, like kitchen napkins, just in case we mess up. And techniques without proper intent or motivation are exactly that, just something thats used to mop up a spill or something on which to lay the blame when the going gets bumpy. When techniques are coupled with resolve, wisdom and proper direction they become both artillery and armour simultaneously.

Maybe thats why there aren't buddhas at every gas pump, after all. The intellectual side of things is usually where clinging and aversion arise, and also where the ground of discontent is found. Naturally, this discontent drives some to seek answers from mysticism and spirituality, and funnily enough, most don't find answers there either, because of the very fact that they are unable to leave aside their intellectual baggage. When you mingle enough with lots of people who head out to retreats and ashrams and monasteries etc, this becomes quite amusingly evident. Im not putting them down by saying its amusing, merely stating that its a common practice, thats all, and people are quite prone in their attempts to want answers for every single dilemma they have, on all levels of being, without realising that spiritual practice is not about getting answers, but acknowledging and being ok with the fact that we are really not as powerful and all-knowing, that there are tons of stuff we will never be able to understand, that our potential, even if it were to increase by a tiny percentage would suffice in transporting us to pure buddha fields, and that our limitations in truth is inseparable from the Path itself. What use is there for a Path if not for self-perceived limitations? Shatter the self-impositions, the self-doubts, the desires for things seen and unseen, and we become free from all grasping and aversion.

Awareness is your refuge: Awareness of the changingness of feelings, of attitudes, of moods, of material change and emotional change: Stay with that, because it's a refuge that is indestructible. It's not something that changes. It's a refuge you can trust in. This refuge is not something that you create. It's not a creation. It's not an ideal. It's very practical and very simple, but easily overlooked or not noticed. When you're mindful, you're beginning to notice, it's like this. - Ajahn Sumedho

Not all are, though, if you think about it. Some very 'normal' people, leading very 'normal' lives, sane by all accounts, simply flip for no apparent reason. Thats all got to do with the subconscious (picture Golum) putting together its own hideously dark puzzle, unbeknownst to observers and even the person himself or herself, and when the last piece drops in place... the rest is history, as they say.

“What is meant by ‘reality’? It would seem to be something very erratic, very undependable—now to be found in a dusty road, now in a scrap of newspaper in the street, now in a daffodil in the sun. It lights up a group in a room and stamps some casual saying. It overwhelms one walking home beneath the stars and makes the silent world more real than the world of speech—and there it is again in an omnibus in the uproar of Piccadilly. Sometimes, too, it seems to dwell in shapes too far away for us to discern what their nature is. But whatever it touches, it fixes and makes permanent. That is what remains over when the skin of the day has been cast into the hedge; that is what is left of past time and of our loves and hates.” (a passage from Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own)

"Phenomena adorn emptiness, but never corrupt it. If you have a thorough understanding of the way phenomena appear through dependent arising, it will not be difficult for you to understand the view of emptiness while remaining in meditation. On arising from such a meditation and entering the path of action, you will recognize clearly the direct relationship between actions and their results. This will enable you to discriminate easily between positive and negative actions." -- Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche "Relative truth and absolute truth are two aspects of the same nature. On the relative level, there are concepts and there is duality: subject and object, positive and negative, joy and suffering. Do not ignore this. Do not impose your realization of the absolute truth onto the relative truth. At the same time, you should not use the concepts of the relative truth to try to figure out the absolute truth. That is playing games, and the absolute truth is not attainable through concepts. Cultivate wide-open wisdom that is nondual and free of concepts in order to experience the absolute truth. Unite this effortlessly and beautifully with the relative truth, and there will be no conflicts. Blend it all into a single state. This is how we stay focused, discover our innate nature, and benefit ourselves and others." -- Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches Pointing Out the Nature of Mind: Dzogchen Pith Instructions of Aro Yeshe Jungne (86) Having taken birth once again in this round of discontent, dis-ease and dissatisfaction (dukkha), one who wisely reflects on the natural processes of ageing, sickness and death enters upon, and establishes him/herself in, the contemplative way of the samaṇa: One who relinquishes the conventional pursuits and obligations of social life in order to fully realise an awakened way of life that is perfectly “attuned” (sama) to the ways of nature. -- Tharchin~Zangpo

dbl post sry

We train the mind such that it simply realises its own nature. As Jowo Jé Palden Atisha (982-1054 CE) states: “Of all that we perceive as forms and sounds there is nothing that does not arise in the mind. To realise that the mind is awareness indivisible from emptiness is the View. Keeping this realisation in mind at all times, and never being distracted from it, is Meditation. To practice the two accumulations (merit and wisdom) as a magical illusion from within that state is Action. If you make a living experience of this practice, it will continue in your dreams. If it comes in the dream state, it will come at the moment of death. And if it comes at the moment of death, it will come in the intermediate state. If it comes in the intermediate state, you may be certain of attaining the supreme accomplishment.”

Five faultless gifts "There are these five gifts, five great gifts — original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning — that are not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and are unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & brahmans. Which five? "There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from taking life. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the first gift, the first great gift — original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning — that is not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and is unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & brahmans... "Furthermore, abandoning taking what is not given (stealing), the disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking what is not given. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the second gift... "Furthermore, abandoning illicit sex, the disciple of the noble ones abstains from illicit sex. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the third gift... "Furthermore, abandoning lying, the disciple of the noble ones abstains from lying. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the fourth gift... "Furthermore, abandoning the use of intoxicants, the disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking intoxicants. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the fifth gift, the fifth great gift — original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning — that is not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and is unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & brahmans." — AN 8.39

.. nvm ...

yes, fear from the masses, and extreme greed from the power-driven that drive the fears (of the masses) deeper and deeper. As you mentioned, not wanting to succumb, those who know right from wrong turn to deeper truths in the hope of finding a way to restore some semblance of sanity to a mad, mad world.

I have described a rough outline of the practice. You as the practitioners must avoid getting caught in doubts. Don't doubt about the way of practice. When there is happiness, watch the happiness. When there is suffering, watch the suffering. Having established awareness, make the effort to destroy both of them. Let them go. Cast them aside. Know the object of mind and keep letting it go. Whether you want to do sitting or walking meditation it doesn't matter. If you keep thinking, never mind. The important thing is to sustain moment to moment awareness of the mind. If you are really caught in mental proliferation, then gather it all together, and contemplate it in terms of being one whole, cutting it off right from the start, saying, "All these thoughts, ideas and imaginings of mine are simply thought proliferation and nothing more. It's all aniccam, dukkham and anatta. None of it is certain at all." Discard it right there. Ajahn Chah

Interesting BBC news article http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30983402 If this is an indication of things to come, there's hope yet that China will, in due course, soften its current hardline approach to the spiritual and social rights of Tibetans, both in Tibet and out of it. Lets wait with renewed hope of a positive reconciliation.

Related article http://tibetpolicy.net/comments-briefs/will-xi-bring-a-meaningful-reform/

Somehow, i believe that the desire to dominate nature without heeding the dire cost involved is not one borne of fear, but of greed, tied to ignorance.

Some Buddhists who practice retention dedicate that undertaking to noble endeavours, channelling all obstacles and difficulties they encounter into the path itself. Lacking such direction usually increases the probability of encountering many challenges with celibacy and retentive phases. Training in basic discipline helps to achieve concentration thru mindful adaptation to ensure accumulated merit increases rather than futilely wasted. Primary aim is to generate momentum, tapping into potential gathered so as to avoid wastage. When momentum is gathered and stored, unnecessary 'doing' ceases. Effortlessness is realised.