C T

Thats as good as deed done. Seriously. Dont think for one minute i am pro- senselessness, violence and extremism, no, not at all. My message is simple: We can choose our responses mindfully. Generating a wish to kill, even though the incident does not affect you personally, does not augur well for your spiritual well-being. Do you really, strongly believe that the way to counter violence is thru (more) violence? Im sorry, but i dont share this sentiment at all. Its easy for me or anyone to play the blame game, but trust me, anyone's decision to participate in this game demands an equal dose of viciousness in each individual player, and even in the emotionally charged observer. This scenario is not so different from kids' minds turning emotionally volatile from over-indulging in some profane and violent x-box game - the game is not real, but the reactions and subsequent motives manifest in very real ways, and it creates harmful seeds which will bear consequences when conditions become appropriate. You, me, or anyone for that matter, we can always make the choice to find another vantage point, preferably one where no harbouring of harmful thoughts will cloud one's view. If we don't opt for a virtuous response to what passes through our minds, then we and these killers are basically like a pair of conjoined Punch & Judys. If we cannot help but think harmful thoughts, sooner or later, these thoughts will manifest results - perhaps not directly affecting us, but be sure that every thought leaves imprints somewhere (the Buddhists call it the alaya, which is like a universal thought pool where every single thought, motive & intention is stored and where the prevailing energy from that pool then determines the general state of the world of humans).

quality of life not much there in the boondocks they build joy from nowt...

Prisoner to fellow inmate: Get off yer bum & move in here with me, man, the view's better - we can enjoy the view of the canteen from here. lol

To some degree, everyone's a victim of their own emotions. So its not helpful to also respond with emotionality. Then we too become victims. As an example, If we were passing a bus filled with passengers and they are all screaming for help due to some toxic gas slowly leaking into the carriage, we immediately know our priorities - we dont need to discuss first who was behind it, or find out how it happened, nor do we first ponder and mull over who among the passengers deserve more immediate help than others.. these things dont enter our minds during critical moments like these. If it does, we cannot help others with much efficacy. What we now, at this point, dont seem to realise is that every moment is a critical point. Does not mean that the incident in question is over and done with. We only assume its over, and we speak now as if its just another isolated incident because the media says its over and the authorities are now hunting the perps., but this is only an illusion - trust me, its not over by any means... there will be ripples and repercussions, just as this incident is also a carry-over from the past, caused also by undiffused negative emotional reactions from another time - henceforth, we should put more effort to train our minds better since we are somehow never exempted from the reverberations of anything that happens in the world, just a question of degree as to how each of us is affected. Should we react to this new incident emotionally, either for or against does not really matter because fundamentally both are still emotional responses, then we end being like one of those who, in the above bus metaphor, feeling incapable of helping, we excuse ourselves from the actuality and acuteness of that scenario by deferring to secondary issues instead of what needs immediate attention. Neither condone nor condemn acts of violence, but use these troubling occurrences as fuel to practice more resolutely to gain victory over our own tendencies and negative habits, so that we can become more dispassionate and less reactive, and in that manner, gain perfect insight thru which we will be able to help others achieve the same with greater degrees of success.

Interesting video

Jetsun posted an interesting video yesterday called 'Wiped 2014'. It says that the masses are continually being duped silly by the 'powerful' using tactics of disorientation to keep undermining people's confidence so that they dont know what to believe anymore. Its like walking on a floor where the carpet keeps going forwards and back, and sideways too. Might explain why awareness level is destabilised. Its 'their' intention to keep it down for obvious reasons.

Exploring Freedom So instead of making assumptions about innate natures or inevitable outcomes, the Buddha advised exploring the possibility of freedom as it's immediately present each time you make a choice. Freedom is not a nature, and you don't find it by looking for your hidden innate nature. You find freedom by looking at where it's constantly showing itself: in the fact that your present intentions are not totally conditioned by the past. You catch your first glimmer of it as a range of possibilities from which you can choose and as your ability to act more skillfully — causing more pleasure and less pain — than you ordinarily might. Your sense of this freedom grows as you explore and exercise it, each time you choose the most skillful course of action heading in the direction of discernment, truthfulness, relinquishment, and peace. The choice to keep making skillful choices may require assumptions, but to keep the mind focused on the issue of fabrication the Buddha saw that these assumptions are best kept to a bare minimum: that the mind wants happiness, that it can choose courses of actions that promote happiness or thwart it, that it can change its ways, and that it can train itself to achieve the ultimate happiness where all fabrications fall away. These assumptions are the Buddha's starter kit of skillful means to get you on the path of good will, heedfulness, and appropriate attention. As with any journey, you do best to take along only the bare essentials so that you don't weigh yourself down. This is especially true as you test the limits of freedom, for the closer you come to ultimate freedom, the more you find that things fall away. First the nouns of natures and identities fall away, as you focus on the verbs of action and choice. Then the verbs fall away, too. When the Buddha was asked who or what he was, he didn't answer with a who or what. He said simply, "Awakened": a past participle, a verb that has done its work. Similarly, when the suttas describe the Awakening of an arahant, they say that his or her mind is released from fermentations. But when they describe how this release is experienced, they simply say, "With release, there is the knowledge, 'Released.'" No comment on what is released. Not even, as it's sometimes translated, "It is released." There's no noun, no pronoun, just a past participle: "released." That's all, but it's enough. -- Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Refuge: It actually means a safe direction. It’s a direction that we put in our life, working toward what the Buddhas have achieved in full and what the highly realized beings have achieved in part. What a Buddha has achieved is – we go back to these four noble truths – true stopping of the causes of suffering and obviously suffering itself. A Buddha has achieved that and achieved the level of understanding, the pathway minds that will bring that about. So, a Buddha has achieved all of that in full and what’s called the Arya Sangha are those who have achieved it in part, but not in full yet. So we want to go in that direction. That means we understand that if we can achieve a true stopping, which means that they never occur again, these causes for suffering in our mental continuum, our confusion etc., that if we really could get rid of that, that would prevent suffering, it would prevent the problems and we’re totally convinced of that, so “That’s the direction I want to go in in my life.” When we talk about safe direction or refuge, it’s in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Dharma is referring to these true stoppings and true pathway minds. Having the Dharma go toward the Dharma or as Dharma – there are many meanings that we can understand in that, but what it’s saying is: take the teachings as a way to proceed toward the Dharma jewel, to refuge as a preventive measure. That is the ultimate preventive measure – get rid of all the causes of suffering and you have prevented all suffering. How do we start to go in that direction? Well, we need to at least continue to have a precious human life, or some god-realm life with which it’s somewhat possible to follow the Dharma, but not as fully as with the precious human one. But they’re both included here. And when you go in that direction, it’s to understand karma, cause and effect in terms of our behavior. If we understand that destructive behavior leads to gross unhappiness and suffering and pain, and that constructive behavior leads to happiness, then – at least initially, it’s initial scope – to prevent gross suffering then we avoid destructive behavior. Having the Dharma function as a preventive measure here covers the initial scope teachings in the lam-rim graded stages. The view here is the view of safe direction, or refuge, and karmic cause and effect. The meditation is meditation on karmic cause and effect. And the behavior is to accomplish or habituate constructive behavior to rid ourselves of destructive behavior, which is what leads to gross suffering. (Snipped from the Berzin Archives) Loving kindness practices are those practices which assist in promoting correct/positive view, meditation and action.

yup

haha another joker in the midst... thats like something we hear out of a Beavis & Butthead strip

Oh dear...

The Four Abidings of Mahamudra Yoga of One Point The meditation that brings The realisation of one’s mind Is learnt by the order of the four yogas. At the dawn of the yoga of one-point, One realizes the nature of one’s mind. Akin to the center of space spotless, It is clear, empty, and incessant; Without boundary and center. This that abides pristine and vivid, Is the meditation of the first yoga. If [mind] remains clear, empty, pristine and vivid, One sustains in the dimension of meditation, Even though talking, walking, or sitting. If thoughts proliferate from therein, Even though meditating on the seat, It is but post meditation. Yoga of No Elaboration At the dawn of the yoga of no elaboration, One realizes the intrinsic property of one’s mind. It is perpetual awareness with no elaboration. Free from arising, ceasing, accepting, and rejecting, One’s mind established as the Truth Body Is the meditation of the second yoga. Once abiding in this meditation is firmed and stable, Even though walking and talking, One is in the dimension of meditation. If distracted by the signs of elaborations, Even though meditating on the seat, It is but post-meditation. Yoga of One Flavour At the dawn of the yoga of one flavour, One realizes the characteristic of one’s mind. One realizes that it is from one’s mind —the Truth Body with no elaboration— The multitude of samsara and nirvana manifest. Conceptual and non-conceptual, Apparent and not apparent, Abiding and not abiding, Emptiness and not emptiness, Clear and not clear— As such diversities have the same flavour In the state of the clear light Truth Body, One beholds the vision of the Great Truth Body Within which not a thought that is not clear light. The time of mind ceasing, The realization of aforementioned one flavour, Is the meditation of the third yoga. If it is under the shade of the innate mind, Even though jumping, running, and talking, One is in the dimension of meditation. If it is in the absence of the innate mind, Even though meditating on the seat, It is but post meditation. Yoga of No Meditation At the dawn of the yoga of no meditation, The nature of awareness becomes free of references. The yogi has nothing to meditate on. The meditator has vanished out of sight. The Buddha endowed with The Three Bodies and the Five Primordial Awarenesses Is proclaimed to be present within oneself. [He] is none but this one at last realizes. None but this one ascertains, Is the siddhi of Mahamudra. In terms of the siddhi established primordially, There is no pride of thinking—I have found it, There is no presence and absence of mindfulness, There is no presence and absence of ideations, There is no question of being and not being of one-flavour. In the very state of non-dual awareness, There is no order of meditation and post-meditation. In the infinite stream of awareness and emptiness, Birth, death and rebirth cannot be found. The Three Kayas’ qualities Are entirely present within the mind. Benefit to others manifest Upon the confinement of body collapsing. Thus, in the yoga of no meditation, There is no order of meditation and post-meditation. No matter how great one’s realisation is, As long as there is something to practice, There is the duality of meditation and post-meditation, Presence and absence of mindfulness and, The duality of distraction and non-distraction. When nothing appears to be a cause for habituation, It is acknowledged as “non-meditation.” (courtesy of Geshe Lobsang Ngodup)

There is nothing to stop the mind turning towards the Dharma from employing Initial Scope teachings, of which practices like loving kindness belong. Mind turning towards the Dharma may or may not necessitate establishing/observing first the various conditions for refuge-taking. Some ad-hoc practitioners may not be comfortable with taking refuge but wants to incorporate Initial Scope teachings into their routine should be encouraged to do so, and saying that it will not lead to enlightenment is a little like putting the cart before the horse. If a practitioner's mental disposition is fertile enough, having already established affinity with the Dharma in previous lives, the Masters have said that merely hearing one of the 4 Immeasurables is enough to set the wheel of awakening in motion. Why is it necessary to dampen people's enthusiasm unnecessarily by implying the limitations (in this instance, of the 4 Brahmaviharas) when the very heart of BuddhaDharma is about emancipation from fetters? By alluding to certain limitations contained within certain scopes of teachings, we are being less encouraging than we should be, achieving nothing worthwhile except maybe advertise a certain tendency for intellectual and scholarly supremacy in discussions of this nature. In this particular topic, Aetherous had specifically drawn attention to the various meanings contained within the practice of loving kindness, a most worthwhile investigation, imo, and CT had indicated that the Kalama Sutta would be a good source to gain further insight on how to create the right causes for loving kindness to take root. Did Aetherous indicate also that he wanted opinions on whether loving kindness can lead directly to enlightenment? If he did, CT must apologise for having missed that in his OP.

In Vajrayana both head and heart is ultimately transcended.

Its definitely warranted within the context of your assertion which implied that some of the Buddha's teachings are less likely than others to produce the fruit of emancipation. Hope you get the point.

The Buddha had declared all his teachings to have but one taste. In the Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon, it is mentioned thus: "Just as, wherever one draws water from the ocean, it has but one taste, the taste of salt, in the same way, his teaching - whether you take the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Paths, the six paramitas, madhyamaka, dependent co-origination, sunyata - all these have but one taste: the taste of freedom." These different (but of one taste) approaches to buddhadharma all clarifies View, in turn, View distills each individual approach - so ct would respectfully disagree with your ending statement.

"What is the mind? The mind isn't 'is' anything." — Ajahn Chah "The mind is neither good nor evil, but it's what knows good and knows evil. It's what does good and does evil. And it's what lets go of good and lets go of evil." — Ajahn Lee

"Lord Buddha's teachings are inconceivably extensive and profound. To attain an exhaustive intellectual understanding of them would indeed be a rare and remarkable achievement. But even that would not be enough by itself. Unless we also achieve inner realisation by actually applying the teachings and mingling them with our minds, whatever knowledge we may gain remains theoretical and will only serve to increase our self-infatuation. We have read a lot of books and heard a lot of teachings, but it hasn't been of much benefit in really transforming our being. Leaving the doctor's prescription by the bedside will not cure the illness. So turn your mind inward and ponder deeply the meaning of the Dharma until it permeates your whole being." -- HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

There are 'hidden' aspects to inner cultivation which only live (and qualified) teachers can help clarify. For example, a certain mantra is given in a manual which a self-taught practitioner then chants without knowing the exact tonal range for each syllable - the benefit to be gotten would be much less than if a guru were to be on hand to point out the finer aspects of how to chant correctly for max benefit. This is looking at it positively. Sometimes some mantras can induce more harm than good if empowerments have not been received (to chant) - then it could be problematic, and we can see here (on TTB) what happens to people utilising 'secret' mantras without knowing the full spectrum of the subtleties involved. They just read from manuals a certain mantra can help bring prosperity, or clear blockages, and they start chanting it, and next thing, they begin to experience weirdness and entity disturbance and other interesting things.

But the natural state needs to be stabilised, and the process is a long one, which, without proper guidance, can lead to unnecessary deviations - thats the point made.

Agreed

The Kalama Sutta is a teaching that helps clarify CT's point with regards to the appearance and impetus of causes and result, and in what manner does a practitioner of virtue set about cultivating the causes of happiness and other brahmaviharas. It further elaborates that ignorance can be either be disbanded or compounded from the choices we make pertaining to present thoughts and streams of thought, and summarises with a clear explanation on what the 4 Solaces are. The Four Solaces"The disciple of the Noble Ones, Kalamas, who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, and such a purified mind, is one by whom four solaces are found here and now. Suppose there is a hereafter and there is a fruit, result, of deeds done well or ill. Then it is possible that at the dissolution of the body after death, I shall arise in the heavenly world, which is possessed of the state of bliss.' This is the first solace found by him. Suppose there is no hereafter and there is no fruit, no result, of deeds done well or ill. Yet in this world, here and now, free from hatred, free from malice, safe and sound, and happy, I keep myself.' This is the second solace found by him. Suppose evil (results) befall an evil-doer. I, however, think of doing evil to no one. Then, how can ill (results) affect me who do no evil deed?' This is the third solace found by him. Suppose evil (results) do not befall an evil-doer. Then I see myself purified in any case.' This is the fourth solace found by him."

Pretty much, as evidenced from those here who claim to have a long history of Dzogchen exposure but whose intents are still fairly suspect.

its the only response appropriate to your babble

nonsense