C T

“We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” ― Howard Zinn

such a way to bite! memories of Mike Tyson must win at all costs...

How come im not at all surprised that Zoom gave a thumbs up to the post labelling the majority of TTB members as 'new age idiots'. Narew might want to consider rewording that glaring remark because it reflects badly on TTB. Quite sad actually.

I can understand how some aspiring Dzogchen practitioners would say this, but personally, i cannot agree that Dzogchen goes beyond any truth. If the poster would like to further clarify what he meant, it could help foster better understanding. If Dzogchen goes beyond truth, what is the purpose of practice? How is fruition to be understood? Even though the path excludes reliance on the two truths, it does not negate ultimate fruition. Moreover, the two truths, being philosophical tools, do not actually relate to the generation and completion stages of Mahayoga, within which the actual training of bodhicitta takes root. This advice given by Dolpo Tulku Rinpoche should clear all doubts.

Thank you for the info, FT.

A ngondro beginner uses support during the early days of the practice to get a feel of what bodhicitta really is. In this sense, there is effort. Where there is effort, its called 'relative bodhicitta'. Towards the completion of one Ngondro cycle (meaning all accumulations have been done) ideally the dependence on outer supports should have naturally ceased, and the practitioner should have gained an effortless realisation of bodhicitta at this stage. Its not actually two types of bodhicitta - relative and absolute pertains only to the dependence of support in the former, and independence of it in the latter. When realisation arises free of contrived effort, and can remain steadily even though mental and physical distractions are present, one is said to have gained mastery of absolute bodhicitta. Ngondro can facilitate this despite its preliminary status.

Have you come across any schools that teach a hybrid system combining JKD & JiuJitsu? Its a pretty efficient style - one learns how to be offensive on the ground too. I have heard the Schmelter brothers up in SoCal teaching this style. Iron Circle i think. Seen their vids - awesome speed, accuracy and power demo'd.

If you insist. Im not going there again, its pretty exhausting. Have fun, enjoy your self-evident status.

This is what happens when one bumps into another one who believes he possesses an intelligence greater than the majority of the people he interacts with. Everything becomes a challenge. It gets tiring going over the same theatrics day after day. "You can't prove me wrong, therefore i am right". Ya, ok, you win. (thumbs up to you).

You have to be mentally superior to envision them. (or so it seems, but i think not)

Practice Meister Eckhart says, Practice is better than precept; but the practice and precept of eternal God is a counsel of perfection. If I wanted a teacher of theology, I should go for one to Paris, to its learned university. However, if I came to ask about the perfect life, why then he could not tell me. Where then am I to turn? To pure and abstract nature, nowhere else: that can solve your anxious questions. Why, good people, search among dead bones? Why not seek the living part that is directly connected with creation and that gives eternal life? The dead neither give nor take. An angel seeking God as God would not anywhere for him except in a quiet, solitary creature. The essence of perfection lies in bearing poverty, misery, scorn, adversity and every hardship that befalls, willingly, gladly, freely, eagerly, calm and unmoved and persisting until death without a why.

can you dig that cat? my basset hound dont dig cats she loves hot dogs though...

Which eye did you say?

Maintaining constant thought-vigilance or mindfulness is a good example of having a 'don't give up' attitude. If we give that up, we fall into delusion; the moment we see clearly and awakefully that we have been distracted, we come back to the present, and here, we try to maintain that present awareness. To do this repeatedly is to accommodate the mind in ease and comfort, which is almost synonymous with cultivating a sense of 'acceptance' and 'letting go'. Sometimes though we hit instances where letting go is the last thing we want to do. Circumstances demand that we cling tightly to certain things, so there is a need here to call upon more direct means of cutting thru the stubbornness, the egoic graspings, the talons that latch themselves firmly in the past - what do we do here? Using peaceful subjugation methods usually fall short of its intended purpose. At times like these, usually a more direct, forceful approach is required to snap us out of this hypnotic slumber. Finding the inner resolve to do this is not a puny undertaking, and so, the advice from masters to persist with practice is summed up in the phrase, DONT GIVE UP.

aloft and lofty is that a bird or a plane? no, its superman!

From my limited observation, wisdom, or philosophical insights alone (i.e. gaining knowledge and trying to increasingly fathom reality) is insufficient to complete a person's spiritual transformation. A wholesome feeling, or sense of contentment, is where one knows without even an ounce of doubt that irreversible fulfilment has been effected - this would necessitate a transference of the knowledge gained into altruistic actions, meaning that wisdom alone is limited unless paired with an attitude of making what one knows useful to others. Only then will there be experienced a gradually lasting & satisfying state of mind. There are already too many wise people in this world - whats lacking are kind people, those with hearts wide open, fearlessly compassionate, purely motivated, and always humble enough to help without putting self above all. The OP seems like a fairly intelligent person, with a fair pool of knowledge across a wide range of subjects, yet, there appears occasional strands of unease, as evidenced by his words expressing inner dissatisfaction in various posts made since a while back. Perhaps the OP can understand that he is not lacking in knowledge, but absenting himself from a dedicated yet simple intent to think about himself a little less and deed-wise, consider others more. The surest way to self-happiness is by generously letting others share what one have realised. Otherwise it'll all be in vain. These are not my thoughts. Im merely reflecting sound advice given by sages across the various traditions, that true happiness comes from putting others before self, and true suffering arise from putting self before others. Some people think that they have nothing, therefore its impossible to give to others. I dont think thats how it works. We all have something to give. The question is, if we really possess nothing of worth, material or otherwise, what is it that makes us continue to cling to self (contraction) instead of opening and expanding more, since we've already decided that we have nothing to lose?

There are some reformed criminals, when reflecting back, who will gratefully acknowledge a friend or family member for turning them in - although at that time there will undoubtedly arise some amount of bitterness. Not common, but it happens. I think we can value and remain loyal to friendships without the assumption that loyalty necessarily includes condoning stupid actions from our friends. We have a responsibility first and foremost to abide by some moral standards, and be guided forthwith. If a friend who acted foolishly acknowledges either immediately or at a later time his or her foolishness, enough to make amends, then such a realisation can actually turn out to be a factor in cementing the friendship even further. There will certainly be a greater degree of mutual trust and respect arising from such honest encounters. just a thought.

burnt in memory like caramelised sugar on a creme brulee...

In SE Asia one need only search a little to get in touch with the world of black magic and its ill intents and purposes, such that its casually used to bring misfortune to some who actually have no inkling at all that they are being manipulated on the psychic level - often, black magicians are sought to wreak vengeance on love rivals, to ruin business rivals, to drive enemies to insanity, even to implant 'dirty' things into people's bodies, like maggots, needles, pus-like substances, and even to the extreme of making victims suffer leprosy-like skin lesions and other very real but very unfortunate events, like accidents, even deaths in some extreme circumstances. I once apprenticed for an Indian healer/exorcist to 'deliver' a business tycoon from a lot of strange and dismal happenings in his life; turned out the person who paid a black magician to put a curse on him was none other than his own younger brother who got pissed off because the father, upon retiring, left the running of their family estate and factories which they owned to the first-born son who assumed the CEO position fresh from returning home after completing his uni studies in the States, whereas the brother was kind of hands-on all the time, very involved in the business operations and knew the business well, long before the father decided to retire even. He naturally assumed that he was the heir apparent, but it turned out otherwise. The irony was that the eldest son wasn't even keen in the family business, and was happy enough to step aside so that his younger bro, whom he felt was the right person for the job, take the CEO's chair. I don't really scare easily having been a cop, but the events that unfolded which finally led to the exorcist discovering the damaging 'charm' responsible for the mess hidden deep underground in the garden of the older brother's house, and the subsequent disempowering of said charm really tested my resolve to quite an extent. How the exorcist managed to locate where this charm was buried was thru fasting, prayers and trance, and if i remember correctly, when the cloth-wrapped bundle was extracted from a dug hole of about 3 foot, it was learnt that the cloth used was the older brother's handkerchief, and in it was found a partly-burnt passport-sized photo of his wife, some hair that was probably 'stolen' from the barbers or hair salon, a few needles, and a tie clip (later identified by the older brother to be his). The exorcist performed a ritualistic deliverance prayer over the found articles - confident that the spell was neutralised, we carefully put everything into a small metal container, bound it up with some blessed coloured strings, and proceeded to a river where more prayers were said before finally chucking the thing into the fast-flowing waters. We watched it sink after drifting for a short distance. I would not be comfortable mentioning the exact ills that this person and his wife were suffering from, mentally, physically, financially, and in the business operations that he was managing being exposed to weird events like trucks catching fire, hijacking etc - suffice to say that after the exorcism was performed, things began to improve dramatically within a relatively short time. This man & his wife did not even believe in hexes, bomohs, black magic and all what they termed 'superstitions'. Understandable, since both of them were university grads and were quite 'westernised', having spent more than 10 years in America, both studying and then working before returning home when the father was taken ill. I know this is off-topic, but i am only recalling/sharing this after reading MH's post about voodoo not working on disbelievers. The event above was not an isolated incident - in my country such happenings are pretty common, with varying degrees of severity in terms of harm being wrought on innocent or not-so- innocent individuals, and sometimes to whole families too.

Reminds me of Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush's duet 'Dont Give Up'. love it!

mountain still the Tao orange blossoms scent the air what a blissful day!

the tip of R nose sniffing, we follow the scent rats, beat me to it...

This is a wonderful poem... - Silence II Silence is not a lack of words. Silence is not a lack of music. Silence is not a lack of curses. Silence is not a lack of screams. Silence is not a lack of colors or voices or bodies or whistling wind. Silence is not a lack of anything. Silence is resting, nestling in every leaf of every tree, in every root and branch. Silence is the flower sprouting upon the branch. Silence is the mother singing to her newborn babe. Silence is the mother crying for her stillborn babe. Silence is the life of all these babes, whose breath is a breath of God. Silence is seeing and singing praises. Silence is the roar of ocean waves. Silence is the sandpiper dancing on the shore. Silence is the vastness of a whale. Silence is a blade of grass. Silence is sound And silence is silence. Silence is love, even the love that hides in hate. Silence is the pompous queen and the harlot and the pimp hugging his purse on a crowded street. Silence is the healer dreaming the plant, the drummer drumming the dream. It is the lover’s exhausted fall into sleep. It is the call of morning birds. Silence is God’s beat tapping all hearts. Silence is the star kissing a flower. Silence is a word, a hope, a candle lighting the window of home. Silence is everything –the renewing sleep of Earth, the purifying dream of Water, the purifying rage of Fire, the soaring and spiraling flight of Air. It is all things dissolved into no-thing – Silence is with you always…..the Presence of I AM - Elaine Maria Upton

how could we miss that? simple, its like how we miss the tip of R nose...