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Not particularly. Mostly instinctual i guess. All organic herbs are great, eaten in moderation. Lots of claims on the internet to the efficacious power of herbs, alas, what do we believe? Best advice is to listen to our own bodies, like what you're doing. Avoiding excess is key. In the culinary world, herbs are meant to dance lightly on the tastebuds, to subtly enhance flavours, so whatever is used should not overpower the natural aromas and taste of any dish. For example, too much wasabi on a sushi roll will completely ruin the taste, not to mention burning the tongue and making the eyes water; add a smidgen, and that piece of sushi will taste divine...

My work with food means i use lots and eat lots all year round. Mostly coriander, chives, scallions, mint, lemon balm, various types of parsley, lemongrass, curry leaves, screwpine, basil, and a whole host of dried roots and spices too. Herbs are so nutritious and flavourful.

Its never easy. Some of these communities are quite wary of new faces trying to blend in. Strange, but true.

Deeply saddened by this. Om Amideva Hrih Om Amideva Hrih Om Amideva Hrih Heartfelt thoughts go out to all brothers & sisters of Rinpoche's lineage.

Speaking of 'island time'... Spent a month on a deserted island off the east coast of Malaysia in my early 20s. Got a fishing boat to drop me off, and asked to be picked up again in a month's time. The skipper thought i was bonkers. It was a brilliant excursion for the body & soul, truly was. The first few days were a bit of a challenge, but once that hurdle had been crossed, it was a blast! Everything was abundantly available for body & soul -- i had to take many steps back from the usual habit of taking things for granted, in which time there was no choice but to heighten sense of awareness in terms of building a shelter, being mindful not to infringe on the space occupied by local spirits, sourcing safe, drinkable water, looking for wild herbs, fruit & veges, catching my own dinner, most of which were all new experiences for at that time. Such an exhilarating few weeks i had. At the end of it, found it difficult to leave my temp shelter-home, my friends the monkeys, birds, snakes, turtles, cicadas, and lizards of all shapes and sizes. Not to mention mosquitoes, sand flies and cockroaches. Even the ants became acquaintances as we exchanged stories of island life while they got all excited from the unusual amounts of grub suddenly available to the whole army. That retreat made me realize many things. It also convinced me that if i could live there happily, there aren't many places around which will make me cringe with angst. Most of all, it sharpened my appreciation for all of life, and the joyous gifts readily available to us if only we dare to step a little out of our comfort zone to challenge and explore the wonders of the big blue marble we call earth. I think all young adults should consider a journey like this at least once in their youth. Its a sort of vision quest to help discover more about oneself. Leaving such an experience behind, it wont be as challenging when one chooses to transition in favour of community-style living.

Of course it matters. It matters to you since it moulds and deepens your awareness. No reason to sell yourself short. There is a dose of honesty in your words. Honesty is the greatest precursor to truthful insight. Truthful insight puts one in touch with reality. Being in touch with reality, the barrier that forces delusion will disintegrate, like the light of the sun dispelling the darkness.

Maaan, you're funny. Can't deny you your little fetishes, i guess.

A benevolent Vajrayana practitioner is comfortable wherever he or she finds himself. As Master Hsuan Hua says, "Accord with conditions, but do not change. Do not change, but accord with conditions." I read the above to mean that we can engage generously and wholeheartedly with everything and everyone without compromising our inner awareness of Dharma. If we find difficulty integrating, it just means we have work to do yet, and if we still have work to do, then we focus more on that rather than the more futile, external and distractive pursuits. I think comparing traditions, or questioning the views of others with incorrect motives while we are not yet full-fledged buddhas with perfect omniscient mind is one of these futile pursuits. hehe... yet, i still do it, but its lessening somewhat. dang.

Yes! Such environments have been known to amplify one's inner world in profound ways, especially at the initial entry phase. We see our goodness with much more clarity, at the same time, our neurotic tendencies will smack us in the face too. And there is no place to hide, no carpets to sweep things under. Everything is stark! This is ok if we take the responsibility and own whatever comes up. If we can do this, we grow. Problem is, any form of rejection of one place in favour of another is usually an indication that there will be a struggle later on, in the new environment, when it comes to being honest with our reasons for desiring a change of scenery. This makes adaptation more challenging.

Saga Dawa celebrations are underway. Started on the 29th of May, and finishing on the 27th of June. The most holy day for this year's auspicious event is the 13th of June. It will be a good day to practice, meditate and perform charitable deeds, and also, generate love and compassion in the heart. Renew love for the family, and think good thoughts of your enemies. All great merit from prayers and devotional offerings will be multiplied many many times on this day. Peace, love and blessings to all.

Knowing that, and yet persisting with such an act sounds rather foolish, lacks wisdom. Shadow boxing, my friend. Waste of time & energy, dont you think?

would it not be disadvantageous to seek out such a place due to an aversion to the 'cancer that is society'? Having visited some alternative communities over the years, i cannot be sure that all members of such communities are fully content having moved away from what they thought were a sickness of present-day society. Many of the folks in these places look rather dejected and not particularly at ease with themselves, and those with kids, well, the kids didn't look too healthy either. Some people tend to carry their aversions with them wherever they go, and as a result, changing their external environment, ie expecting that change to bring about an inner transformation often result in a sort of target mis-hit. Of course some eventually find the necessary resolve to overcome their basic problem, but time often exact a cruel toll on them. Bearing the above in mind, im just wondering if it might not be more worthwhile cultivating a sort of half love, half tolerance for your present environment first, then gradually translate/nurture this attitude to your new surrounds when you eventually find one... once you have a good foundational attitude and surer footing, it will enable you to adapt and bloom there in a more assured fashion, i think. Just some thoughts, take it fwiw.

I can relate to all you have shared, Manitou. I too was 'on the job' for a year and a bit back in 81 (in my country). It was my childhood ambition, but quickly discovered that there was a particular 'shade' of that work which did not appeal to me at all, so i quit. At that time, i had access to 2 firearms, one standard issue, and because i was a probationary inspector, also member of a gun club, was given the privy to own an additional one. During the course of service, i had to use the gun once -- arrived at work one morning, got out of the car, heard some commotion coming from inside the station, and next thing saw a shirtless fellow dashing like mad out the main door of the station, heading towards me. I knew straightaway he was in remand (being shirtless) and had somehow broken out of custody. The thought came to my mind that he might have snatched some officer's gun during the scuffle, so i ambled to get cover round the other side of my car, drew the pistol, and shouted the usual warnings, that he stop immediately, i was armed, blah blah... but no, he started to run even faster!! At that point, i fired 2 shots. One got him in the abdomen. Kept running a few yards, stopped, and collapsed. Ambulance came & took him away. He was fine after surgery. It wasn't pleasant at all, but under the circumstances, unavoidable. Although we all received more than adequate skills training, nothing i learned in police college could mimic the rush felt as the incident unfolded. I did a lot of field work back then. It was something i enjoyed very much. At that time, the city streets were pretty rough -- there were lots of illegal activities, triads, robberies, gang clashes etc. Funny thing was, each time there's trouble, all thats needed to be done as i reached the source of bother was to lift my shirt and expose the butt of my gun and 9 times out of 10 the flares would calm down instantly. From experience, certainly, the firearm can well be an instrument of peace.

I have never understood this ridiculous 'law'. The legislation in Ireland were similar, up until last year i think. New laws in place now that grant homeowners rights to defend lives and private properties. There was an incident not too long ago when a burglar broke his leg falling down the stairs in the house where he was doing a 'job'... he sued, and won. Thankfully such nonsense will not be happening again.

Yeah, i dont get the connection between work-entailed carrying of firearms and the OP's point about that making a security personnel more aggressive. Some armoured vehicle guards have to carry a side-arm and a shotgun, does that mean it could make them doubly aggressive? Alternatively, those who do not carry firearms are less prone to aggression? The premise is a bit shaky for any solid conclusion to be made, imo.

That could well be the intention of some practitioners, while others may use the practice mainly to overcome grasping and aversion. If a practitioner's mind is perfectly balanced between grasping and aversion, he or she is said to be in equipoise (short for equanimous poise). One whose mind can constantly rest in equipoise is said to have 'captured' (metaphorically) a mind akin to the abode of Brahma. Symbolically, Brahma is the supreme representation of peace, and practitioners who patiently develop the four sublime states thru mindful attention to conduct of thoughts, speech and actions, are said to gain a status equal to Brahma (Skt. Brahma-samo). In all, the four sublime states, also known as Brahma-vihara (or divine abodes) are Love, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, and Equanimity. They are appropriately called abodes due to the idealistic encouragement given to practitioners to always strive to reach such a mentally lofty and sacred space, to lead the mind home, figuratively speaking. Therefore, a mind that is saturated by the four sublime states is said to attain freedom from craving and desires, jealousy, envy and all that, leading finally to the cessation of rounds of rebirth, which is the highest ideal in certain Buddhist traditions. Specifically, Equanimity in this context relates to a mind rooted firmly in insight, and from insight comes an unwavering resolve not to be overawed by or fearful of the ever-changing tides of birth, growth, old age, and death. Sorry for rambling on... Blessings to all.

Well, its anyone's guess, right? I think we need to understand the mindset of the Himalayan people with regards to corpses. Burials are not the norm in that region. Dead bodies are either cremated ceremonially or simply hacked to pieces to feed the vultures, and anything else that want to feed, as a last act of compassion. Perhaps the heads are nothing more than keepsakes from those who have died. Maybe they leave wills.... my head goes to uncle Sonam, and the pinky to Don Vincenzo, that kind of way.

The main intention is to tap into the potential to achieve equanimity, one of the four sublime states in Buddhist (or Bon?) contemplative traditions.

These yogis will go to great lengths to challenge conventions. They don't call it 'crazy wisdom' for no reason. Of course, some may wonder what wisdom lies in that, and its hard to really explain it without causing confusion. But those who actually practice Vajrayana (not those who claim to have done it for a while and then given up) will grasp the significance. Symbolic representations are very much interweaved into that tradition.

Its not my intention to infer order. There is no need, because the appearance of things is order. Eating an apple is order. Not eating an apple is also order. In this context, 'order' means things as they are. Without emptiness, eating an apple would not be possible (alas, excreting the remains of it is also not possible if not for emptiness). The apple is solid by virtue of its essence, which is emptiness. If that were not the case, how can an apple even take form? Before the apple, how can an apple seed even absorb moisture & warmth (conditions necessary for it to germinate) if not for the space within the seed? Form is emptiness, emptiness also is form. No need to agree or disagree with this assertion, we simply continue looking deeper and deeper to see if that is indeed the truth. In the process, revelation will come. All these discussions and explanations will not bring anyone closer except when accompanied by a willingness to do the investigation. If not, its simply a wasteful analytical exercise that consumes the mind and yet not bring one any closer to realization. Can anyone ever find 'emptiness' somewhere? One can look, but never find it, thats because things do not turn into emptiness, just as space cannot turn into a more empty space. Nothing can be added to emptiness to make it more empty. When you try to find something (form), form appears. When you find & recognize a solid apple, apple appears. That is the magical aspect of Sambhogakaya. That is order. There is nothing good or bad in the arisings, hence, it seems incorrect to assume that we can be tricked by them. What seems to trick us is the limitations of labels (or, as you put it, characteristics) we assign to things. Its a limitation bound by conditioned dualistic perceptions. Once this collapses, things are still what they are, appearing yet empty, but this time round, without the assignations, duality collapses, and whats left is just the enjoyment. (of course, the term 'enjoyment' here should be properly understood in the context of the 3 kayas, and not in the conventional sense of pleasure-seeking or sense gratification).

My teacher said once, "There is no need to search for the aspects. Its already so (empty yet cognizable)". Nirmanakaya aspect, the bliss of form arise. From the Dharmakaya aspect, the bliss of emptiness (empty of self) arise. The manifestation of Samboghakaya allows the enjoyment of both. Actually, its all the one unfolding, but the training mind takes time to sync the seamless unfolding, so it appears that one has to conceptualize the aspects individually. The trained mind, well, thats when grasping (at names to forms) ends. What follows when there is no more clinging and aversion? People sometimes misunderstand that things gradually become empty, after years of practice... its not so. There is no 'becoming empty' -- it is already empty, and because of that basis, forms can be what they are. When the small doubts around this slowly dismantle with practice, clarity takes root, and wisdom flowers. Its also one seamless process, not three distinct stages of revelation. If things are not already empty, order will not be possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekhinah this is what you are looking for.

Interesting topic. I think i disagree somewhat with Diderot, where he mentioned freedom comes from the rectifications of external humanistic structures, for eg, to do away with kings and priests, promoting knowledge and industry as the way to peace and morality. In my view, Peace is inner grace, while morality is simply the outward, visible sign of one's inner world. It is difficult to imagine how knowledge and industry can be the motivating factors which can lead man to grace. Alan Watts, whose exhortations i am tending to agree with, much more than Diderot as a matter of course , made this observation some while back: "Life is the current into which man is thrown, and though he struggles against it, it carries him along despite all his efforts, with the result that his efforts achieve nothing but his own unhappiness. Should he then just turn about and drift? But nature gave him the faculties of reason and conscious individuality, and if he is to drift, he might as well have been without them. It is more likely that he has them to give expression to immeasurably greater possibilities of nature than the animal can express by instinct. Even so, man does not like to be put down to the place of an instrument, however grand that instrument may be, for an instrument is an instrument, and an organ does what it is made to do as subserviently and blindly as a whistle. But this is not the only consideration. It may be that man has a wrong idea of what his self is. In the words of the Hindu sage Patanjali, "Ignorance is the identification of the Seer with the instruments of seeing." Certainly man as instrument is an obedient tool whether he likes it or not, but it may be that there is something in man which is more than the instrument, more than his reason and individuality which are part of that instrument and which he mistakenly believes to be his true self. And while as an instrument he is bound, it is the same with which he sets himself free, and his problem is to become aware of it. Finding it, he will understand that in fleeing from death, fear and sorrow he is making himself a slave, for he will realize the mysterious truth that in fact he is free both to live and to die, to love and to fear, to rejoice and to be sad, and that in none of these things is there any shame. But man rejects his freedom to be natural, imagining that death, fear and sorrow are the causes of his unhappiness. The real cause is that he does not let himself be free to accept them, for he does not understand that he who is free to love is not really free unless he is also free to fear, and this is the real freedom of happiness."

Imo, its the other way round.