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I repeat: The 12 links collapses without karma. Karma is volition. The 12 links is supported by nothing other than volition. Dig?

It is, aint it?

The 12 links IS karma.

i apologise, BKA, for being impulsive. i was merely responding to Alwayson's inaccurate assertion. Sorry for derailing your thread with jargon.

Since you have no regard for Buddha Shakyamuni's teachings, why even bother to mention this. Which, by the way, is only half accurate. There is Right View with remainders, in which karma plays a part, and then there is supramundane Right View, without effluents. Havent you heard of the Great Forty? Read Maha-cattarisaka Sutta. Here's a taster: "And what is right view? Right view, i tell you, is twofold: there is right view that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening on the side of attachment; and there is right view that is noble, taintless, supramundane, a factor of the path." (from the Middle Length discourse given by the Buddha). And dont say its not valid because you dont consider with any seriousness the teachings of the lower yanas.

As final consciousness wanes, all the stored memories rises to the surface without much resistance. This brings with it a sudden overload of information, enough to cause immense confusion to propel the dying mind to seek comfort in another rebirth, and the habit of grasping then drives the subtle mind to grab immediately at anything which resembles a womb. This is what i have personally investigated during meditative absorption, quite similar to this exercise:

It is volition that I call karma; for having willed, one acts with body, speech and mind.

Karma is a wide WIDE term, and will take many lifetimes to even scratch the surface of knowing exactly how it works. Whatever it is, it is not restricted to a mere reward/punishment schema.

Rant noted.

Its definitely not linear, BKA. Linear progression involves much focus on content, which are all potentially *boulders*, as Manitou aptly metaphor'd. Whereas real spiritual progress deals more with context, and this is a good thing, because here there is room for soft adjustments, tunings and expansion.

As an afterthought, it did intuitively occur to me that there is a correlation between eating more than the norm levels of fresh garlic and pristine oral health, but have never investigated this to any degree. I know it does some nasties to the breath, but thats easily addressed with chewing some mint and regular brushing coupled with flossing and rinsing with a good mouthwash. I cant really attribute anything else to it, save for genetics perhaps. I remember my grandfathers both have great teeth well into their old age, but my dad did not. And the consumption of fresh garlic is a customary delight at meal times in our family. is this some form of primordial wisdom thing happening, i wonder... (had to add this to round off the post just to stay on-top. )

Marriage is a wonderful institution, but i cant imagine anyone wanting to live in one. -- H. L. Mencken Enlightenment comes when your third eye is at one with your turd eye and you can see your own shit. -- Chris Wynter A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. -- William James got a chuckle reading above recently.

Speaking about getting work done on the teeth, the last time i had something done to mine was when i was 12. That was 41 years ago. (discounting one visit a couple of years back to have them cleaned). For some reason, i have never had any problems which require dentistry to sort out. I kinda told the gums and teeth to behave cos them dentists and oral hygienists are already driving Jaguars and Porsches without any contributions from my end.

Do you pick up broadcasts from England too?

In Buddhism, 'Harsh speech' is something to be abandoned for one who seeks to gain liberation from rebirth. When something harsh is uttered, even if its just heard by oneself, it reverberates and gives rise to a thought, usually equally harsh, and this sets off another harsh word, and so on. This is also a type of rebirth, in a micro sequence. I call it 'micro' because it happens in small doses while we are alive, but each time it does happen, it gathers some imprinted energy and this gets stored somewhere in the deeper mind or gets trapped in the body among one or more of the organs. In this particular example, Liberation means having the alertness to see the arising/on-set of harsh speech and its potential after-effect before actually indulging it, so this mindful attention cuts the rebirth of the effect at the root, meaning to have the wisdom to recognise and see clearly the moment its about to arise, and then not reacting to the force of that intent. This ability to pause allows the time for choosing an alternate response, be it to keep silent or say something neutral or better still something which promotes peace and harmony. It can be done. The only thing which sustains the force that drives the harsh speech out of the mouth is the conditioned ego. Therefore, one who has the habitual tendency to use harsh speech is still a slave to samsaric ego, and has work to do.

Correct me if im mistaken, but biases are built on ignorant assumptions and beliefs, both of which are to be avoided as followers of Buddhadharma. A genuine Dharma student's aim, if i remember correctly, is to remove such veils to get as close as possible to seeing things for exactly what they are, and the way towards this is to avoid speculative talks, parroting other people's experience, and to keep a distance from perpetuating discursiveness in one's communicative efforts. If one speaks directly from one's personal experience, simultaneously avoiding the errors of envy and untruthfulness, then there is no possibility for hypocrisy to arise. Buddhadharma in practice is concerned with uncovering what is real, and what is real should not have any trace of bias leanings.

Honey and Greek yogurt go very well together.

You said there is no such thing as confession is Islam, that its not a monastic tradition. I mentioned Tawba, and you concluded that as an attempt to teach you about it, and that its all a crusade against Islam. I am not against Islam. Some of my good doctor friends are Muslims, there are also Muslims in my employment, and none of them, as far as i can tell, are ignorant of good manners and self-respect.

I guess you are not in knowledge of Tawba then. The meaning behind your words are as plain as day, yet you deny that they are full of poison. One does not require sensitivity to see the effects of poison when it is released. Its words such as yours that perpetuate conflict among practitioners of various paths. Why are you contributing to this process? Do you not find it hypocritical then to speak about Nafs in others when you cannot even see the part you have assumed in this discussion? Respect is earned, not something to look for. Please try to understand this. At this point, the post in question is completely disrespectful, not so much to the person it was directed, but to you personally. If you respect yourself, you will not trade insult with insult. This is called righteousness -- are you familiar with the workings of righteous behaviour? I am guessing it is part of your Islamic teachings, but then, having grown up in a Muslim country, its apparent to me that what people claim to follow and what they actually practice is 2 very different things.

No, i made that comment based on your specific insult. You claim to be a Sufi, and a Muslim, a man of peace, yet your words have more poison than a scorpion's tail. You should confess your sins.

this is against forum rules.

I believe in de facto Buddhism.

I think there is a similar topic on page 28.