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i feed leftover rice to the birds too, after reciting the Medicine Buddha mantra 3 times and blowing on the offering. Youtube of the mantra:

In Buddhist practice, the encouragement is to cease dwelling, rather than 'forgetting'. Liberation occurs when the habit of non-dwelling is cultivated. In other words, whatever arises, investigate the source, and once we gain confidence in seeing that the source (mind) is inherently empty, then dwelling has no foothold. If dwelling does occur, then we know that the culprit is ego wanting some sort of confirmation or recognition, perhaps some concreteness which affirms its dualistic nature. Recognizing this for what it is, we have a good chance of remaining composed and not be swayed by the myriad attractive or disgusting thoughts which arise from nowhere solid and will dissipate quickly when we do not dwell on them. In this way, there will be no contraction, no grasping, no aversion. This will eventually lead to doing everything without doing anything (a favorite of Taoist practitioners, i believe?)

Guilt is often confused with karma. These are 2 different conditions, although sometimes one can superimpose on the other, but not necessarily so. One cannot be held liable for others' lack of judgement, foolish carry-ons, and irresponsible behaviors. If we were accountable in this way, we'd all be doomed, wouldn't we? Get a wider perspective on this. Think of all those whose work center around saving lives, for instance. Doctors, paramedics, firefighters, emergency response cops -- all front line people who have to deal with precarious situations every day... how do they do it? You do your job and when time's up, you pack it in and go home. Simple as that. If people want to mess with their lives by over-consuming alcohol, surely thats not going to be on your head? Btw, i have been in the service industry for well over 30 years, and on the odd occasion, i have had to ring cops to tell them that some guy had gotten into his car drunk and attempting to drive in that state. I had to intervene for his own good, and for the good of others. Lastly, you dont get repercussions for others throwing up after too much drink. For sure.

Nope. Enlightenment is a trap. Mind the step. Dont trip over.

Bar tending, or any job for that matter, can be used as a spiritual advancement tool. Its a good time (no pun intended) to practice Tonglen, for example. With every drink you serve, wish the customer, in all sincerity and earnestness, to be quickly free of suffering, and when you get really advanced, you can visualize taking in their pain and addiction, and give them your accumulated merit in exchange. Then your heart will expand, and you learn to dwell in compassionate space all the time. This will develop your bodhicitta for sure. Good karma. No probs then.

I hears you too, Songtsan, especially the rumination part. It forms the basis for what many would deem a sort of 'aliveness', engaging it with some gusto as if without it they become afraid that they are worthless. As i say, its a vicious wheel. Forming new, altruistic habits thru mindful attention and action will definitely release a lot, if not all, past conditionings. Its not easy, but its very simple -- a matter of doing it now, and now, and now, and so on. Then sometimes we find that we have stumbled, and seeing so, we return to mindful attention of cultivating the right thoughts and actions. Slowly, the emotional turmoils will subside. In a few months or a few years one can reflect back and make a then-and-now comparison and stand amazed at the shadow of one's past self.

When a thief creeps into an empty house, he/she leaves empty-handed.

This could be one example where the past gains a foothold. Do you see any way where a different, perhaps a more (positively) radical view, coupled with relevant practices, could be renegotiated otherwise? I can.

There is no past to face. One can think that digging into past patterns are necessary for a turnaround, but i dont subscribe to that mode of thinking. First of all, the past is already dead. Rummaging into dead things can only yield more dead things. Secondly, its more worthwhile to spend the energy on cultivating fearlessness and other more positive constructs. Positive reinforcements will eventually negate whatever heavy past patterns one may have accrued. Thirdly, time is precious. We dont know where the line ends. Woe be it that life comes to a halt while searching into all that has been. Should this happen, 'we' tend to come back and re-live that past we are trying to make sense of until we eventually learn to let go thoroughly, then maybe we stop coming back. At some point, we simply learn that there are infinite 'pasts', innumerable layers piled upon more layers -- its endless futile searching. The antidote - dont do anything directly to dissolve the past. Instead, focus on developing good and healthy and positive traits for the next day, the next week, the next month, and so on, and this will eventually take whatever sting out of all the stored trauma. Slowly we forget. But in forgetting, there has to be a good, viable replacement, otherwise the tendency to feel vacant will arise, and then people will misinterpret and think its K and dark nights and what other nonsense the mind can conjure up. Problem then cos when this happens, very often, people will superimpose how it was before all the cleansing, and this only brings more problems. Its like being caught in a circle of viciousness.

There's this interesting BBC documentary on the above (starts around the 37' mark):

Nowadays it seems quite common to allege all unfortunate states of being to an activated kundalini. So much misinformation leading to so much unnecessary woeful tear-jerking self-defeating dramas. Why people dont choose simple and safe spiritual practices is beyond me. The basics are more effective long-term than any so-called advanced practices. With basic practices, one can afford to dabble and not get into difficulty. Best to get proper guidance to see yourself out of this mess. (to OP)

Anyone heard/seen Porter Stansberry's "The End of America"?

meditation's cream a generous pour a day keeps doctor at bay

nice cascading waterfall. good place to wash the ears.

not the facial language of one who stands on the side of peace.

grooving by degrees Apech the hiphop artist a new kind of smoove...

Hellow Songtsan... How can i apply to join your 'Wrathful Deity/s Syndicate' (WD S)? Sounds like my kinda scene.

Maybe you have not build enough affinity with the mantra yet. My intuitive guess... sorry.

It all boils down to circumstantial priorities. A single person has less responsibilities, whereas a family man or woman have more. Easy for a single person to say F*** it to everything and go off exploring yonder, not so for one who has dependents. Either way, contentment comes from having the right thoughts followed by right actions, in all areas of life. Its all interconnected. If your mind is settled, one will not feel so much flustered by externals. An unsettled mind means no matter where one is at, contentment will be a forlorn dream, or the desire for it can cause one to become so agitated that one becomes blinded to simple routes to happiness, and this in turn can cause one to make rash decisions. If most of the contents of one's mind are rough and harsh, others (bosses for eg) can seem harsher and this in turn builds the level of disdain. The good news is that the mind can be trained, and unfavorable traits can be transformed into favorable ones. The not-so-good news is that even this takes hard work, and is also another cycle, albeit one that leads to brighter things. Choices. Cant live with them, cant live without them...

If you learn how thoughts are spontaneously liberated as they arise, make it part of your awareness, then no new karma will accrue, but you will still have to gradually ride out the old ones, no exceptions.

My main point is none of his vast pool of listeners ever became eminent (as a spiritual guide) after him. If 'the teaching' of this man was that efficacious, one would assume that someone associated with 'the teaching' or have experienced lasting transformation would take it upon themselves to at least carry some remnant of Krishnamurti's philosophical legacy forward. And, i agree, Truth is impersonal.

I think you might have misunderstood. By transformation, i meant paying attention to habits tied to body, speech, coarse mind and subtle mind, seeing with attentiveness how certain traits bring about certain reactionary tendencies, and then, thru discipline, and with full awareness to act mindfully, choose to apply the correct antidotes so as to eventually uproot those tendencies which cause dualistic interpretations of what filters in thru the senses. Once these tendencies have been identified with fearless attentiveness, then they will then lose their grip on a person, and will fall away naturally, like a scab coming off when the time is right. There is no need to pull at it. Clarity will arise on its own accord. No need to go seeking for it. Simply pay attention to mind and how it always yearns to shift into dualistic overdrive.

Ditto too. How's Chiangmai, Vmarco? Its durian season in Thailand i believe. Yumm! Would you be brave enough to try some, i wonder? Its a real challenge not many Westerners wish to take up. My Polish colleague had a spoon of it the other day, and loved it. Rare indeed.

This question about Krishnamurti -- has any of his students carried on his teachings? None, as far as im aware. A reliable measurement of any teachers' worth is the pool of awakening students he nurtures. Its called lineage. No lineage means a non-progressive philosophy. While such teachings may have a few sparkles here and there, if there isn't a trickling down effect, then it means somewhere along the way, some stagnation is bound to have happened. Following such a philosophy may yield some result, but it requires extra effort to sieve thru what is redundant and what is not. Better to look to more progressive lineages to save some precious practice time. Im not putting this man down. I have benefitted from his work in the past. But there have been moments of muddiness too.

Attempting to awaken is like attempting to grow a second head. It wont happen. What many attempt to do are to succumb to habitual reactionary thoughts/feelings/acts which keep them from realizing that they are already awakened. This is where the term 'ignorance' applies in Buddhist thought. There is a difference. Hence, the right practice is not to seek awakening, but to focus on transforming unpleasant habitual tendencies from outer to inner.