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Nice 02 cents, Steve Excellent thoughts indeed. Thanks for sharing! Note: The Buddhist tradition does not promote the notion that a (same) soul transmigrates from one body to the next. Just wanted to reiterate what other Buddhists here accept as a doctrinal understanding.

Sogyal Rinpoche, as is most Nyingma teachers, are Ngagpas (google for definition) - they are lay people who take up teaching Buddhist Tantra, in the main. Tantra is not so concerned with the Vinaya aspect of Dharmavinaya. Since they have not taken any monastic vows, they can choose to have sexual contact. Vulnerable women sometimes get a thrill out of sleeping with authority figures, more so when they project such figures to be god representatives. Vulnerable priests and monks (those who have vowed celibacy) sometimes get a thrill out of sleeping with women/men/girls/boys/sheep as well. God only knows what they are projecting. Its easy to see why some folks, both lay and monastic, are ignorant around this. The human condition dictates. edit to add: Sogyal Rinpoche is a Tantric Master of the highest calibre. He may not be all holy and sombre (which again people think how lamas ought to be), but he cuts thru alot of bs in his approach to Dzogchen. How he appears outside has no relevance. Inside, he is resplendent with wisdom and compassion (not the kind most people associate with) and is as dedicated and hardworking as they come. Even though i no longer associate with his Sangha, he will always be dear to my heart. He made me see stuff no one else can.

This rang a bell! In the movie Ghost Dog there was a quote... It went like this: "Our bodies are given life from the midst of nothingness. Existing where there is nothing is the meaning of the phrase, 'Form is Emptiness'. That all things are provided for by nothingness is the meaning of the phrase, 'Emptiness is form'. One should not think that these are two separate things."

Did a little googling... see who popped up?!! http://cfqhealingqigong.com/

Dear Scotty, Your reservation is totally justified, in my quiet opinion at least. I dont think Trungpa meant for those words to befall everyday ear/eyes. Its almost certain he said this in conjunction with some deeper practice meant for specific students of his lineage. For everyday ears/eyes, he had this to say: "Compassion has nothing to do with achievement at all. it is spacious and very generous. When a person develops real compassion, he is uncertain whether he is being generous to others or to himself because compassion is environmental generosity, without direction, without 'for me' and without 'for them'. It is filled with joy, spontaneously existing joy, constant joy in the sense of trust, in the sense that joy contains tremendous wealth, richness." In this way, i think it is safe to say that compassion is the power that gives momentum to one's own desire for freedom from suffering, and also, at the same time acknowledge unreservedly that this same desire is unequivocally present, in degrees, in all sentient beings. Having determined this to be real, either thru deep coursing in meditation or thru having faith in the words of the buddhas, or both, bodhisattvas set about using this realization as the basis to generate tireless and equanimous intent and action towards watering the buddha potential in others. How this is done may not necessarily conform to our limited intellectual scope, hence sometimes we will doubt and question their methods and words. Funnily enough, this very fact of doubting can be construed as possessing a compassionate motive - it shows we do care deeply about what we think is right/wrong, and are not afraid to speak up for what we believe to be right. We have all heard of some rare individuals who would have no hesitation to take on the pains and sufferings of others while adopting a secondary concern for their own comfort and ease of mind and body. Unless these folks have attained immovable insight into the highest level of equanimous regard (utter impartiality) towards all beings and non-beings, its beyond our comprehension how anyone can actually put this into practice. Until we ourselves have removed enough of our own fetters, such altruism will continue to fuddle our brains. Then, two things could take shape: Either we become moved deeply by the selfless nature of these kindly beings and find some ways to begin to emulate their integrity and also to assist in their work when we can, in which case we will share in their merit and also water our own buddha seed (transcended selfishness), or, we become envious and embittered, not only because of other's tremendous good hearts, but because the immensity of their impartial goodness reflects back our own impotency to be better individuals for others sake (deluded, ego-based selfishness). I dunno... just some thoughts to add to the discussion. Blessings to you and everyone!

Hi Rich, I certainly had no intention to be cheeky. If it came across as such, please try not to take it in a negative light. What i have been proposing here is to perform practices that creates a sense of urgency to absolve oneself of as much negative karmic imprints as possible while one still has the all the faculties intact. Accordingly, the appropriate manner in which to do this would be to simulate and get used to (as much as one can muster) the dying process so that when it actually happens, all the accompanying emotions normally associated with that moment, or short period (whichever applies), will have been pre-pacified whereupon they no longer pose as an impediment to dying well. How this is beneficial would be obvious to almost all who are serious practitioners, regardless of tradition or Path. This is the developmental aspect (or seed) of the wish for gaining liberation in this lifetime. Another way to put it is to understand and employ the functionality of the method, path and fruition into this practice. Hence the brief recommendation to Jetsun is the Method aspect of it. As for the Path and the Fruition, which i think you are more than happy to learn about, and so would some others here (i guess), its a difficult enough subject to be discussed here without creating a lot of avoidable and seemingly nonsensical (to those who have no affinity with Buddhism, for example) babble which could, instead of helping, overturn one's good intentions and perhaps ruin what could otherwise be an auspicious discourse. Just focussing on the Method takes years to accumulate merit and bear traces of tangible result, so for the serious Inquirer, if he or she finds the practices to be sensible and helpful, and have found some kind of affinity with it, then great - at that point it would be wisely practical to sought out spiritual friends who can guide one further. Such friends are there, but as we all know, until they can determine the student's 'heart' in relation to how far he or she can be guided, they will not impose on seekers generally. I have friends who staunchly and faithfully devote their practices under the guidance of only one teacher, some with a relationship of more than 20 years, and i can see that these individuals have almost eradicated all fear and doubt about the dualities surrounding life and death. Whether they have embarked on the deathless phase, of which we all want to master, only they and their teacher would know. Its a very personal path, and i for one have no wish to impose on anyone and say that Vajrayana/Dzogchen is the more superior way to go, but i have a clocked up a bit of practice time, and so far, it seems to be helping in terms of a gradual distillation of the inner process. Wish you the very best in your quest.

In what way would understanding dependent origination and the twelve links cement the truth of rebirth? For a person who has removed all obscurations (Ignorance) would you say the samsaric twelve links still apply?

There is some truth to your understanding, Jetsun. Serious Vajrayana practitioners are known to practice the prelims called Ngondro each day - within this sadhana are practices where transformation of afflictive emotions into their positive virtue can be effected without having to wait till actual death, when its usually too late. The thing is, we dont really know when death will occur, so the more obscurations are removed now, the clearer the mind at death. Trust that you know the implications of a clear mind when death beckons. Reference to the Dudjom Tersar and Longchen Nyingthig Ngondro practices here: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Dudjom_Tersar_Ng%C3%B6ndro http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/Longchen_Nyingthig_Ngondro

Good advice indeed. Thanks for the reminder!

Haha... i know what you are thinking, Seth. Did the same thing myself. No comments as yet. Its apparent this guy had done some serious homework, but that does not mean he is right. Its just the way he has assimilated the teachings according to his own understanding and intent, i think. Would be nice to have him come debate with our brilliant buddhist scholars here, dont you think so?

Hmm... its not as straightforward as what has been implied here. We can talk rings around this subject, but at the end of the day, we need to first put aside metaphysical implications, and determine how we can relate to the Buddha's teaching on rebirth in everyday living first. How does right view of afterlife enhance awakening in this life, for example.

Its not difficult at all to gain direct experience in this regard. If one pays enough attention, each thought, each action and each resulting emotional reaction demonstrates rebirth and karma. It only seems more complex and mysterious when people are caught up in superimposing this truth to what happens after death. Each in-breath is a mini birth, and each out-breath is a mini death. We can look at it from this point of view. Then its not that difficult to encapsulate the idea and transforming it into everyday awareness.

One would think mindstates of despair have no option but to put out the same seeds. This is common sense. Contemplative work on the Paramitas can lead to freedom from such afflictive tendencies. By doing this work, It at first creates a little indent in the vicious loop that binds one (to the cycle of unsatisfactoriness), and this miniscule break is more than sufficient to release contractive emotions, just enough to allow a person to feel what it means to experience transcendence. Thereafter, its a matter of grounding the work thru habitual mindful, meditative attention not to allow the newly-found gap to be re-plugged. If at first you do not succeed, try and try again, until you get used to not struggling with loss (of comforting self-destructive habits).

Has anyone tried out memory foam mattresses? The same kind of material used by astronauts? http://memoryfoammattressreview.storeblogs.com/tag/astronauts Word of advice: If anyone is thinking of getting one, please make sure its premium grade. It might have been in the US market for a while already, but it wasn't until early last year that people here succumbed to an onslaught of sales campaigns promoting the product, and the market was flooded with all the variations and grades available under the sun, from pillows to mattresses to insoles for shoes!!! I got a mattress when the ads first appeared, (they claimed 'revolutionary' status ) but it must have been a low graded one cos it only retained its default flatness for about 6 months before losing its efficacy. After that it just didn't feel right anymore - brought it back to the store, but they would not give me a refund, so i 'donated' it to the salesman who sold it to us. My own naivete to blame.

Hey, i would be the first to congratulate you when your aspirations are met. Thats not why i am busting your bells. I have explained myself - and its nothing personal. Everyone deserves to attain their wishes for happiness and freedom. In the meantime, please practice some mindfulness around your choice of word usage. Thats all.

Inherent differences... Definition of warp - aberration/to become bent or twisted. Rings a bell? Clang clang

Hi Michael, It was just that one sentence where he implied the magnanimity of FD in accepting the warped behavior of mix races that i found rather off-putting. What is so warped about mixed races? I reiterate - it was an idiotic statement, and one only idiots can make. He then implied i was blind to what he actually meant, which is like adding an extra layer of filth on top of the one already created. I did not even bother to reply to that. Why should anyone condone such outpourings of discriminative platitudes?

I'm glad it rekindled some joy in you, GiH. Be nice if more folks listened to it.

This term means "do not make hard work of enlightenment". Its simpler than all the long discourses suggest. Really it is.

You are speaking of objects held to be existing within space? I am inclined to investigate the essence which separate objects, the 'apart' aspect, or The spaceness aspect, if you will. (sincere question, btw. Not debating with you, just picking at what you care to share)

NSEW are designations of directions, no? How do objects 'create' space? Care to elaborate, Thuscomeone?

These two articles might help bring some clarification on the subject - - http://greatmiddleway.wordpress.com/zhentong-other-emptiness/ http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/web-archive/2003/9/1/emptiness-buddhanature.html (Seth... linking the above cos feeling lazy at the moment, so apologies. Please glean what you need, and discard the rest. )

Could you explain more about this 'intentionality' in relation to mind? Is this implying mind has a sort of in-born propulsion?

Maybe 'reflecting' might be a more appropriate term, GiH? If mind simply refers to the fact of knowing, there would be no ignorance in the buddhist sense, relatively speaking. So i am proposing mind is beyond both knowing and not knowing, like a mirror is beyond dark and light, merely an agent comprising of temporary reflective compounds that then reflects whatever comes before it while the compounds are in the manifested realm, or existing realm, subject to gradual or sudden disintegration at some point. As mirror dulls, reflective strength diminishes and vice versa. Same with mind. At some point, mind will cease knowing, but will it still be 'mind'? Just thinking here.