C T

Nah, Trump takes the biscuit for being the king of bloops. lol

In a sort of perverted direction, i'd tend to agree with your statement

Can humour ever be fake if its function to elicit laughter has been fulfilled?

~ PARAMITO LADAKH ~ Anicca is the key to transformation; Dukkha is the key to compassion; Anattā is the key to liberation: The Uncharacterised can be known By means of these three characteristics.

~ JACK KORNFIELD ~ a path with heart These are extraordinary times for a spiritual seeker. Modern spiritual bookstores bulge with texts of Christian, Jewish, Sufi, and Hindu mystical practices. The many contradictory perspectives we encounter pose one of the great dilemmas of spiritual life: What are we to believe? Initially, in our enthusiasm for our practice, we tend to take everything we hear or read as the gospel truth. This attitude often becomes even stronger when we join a community, follow a teacher, undertake a discipline. Yet all of the teachings of books, maps, and beliefs have little to do with wisdom or compassion. At best they are a signpost, a finger pointing at the moon, or the leftover dialogue from a time when someone received some true spiritual nourishment. To make spiritual practice come alive, we must discover within ourselves our own way to become conscious, to live a life of the spirit. When we are faced with a variety of spiritual teachings and practice, we must keep a genuine sense of inquiry: What is the effect of this teaching and practice on myself and others? Am I being led to greater kindness and greater understanding, to greater peace or freedom? Spiritual practice can never be fulfilled by imitation of an outer form of perfection. This leads us only to "acting spiritual". In fact, initially, spiritual practice may feel like it is leading us in the opposite direction. As we awaken, we tend to see our faults and fears, our limitations and selfishness, more clearly than ever before. When we begin to encounter our own limitations directly, we may then try to look for another form of practice, a faster way, or we may decide to change our life radically - move our home, get divorced, join a monastery. In our initial discouragement, we may blame our practice, or the community around us, or we may blame our teacher. This happened to me in my first year as a monk. I was practicing diligently, but I became quite frustrated after a time. The restlessness, doubt, reactivity, and judgmental mind I encountered were very difficult for me. The more frustrated I became, the more the monastery looked sloppy and not conducive to enlightenment. Even my image of the master began to fit right in with this frame of mind. So I went to confront him. I bowed and paid my respects and told him I wanted to leave for a stricter monastery, that there wasn't enough time to meditate where I was. "Eh," he said, "there isn't enough time to be aware?" "No," I answered, somewhat taken aback by his question. But my frustration was strong, so I went on, "Besides that, the monks are too sloppy and even you aren't silent enough. You are inconsistent and contradictory. This doesn't seem like what the Buddha taught to me." Only a Westerner would say something like this, and it made him laugh. "It's a good thing I don't appear like the Buddha," he answered. Somewhat annoyed I replied, "Oh, yes, why is that?" "Because," he said, "you would still be caught in looking at the Buddha outside of yourself. He isn't out here!" With that he sent me back to continue my meditation. "It is our very search for perfection outside ourselves that causes our suffering," said the Buddha. Even the most perfect moment or thing will change just a moment later. It is not perfection we must seek, but freedom of the heart. The Third Patriarch of Zen Buddhism explained that liberation arises when we are "without anxiety about non-perfection". The world is not supposed to be perfect according to our ideas. We have tried so long to change the world, yet liberation is not to be found by changing it, by perfecting it, or ourselves. Whether we seek enlightenment through altered states, or in community, or in our everyday life, it will never come to us when we seek perfection. The Buddha arises when we are able to see ourselves and the world with honesty and compassion. In many spiritual traditions there is only one important question to answer, and that question is: Who am I? What images do we hold of ourselves, of our spiritual life, of others? Are all these images and ideas who we really are? Is this our true nature? Liberation comes not as a process of self-improvement, of perfecting the body or personality. Instead, in living a spiritual life, we are challenged to discover another way of seeing, rather than seeing with our usual images, ideals, and hopes. We learn to see with the heart, which loves, rather than with the mind, which compares and defines. This is a radical way of being that takes us beyond perfection.

Pretty lofty words to begin his mandate. Hope he doesn't trip on them like all the rest. Certainly speaks with more flair and gumption than his US counterpart (he of no collusion, no obstruction, fake news, build the wall) lolz

~ PAWO CHOYNING DORJI ~ The Buddha had said, "Of all the footprints, the most majestic and the most supreme is that of the elephant. Likewise, of all the thoughts, the most majestic and most supreme is the thought of impermanence." On a starry night I sat gazing upon the Taktsang Sengye Samdrup (Tiger's Lair, one of the most sacred abodes of Guru Rinpoche). The Milky Way rose above the Himalayas, the crickets chirped, and the winds sang through the pine trees. There was even a shooting star that shot across the length of the sky! It was so beautiful, so majestic and so supreme! All but a beautiful reminder of how the illusionary impermanence of all phenomena can actually be the most supreme, just as the Buddha said. It invoked so much beauty, so much inspiration, but it is this majestic and supreme only because it exists for this one moment in time. Imagine how much inspiration and virtuous thoughts one can cultivate if one is, like the perfected beings, always aware of impermanence at every given moment? May this jewel of Padmasambhava awaken the fearless and majestic tiger-like nature in all who gaze upon its manifestation.

There's a passage in the Kanakathalla Sutta that mentions a conversation between King Pasenadi and Gautama. King Pasenadi: "I have heard this about you, revered sir, that you have proclaimed there is neither a recluse or a brahmin, who, all knowing, all seeing, can claim all embracing knowledge and vision - this situation does not exist. Revered sir, those who spoke thus, I hope that what was said were the actual words spoken by the Lord, and they did not misrepresent the Lord by what is not fact, that they explained Dhamma according to Dhamma. Could it be, revered sir, that people might have transferred to quite another topic something originally said by the Lord in reference to something else?" To which Gautama replied: "I sire, claim to have spoken the words thus: There is neither a recluse or a brahman who at one and the same time can know all, can see all -- this situation does not exist." The above excerpt taken from Buddhist Omniscience by Alex Naughton.

Yes its best not to place too much confidence on what i wrote. If interested, you may find the investigation on this subject by Santaraksita in the Tattvasamgraha to be rather extensive. His student Kamalasila elucidated further with a commentary entitled Tattvasamgrahapanjika. Breaking it down to its bare essence, from the Buddhist pov, its believed that exhaustive omniscience is possible solely thru the delusion-free apprehension of the selfless universal nature of all knowables. Therefore the focus of practice is the cultivation of insight to facilitate the birth and development of that delusion-free apprehension that is believed to remove the veil of ignorance. One who has permanently pacified even the subtlest possibilities of this veil ever arising again is said to be fully established in the ultimate knowledge of the nature of all knowables, which is that all knowables are impermanent, causes suffering when comprehended ignorantly, and their arisings are dependent on a perceiver, without which nothing that is known has any real existence, including this self that beings think they have.

thats laughable

Omniscience from the Buddhist perspective is different from the usual understanding of the term (knowledge of everything). When its said the buddhas are omniscient, it refers to their utterly conclusive insight into reality as suchness (or thusness). The Buddha himself said that to know the taste of all the oceans of the world, one need only taste a little water from one, and that it would be foolish to make it a mission to seek out all the great oceans of the world just to see if they all taste the same, and yet, beings conduct their lives seeking in this similar way. His enlightenment is a testament to the fact that he penetrated into the truth of existence, and said ALL phenomena possess, without exception, 3 inherent features, which is commonly known as The 3 Marks. These 3 marks, namely Annica (impermanence), Dukkha (unsatisfactory nature), and Anatta (not self), characterizes the world which we have come to believe as "real" and therefore, graspable . The wisdom of seeing into the illusoriness of existence is what the omniscient nature of buddhahood points to, and yet this very nature is often misconstrued and confused in those that attempt to extract meaning by conflating buddhist omniscience with the more Westernised concept that means one who is in possession of an overarching supramundane ability to know every single detail of every single thing. As an example, this realization of three marks (in my case) is unstable due to strong habitual patterns - so sometimes i can see how the sensate world is indeed suffused with the 3 marks, and yet at other times, especially when caught up in pleasantness, or when i find myself in a particularly quiescent state, that knowingness is ignored and this errant ignorance spontaneously manifests dualistic tendencies, which then goes on to accrue karma. So, in this sense, even though we all have that same omniscient nature, it has yet to fully mature in those still caught up by the unconscious force of their habits. The good news is that the evolutionary processes that leads to enlightenment continues to work evenly, and as we yield steadily to these processes, our glimpses of omniscience gradually becomes brighter.

~ RODGER RICKETTS ~ Progress through the jhānas comes by becoming aware of our own construing efforts, our preconceptions, even our efforts to be aware and mindful – everything that takes us away from this moment. These ‘distortions’ are not removed all at once but rather in a gradual way. Often, one may not even be aware of them at all during daily routines. When a gross preconception is dispelled, this opens up the possibility of dispelling a more subtle one, and so on. In fact, one cannot be perfectly mindful in a ‘positive’ way of one’s own activities. If one still ‘knows’ what they are doing, this means that they are living in the past. This is the key to the proper understanding of ānāpānasati formula. Having knowledge of one’s activity of breathing in and breathing out is, in fact, an imperfection of mindfulness, its lower stage. One cannot be ‘positively’ mindful of one’s own breathing. What is then the pinnacle of mindfulness of breathing? When mindfulness is perfect, there is only the breathing body left. This very state brings with it liberating insight. No special method of ‘insight’ was needed. This final stage of mindfulness of breathing is not reached by focusing on breath, but rather by becoming aware of everything that takes us away from it.

Thanks! Its certainly an interesting theory, with some basis in fact im sure. Helps clarify why some encounter difficulty (even guilt) with the things they affiliate with. And not just political choices.

Yes, its always good where mutual understanding remains in place It helps to remove the potential for somewhat violent reactions, I feel.

Bruh, I kinda expected this push was going to come from you But in truth, all you make her out to be, is essentially also what you are, on the flip side. Don't assume you're somehow abstained from extremes, because you're not.

After listening to this talk, it very much clarified your post, especially the intent behind those words. Basically, the professor theorized and presented her candid view as to how some people, bound by honour, remain loyally fixated to their own deep story. Listening with an open mind, one can deduce its impartial relevance to both sides of the political divide, to some degree anyway, depending on how the words are grasped.

My father had always encouraged me to work until my bank account looked like a phone number. I paid attention, and followed thru with his sparkling advise. YOU HAVE BEEN LOGGED IN ACCOUNT BALANCE: $9.11 MAXIMUM WITHDRAWAL $5.00 OVERDRAFT FACILITY: N/A

~ MAITREYA ~ If what appears to be apprehended by the senses does not exist by its very own essence apart from that which apprehends it, then what appears to be the apprehender does not self-exist either. The reason, here, is that the apprehender exists or arises as one who apprehends, only in relation to the apprehended, not in isolation. Therefore, pristine awareness is devoid of both apprehender and apprehended, in all their various forms. Free from subject and object, by its very own nature awareness is a mere indescribable luminosity.

Where the content appears crude and loud, often it dampens interest regardless if you were Jesus or Vishnu incarnate.

A snake in a bamboo can only go one way. Sigh

I think thats exactly the point of experiential insight - knowing the whole spectrum of options, and then exercising discretion, secure in the knowledge of whats appropriate and whats not. In some sense, thats what cultivation means. Unfortunately, your brash tendencies does not reflect well your claim(s) to knowing even basic online etiquette. You have a nice day too.

@ Drew Whats with the large fonts? Reminds me of a Chinese saying, "Using big rock to smash tiny crab." Very loud, very abrasive, it appears. Certainly does not reflect well for a long-time follower of Master Nan's teachings. Also brings up doubt as to whether you have an experiential understanding of authentic samadhi, or merely compensating for a lack of proper experience, hence the need for exaggerated emphasis. Its a curious thing alright.

Truth is, this current crisis is a huge cash cow for the present govt coffers. Its reported that those held in detention are charged something like $25 for a 15 minute phone call they ask to make, and are forced to fork out for basic stuff like toothpaste etc. Not surprising, seeing that 73% of detained immigrants are held in private detention facilities. Not sure how accurate this is, but not hard to imagine someone Big not having a finger in the pie, much like how the prison reform act was repealed, reinstating the continued reliance on private correctional facilities operated by the likes of Caliburn Int. (Homestead), Geo Group, and CoreCivic, whose stocks upturned dramatically shortly after Trump took office. In return, Washington hands over billions annually to keep this machinery oiled. Or so they say. lol

I doubt he defeated anything other than some of his supporters' ability to know right from wrong before he came onto the scene. Have to give it to the guy for his knack of muddying the swamp and then act all saviour-like, as if on a vital mission that nobody before him dared assume. That'll keep the rest of his crew busy for a while i guess.... And now a large swathe of his base hopped on the crusade against imagined entities that he daily reminds these people are responsible for all their plight and past misfortunes. Say it often enough and some of it bound to stick. That storyline definitely sells. If he's a businessman, thats 2/5 thinking. Even my young nephew knows that ploy well.

Real? They're all real, depending on who's looking where