Sunya

there is a proper way to be vegetarian and still maintain health energy levels. following an ayurvedic diet is great for that. food combining, proper nutrition, balancing your doshas. I ordered a bunch of books off amazon to learn about ayurvedic cooking. the books that were recommended to me are Ayurveda A Life of Balance and Ayurvedic Cookbook I think its pretty great idea for people who are interested in cultivation/spiritual advancement to use traditional food methods like TCM or Ayurveda to balance the body. btw i'm not a vegetarian but do limit my meat. I might go fully veg soon depending on what my body feels. I think its important not to be idealistic about diets as your body might not like that diet, we're all different. following cravings isn't the way you choose your diet, rather its listening to the body and what it wants, not what the mind wants.

i knowwwww. each bottle is like 3$ :\ BUT THERE IS A WAY! you can grow it yourself check it out http://www.happyherbalist.com/index.asp?Pa...&Category=4 GROWING KITS info here -- http://www.happyherbalist.com/kombucha_brewing_guide.htm I just ordered a book off Amazon called "kombucha phenomenon" which gives advice on growing it and more info about it. seems useful... I might get a kit and try it out.. I think the kits in the link above all come with a guide book I got a bunch of bottles and have been drinking it every day for the past 4 days and feels super healthy, have lots of energy.. and its not just me. my room mate too. we've been giggling like little school girls all the time. lol

not a Lama. i'd be wary of people who advertise themselves with such lofty titles and call themselves Tulkus or reincarnated masters with no evidence to back it up (like who recognized him?)

Tibet has a culture, religion, and language completely distinct from China. this goes for Tibetan medicine as well, which incorporates elements from native Tibetan medicine, Chinese, Persian, a lot of Indian, and some Greek as well. hey Scotty, hows the Agar going? man i've been drinking so much Kombucha lately.. it rocks. gives me so much energy, I feel great. ever try this stuff? its made from a mushroom culture and then fermented. very healthy

I vote Findley for mod. No team, just Findley.

ooo intersting.. keep it up keep it up. I'm taking a Nietzsche course so I have a bunch of his books Will to power, Human All too human, the gay science, Beyond good and evil.. so when I spot some good quotes I'll come and share here

I agree with Kameel about looking into Ayurveda and seeing your 'constitution' to better understand how you would react... but I think fasting is great for everyone. i myself am a Vata/Pitta anyway. i've done research on this and have some experience. I would recommend this book http://www.amazon.com/Juice-Fasting-Detoxi...t/dp/1878736655 juice fasting is excellent, get a juicer. i prefer green apples + carrots + celery but you can experiment. that book gives great combinations. Brown rice is the best way to break a fast. Drink many liquids.. I like green tea. you also gotta ease into the fast, you can't eat an applebees steak the night before a fast... the day prior should be nice and easy. fruits, soups, nothing heavy. no meat/dairy/wheat. if you wanna do a proper detox/cleanse. then I would recommend a combo of psyllium + bentonite clay. I did a 4 day fast with just that, 3x a day (1 tablespoon each) along with some juices, and felt great. the psyllium is a fiber that cleans gunk out of your intestines, and the clay helps out attracting toxins. I use Organic India psyllium husks (their fiber harmony blend is great) and Sonne's detoxicant clay. Don't use metal spoons with the clay, use wooden. I don't know why... that's just what they recommend. doing the clay/fiber detox isn't necessary all the time. maybe a couple times a year. you can do 5x a day of the blend during a fast to get a really good clean. 7 days should do it. drink lots of warm liquids. or you can do 2x a day for 2 weeks. as you can see, you don't have to be on the blend for that long. but as for juice fasting, i'd say at least once a month it would be great to do atleast a 3 day fast. hope this helps.

I have that too.. us 'Vitta' types (Ayurvedic constitution for overactive mind) tend to hold tension in the jaw. belly breathing, of course, but yet the awareness of relaxation in the areas of tension. during meditation just notice where there is tension and focus there for the purpose of 'letting go' and relaxing that tension. also, keep the tongue lightly on the roof of the mouth to help energy move down from the jaw, down the front of the bod, to the lower dan tien. I think jaw tension is usually reflective of a throat chakra blockage.

thanks for the invite Sant, it was a wonderful night. strong energy, breaking through. my room mate also participated and had a good ride.

well 2012 is coming near so no doubt the gnomes and elves are helping us prepare

you know that's not true 99% of all beings are in ignorance and they don't seem too blissed..... if ignorance = bliss than buddhism would not exist. no spiritual path would

hey Serene what's going on inside while the body is doin' stuff? what do you feel? what do you see? where are you?

what do u mean? link works for me. its just the cycle of the 12 links of dependent origination. ignorance -> karmic formations -> consciousness -> form -> six senses -> contact -> sensation -> craving -> clinging -> becoming -> rebirth -> death -> back to ignorance I was taught about this by a wonderful Tibetan nun named Tenzin Chokyi when I did a retreat at Root Institute in Gaya. She taught about the 12 links and talked about how different paths try to break the links at different points. She is truly an amazng teacher. did 6 years of personal retreat I don't think many others teach the 12 links in this way. The link between Sensaton and Craving is where most paths aim, one way or another. but then how does that lead back to Ignorance? say that craving is gone... does that mean sensation is gone? if sensation is gone... does that mean contact is gone? I don't know.. something to meditate on edit: I think i'm wrong. I think that the link between sensation and craving is aimed at only in the beginning. the link of ignorance is focused on by all paths to gain wisdom. this is done through various methods. I think that maybe Dzogchen and other direct paths are too advanced for most because craving is too strong, hence the preliminaries.

hey Serene. check this out for some really good instructions on Vipassana (also called Insight) maybe you got some shady instructions. http://www.interactivebuddha.com/mctb.shtml at the bottom. at the top is his book.. also really recommended. I suggest you give it a read! he's a very accomplished meditater with high realizations if after a month of doing that you still don't get good results... then you should seek out a good teacher in your area. all Buddhist traditions teach some sort of Vipassana and maybe the teacher can give you advice about what other practice might be best for you. Daniel Ingram, the guy whos site I just gave, recommended some Jhana practice before you do Insight. the Tibetans also recommend that, though they call Jhana practice Shamata. it's concentration. I too had issues with vipassana so i'm working on shamata, breath also didn't work for me too well... what helped me was external fixation. you do that by focusing on an external object such as a Tibetan A (the Tibetan recommendation) or a candle, or draw a dot. just focus on something with your eyes and relax the eyes by keep all your focus on that object. make sure the posture is correct, tongue is loosely on the roof of the mouth, chin is tucked in, head is up and tucked slightly down, and back is straight. like you're hanging from a thread from the crown of your head. you should be comfortable but not totally relaxed. the body will breath by itself, make sure the belly is soft and relaxed. I think this might really help you because your eyes 'want to roll down' so you will learn how to focus them and relax them. Also, you might have too much energy in your head ( i know you're the philosophical type like me) so as a preliminary to meditation, you can do some alternate nostril deep breathing into the belly, and focus on the lower dan tien with soft breaths to get out of the mind a bit. I hope this helps.. meditating is not easy.

because we're in Samsara and its losing its appeal. that sermon does really have a lot in common from what Rinpoche teaches during his retreats. Bodhidharma seemed to have taught the same view as Dzogchen which is the view of the fruit, or the view that our true nature is already liberated. This is why Chan is called a non-gradual path I remember the story of Bodhidharma traveling to the Emperor of China and the Emperor, who was building a lot of temples and sponsoring monks, asked how much merit has he gained through his actions.. Bodhidharma said no merit. The emperor then asked Who is standing before me? and Bodhidharma replied: I don't know. The emperor was trying to 'gain merit' with a selfish view, not realizing his true nature which is already liberated. this sort of materialistic merit gaining activity was prevalent in China during the time that Bodhidharma came.. and he introduced the Chinese to the real core of Buddhism which is beyond merit gaining and becoming. If you look at the 12 links of Dependent Origination, you can see that it begins with Ignorance. the direct paths like Chan and Dzogchen cut at the root... they cut at ignorance. other paths cut at craving, which is the slow path. this is what vows do. other paths focus on the body. the 'karmic formations' of thoughts. these are very slow paths compared to cutting right at ignorance by seeing your true nature. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/snapshot05.htm

I don't think you read my posts. I'm not saying Dzogchen doesn't have more methods. i'm saying it doesn't lead to a "better" or "higher" realization than other Buddhist paths. so saying fuck Chan because it doesn't lead to Ranbow Body is silly. I view Rainbow body as one expression of enlightenment. duh Namkai Norbu Rinpoche says Dzogchen is the highest path. that's his path lol, and Tibetan Buddhism is the only tradition he's been exposed to... actually since he was a kid... well,, before he was born. so you could say he is a little biased I doubt any Rinpoche's have truly given any other Buddhist tradition an objective viewing without being biased by the 3 Yana system. this really is like Catholics arguing against Protestants saying their path gets them in a higher better heaven. it's the same damn religion. chill. Dzogchen is the 4th turning according to Dzogchen btw. i know this sort of sectarian bashing is common in the Tibetan Buddhist forum on E Sangha, but you should go to the Chan/Zen forum and try that and see the kind of response you get.

I don't agree. you're more educated in the elitist view of Tibetan Buddhism, I know that.. but I've studied some Theravada and Chan/Zen and I feel i'm right that all methods of Buddhism all lead to the same goal. Education doesn't always mean wisdom anyway. someone can be really educated but if their source of education is seeped in sectarian propaganda than that's not that wonderful. as great a method as sectarian propoganda is, i don't question, but we live in a global age now. trusting Tibetan source on Chan from the 9th century is kind of strange when you have access to the Chan sources themselves. same with Theravada, so called "Hinayana" by the Mahayanists, but doesn't share any of the criticisms because this isn't 2nd century AD India. Times change. you feel that you're right that's fine. I think that brown rice is really excellent for digestion but i'm not gonna go to a diet forum and mention it on every thread. that's just weird. not every thread has to turn into brown rice is the best dish type deal.. even if it were true.

same for you. I just don't see the necessity of mentioning Dzogchen in every thread yeah and he teaches from a certain perspective. Rinpoche himself said that practitioners of the Great Transfer (Phowa, which is what Kagyus focus on) achieve the same realization as Dzogchen with the Rainbow Body. Dzogchen is all method, like every form of Buddhism. are Dzogchen masters above Mahamudra masters or Chan masters who don't mention Jalus? I don't think so. Tibetan Buddhists always have a sense of superiority in their lineage and method and they always claim it as the best or the highest. this goes back in history to when lineages competed with each other. You gotta be Rime, and not just about TB but about Buddhism in general.

i'm taking a class on Nietzche this semester.. and a class on Mysticism... and a class on Ethics... I think those classes in balance will be nice so I don't fall into nihilism by reading too much of the Nietzch-meister

change is unTaoist? i don't think that's true Taoism is all about change. there's no such thing as permanency in the Tao

rofl

ralis you suck at using quotes lol its "quote" and "/quote" to open and close. except replace " with [ and ] I agree with you here Blastmaster. I think Buddhists can def learn a thing or two from Taoists on energy practices, advice on lifestyle, proper diet, basically what you said about body/mind union.. and Taoists can learn from Buddhists about the effectiveness of rational peering into the non-conceptual "beyond-mind" landscape and its pragmatic psychology.

dude, who cares. comparing everything to Dzogchen is comparing apples to oranges and is fruitless It sounds very close to Mahamudra view and maybe Dzogchen Semsde, but Rainbow Body isn't a big deal to Mahamudra, its only the end-all be-all of Nyingma. other schools don't really care about it. so I don't think Rainbow Body should be mentioned in every thread as a comparison to how high a path leads.

so all the masters who attained liberation through Buddhism were faking it, I guess. thanks for clearing that up Ralis. i'll stick with SCIENCE! now where's my Oxycodone?