Sunya

First, yes he basically said all current Buddhist teachers are false. Again, go reread the thread since you care so much about this. Second, I'm not making up reasons, nor do I care enough to for your sake. The reasons for my actions were simple. I disagreed with much of his presentation, which prompted me to reply. I saw him disparaging others and acting like an arrogant twit, which prompted me to reply with a slight attitude which, compared to many other posts here, can hardly be seen as insulting. And for the millionth and last time, nothing I said deserved the attitude he gave me and others. I've disagreed with plenty of people on here. For instance, me and Scotty disagree a lot. He actually thinks Buddhism is bullshit, and we get into heated debates often on AIM. But we never resort to insults and attacks and remain good friends. Why? Because he's actually interested in conversing, sharing points, learning, etc. as am I. Vmarco on the other hand does not have any such endearing qualities. This has nothing to do with simply disagreeing with somebody. I responded to all your points, but now I find it annoying having to defend myself. I acted the way I did, and it's none of your concern really. No, this conversation comes from me having to (maybe foolishly) defend myself from someone who has decided to become obsessed with me and my intentions. Really, Todd, you must have better things to do with your time. I doubt that. No, I did not attack another human being. Man, you need to lighten up. I never threatened the guy. I didn't even post with much hostility, anger, malice, and whatever I said can only be considered an attack if you're as sensitive as a nun. I would appreciate it if you didn't try to show me your holier-than-thou perspective as I'm not really interested in it.

Actually he said all lineages, not some. Maybe read the thread again about how all current lineages are "polluted" and just out for control or money. The only modern teacher he quoted was Osho, who was a psychopath cult leader deported from dozens of countries for fraud. That in itself should ring warning bells. So the fact that I don't want to engage in your questionable inquiry into my actions is a "pattern" that you then transplant onto all my activities on this forum? Wow, man, you have a lot of nerve I engage in ideas all the time here that I disagree with. I've actually learned A LOT from this forum and its members, and still do. The difference is that these members were conversing with me, not talking down to me in a hostile manner. Vmarco has an attitude that makes nobody want to converse with him. And the fact that you're defending him and railing on me with such obsession, and yes it does seem to me like you are obsessed, makes me wonder what your motives are. What is your point exactly? That I disagreed with him? Well, duh. That's obvious. Is your point then that I should've been nicer to him from the get go? Perhaps, mother hen, perhaps, but I am not nice all the time nor do I have to be, and when someone acts like he does to other members in such a disparaging way, then I will not act nice to them either. But how he acted, which was beyond all self-moderation, was completely unwarranted even if my attitude was less than kind.

Maybe you should read the whole thread before passing judgment? He calls himself a freethinking Buddhist because all lineages are "polluted." Ok Todd, you win! Congratulations. That's what you want, right? You're getting a bit obsessive here. It's all just drama. Chill out, eh? I'm really not interested in arguing with you. If you have a problem, take it up with the mods. Maybe they'll add a new rule just for you: always post with proper intent! That'll be fun to enforce.

Scotty, don't make me ban you. My enlightenment has given me mod powers.

Ramana Maharshi: Who is it that shits? Battlestar Galactica: All this shit has happened before, and all this shit will happen again. Mahamudra: Rest in shit.

You call that an insult? My you are sensitive, lol. His posts about Buddhism are indeed off the mark, and indeed his ideas do sound paranoid, specifically in that thread where he said that all lineages and teachers are wrong and only he understands what Buddhism is truly about. That right there is a paranoid thought. The definition of paranoia is someone who is extremely mistrustful and suspicious. Also, me asking him if he does drugs was an honest question. Many druggies act like he does, with extreme mistrust of others and an arrogance in their own thoughts. What I said wasn't objective nor definitive, but certainly not insulting, and certainly nothing I said deserved the responses I received. Also, I already saw how he interacted with others and how others, no matter how respectful, were treated with utter disrespect by him. Thus I saw no reason to set a good tone for discussion, knowing that whatever I say, since I'm disagreeing with him, will be knocked down. Maybe I should've stayed away. I won't deny that. But I won't admit what you're implying, which is that how he acted was my fault. No, sir.

You are a gentleman and a scholar, except today. Today you make my inner child feel weak and helpless, and for that I condemn you. I don't care if the mods ban me, but I must say this: you're a bully, you smell, and you don't know the meaning of compassion. May the undivided light burn you alive, but not today (since there is no present).

I highly recommend the book Pointing Out the Great Way by Daniel Brown, who is an astute translator, pragmatic teacher (like Ken McLeod), and clinical psychologist. It's focus is on the essence Mahamudra tradition and really makes Tibetan Buddhism make sense to a Western mind (Brown has been teaching for 30 years) It's quite similar to Wake Up to Your Life but I like it more as it's more concise in its presentation.

Woah nilly! WTF? What happened to this being about not personally insulting people? I personally like you Scotty, but this is not OK at all.... Can any mods care to explain why this is OK? I will now be very interested to see how the mods react to this.... IMO, That was not direct. I am being direct with you right now, but I am in no way seeking to hurt you or personally insult you. My criticisms have purpose and context. Your remarks whether you feel them to be justified or not that I quoted were merely punitive and insulting. I find your reasoning very convenient and malleable to your emotions and situation and not at all reflecting what little I know of buddhism. If you truly are prepared to receive a suspension and it was worth it to you for whatever pleasure you got out of it by calling someone an asshat, then I guess I can at least respect your commitment to follow through... Within that same spirit of truthfullness you are leaning on, as a forum member, I must tell you that I find your behavior in this particular instance personally offensive to me and I find your actions here hypocritical in the extreme. As a forum member of your standing, I expect you to be able to express your feelings in more constructive ways. If not for the benefit of the person you are directing your comments to, then for the sake of the rest of us who have to read what you write. I know you understand my reasoning and would probably agree with me in any other instance that you yourself did not have an emotional investment in... Despite my recent dispute with moderators... This forum has changed so much over the last year or so that I don't know that it can flourish without some serious moderation. My only contention is that moderation, while necessary ,needs to be equitable and consistent. If moderation is going to be strict, it needs to be strict for all. If lenient, then lenient for all. Make a choice and commit to it... But in the current forum we have, I think moderation can be helpful. I have only been here for 3 years, but this place has changed radically since I got here. When I first got here although there were a few bad apples causing a ruckus and no lack of drama (including my own), many were sincere long time practitioners who focused on esoteric energy work. I see now that I got here relatively late just as the old guard was leaving and the new younger crowd was coming in. IME, the maturity level and knowledge level has decreased exponentially over the last year and am finding it increasingly more challenging to avoid bashing all the nonsense I read. I am sure there are members who do not fit into this newer category but I do not hear from them as much. They seem to have retreated into their own practice forums. Some of the old timers whom I respected that were here when I got here have told me that they have packed up and left because of the current environment. IMO, We now have alot of teens and young adults here who have little to no actual experience but no lack of pride in their book knowledge. I think alot of people come here hoping to find a short cut to enlightenment or spiritual power etc... So instead of it being a place where people who work hard to seek out real training and experience and then share that real-life experience with like-minded people, instead we have the internet generation who want to be directed to the latest book that will give them some magic pill to make them the next John Chang and then engage in intellectual semantics about what they have read but not actually achieved... At least I find this to be true with the general discussion forum. I suppose other sub forums are different... But, if we are talking pet peaves, My biggest one is the passive aggressive type already mentioned by a few who wear the veneer of spirituality, love and peace but reak with suppressed anger and insecurity. . The whole idea that spirituality means that one cannot have any negative feelings has fostered a society that is highly unconsciously passive aggressive. I am aware that I myself am aggressive, but I do try to be conscious about it and keep my aggressiveness in context and on topic and hopefully constructive... However, my biggest peave on the discussion forum is when someone wants to challenge me on some issue I have raised or discussed and it's clear that I have pushed some major button, but instead of just simply saying, "I disagree with you, Sunya and here's why..." They want to couch their opposition in the form of a passive aggressive "spiritual" question like, "Gosh Sunya, thanks so much for sharing your knowledge (like I actually want my rear kissed), but what about x, y and z? Spiritual guru so and so says different. What is your view?" And then, like an idiot, I begin spouting my views thinking that this individual actually was interested in my opinion when what was really going on was that the person wanted to lure me into an intellectual argument and lace the conversation with passive aggressive, veiled insults while pretending to actually care about my opinion... I say, If you're going to challenge someone, go ahead and do it and own it. Just be conscious and constructive about it... So, now I find myself asking people, "Are you asking me because you want to know my opinion or because you want to challenge me and lure me into an argument? If so, I'm not interested." Or even worse is the Drive-by-insult, where someone will attack something I have said, try to hide the attack within their post and lace it with judgements in the third person but not have the courage to mention me by name. My favorite one is that apparently I am "patriarchal." Anyway, just venting... It would be nice to find a way to attract the serious seekers here and not the forum junkies. Other than my own, this is the only forum I visit. I hope that this forum stays a place of value for me...

Take that back or I'm calling the authorities to launch an investigation.

A post-facto observation. When he was around, I never called him anything except a troll, which was after he acted in that manner to begin with.

When did I attack him? The only ad-hom thing I said was "you're a troll" after he threatened to call the authorities on me for simply disagreeing with his views. Vmarco was a loon from start to finish. He never had any endearing moments. Sure, many members have had their dark nights. I've been suspended before for getting into heated debates and saying nasty things, but I certainly think that when a member has nothing else to offer except a nasty condescending attitude, they should be shown the door. And with that, I'm done talking about this.

Really? Are you sure? Nah, you love it. You'll be back. Look at how much you typed up in this thread.

I disagree. Vmarco goes beyond the line when it comes to being a public nuisance. He's not just argumentative but demeaning and disrespectful, usually resorting to attacking people. For instance in this very thread all I did was disagree with something he posted, and he immediately labeled me as mentally ill and proceeded to tell me how I'm intellectually inferior. In another thread, he threatened to call "the authorities" to launch an investigation on Twinner and I for "threatening to maim and injure him" when we absolutely did no such thing. When asked to specify examples of threats, he failed to do so. He came here with a full cup and gets quite nasty if you don't like his cup of tea. He was warned by Mal recently for being disrespectful and has still demonstrated a lack of ability to remain civil. I said it before and I'll say it again, he's a troll. Good riddance.

Again, stop with the insults. Why do you have to be so arrogant, judgmental, and belittling? Someone that doesn't agree with your strange ideas is automatically labeled "ill" and, according to that article, of much lower intelligence than you? What elitism. This is all vague and has no relevance to actual experience. Quoting physicists isn't going to help your case. Calling a theory "what is" is like saying a child's crayon drawing of the Grand Canyon is equivalent to the actual Grand Canyon. No theory will ever be able to model reality because all concepts are limiting, and truth lies beyond concepts, beyond human models based on thought and reason.

I told you to rely on experience rather than vague theories, and you label me a political conservative? I've told you before I tend to lean to the left in politics. How about you focus on the topic instead of trying to insult me and label me, eh? It's a damn vague scientific theory indeed. First, it's not even a real theory. Seems like something you just made up. Second, as people have told you countless times, your bogus ideas about light have nothing to do with reality. You are reifying a formless experience and confusing yourself by mish mashing religious texts and physics.

Why don't you rely on your own experience instead of vague scientific theories which are purely conjecture? You rely too much on abstractions, and that's why nobody can relate to anything you say. We cannot experience waves or particles, so why talk about them? In your own experience, what is there? There is definitely a present, an ever-changing present. It cannot be denied that the now is here, and this moment is now. It's foolish to deny the present, and saying that there is no present doesn't make it so.

vmarco, you haven't posted any examples of anyone threatening you. I take it none exist. You on the other hand have threatened us with calling the authorities and launching an investigating to prosecute us. You have made serious accusations and threatened to call the authorities. Please apologize.

I'm still waiting for some examples of where I or others have threatened to maim or injure you, vmarco. You've made some pretty serious accusations here and have threatened to call "the authorities" on us. Where are the examples? Quote the specific posts.

Where did you get the idea that the skhandas are masses? They are not physical things.

Nice post, dwai

Let me guess, we should all be "really honest" and admit we know nothing, and let you tell us your version of the truth?

So where were you threatened, requested to maim yourself, hatefully ridiculed, etc?