Sunya

my apologies, I guess you were referring to the OTHER Buddhist 'wannabies'. how silly of me to take this personally. c'mon, even a 10 year old would admit to insulting to someone. and you have the audacity to insult E-Sangha when you come on here looking like a pompous jackass. unbelievable

the mirage of emptiness? I thought Emptiness is Brahman? now it's not? oh boy, you are one leaky boat. you wanted to know the difference between Advaita and Buddhism, after countless pages of Buddhists telling you what this difference is, maybe now you can see the crucible difference in Hinduism there is one destination, the Buddha taught differently. there are infinite destinations, no absolute destination exists. destination depends on raft (view). That is the difference. Case closed. your tone in the discussion was comparable to a 10 year old having his belief in Santa questioned. you resorted to sarcasm and personal attacks (even still, calling us 'wannabies'. Grow up brother). I'm sure the same has occured on E-Sangha, nobody is perfect. this is samsara afterall, but you're hardly one to judge; neither am I. it's easy to see a splinter in someone's eye and miss the log in your own

how to address him, his name was Robert Paulson, that was him, indeed

crushed berries on shoe staining the carpet, footprints there once was a man

different rafts lead to different experiential realizations, hence the emphasis on raft, or view, in Buddhism.

I see someone forgot to take their meds today the Dalai Lama benefits sentient beings much more by being alive and eating meat, than sick by trying to change to a diet his body isn't used to.

that was probably my little sister, she saw it last night. said it was hilarious.

no self, no problem no worries, no suffering now lets drink some tea.

you've laid out some really good advice in this thread, but about the Dalai Lama, you clearly are not aware of why he eats meat. i've read his autobiography and he advocates vegetarianism, but living in Tibet it was impossible because the land is so barren, a meat diet is the only way to survive there. so, his body is so used to this diet. after leaving Tibet, he tried to go vegetarian but got really sick and doctors told him he has to eat meat to survive.

curious about anyone who fasts here for cultivation purposes http://www.celestialhealing.net/fasting.htm - good article on fasting i'm beginning to fast once a week, its great to see just how addicted to food I am! i'm beginning to feel hunger less and less. and want to do a 3 day fast soon, eventually move up to 7 day and over the summer do 3 weeks. i do juice fasts, though here in China good juice is hard to find for me since I'm new, i've been relying on herbal teas. I did a fast last week, after the first 24 hours I wasn't hungry at all and felt great, very light, so I continued another 24 hours. during that time i felt no hunger and had great meditation. I was able to sit for a whole hour, when usually I am uncomfortable/tired/bored after 30 minutes. but then I got pretty sick with some sort of cold, body clearing out toxins probably.. or its the terrible weather here. for those that fast regularly, have you noticed any spiritual benefit? any experiences you can share?

love becomes solid i learned in science class solid liquid gas oops ok... sand castles dissolve with time, all is lost, not found what is there to grasp?

by the way, what is your avatar picture of?

i've never asked for any of these. accepting one view point by blind faith maybe, but not by philosophical inquiry and skepticism, which is the preferred and recommended method by many teachers. "refusing to change" implies that there is a need to change, if there is no logical reason to do so, then it isn't refusing. if someone comes and proves Buddhist view wrong, i'd be happy since I was in the wrong. and you coming here to project your own "peacekeeper" identity isn't ego? please, this is samsara, it's all ego.

Yoga is much more than stretching exercises, its a science of various positions (hatha yoga), breathing exercises (pranayama) and more, with the sole purpose of circulating energy in the subtle body, primarily the central channel in pranayama but hatha yoga works all nadis, or meridians as the Taoists call them, which are energy pathways in the subtle body. the purpose of yoga is to experience deeper states of consciousness, or something to that effect. Zen does not have yoga, although posture is extremely important and full lotus is preferred. Zen actually is so influenced by Chinese that they do forms of Qi Gong and even Tai Chi. but the main difference is that Zen incorporates methods that go beyond energy manipulation, such as self inquiry, koans and bare awareness techniques (shikantaza), Zen's purpose is to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings, as Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism. this is a slightly different goal than to ease into the flow of Tao and experience unity or harmony with Tao. Also Zen is considered anti-intellectual by many, but much less so than Taoism. Zen teachers particularly really like the Heart Sutra, so philosophical study is necessary to properly understand meditative experiences.

I know it appears that way. actually this has been mainly a continuation of the Buddhism and Advaita thread, where there was some wonderful discussion but people like to get personal when their views are questioned. I agree, exploration can be greatly hampered by people taking their religion/culture/philosophical views as part of their identity, many Buddhists do this as well, not realizing that if fully taking into account the teachings of anatta, or no-self, than there is no such thing as a Buddhist because this is merely an empty label. I feel that trying to prove your point can be destructive only if you are attached to your position, If there is no willingness to change, and the sense of being right is deeply ingrained, then there is no point in debating because it turns into an ego contest. I agree with you on that. but debating without attachment can be very beneficial to clearing up mistaken views and seeing things with more clarity. Every mode of inquiry should be utilized by the spiritual seeker, even the intellect.

http://www.amazon.com/Amongst-Clouds-Chine...NRGP942KE57WJXE A movie about Chinese hermits. need I say more? has anyone seen it?

yes, it helps everyone when distinctions are made

yes very interesting. let's decide which religion is better by measuring brain waves.

after viewing this video, I applaud China for blocking youtube k0fvQQtkqoA

the samayas are just about being ethical, not hurting anyone, not doubting the teachings, and practicing. i think they fall into common sense. if you expect not to meditate, to sexually harm and hurt other sentient beings, then yes Buddhism has no freedom.

spirituality not based on philosophy is bogus philosophy not based on spirituality is bogus

Hi Medic if you follow the path of Christ, I highly recommend the book Putting On the Mind of Christ by Jim Marion. can't recommend it enough really http://www.amazon.com/Putting-Mind-Christ-...y/dp/157174357X

in Buddhism you have all the freeedom in the woorrlddd, as long as you recognize that there is no permanent independent self and that everything is interconnected

found a list on Amazon of Buddhist inspired films big list many good ones 1. Echos of Enlightenment 2. Enlightenment Guaranteed 3. I Heart Huckabees 4. Garden State 5. Zen Noir 6. Lost In Translation 7. The Science of Sleep 8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 9. Himalaya 10. Asoka 11. American Beauty 12. Fight Club 13. Stealing Beauty 14. The Burmese Harp 15. Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto 16. Red Beard 17. High and Low 18. Groundhog Day 19. Defending Your Life 20. Stranger Than Fiction 21. The Dhamma Brothers 22. Awakenings 23. The Matrix 24. Kundun 25. Travelers & Magicians 26. Seven Samurai (DVD-2006) 27. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring 28. Rashomon 29. Doing Time, Doing Vipassana 30. The Cup 31. Words of My Perfect Teacher 32. Beyond Rangoon 33. Milarepa 34. Un Buda 35. The Fountain 36. Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left For The East? 37. The Truman Show 38. Jigoku 39. Siddhartha 40. The Razor's Edge (1984) 41. Kung Fu Panda 42. Revolver 43. Journey Into Buddhism Trilogy 44. The Saltmen of Tibet 45. The Lion's Roar 46. Synecdoche, New York 47. 2001: A Space Odyssey 48. Samsara 49. Windhorse 50. Horse Thief 51. Wheel of Time 52. Dreaming Lhasa 53. Little Buddha 54. Horton Hears a Who (1966) 55. Warm Water Under a Red Bridge 56. Seven Years in Tibet 57. A Mighty Heart 58. Fearless 59. Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy 60. The Wizard of Oz 61. Spirited Away 62. The Big Lebowski 63. Caddy Shack 64. Buddha Wild: Monk in a Hut 65. A Monk's Awakening 66. Mountain Patrol: Kekexili 67. Innocent Voices 68. Into the Wild 69. Ghandi 70. Whalerider 71. Lord of the Rings Trilogy 72. What the Bleep Do We Know? 73. The Last Samurai 74. Crash 75. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai 76. Baraka 77. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill 78. Contact 79. Intersection 80. Pollyanna

not all Buddhist ideas will make sense conceptually, some will only come with insight in meditation. specifically; karma and rebirth