Jetsun

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Everything posted by Jetsun

  1. The Dalai Lama recently published a book summarising his interpretation of the entire path of all of Tibetan Buddhism http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1401926622 I learned quite a lot from it where all the different aspects and paths fit in with each other, it is quite complicated so I'm not surprised many are bewildered by it all.
  2. Most of it originates from Nalanda University in India where masters like Nagarjuna and Shantideva taught.

  3. Escapism, Life, Buddhism

    Jetsun replied to becomethepath's topic in General Discussion

    I think escapism is the natural human reaction to suffering, nobody wants to suffer so we do what we can to get away from it, all creatures try to get away from it and even the cellular level if you irritate a cell it most probably tries to get away from the source of the irritation. So most spirituality is most probably practised in the same spirit in the beginning, which is completely understandable and expected, we try to use it to transcend our problems, to try to gain control and get rid of those things we don't like, but if the path is genuine it should directly show you in the end that all such efforts to escape are futile and only make things worse. For one person going to a monastery or staring at a wall it could be just to try escape from complex personal relationships but for another it could be a way to stop running away from yourself, so it is up to the individual, but in Buddhism I think the paths which include a Boddhisattva element has certain safeguards against escapism in that the purpose of your practice is for the benefit of all things all beings and nothing is excluded and all has to be embraced before you gain enlightenment, so with that view escapism isn't likely. Certain Christian perspectives have that element too.
  4. I have heard Wong Kew Kit (sp?) say there are risks for doing zz for some people, if you gather a lot of energy in a closed up conflicted system then it isn't always productive. "Zhan Zhuang is a powerful exercise, and is best done under supervision. Those who practice wrongly and still persist on, may vomit blood, have deformed bodily structure, or insidiously damaged internal organs. There are usually warning signs for wrong practice, such as discomfort, pain and nervousness." -Wong Kiew Kit
  5. Not necessarily, that is just one way
  6. At the moment I suspect that awareness becoming aware of itself may well be the point of humanity and of the whole drive of the evolutionary process. Yet if we look into ourselves we cannot find ourselves anywhere we look, like the eye can't see itself we cannot find ourselves yet we obviously exist, but if you can drop into a state of non-duality then you can see your own awareness in others, which is why Ramana said "when I look inside I see that I am nothing, when I look outside I see that I am everything" or something along those lines. If you have two people who are in a state of non-dual awareness then there is a bridging of recognition, which is what happened when Rumi first met Shams and they spent two weeks just looking into the ocean of the divine in each others eyes.
  7. I don't know what you mean by something new. Periodically masters come and rejuvinate the Dharma or emphasise different aspects of the teaching most appropriate for the time and place they are teaching, but at the core they are still teaching the same Dharma and not something new, its just the greatest masters teach with skilful means. In that regard to me he seems completely consistent with other masters before him and a lot of the time references them when making his points.
  8. What about them? just because one author says Tsongkhapa created something new of his own interpretation it doesn't make it true
  9. I'm not really that concerned, I trust the Dalai Lama's research and interpretation on this matter and he fully endorses Tsongkhapa's teachings. I have studied some of his works and have no problem with them, long scholarly debates about such matters seem like a waste of time. If what he says doesn't match up with your own personal experience then there is a problem, but most of it just seems to be debate for intellectual pursuits or for point scoring and that is of no concern to me. It seems to be a strong part of your personal identity to define yourself against Tsongkhapa, but I would be careful as that is a potential obstruction and can be just another way to try to solidify your identity by defining it against something else.
  10. From this forums recommendation I recently watched 'IP Man' which is a kung fu movie about Bruce Lee's master, which I thought was really good so I watched IP Man 2 and 3 as well and I also watched 'King of Masks' which is a very moving brilliant Chinese film. Seeing as everyone here has such good taste can you recommend me any more similar to this? For my own recommendation I really enjoyed recently 'Unforgotten Child' which is a sort of docu film about how they select new reincarnated masters within Buddhism. Also 'Black Swan' does a really good portrayal of the dark side and neurosis, good but also quite disturbing.

  11. PP

    Jetsun replied to Gerard's topic in Daoist Discussion

    I don't see how pollution and population makes any difference as long as you have food and shelter, I'd say its one of the best times to cultivate seeing as the worlds wisdom is at our fingertips and we can travel to any master in the world within a day, many masters and avatars now do regular world tours.
  12. In all my research about the only person I find who is highly critical of Tsongkhapa is you, nearly all others who are both experienced practitioners and scholars regard him very highly. Many debate subtle intricacies of his teaching but that is the same with all masters.

  13. Sex Crimes and the Vatican

    Jetsun replied to Immortal4life's topic in The Rabbit Hole

    At its foundation the Priests are meant to be celibate but they have lost the science and practice of sublimation, so it is literally rotten to its core with toxic repressed sexuality undermining its foundation and stinking the whole structure out.
  14. Makes you wonder what it will take for some areas of the world to have some sort of social enlightenment. It took Europe two catastrophic wars verging on complete annihilation for it to grow up, I just hope it wont take that sort of suffering in other areas of the world to become decent.
  15. Yeah, I guess in that respect we have to keep his teachings in the context of the climate they were first given in. As I understand it Buddhism periodically needs rejuvenation and adaptation to be relevant to the constantly changing outer circumstance, and Tsongkhapa was one of those who came alone at a critical period and rejuvenated it, which is why he is regarded in such high regard.
  16. Wasn't Tsongkhapa responsible for rejuvinating monastic Tibetan Buddhism when it had fallen into severe degradation with sexual indulgence on the rampage, so his interpretation of Buddhism can't be that bad if that is what he is responsible for. If he had been so incorrect then you would have seen a further degradation, but that didn't happen. Also if you read the Lam Rim Chen Mo he is constantly referencing other Buddhist scholars and masters to back up whatever point he is making so I don't see how it is all his own personal interpretation.

  17. Are Sangha's Healthy?

    Jetsun replied to Vmarco's topic in Buddhist Discussion

    That is what I have always understood them to mean. Dzogchen is said to be a teaching from the perspective of Buddhahood itself so it makes sense that Dzogchen and Buddhahood are synonymous, but that isn't the same thing as saying that it is only through the practice of Dzogchen you can get there. All the other vehicles try to point to the same thing in different ways but they try to do it from the human perspective, but with Dzogchen you try go straight there, straight to the Buddha perspective.

  18. Art As A Spiritual Quest.

    Jetsun replied to ralis's topic in General Discussion

    I quite like the Shamanistic art of Pablo Amaringo

  19. The Morality of Meditation - 7/7/13 NYT article

    Jetsun replied to konchog uma's topic in General Discussion

    That is a really interesting read, the science behind the benefits of meditation are really stacking up now that it is becoming mainstream accepted science. What is remarkable is how fast it seems to work, about 8 weeks seems to be the point when significant changes can be observed in both brain modification and behavioral change.
  20. I thought it was from the 8 Verses of Mind Training by Atisha, you give and take on the breath. Although it doesn't really matter where its from. Practically I have found if I practice it it helps with me getting on with my work colleagues, but at the moment spiritually I don't find it helps at all so I don't do it regularly.

  21. Is Sifu Jenny Lamb a legit healer?

    Jetsun replied to CrunchyChocolate555's topic in General Discussion

    I have a few entity removing techniques, the first is just to simply ask it is to leave, but the key is that you have to ask absolutely with the entirety of your being, if you can't do that then investigate the part of you which is resisting when you ask. The second is to mentally hold the entity outside of yourself with your mind and casually examine what it is and what it wants and then to feel how your body feels without the entity inside to see if it is preferable.
  22. There is a story in the book "Ultimate Healing" by Lama Zopa Rinpoche of a guy healing the HIV virus from doing a form of Tonglen. It was a more elaborate method though which involved imagining your sickness and selfishness as a black ball in your heart then imagine all the other people with the same affliction of you in suffering, then imagining all their suffering leaves them in a black stream or smoke out of their right nostril and enters into your left nostril, which goes straight down into the black ball in your heart and destroys it. Imagine that you have completely freed all those beings from suffering and pray that your suffering replaces theirs and then imagine giving away all your merit, happiness, body, possessions to them which leaves you as a stream of white light from your right nostril which enters into them through their left nostril and fills them with happiness.

  23. Is Sifu Jenny Lamb a legit healer?

    Jetsun replied to CrunchyChocolate555's topic in General Discussion

    I would be wary of all people praising healers very soon after a treatment, especially if they have paid a large amount of money, it is natural to gain a immediate benefit even if the healer is no good, but speak to them again six months later and see if their problems were really resolved.

  24. Is Sifu Jenny Lamb a legit healer?

    Jetsun replied to CrunchyChocolate555's topic in General Discussion

    Woah that is a hell of a lot of money, I could recommend someone else cheaper from a different tradition before that if you are interested, you would have to PM me where abouts in the world you live. If it is more emotional rather than physical then you might not need a healer, in many zen traditions if you are coming to point of giving up struggle then you are about to gain realisation, you might be ripe to gain a lot from the teachings of someone like Adyashanti if you have tried everything and it hasn't helped

  25. Are Sangha's Healthy?

    Jetsun replied to Vmarco's topic in Buddhist Discussion

    "For example, the Seven Treasures of the great Longchenpa explains the stages of the path. Similarly, other Tibetan Buddhist schools also explain the stages on the path. Practice of the great breakthrough of the Nyingma is posible only on the basis of the stages of the path" from p140 The End of Suffering and the discovery of Happiness - HH Dalai Lama