JustARandomPanda

Found this today on Youtube Anyone engaging in mantra or dharani practice might find it interesting.

Found this old but fascinating article from 2008! Chinese Builder meditation article

I love the above paragraph. Have you ever tried to push it to its logical conclusion - even just as an experiment? It's rather interesting to walk around and see what happens when you do.

Here is a website that has yet another translation and intro commentary on Liao Fan Buddhanet's Liao-Fan translation here is another translation from Buddhanet but you can download it For those who prefer less "Buddhist-y" Liao Fan chapters try this one by VenChinKung Here is a site that uses Confucianism to also provide commentary on Liao Fan's 4 Lessions Most people don't realize Confucianism is a valid spiritual cultivation tradition in China just as Taoism is. Here is a Liao-Fan Facebook page for fans of the Liao-Fan story Here is the Liao-Fan page on a website devoted to teaching about Chinese History and Culture (both ancient and modern) Can you tell I'm a fan of the Liao-Fan story? I really credit it as one of the few books to really change my life.

Thanks TM Reading your posts always makes me regret there is no recognized Taoist lineage holder near where I live. I'd sign up in a heart beat to learn from them directly if I could.

Two things I'd like to note. 1. Not convinced single-payer healthcare is the answer. It might have been at one time but I'm convinced now it no longer is. Primarily because there's strong evidence that the health care industry works like a series of interlocking cartels. Which is why they can get away with jacking up prices to protect their income and wealth while an ever greater percentage of the population in the U.S. can't afford to see a physician even if they'd have to pay out of their own pocket. Christopher Hedges - who is not known for being a Right-Wing Pundit - actually agreed with the house republicans in decrying the passage of "Obamacare" because he said the bill was full of perks and special treatment for the health care industry at the expense of the public. 2. The MSNBC op ed is missing a crucial point in mocking CEOs or anyone else who's income goes over the cut-off line for payroll taxes. This is due to not knowing their nation's own history when it comes to how and why SSI was set up the way it was. When SSI was passed the reason there was a cut off was because anyone who contributes thereby gets money in return once they retire. And the percent returned is based on one's income. The reason it garners broad societal support is precisely because there is no means test. The end result the designers of SSI saw is that the real-world outcome would be a transfer of income from the poor and middle class to those whom are already well-off. And the more well-off you are the greater the windfall you'd receive from SSI after retiring. That would be true even today. So the designers put a limit so as to prevent the already wealthy from receiving that windfall. THAT'S the reason why the income cap for payroll taxes remains to this day. SSI only passed because there was no means test. And implementing one today would be viciously fought as an anti-capitalist/pro-socialist welfare wealth transfer. All kinds of various groups would coalesce to defeat a means test. And odds are they'd win. If you doubt what I'm saying about the SSI then check to see if your library has or can get via interlibrary loan the following book. Social Securty: A Documentary History

I have a friend who only pronounces Taoism with a hard 't'. This despite me telling him multiple times it's pronounced with a 'd'. So yeah...I suspect there's plenty of people just like my friend who insist on pronouncing it the way it's spelled in english.

A little something on why my current tendency (google fu-ing and reading books has not yet let me settle the matter personally once and for all) Hint: up until a few years ago I was in the "contented" category (Gurunath's 2nd category of people).

Duly noted. But for me that action would still amount to believing if what I read was true or not (which is true even of the Buddhist Sutras and Tao te Ching for me when reading them). Which...uses the ordinary mind. Somehow I rather doubt the Mind of Clear Light is the same mind I'm operating with right now.

I'm not here to dispute or not dispute the above statement. I'm saying posts like yours don't do anything to convince a worldling like me that it is truth. Hence my offer to anyone who's interested.

Talking about what is compassion doesn't help one to see if there is such a thing as Absolute vs Relative compassion or whether they're related or not. To that end I'm making an offer: 1. To the first 2 TTBs to PM me I'll mail them a mala free of charge. This offer is open to regular posters as well as lurkers. The mala is the same kind I use myself - 108 sandelwood beads. 2. In return I ask we begin the cundi dharani (pronounced 'chundi') and continue non-stop for the next 40 days. Do 3 reps of 1 set (to use a weightlifting term). That is - one rep is chanting the dharani 108 times (one for each bead) either silently or out loud while focusing one's attention on the sound of the dharani. 3 reps = 1 set is a traditional number used in dharani/mantra meditation across many spiritual traditions. 3. Here are two cundi dharani's on Youtube. The first is really good for getting the pronunciation right. The second shows one way to set the dharani to music (which may make doing the dharani practice more enjoyable for some). The one thing all people who've seen their 'original nature' unanimously agree upon is that threads like this will never actually let one experience it. As Chan Master Hsuan Hua said - "talking about it is like cooking sand expecting it to turn into rice. You could cook sand for eternity but it will never turn into rice."

You got a problem with this statement VM. Most people are like me in that they already feel their "experience" as they're experiencing it to be "the Present". Hence the popularity of books like The Power of Now. (which imo is not a bad book if it gets people to actually start questioning and examining daily. That is the point after all and if it accomplishes that aim then it's a helpful book imo. ). I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt that what I experience as "Now" aka the Present is in fact not so at all. But that's just because I also give benefit of the doubt that the Buddha's teachings are true (actually Hinduism teaches a ton of the same things...)... that is...that until one proves to one's self that the senses are not 'you' and that the 'experience of (people's typical) now' doesn't happen in the absence of those senses - curiosity or willingness to see if there's more to explore to go beyond - (gate gate paragate parasangate bodhi svaha) won't arise. That's why people here are disagreeing with you and deci belle. Then again...I do remember when you first got here you said you weren't looking to converse with people like me but rather people whom already had a high level of realization - ie you're looking for someone like deci belle.

*falls over laughing*

Edit: Humbug. I need to practice more and post less.

This is literally true! About a month ago it happened to me. I was sitting in meditation one night and went deeper than I normally manage. Almost to the verge of falling into sleep. But I was still trying to listen to my breath. Then seemingly - out of nowhere (!) - I heard this faint thought arise, "Only I am worthy - I will become a Buddha *before* anyone else does" It shocked me right out of that meditative state. I was flabbergasted. I remember just sitting there amazed and my next thoughts were: "WTF?!!! Where the hell did THAT come from?! I usually don't go around thinking things like that! My god...if thoughts like THAT one are rumbling around in my subconscious god only knows what other kind of crap must be rumbling around in there too!"

Here are two different translations of the Mahavairocana sutra (aka Vairocanasambodhi Sutra) Note: This "sutra" is actually a tantra. Here is Wikipedia's page on the Mahavairocana sutra 1. Mahavairocana Sutra - pdf 2. Vairocanasambodhi Sutra - pdf

Currently reading 1. Nagarjuna's Guide to the Bodhisattva Path 2. Confucius Analects 3. Zhu Xi's Reading of The Analects: Canon, Commentary and the Classical Tradition

Count me in as another happy Spring Forest Qigong camper.

Ah! This makes sense. Ok. My angle was not really so much like VMarco's. I don't have any kind of meditative insights to offer - certainly zero Prajna so I'm unable to say whether VMarco has a point or whether his criticizers do. Hopefully someday that will change but until then I am not qualified to judge accurately what anyone says yay or nay on the matter. I was only coming at it from the angle of 'does this or that scene/dialogue/situation' etc either 1. move the plot forward or 2. 'round out' the character so he/she doesn't come across as flat or just a cypher for someone's idea(s) of 'spiritual or political truth(s)'. Take a look at C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia for the latter. It's a testament to Lewis' skill as a writer that the stories are liked by many despite his shoving his religious truths down his readers throats in those stories. For yet another example of a writer shoving 'truths' down readers throats take a look at Ayn Rand. Ditto with Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. I got mega sick of Goodkind constantly making his characters preach Rand-ian political beliefs and stopped reading the series for that very reason (would it surprise you to know that Goodkind cites Ayn Rand as his main political/philosopher hero who's influenced his thinking about life?). I'm hopeful you aren't bent on becoming the next Ayn Rand or C.S. Lewis. Writing stories about a 'holy' person can be tough because there's a real danger of falling into the cypher trap despite one's intent to not do so.

I love the Liao-Fan story! Love it so much I have 3 different translations. One being from Master Chin Kung (aka Master Jin Kung). The other being from Evelyn Li and K.C. Ng. I also have a pdf of the story that's not the one linked to earlier. Thanks for the Youtube links!

Legit point but then I'd say that the scene needs to be re-written to 'show, don't tell' how this holy man knows that he doesn't know. Otherwise the next 2 chapters can be skipped and nothing important about the holy man will be missed. Or he could remain silent? It's true the holy man can certainly follow south Indian courtesy conventions for 2 chapters but you'll lose a lot of potential readers (maybe mostly Anglos?) because there's other stories to be read (Patanjali, get over here! ) that could teach the same. Yup. Agreed it's best to write what one's familiar with although I've known some people who did write a story set in a foreign culture and still made it believable - Clan of the Cave Bears for example (don't believe there's anyone still alive that remembers paleolithic tribal habits...) No. Although the Indian village thing is not so different from what I've seen in deep rural Texas when one man extended courtesy to another stranger and inviting him into his home. If commonalities did not exist it'd not be possible for literature to cross from one culture to another. Keep it going! I'm just pointing out things I think could be seen from a different perspective that might increase interest in the story but as always anything I write should be taken with a grain of salt. I may critique hard but your actual sentence structure - flow from one sentence to the next is actually very good! Much better than a lot of fan fic I've read on the web so I can tell you've either practiced at it or have an innate skill for it. You've actually got the skeleton of what could become a really good story. I could see how this could be an interesting commentary on society, conventions, politics, customs, unconscious habits and who knows what else. Look at how Frank Herbert wrote the character Paul Atreides. With one theme being about a 'holy man with insight' (Muad Dib) who's 'myth' grows larger than even that man could recognize (and thus in the sequel Paul Muad Dib ran from the 'myth' his own actions had helped to create). p.s. I'll bow out Dwai. For what it's worth I think you've got talent when it comes to writing and I'm not saying that to flatter or whatnot. I know getting critiqued is hard business to endure even when one has asked for it (*remembers the days of having my paintings critiqued to utter shreds by teachers, classmates and strangers alike*)

Clarity is right in this. He's talking about Acceptance (Neutrality) the way Nature Accepts...not the way humans do or don't. The more you can open up to acceptance the way nature is the closer to realizing the Tao you are. Example (from a story I read a month ago): A householder and 2 monks were walking down a road with shovels to do some chores and came upon a dead body lying by the side of the road. One monk stopped and said they should bury the body and began to dig in the dirt and the householder joined in. The second monk continued walking onward. Later the householder asked another spiritual teacher why the second monk had not immediately joined helping in burying the body. The spiritual master said, "The first monk acted compassionately. The second monk was liberated." Nature accepts even things humans deem unjust or not compassionate.

I looked up the paragraphs where the holy man discusses himself. These seem to be relevant: Here are the villagers pondering the stranger's profession: So already the author foreshadows to the reader that the stranger - no matter what the stranger says in upcoming dialogue - is not what he is going to claim to be - ie: a simple, wandering vagabond. The above makes the subsequent paragraphs ordinary. And to an American reader - unnecessary. We've already been told to discount the nice, polite replies of being a simple beggar. In other words...the American reader can safely skim or even skip the first two chapters and absolutely nothing crucial to that story or characters will be lost. Don't think an editor of a publishing house wouldn't notice that either. They will. Could you see George RR Martin starting off the first page of Game of Thrones showing Ned Stark being just as honorable or humble as Bhadramanu? Sure. That's why everyone was ticked off when Ned was removed from the story. This is one reason why from the first page I got the strong sense this story is not meant for an Anglo market. From GrandmasterP's posts it seems it fits better with an Indian one. Hmm...Bhadramanu did call himself stupid and with no knowledge to share just like VMarco said! But why? To be playing the game of courtesy? But why? Is this necessary to introduce the plot? To give a sense of who this character is? But the author's already foreshadowed to the readers (reinforced at intervals in the next 2 chapters) to discount whatever Bhadramanu says of himself. And if Bhadramanu doesn't want to say what he is (because cultural habits don't permit it since it's seen as being a 'braggart' and 'displaying Ego' rather than just a statement of fact that the author hints to the reader is the case) why not just have Bhadramanu remain silent when the villagers keep asking his "profession"? I'm guessing that alone, if it actually happened in India for real might lead to a less cliched opening. Maybe for an Indian market the 2 chapters displaying blow-by-blow accounts of courtesy habits is what's required to get published on fan fic sites. I'm assuming this is for fan fic, yes? Or is it bound for eventual printed booksales? For an American market a lot of it is filler and not necessary unless it interweaves the plot problem directly into those 2 chapter scenes. If Bhadramanu is not merely what he claims to be - ie - he's something more than just yet another old homeless beggar coming to suck off the tits of every householder in that Indian village till the day he dies - I'd consider finding a way to turn the whole 'courtesies exchanged' opening upside down or dump it altogether. Unless this story IS meant primarily for other Indians. In which case disregard what I said as I know nothing about what it takes to get a fan following in India or among Indians.

Dwai, Here's the first of 5 Youtube vids of a seminar on writing fiction that Fantasy/SF author Brandon Sanderson gave. I know it uses Fantasy and SF as the genre but the actual fiction writing 'how-to' Brandon explains is true of any genre of fiction, not just the ones he specializes in. Note what he says about the very first page of anyone's writing.