Cheshire Cat

I can tell if someone has an understanding of the Way or not... just by gazing in his/her eyes.

This is a gooooood idea!!

Generations of zen masters saddened by that video..

I've read something about corpse meditation in the first book of the Aghora trilogy by R.Svoboda. The purpose of such practices seems to be to gain power (siddhis) and then (as in almost all tantric school) one should work on that "pure basis" of favorable conditions to achieve enlightenment. A good tantric practitioner is not conquered by the power that he gets: for this reason, a self-less, compassionate heart is quintessential. Also, it is said that one may even die during such sadhanas...

Yeah, I think you're correct. But basically, the point of dwelling in the charnel ground is to fix in one's mind the idea of impermanence and death. If the place is really really scary, then to detach seems to be the only way to survive.

dhutaṅga susānika Meaning of the susānika dhutaṅga The Pali term "susānika" means "the one who has the habit to dwell within charnels". "susāna" = "charnel"; "susānika" = "an individual who dwells in a charnel" When this practice is conveniently done, with constancy and diligence, with the determination of not breaking it, we say that there is "susānikaṅga" (state of mind arising out of dwelling among charnels). According to the texts of the "visuddhi magga", we may consider to be a "charnel" any spot where human corpses are buried or burnt since at least twelve years. Adoption of the susānika dhutaṅga In order to adopt this dhutaṅga, it is convenient to pronounce the following phrase whether in Pali, whether in the language of one's choice... In Pali: «na susānaṃ paṭikkhipāmi, sosānikaṅgaṃ samādhiyāmi.» In French: «I renounce to spots where there are no corpses, I will train into dwelling among charnels.» The three kinds of practitioners of the susānika dhutaṅga According to restrictions, there do exist three kinds of practitioners of the susānika dhutaṅga: ukkaṭṭha susānika, the noble practitioner of the susānika dhutaṅga majjhima susānika, the intermediate practitioner of the susānika dhutaṅga mudu susānika, the ordinary practitioner of the susānika dhutaṅga 1. the noble practitioner The bhikkhu who is a noble practitioner of the dhutaṅga susānika dwells in a charnel that has the the three following characteristics: 1) daily, some corpses are cremated in it; 2) in it, there is constantly a smell of corpse entering a stage of decomposition; 3) some funerals are being daily held in it, with (the sound produced by) the weeping and wailing of the relatives of the dead person whom they are accompanying. 2. the intermediate practitioner The bhikkhu who is an intermediate practitioner of the susānika dhutaṅga dwells in a charnel that has the the three aforesaid characteristics. 3. the ordinary practitioner The bhikkhu who is an ordinary practitioner of the susānika dhutaṅga dwells on a spot where a dead person has already been buried or cremated. The advantages of the susānika dhutaṅga By practising the susānika dhutaṅga, we can benefit with the following advantages... We remain aware of the reality of death. We are a person who is permanently wide awake. We are permanently aware of the inevitable character of death. We are enabled to easily get rid of desire. We can contemplate the perishable nature of the body at any time. Maturity of the awareness of old age, illness and death. We get rid of self-pride concerning our health (or physical qualities). We get easily endure the very variegated forms of dangers. We are respected by ogres and ghosts. We benefit with a convenient means to provide for what we need, while being able to be satisfied with little. Remark: the practice of a dhutaṅga alone enables one to understand its advantages. The way to break the susānika dhutaṅga As soon as a practitioner of the susānika dhutaṅga settles down on a spot (with the intention to remain on it), even for a short moment, he breaks his dhutaṅga. According to the texts of the "aṅguttaranikaya", it is taught that the practitioner of the susānika dhutaṅga can go out of his charnel soon before dawn without breaking his dhutaṅga. Nevertheless, he breaks it from the very day when he doesn't proceed to a charnel. In the same manner, if he comes out of the charnel before dawn, he breaks his dhutaṅga. The discipline to be observed by the practitioner of the susānika dhutaṅga According to the «visuddhi magga», the bhikkhu who practises the susānika dhutaṅga «must have a few activities and light means of livelihood (a few belongings) only». Thus, it is not proper that such a bhikkhu dwells on such a spot while doing very visible things, such as: building up a footpath, a shelter, utilising a bed, a large carpet, installing a large water store (for drinking or providing for various needs), teaching the dhamma, giving meditation instructions, giving a teaching, etc. It is very good, on the other hand, to dwell in a charnel, like the mahāthera Mahāsu, who dwelt sixty years non-stop in a charnel, and nobody ever came to know about it. This dhutaṅga is very difficult to put into practice. Most of individuals are not eligible for adopting such a practice. For practising this dhutaṅga, it is indispensable not to fear feelings of disgust and fright, it is necessary to be very courageous, fearless and tenacious. For this reason, before starting the practice of such a dhutaṅga, it is convenient to proceed to a charnel during the day time and to minutely observe all the characteristics that such a spot is made of. Then, it is convenient to proceed back to it again, but at night-time, in order to observe in it the aforesaid characteristics. In a charnel, the daytime strongly contrasts with the night-time. Indeed, even though the spot remains the same, it becomes, to most of individuals, far more frightening during the night time as compared with the daytime. Some scaring thoughts can easily appear owing to the distorted sights arising out of the night. By watching a man or a dog, for instance, we do not know what it is about and we can easily imagine having seen dangerous things or beings. A minute study of a charnel during the daytime yields the advantages to know all its elements; owing to this fact, once the night has fallen, these elements have no more reasons to be frightening. Thus, it is convenient for a bhikkhu to adopt the susānika dhutaṅga only once he has made sure he got entirely rid of any fright likely to manifest, should he dwell in a charnel at night-time. Encouragement to the practise of the susānika dhutaṅga Given that we are constantly coming across dead people, in the course of practice of this dhutaṅga, we are no longer scared of death. Buddha told: «appamādo amataṃ padaṃ pamādo maccunopadaṃ» «those who are inattentive constantly die; those who are heedful never die.» Those who know how to take benefit from this word can rapidly attain the realisation of nibbāna. By dwelling in a charnel, we are put into the position of frequently watching corpses. By seeing that, we can easily do away with the attachment to sensuous pleasures. A burmese proverb is telling us: «If you don't want to die, always go to the cemetery! Don't forget that you will also ultimately die!» From the great http://en.dhammadana.org/sangha/dhutanga/residence/dh11.htm

To help others more effectively...

If you think of a river with infinite water particles flowing all in the same direction without resistance... you may consider each one of them as a daoist particle. To tell the truth, in this universe it's easier to find daoists than non-daoists... since non-daoists cannot last.

Enlightenment!!

What do you think?

Welcome!! :-)

http://thetaobums.com/topic/26709-the-power-of-kiai/

I think that with spiritual eyes, one can see God almost everywhere...

I open this thread to pursue the importance of compassion in one's own practice and to understand how relevant it is on the long-term cultivation. The first thing that I notice is that buddhism (mahayana) places a great emphasis on developing compassion: it is considered to be the first half of the "enlightenment business". And we have self-sacrifice, everything done for the sake of others, etc... Jesus Christ could be a model-example of the bodhisattva ideal. Then, we have the daoists... the earliest available sources (Lao Tzu, Chuang-tzu) aren't that concerned about compassion. Yes, it's a good thing to have... but it seems that they don't like the extremes that the concept of boundless, selfless compassion reaches in buddhism. Maybe, it's just a wrong impression... Hope to listen to insights from you. Thank you! :-)

The Gurdjieff model of three-brained individuals seems something pseudo-scientific, a weird theory that could born out of a superficial generalization. In eastern philosophy, none would really believe that one can separate the development of mind, body and emotion... since mind and body have strict relation (in qi-gong terms, it is said that if you have your qi-channels open, your mind is still). Also, the greeks had the concepts of kalos kai agathos ("mens sana in corpore sano" (healthy soul in healthy body)). Emotions are just means of communication, but in Gurdjieff they are something similar to desire (think of the example of the monk tempted by the devil). The "core" of Gurdjieff practice was "voluntary suffering", willingly creating unfavorable conditions to mantain the mind in a state of alertness. If it was for the mind-centre, they may decide to not use the right hand for a week. If it was for the body-centre, they practiced some form of physichal yoga (Gurdjieff was excellent at this)... and for the emotional, it was bare suppression probably... He had no real "competence" to judge entire spiritual systems :-D It has been a long time since I read the Belzebub, but I remember that his story of Tibet had no "historical basis"... nor basis in tibetan mythology Maybe I'm wrong, I'll investigate a bit more.

I would like to ask if someone is willing to share his/her own experience on the benefits (or at least, the impact) of a certain initiation (which he received) in ordinary life. I ask this because I plan to take an initiation, I know about the samaya, etc.. but I'm not sure if those things really work. Also, I want to ask if a sadhana of a certain Yidam is given in transliterated tibetan rather than english. I don't like sadhanas in english, they sound weird hehe

Yes! That would be very interesting! :-)

What's universal development in Gurdjieff's mindset ? And what's objective reason? Universal development was something like "voluntary suffering" in order to develop one's will. And objective reason... well, it was his personal reason ( an interesting interpretation of the christian doctrine) hahaha This is what he found

It's nice to celebrate people that we love, but personally I think that the posts of someone else are more useful ...

The statement that you quoted comes from one of my older views. I do believe that animals have emotions, but maybe the real difference is "how" we see sentient beings. For humans, a lion and a deer are two sentient beings. A lion may consider a deer to be just "walking food", thinking of it as we think of our vegetables (carrots, etc...). It seems, according to old stories in almost all religions, that animals respond to the compassion of great saints... so, maybe it's for real the "all-encompassing dharma"...

Welcome!!! :-)

(from one of my older posts) Now I suspect that the chinese term used for compassion is slightly different from our western "compassion". The etymology of "compassion" is Latin, meaning "co-suffering." More virtuous than simple empathy, compassion commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social context as altruism.(wikipedia). But, I'm quite sure that there's no compassion amongst animals. They don't need compassion. They aren't lacking. This is what Lao-Tzu said in chapter 5 of DaoTeChing. 天 地 不 仁 ， 以 万 物 为 刍 狗 ﹔ 圣 人 不 仁 ， 以 百 姓 为 刍 狗 。 　 　 天 -->Heaven 地---> earth 不--->are not 仁---> humanity, goodness, compassion, perfect virtue [...] 圣--->the sage 人--->man 不--->is not 仁--->humanity, goodness, compassion, perfect virtue 以---> to treat 百---> one hundred, moltitude 姓--->clan, families 为--->as 刍--->straw 狗--->dog May I translate as "The sage is not human" or "The sage is not compassionate" ... because "he treats all human beings as straw dogs"? I just found a few authoritative translations of these verses: Heaven and earth are not humane; they regard all beings as straw dogs Sages are not humane; they see all people as straw dogs.. (Cleary) Nature is not humane. It treats all things like sacrificial objects. The wise are not humane. They regard people like sacrificial objects. (Beck) Heaven and Earth are not humane. They regard all things a straw dogs. The sage is not humane. He regards all people as straw dogs. (Chan) Heaven and Earth are not Good they treat the thousands of things like straw dogs The Wise Person is not Good he treats the hundred clans like straw dogs. (La Fargue) Heaven and earth do not act from (the impulse of) any wish to be benevolent; they deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt with. The sages do not act from (any wish to be) benevolent; they deal with the people as the dogs of grass are dealt with. (Legge) Nature is unkind: It treats the creation like sacrificial straw-dogs. The Sage is unkind: He treats the people like sacrificial straw-dogs. (LinYutan)