XieJia

pay extra attentions to your body, your mind, your feelings, your thoughts in throughout the day. whether while working, stressing, travelling, walking, eating, relaxing, before going to sleep or anything you do. when you are more aware of the connections and influence between the surroundings and yourself; and yourself and the surroundings, any practices will become easier. TTC is a good book to read; how about confirming it with your body and mind?

Good things, bad things; Comes to end. There's no greater joy than to know that you lived this life. Like a pair of good old trainers; you well exhausted its life through using it fully. In things' return, it is brought to completion. Therefore one should not laments when the ketchup runs out.

there is no greater joy than knowing that my ketchup is going to run out. Things having lived out its life; returns. Ever since the beginning, all things have been such.

As always, love your articles. have a nice weekend. the true is always

take away the fancy wordings.

Make an island of yourself, make yourself your refuge; there is no other refuge. Make truth your island, make truth your refuge; there is no other refuge. Digha Nikaya, 16

awareness is not ours. never saw a fundamentalist buddhist before but i guess there are some.

Salutations to my Buddhist and Daoist Friends and all seekers of the Path. In Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta, the Tathagata mentioned the origin of suffering to 'Tanha' or 'Craving'. The Tathagata further divide them into three categories of; Kama-tanha - Sense Craving Bhava-tanha - Craving of Becoming Vi-Bhava-tanha - Craving of Non-Becoming Textually and conceptually, I can understand these concepts. However in my practice; sometimes the heart is full of them, sometimes they disappears sometimes they appears sometimes I can't find them at all. My observations are thus: Craving is beyond our choices, they just happens. The form of cravings is directly linked to what is being experiences in the moment. They are conditioned wants that occur to pull us away from the current experiences. The medicines for them is knowing them at the current moment -> wisdom comes to rid the mind of ignorances and hence the craving. Ignorance is the sole cause of Craving. I am eager to hear what are the observations that you guys made and what context does it impact your practices. And whether are there any remarks that one could 'point' for friends on the path in regarding this subject. Thank you, Mindfulness to all, Xiejia Edit Added: My observations could be wrong... but they are just my observations.

Indeed Stosh, thank you for your post imbue with sincerity. There are those that comprehends the world as a whole complete unity. There are also those that comprehends the world through each moment experiences. I dont see much differences in the two. I have heard from somewhere that as we cultivates, the more mundane we see of ourselves, the more profound we see of the world. We might not become nicer, calmer or less neurotic than any other but if cultivation makes us nicer, calmer and less neurotic than our former selves then by cultivation; this is our best gift tp the world. If enlightenment is anywhere, it will be at the same place as our ignorances. In midst of confusion or like the hottest fire, it can forge and melt. When one neither accepts or rejects, what is there? Enough of that for now; If one is at peace then it is all alright. Take care Xj

I am not where near your location neither a monk. Normally if you can locate communities of shan or burmese, bhutan people in the area; they are quite a temple going bunch compare to other asian countries. Some temples have something like mediatation evenings, you can join the monks meditating (mostly start like 5 or 6 pm onwards after their evening prays). Monks mainly start eating thier meals between 11am and noon, you should be able to talk to them afterwards, dont talk to them while they are eating though. Let them know what aspects of Buddhism you are interested in. If you are biking there, and you plan to meditate there; it would be good to bring a comfortable change of clothes. Wish you find what you want to find.

I have few Dzogchen friends, they are nice bunch. I'd still not see any real differences between the vehicles. At the end of the day, one will need to see into the nature of the five aggregates. @jetsun I'd agree to you about languages. English's nature and syntax is very precise. Sometimes things are lost in translation. They also have many nouns too.

Maybe you should also trust your brother. If it pains you much seeing him crying, you should just approach him and tell him that it's not just him but it is making those around him feels bad and hurt aswell. And that it means alot if he would share what have been bothering him. From there atleast you should have some more info and can choose how to act appropriately. The situation could be something minor. If you are planning anything, be sure you will be able to bear the worst consequence possible. All the best Sinan

funny thing existence, non existence. they should introduce a new word in English meaning neither of the two.

not that the heart or the dantien is not important. I think if we are to found ourselves without other of our main organs; we will be in distress too. The body functions together.

I am no expert here; my suggestion is energy purifications; and then perhaps contemplations through to the fear. Sometimes, it is shorter just to face it head on. Do you know the reason why you feel so? and what are you trying to avoid. All the best,

It goes back and forth; One cause leads to its effect which is then the other cause. Sometimes it is not what is seen, but what is seeing? The things seen is like a mirror. Good practice! Edited: try Yue's suggestion. Fall through.

Not too sure really; if up to my opinion. Buddhists are agnostic. Buddhism is a path for practice. The scriptures mentions deities, gods and goddess and powerful beings. Over here in the east, most respects them as elders or teachers or sometume similar to family relatives while some dont outright. The Buddhist path is independent of them as a beings, So i cant be sure to proclaim anything.

never heard that De (Daoist's virtue) being equivalent to morality before. Cultivating Dao is De; Dao need not be moral or ethical. but a Moral or ethical thing might be within the Dao; do think that the Dao is wider.

Thank you Stosh, The lady was use as a subject matter; one of the things that we remembered was that we made a choice in liking or disliking something, even when the apparent reasons for that liking or disliking disappears. We'd still cling to our likes or dislikes. I like your comment about the minds, the minds maybe functioning all right all along. Even their composition or decomposition is to their nature isn't it? Wish you a nice weekend, XJ

Lovely Belle ^ ^, let me join... Wonder sings, summer breeze Warm air blows within beast. Wind comes, Wind goes; such a tease Sun shines Cloud yet wanders, rainbow glides. All is expressed, myriads unfolds. Lightning Bolt! Thunder roar! Rain pours, tree leaves fall Within that moment, all ado Truth unspoken, Not through mouth or written words Let it be pour out from the heart. Fill the oceans to the sky high Torn me down from this height! Light it up, burn me thorough! Let the true be set free! Moon reflects, blue birds sings, Sun shines, cloud glides. With truth free, all is done.

indeed, Cat . one benefits from past lives knowledge in that way. in Buddhist terms: one can also learn about what one's past action is fruitful, what is unfruitful. and cultivate what 'fruitful' now. on the other note, is the person last week, the same person now? if yes, how so? if no, how so?

nice article Niko; base upon the concepts in this thread, the answer to your question is quite clear. we 'decide to see' this.

Past Lives; constructing a hypothetical case ; if one is able go recall all of his/her past lives, what could that one do right now to benefit oneself? look at a less extreme example, what can be learnt from our memories?

Thank you again Deci, The above resonants with clarity. Ever-changing is the Dragon's nature, yet it does not change from the unborn. It is not that the breathing actually stops; it became so fine and the awareness becomes free. there is no more discerning or differentiating. Such a wonder! I received the above with awe and fear. Please tell me if my observation is not correct here. What the Dharma eye sees is the Dragon. Yet the potential never manifests and unfolds. The great Yin meets with the great Yan. All manifestations unfolds; the center is here. The true intent is to 'return', yet it returns nowhere other than here. The unity is complete, the nature is perfect! The essence is pure, its function complete. All of Creation is such... and such is the Dragon. Thank you Deci

Hello Yondaime, You are young, it's normal for you to have immense energy. One can focus it on many things; find a what you want to do. Whether any kind of sports, your studies, art, or cultivation or anything. Then direct your energy there. If you explore into Yogic or Taoist Alchemy realm, there are actually things that is more intense than orgasm. Not that I advise you to seek that out; it depends on what you want to do with your energy.