Vmarco

As a response to my post, your post is understandable,...however, more than once, Simple-Jack has implied: Thus, in my opinion, he appears more like the Self-appointed guardians of the status-quo, mentioned in the Zeitgeist link above, than someone interested getting out of the box that infests humanity. I also disagree that I exhibit the same characteristics,...and make use of Buddhism because people here are more familiar with Buddhism. What I dialogue on could be reflected off of many philosophies. Ultimately, all truth supports all other truths, as my post above to Xabir mentioned. Your post does expose a most obscurative flaw for anyone practice,...that of predisposition. You post was not founded upon an understanding of the dialogue between Simple_Jack and I,...but a one-side judgment. In fact, your jumping in to defend others without understanding the circumstances is not new,...and is most likely a Cheif-Feature of your since youth. Do you see what I meant that the youtube link I left above is applicable to all the posts at TTB? V

Very few recognize the need for nakedness. A 1st Century Gnostic text says,..."when you can disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments (beliefs) and place them under your feet like little child and tread on them, then you will no longer be afraid". I've observed very little nakedness on TTB. Most cling to particular indoctrinations. As for you, I feel you'll appreciate the link in the above post. People have become so thoroughly convinced that Form is Form, and Formlessness (the necessary balanced harmonic interchange)is not part of its cycle, to keep any naked, unstructured, unborn awareness from rising in the Collective Consciouness. V

I appreciate your post. The Shurangama is one of my favorite sutras because it discusses a specific Dharma Gate that uncovers absolute Bodhicitta. It's awesome that you believe and resonate with Simple_Jacks long regurgitations. The problem most have with "I Am" is they believe "I think, therefore I Am",...as if the "i think", the little i, the ego, arises before the I Am. I recently posted in the Zeitgeist thread within the General Discussions: The slogan of all the Zeitgeist films is this: "The biggest crux to the evolution of humanity is breaking through your own indoctrination. It is very, very difficult to overcome emotional elements that have become so engrained in you, that you have an immediate reaction, an immediate suffering and pain, if something interfers with [your idea of the status quo]. It's a very, very complex problem. We have to learn how to identify and break our own indoctrination if we expect to move forward at all as a civilization" PJ Merola Minute 11:00 - 17:43 which includes the above quote, expresses the problem of humanity,...which as I mentioned,...is applicable to every post on TTB. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCWNgSa7GvA OR...as Eckhart Tolle said, "we need to draw our attention to what is false in us, for unless we learn to recognize the false as the false, there can be no lasting transformation, and you will always be drawn back into illusion, for that is how the false perpetuates itself" I found Simple_Jack referred to throughout Minute 11:00 - 17:43,...one of the Self-appointed guardians of the status quo, who clings to his fundamentalist scriptural knowledge for his identity,..."so locked into their box that they find it infuriating to think that what they're living is actually wrong." None of that is meant to be an attack, or reciprocate the attacks he posted to me. I'm merely using a video to express a relative reality that is rampant on thos planet. V

The slogan of all the Zeitgeist films is this: "The biggest crux to the evolution of humanity is breaking through your own indoctrination. It is very, very difficult to overcome emotional elements that have become so engrained in you, that you have an immediate reaction, an immediate suffering and pain, if something interfers with [your idea of the status quo]. It's a very, very complex problem. We have to learn how to identify and break our own indoctrination if we expect to move forward at all as a civilization" PJ Merola Minute 11:00 - 17:43 which includes the above quote, expresses the problem of humanity,...which as I mentioned,...is applicable to every post on TTB. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCWNgSa7GvA OR...as Eckhart Tolle said, "we need to draw our attention to what is false in us, for unless we learn to recognize the false as the false, there can be no lasting transformation, and you will always be drawn back into illusion, for that is how the false perpetuates itself" V

This link adds to the perspective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCWNgSa7GvA The dialogue beginning at min. 11:00 is brilliant,...and very applicable to every post on TTB.

The absolute truth that there is no emptiness in the Present, nor a Present in Emptiness,...and neither is a "minor semantic", but a Dharma Gate to bodhicitta. "As soon as one sense-organ returns to the source, All the six are liberated...The entire illusion was never really there. The six sense-organs are also thus. At first there was one essential brightness. Which split into a six-fold combination. If but one part ceases and returns, All six functions will stop as well." Avalokitesvara There is no "always true emptiness." Impermanence is never absolutely true. Emptiness, like Form, is a mirage. That mirage has a dependent origination. Buddha attempted to explain that in relative terms to scores of interested people. For very few it was easy, and they understood on an absolute level. For the mediocre, blinded by their humanism through the 6 senses, Buddha said "doctrine of dependent origination is so profound that sentient beings are unable to comprehend it." What is a "sentient being?" Who are bodhisattvas striving to liberate? Why is sentience unable to penetrate or uncover an understanding about dependent origination? This is not a "minor semantic"...nearly every post since coming here has embodied this single dialogue. Buddha said that there is a "True Bodhi Path." "The single mind of True Suchness is called the Ground of Immovability" Buddha Form and the Emptiness of Form are always in motion,...it is not the "ground" of True Suchness. True Suchness is only realized in the Present,...however, there is no Present in Time. The dissolution of all questions is all around you,...the problem is, you do not see the world that surrounds you, but only the world that surrounded you. As the Ven. Ananda once told the Buddha, it's easy to comprehend. It's so easy,...there is no Present in time. V

The manifest does not exist, or stand alone,...where's the contradiction? All manifestation (which ultimately does not exist), is formed through Dependent Origination. No contradiction there. "From beginningless time until now, all living beings have mistaken themselves for things and, having lost the original mind, are turned around by things." Buddha, Shurangama sutra

There is no emptiness in the Present. Emptiness, which has a dependent relationship with Form, is never present. Emptiness and Form are of time-space,...there is no Present in Time-Space. Simple_Jack says "There is no "ever-present Emptiness," this is more misunderstanding and interpretation based on misunderstanding." This is correct,...there is "no ever-present Emptiness"....Emptiness is always in the past, and the past doesn't exist. Of course, Simple_Jack probably has a dogmatic, Theravadan definition behind his statement, such as, nothing is ever-present. However, as all who have had a direct experience with the Present understand, that is false. There is however, an ever-present Present,...and unless you have directly experienced the Present, which cannot be experienced through the 6 Senses, nor in Time, to say otherwise is dishonest. V

I do agree that the Non-duality of Undivided Light is the Wu Chi aspect of the Tao. I disagree that the mirage of the manifest is real,...in any absolute way. Certainly, one could argue the realness of their dream llast night,...and to them, perhaps it was real. To me, truth or realness is that which never changes. As for the word "exist"...it implies to stand alone. Nothing stands alone,...everything manifest has a Dependent Origination, that is, is dependent on something else. If you uncover something that actually exists,...by all means, embrace it. But keep in mind,...."we need to draw our attention to what is false in us, for unless we learn to recognize the false as the false, there can be no lasting transformation, and you will always be drawn back into illusion, for that is how the false perpetuates itself" Eckhart Tolle

The word Tathagata points to an awareness of Dependent Origination,...and is as inherently existing as Undivided Light. Tathagata is Unborn Awareness,...the Nirmanakaya that stands on the fulcrum upon which duality effects its motion. A Tathagata is that which the realization of Form is Empty, and Empty is Form is filtered through. V

What is Loving Kindness? Does it arise from relative, new age, egoic self-esteem? When America wanted to get to the Moon before Russia, what did they do? They did it. Why are people pussy-footing around with relative concepts of compassion? Just do it! It is simple. Compassion arises from the understanding that Form is Empty, and Empty is Form. The Way of the Bodhisattva (Shantideva): "The whole of the Bodhicharyvatara is deared toward prajna, the direct realization of emptiness, absolute bodhichitta, without which the true practice of compassion is impossible." "Buddhist teachings on compassion are grounded in the direct realization of Emptiness; without which, compassion is impossible." Robert Thurman So,...when are we goin to cease with this BS, egoic self-esteem Compassion?...Compassion is impossible without the direct realization of Emptiness. That should be the attention and intention. Not the continual embracing, consoling, coddling, and celebration of a personal self,...that doesn't even exist. V

And what I've mentioned is also based on what Buddha said. So, why the confusion? In my opinion, you should review http://www.scribd.com/doc/50703474/Essence-of-Other-Emptiness and let go your intellectual understandings about Dependent Origination. The only way to understand Dependent Origination is directly,...the "ground" you're using, which is the same "ground" that hundreds of millions of unenlightened people use, is a barrier that obscures the essence of Dependent Origination. In other words, to be blunt, what millions perceive as meaningful, is meaningless,...and thus we live in a world with few truly awakened beings. Without understanding Dependent Origination, the Four Noble Truths will never be realized. Without understanding the Four Noble Truths, your waking up is impossible. Those who understand Dependent Origination are aware of Who's Who in Duality,...what is actually Yang, what is actually Yin, and their relationship. V

Does Right Speech deny, appease, moderate? Well, perhaps on a relative level, among those desireous to not "make judgements because that would hurt egoic self-esteem, and [undermine the embracing, consoling, and celebration of a personal self." I am not suited to polite society To social striving, upward mobility, and making good impressions I am radically honest, sensitive, brilliant, and blunt I hold up a mirror to the best and worst facets of human life. ~Vajrayogini

These translations are so ignorant and misleading. For example, appamada translated to "strive with earnestness" does not point to appamada, but an ego concept. Appamada is the Mind at the threshold of the gates of the Six Senses,...that is, our Unborn or unindoctrinated Awareness,..not the sense organ of thinking. Appamada is primally feminine in nature, and can only be recognized through Heart-Mind. Pamada is masculine, or form (skandha) based. Appamada simply means: not pamada,...to not perceive by way of the 6 senses. The definition of Tathagata is quite important,...however, can only be directly realized when one recognizes that Form is Empty, and Empty is Form. Buddha nature is not empty,...nor is Buddha nature form. In the simpliest of terms, a Tathagata is one who goes and comes, beyond going and coming, into complete going and coming. One who sees the reverse flow of forward moving things. A Tathagata comes back into themselve simultaneous with the going out, so that subject and object are transcended. V

Those concepts will precipitate great errors in your practice. I'd suggest: http://www.scribd.com/doc/50703474/Essence-of-Other-Emptiness Yes,...all things are empty,...and all empty things have a relationship with Form. However, that Dependent Origination only applies to Duality,...Divided Light. Non-duality, or Undivided Light, is beyond Dependent Origination. V

For many, such as yourself, non-duality doesn't make sense without duality,...it is as you say, just a term or concept or parlor trick for those like TzuJanLi to play mystic or sage. However, from Non-duality's point of view (although it doesn't use words), it does not need the illusion of maya to exist. Granted that a Center needs a boundary, a Here needs a There, One needs a Many,...but Non-duality is beyond the sum of those opposites. Like absolute love, Non-duality doesn't have an opposite. There is no relationship between "is-ness" and "not-ness". There is no relationship or dependant origination of that which is beyond Duality. For Buddhist who disagree, it is suggested they read the Mountain Doctrine. Non-Duality is neither with-in nor with-out Duality,...the perceived separation that manifests Form and Empty, Yang and Yin, positive electricity and negative electricity, a particle and wave, or sphere and torus, never existed within Non-duality,...within Undivided Light. No aspect of Duality is existent,...such a belief is the barrier built by ego (which itself does not exist) to obscure the reality of Non-duality. Duality is a synonym for dream. V

punch-line = Ignorance is what muddies the diamond that we are, V