Stigweard

Indeed ... it's a fool's quest to attempt discretion whilst standing in the middle of the highway.

Welcome back Peng Tzu, find a seat, remind me ... how do you like your tea?

Welcome Moth, find yourself a seat, how do you like your tea?

hmmm ... Budo ... or maybe even the enlightening response: "Doh!"

Indeed Death is the great leveller. But there are different ways to die. Firstly you could die carelessly engaged in some trivial action obsessing over worthless thoughts. Or you could die bitter filled with regret over the life you never lived but never had the courage to do it. Or you could die kicking and scream, trying to bribe death with false promises to give you another go. Or you could die a Warrior's death, staring death in the face knowing with full assurance that you have been a 'worthy opponent' and that you have lived the moment of your death to the fullest and absolute best that your knowledge and power can allow.

When you learn say something like music, unless in exceptionally rare occasions, it would be virtually impossible to launch into your own classical compositons (LOL I say this whilst enjoying the splendid tenor of Pavarotti). You have to learn all the basic scales and theory first, and then you have to study and practice the works of the Masters sometimes for years. Only after such an apprenticeship can your own inspirations and creativity arise and take form in a functional way. However (what a lovely word is it not?) Tao is a living phenomena, it grows and evolves out of the structure and foundation of the past. The problem some traditionalists have is that they are so adhered to their norms that some find it impossible to contemplate new developments. They say, "This is how my teacher did it so this is how I do it." Now going back to what I said above, within the realms of appropriateness, this can be beneficial in order to maintain the 'sea-worthiness' of the tradition and the teachings. It is when it is clung to with rigidity and narrow-mindedness that it becomes prohibitive to growth. And the problem with creative experimentors of course is that, if not grounded in the traditions that they are working within, they can easily become lost in a flight of fantasy and launch campaigns of 'this is the great new thing' and will cling to such delusions even in the face of well established antithetical proof. But in saying this it is the nature of life for every living organism to have their scouts who journey off into uncharted vistas to either bring back the 'gold of new worlds' or simply to inform us that, "Nope, there ain't nothing there!" So we need our traditionalists to maintain the structure and integrity of the vehicle of the teachings, and we also need our scouts and experimentors to provide genetic growth for these teachings. The other variation of this is less palatable. It is when people will emulate the pharmaceutical companies and dissect a wholesome tradition looking to identify the one or two practices that are deemed the 'active components', repackage them, patent them, and declare to the world that they have discovered 'a great new thing.' But I guess it is natural in the process of genetic evolution to have mutated strains along the way I do like the way you say this

Coming right up

Welcome, find a seat, how do you like your tea?

I love riddles so I thought I'd see if a riddle thread would endure. RULES: Whoever answers the riddle correctly earns the right to post a new riddle, else of course they can pass and whatever riddle gets posted first becomes the next to solve. Riddle #1: What has no eyes, no ears, and no mouth yet always tells the truth?

Nice ... White as the snow, Black as the coal, She walks and she has no feet, She speaks and has no mouth. ??

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Updated the ebook to give more credit to Shazi Daoren as was due. This is a brilliant text ... direct and practical. Love to hear some discussion on it.

Heya baloneyx, this may help your inquiry. At it's most basic level, imagination is simply the image forming faculty of our mind. Consider though the possibility that your faculty of imagination is the 'scout' of your awareness; the forerunner of consciousness that explores the possibilities of existence before it comes into being. In truth the imagination is our own time travelling machine because we can travel forward in time and have a 'virtual experience' of how it would be, and it can also travel multi-dimensionally and explore other possibilities of reality (I so want to ride a dragon!). And consider your imagination to be the 'babel fish' (i.e. translator) between your known and unknown minds; between your mundane and magical awareness, because, until we can accomplish ourselves properly, the direct flow of Universal knowledge has to be filtered for us so that we can comprehend it with our normal awareness. Thus these messages usually come in the form of symbols, imagery, feelings etc. Furthermore consider that the image-forming faculty of the mind is the very template that our 'magical mind' uses to create our reality. And that this inner eye is the inner hand of our spirit used to direct the flow of energy and conduct our inner cultivation. The problem is of course that we have polluted our imaginations with the plethora of images that bombard us every day, and we have abused this divine function of the mind in activities like computer games, movies, fiction novels etc. So with so many images whirlwinding through our minds the 'true' imaginings, the ones linked with the flow of Universal knowledge, become lost in the maelstrom of static. So when, like you say, we encounter something mysterious our rational mind will kick in with the objection that it is all only imagination. What to do about it? Limit the abuse of your mind by cutting down/out the artificial mental stimulants that we are so intoxicated with. Reduce the static so that you can better discriminate between what is 'real' imagination and what is false. I have a saying in Taiji: "Don't move the move, let the move move you." This same principle can be applied to our usage of imagination. Blessings,

A well deserved bump!

Graci _/\_

The sun lights the earth All things equally embraced Unconditional

Hmm ... Tao?

Welcome sdefe730, find a seat, how do you like your tea? Question for you ... Say I was such master/guru what would you say qualifies you to be a good student?

Welcome Tozan, find a seat, how do you like your tea?

Hahaha ... riddle stick goes to apepch7 yet again Next?

Indeed. It reminds me of a story: ------------------- The master was accompanied by his students when they came to a river crossing. A beautiful lady was standing anxiously at the river's edge. When the master asked the lady what the matter was she said she was anxious to get to the other side but, even though the river was not too deep, she didn't know how to swim and was afraid to cross. The master volunteered his help and carried the lady across the stream. Once across and the lady thanked the master very much and then they went their seperate ways. After they continued walking for awhile the master noticed that his students were very silent with incredulous looks on their faces. When he asked what the matter was one of his students replied, "How could you discredit yourself so by holding and carrying such a beautiful lady. Surely this is inappropriate behaviour." The master responded: "My response mirrored the need with absolute prudence. I put the lady down way back at the river. Why are you still carrying her?" ------------------- Oh yes and of course there is this one: ------------------- Once there was a very old man who used to meditate early every morning under a large tree on the bank of the Ganges River in India. One morning, having finished his meditation, the old man opened his eyes and saw a scorpion floating helplessly in the strong current of the river. As the scorpion was pulled close to the tree, it got caught in the long tree roots that branched out far into the river. The scorpion struggled frantically to free itself but got more and more entangled in the complex network of the tree roots. When the old man saw this, he immediately stretched himself onto the extended roots and reached out to rescue the drowning scorpion. But as soon as he touched it, the animal jerked and stung him wildly. Instinctively, the man withdrew his hand, but then, after having regained his balance, he once again stretched himself out along the roots to save the agonized scorpion. But every time the old man came within reach, the scorpion stung him so badly with its poisonous tail that his hands became swollen and bloody and his face distorted by pain. At that moment, a passerby saw the old man stretched out on the roots struggling with the scoprion and shouted: "Hey, stupid old man. What's wrong with you? Only a fool risks his life for the sake of a ugly, useless creature. Don't you know that you may kill yourself to save that ungrateful animal?" Slowly the old man turned his head, and looking calmly in the stranger's eyes, he said: "Friend, because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting, why should I give up my own nature to save?" -------------------

Or the equally enigmatic: "In some circles sh~t happens daily, flush and step forward"

Welcome, find a seat, how do you like your tea?

Taodejing Ch2 As soon as the world regards something as beautiful, ugliness simultaneously becomes apparent. As soon as the world regards something as good, evil simultaneously becomes apparent. In exactly the same manner, existence and nonexistance give birth to each other. Difficult and easy define each other. Long and short form each other. High and low make each other distinguishable. Silence and sound make each other conspicuous. Front and back connect each other. Realizing this, one does not seperate one's being from the subtle essence of the universe. One holds no preconceptions, and does things without insisting on personal conditions. One guides people by living in accord with the essence of life. One brings good things about, but has no intention of possessing them. One performs work, but has no intention to acquire personal power. When one's task is accomplished, one lets go of it and seeks no rewared or recognition. Because one does not claim credit for oneself, one does not do any damage to oneself. ---------------------- Hope this helps. Blessings,