GrandmasterP

........ Can you give an example of this please? I've wracked my old brains but can't think of a religion whose hierarchy says.. "Just ignore the bits you don't agree with". For sure worked out in real life as in Catholic Ireland with contraception folk do their own thing and ignore the priests but that's contrary to rather than, because of; religion.

........ Rain. There is rain but it is called different things in different places. Wet stuff falls downwards from the sky. Same with chakras I reckon, there are energy centres in the body but different cultures describe them differently and maybe don't agree on the number and precise location of them. So words are laid on top of words until you end up with some complex almost--theology about chakras.

..... Tweezers are good. Pull the pesky splinter out. Job done.

The wise old owl sat in an oak.. The more she heard the less she spoke The less she spoke, the more she heard. She was indeed a wise old bird.

Cultivation is essentially energetic, and can nullify the mind's need for ideas and answers and dissipate the contracted sense of the self and its fear of unconditional freedom. That presumes cultivation as a beginning point rather than starting out from No Mind. Some may be able to do that you do hear of folk getting it out of the blue in a flash but , hard work that it can be; for plodders such as me it's maybe the discipline of daily cultivation year after year that fits the bill best.

I wonder? My reading, which is partial and opinionated for sure but here it is.... Fred seems to me to be saying...'Be the best bird of prey you can be, work at it; get to really know your prey... empathise a bit, even". That's not Wu Wei or is it?

MAOIs are very effective in many cases. Clinical depression is treatable but, unlike antispasmodics for example that work on everyone in the same way; there's never an individual guarantee that what psychiatric interventions work for one patient will necessarily work in the same way for another, hence the multi modal patient centred approach. Clinical Depression is certainly NOT 'all in the mind'.

There aint no such thing as the Illuminati. Anybody says different gets whacked!

......... "Bleddy poltergiest....," grumbled the cockney grandma... " it's thrown another cup and broken it! That pesky phenomenon do waste good crockery".. ......... "Do have some more tea..." , said the medium pouring cups for the all-ghost committee members.... "I know how much a group of phenomena does love its tea".

Keep at it buddy. Regular cultivation beats intermittent every time, Good Luck as you progress.

In 8 strands it's behind top teeth gently breathe in through nose then down behind bottom teeth gently and breathe out through mouth.

I surrendered years ago mate. :-) No point fighting a losing battle.

No disrespect intended buddy, genuine curiosity here... if 'emptiness cannot be realized through the conditions of beliefs' then why quote Buddhist supporting texts so selectively towards encouraging folk to believe that what you claim is correct? That Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra above is pretty specific in indicating that reciting nembutsu is all anyone needs to do and that's a Buddhist text too. My question such as it is then... If, as I understand you to be saying that beliefs and , by extrapolation belief paths; don't help anyone attain enlightenment, then why cite belief path texts to state the claim?

Cool. We use Old Moore's ephemerae here, those are pretty good. Here's the Bristol astrologists site. It isn't very user friendly but excellent content once you get the hang of it... http://www.bristolschoolofastrology.com/

Thanks for this link. What a fascinating chap. Have ordered his My life in Tibet.

' The Mexican Apocalypse' Nah.... Nobody would have taken that seriously. Mayan Apocalypse though, .....that has a spooky mystical ring to it. I use Mr. Apple's patented iPad instrument here at home, it serves me well. At work Mr. Gates holds sway and his system is forever crashing.

I'm sticking with Guan Shi Yin.... "Inexhaustible Intention Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, "World Honored One, how does Guanshiyin Bodhisattva roam through this Saha world? How does he speak the Dharma for living beings? How does he carry out this work with the power of expedients?" The Buddha told Inexhaustible Intention Bodhisattva, "Good man, if living beings in this land must be saved by means of someone in the body of a Buddha...Pratyekabuddha...Hearer...Brahma King... Shakra...God of Sovereignty...Great God of Sovereignty...a great heavenly general...Vaishravana...a minor king...an Elder...a layman...a minister of state...a Brahman...a Bhikshu, Bhikshuni, Upasaka, or Upasika....the body of the wife of an Elder, of a layman, of a minister of state, or of a Brahman...the body of a pure youth or a pure maiden...the body of a heavenly dragon, yaksha, gandharva, asura, garuda, kinnara, mahoraga, human, or nonhuman, and so forth...the body of a Vajra-wielding spirit....Guanshiyin Bodhisattva will manifest the body of a Buddha ... Pratyekabuddha ... Hearer...Brahma King...Shakra...God of Sovereignty...Great God of Sovereignty...a great heavenly general...Vaishravana...a minor king...an Elder...a layman...a minister of state...a Brahman...a Bhikshu, Bhikshuni, Upasaka, or Upasika....a wife's body...in such a body...the body of a Vajra-wielding spirit and speak Dharma for them. "Inexhaustible Intention! Guanshiyin Bodhisattva has accomplished merit and virtue such as this and, in all manner of forms, roams throughout the land, saving and liberating living beings. "Inexhaustible Intention, such is the self-mastery and spiritual power of Guanshiyin Bodhisattva, who roams throughout the Saha World." Complete with the power of spiritual penetrations, Vastly cultivating wisdom and expedient means, Going throughout countries in the ten directions, He manifests everywhere in all places". (Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra Ch 25)

Yep, more people; more gossip. Walls have ears. (And sausages).

Absolutely and reading sentiment into nature is human but ultimately futile. I love that last line in Camus' ... L'Etranger.... "... and so, I surrendered myself to the sublime indifference of the universe".

Balaam's ass every time for me. If God can talk through Balaam's ass then he can for sure talk through me. Man! I do that stuff quite naturally..

Fair point. I was aiming for irony (better heard than read). Won't be too many weeks now before our cat is bringing in presumptuous and very unfortunate fledglings who tried to fly whilst yet deficient in wing feathers.

Hats. There's no cult worth the name that does not go in for merchandise. Every new cult member gets to buy , own and wear the official magic hat ($5,000 each, all sizes available). I'm thinking maybe a nice saffron baseball cap style with cult logo (trade mark protected) on the front. We could maybe use something like this as a pitch.... 'Come the last day, only those wearing magic hats will be magicked up into the rescue spaceship and be saved'. Gotta be a winner, a similar pitch has worked well in the past.

It's OK , plenty of plot and tons of characters; but the ending is inconclusive.

Well I think that it is very nice of someone to pass on Buddha-hood in order to stick around and help others get there first. That selfless attitude transcends the norm for human nature. Putting others before oneself is generally not the natural way of things in the world so it is good to see that happening, when it does. Every now and again someone comes along who manifests that quality to such a degree that , it being such an unusual thing ; for generations afterwards people are still talking and writing about them.