GrandmasterP

Apologies if you do not but if you do drink alcohol , stop. That should sort it.

GMP's Fruit Stall... Today's prices. Apples cost - 3 Samadhis a pound Oranges cost - 2 Awakenings a pound Bananas cost- 1 Enlightenment per bunch Please have the correct currency to hand when making your purchase as GMP Fruit Stall regrets that we are unable to make change.

Squish in good health just remember to say or think the polite bidding as you squish.... " Become a Buddha".

Karmic-ly?

There's no 'God' as such. It's all Tao and there's absolutely no requirement to worship Tao. Unless one wants to do so. Hope that helps.

Check out this site or the CHQA link in my sig and those will take you to reputable teachers. http://www.taichiunion.com/

AND WELCOME TO THE BALL In which the teams introduce the guests arriving at a society ball, this time from the construction industry: Will you welcome please, Mr and Mrs Cotter-Tiling... and their son, Terry And from Ireland, Mr and Mrs ODoors... and their son, Paddy Mr and Mrs Antilers and their son... Rufus Mr and Mrs Loadabricks and their son... Laurie Mr and Mrs Neepot and their son... Jim Mr and Mrs Duz-Merchants... and their son, Bill And at the Naturistss Ball, please welcome, if you will: Mr and Mrs Gleebits... and their son, Dan From Poland, Mr and Mrs Vestov... and their very keen daughter, Eva The Right Honorable Mr Knott-Snowing... and his lovely daughter, Gladys

.......The World was all before them, where to choose Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide: They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow, Through Eden took thir solitarie way. The End ( or is it?)

Jiang Ziya may have had what Margaret Thatcher notoriously described as... " Enlightened self-interest."

I prefer an oversize zafu. Shop around for the best price.

Man I'll not miss union rep get together meetings. These young reps coming up all seem to be wannabe 'New' Labour MPs. Us old Co-Op Party dinosaurs barely get a look in. Everything has to have a political angle so that they can share with us all exactly what 'their party' would do to make it all better. If I said ... " Comrade , this is NOT Prime Minister's Question Time." ... ....once this afternoon, I said it several. That meeting could have finished an hour before rush hour but for those wind bags dragging it out. As it was I had traffic all the way home. grrrrrrr

Jiang Ziya lived near the Weishui River about 3,000 years ago. The area was the feudal estate of Count Ji Chang. Jiang Ziya knew Ji Chang was very ambitious so he hoped to get Ji's attention. He often went fishing at the Weishui River, but he would fish in an unusual way. He hung a straight fishhook, without bait, three feet above the water. He often said to himself, "Fish, if you don't want to live any more, come and swallow the hook yourself." Soon his strange way of fishing was reported to Ji Chang. Ji sent a soldier to fetch him. Jiang saw the soldier coming, but ignored him. Jiang just went on with his fishing, and was saying to himself, "Fishing, fishing, no fish has been hooked. A shrimp is up to mischief." The soldier reported this back to Ji Chang, who became more interested in Jiang. Ji sent an official to invite Jiang this time. But Jiang again ignored the invitation. He just carried on fishing, and was saying, "Fishing, fishing, the big fish has not been hooked. A small one is up to mischief." Then Ji Chang realized Jiang may be a great talent so he went to invite Jiang himself and brought many generous gifts with him. Jiang saw his sincere desire so decided to work for him. Jiang helped Ji Chang and his son turn over the Shang Dynasty and establish the Zhou Dynasty. Jiang was given the title of Taigong so people called him Jiang Taigong. In this idiom, Diaoyu means "fishing," Yuanzhe means "a person willing to" and Shanggou means get hooked. Today, people use this old idiom to describe someone who willingly falls in a trap or does something regardless of the result. For example, if someone sells something at a price of 10 times its real value, and he does not care if it can be sold, his situation could be described with this idiom.

Fishing definitely. Angling adepts can even dispense with bait. There's an old story about that.

Dogen writes about enlightenment in his 'Bendowa' as cultivation ( zazen for Dogen but any cultivation done daily will do) enfolding enlightenment. Cultivation even at the outset is all of original enlightenment. So the Teacher , when giving advice to students coaches them not to seek enlightenment without cultivation because the cultivation itself points directly to original enlightenment. Because it is already enlightenment of cultivation , there is no end to enlightenment. Because it is cultivation of enlightenment, there is no beginning to cultivation nor any end either, you just 'do it everyday'. Sakyamuni Tathagata and Mahakasyapa taught that.. Cultivation similarly informed both Bodhidharma and Hui-neng's coaching and mentoring of their students.. This is all that transmission implies in Buddhism or any other physical/ spiritual cultivation based path such as Yoga. Disciplined cultivation is inseparable from enlightenment it is the essence of what 'is'. Butterflies never settle long in one place hence those who chop and change cultivations and are forever chasing after rainbows will never attain. Those who hit the mat each and every day; come what may; they get there. Eventually.

http://hardcorezen.info/joshu-sasaki/2936/comment-page-1#comment-63918 Sasaki was 107. He was Leonard Cohen's teacher.

Obituary here.... http://shambhalasun.com/sunspace/joshu-sasaki-roshi-dead-at-107/

Teachers intuit that... Darrens Chardonays Tysons Paris-es and Chantelles tend to flourish from extra attention as they are usually going home to a book and interest free environment ( factoring out TV and computer games) Toms Rebeccas Gareths Pamelas Rorys And Elizabeths ( not Bettys) Will be fine academically cos they have lots of books, at least a piano and generally a pony or two back at their "carefully rationed access to" TV/gaming homes. In addition , list 1 kids are likely to just have the one 'parent or carer-of' at home whereas the list 2 children have both Mummy and Daddy there to care for them.

As a fully realised being here one fully realises that you guys haven't the first clue. 'Enlightenment' ( other labels are available) isn't a destination; it's a map. Always.

8th June I began this thread and here we are at 29th July. Our house sold, retirement cottage bought ( both Subject to Contract). ' Early' ( none too soon) Retirement from work applied for and accepted, I finish at the end of September officially but apart from winding up union cases or handing over I don't need to go in. Cleared my desk of all but bare essentials ( tea bags, mug; spoon and a pen) yesterday afternoon. That felt good. We emptied the loft over the weekend and Mrs GMP boxed up the Christmas decorations ( 7 packing crates!) Every day another van load of 'life laundry' crap goes to the tip and today I'm making a start on the main garage. Union officers meeting at 3pm today over in the West Midlands which should be the last one that I ever have to go to as a rep. That aspect of the job I shall miss. Lobbing grenades can be fun.

Prawn farmer and a landlord was " John Chang" ( not his name). He had shares with his wife's family in a seafood restaurant too. His son continues the business side.

That seems pretty straightforward.

Welcome to TTB Corey. Those are good questions. As MH suggests , why not post them in Discussions ....

Ecclesiastes buddy, in the Bible. Ch1 verse 9 I think. ' What comes around goes around' is maybe another way of putting it. I was thinking of it in relation to the 'chicken and egg' of Crowley / Dee etc and Enochian magic. Somebody had to come up with it 'first' and we don't know who but after they did then all the dudes afterwards were recycling and re-inventing around an existing set of ideas. We get similar at work when, every few years; new managers come up with some big initiative which, on closer inspection generally turns out to be some rebranded and renamed old idea that we tried and failed with a few years previously.