GrandmasterP

They leave a sort of circular skin trapdoor when they bite down too and they bite deep as they don't discriminate between thick horse flesh and much thinner human skin. Vampires of the insect world your horse flies.

I sported a fulsome bushy and long beard until I went bald. Then it looked as if my head was on upside down so the beard had to go.

You got that right. TTB is a veritable paragon for mutual tolerance and equitable moderation compared to some fora out there.

+1 Selective memory can indeed be most refreshing. If I dragged up from 'deep memory' some of the snafoos and cock ups that I've perpetrated whilst bumbling through these past 62 years then life wouldn't seem nearly so jolly as it does. F.I.B. = File In Basement. ( Did I mention that I was once married to a vampire?) ((((( shudders)))))

I'll bow to your insight ChiDragon as it really does put wu wei into a dynamic perspective as in 'actively doing no harm'.. I've been going on this wiki definition..... "The literal meaning of wu wei is "without action", "without effort", or "without control".

I've no idea as to dates, it was what the guy was describing as a sort of process that had me thinking about how wu wei might fit or not fit in with meditation.

( My section 1).... "When I asked Old Shang to be my master and Pai-kao-tzu to be my friend, I decided to work hard to discipline my body and mind. After three years, I was afraid to have notions of right and wrong, and I did not dare to speak words that might offend or please. It was only then that my master glanced at me and acknowledged my presence. Five years later, I thought freely of right and wrong and spoke freely of approval or disapproval. My master gave me a smile. Seven years later, my thoughts came naturally without any conceptions of right and wrong, and words came naturally without any intention of pleasing or offending. For the first time, my master invited me to sit by his side. ( My section 2) Nine years later, no matter what came to my mind or what came out of my mouth, there was nothing that was right or wrong, pleasing or offending. I did not even entertain the idea that Old Shang was my master and Pai-kao-tzu was my friend." (Quoted from Lieh-tzu: A Taoist Guide to Practical Living, Eva Wong, Shambhala, 2001.) There's a sort of progress there between (My section 1 & my section 2) from actively 'doing' in section 1 to not doing in section 2 but the guy needed to go through section 1 to get to section 2so is wu wei 'latent' in section 1 ( kinda like potential energy) and then actual in section 2 ( kinda like kinetic energy but 'doing nothing' energy). OR Is it wu wei all the way through both sections?

Man I am a long long way from there. Many a time I don't even understand my own comments let alone anyone else's.

It was 'inference' as much as anything else MH. For sure there's no mention of cultivating mediation as such but is wu wei ( amongst all else that it might be) a meditative mindset or not? Is there 'wu wei' over on one side and meditation over on another side as two different things? OR Might wu wei be an aid to or a tool for meditation? What genuinely puzzles me is that if wu wei is 'doing nothing' then if one is consciously cultivating 'wu wei' might one actively not be cultivating it 'really'. As in..." By doing something I am NOT doing nothing." All good comments so far and I confess to be thinking aloud here. I have no agenda because I have no idea one way or t'other.

The minute some dude realises some poor desperate sap will pay good money ( or cowries shells or whatever) for a bit of bespoke hocus-pocus with 'two for the price of one' added platitudes then right there and at that point religion is born. Once the dude realises that he can franchise his schtick to other operators then you get a 'priesthood' and/ or lineage. And the rest, as they say; is history.

I once taught a bearded lady. Nice lass she was too.

Many thanks for those useful comments.

I said it back on page 1 ' Dzogchen wisdom or wisdom in Dzogchen' can be whatever someone who decides that their take on Dzogchen is the bees knees decides it to be. This thread is in danger of succumbing to DharmaWheel- itis. Over on DW whenever someone really wants to labour a point they bash everyone else over the head with endless polysyllabic cut and paste texts. IMO and it is only an opinion - the 3 vital points of Dzogchen = View, Meditation, and Action seem to be pretty well covered in the Tsiksum Nedek of Patrul Rinpoche. That text, along with extensive commentary, is translated into English by John M Reynolds as The Golden Letters. USA here.... http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Letters-Statements-Dzogchen-Master/dp/1559390506 UK here... http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1559390506/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1402688496&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Golden+Letters&condition=new

There's an old story that the 8 strands silk brocade idea comes from that self same weaving loom.

It is a shuttle and you can just see part of a representation of a ball of silk underneath it on the statue. If you look at the bas relief mural behind the statue you can see that she is weaving at a loom and about to 'throw' the shuttle using her left hand. Hope that helps.

No quay as such as the sea goes out too far. There's hard standing and they launch and take boats out across the beach using a tractor. It is very windy for sure. Loads of windmills just offshore with more planned.

She gave the ceiling two coats of paint as well. It's like a new bathroom now. My job's cleaning up afterwards.

No colour here. Tried it with and without specs. Nada.

I can see people erroneously referred to as 'dead'. No dragon's eyes nor other anatomical features though.

It's not what it used to be isn't deja vu.

I was so happy when bald came back into fashion. Still am.

Saw a student teacher from beauty therapy once do a demo of waxing. She picked out a 'volunteer', ex army guy whose speciality subject was teaching 'door safe' to nightclub security 'bouncers'. Big tough lad he was. She put the wax on his arm then a bandage jobby over it, waited and then ripped it off. They reckon his scream was heard as far away as the next faculty building.

"Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man," was supposedly said by the founder of the Jesuits, St Ignatius Loyola.

It is very slow flapping.

How do estate agents get a living and which jolly prankster in Government invented stamp duty tax on house sales? So here's the deal. The Estate Agent will sell our house and land for 1.4% of the total price we get for it which seems to be the going rate in this region. He's recommended that, to get a quick sale; we offer to pay the Stamp Duty purchase tax which is generally paid by the buyer and is 3% for properties over £250K, ours is a lot more than £250K as it's a smallholding {truck farm/ horse property}. On top of that the solicitor will take a fat wedge for conveyancing fees when we buy the seaside cottage but at least there's no stamp duty on that as it's on for £200K and we're negotiating for a bit less than that. Daylight bleddy robbery. I don't begrudge the Estate Agent and Solicitor their pound of flesh because at least they will be doing some work for us but the tax man is doing sod all but getting the lion's share for doing sod all. Those tax dudes should be made to wear bandit masks as part of their workwear. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.