GrandmasterP

If cold burn wood?

Our dogs often say 'Bark' and Mr Leo stops at every tree when he's out for walkies. Some connection maybe? Puppy Alice can say 'Mum' and 'Din- ner' too The late Maura 'Soishin' O'Halloran in her autobio..... http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0804819777/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Trained at a Zen monastery in Japan and talks about the noise in the queue of people waiting to go in and be tested for their Koan progress by the abbot. " Mu. mu, Mu , Mu , MU." Everyone practising Mu in their own desperate way. It was one of those traditions where they had to 'pass' through a series of Koans in order to progress towards ordination. Apparently " Mu" was the hardest one to pass. One guy had been stuck on " Mu" for twenty odd years and not passed it. He was a very good cook though so maybe that was why the abbot kept him Mu- ing.

MCO should do the trick so stick with the QiGong. These things tend to retain only as much power as we invest in them after a while so let it 'go with the flow' and move on. I was married to a vampire once. QiGong kept the old aura bright and bouncy throughout. It's 'good for whatever ails you' is QiGong.

The founder of 'our' branch of Spiritualism Joanna Southcott died in 1814. Her rather whiffy body had to be removed by force as the believers were in two minds, either she was in trance or she was about to be reborn ( in the same body). She was as dead as a doornail. The official death date is given as the day before her cadaver was removed for burial by the coroner's officers but in fact she'd been 'gone' for some considerable time.

Or maybe a dancing dog? .............................................................. The character wu 無 originally meant "dance" and was later used as a graphic loan for wu "not". The earliest graphs for 無 pictured a person with outstretched arms holding something (possibly sleeves, tassels, ornaments) and represented the word wu "dance; dancer". After wu 無 "dance" was borrowed as a loan for wu "not; without", the original meaning was elucidated with the 舛 "opposite feet" at the bottom of wu 舞 "dance". ............... (Wiki)...............,.,,,,,,,

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Snore and you sleep alone. ( Anon.)

That could depend on whether one either walks or is carried off the mat maybe?

Aye, some folks see rope and think "snake". That's a stone fact.

Deep respect to Damo Mitchell for all the time and obvious care he took to give us those answers.

The baby's parents care. Deeply.

"Consider this: 1. Would you ride in a car whose driver was on the consciousness-expanding "entheogenic" drug LSD? And here's a bonus question: 2. Why does an "expanded consciousness" include the inability to operate a motor vehicle? (Brad Warner -in- Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality).

I worked in South India for five years. Where we were they have just two seasons. The hot season. And The hotter season. Thing is to live as the locals live which for us meant very early starts to get work done before the cruel heat. Do sod all between 11am and 4pm and as little as possible after that. We had no air con but ceiling fans at least moved the hot air from one side to the other. You do acclimatise eventually. Coming home on furlough was the pits, I could never get warm in England. Took me the best part of six months to get back into cold UK weather when the contract was up and I came back for good.

As for enlightenment, that's just for people who can't face reality. (Brad Warner - in- Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip Through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma).

Thank you FH

Chocolate is a fruit. One of our 'five a day' is chocolate.

Or 'lost'. For example driving to some new place. Maybe best be all 'here' and follow that road map. "As for enlightenment, that's just for people who can't face reality. (Brad Warner: Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip Through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma).

Live a normal life plus cultivate, every flippin' day. Cultivation is what it is. There's nothing much else besides but anything beyond or as a spin off from cultivation is an unsought- for bonus. Not to generalise, but anyone claiming to be enlightened quite possibly isn't.

Cake works for me. The more cake I eat the fatter I become.

In some cases, not all; it isn't necessarily in the student's own interest to persevere with a cultivation that is causing them issues. Serious issues such as insomnia, anxiety, irritability, ennui and suchlike symptoms of potentially compromised mental health - be those extant , stemming from; or exacerbated by a taught cultivation. Not laziness. Laziness can, and always should; be worked through. A responsible, qualified teacher will recognise the student's individual need and advise accordingly. For some, maybe ' grin and bear it' works and autodidacts, of necessity; never get to see a qualified teacher. I've never yet come across a student for whom such 'just keep on doing it' means would be the best course. If something has caused or exacerbated an issue or condition then doing more of that something isn't going to resolve the issue. That isn't to say that there may not be students out there who might benefit from needless suffering. The ' Hero's journey' is an enduring story in every culture. Maybe it isn't always fiction. From a purely legal standpoint, if a student has complained to a teacher that there is an issue, and that teacher ignores or belittles the report and 'prescribes' more of the same.... It will not be very long before that teacher is in receipt of a solicitor's letter from the 'injured party's' 'where there's - blame there's a claim' retained lawyers. Mr Bodri's books carry the same 'disclaimer' foreword that all such works have to do. Real teachers ( in the sense of being really there physically to teach) are similarly constrained by insurance proscriptions, professional ethics and, one hopes; common sense.

"strive to realize that all earthly appearances are indistinct from reality...." All due respect to Mr Bodri but 'striving' is seldom recommended for anyone seeking to recover from any kind of illness. The old 'faith healer' get out clause has always been... " You weren't healed cos you lacked faith. Exercise MORE faith, then it'll work!" A responsible teacher might recommend simply stopping. There are plenty of cultivations out there and one way does not suit everyone.

" The girl that once I was, lives on in me. Where else would she go?" ( Camille Paglia).

How to put this politely. It is not meant judgementally merely as an honest observation. There is a 'Tibetan' Buddhist sect centre none too far away from us. They have a rather spiffy veggie cafe we like to visit whenever we are in that area. They only have robed 'nuns' the other workers just wear regular clothes. We have been going there a few years now and have seen several 'nuns' over that time. All the nuns are European ladies there are no Tibetans at all either nuns or ordinary staff, never have been. To a nun, each nun down there has been of that type where if not in saffron robes then one could easily imagine them wearing sensible shoes or Doc Martens along with husky and practical work duds. Ladies who, with the best will in the world no doubt; come across as extremely brusque towards gentlemen whilst at the same time being warmly considerate to said gentlemens' female dining partners.

Welcome to TTB kha. Thoughts are always there. The 'trick'' is not to become implicated in and with thoughts when cultivating. Just observe the thoughts as 'just thoughts' and gently return to the cultivation. Mindfulness practice is one way to develop that facility. There's more - and all free - info on that via the link in my sig below this post. Other methods are available to try so you can try lots and find out which works best for you. Hope that helps.

These may be of interest Jeff... http://alohadharma.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/the-refugees-of-mindfulness-rethinking-psychologys-experiment-with-meditation/ And Lim, Russell F., and Lin Keh-Ming. (1996) Cultural formulation of psychiatric diagnosis: Case No. 03: Psychosis following qi-gong in a Chinese immigrant. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 20:369-378.

Why tutor anyway? How about a counsellor or advisor? Lots of powerful people have those to keep them up to speed on what's going on and such a person would need to have reference materials from all sorts of traditions. In much the same way as our Prime Minister employs people to read through all the newspapers everyday and give him a summary of content as required from across the political spectrum covered by those various newspapers.