GrandmasterP

Plus ca change. Beh oui?

I do think there's some energy generated by people sitting and cultivating together. Maybe it's just perception though and that freedom to do nothing else but cultivate all day. Silent does the trick for me. I've been on some retreats that were super focused ( for me) and I got more out of the retreat in the time I was there than I would have gotten from the same time cultivating on my own at home. The worst retreat I ever went on was one with a lot of talking and 'sharing' in groups. That suited some attendees but it wasn't for me. It felt like being at work somehow. I'd never want to live like that though. Those full time zen monks and nuns are deeply weird individuals. Nice for a visit surely but no way would I ever want them as full time housemates nor they me probably.

Oh for goodness sake, get a room you two. :-)

M&S is bleddy good online. I ordered a pair of trousers one night about 8pm and they were waiting for me to collect in the store at 9 am the following day plus I got a coupla quid off for a first online order. In and out in five minutes I was. No way will I walk round M&S looking at stuff. The one nearest us is supposedly the biggest M&S floorspace store in Europe, it is massive.

Magpies here. I always 'salute' magpies whenever I see them. Very wise bird your magpie. Doesn't do to offend them.

http://www.matalan.co.uk/events/savings?utm_source=GOOGLE&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=matalan+dresses&utm_campaign=brand&mvid=p4104417994&page=1&size=36&cols=4&sort=0&id=/events/savings&filters[Department]=womens&gclid=CKmJhbuyrL4CFa3LtAodIBUAxw&gclsrc=aw.ds Two for one on slacks this month at Matalan. Bargain!

Nope Courgettes. These guys....... https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=courgette+images&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=P-RzU4aXFMKw7AasjYDIBw&sqi=2&ved=0CF0Q7Ak&biw=1024&bih=644 What's wrong with Matalan for frocks anyhoo? :-)

Cue redneck jokes. Welcome to TTB redneck. :-)

How so unlike the home life of our own dear Queen!

Yep. Osho was a merry prankster and no mistake. That said his Chaung Tzu book is still tops IMO... Free copy here http://www.oshorajneesh.com/download/osho-books/Tao/When_the_Shoe_Fits.pdf

Ego Id ( or maybe it idn't).

Oxymoron shurely?

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Courgettes will do instead of okra. Goujon cut and in for the final five minutes. Lovely and who doesn't have a glut of courgettes towards the end of summer?

Oh boy you got that right. We went from work on an awayday meditation training session at Todmorden Buddhist Centre one time and the nun dishing out the rice at lunchtime was doing it with her none to clean looking hand. Just reaching into the pot and plunking a fist full of rice on everyone's plate. Nobody ate much rice. First and last time we ever went there.

Catfish gumbo too there's tasty. Has to be a red stock for me. Beetroot, peppers, red onions and tomatoes. Lots of salt and pepper. Some hot chillies sliced with the seeds left in. Scotch Bonnet variety we grow and use, you don't need many or your erse catches on fire the day after. Get that fried in some good butter until soft then add some fish stock and drop in some halved new potatoes in their skins and cook it off until the potatoes are nearly done. Then tip in some good sized chunks of diced catfish for the last ten minutes or so until they are just cooked through but not rubbery. That's fine feedin'

Man I could just eat a nice piece of fried catfish right now. Nice slab dredged in a beaten egg then some flour and breadcrumbs and pan fried until golden brown and crispy outside but still catfishlicious tender and moist inside. Now that is good eatin' right there.

No. Scriptures, all of them in all religions are simply PR produced after whoever started out the original cultivation - died. Nobody ever read their way to enlightenment or beyond it. Two last dying words seldom heard... 1: I wish I'd spent more time at the office. 2: I really shoulda read more scriptures. I love reading, sutras, cultivation books, novels, poetry, general stuff. Love it. I love to cultivate too. Given a forced choice between the two I'd plump for cultivation every time. Reading is second hand, author's brain to my brain. Ultimately fictive. Cultivation just 'is' and it is here, now and real.

Good manners cost nothing. Arrogance might be a sign that the person feels insecure. Thing is if someone is perceived to be arrogant by others then ultimately that is to their own detriment because people will tend to avoid an arrogant person. An arrogant manager is only ever told or shown what it is that staff chooses to show or tell her or him hence they are not an effective manager. A pleasant manager will find out more and more work will be done. People deliver better for managers who they can relate positively to and with. On the other hand some people can objectify confidence as arrogance. " Reverse snobbery" we used to call that. These days it goes by 'passive aggression'.

Has to be silent for me. Steve's schedule looks good. Zen for me every time as you get an evening meal. Some Buddhist tradition retreats they don't feed you at all after lunch.

I was married to a vampire one time. That said, she was a very good cook. Never used garlic in anything though. ;-)

Kiss and make up. :-)

It's maybe not so much a 'versus' in the sense of conflict between two schools but one of approach. We all read a lot for sure. No library no Tao Bum. Most of us cultivate some form or another too. Those who cultivate will fall into two main camps. Those who are taught by a teacher and those who have learnt from books and DVDs. Now I suspect but do not know, that the libraries of those former cultivators, taught by a teacher will have lots of general works and maybe not so many on what teacher teaches. Some for sure but not to the exclusion of other works. Whereas the library/ DVD stash of the Bum who has learnt from a book or DVD without a teacher might consist of works chiefly about the form they are currently cultivating with maybe another smaller stash of works on the forms they had a go at before this current one.

There's good eatin' on a catfish.

Throw some of those monkeys ( £500s) this way now. ;-)