GrandmasterP

Today... I am knackered. Totally cream crackered. Zonked. Drained. Early night for this lad.

What ya gonna do? It takes all sorts. Hence my call that gender is performative. Whatever floats anyone's boat then that's what floats their boat.

You got that right about 'white lightists' throwing out bad stuff now and again BKA. Some jobbing mediums can be absolute ratbags for bitchy gossip about their perceived competitors. Nice as pie with clients and in public but get a bunch of mediums gossiping together and woe betide the ones who did not turn up for coffee

I reckon that they keep pretty busy in " No-where". :-)

That is good value. Our seaside cabin near Skegness at the end of this month for 7 nights is costing us not far short of £700

I knew a guy in Blackpool, tram driver he was. Big built lad , used to play rugby. He had gender re- assignment surgery and once it was done he announced that he was a lesbian and only ever dated women. All part of life's rich pattern IMO.

Yep I hear that bro. Trungpa's done to death online for exactly these reasons. I don't have a dog in that fight, I just met the guy is all. He was a shambling incontinent wreck of a man ruined by booze. Maybe he was an enlightened master he for sure had the lineage to be one. When he spoke at Tassajara Trungpa was off his face and fell off the platform twice but David Chadwick records that many present said it was the best Dharma talk they ever sat. We each choose our own heroes or none. Done here now, all good wishes with the thread.

Good idea. How about an... " Upcoming Events" thread title? Maybe sub threads for Europe/ USA/ Elsewhere.

Love it. Gender is performative and anyone can choose to dance to whatever tune they choose to dance to here online. If it's troubling anyone then try meditation to reflect. Begin by asking... What is it? And move on from that. Hope that helps.

Quite right. The effects are universally acknowledged across all cultures. Only the labels vary in describing the same thing perceived through differing linguistic and cultural lenses. The numinous is indescribable albeit some poets and artists make a fair attempt at doing so.

Nous exigeons que le sexe dit la vérité [...] et nous exigeons qu'il nous dit notre vérité, ou plutôt, la vérité profondément enfouie de la vérité sur nous-mêmes moulin que nous pensons que nous possédons dans notre consciousne immédiate.

I met Trungpa a time or two when he was up at Oxford. He was always pissed. Always. Total alcoholic. Lineage neither aids drunken-driving nor will it save one's liver. A sad case and a life cut tragically short by addiction.

Just say someone sits for meditation but in doing so they are aspiring to attain to a trance state. The meditation dissolves at that point of aspiration. Desire is just that, whatever the object of desire. A trained medium can enter and leave trance safely and at will and be completely physically and psychically safe whilst entranced. Others are best leaving trance well alone. There be dragons out there. Reflect upon one's 'desire' to attain to the trance state. What is it?

Man now there's a debate we could happily spend the rest of our lives exploring. I'll see your 'text worship' in and from Confucianism but raise you post-Chan extra or contra-textual praxes. Out on the ground, in one corner we have textual groupies endlessly trading yards of 'scripture-cum-sutras' and analysing same as per some threads on here. Over in the other corner we have those who simply get on and cultivate leaving the words to the wordsmiths. It's horses for courses and personal preference. Some like to read, write and think about cultivation. Some just cultivate. There's room for all sorts and conditions so each to his own say I.

Good call DreamBliss. Just sit. Regularly. If you must ponder anything simply investigate.. " What is this?" A taught retreat will also help you get chance to speak to an experienced teacher. Jimmy Yu is coming to London to lead a weekend retreat in early December. He's one of the best in the business.

+1 Those guys are the real deal because the best sensei's recognise them as such and recommend them. Hence they always draw big crowds and as soon as you see someone who is on top of the game it is pretty easy to tell. I like MA for that, there's very little BS with MA, what you see is what you get as a rule. The best players tend not to get their erses kicked too often. With the IA there are plenty of teachers out there who talk a good game but who is to tell if they are right or not? It's all happening inside and invisible so how do 'we' know for sure? Meditation retreat leaders maybe. If they are good then it's more likely to be a good retreat experience. Thing is though with MA you can generally see an improvement in peoples' practice whereas with IA you're more likely to 'hear' about an improvement or an effect. IA's more subjective in a way.

I don't have any people. If I did they would be welcome to 'do lunch'. Was on a radio show one time, no biggie just local radio plugging a charity gig. There was a Z list celeb as a guest in the studio too. When we came out she seriously said to the producer... " I'll get my people to call you and we'll do lunch darling." My one and only brush with celebrity that was. :-)

One of the best teachers I sat with was terrible but I learnt a lot from her. How NOT to teach being the best lesson. We don't have any secret-woo stuff in our school/tradition. It's all out there for free online and a small donation to cover dojo hire and pay for the tea to attend a class. If a cultivation works for you and you're happy with the teacher you'll stick with it, if it doesn't suit then you'll probably go elsewhere. The 'real deal' is whatever works and what works for one may not work for another. Hence the wide menu of cultivations on offer.

"Lineage charts are myth-making devices designed to prove the authenticity of the teaching and to validate the teacher. Therefore, the importance of these charts lays mostly with those at the end of the chart. After all, long-dead masters have no use for lineage charts, but contemporary, living teachers and students may place great importance on these charts. To say that one's teachings are part of a long history that can be traced back to the Buddha himself gives great power and legitimacy to a contemporary teacher." We've said as much on here before now. No disrespect to any lineage holder, a good teacher is a good teacher but go far enough back and every lineage dissolves into myth. That doesn't however delegitimise lineage but it can demystify it and that's no bad thing IMO. Howsoever long a teacher's lineage may be, if he or she is a useless teacher then her or his students won't learn much of value, lineage or no lineage.

The sum of £25 is called " A Pony" in UK underworld economics. £20 is a Score, £25 is a Pony, £100 is a Ton, £500 is a Monkey, and £1000 is a Grand.

Zen master Daowu visited the assembly of master Shitou. Daowu asked, What is the fundamental meaning of Buddha-dharma? Shitou said, Not to attain, not to know. Daowu said, Is there some turning point in going beyond, or not? Shitou said, The vast sky does not hinder the white clouds from flying Shitou said, Not to attain, not to know. Understand that in Buddha-dharma the fundamental meaning is in the first thought, as well as in the ultimate level. This fundamental meaning is not-attaining. It is not that there is no aspiration for enlightenment, no practice, or no enlightenment. But simply, [there is] not-attaining.

£25?

Good post. Thing is though there's a limited choice for most folks looking for a cultivation and a teacher who they can see regularly. Most of us tend to end up at a local dojo that is 'best fit' and take it from there. It is nice to schlep off on retreat now and again and learn from some big hitter but for weekly contact and training a local teacher is as good as it gets. A humble local teacher who knows her or his stuff is far better than the very best teacher via a book or DVD. Being physically present with a teacher and amongst other cultivating colleagues as a normal part of our weekly life beats any and all remote media hands down. No book or DVD can effectively differentiate delivery to meet individual learning needs.

"When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending." (Thich Nhất Hạnh).

Behave! :-)