Shamanic roots of Western World

[9th]

The root of all forms of Buddhism is dependent origination/emptiness.

 

To translate the 1st noble truth as, "all life is suffering" is a really misleading translation.

 

Many buddhists actually tend to leave it untranslated these days, to avoid the nihilistic connotations that have grown around this interpretation.

 

So we may say instead: "Life is dukkha." which invites people to explore the meaning of this statement for themselves, instead of having it defined in a way that is less than complete due to the discrepancies of translation.

[Vajrahridaya]

[ben]

One day Buddhism will be studied in a petri dish and scientists will conclude that its emasculation of biological impulses (survival) as one of the strangest afflictions humanity has known. No wonder Western Tulkus want nothing to do with it

[Vajrahridaya]

One day Buddhism will be studied in a petri dish and scientists will conclude that its emasculation of biological impulses (survival) as one of the strangest afflictions humanity has known. No wonder Western Tulkus want nothing to do with it

 

Ah, such a funny guy. Your take on Buddhism is quite interesting... deeply flawed, but interesting. One day, you will know death and hopefully before such a time, you will have a psychological anchor/focus/liberator to help you through it.

 

Your clinging to this impulse of survival as fundamental is quite telling. You must have a very intensely visceral fear of the death of the body, as illusory as it is.

[Vajrahridaya]

Many buddhists actually tend to leave it untranslated these days, to avoid the nihilistic connotations that have grown around this interpretation.

 

So we may say instead: "Life is dukkha." which invites people to explore the meaning of this statement for themselves, instead of having it defined in a way that is less than complete due to the discrepancies of translation.

 

Indeed. It's not nihilistic at all, upon deeper investigation into the meaning. But, most Westerners are quite surface oriented.

[ben]

More points for thought:I thought more.

Edited February 1, 2012 by ben

[Ulises]

Interesting...my imagination brings this image of a Terminator dressed in Buddhist robes...

I'll repeat it again: My heart melts when somebody shows his Buddha/Shiva/Christ/Osiris/Dyonisos nature...each time I meet you, Vajrahridaya, I feel that the "Buddhist" has kidnapped the Buddha..."mind", "mind", "mind"...where is your hridaya...?

Edited January 14, 2011 by Ulises

[Ulises]

In Broken Images

 

He is quick, thinking in clear images;

I am slow, thinking in broken images.

 

He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images;

I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images.

 

Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance;

Mistrusting my images, I question their relevance.

 

Assuming their relevance, he assumes the fact;

Questioning their relevance, I question the fact.

 

When the fact fails him, he questions his senses;

When the fact fails me, I approve my senses.

 

He continues quick and dull in his clear images;

I continue slow ans sharp in my broken images.

 

He in a new confusion of his understanding;

I in a new understanding of my confusion.

 

Robert Graves

Edited January 14, 2011 by Ulises

[Jetsun]

Thanks to the op for posting the vid, western spirituality is an area I am very intreseted in and I think it is important to resurrect it as there is much in Eastern spirituality but much of it is prepared in a way to suit the psyche of the people of the country the teaching originates in and is perhaps not so much suited to the level of many in the west. I have heard that what is needed is an approach which is an amalgamation of the energy of the west with the wisdom of the east to create a more appropriate teaching for our time, which is something I agree with.

 

From my reading it appears traditional western mystics appear to stress hard work, activity and worldliness more than the eastern mystics, perhaps this is the natural way in the west was more yang and the east more yin and what is needed is a balancing of the two.

[Spectrum]

"The Fool on the Hill"

[rain]

In Broken Images

 

He is quick, thinking in clear images;

I am slow, thinking in broken images.

 

He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images;

I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images.

 

Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance;

Mistrusting my images, I question their relevance.

 

Assuming their relevance, he assumes the fact;

Questioning their relevance, I question the fact.

 

When the fact fails him, he questions his senses;

When the fact fails me, I approve my senses.

 

He continues quick and dull in his clear images;

I continue slow ans sharp in my broken images.

 

He in a new confusion of his understanding;

I in a new understanding of my confusion.

 

Robert Graves

 

Love it

[9th]

More points for thought:

 

 

Thusness- A rash

 

 

 

Is it an STD that has afflicted you? I haven't heard this term "thusness" before, would you care to lay it all out on the table so we can dissect its putrid corpse? (formaldehyde has a rather foul odor wouldn't you say)

[Vajrahridaya]

Yin (earth) that empowers them

 

One cannot take on Buddhist practice without the intention of loving kindness and compassion, with dedication of merits and taking up the path for the sake of all beings. This purifies ones Earth element through intention, thought and action.

 

In Vajrayana, we focus on the Earth element as yellow/gold radiance and purify it through various breathing and energy practices. There are plenty of masters in the Vajrayana tradition who demonstrate incredible physical health as well as mental buoyancy because they also purify the other elements in their system. I personally think it's pretty incredible that here in the West a student of Vajrayana, of which I know many who also practice Tai Chi or Baqua, as well as Chinese Herbal Medicine, as I think all these practices are great contributions to humanity.

 

ben,

 

The fact that you don't know what you are talking about when it comes to Buddhism speaks volumes about your lack of scholarship as well as your ego. Which I'm quite sure you cherish as it... "masculates" you.

 

All your life's goals are impermanent and even if you're strong (head strong) and physically healthy, you can die at any moment. I feel compassion for your lack of understanding and intuition about the nature of death and the Shakyamunis path of renunciation of ignorance concerning life/death, of which there are many branches of methods for the sake of realizing this nature.

 

Your other comments are not worthy of repeating due to their complete lack of factual support. Basically, your lack of insight weakens your ability to feel deeply.

 

Due to the law of dependent origination, your view creates your reality, as there is no static being, everything is malleable... So basically you are creating your own truth based upon how you are conditioned by your self created environment, kind of like a loop, or cycle. This truth is real and visceral for you, as it is your self created experience of which you cannot see the emptiness of, because you don't have insight into dependent origination yet.

 

Take care.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Vajrahridaya

[Vajrahridaya]

Interesting...my imagination brings this image of a Terminator dressed in Buddhist robes...

I'll repeat it again: My heart melts when somebody shows his Buddha/Shiva/Christ/Osiris/Dyonisos nature...each time I meet you, Vajrahridaya, I feel that the "Buddhist" has kidnapped the Buddha..."mind", "mind", "mind"...where is your hridaya...?

 

Your experience of me arises dependent upon your understanding of my words. Because you don't feel my heart, doesn't mean others do not. Which they do.

 

 

This Very Moment

 

My heart is wide open,

Like green grass fields with no hills in sight,

Red roses line the edges and the lovely wind ushers them into a playful dance.

Happiness abounds, like children's laughter during fun-filled after school excursion.

 

Love fills this body

This feeling emanating from the depths of my being,

This mind knows not from where this energy comes,

Yet its presence in the moment leaves it filled to contentment.

Not wishing for a thing or a place.

 

All outer darkness melts into this splendor,

Like wax into the flame of a candle.

All tensions from earths toil disappear,

And all feelings are turned into light.

Like the night into day when the sun has finished its ascent over the horizon,

Bringing bright charm and elegant bird song to this, the new awakening.

 

The mind holds stead fast to this Spring of Joy, this Breath of Fresh Air.

These lungs breathe deep and this is the exhalations exclamation,

"Where else is there to go but here,

What other time could there be............but now!"

 

-Vajrahridaya (JM)

[Ulises]

[Vajrahridaya]

It began about 30 years ago when my own animals came to me out of my own chakras.

 

Is there a native american word and experience for the chakras? As charka is a sanskrit word meaning wheel. It's applied to the spiritual experience first in Buddhist Tantra, then in Hindu Tantra. Of course, lots of New Agers like to take little tidbits here and there from different Western traditions where 7 seals are mentioned, this and that and say that this is referencing the chakras. Which it could very well be. Then again, it's also speculation too. You might know more than me on this. Are there actual ancient depictions of the chakras in any of the old Western traditions and did they name them, find their sounds, etc.?

 

So, this practice sounds like a blend of Native American and Hindu Tantra in a sense. Which is just this persons personal experience and karma manifesting, which could be just that, a mixed bag between Native American and Indian conditioning through lifetimes.

 

Anyway... just wondering if there was a Native American experience and term for the same, or Celtic... whatever.

[9th]

On 1/9/2011 at 8:58 PM, 9th said:

antique ethera of the protractys

 

pythagoreans traced

pentagrams inscribed

in nested rings described

outer space xenophile

pearlescent inner orbit

extraneous submergence

internal coalescence

expressed in cycles

rotational forces expelled

from centrifugal excellence

enfolded zenith and horizon

in spinning insurgence

hyper-elastic transition

explicable translation emergence

inverted serpent trance

coiled transistor

enhanced capacitor

rising heliocentric lunacy

encodes particulate excelsior

 

[CedarTree]

As I practice more Zazen and intensity like Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery *Although I have never done this level lol*

 

I can say I have started to understand Shamanism.