Patrick Brown

I'm not that familiar with Chuang Tzu although I have read bits here and there I really should get a copy. Perhaps the text is available to download, I'll have a Google. I still think the Gia-Fu Feng / Jane English translations of the TTC is a beautiful book and most definitely a gem! Absolutely Yes and perhaps this is where the problems arise with things such as Theosophy and much of the new age mumbo jumbo? Perhaps that should read new age jumble? Hey at least all that new age stuff turned a few people on. Staying true to a belief system, as you term it, is very true of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism because even though they share a common root they are an evolution and as such certain ideas are dropped or redeveloped / clarified along the way. It's my opinion that the Vajrayana school of Buddhism is the fruit of this evolutionary process and it's teachings encapsulated within it's art and imagery. After reading quite a few Buddhist texts, which are often convoluted, I've concluded that beyond the "four noble truths" and the "eight-fold path" the main teaching of Buddhism is non-duality. I figure Buddhism is a means to an end i.e. Enlightenment and Taoism is the way one should strive to live once enlightened. So to me Buddhism and Taoism dovetail perfectly.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with that comment! I love the Tao Te Ching but I've always sensed something was not being said! It's hard to explain but perhaps the silence between the words is where the real insights lay. "the sage is alone and depressed" Beyond this words no longer have any meaning.

I think the jibe about TB monks eating meat might be a reference to idle gossip about them being a bunch of queers and sexual deviants! I doubt that this is true but then again it doesn't really matter as Tibetan Buddhism is dead! Long live Tibetan Buddhism!! The irony is that by trying to repress certain ideas the Chinese have simply given Tibetan / Mahayana Buddhism to the whole world. As for Vajrayana, well, as said it's a secret never to be told. So why has China been so successful throughout the ages? Well Lao Tze told us when he was being ironic: "stuff bellies and empty hearts"! And just for those that still don't get the core teaching of Mahayana Buddhism, "non-duality". Balance that?

This old chestnut again albeit in a different guise. I decline to comment!

Check this out: Source: http://in.reuters.co...-59548820110926 But of course the next Dalai Lama is bound to be Chinese! I don't think we'll see or even need another Dalai Lama as Tibetan Buddhism can stand up on it's own. For sure Lamaism will continue but the body of TB doesn't really need them anymore. I think TB belongs to the world now and it will find modes of expression other than the purely monastic. Teachers? Not sure they're really needed as TB is the most blatant expression of the truth, well as far as I can see, and doesn't really need any narrative. We should actually stop calling it Tibetan Buddhism as Mahayana suffices and as for Vajrayana well that's a secret never to be told!!

double post server glitch!?

Pity this thread has been moved to the, err pit, as it raises many interesting questions. I'm fairly familiar with Blavatsky and Theosophy although I never really bought into it unlike my ex wife who used to go to meetings etc. It's worth remembering that most Theosophical ideas come from the worlds religions together with science and philosophy. The idea, it seems, was to build a coherent system available for all to study yet every individual is biased unconsciously to one view or another. Theosophy does emphasise again and again that the individual must test every assertion / idea until the breakthrough to some higher understanding is achieved. Now I never really had much interest in all the "root race" stuff but here's what I think they were trying to say: There is an unfolding of consciousness which migrates through different bodies of experience. So if we talk of a subset of races say the seven races of the fifth "root race" then the seventh race will become the first race of the six "root race. Something like that! Anyway the point is that we all must travel through all the "root races" as well as all the sub races. It's not possible to jump races just as a cat doesn't suddenly give birth to a dog. So what does this all mean? Well it seems that we fall into self consciousness in the human sphere through our desires and then through a process of gradual understanding disentangle ourselves so that we can move out of this human realm and into a different one. It may well be that our consciousness moves back into the animal sphere, yet desire-less, and then to the plant kingdom and then beyond the mineral to the consciousness of air and the elements? Of course all things are relative and most people will accept that there are worlds without human life just as there are worlds without animal life. I actually think all this "root race" stuff came from Hinduism was further refined in Jainism and then perfected in Tibetan Buddhism. Of course the idea of rounds of existence and different races does appear in other cultures and religions not least with the race of Adam and then Eve which might be seen as the first and second "root races".

OK most of us here know that combining certain foods increases the "full protein" available to the body but what's disturbing is that we are now being told that this is a myth! I personally have no doubt about the science of creating full protein but why are some people trying to twist the truth? The meat marketing peeps perhaps? And yes I do eat meat but less as I get older.

Can't beat a bit of soul! I used to be a soul boy but more early 80's stuff such as:

http://www.esnips.com/doc/9154a82b-4417-43ed-95fc-fa74faca7051/Track-12/nsnext

Some of the guys here know me from what was a seemingly endless debate, several years back, as to the veracity of Kunlun. Be interesting to know what people think they've gained after doing the practice for a year or two?

Yes that's what I heard but surely people with a large amount of muscle mass would benefit from food combining? I'm sure we've all heard about vegans, vegetarians and fruitarians that are into body building? I'm pretty slim and light weight so I obviously don't need as much protein as most people.

Thank you, very interesting. http://en.wikipedia....tritional_value

bump

No but there must be stuff on the web. I wouldn't consider it full time but rather every few months I'd take a week out and just eat brown rice. Err that's small bowls of rice not large plates full!

Not that I'm aware of but there's plenty of stuff from the anti-Buddhist camp that tries to convince us they're a bunch of perverts! This is of course very doubtful but there's always a few bad eggs within any monastic group with the Catholic church leading the way! Anyway as the quotes above point out it wouldn't do anyone any good to know what they get up to as without the right understanding it would just seem like nonsense. Hey perhaps they would seem perverse to many hence why it's kept secret.

Well some books on macrobiotic diets have suggested than the aim is to get to a point where you can live on rice only. Now I wouldn't do this but I am tempted to try and live on brown rice for a week to see what the effects are. I see it almost like a contradictory form of fasting and imagine that it may be very beneficial to ones health.

More about Upaya: More about secret teachings: Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrayana

Enlightenment may be understood as an awakening through insight and understanding. So in conversation you explain something to someone and they are said to have been enlightened i.e They have been given the key to understand something. Spiritual enlightenment is similar except that the key relates to all life consciousness and existence. There are many examples of discourses from Jesus, The Buddha, Krishna etc that are an attempt at mass enlightenment but these are generally ambiguous and confusing to most people. The reason exoteric teachings are not more explicit is that without doing the groundwork people are prone to misinterpret and not fully grasp what they have been taught which can just lead to more confusion. So exoteric teachings generally only hint at enlightenment while conveying some moralistic narrative. I won't talk about esoteric teachings as it just gets too complex but I will touch upon spiritual practices. By spiritual practices we mean meditation, tai chi, yoga, dance etc. These practices help the individual to experience nirvanic bliss, or whatever you wish to call it, but they often don't lead to enlightenment. As I've said on a different thread not many people can become enlightened but all people can experience nirvana. So many practices exist that lead to a spiritual awakening but this is not enlightenment because there is a lack of understanding. So all beings will enter nirvana but only a few will have become truly enlightened. It's worth mentioning the doctrine of the two enlightenments which consists of the initial realisation and then the practice. So enlightened beings engage in spiritual practices which allow then to experience nirvanic bliss. It's these practices which are passed on to the masses so that they may partake of bliss. These practices are termed "Upaya" in Tibetan Buddhism (Mahayana Buddhism) and are not specific to Buddhism as many teachers from around the world devise methods and techniques to help people experience bliss. So experiencing bliss is not full enlightenment but many will think it is which is of course fine as most people can't become enlightened. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upaya

Middle-age-spread may well involve many factors although one which I've never heard discussed is food intake once our bones have stopped increasing mass. Apparently our bones continue to build their mass up until the age of 25 - 40. So once our bones stop being regenerated all the energy that was once used to constantly build bone mass is redirected to other physiological purposes. Of course if one was to continue to have the same food intake the extra energy is stored as fat tissue. So here's the intriguing bit: Digesting food takes energy and if you eat more food than you need then you'll simply put on weight. Also energy that could otherwise be used to regenerate the body is wasted digesting food and turning it into fat tissue! So eating food you don't need is a waste of energy and detrimental to one health and longevity. I find this even more intriguing as the imagery of Tibetan Buddhism and Jainism depicts saints, enlightened beings etc as being very slender. Any thoughts on this?