sean

How to Offer to the Hungry Ghosts by Bill Bodri http://www.meditationexpert.com/Articles/h...osts-pretas.htm Manual of Zen Buddhism Search for "Feeding the Hungry Ghosts" http://www.buddhistinformation.com/manual_...en_buddhism.htm The Merit of Practice in a Cemetery (somewhat related) http://www.buddhistinformation.com/merit_o..._a_cemetery.htm Anterior Heaven Ritual for Feeding, Saving and Refining Ghosts http://www.eng.taoism.org.hk/religious-act...ls/pg4-6-3a.asp Mantra To Offer Food To Hungry Ghosts Discussion on E-Sangha http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php...topic=6477&st=0 Gate of Sweet Nectar: Feeding Hungry Spirits in an American Zen Community http://www.zencenter.org/bookstore/multimedia.htm

Thanks for the link. I use Windows 90% of the time, I just like to see things available for Linux because I am a nerd like that.

Yup. done. 8)

Thanks Max. I did the ritual tonight. Kind of ironic to do my first hungry ghost feeding on Thanksgiving. :shock: The ritual itself felt a little awkward, probably because of unfamiliarity and some difficulty pronouncing the foreign parts of the text. I'd like to know more about the history of this ritual and more importantly the symbolism behind the sigil, mudra, mantras, etc. I did some brief research online, but couldn't find much description of other ghost feeding rituals. I did find some posts on e-sangha from Buddhists that suggested it was an advanced, potentially dangerous practice that is typically forbidden to lay practitioners. Here's some of the links I dug up though: http://www.buddhistinformation.com/manual_...en_buddhism.htm (search for "FEEDING THE HUNGRY GHOSTS" very similar to Bodri's ritual) Another interesting article on the same site: http://www.buddhistinformation.com/merit_o..._a_cemetery.htm http://www.eng.taoism.org.hk/religious-act...ls/pg4-6-3a.asp http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php...topic=6477&st=0 http://www.zencenter.org/bookstore/multimedia.htm

Oh yeah, I remember hearing about the mouse gestures. Interesting idea. I think I'll check it out... And cool, it's available for Linux too (checking out their web page).

Thanks again for the tips Ron. I find Microcosmic Orbit practice does help me a lot. And I've been meaning to start juicing for awhile now. I'm saving up for a Green Star (http://www.rawpaleodiet.org/juicing-basic-1.html) That link was to a Sigur Ros video on you might like that was relevant to my commentary on wearing gas masks. It's the first one on the list here, you can try a different format: http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/media/dldvideo.html Mitch, thanks for the remind about hypnosis. I've experimented with it over the years with mixed results but I'd like to give it another go. I've been meaning to buy 3D Mind tapes as I've heard tremendous things about it: http://www.essential-skills.com/3dmind.htm Sean.

If no one has replied yet, you can repost as BobD and I can delete your original post. You can edit/delete posts that in your username, but not ones that are posted as "Guest".

Hmmm.. I'll have to check out Opera. I've heard that there is adware in it, no? I'm partial to Firefox as an IE alternative. Ever try it?

Hagar, how difficult do you think it is for a native English speaker to learn Norwegian? I know that's a difficult question, but just ball-park estimate. Most English speakers consider Spanish easy and Chinese inpenetrable. So on the Spanish to Chinese scale, what do think? I dated this girl from Norway a couple year back, gorgeous, tall blonde. She spoke Englsh fine and sometimes I would ask her to speak Norwegian and it was like what the fuck? I couldn't even mimic back the syllables she was saying, it sounded so esoteric to me. Anyway, I would love to live in Norway ... I'm actually going on vacation there with my girlfriend this summer. 8)

Thanks for the tips guys. I guess in a way I'm glad that it's not just me. Ron, is there anything you believe an individual can do to counteract the effects of all the toxins in our environment, ie: chemtrails? Besides wearing a gas-mask full time. (http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/mcarecords...led-no1_320.asx) Matthew, I strongly identify with descriptions I've read of ADD and was also diagnosed in my late teens. Thanks for the link. I'll check it. I'm realizing I should really address the ADD issues directly instead of hoping it will fix itself as the result of other practices/nutrition/etc. Max, thanks a lot for the insights. As I told you privately, I'm going to give the merit based practices a whirl. And I hope to expand them into this plane as well, since I've been itching to do some volunteer work for the last year. About getting excited and losing jing, I think I do that frequently and not just through ejaculation and alcohol, but also through intemperate moods such as bouts of melancholy, rage, anxiety and even occassional manic-type joy. So I think that for now, as much as it is humbling and even a bit disorienting to say this, I think the direct "mentally guided" alchemical work, at least at the speed that I tried to approach it, is not appropriate for where I am at right now. I think I would like to spend the next year with my focus on: Emptiness Meditation / releasing practice Vipassana, Sedona Method Moral/ethical development Merit and Virtue in practical life, relationships, work, finances, etc. CST Curriculum WW, Bodyflow, Effortless Gait running, etc Proper diet/nutrition Mostly via Kathleen DeMaisons work w/ some raw principles mixed in. Jing Gong - learning non-ejaculatory orgasm Most likely via multiples.com and maybe Dr. Lin's work (which I'm not familiar with yet) Light Energy Work As seen fit and to be determined. Ie: I really like playing with some of the HT practices when it spontaneously occurs to me to do so, ie: counterforce breathing, microcosmic orbit, especially the little orbit, etc. Now, how to create a progressive daily routine out of all this and one that I can stick with through thick and thin is the next challenge. :roll:

Hey Max, Just to be super clear, are these the correct directions for drawing the sigils?

Hmmm.. odd. I will look into is asap. Sean.

Did you have this problem before the new template Pietro? Just curious because I actually make the width smaller on this latest template, but I can make it even smaller if need be.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I've switched to "Flat View" as the default since "Threaded View" seemed to be running really slow on forums with larger post counts, ie: Taoist Discussion. Anyone else having similar issues? You can turn on "Flat View" as your default in your Profile if you want. Sean.

Dear Valued Client, This serves as notification that your site(s) may experience some downtime due to planned maintenance work. On November 24, between 00:00 midnight and 03:00 AM (U.S. Central Standard Time --06:00GMT) upgrades will be performed on our network which may result in minor outages. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience while we work to improve our networking equipment. Thank you for your understanding.

Ron, I'll definitely look into the Wiki over the weekend if I have time from stuffing my face with turkey and cranberry sauce. And I had similiar thoughts about how the site should be organized and I'm still thinking about them. Wether or not to have the home page the forum itself with the links up the top or have the home page be "portal" style with blurbs from "recent posts", news, links to the Wiki, a links section and maybe even a "store" which would be a page of books, products, etc. that we all can add to and review.

You can probably leave it the text altogether since currently the text isn't an image. What surprises you about the red? Do you like it?

Yeah sure. It can be taller too. But if we go with the random image thing we'll want to decide on a set size so the header doesn't keep jumping up and down or pushing left and right every time someone goes to a new page.

Thanks Yoda! Max, sounds like a great idea. One of the ideas I had was to make the logo_phpBB.gif (currently the dragon at the top left) a random image pulled from a directory of images. I'll figure out how to do that this week and then whoever wants to send in an interesting image to be in that directory could do so.

Thanks Ron! I think I might make another template soon though. One that is a little more gritty and goes with the "taobums" concept better. Like a Lao Tzu with a pint up in the header or something. 8) I'll probably still leave this template as an option though.

The Wanderling is great. I've read through most of his pages and go back from time to time. Welcome to the forum btw.

I'll look into it Yoda. I think it's made small just in case your screen resolution is really small, but I think most people are higher than 800x600 at this point. Sean.

I pruned the forums some more. I think this is a good division for now. And after we get most of the forum issues straightened out, I'll probably merge "testing" and "Forum and Tech Support". Haven't had a chance to check out the wiki software yet. I think it's a great idea to set up a wiki on the same site though. Let's look into it more once we get the domain and the site on it's own server. Sean.

Nice post Matthew. And I look forward to a synchronized group inauguration ritual with everyone once we get the site mostly complete. Sean.

Unfortunately I had to lose the template I designed when I installed the "threaded" mod. But once I get back from my trip I'll design a new look that goes with the "Tao Bums" concept. Good idea with making "flat view" default. I made this change. It's what I prefer as well, and probably what most people that use this type of forum are used to. You can still flip back and forth with the button on the top right and you set your preference in your profile as well. Sean.