Apech

To all American Bums.

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1 hour ago, Taomeow said:

It's perfectly fine to do it the English way -- i.e. drop statements about the weather.

 

SeVOdnya ZHARko  -- it's hot today.

KhoROshaya poGOda -- the weather is nice.

BUdet dozhd' -- it's going to rain.

 

Or you could get curious (the American way):

 

OtKUda vy? -- Where are you from?

Iz kaKOvo GOroda? -- From what city?

Vam zdes' NRAvitsya? -- Do you like it here?

 

Actually, if you give me a sample list of things you would say to a neighbor who does speak the language, I can try to come up with a Russian situational equivalent.

 

 

 

They say what sounds like zharka for hot … is that a regional accent?

We have a family of Ukrainian Russian speakers in the village.  Everyday I try to say something in Russian to them ( cos they don’t speak the local lingo).

Privet, kak dela? Is getting bit old now- so what are some easy phrases/ normal pleasantries one might say in Russian.

oh and please transliterate from Cyrillic cos I can’t read that 😎

thanks

On 23/06/2025 at 9:13 PM, Cobie said:

 

 

Reminiscent of the Kirlian photography 

 

 

and the aura photography 

 

 

that used to be popular here (I think it was in ‘the 90s’).

 

 

Fake science.

Hello and welcome.

Welcome bobelroz - tell us a bit about yourself.

2 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

I cant find the 'remember Apech' button  

 

And I had no idea he had lost it . 

 

And why should it be up to us to help him reattach it  ?  

 

.. I just don't get this new technology !  

Every time a Daobum stops remembering an Apech dies.

34 minutes ago, Gerard said:

Why the rush? A password manager will log you nearly instantly as it will fill in the user and password automatically. 

TM has no manager!

I think there’s a remember me button you have to click.

Welcome Daoman.

14 minutes ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

if i said "no idea what Joy Division is"

would that be an unpopular opinion?

It would tear us apart again.

9 hours ago, Gerard said:

Yes, The Pit. Got the name wrong. 
 

Something called Hun Dun primordial chaos still exists but is hidden and not in use!  The odd thing about DaoBums is that nothing ever actually ceases to exist but is simply hidden from view. I am sure there is something deeply symbolic about this.

2 hours ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

Until the long awaited seson 4 of Single's Infergno airs, i am biding my time with Ultimatum Queer Love, .  I've just about given up on Married at First Sight, but still am riveted by Love is Blind, and wish they would do another Love is Blind Japan and add Korea.  Season 2 Love is Blind UK  will be a treat.  And I liked Love Never Lies Poland and South Africa were a cut above Love never Lies Sardinia.

OMG!  I thought I was talking to highbrow people

4 hours ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

 

Questions for anyone:

• If a religious leader or teacher engages in the behaviors above in bold, are they a spiritual master?
• Do the behaviors in bold above demonstrate spiritual mastery?
• How does it color or affect your views of their teachings?

I can answer from the point of view of Vajrayana which I practice.

If you have followed proper procedure, observed your teacher for about 12 years before deciding he/she is learned in the dharma, has realisation and follows proper ethical conduct ... and then with growing confidence have received empowerments from them which include samaya vows, have practiced guru-yoga in which one views the teacher as a perfect Buddha and so on.  You are effectively bound by the vows you have taken.  This is a serious matter and goes well beyond any normal human to human interaction.

Then, unfortunately for you, your teacher is found to have committed sexual misconduct etc.  then you are within the framework of guru-yoga required (since you have samaya vows) to regard his/her behaviour as a kind of test ... that the perfect Buddha is teaching you something profound.  This does not mean though that if asked by them, you have to engage in such acts, since the dharma teachings on this point say you should refuse to do so saying such things are undharmic.  It does not mean you should brush said behaviours under the carpet, you should if appropriate report such things to the police for instance (with the awareness that this too is part of the teaching and while holding on to the bond with your teacher).  They remain as far as you are concerned a spiritual master.

I know this is hard to understand but it illustrates that the vajrayana is a difficult path and that you should stick to the other yanas if you think this would be too difficult to stomach.  

Do their behaviours demonstrate spiritual mastery?  No but yes but maybe.  On the one hand they are unacceptable and should be addressed as I said above.  But if you read the lives of the mahasiddhas you will find that did all kinds of things which would make you gasp.  What Tilopa did to Naropa for instance.  Now ok these were already very advanced practitioners but again if they did it today they would certainly be in prison (not that they would give a damn about that) - and justly so.  Having said this, we don't live in the extraordinary times of great yogis - so generally you can be sure that the acts you hear about or observe are not spiritual mastery.

How does it colour our view of their teachings?  It gives us a big, big problem which is a teaching in itself.  In one sense these things are clearly undharmic.  We can say to ourselves clearly why that might be.  Not just shock horror at the thought of it - but clearly and rationally what is it that breaks the vows and so on.  From this we can learn a lot.  But on another level the shock to ourselves might be the teaching.  It could be quite ego smashing to go through this kind of thing - if you yourself are committed practitioner.  As it says in Lo Jong 'turn everything on to the path'.  When you sign up to the bodhisattva way it is not for a safe and gentle ride.  It might be a series of shocks.  From the other point of view it is quite possible for someone who is quite off the path to deliver a talk which perfectly follows the dharma.  If so would you throw those teaching away if you found he was sleeping with his students? 

The last point to make - which may sound a little trite but is necessarily true - is that the teacher, the lama or guru is simply an external focal point for you to get to know your own buddha-nature.  It is this that you are relating to fundamentally.  Provided this is what you are doing the rest doesn't matter.  

2 hours ago, liminal_luke said:

It´s true, as Old3bob has suggested, that spirituality and politics are interconnected, because, well, everything´s interconnected.  It´s also true that a person can have an opinion on Trump or Gaza or gun control laws and decide not to share it in deference to forum rules.

I like the way you slipped the T word in there.  This is a bit like sending drones in to soak up the Iron Dome before hitting it with hypersonics.  Moderators sleep ... but with one eye open

1 hour ago, Gerard said:

Thanks Apech. Something new I learnt about this forum.

 

Btw, The Curb was removed, wasn't it?

 

 

what is The Curb? I’m not sure what you mean.

9 hours ago, Gerard said:

Sorry,  but what is the Steward's Lounge?

 

Is this a "hidden from view" subforum which requires a specific grant access?

It is part of the board where moderators can discuss things.  You have to be a moderator to access it.  It dates back to a stage when different parts of the board had ‘stewards’ who had semi- moderation role.  I can’t remember when this was as the role was abandoned while the name of the section remained.  I posted there so that confidential information like TMs email could be shared without divulging it to the whole of the board.

So in effect you were right.

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

 

 

Did that man that walked by your door and didn't knock ... ever come back  ? 

 

 

 

Maybe, maybe not. What after all is certain in this life?

On 24/06/2025 at 12:02 AM, Mark Foote said:

 

 

"Bill Oddie was a rebel... he roamed, through the West..."

 

(apologies to Johnny Yuma)



 

I saw Bill Oddie in a hotel near Newcastle - he had a big backpack and was waiting for the lift.  Nothing really happened but given the dullness of my existence it was a bit of a high point to see someone famous.  I can’t remember what year it was.

I have also seen Morrisey of the Smiths and the lead singer of New Order in a theater.

I saw the Queen once but she didn’t know who I was I guess or she would have said something.

On 23/06/2025 at 6:42 PM, Apech said:

See my message in Stward lounge- Another Day thread.

She emailed to say she’s back in.

1 hour ago, stirling said:

Hello friends,

 

It appears that Taomeow has locked herself out of the DaoBums. The contact email she gave years ago doesn't seem to work anymore. Is there anyone that has a working contact for her so we can help her get back on, assuming she wants to? PM a mod directly. 

 

Thanks!

See my message in Stward lounge- Another Day thread.

13 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

Yes, I have seen Hathor related to 'the eye ' as well as Sekhmet .  The reason I asked is I  see that many people have a view of Hathor in her other aspects  ; 'benign'  .  Some say the more active or even wrathful aspect of her was Sekhmet .  But I did a practice for years on end -  'the 4 stations of the Sun '  - with adoration / invocation /meditation  at  dawn,  noon,  sunset and midnight , each day .  The noon position was ruled by Hathor  and seemed at first misplaced  ... especially here in summer with the fierce noonday sun , I imagined the same in Egypt .  However looking at a more traditional analysis , the placement  makes a lot more sense . 

Congrats on doing that for years - what results did you get? If you are able to share.

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

 

Do you see a relationship between this and Hathor  ? 

Yes indeed though Hathor has the cow aspect which more benign - her name means 'house of horus' or at least that is how it is usually translated.  The word for 'house' which is 'hwt' actually means the enclosure of a temple ... thus sacred ground.  She is a very ancient goddess and probably originally the sky consort of Horus (who himself was a sky god).  This probably older than the Heliopolitan sun cult of Ra which by the 4/5th dynasties had become prominent.  Sometimes Horus and Ra are conflated or become composite gods such as Ra-Horakhty etc sometimes the 'eye' or consort is One of a number of goddeses including even Isis depending on the locality of the tradition quoted.

21 minutes ago, Electric Sekhmet said:

I really like cats, and a wrathful lioness-goddess just seems really cool. saddly there arent many accounts of her 

She is usually associated with the Eye of Ra.  Ra the sun God had an energetic component called "sekhem" (often addressed as exalted sekhem).  The 't' ending to words  means female.  So Sekhemet or Sekhmet means she is the female embodiment of solar energy.  She has a wrathful aspect in this respect

1 hour ago, liminal_luke said:

@Apech @stirling

 

Question for Mods: Is discussion of current events and politics allowed within one´s PPJ?

Thank you Luke for asking a difficult question to which as far as I can see there is no clear answer 😀

Personal practice is generally self moderated and while the purpose is to record your thoughts arising from your practice - if those thoughts included some political musings then I guess that would be up to you.  Except to say our dear leader’s edict of no right wing bullshit would still apply (as that is his wish to expunge all right wing thought from the board).  So I guess that within bounds it might be ok.

Despite what people may believe the general purpose of moderation is to make DBs a pleasant and ‘safe’ place for all to post.  Experience has shown that political debate on here is often quite angry and unharmonious giving rise to lots of reports and antagonism.  It also seems to suck energy from the main purpose of the board to discuss Daoism etc.  

I think it is fair to say that we have done our best to try to strike a balance on this.  But maybe there’s a strong feeling amongst members that they want to ‘have at it’ with political debate(?).  
 

I don’t know the perfect answer to this and I think any positive suggestions would be welcome 🙏