Apech

I like this chapter:

The world is full of half-enlightened masters. Overly clever, too "sensitive" to live in the real world, they surround themselves with selfish pleasures and bestow their grandiose teachings upon the unwary. Prematurely publicizing themselves, intent upon reaching some spiritual climax, they constantly sacrifice the truth and deviate from the Tao. What they really offer the world is their own confusion. The true master understands that enlightenment is not the end, but the means. Realizing that virtue is her goal, she accepts the long and often arduous cultivation that is necessary to attain it. She doesn't scheme to become a leader, but quietly shoulders whatever responsibilities fall to her. Unattached to her accomplishments, taking credit for nothing at all, she guides the whole world by guiding the individuals who come to her. She shares her divine energy with her students, encouraging them, creating trials to strengthen them, scolding them to awaken them, directing the streams of their lives toward the infinite ocean of the Tao. If you aspire to this sort of mastery, then root yourself in the Tao. Relinquish your negative habits and attitudes. Strengthen your sincerity. Live in the real world, and extend your virtue to it without discrimination in the daily round. Be the truest father or mother, the truest brother or sister, the truest friend, and the truest disciple. Humbly respect and serve your teacher, and dedicate your entire being unwaveringly to self-cultivation. Then you will surely achieve self-mastery and he able to help others in doing the same.

Thanks for posting the link.

Some of the chapters which talk about ego and separation sound quite Buddhist to me.

I found the last period especially the last few days around the full moon very stressful. At night the moonlight was very bright here - unusually so and now the weather, the sun has gone burning hot unusually so for mid September.

Not sure what its all about but feels like something is up to me.

Hi Stig,

Welcome back. Sincerely. Look forward to your contributions as I always have done.

Manchester Mantle,

Since you don't seem to have singled me out for a personalized attack ... well not one I recognize anyway ... I don't feel the need to answer. I think your post clearly shows where you are coming from.

A.

 

 

I use solar power for my fish ponds. My up front costs were recovered about three years ago so basically I am getting free energy.

 

 

What do the fish say when you send them the electricity bill?

Hello JZ that's quite a story!

Welcome to TTBs and I hope you enjoy your stay.

A.

Just for the record. Steve sent that PM on his own initiative and as an individual - it was not part of any moderator discussion. It was his own personal reaction to Stig's activity on here recently.

I thought several times about writing to him myself but time and just the personal nature of the attacks on the mod team put me off. The mod team are completely comfortable with what we have done and are doing. All decisions including that of suspending Scotty are made in good faith for the ultimate benefit of TTBs 'community'. Its a difficult job to do and we are not so blinkered that we think we get everything spot on every time ... but this is a moderated forum and as such members should for the good of everyone abide by the decisions made. Just to reiterate it was a seven day suspension not a ban or a death sentence.

Hi,

Just thought I'd dip into the naughty thread as light relief from reading all the whats-wrong-with-moderation threads.

Haven't got anything to contribute ... my remote is well, remote ... they call them commandos here in Portugal which sounds more interesting. Pass me the commando - has a kind of domanatrix ring to to it, don't you think?

LOL and I am saying that moderators should be stepping in AT ALL and it should be members themselves sorting it out just like we did here: [Moderation] -- tulku

 

Just to clarify (as I did on that thread) Tulku was contacted by the Mod team before your thread was started and given a warning. He then self-edited.

As a matter of record I want to point out that Tulku was contacted by the Mod team about his post (which was reported by three other users) before this thread was started. He edited his post as a result of moderator action in line with what the membership wanted.

Witch has self-edited without such a request.

We are still considering whether any further action is needed.

Eight and a naked woman (and a man behind her).

Do I need to change my medication?

I think there are some moderating missteps going on here; JMO. Too long to act in the first place and too quick to act in the second place.

 

....

 

Nobody said a mod job was to make friends... those of us who have been there know this . Keep the faith of doing the best you can do.

Dawei,

Thanks for your comments.

I think we agree about the time lag but it is almost inevitable given that the mod team are spaced around the globe. I'm in Europe, Mal in Australia, Steve and others in US. If a post is reported then we have a discussion amongst mods about what to do - this can take some time because of the time differences and so on. Also despite what some seem to think ... we think long and hard before acting. We are not a 24/7 service - we have lives to live we have to fit this all in to the rest of our day.

I think I need to point out that Mal went to some effort to say to the parties involved to sort it out and move on. But this didn't happen. Scotty even started this new thread with the sole objective of getting another poster suspended. Maybe our delay in suspending Seth was part of this but I don't see its in the spirit of TTBs to sort out your differences in this way. People talk about self-moderation as being the ideal but that's not going to be possible unless people calm down and respect each other.

Most of the feedback I've got is that Scotty should be suspended for longer or even permanently banned. This hasn't happened. He has been suspended for 7 days only - which is not a long period of time. His response to this is to log on with different accounts and hurl abuse at me initially. I don't care if he swears at me - I just think its pathetic. Even if the decision to suspend him was wrong (which I don't think) then his reaction speaks volumes especially for someone who has claimed on here to be enlightened in the Buddhist sense.

He has demonstrated one thing - that we moderate by consent. We try to reflect the mood of the board as well as the guidelines that Sean wanted. We are aiming for mature, informed debate about important issues. I think we are making progress - I hope people will understand that and support us.

How could a Buddha ever stand up to someone who can light pieces of paper with their bare hands or stick chop sticks through a dining table?

Well ... twice in one afternoon is my limit for being fucked.

Scotty2000 should not be posting here because as Scotty he is suspended for 7 days. For this reason and not for the personal abuse (before, during or after the fact) I am banning permanently the username Scotty2000.

You're not welcome.

Neither are you TBH.

How about you copy and paste ONE instance of something I said which deserved suspension. How about you write clearly how it violates a rule or policy here.

 

Just one.

 

Then I'll respect the decision.

 

Until then, fuck you personally, "Apech".

Thanks.

 

...

 

Your actions have not helped me to move forward whatsoever. In fact, they are only pissing me off and further bewildering me. You didn't burn the bridge previously, but now you have. FUCK YOU MAL, AND FUCK THE REST OF THE MODERATORS WHO DECIDED THIS. You are all fucking idiots and deserve to be removed from your positions of power.

It's a 7 day suspension not the end of the world, so why not try to get that in perspective. You clearly have no respect for other posters, especially the mod team, and what this place is and how it is run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WhhSBgd3KI&feature=related

 

 

 

Ain't that more like google "fate"?

 

Google fu would be the ability to find something really easily A google fu master would be able to link to references for topics I haven't even made yet it seems like magic, but that's just because their skill is on a whole other level.

If I could foresee the links and topics you might not yourself even have thought of would that make me a clairgooglant?

Yes modern theories suggest that it was possible to build the Great Pyramid using a system of internal ramps, pulleys and rollers or mud slides ... engineers have also pointed to mistakes made in the construction of the sarcophagus chamber roof which had to rectified ... indicating that they were learning as they went along.

However this does not take away from how much is unknown about the pyramid. It is possible that Khufu was doing repairs to something which (like the sphinx) was far older.

...

 

Perhaps nearly every culture lacks internal security? Perhaps nearly every culture wants a scape goat to blame things on? Perhaps nearly every culture refuses to take responsibility for what they do?

 

...

 

This is a view derived from a Judeo-Christian outlook that God or gods are there for security or to be blamed for something. If you study other cultures (including religious Taoism!) you will find the view of god(s) is very different. They are powers like forces of nature or aspects of consciousness ... however you like to put it ... with which you can enter a reciprocal relationship. Worshiping in this context means simply remembering the truth that they embody and applying it somehow to your own life.

Worship is continual remembrance ... can't remember who said that but it's correct.

Hi Mrs. Vaj,

Perhaps we are not like computers at all and so the whole analogy doesn't really apply. All I can offer is some intuitive sense that there is some kind of continuance after the body stops working. I can't prove it and many will tell you its fantasy but there you are. You have to make your own mind up.

Have you asked your husband?

A.

The text link was good.

 

What's "humility"? I recognize it as something that helps if you want other people to appreciate you but I'm pretty sure I have it backwards (as usual:-))

Aha. The word humble originally meant your offal, your intestines etc. (which are snake like) ... so being humble is being basic or perhaps fundamental. Most snakes crawl on their belly ... but this snake Neheb-kau has legs. When the Egyptians put legs on things it is a symbolic language for 'it moves of itself'. Compared to the energy which provides ka(s) and links them all together, Neheb-kau ... we should be humble.

So in the Negative Confession ... the judgement scene of the weighing of the heart - when judged before Neheb-kau you say " I didn't think of myself as anything special ... I didn't distinguish myself from what I fundamentally am ... I kept things in proportion."

Egyptian art is like their writing ... it has to be read to be understood.

a link to a story involving the serpent god

Shipwrecked sailor

hilarious:-)

Sorry, hope you don't think I' blaspheming.

O Nehebkau who comes from the city:

I have not sought to make myself unduly distinguished.

-- The Negative Confessions, The Book of the Dead

... its all about humility .

 

 

The Middle way is only for the city people, the subnormal human losers who lack the will to give up anything and everything, even life itself if it is required, in their search for godliness and immortality.

a bodhisattva would never describe anyone like this ... you quote Buddha one minute and then say this in the next ... how do you reconcile these views?

Thanks for this information. Great.

Just a question - are people saying Three treasures = jing/qi/shen = three types of qi?

A.