Apech

I am straight. But like a few here I have always had some gay friends (men and women).

I was surprised when I mixed in Buddhist circles to find anti-gay sentiment - although it was against the activity and not the person.

I like to treat each person as an individual, don't like stereotypes or prejudice ... hate hypocrisy.

Nice , I'll take some time to read this.

You must visit our Haiku chain if you haven't already.

The no button has been abducted.

Nothing is new.

 

 

 

 

It's totally possible that the photos were faked and put up to just open our minds to possibilities. Or some other reason. Or it's possible that they're real. Whatever is true, it has no impact on my practice or my life...so I see no problem continuing this discussion. Even if Max thinks taobums is just a bunch of people who badmouth teachers, and who don't practice. I like this place and the people here, and see no problem with discussing things, finding truths and helping one another.

ok - you have a great spirit and attitude.

Good luck with your practice and study.

I think its important to teach yourself how to relax and concentrate without effort from the beginning. There's lots of thread on here about semen retention - including dangers - I would have a read if you haven't already.

I will appreciate it, admit that I really don't know, and that they possibly are forgeries.

 

Best I can do, being skeptical of everything.

Being totally skeptical and at the same time open, immediate and with child-like wonder .... the hallmark of a true mystic.

PS Scotty - forget the photos, if you get positive things from Kunlun then that's enough .... some teachers do/say baffling things ... and we don't always get to know why.

waking to a dream

stomach rumbling, empty dream

dreams and memory

 

 

dreams and memory

you must forget those nightmares

let the monsters sleep.

Where in London is course and how much is it?

Yup, perspective, and awareness... I've a nice short test to post that illustrates the point...

 

Brilliant.

"But it would be true that historical Karmapas are said to..."

 

Would it also be "true" that I just almost nearly wrote "Oooh you're getting very good at this stuff"?

 

Mr Apech, I expect more/better. Why I do is, of course, my own problem. I guess I'm doing it for my own practice. Forgive me for doing it on your forum space/time. Take it as flattery, maybe?

 

Was the "But it would be true" caveat necessary? How about just "Historical Karmapas are said to..."?

 

Either they are said or not said to. In which case adding "...it would be true" is pointless, no?

Kate,

Thank you for the exegesis! I used to practice Karma Kagyu so I have read a lot about the history of the Karmapas. If I just put ...'they are said to..." I think this would come across that I don't believe it. For instance the Karmapa stood on a stone and left his foot imprints on the stone. Do I believe that? It doesn't matter really. I think I do ... but if it turned out to be just symbolic or metaphoric then it wouldn't make a lot of difference to me.

Fundamentally I think that what is real is spirit (or whatever word you choose) and that spirit has infinite potential and is capable of anything. I am not a materialist. Matter is just a bound state of spirit. So I am open minded.

My problem (?) is that those photos are just obviously time exposures. That's it.

tea cup in Thailand

poetry in porcelain

temple gongs beckon

temple gongs beckon

while my gong is incomplete

half empty of sound.

Max once mentioned that Kan can be anywhere he wants. There are stories of Kan walking through walls.

 

If he just "believes" that his body can manifest anywhere or walk through walls, then that's not just a belief. Either you are crazy, a complete liar, or telling the truth.

 

You cannot "mistake" your body's disappearance nor can witnesses by "mistake" another body's disappearance.

 

Anyways, I would like to hear people's opinions about the picture of the 16th Karmapa. Is he also a giant fraud? Or a deluded fool? Is he making fake photos too?

Hi Lucky,

I didn't know about these stories or claims, I was just looking at the photos.

I agree with Ralis about the Karmapa - I am not aware that he himself claimed anything about that photo. But it would be true that historical Karmapas are said to have had miraculous powers.

I suppose you are right that if people make these kind of claims they will either have to be either true or false there is no in between, in the way I was suggesting. It was just my way of making sense of the photos, the claims and this thread.

I have to say having looked at the photos again it seems clear that they are time exposures of a person who is moving during the time that the 'shutter' is open (I know there isn't a shutter as such on a digital camera but you know what I mean). Aside from the claims made by people that they are something else then I don't think anyone would reach a different conclusion.

I hope no-one builds too much on all of this. Its all rather like medieval relics and saints bones. In the end not a real basis for faith.

If the pictures are just promotional material, that makes Max a liar. He has shown these pictures in seminars as evidence of Kan's rainbow body status.

 

So if these are faked, it means he and Kan set up these photos purposefully to deceive practitioners and the public. It would seriously damage his credibility.

Lucky,

There is another possibility and that is that Max sincerely believes that the pictures show what is suggested - but he may be mistaken. I don't like to judge people I have never met and I accept there may be merit in Kunlun (those who have done it have to say). My main point was that 'high energy' practices can make you feel subjectively that you have gone further than you have. For instance a strong feeling of flying, visions of flying and so on - don't mean you have actually physically levitated. But you might think you have. BTW I accept that levitation is ultimately possible.

(sorry to go back several pages but I have been traveling).

PS. I think that RV's moral energy idea deserves a thread of its own.

 

I agree with you completely, yet see nothing wrong with people questioning these photos. I don't think it goes against Kunlun or Max. Knowing him the little bit that I do, even if these photos were genuine, I think he'd completely understand the disbelief. I believe it's the Kunlun way to seek the truth, even (especially?) if that means parting ways with the status quo of the community.

 

Scotty,

Do you really believe that those photos are anything other than time exposures of someone moving (probably rapidly depending on the exposure). They are placed on that website for a purpose. To excite interest in Kunlun.

I am not saying there is no value in Kunlun or that Max has never helped anyone but why use this kind of promotional material. I remember a thread a long time ago which was a about the claim to harness the energy of black holes (or some such thing) this seems similar to me.

I think one of the dangers/temptations of energy practice is that the subjective experience is so compelling that you can get a completely over blown idea of its external effect. The inner world has different laws to the outer one. Powers in the inner realm are first cycle powers. Things like increased sensitivity and knowing things that should be beyond your knowledge, mainly picking up on energy flows and being able to predict events. These are first cycle stuff. They are accessible to us (not easily) but attainable through practice.

Other siddhis, particularly actual bodily transformation ... light body or rainbow body are part of the next cycle and are for the very, very few. However the first cycle energy movements mirror them ... so subjectively you can access powers beyond what you can manifest.

Not sure I have entirely expressed myself properly - but I hope you get what I am saying.

- Watch out! It's the flying anti-Christ!

- Where? Where?

- Oh you can't see him he's transparent.

This thread gets a special TTBs Gold Star.

 

 

So what can be done? If a society does not have leaders or elders that understand these things, nothing can be done, at least not on the level of the whole society. It is up to individuals to try to raise their own consciousness and develop their own virtue, and then serve in whatever way they can in their community.

Sure _ I personally prefer the instinct in political leaders which suggests that it is their duty to care about people and look after their welfare. But that's just me - I am not suggesting that this necessarily is some kind of socialism - but I would suggest we don't have the kind of leaders you describe but rather ones who are enslaved to vested interest groups.

Time exposure photograph - gymnasts legs appear transparent.

 

 

Another issue is the unfortunate statement in the article that "Instead, the Human Genome Project is rapidly providing a scientific basis for the political left. Childhood maltreatment, economic inequality and excessive materialism seem the main determinants of mental illness. State-sponsored interventions, like reduced inequality, are the most likely solutions."

 

The fallacy here is the inference "if environment is the major cause of mental illness, the agenda of the political left is the solution". To me that is like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.

Bring up children in loving environment. Avoid prejudice, exploitation and manipulation which leaves people in abject poverty. Bring a spiritual agenda into cultural life.

Why is this a band aid? In fact it is only certain mechanisms which are 'left wing' - whatever system which would deliver these three would get my vote.

To think that it is possible to reduce or eradicate mental illness by creating the right conditions is a message of hope - surely? Would you rather think that the insane are pre-programmed to be crazy?

I`ll buy the main theory but did the mummified people live long enough for a fair comparison? You`d have to look at cancer numbers below the average age of the mummies. Well, perhaps not teh age of the mummies as they are thousands of years old but the mummified people when they died.

Yes I thought of that - but I presume (but don't know for sure) that they compare statistical distributions for the age range 25-50 then and now to come to this conclusion.

Shame Blasto - don't go - TTBs versus reality ... you know who will win.

^^ Uh, to recap - genome research showed that ADHD is not a genetic condition. Not surprising for a Big Pharma-branded "disease."

 

But proving that bogus Big Pharma "diseases" are not genetic does NOT prove...that genes have no influence on behavior, lol. Yet another example of why all these idiot journalists with nothing but English degrees should stop trying to "educate" the rest of us about stuff they always failed out of in school (like science).

 

Seriously, I don't try to lecture them on Shakespeare - so maybe they should stop lecturing us on anything that involves numbers, logic & a 3-digit IQ???

 

 

The article is specifically about mental disease and genes. They have been unable to find a link. It does not say that genes have no affect on behaviour or health - diseases that are genetic are well known. The author is academic psychologist (I know this doesn't say a lot) but he is not a journalist with an English degree.

In this video he appears (in the second half) to argue against a woman who is pushing the genetic link based on a study. The sub text to this is that the government (British) is trying to reduce funding in certain fields including education and disability ... I would guess that the results of the study have been rushed out to create an argument to sustain funding.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=BcasoXXeNPY

You just contradicted a well researched article that cites more than one recent scientific study. Ignorance is bliss.

Yes I could see no bias in the original article - it was simply saying that the genticists had been unable to find a link to mental health. The conclusion is obvious - that the causes for mental health problems are personal, environmental and social. I think this is a good conclusion because it means that the causes can be addressed by mankind generally and more importantly by an individual. You should by conscious effort be able to improve mental health without having to think that you are somehow cursed by nature to suffer (from whatever it is).

I like this:

Instead, the Human Genome Project is rapidly providing a scientific basis for the political left. Childhood maltreatment, economic inequality and excessive materialism seem the main determinants of mental illness. State-sponsored interventions, like reduced inequality, are the most likely solutions.

Just to be controversial - I would also suggest that ADHD is a kind of scam which labels the impact and effect of poor parenting (by which I mean the selfish withdrawal of affection) as a disease. I'm not saying kids don't suffer but I am saying because they are not valued or loved they are lost within themselves and cannot settle their minds. They look outside all the time for something that will satisfy them and of course cannot find it ....

"It's just bananas!"

Too scared to peel back the skin,

I ponder these words...

 

I ponder these words...

fistula, basket, lemon,

Don't know why, just do.