sarnam

Entering the cool pool of ZaZen- The residue of a Darhmas floats to the top. Tiny fish swimming,can then be seen clearly. Fp In gassho Sarnam

My first spiritual teacher was giveing a talk some young people at the Library one afternoon and the question came up- Do you believe in reincarntion ? His answer- I don't believe in it I know it! He had echoed my own thoughts. The Tibetians have a saying - treat all beings as if they were your mother, because they were! this hints at the vastness of Samsara and also the uselessness of trying to understand it's complexity and yet we all try. The indian masters give referance to "Monkey mind" in other words useing the mind to understand the mind may not work. The American sage Henry David Thoreau would say " simplicity simplicity", the Yogi would say watch your breath as it comes in as it goe's out. Most masters don't discuss reincarnation but often give hint's such as Jesus when he said " Before Ilijah I was" . I hope that may be of help. Sarnam

Aasin I am new to this forum also and am attemting to learn about the way. First I feel you are being very honest in bringing this out and it shows that you have some awareness, I have a friend that I have been with for some twelve years she doe's many things that I don't like, but when I look around at other relationships around me I see we have so much that is good, it is really hard to do but if you are treating everyone else kindly you can do so with her also, try to look at her anew she may have some quality's you don't like but did they attract you to her or was their good quality's that attracted you - is she pretty does she have a unique laugh that you like? offer her positive way's that she might take. Remember the basic law is for every action there is a reaction,and you know this,you actions on her are comeing back on you and makeing you feel uncomfortble Yin and Yang makes up the world of ten thousand things apply yourself to the good. Thanks Sarnam

I think this is one of the subjects that can never be rectified, I came through the sixties some of my friends were the first people to take LSD on the lower eastside of manhatten better known as the east village I wouldn't take it then but did in the early seventies at that time I read everything around about it when I did take it I made sure that I took it with some one and that their was someone with us who stayed striaght I fasted the day before and spent time reading the Bagavagita my friend on the other hand refused to to do that and went out the night before and met a chick who he fell in love with she soon dumped him so he showed up for the session tired and in a bad mood. Needless to say my trip was wonderful- much of what I had been studying up till that time became real for me , my friend as you can expect had a bad trip our guide who had tripped before was able to bring him along . So it seems the five senses were the tricksters at the tea party and so I took about three trips over a period of thirty years I took the que from the native peoples and approached these trips with deep respect, for someone as dumb and stupid as myself it had value, but in the long run attempting to follow the precepts and cultivateing the buddhas teaching is far superior and each day I bow in gratitude to that. Thanks Sarnam

I have attempted to go into the mountains for solitude but it is very diffecult for me. I find that liveing the home life seems to be my call, I live with a women as spiritual friends, two cats, four small fish, and a small garden in my dineing area that has tomatoes , lettuce mint swisschard etc. We keep our lights low we don't listen to alot of music,but do watch videos and we socailize very little we work out I also envlove myself in various projects that I approch as a yoga I am sixtysix and offten feel I will enter the mountains to drop this body but I don't know how. The tibetens often go into solitude when they are real young it may be easier that way. But it seems to be true that mountain or city we still have to make friends with emptiness. Thank You Sarnam

I was sitting in the room the other night and someone knocked at the door I allowed them to come in they asked me for an opinion on how is Taoism different so attempting to be a good host I gave my opinion, in that opinion I talked about how I perceived my reality and not how others speak. I have come here to learn about Taoism and feel I have entered with respect. Thanks Sarnam

In gasho to all, In 1973 I came in contact with a Dervish who tried to chase me away, I persisted that he allow me to meditate with him, he finnelly said O.K. in fiften minutes my whole life melted away I entered the Holy of Holys after that for some time I could not speak nor could anyone approach me I had been a good dresser and dated a lot of women but now I no longer shined my shoes I didn't care about anything. I set out to not only to study other religons but to exsperiance them first hand this has been an incredible journey. The Buddha says that all beings suffer from hate greed and delusion these are termed the three posions. At what ever point on the time line this ego began to develop it was due to the three posions, all religons and Shamanic teachings strive to be differant and this is why they cause trouble if you you could penatrate into a word to see it's vortex you would see an exact form, this form manifests in samshara as religon and Taoism is there to. Lin has pointed out very clearly our predicament and our salvation. We must continue to cultivate to clear mind then the energy will move properly towards fufilement. The old Buddhists were termed wood cutters because they were busy pruneing a way. Also the buddhists and daoists often sat together before the same Dharma masters. I have been told that the Buddhist seeks nirvana while the daoist seeks immortalaty, but in the end who knows which is which. Please forgive me if I have spoken beyond myself. Thank you Sarnam

Greetings , I was born and raised a Christan,when I entered the Army I became an agnostic and set out on search to understand life, this took many turns the common accepted way as I tried to live it always seemed to get disrupted. I started to study various religons and in the seventies started to meditate and met my first spiritual teacher I stuck to my meditation and as I moved along things began to drop away. At this moment I have accepted the Buddha as my teacher . And as he himself said don't believe what I say alone find out for yourself. Thanks Sarnam