johndoe2012

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Posts posted by johndoe2012

  1. Posted

    Apparently not only westerners

     

    https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/letters/thich-nhat-hanh-new-heart-sutra-translation

     

    Quote

    Thay believes that the Eminent Master went too far. The Master was not able to see that the mistake doesn’t rest in the formula, ‘form is emptiness’ rather, it resides in the unskillfulness of the line, ‘Therefore in emptiness there is no form.’ According to Thay, the way in which words are used in the Heart Sutra, right from the beginning up to the line: ‘no birth, no death, not defiled, not immaculate, not increasing, nor decreasing,’ is already perfect. Thay’s only regret is that the patriarch who recorded the Heart Sutra did not add the four words ‘no being, no non-being’ immediately after the four words ‘no birth, no death,’ because these four words would help us transcend the notion of being and non-being, and we would no longer get caught in such ideas as ‘no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue…’ The nose of the novice monk is still sore, even today. Do you understand?

     

     

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  4. Posted

    From the Rubbo ebook which is no longer available it seems

     

    Quote

    From his many years of intense study, Donald found the most important aspect of achieving this
    state: in the resting of the mind. It is in stillness that the monkey chatter of the mind can be
    observed, and where thoughts come into existence and then fade away without the need to follow
    them to distraction. Over time you will notice that there are two aspects of your mind, the
    “Observer” and “What is Being Observed” (your thoughts, emotions and sensations.)
    This “Observer” or “Watcher” is not a separate phenomenon from what is being observed, but is
    actually a deeper part of your consciousness. You will find that the more you allow your mind to
    rest in its natural state, the easier it is to be simultaneously the Observer and the Observed.
    Ultimately, you will find that it becomes easier to truly inhabit the moment and become the move-
    ment, in whatever it is that you might be doing, whether it’s Tai Chi Chuan, Qigong, dance, athlet-
    ics, performing on stage, playing music, preparing food, basically any and all activities that encom-
    pass your life.

     

    Goal: non-duality, the Dao, my translation.

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  5. Posted

    Depression, anger, restlessness etc is a sign mind looks outward, to seek something that can satisfy an apparent need. 

     

    Qi can push this tendency rather than dissolve it, resulting in a worse state than doing nothing. 

     

    I don't think we actually need tons of qi to realize the truth. It is a very misguided approach but apparently very popular in some communities. 

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  6. Posted

    In addition to the above by Miffymog I suggest that you also start practicing active compassion for yourself and all beings. 

     

    Simply wish them the best and for them to be happy. 

     

    This can also be directed at any 'bad' entities that might be connected. 

     

    Be fiercefully non-violent because it can take a lot of effort to come through your 'dark'/unconscious side of yourself. 

     

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  9. Posted · Edited by johndoe2012

    I used a rolling pin I normally use for making pizzas and looked at the video that Masterworks International has on YouTube for the ruler moves and copied them. 

     

    I could feel the pumping action open up the points in the feet and my feet felt more alive and energetic afterwards. 

     

    Lately I have been sitting more frequently and it seems to create blockages in the legs so a practice like this is good to counteract that. 

  11. Posted

    3 hours ago, Tommy said:

    It is not a question what the OP had as an intent when asking the question. It is about people who answer. Is it a knee jerk reaction or was it well thought out response. Was it because of the content of the question being violent images? What if it was about light he sees? Then would you recommend a psychotherapist in order to get to the reason for seeing lights? Was the response given a knee jerk reaction or was it a measured act? I am not a good judge of these things. IDK. So, I wonder about these things.

     

    If the advice given was go see a psychotherapist no matter what the question was about then it would seem the response did not depend upon the question or nature of the question. However, since it does seem to be dependent upon the question, the response is dependent on the question. 

     

    Yes, good point. Why react this way to advice given to talk with a psychotherapist?  IDK. If I was the OP asking such a question then I figure that the more advanced people here or more knowledgeable people here would be able to answer the question. And, that advice to go see a psychotherapist was a little mean and uncalled for? This OP took it well.

     

    Yes, agreed that meditative practices can bring up strange things. Not always repressed or poorly processed experiences can arise. And that is my idea, that which is the most compassionate way to handle such situations. Some people will come to a forum for kind words. This is not a teacher - disciple relationship.

     

    Never mind. I guess I am being overly critical.

     

    Tommy, you can block people on this forum to not see their responses but maybe take a look at your own reaction to get to neutral when someone is posting an opinion you do not agree with. 

     

    My own opinion is that psychotherapy is not applicable to all spiritual issues. In fact it is very limited. 

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  18. Posted

    Lack of sleep result in low energy and a general more primitive view of life and negative emotions, like depression, anxiety etc. 

     

    Awakening to Reality starts with self inquiry and a doubtless sense of being as the first stage. Getting there requires lots of work. 

  19. Posted

    From Daoist Meditation by Si Ma Cheng Zhen

     

    Quote

    'Good' is the balance between yin and yang, and 'bad' is the imbalance. If a friendship with a person of good character or a book of wisdom are considered good friendship and a good book, that is due to the fact that they have the chacteristic of balance. That is why they are good. They are neither yang nor yin; they are not in clarity, nor in obscurity: they are in a state of balance between the two. Daoism does not consider clarity as the 'good' and obscurity as the 'evil': good is the balance between natural opposites, and evil is the imbalance between them. This is the parameter adopted for all words and actions of a Daoist: rectitude is where opposites are at harmony. 

     

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    5 hours ago, snowymountains said:

     

    Shikantaza can't go as deep, it cannot and will not touch automatic reactions nor go deep into the unconscious, it simply lacks the tools for accessing these, nevermind working on them. Only therapy can do that.

    Actually meditation practice is one of the most common means of avoidance for doing the deep work.

     

    Shikantaza is a very good practice, I do it myself, but it should not be advertised for doing things it can't.

     

    Not only therapy, but many other methods, eg

     

    Energy healing 

    Kiloby inquiries 

    Methods like Core Transformation, Sedona Method, Release Technique

    Etc etc. 

     

    Just sitting is not enough to release unconscious stuff.

    Scott Kiloby mentioned in one of his talks that the reason people fail to recognize the nature of mind is due to trauma which fires automatic reactions that cloud the system. 

     

  22. Posted

    From Original Perfection by Keith Dowman 

     

    Quote

    To overcome what appear to be emotional and intellectual obstacles, people commit themselves to disciplines of lifestyle and morality, yoga and meditation, setting themselves the goal of freedom from attachment and rebirth, but the anxiety entailed by prostituting the moment for some future benefit and striving for a conceptual goal is resolved naturally in the relaxation of nonaction. The disease of calculated endeavor and goal orientation that is spiritual materialism is healed by the spontaneous and ineluctable intuition of the pure nature of mind.

     

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  23. Posted

    On 7.4.2024 at 3:32 AM, manitou said:

     

     

    I don't think it means this.  Any more than we can recall the past with 100% accuracy.  If you're speaking of predicting the future, there is no future.  It is now.  We're watching it unfold now.  

     

    I like this one better, more accurate description of what is happening. 

     

    The reason no one can predict what is happening, is because what is taking place is a dance of probabilities.

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  24. Posted

    1 hour ago, manitou said:

     

     

    There's another way to look at it too.   Non-action toward oncoming dynamics is the operative method, but also looking at it through the lens of time is helpful to me.

     

    Science has discovered that time is not really linear.  It's really all here and now, only our limited brain band width is set up to experience everything sequentially, day after day.  If time is not really linear, this means that everything has already happened, but we are experiencing it in sequence.  For some reason, knowing that it's already happened, whatever it is, is pretty comforting.  It seems to replace anxiety about things in the future.  An inevitability of sorts.

     

    Does anyone here ever wonder if 'god' and DNA are the very same thing?

     

     

     

    If what you are saying is true, we could predict the future with 100% accuracy. 

     

    Since we cannot do that, what you are saying must be false. 

     

    Everything hasn't already happened. It just happens one event after another. 

     

    https://sravastiabbey.org/karma-predestination/

     

  25. Posted

    My experience is there is good and and bad in the world, and it is foolish to abandon those ideas. Some non-dualists go too far.

     

    From  "Approaching the Great Perfection" by Sam van Schaik.

     

    Quote

    Great Perfection texts tend to speak of rejecting the distinction between good and bad in the sphere of one's own mind, rather than encouraging unrestricted behavior. In other words, they deal with the issue of moral relativity  in the realm of thoughts and emotions (rnam rtog) rather than activities. The identification of thoughts as either good or bad is seen as a barrier to the process of meditation mentioned earlier in which all thoughts, whatever their nature, are liberated as they arise (shar grol). This is stated in DTK [Vajra Verses on the Natural State]:

     

    Not falling into the extremes of 

    Good, bad, or neutral discursive thought,

    You will not be a scholar who distinguishes arising and liberation

     

    Likely some non-dualists read such texts, misunderstand them and then spread misinformation on the internet.

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