Mark Foote

you've landed us in the muck; another nice mess you've gotten me in! (Stan's the man, Ollie!)

You guys are making me laugh, and the school teacher loaned me the Harry Potter book, and I don't have to give it back! Nyah nyah! happiness has no sense of time... thanks.

Picking up a volume of long forgotten lore, the man from Mars pondered, nearly napping; like the tapping of a librarian on his skull, he suddenly realized what his eyes had read, although there were no pictures: "Whatever happiness, whatever joy, Ananda, arises in consequence of these five strands of sense-pleasures, it is called happiness in sense-pleasures. Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus: 'This is the highest happiness and joy that creatures experience'- this I cannot allow on [their] part. What is the reason for this? There is, Ananda, another happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. And what, Ananda, is the other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, a [person], aloof from the pleasures of the senses, aloof from unskilled states of mind, enters and abides in the first meditation that is accompanied by initial thought and discursive thought, is born of aloofness and is rapturous and joyful. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness." (Majjhima-Nikaya volume one 389-399, Pali Text Society edition volume ii pg 67) Quoth the librarian, softly: "shhh!- snore no more!"

chasing the ol' cat the child at last comes to rest the cat at rest still

Remember the Alamo When help was on the way It's better here and now, I feel that good today. I'd like to take a walk But not around the block I really got some news I met a man from Mars. He picked up all my guitars And played me traveling songs. And when we got on ship He brought out something for the trip And said, It's old but it's good Like any other primitive would. (from "Ride my Llama" by Neil Young)

'Damn, Rene, didn' you say the library was just right here? Walkin' for miles now, I ain't seen no library! Man, how we gonna define happiness if the library be closed by the time we get there...

Hi, Marbles (and all you bums out there)- line 4 is poetic license. Not flag, not wind, mind is moving- you know, that one. Interesting that the pine and bamboo draw a breeze; if we are wild and rooted, I think sometimes we draw a breeze as well. If you blow on a tinder fire, you do indeed feed the flames- but if a draft catches a sputtering candle, likely that's that, over and done. I agree with the unlearning part, yet the danger is in assuming too big a role in the process. The muscles of the pelvis move in response to stretch, the very place we rest on is in motion if we relax and sink into the stretch, yet the mind must be with what is uncomfortable as well as with what is comfortable before we ride and our legs feel as though we walk.

from Fuxi (500 C.E.?): An empty hand grasps the hoe handle Walking along, I ride the ox The ox crosses the wooden bridge The bridge is flowing, the water is still From Wuzu (1100 C.E.?): ... Charmingly, the pine and bamboo draw a clear breeze. Nother favorite, from Alexandra David-Neel: Nirvana means an extinction, or rather, the action of a breath which blows upon a flame and extinguishes it. So "an empty hand charmingly draws a clear breeze that blows upon a flame and extinguishes it". Rene was not there, in a very real sense. Ha ha!

This is a beautiful thread, I think, for the honesty of the people and the sharing. Thanks, all. I heard Dr. John Lee speak about progesterone on the radio in Mendocino one day, and he was fascinating. A guy from Minnesota, treating women who were at risk for ovarian or mammarian cancer but suffering osteoporosis, in a family practice in Mill Valley, CA. Went to hear him speak at the Mendo Middle School gymnasium. Asked him about progesterone and joint pain, and he said it seemed to help his patients with arthritis, so I went for it. Rub 1/4 teaspoon of Progest on a different spot each day, knock off for a week or two weeks every so often. Why bother with sexual cultivation, you can get the real thing in a tube?- is what I sometimes wonder. As Dr. Lee said, the message of estrogen to cells is divide and multiply (and I suspect that's the message in testosterone too), but the message of progesterone is mature. In the third trimester, the levels of progesterone in a woman's body are amazing. Ok, I wouldn't do it to try to live forever, but if you have joint pain or osteoporosis you could check out Dr. John Lee's "what your Dr. may not tell you about menopause", or the companion books "what your Dr. may not tell you about premenopause" & "what your Dr. may not tell you about breast cancer". The latter not written by Dr. Lee himself. I can't say what sexual cultivation in Taoism is really about, but I think hormones is the most likely guess, personally. As to my sex life, could be better! But you know what, I'm fine; my friends are golden, and when my heart was pulsing 133 the rest didn't matter (they fixed that). kickin' in for fun, y'all- Mark

Thanks for your thoughts, MB (& who knew, hat eating could be a topic on Tao Bums?) it's possible to debate the Gautamid's notion that consciousness arises based on sense-contact, or his notion that attachment, aversion, and ignorance condition the occurrence of consciousness, but for me the vital presence in what he had to say is when I recognize that the place of occurrence of consciousness is no longer spontaneous if the feeling of pain or pleasure associated with the occurrence of consciousness is grasped. If the place of occurrence of consciousness is no longer spontaneous, the function of the location of consciousness in generating the activity of the body out of stretch is absent, and the tea cup sits on the table staring back at whomever tries to lift it without the exercise of will! that's what I meant. Seems like some of us don't believe it's possible to do nothing, and yet everything will be done?...

Peace, love, spare change? on the Tao Bums site, who could imagine! When we are experiencing the confusion and imbalance of contact in the six senses, who among us can let go and allow the occurrence of consciousness to function in the relaxed stretch already in existence, to act? If the conversation about awareness or about dependent origination can pick up a cup of tea, I'll eat my hat. love, Mark

Hi, Mikaelz, I would agree that teachers I have met are mostly trying to repay a debt to their teachers, and they live difficult lives. Although I acknowledge that the presence of a teacher is a gift, and can show us something about living that we may have never been exposed to before, I also wonder if the traditional methods of transmission of Eastern religions cannot be combined with a better exposition of the groundwork through the methods of Western science. I'm a pragmatist, when it comes to the end of suffering, and I thoroughly believe it's right there happening in all of our lives constantly and we just overlook it. Not that I believe life is suffering. I believe that the four truths and the rest of the Gautamid's teachings apply when suffering exists, and otherwise they are just the sound of the wind through the trees. I agree with you that the translations from the Chinese can make all the difference in the world. There have been several excellent translations on this website, that's one of the amazing things about it! yours, Mark

lol yeah well the way some characters around these woods put it, might as well be chopping water. I swear they are holding their breath! uh-oh, I've done it now...

Love that!- "the objective world ever stirs the mind". Things as it is, as Shunryu Suzuki said. ANYBODY GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?!?! ha ha, love you guys, even when my mouth is full of marbles! less'ee, now, right foot first, then left... no, wait, left foot then... hmmm.

I was just explaining the teachings of the Pali sermon volumes regarding karma, on account of "thuscomeone" asked for an explanation. Does volition cease in perception and sensation? Yes, suddenly. Is the means of that cessation obtainable through words and texts? Not actually. Does it have to do with the end of suffering? The exercise of will, intent, these are the things that are spoken of in the Pali cannon in association with becoming in the future. If you are looking to live the life of purity to realize an end of suffering, then the cessation of speech, of body, and of mind are your compass, the very ground under your feet- are they not? yers Mark

hey, tathagatha, how ya doin'! I think our "takes" are always going to be in flux, but given that fact of existence, I'd like to mention the things I find important in grabbing the rope lift. First, it's about suffering, as far as the truths the Gautamid had to offer. If suffering exists, then practice and the truths have meaning, and only if suffering exists. The Gautamid taught a practice that begins with sitting cross-legged and holding the body upright. He stated that his own practice was the intent contemplation of in-breaths and out-breaths, both before and after enlightenment. He taught that by attendence to sense-organ, sense-contact, consciousness arising with sense-organ/sense-contact, impact connected with consciousness, and feeling connected with consciousness and impact (with regard to each of the six senses), all the factors of enlightenment develop toward fruition. In my experience, when I am just sitting, sense-organ, sense-contact, consciousness, impact, and feeling sit the posture. That means the experience acts, with no intermediary. And the experience can get up and walk around. Shunryu Suzuki made a beautiful explanation that somebody captured on video, here: The Gautamid spoke of the cessation of the activities, which he said was gradual. These are the cessation of the activity of speech, the cessation of the activity of body, and the cessation of the activity of mind. By activity, he meant volitive action. Thus the cessation of the activity of speech is not necessarily the cessation of speech, the cessation of the activity of body is not necessarily the cessation of movement, and the cessation of mind (or of perception and sensation) is not necessarily the cessation of the occurrence of perception and sensation. Speech ceases in the first rupa jhana (material elements trance), the influence of volition on the in-breath and out-breath ceases in the fourth rupa jhana, and the influence of volition on perception and sensation ceases in the fifth arupa jhana (immaterial elements trance. Karma is connected with the exercise of volition. The ignorance involved in the exercise of volition creates a station of consciousness, the station of consciousness gives rise to sense-contact that ultimately results in the identification of self with the material, with feeling, with mind, with activity, or with consciousness. The identification of self is suffering. As to where all this is hiding, I hope we can drop like a baby and roll like a log today. yers, Mark

Thanks, Mr. V- now a beautiful afternoon, think I'll go to the sugar-skull making demonstration in Walnut park today, part of the "Dia De Los Muertos" fun in Petaluma in October. Cheers! ('..')

Hey, Vajrahridaya, I was referring to this part of what you said: "and Tibetan Medicine uses the findings to cure patients with the body..." I'm aware of hatha yoga, and the first part of your statement was about Indian healing systems, presumably including yoga for the body, but I don't think of hatha yoga in connection with Tibetan medicine. So your statement made me wonder if you were referring to some aspect of Tibetan medicine I wasn't familiar with. Beautiful night here in Petaluma, CA; hope you're having a fine time, wherever you are. yers, Mudlark

Ok, so there we have a three-some that I think is a pretty good match to jing-qi-shen: body, prana or winds, energy currents and mind system framework. There's a fascinating quote in gospel of Thomas purported to be from Jesus where he says something like if the body comes out of the spirit, that's a miracle, but if the spirit comes out of the body, that were a miracle of miracles. I think he adds something about how he's always amazed that "such riches can come out of such poverty", or words to that effect. Most folks I talk to about my practice are so concerned about what happens to their mind after they die, they cannot stand to look at the body at all. I'm wondering what cures are effected with the body, as opposed to winds or energy currents, and what that's like, if you know (or maybe you just misspoke?- that would be my luck).

I'm seeking a clarification from Vajrahridaya about his statement that jing would probably correspond to prana, or "inner wind", in the Tibetan tradition. How can you determine that Taoism is different from Buddhism without this essential clarification, are there elements that correspond to jing-qi-shen in the Tibetan tradition (putting aside the refuge tripitaka of buddha-dharma-sangha)? Ha ha, take that, Mr. M!

Fascinating! I'm a little unclear on "get transmission for sexual tantra"- meaning someone acknowledges the nagpa's declaration that for the nagpa there is no more of being such and such, that they (the nagpa) have laid down the burden, etc., and gives them a document of authenticity and permission to teach Buddhism (in some form or another), based on a practice which is explicitly centered around sexual union? Never heard that acknowledged by anyone before, but I'm not too disturbed to think it's true, since every act in this life is a part of practice in a sense (and I think sexual relations are a healthy thing, for people who love one another- for the most part!). Do you see a triumvirate in Vajrayana practice (other than Buddha-Dharma-Sangha), I'm wondering?

Hi, Apepch7, sure (I think!) I can... I played with hypnosis in middle school and early high school years, I did succeed in inducing trance in others and I think myself (using tapes, actually), but I didn't do much with it. The method of induction I used was a patter like "relax your entire body breathing in- relax your entire body breathing out; feel the weight of the body breathing in- feel the weight of the body breathing out", mostly around breathing in and out. As I mentioned before on this site, I got into veganism for a couple of years, and became a little spacey I think. Maybe six months after I started eating small amounts of egg, fish, and cheese again, I was sitting at my desk in a house on Cole St. San Francisco on the north side of the panhandle, trying to keep an awareness of breath throughout a day. I found myself rising from my desk, and as I retained my awareness of breath I moved to the door of my room. This was exactly like action from hypnotic suggestion, no will on my part involved at all, just witness; catch is, there was no suggestion (unless perhaps the suggestor was my subconscious mind?). I retained the feeling of the experience, and tried for years to get all my activity to come from that place. After awhile I realized that if I truly believed an action was necessary, "the windy element" would move my body to effect it, but like hypnosis I couldn't get "the windy element" to do anything I didn't truly believe in. I used to have a roommate who loved to go down to Gaylord's ice cream parlor with me and watch me eat; kind of trippy when the hand moves independent of the will, but hopefully I'm not so fanatic anymore. Years later, I did hear Kobun Chino Otogawa chide everyone at S.F. Zen Center as he closed a lecture, saying "you know, sometimes zazen gets up and walks around". Question is, how do you set up the experience for someone else? I'm convinced that personal necessity is a big part of it, my practice at the time was to give up everything until I got down to what I absolutely needed. That's why I was a little spacey, you get to feeling subtle energies when you are giving things up like that. Trick is not to hurt yourself, and I think the meditation on in-breaths and out-breaths is like an anchor in that regard. A decade later I realized I still couldn't sit the lotus worth beans, and I set to studying kinesthesiology, at first from "low back pain syndrome" by Rene Calliet (hope I'm spelling that right) and articles he referenced, then fortunately through the works of John Upledger and other cranial-sacral practitioners. I now apply myself to realize "the windy element" in the simple actions of upright posture from one instance of consciousness to the next, and I find it is really keyed to the free movements of the sacrum, and the impact of sense contact on the stretch already in existence as consciousness takes place. My latest write references this toward the end (Zazen), though I admit the connection with hypnotic phenomena is not yet clear to me and not explicitly in that writing. Mark