C T

Glad you found this sparkling V... I live with the guy who wrote this. A simple man indeed He never answers any questions though, very frustrating!! He just sits there drinking herbal tea all day, and have secret conversations with his puppy. He says more to the pup than to anyone else hehehehe.... lucky pup!

Thank you Gold. Your argument does sound fairly reasonable and i am sure it is totally reasonable for you, and it must work for you otherwise you would not have said what you said. Yet i do have a suspicion that not all beings are very reasonable, even though none will admit so, and oftentimes use very reasonable arguments to justify enormous cruelties and atrocities in this little world of ours. Asking a person with impure motives to be reasonable is quite a task. If this person agrees to be reasonable, very often, his reasonings are also tainted with impurities, thus his intentions based on those reasons, and his actions, will also have impure overtones. Many of these people do become legends actually, depending on conditions. When the karmic energy of their acts are still strong, their legendary status remain strong, and when it diminishes, they are forgotten.

"Ignoring the dark side, one attempts goodness. Ignoring the good, one remains in darkness. One is being bound by chains of gold, the other chains of iron. Both are prisoners of conditions. Beyond conditions is the road that leads nowhere - be wise, and take it." (Anon) Be good!

Man you're heavy. Lighten up!

Some rock musicians are not only shamans, they are venerated like gods!! Not sure if all modern shamans are rock musicians though... I know of a few in Malaysia back in the 70s, and one or two of them did like Elvis Presley alright, but the rest were mostly *diggin* Chinese operatic music! Be good!

I read somewhere that Taoism had played a part in shaping some of the Tibetan Buddhist teachings of today. The writer claims that at one time there were many Taoist masters living among the Tibetans and learning from one another, although she said that they would not acknowledge that they were Taoists when asked. She did not mention why this was so. (I am wondering now if i will get into trouble for the above-mentioned??) Here's a quote from Richard Bach - "Every person, all the events in your life, are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you". Be good!

Greetings WIP, I see there is no mention of any cushion in use. It might be helpful to sit on one for a start. Some stretching before you begin actual sitting could go some distance in helping you to prolong the duration, if that is your aim. Depending on your practice, i would suggest not being too caught up with the length of time you are able to sit. You could try sitting with activity, like reading a book, or watching a movie etc. and see if the distraction could help to lengthen the time. If it can, then there are other areas you may want to look into. Sometimes this can happen to seasoned *sitters* too, so go with the flow. Any attempt to overdo may stem your practice and energy. Hope this helps. Have fun!

I think reasoning faculties is a two-edged sword. They are used for the purpose of gaining insight, and also that which keeps one bound to the illusion of what is. Sometimes insights do appear without the premise of logic and reason. Spontaneous and transcendent insights often occur outside the *box* of all logical and reasonable summations, yet when one obtain such an insight, it suddenly all makes sense. People expect liberation to mean *being liberated from...*, whereas i tend to view it as *being liberated back into...*. Emancipation can be viewed as returning to a state prior to 'ordinariness' - which is just as ordinary. The illusion that misguides is that expectations of preconceived notions of what liberation is, are often unfulfilled, hence the constant searching for that which one has never lost. That i think, is the true dilemma. Death stalks both the ignorant and the wise. Forgetting that, we chase after insignificant freedom, instead of simply allowing for it. As for getting 10,000 replies from Masters, one can count one's good fortune if one finds a true Master, let alone obtain from such a one 10,000 perspectives on profound liberation. Be good!

Wonderful name TJL! *WHAT AM I*? Reality needs a reflection to see itself, just like eyes need a mirror to see itself. When the eyes see itself in the mirror, is its reality any less real? Even the reflection exists within reality, so i do get what you have said here. Interesting...

The science of understanding love is like trying to understand the essence of a flower by picking off and examining each and every single petal of this flower in an attempt to conclusively understand the *big picture*. One may succeed after much investigation, but at what price? The art of understanding love is to live it, with all its fragrance, joy, beauty, humility, serenity, affection, intimacy and so on and so on, to immerse oneself in its goodness, and, (this is the tricky part), to have a heart that is prepared to accept that without thorns, there may never be roses... For me, acceptance is the foundation for growing in love. It is the one quality that binds all the other ingredients, the Nourisher. Without this fundamental quality, all the other requirements, like trust, respect, understanding, and involvement, by themselves, would have a harder time to distill within the relationship. Acceptance is like the catalyst, the enzyme, that enables the joyous and gradual discovery and growth of all these other crucial sub-qualities. This is my personal experience. Without it, the relationship i have with my partner, who is 27 years younger than me, would not have lasted a week. We have been together 2 years, and each day has some adventure in it, if i choose to look with eyes of wonder. Be well...

Impeccable!! Thanks for sharing!

"Men are accustomed to state this 'is' and that 'is not', but for him who perceives wisely and according to the truth how all things are brought about in the world, for such a one, there is no 'is not'. And for him who perceives wisely and according to the truth of how all things in the world perish, for such a one there is no 'is'. Everything 'is', is one extreme; nothing 'is', is the other extreme. I teach between the two, the middle way, the truth of interdependent origination". - Buddha

Hi Stig, I totally agree with the point that energy vibrations are determined by the sum contents of one's mind. This is absolutely true, which is why there is also much emphasis on mind-training in the Mahayana tradition! Glad to see this similarity in the two philosophies Regards, CT

Well, your feelings are totally justified, since feelings can never be argued with. One either agree or disagree, and if its the latter, the wise thing to do is keep quiet. Most people dont. The tendency is to react in a kind of knee-jerk fashion. In Buddhism, training in mindfulness helps to alleviate this sort of mundane reactions, so its not totally that useless as a practice. Personally i do have issues with any form of organized religio/spiritual thingy too! Therefore i have long disassociated myself from any of these *schools*. I felt it was too restrictive for me, and rebelled against that. Perhaps that is my own mistaken projection, i dont really know nor care too much. Offering money can be good. Generally speaking that is. Its part of altruistic cultivation no? But on the other hand, i can see where you are coming from. Alot of these organizations are run like a business nowadays with their own financial controllers, top lawyers, business advisors, spin doctors and the whole shebang! It is quite offputting really. Prostrations are very good. The outer, inner and secret aspects have to be understood deeply to know how beneficial this practice really is. I know some of my friends have issues with this, so i told them to prostrate to a picture of themselves, if only to reap the outer benefits!! I do not know of many (maybe none at all) Buddhist preachers and evangelists. Hallelujah! Regards!

Excellent observation! Thank you for posting this!

Speaking for myself, i would say you are definitely not looking at this wrong. Perhaps, viewing this relatively, there does appear to be 2 distinct preferences - some emphasize external cultivation, while others internal, and then there are a few who blend the two. I think cultivation is, like everything else, cyclical, and for the cultivator, it may manifest in phases in accordance with his/her wisdom experiences and age of course. Naturally, on the absolute level, whether internal or external, the fruit is union with Nondescript (God/Tao/Brahman/The Divine/Mother Nature etc). Hence the allusion of *working backwards*. The funny thing is, there is a belief that actually all *spiritual work* is a delusion, all striving is in vain and a waste of energy, because, with deep understanding and realization, at the end of the day, we will see how crazy we have been with all our frenzied activities, since from the word go, we have never ever been separated from that which we are seeking to return to! Isnt it ironical? hehehe Have fun!

The way i see it, we all come from the One, and all spiritual/wisdom paths is a journey we undertake to return us to this One. Is this not some kind of *working backwards*?

Just a thought here - I am wondering if, instead of viewing it as working towards emancipation, how about switching perception and view it as working backwards... would this not in some way harmonize and unite the two views? Be good!

Helloooo Mr TzuJanLi, Hope you are very well. I can appreciate your views very much sir. Have read a number of your posts and found agreement and harmony much to the fore so i thought it is appropriate to write and acknowledge this. Besides Marblehead, i think you are the second bum here that has actually moved me with your simplicity and wisdom... Kudos! Regards, CT

Ralis, If you truly, truly grasp the Reality within and without existence, you may just be amazed that spotless and pure wont even come close to describing its surface! Perceiving that Vaj and the Buddhists dont want to get their hands dirty with the realities of life does appear a little extreme, no? Its a pretty sweeping statement, but since the *lol* was inserted at the end of it, you have earned the benefit of some doubt that you meant that seriously. But it does leave your credibility slightly in question though...sorry! For a defensive Buddhist who may chance upon this remark, they may ask themselves, (or you for that matter, if they are super-sensitive), what exactly do you hope to gain by saying thus? What exactly is your higher purpose? Do you actually have one? If you do, then why not make it apparent? You need not answer these questions btw, since they are mere suppositions. I am only conjecturing what a sensitive Buddhist (esp one with super-clean hands hehehe) might say here, thats all! Be well my friend!

Hey M how did your weekend go? Did you manage to sort out the planned housework? Yes the word response does sound a bit contrived does it not? Actually it was used in context of Tragardh's comment. The word *mindlessness* here - is it something like what a highly-trained martial artist would have habituated? To move, defend and attack intuitively? Correct me please if i'm off the mark. Alan Watt's interpretation (as well as a few other philosophers i think) of WWW is *doing without doing* which, to my limited understanding, seem a fraction contradictory to what you mentioned here regarding intuition inspiring a response, as in action/reaction, or mindfulness as you understand it. Please help me to understand this further? Thanks! (I do like a particular understanding regarding mindfulness within the buddhist thought, the one which reminds us that when a person whose mindfulness is complete, subject/object is transcended, where doer and doing becomes one, merged, fused, hence lessening the potential for gross karmic imprints in the mindstream). Just wanted to share this with you as an afterthought! Cheers M! Be well.

Salutations V! And thanks for this post - very very helpful in explaining the different types of karma. You could have taken the lazy way out and told me to go read up this book or that text, but you took the trouble to state it all down here, so i am grateful to you. I need to add here that ralis have never indicated to me personally that karma is a simplistic notion, and neither have i seen him alluding to this in some of the other posts he had made. Well, its not of great concern anyway, and i am sure what his views are must seem pretty valid to him, just as yours are to you, so fair play to both of you for this prolonged and determined effort to exercise both your individualities. Respectfully, CT

I think karma and original sin, as concepts, have both been, and will always be, misconstrued by the masses who adhere to culture-based religious practices. This cannot be helped because, imo, many priests and monks do not themselves fully grasp the complete meaning and implications of these two factors, and within this *learned* group, there are also many today who actually question the validity of karma and original sin. Having spoken to monks and priests alike regarding this subject, very often they would just dismiss the questions citing irrelevance to one's religious beliefs, which is rather shocking! And those that do attempt to offer some sort of explanation often have left me thinking, "What the heck was he on about?" Most of the explanations given are mere extractions from texts that one can easily read up on oneself - in fact, if one were to insinuate that what they offer lacks depth and clarity, they would often say, "Oh we have a church/temple library here with loads of books for your convenience, so please feel free to access them" Are they to blame for this ignorance and misinformation? I do not think so. After all, to many of them, its just a job like any other, and like any profession, there are those who are highly skilled and some not so. It is just unfortunate that the ones who generally deal with the flock belong to the latter. I cant comment on the *sin* concept at all because i feel i do not have the right to, but karma, hmm, i believe, have many different levels and layers, so much so that if i were to state here that i know what it is, you should immediately regard me as a self-righteous idiot. Seriously. There is the outer, inner and secret aspects to take into consideration, and buddhist/hindu scholars spend years investigating these various aspects of karma before they even begin to get a clear understanding on this subject. On a practical level, i believe that if one lives mindfully, and have a good heart towards all beings and the environment, then one's karma can be purified as a result. The Chinese in my country have a saying - "Even the most powerful demon will not/cannot disturb one whose heart is pure". I am sure there are more ways than one to understand this simple statement. Thank you so much for reading. Be well, and live (com)passionately! CT