C T

3 hours ago, Kojiro said:

According to this source peaches have more vitamin A than nectarines

Yeah, typically, I like to cross ref information 

https://www.soupersage.com/compare-nutrition/peach-vs-nectarine

8 hours ago, Kojiro said:

right, in facts nectarines are a type of peach, as it is the case with the flat peach. But I think peaches are superior to them. Nectarines are a little bit more acidic

Something quite trivial, but it's believed nectarines first appeared in China some 4000 years ago, before its close cousin the peach. 

And.....

Nectarines provide twice the amount of Vitamin A, and slightly more Vitamin C and potassium than peaches .

2 hours ago, Kojiro said:

Wow, these last days I am eating peaches like there is no tomorrow. I had forgotten how good they taste, they are very very good, and in season now  Can I say that they are better than mangos? Somehow they taste and look a little bit as mangos, but I think they are even better (and much cheaper).

 

If you love peaches, I think maybe you'd also enjoy nectarines. It's the one fruit I miss most since leaving Europe. 

Not exactly a quote, but definitely share-worthy.

·
"Today I asked my body what she needed,
Which is a big deal
Considering my journey of
Not Really Asking That Much.

I thought she might need more water.
Or protein.
Or greens.
Or yoga.
Or supplements.
Or movement.

But as I stood in the shower
Reflecting on her stretch marks,
Her roundness where I would like flatness,
Her softness where I would like firmness,
All those conditioned wishes
That form a bundle of
Never-Quite-Right-Ness,
She whispered very gently:

Could you just love me like this?"

~ Hollie Holden

3 hours ago, stirling said:

 

...keeping in mind that Rinpoche is a Kagyu tradition teacher, apparently.

 

Dzogchen is a central practice in the Nyingma tradition. There are aspects (togal and treckhod) that are not taught until later, but don't mistake those later teachings as being somehow "higher" than what is initially taught.  Introduction to the nature of mind (pointing out instruction), and learning to rest in Rigpa are taught from the beginning with the hope that the student might immediately recognize their true nature. It occasionally happens that a student immediately gains insight and never NEEDS more teaching, only stabilization of the view.

 

 

My Nyingma teachers are of the same view as Tsoknyi Rinpoche. 

Beginners without a firm grounding in Ngondro will not be given abhiseka/wangkur. It's based on the experience that absent of a foundation, the initiation/intro have often led to unnecessary, avoidable complications. 

Even those who've got a good (but not yet mature) foundation in Ngondro have been seen to develop some unhealthy views post-introduction. Mainly because they haven't fully grasp the vitalness of the maha Ati samayas despite these being implicit in the process of abhiseka. 

But these being degenerate times and all, I can understand that some schools in the West have opted to do things differently and perhaps be more creative and flexible in their stance. 

7 hours ago, johndoe2012 said:

 

I think you can do both. 

 

Clearing old surface karma is simple (just use divine healing tools or light) but deep seated karma cannot be cleared in a few seconds. A change of life circumstances, doing good deeds, focus on virtue is the way. 

 

Also I found receiving Buddhist empowerments cleared some heaviness out as doing Tantric practices as well. 

 

I think a good measurement tool is finding out what you feel towards others: do you wish them well or harm? 

Tulku Urgyen's view: 

There is also another way to thoroughly and perpetually bring an end to negative karma and obscuration. The moment of recognizing mind essence totally interrupts the karma and obscurations, for that moment. It purifies the negative karma that has been continued from the past and it interrupt any creation henceforth. As long as this recognition last, karma and obscurations are completely ended. Complete stability in the recognition of empty cognizance, therefore, involves the total elimination of all obscurations and negative karma.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche - "That is why the Dzogchen teaching is not given at the beginning of the path and why it isn’t something that we broadcast throughout the world."

Tsoknyi Rinpoche pointing out a basic approach to vipassana and shamatha from a mahayana perspective, and how the two are inseparably entwined. The investigative aspect, and the ensuing experiential aspect, neither of which are really methods of practice per se, but rather, exercises in contemplation. 

Quote

 

Why does our sense of self feel so real, permanent, and solid? It’s because we have frozen the naturally light, fluid, and open experience of the mere I, creating endless arrays of conceptual boxes. Even when we investigate and see that all phenomena, including the mere I, lack real existence, we typically do not feel it—it remains in the head and can have a cold, arid, lifeless quality that is not fundamentally transformative. The reified I changes with new information but does not transform. We try repeatedly to change our lives and do this and that practice, but we continue to get stuck and frustrated; then we end up going the wrong direction and losing our way. This is because the cognitive mind, so strongly developed and employed in the speedy modern world, can know feelings but does not feel the feelings fully. So like a bird with one wing trying to fly, we don’t get very far.

 

We need to train and educate the clarity aspect of mind in harmony with the subtle body, the underlying nature of which is essence love. The Tibetan term for essence love is nying-je, which is translated as “noble heart” or “lord of the heart.” It refers to a quality of heart that is completely unconditional and free from all attachment. This kind of love—a spark of buddhanature that resides within all of us—is contrasted with conditional love, which is based on various levels of giving and receiving love. Essence love is the pure feeling within and behind all conditional feelings. Once we connect again and again with this essence love, having cultivated a nonjudgmental mind, our dharma practice can be authentic and life changing. Otherwise there is the danger of using dharma as a kind of pretense, a game of self-deception.

 

To realign some concepts and notions regarding tantra in the context of Tibetan Buddhism. 

The word tantra is seldom used in Tibetan Buddhism, and usually refers to the body of tantric scriptures. The terms Mantrayāna or Vajrayāna are more commonly used in reference to a doctrinal system. The term Vajrayāna refers to the spiritual path that is immutable-the Diamond Vehicle that leads to the realization of the enlightenment mind and that is ever present, although currently obscured by our ignorance. Etymologically, the word tantra may be understood as a continuum, a thread or lineage that gives continuity to the teachings, much like the genetic code that determines the form insects, birds, and all sentient creatures take at birth. So tantra, in the Buddhist sense, may be understood as that genetic code that links our buddha nature through successive incarnations until enlightenment is attained. And so a Vajrayāna initiation in one lifetime may result in a rebirth as a Buddhist or as one who embarks on the bodhisattva path.

~ HH Sakya Gongma Rinpoche 

Mongoose, rather than otters. 

Spitting, not vomiting. 

👍

"[The mongoose] is believed to be the source of all gems".

Tibetan Buddhist practices transmitted by Yuthok Yönten Gönpo the Younger, the great 12th century Tibetan physician and meditation adept who is considered to be an emanation of Medicine Buddha. It is a complete system of practice from the Anuttarayogatantra (Highest Yoga Tantra) class of teachings, beginning with Ngöndro (the preliminaries) and progressing through Kyerim and Dzogrim (Creation and Completion Stage practices) to the highest practices of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.

4 hours ago, Mark Foote said:

Concepts, by illustration, are what, then?  

The father of a friend once said, "I was always afraid that if I ever got my (stuff) together, it would be tougher than I am."
 

"The dharma of intellect cannot fathom the truth beyond intellect. The dharma of action cannot discover the truth of non-action. Should you wish to attain the truth beyond intellect, the truth of non-action, search out your mind and leave your awareness naked."

~ Mahasiddha Tilopa

On 12/06/2023 at 4:15 AM, Kojiro said:

Finally I am going full fruitarian. I have been eating only fruit for the last few weeks and I feel quite well. Although I haven't healed all my issues so far. Anyway I prefer this than to fast for long periods of time, and eating only fruit is probably the most similar thing to a complete fast. And although I feel quite well, perhaps better than ever in these last years, I am losing a lot of weight. I am becoming too thin, for the standard view, but I guess this is the price to pay for healing myself after years of nutritional errors and abuses. 

Are you omitting veg, probiotics  and healthy oils too?

I wouldn't do it, but then, to each his own, I suppose. 

Just be mindful your gut function isn't compromised by too much fiber. Studies show consuming more than 70g of fiber per day can have adverse effects on gut health. 

"The meditation upon selflessness, and specifically the meditation upon the lack of true existence of the personal self, is done by replacing your solid sense of your own existence with something else. For example, in the case of the Medicine Buddha practice, this consists of imagining yourself to be the Medicine Buddha, conceiving of yourself as the Medicine Buddha. By replacing the thought of yourself as your ordinary self with the thought of yourself as the Medicine Buddha, you gradually counteract and remove the fixation on your personal self. As that fixation is removed, the power of the seventh, the afflicted consciousness is reduced. And as it is reduced, the kleshas (mental afflictions) are gradually weakened, which causes you to experience greater and greater well-being in both body and mind."

H.E. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Excerpt from:  KTR, Medicine Buddha Teachings,
Shenpen Osel & Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Publications, p 6-7

Sun exposure is meant for the body to absorb vitamin D, not yang energy. If the latter is the case, those who work outdoors daily, for hours under the hot sun, must all be energetically imbalanced... they're not. No surprise if their constitution is mostly yin. So maybe you need to understand your own physical make-up first rather than drawing on generalised talk to obtain knowledge. A good place to start would be to first understand your dietary habits. If you're a yin type and your diet from young consists of mainly yin-type nutrients, then of course you'd be sun-aversed. 

Life's experiences are like last night's dreams;

The pleasures of the senses, like an imaginary party.

Meaningless activities are like waves

lapping on the surface of the water.

(Buddhist saying)

18 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

Blooms of Irish loughs.

Murdris, Ireland's own Nessie,

grazes on clover.  

grazes on clover 

food of prehistoric pets 

try walking the dog 

"Note that all dualistic concepts and emotions, even positive ones such as caring, compassion, and wishing others well, - are accompanied by grasping at ‘self’. 

So although positive emotions are good, they still fall short of perfection, which is the primordial wisdom beyond dualistic thinking and emotional sensations.

Grasping at positive qualities is nonetheless a stepping-stone to perfection, helping us eventually to loosen the grip of grasping at ‘self’, and to experience sensations of peace and joy. 

So transforming from negative to positive, and then from positive to perfection, is the ideal way to move towards the full perfection of buddhahood."

~  Tulku Thondup

Since all is empty, all is possible. 

Just as it is known that an image of one's face is seen depending on a mirror but does not really exist as a face, so the conception of "I" exists dependent on mind and body, but like the image of a face, the "I" does not at all exist as its own reality.

All philosophies are mental fabrications. There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of things.

I am not, I will not be.
I have not, I will not have.
This frightens all children,
And kills fear in the wise.

The victorious ones have said
That emptiness is the relinquishing of all views.

For whomever emptiness is a view, that one has achieved nothing.

The whole world is cause and effect; excluding this, there is no sentient being. From factors which are empty, empty factors originate; those who impute origination to even very subtle entities are unwise and have not seen the meaning of conditioned origination; there is nothing to be denied and nothing to be affirmed. see the real correctly, for he who sees the real correctly is released.

Whatever is dependently co-arisen, that is explained to be emptiness.

That, being a dependent designation, is itself the Middle Way.

Nāgārjuna - The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way

Regardless of refinement, concepts have limits, and the argument for their specificity, usually confined and encircled to particular sets of circumstances or applications, holds merit. 

I'm suggesting that chances of such limitations are substantive, leading to blockages and obstacles on the path of spiritual heartmind cultivation.

One needs to be careful not to confuse seemingly progressive conceptual designates, no matter how sophisticated or refined they appear, with spiritual progress. If the function remains obvious and apparent, there isn't any real refinement. 

9 hours ago, Mark Foote said:

the games people play

just to pass the time of day

weed patch, flowering

 

 

weed patch, flowering 

fuchsias and rhododendrons 

blooms of Irish loughs 

5 hours ago, Nungali said:

 

yes, thats much better as we all know that  ' local galactic logos'  would not be  a concept ....   like 'God'  is  .

 

 

 

Now I am left wondering how a voice would be inserted into one's mind   without   words ? 

Meeting of minds is a thing, last I heard 😏

4 hours ago, old3bob said:

so are you implying  that you've skipped the Upanishads as just another form of common communal goings on?

Havent you already picked up on hint after hint after hint that desperately seeks to project the idea that we have a sort of celestial lord in this community?  😉