passenger1980

Thank you very much for the input and advice.

Lin, Thank you very much for your kind reply, you are a great inspiration in this forum, as you always have a wise and honest opinion or advise for everybody. I feel the same way about the whole thing. I actually prefer to cultivate by myself and concentrate on the teachings of the Buddha alone (and many other great teachers along history, from philosophers to artists). But i also feel the need to share my road with friends that are cultivating in their own way, which is the case in question. After all, they meditate and cultivate as you said, even if i don't think it's the best way to do it. The main problem is that i don't want to attach or follow any particular teaching, like a rule book. In my opinion it only creates separation, everybody with its own teaching and rules as if they have the ultimate truth. Why can't we all meditate and cultivate, discover our own path by ourselves, without having branches of schools and official teachings that segregate people? I think it also weakens the inquiring mind, our good sceptical mind, which is very important to evolve in my opinion. I have always despised these sort of things, i don't like organized religions as far as i can remember, and i know the Buddha itself always warned people not to idolize him. However i already said i will visit the centre, and my friend seems very anxious about it, so i'll have to go with an open mind and please him, and see what's the atmosphere there. Thanks again for your sincere advice!

Then you have the brain to understand your outstanding display of compassion. Animals are not aware of right and wrong, and that doesn't make them inferior. Of course we love to think that way, so we can kill them in every way possible. However, even while they are not aware of right and wrong, they seem to behave in a much more ethical manner than humans in most cases.

I agree, veganism is an extreme choice in my opinion, i respect vegans, but i don't think it's actually wise, it's some sort of protest and system rebellion gimmick. While i'm against cruelty to animals in any form, i don't see anything wrong if you humanely milk a cow, or collect eggs in a farm.

I became a vegetarian some months ago. Torturing and killing an animal for your own appetite and/or religious belief is morally wrong, period. However most of us get away without having to get our hands dirty. At the end, you only have to pick it up at the supermarket. That doesn't accumulate a lot of karma in my opinion, but we are guilty of hypocrisy. We are supporting something that is morally wrong. You are indirectly paying people to kill animals so you can eat them. I don't think someone here will kill a cow just to eat his precious burger, or a pig just to throw some tasty bacon on it. If there wasn't something morally wrong, there wouldn't be any problem about doing that... If you still have doubts, i suggest to watch Earthlings... For me, it was a tremendous effort over the years to finally become a vegetarian, i live in a region where eating meat is part of the culture and everyday life, a vegetarian is VERY rare. So i understand how meat eaters want to hang on their belief, trying to justify it "it's natural", "it's life". It isn't, it's your choice.

Horrible film, ridiculous acting, lousy cinematography/editing, and the dialogue which is suppossed to be engaging is actually mediocre at best. The acting at the end is one of the most memorable "so bad is good" scenes in a while. I admit i enjoyed that at least... I understand the "philosophical" premises it touches, but to any serious film/art fan it's a huge joke. The IMDB rating is close to 9/10.....dear god.

Great question. I had lots of awesome long and vivid experiences while dreaming (astral travel, lucid dreaming, etc) but never had an OBE while fully awake. I've never really tried that hard though. Sometimes when i meditate, and i am deeply relaxed, i sort of try to come out of my body, but didn't have any luck so far. I will try OR's suggestions and see if they work.

Awesome film indeed. "3-Iron" is another great film from Kim Ki-Duk.

Of course. If a relative or friend of mine had made that decision and donated his body for that particular cause, i will completely respect its wish. The only minor problem would be seeing them exposed, almost in a naked/nudity sort of way, but that after all, is some sort of attachment and cultural heritage. If i can't overcome that or if i really don't want to look at my mother's sexual organs, then i would just simply not attend the exhibition. But that clearly doesn't make the whole thing wrong per se.

Don't get me wrong, i consider myself a Buddhist/Taoist in terms of philosophy at least, i do a lot of meditation, energy work & qi gong, i'm a firm believer in some sort of after life and many other things like karma, but we should remain grounded because is really easy to get carried away while discussing important topics. We can't fool ourselves. At the end, we really don't know for sure. That's why i can't stand religion overall, they are all owners of the truth, but no one can actually prove what they preach. And that's not common sense, and certainly not logical. It's actually quite the opposite, delusional.

That's fighting fire with fire. I'm not an atheist, i'm a deep believer in life after death, and therefore some sort of soul, but i can't prove that, and i don't know anybody that can, so we have to move with what we do know and can prove empirically. That's common sense and logic, and we'll loose ground otherwise. A cadaver is dead and it's not coming back to life in the physical world, unless you believe in zombies (which are awesome of course).

That's clearly wrong. The creature suffered and died for no purpose (in fact, there shouldn't be any purpose at all for killing or torture anything if that decision depends on a human being) But a cadaver is a waste, will rot and come back to earth, it's not alive, and it's not suffering, so i don't see anything wrong about that. Maybe you are gross out or think about it as something sacred. Most catholics and christians for example have a deep respect for cadavers. They should not go and see this exhibition then, because it will upset them. That doesn't make it wrong though.

Why does people like to mix things up? This exhitibion isn't about educating you about your soul, your spirit, or whatever. It isn't about educating at all, not even human body or anatomy. It's art, and art has absolutely no limits and in most cases not even purpose. It's an amazing consciousness expander, creation at its finest. The only limit in my opinion could be if something is wrong in the creation process. For example : killing or torture a living being for the sake of art. Even on that case, art is not to blame, but the wrong action of killing itself.

It's called evolution of consciouness and awareness. Animals don't seem to have one, yet they seem much more ethical than us. We are breeding them in factory lines, torture and killing them as if they were plagues. They suffer, we look away. A steak after all really taste great. We don't have the need to kill another living being capable of suffering to survive. Not only that, we are actually making them suffer more than ever, with the most selfish justifications. There's nothing pretty or divine in killing an animal. If you want to turn away and close your eyes, that's fine, but i dare you to kill a lamb or a pig by yourself and not feel anything, just because is "natural". I didn't create that rule. It's called compassion.

About the steaks...I am aware. But sorry, to me the end doesn't justify the means. What matters is that you just killed and caused suffering to another living being. Don't take anyone's word, take your own. And i think you already know it's wrong, no matter how great steaks are, and how much you need them "to ground from the powerful energies of Kunlun".

Sorry but that doesn't make any sense. It's just a lame justification. You can still be a vegetarian/vegan if you think it's wrong without framing the human race as a scapegoat. You don't really have any control over other people lives and how they kill each other everyday. However, you do have control over what you eat, and it doesn't matter if animals will get killed anyway, you just won't be another gear in that engine, it's a conscious decision. You don't need world peace to start, it's not a matter of stages, you have the decision. It's like saying you are a rapist because the world is sick and wrong, and only when we achieve world peace, you will quit. Ridiculous. Sorry if i sound too harsh, nothing personal of course. For the record, i'm not a vegetarian or a vegan just because of my weakness and desire, since i am a strong supporter of animal rights and ethics. I hope to have the strength to change that in the near future.

I usually meditate a couple of hours before going to sleep, around midnight i guess. The still of the night works wonders for me, as there are usually not loud noises from the street, phone calls or other distractions. It's also something that i don't usually try to avoid or skip, since after doing it i'm already relaxed and ready to get some good sleep. However, i try to avoid meditating when i'm too tired or it's already too late, as in those situations i tend to lose concentration. Still better than nothing though.

Hello, just checking in!