sweeney

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About sweeney

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  1. Personality after death

    ...And, do twins have one soul or two? What about triplets? Can you also imagine if your great great great great granddaughter had you cloned from your DNA; would your soul be dragged from its celestial abode to take up being in a body again? Your dead body living again? Life is now not afterwards.
  2. Personality after death

    And with Karma. Who is the judge? Brahman, Yama, The Omega point? Why didn't Hitler get born as a lobster instead of unleashing the horrors of WW2? He must have had many evil past incarnations to get to the place of darkness he revelled in. Lots of bad people live happy lives and good people live in utter misery. Are all poor people formerly evil? Which is most of the world. To me there is no judge; are we not all the godhead or dharmakaya or the Dao? That would leave us with cause and effect which is akin to a spiritual gravity. To me that seems, well hooey. If your a psychopath you most likely come from a psychopathic family. Most people with personality disorders come from dysfunctional backgrounds, that's not karma its a sad aspect of out of kilter modern life. Good karma and the search thereof is the terrible Hell of good intentions.
  3. Personality after death

    Let's think about having a soul or a cosmic personality. If you have a soul when was it created? Before or around the actual time your parents had sex to procreate you? Or at the time of the big bang? Is it static or dynamic? Would an ant get the urge to leave the nest because they suddenly get a flash back to being a chartered accountant from Frimley in a previous life? Do humans get the urge to herd aphids? We have personal nature inbuilt in terms of animal instincts and personality (please refer to Jungian Archetypes; especially the shadow). Our brain is made up of reptile, mammal/simian and human - but that's reductionist science. As a Daoist I would say that we have no soul, but as an emergence of the undifferentiated Dao we all have different aspects like snow flakes having a multitude of shapes. The snow flake sets on the ground and melts. Then it becomes vapour and forms clouds becoming rain or snow again. But it is a part of the cloud and the water cycle.
  4. Interesting debate. I suppose if you're ego dissolves then you really see. Psychotropics are part of the Tao but perhaps the wisdom they impart is useless unless you are in a specific region or place. Eating Giraffe marrow probably won't do you much good if you live in inner city London and are not a Marabout out in the desert regions of Sudan* My friends and myself when ingesting magic mushrooms in our youth were flooded with pop culture hallucinations: Bat Man, Space Invaders, Heavy Metal Demons. Had we taken them a 1000 years before we would have been communing with ancient Celtic or pre Celtic demi-gods. (I'm Scottish). I guess I feel that unless you are living in harmony with nature (the Tao) for example an Inuit or a Pygmy and totally uncivilised then yes these things may impart wisdom or intuition: Amazonian shamans are great chemists! Perhaps the idea for the I King came into realisation after stoned Taoists where looking at millfoil twigs or cracked turtle shells? *Giraffe marrow is reportedly trippy perhaps due to the Giraffes diet of tryptamine rich Acacia leaves.
  5. A query. The Dao is everything, the whole (multi)universe and that The Dao that can be spoken of is not the true Dao. Yet Masters Lao and Chaung went on to write about it, quite a lot! As the Dao is in everything (because everything is it) could we surmise that as a Taoist and you took Peyote, Psilocybin, or Yage would you be able to commune with the Dao? After all the (this)universe is intelligent hence our collective so called human intelligence (somewhat lacking enough wisdom these days) and communication is widespread throughout nature in various forms ie dolphins, dancing bees, flashing cuttlefish etc. So to communicate is part of the Dao. I cite Peter Lambourne Wilson aka Hakim Bey for putting this question in my head. Can any fellow Bums tell me of wisdom gained from ingestion of plant psychoactives from a Taoist perspective? Hakim Bey TAZ P L Wilson Ploughing the Clouds, the search for Irish Soma
  6. Chuang Tzu Skits

    One fine day, Richard Gere, Bruce Lee, and Kung Fu Tzu were walking along the road. There was a sudden shout in the air "The Pet Store is on fire help! help!" Kung Fu Tzu sprung into action as quick as a golden cobra and rushed to the scene. The heat was fierce and he tried in vain to save the poor bunnies and guppies and puppies. Before long, smouldering and his lungs burning he fell to the ground in a terrible state. Richard Gere could only look on with utter compassion at the poor sentient beings. The pet shop was a non-thing, a non-event; it was swirling maya in action. He recited words from an old Tibetan chant to make sure the souls of the cats and lizards were born in the human realm and not have to suffer on the wheel of being or in the hells. Bruce Lee had ran to a phone box and called for the fire brigade who smashed the windows and saved as many animals as they could. They even poured some water on venerable Kung Fu Tzu and got an ambulance to take him to hospital. And so ends the tale of the three sages and the burning pet shop.
  7. Hua Yen Buddhism.

    If you can evidence some great Chinese Buddhist poetry from that time please let me know. There's Mr Han Shan of course, but was he strictly just a Buddhist? A solitary sage?* There's a lot of Daoism in his poetry. And we can't ignore the fact that he lived up a mountain which is a very Daoist act. Cold Mountain is the only work I can think of that you could term Buddhist however loosely. All the other great works were Daoist. Please be aware that even Sino-Muslims have been known to study the Dao De Jing without feeling that it compromises their submission to the one god, thus many so called Buddhists would have actively used the teachings of the three masters even while being orthodox Buddhists. The fact that both Indian and Chinese mysticism share many facets may reveal that there has been a constant cyclic drift between both cultures for millenia. Where does the east become the west? And vice versa?
  8. Chuang Tzu Skits

    Black Jack Davy was in the town gaol, waiting to be hung in the morn for living as a vagabond and vagrant. Next to him was a pious man scheduled to be executed for by fire for being an evangelical. The turf minister was preaching about god bringing down fire and his wrath destroying the idol worshipers. The Arch Angel St Michael would fly down on his steed and smote the pagans of Rome and the Anglicans with his sword of truth. Black Jack began to whistle and then sang a little song of his own, as the preacher spat his hate filled psalms. God is in Me Me is in God God is a Goat a Goat is God I smoke my pipe I drink my whisky And when Flange presents I am ecstatic for Flange is God too And God is Flange Why die over the old whiskered shan Hallion up in the clouds? Better to worship the Fire in you The Sword of your mind The Angel that lives in the pond or in the body of John Barleycorn Who would fill a ranters grave? Me! The turf preacher didn't listen to the song. His ears where glued shut with righteousness and fear. There was no sign of understanding in his unseeing open eyes. Black Jack Davey was sad for him. If he had an ale he would gladly have shared it with him and spoke about God. The preacher would go to the fire and suddenly realise that he was God. Such a waste. Flange: Female pudenda Shan: Old or Decrepit Hallion: Rascal
  9. Hua Yen Buddhism.

    I wrote another post where I posited if there was an Occidental drift of philosopohy during the time of Sakyamuni's enlightenment. From China into the Subcontinent (through Burma (Myanmar) and Assam)Perhaps Daoist ideas/philosophy was being digested/contemplated in north east India at that time?
  10. Hua Yen Buddhism.

    Excellent bit of digging. Peace Sweeney
  11. Chuang Tzu Skits

    One dark and stormy night Mr C was in the old Chinese grave yard. He was looking for the Sutra of the Golden Lotus Tao Buddha. Finding it would make him immortal. It was buried in the grave of an old Tong called Mr Fu. With ninja stealth Mr C crept around looking this way and that for the crypt. An owl hooted and a thick silvery mist descended and suddenly Mr C became afraid. He could sense a presence. A hungry ghost? "Hey Bruddah hang loose!" A muscular dark skinned man stepped out of the mist carrying a guitar and a beer. It was Eddie Would Go, the local guardian spirit who was usually out at sea. Mr C fell to his knees in prostration. "What ya lookin' for?" "The The The Sutra of the Golden Lotus... ...Tao Buddha. Mr Fu used that to wipe his zombie ass. My Tao is the sea. When I ride the waves I am in accord with the Tao. Waves are like buddha mind; empty, no thing, but they carry you on lifes journey Bruddah. One minute you ride the perfect wave and become nothing, in accord, and you land on the beach. Other days you get wiped out and you end up at the bottom scraping the reef. But they are both the same things. You understand? There is no difference between a wipe out and a perfect pipe. Because there aint no waves really. A bad wipe out is perfect and if I hit the beach smooth then it's a bad fucking day, gnarly. So leave your books and hit the next set bruddah. I hear they are going to be big." Eddie would go produced a magic board and handed it over to Mr C.
  12. Chuang Tzu Skits

    please put in your own skits. Remember the master used humour and overstatement to speak of the profound. He was taking the piss out of us.
  13. Chuang Tzu Skits

    And lo, He Man was the most powerful man in the universe. Indeed so great was his power; he could smash mountains to smithereens, reducing them to dust. He could suck in the cosmic wind, and drink the very sea. Yea, with a motion of his huge arms he could spin galaxies. Verily he held the universe in his hands. Evil trembled at the sight of this hero riding on the wind with his intrepid battle cat. All demons fled in terror screaming in fear. No monster dared approach him. There was one who hoped to defeat him; Skeletor, a foul graveyard ghoul stinking of death. Ah ha ha ha He Man I will rule the universe one day! He cackled. He Man would laugh with a sound like thunder. Good will always defeat evil. One bright sunny morning, He Man tripped as he got out of his royal bed, for he was disguised as a prince, and fell smiting his head. He Man died. Skeletor laughed Ah ha ha ha I have the Power! But he got bored as there was no one brave enough to challenge him; evil against evil is like mixing wine with wine. So he became a drunkard and a bum; one day he got run over by a chariot. Skeletor joined He Man in the land of the dead. Balance was restored. Though now He Man was evil and Skeletor a force for good...
  14. Chuang Tzu Skits

    Professor Wang invented the amazing retro/future metabolism machine. When you sat in it you could fast forward your physical body in time or go backwards. So an old man could go back to his youth or a young girl could go forward into her prime. He lost the patent due to avarice and greed and when it was manufactured you could only go back; no one wanted to grow old. Angry Professor Wang kidnapped the man who stole the patent; a city businessman of great notoriety. He drugged the man and stuck him in the machine. The man was very angry and stated that his lawers were going to sue Wangs ass off leaving him with nothing. Professor Wang gave the business man a choice: He could go back in the machine to before he was born, or forward and into his death. The man began to cry and asked for Wang to send him back to before he was born. Laughing Professor Wang let the man loose. He ran away screaming expletives. Wang got into the machine. Back to before being concieved or forward into death? No choice! Smiling Wang set the controls for forward. He felt guilty at inventing such a stupid machine as he aged rapidly and this was forgotten when he wa swept back to the primordial like a shooting star burning up in space.
  15. Chuang Tzu Skits

    Gerry was lost. His life was a mess. What was it all about? He looked in the phone book to find some kind of spiritual help. Native American yoga was tried but he didn't like it. Then he got into Aryan voodoo; that was even worse. Then he read about a sage who was all the rage in Malibu. The Pure Sage was a fruitarian from Japan who sat in zazen for 10 hours per day and gave Koan interviews with the razzmatazz. Gerry went to see him and was told that the path would be hard: No drink, no meat, no drugs, no sex or masturbation, even the vegetables had to be untouched by human hands to avoid karma. The teachings cost a lot of moolah. And the only illumination that Gerry got from it was crippling debt and Mr Pure banging his wife. Dejected he went to see the Funky Sage in China Town who didn't wash, ate burgers, drank beer, smoked weed and had lots of sex. The Funky Sage was cheaper but demanded more money from Gerry. Broken and worldweary Gerry coughed up the dough. All that the Funky Sage done was ran away with his new girlfriend. Angry now, very angry, Gerry got a sword and went to kill the Funky Sage; he cornered him in a dingy shebeen. He raised his sword. "I'm going to kill you for taking my money and my lady!" "Your money? Your Lady? Who the fuck are you?" Gerry dropped the sword, finally he was enlightened.