ion

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Posts posted by ion

  1. Posted · Edited by ion

    On 5/12/2018 at 5:55 PM, Stosh said:

    Solid ice doesnt become liquid when it melts?

    That I dont get, but if yall agree one can be considered not to be existing , being just part of the whole and operating as such , I get. 

    Solid does not become liquid.

     

    Just like cold never becomes hot.

     

    The one becoming is not the one who became.

     

    Youth does not become old.

     

    Furthermore water has no nature it never becomes anything; it has no natural state but it's state is always conditioned.

     

    This was te point of the post, that no self has power to act or cause indipendently of conditions, against conditions or above conditions.

     

    Water is incapable of Ever Becoming anything.

    • Thanks 1

  2. Posted

    Quote

    Therefore the sage, in the exercise of his government, empties their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills, and strengthens their bones. He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge and without desire, and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act (on it). When there is this abstinence from action, good order is universal.

     

    Sounds EXACTLY like good instructions for meditation.

     

    "Empty the mind" Engage the minds attention through the senses outside the body.

     

    "Fill the belly" deep, full breathing through the diaphragm. 

     

    "Weakens their wills" put aside any ambitions or pursuits.

     

    "Streagthens their bones" keep the spine straight.:

     

    "He constantly tries to keep them without knowledge & without desire" Don't get caught up in thoughts and thinking, or give into craving.

     

    "And where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act on it." Do not respond physically to thoughts thinking or craving if you have given into them, but instead...

     

    "When there is this abstinence from action, good order is universal." Relax the mind and the body, and restore order by returning to stillness.

    • Like 5

  3. Posted · Edited by ion

    On 5/9/2018 at 6:54 PM, Stosh said:

    It seems there may be some difference in the perceptions of what doing is and what selflessness is... though I am not sure on the buddhist view.  

    So from yalls view, does ice 'do' ,and does the self exist apart from doing? 

    My reading of taoism is that ice does not 'do' by melting, and the doing of wu wei, is not a manifestation of self doing but being the choiceful origin of that being manifest is, which would make charity 'doing' and not selfless. 

    According to my understanding of empiness/dependent origins ice is not doing by melting. What's more the solid does not become.e liquid. 

     

    Also no self can do or ver does. No self has the power of causation. All action, form and phenomenon are dependent in origin and empty of self.

     

    Selfish actions would be actions whose becoming was conditioned by selfishness of some sort as one of the conditions of its becoming/existing. But there is no self that is free to be an agent of cause merely at will.

    • Thanks 1

  6. Posted

    1 minute ago, silent thunder said:

    I used these stretches over the last few years to great effect.

    Highly recommend them, though some you'll need time to reach into them.

    They are not all for use at the beginning of your unfolding.

    Cool! Or you could say not for use at the beginning of your folding!

     

    Something I wanted to ad is that if Tuscany sit in the lotus but want to, take your time, get comfortable in the half lotus and my force anything.

     

    You can damage yourself in more than 1 way. Just by sitting in the half lotus position, forcing myself to sit in discomfort for a little longer each session resulted in stretching and pulling of my body that one day when I was , lifting something heavyi dislocated my pelvic bones and couldn't walk for a month. It was very painful.

  7. Posted · Edited by ion

    22 hours ago, Orion said:

     I have naturally very narrow hips so it's more accommodating to let one leg swing a bit looser.

    My legs are as thin as you can get. I used to say the same thing, that because my thighs were so thin that I could not properly and hence, comfortable sit in the lotus.

     

    But with some diligence I found that I could. I was sitting in the half lotus position up until 2 years ago. From the time that I could sit in the lotus til now I have made and continue to make progress. 

     

    At this point my feet sit on my lap just fine, with the bottoms up at the top of my legs again,st the abdomen. 

     

    If your thin you have to PRACTICE to pull your knees closer togeather while pulling your feet up higher and out.

     

    I have considered that making a continual effort with continual progress is the right view, right aspiration,  right action, 

    right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration of and for sitting meditation.

  8. Posted

    Awesome, thanks!

     

    Sometimes I go down to the bluffs above the crashing waves and sit in the lotus on a narrow ledge for that Very reason. I have an irrational fear of heights so I try to relax in an uncomfortable position that causes anxiety.

     

    Some times I'll st on a branch in a tree or on a fallen log with the branch or log beneath my ankles and my knees hanging off ether side resting on nothing for the same reason.

     

    I will check out the reads.

  9. Posted

    For deep meditation for long periods of time the lotus is the most stable and practical of all the positions.

     

    From when I first started meditation I have made an effort or a goal to sit in the lotus, and from very early on I could see the practicality of it.

     

    I could also see, whether it exists or not, the evolution of its origination from sitting in the natural cross legged pretzle style or what we were old was "Indian style" in kindergarten,  to Burmese style to half lotus to full lotus.

     

    Each of those is the next practical progression of the one listed before it If you were trying to sit for a very long period of time. Each causes both a particular discomfort and feeling of imbalance after sitting in it for a while that could e a condition of initiating the next step.

     

    For instance Burmese is extremely uncomfortable for me both in the knees and in the ankles where they contact the ground. So it makes sense to bring that foot onto the lap and from there it makes sense to tuck the other under the butt, voila half lotus.

     

    Half lotus makes you feel unbalanced and the foot tucked under the butt begins to hurt from pressure and from contact with the ground so it is logical to switch which foot goes on the lap, and eventually it seems logical to sit on a branch or a rock with something soft on it and to place both feet on the lap voila full lotus.

     

    This may not be appearent if you're used to sitting on level ground with all kinds of cushions, but when your sitting on the hard ground or in the forest on a regular basis.

     

    And as it turns out for me at least it is by far the most comfortable position. Discomfort in the legs is not usually why I end  sitting session anymore. I don't know why I end a session usually any more.

     

    Once your comfortable in the lotus you feel tucked in. Your legs feet and everything involved,feel,less like legs and ffeet. It feels strange and indistinct and as such easier to forget you are a body or a thing with a form. Also you are more likely to sit for longer periods of time if for know other reason than just the work involved in getting on done. For me at least this is when most of the discomfort sets in when I get entangled and the "painful"tingles and discomfort sets in. I have however come up with a way to pretty quickly "wake " my legs and feet back up by alternating between squatting and stretching a couple times.

     

    But if the thought arises to getup or be done some times I quickly reflect on what it takes to get in and out of of full lotus and decide to give it more time.

     

    As for the discomfort while sitting though. There is something about overcoming the physical discomfort of any seated position and finding comfort anyway.

     

    From the beging til now I have known that I could not establish comfort in the body by making adjustments of posture so I have always told myself to get over it and just focus on relaxing everything, and that is the key to finding true and profound comfort. Some people while sitting are continually adjusting which tome shows they are believe comfort can be established byforce but that thought and action will come back again and again if acted on or believed in so you see them sniffing and shuffling over and over again. So they are never actually getting or being comfortable let alone "just sitting".

     

    Point being for sitting long periods it's best to find a posture that is balanced and as little contact with the ground as possible. 

     

    Move any twigs, seeds, or rocks out of the way, balance yourself in a way you won't fall apart and impulse stillness and flow on that action until until it naturally stops.

     

     

    Laying down promotes discomfort, in particular where the comfort of a Matt or cushion are not naturally provided, plus the spine is not resting vertebrae atop vertabre perfectly aligned wit the pull of gravity. Ones spine and head don't flow withered breeze like grass or a balloon while laying down, so laying down is also a posture that promotes resistance.

     

    Not to knock any form for what it does because every posture I've sat in for long periods seems to bring a certain energy or has a different effect at least it seems that way to me.

     

     

     

    • Like 1

  10. Posted

    A couple of things to throw out there.

     

    Had you had a vaccination of any kind a few weeks prior to the "sudden deafness"?

     

    Nothing is self existing, illnesses are no different nd people don't just go deaf for no reason.

     

    I had almost gone deaf in one ear after a vaccination and have since met two people who have suffered permanent damage to their ears after taking a vaccine. One is almost deaf in both ears, the other went completely deaf in both ears. Both were fine and could hear before the vaccine. Vaccines are drugs that have much weirder ingredients than your average drug, many of them are neurotoxins, and vaccines as drugs are all Basicly the,most experimentaldrugs on the market.

     

    As drugs there are many adverse effects that can happen and side effects. As experimental drugs many of the adverse effects are unknown. If there is an adverse effect the Dr is supposed to write it don and send it in to a national database, but they do not know anything about the vaccines they administer (with out a diagnosis first) except what the reps from the pharmaceutical corporations tell them much like with the opiates that have become an epidemic because of false claims from the reps from the pharmaceutical industry so Drs don't really know what to look for with adverse reactions to vaccines and don't usually report the advert effects.

     

    If you suggest to your doc that it might be an adverse reaction they will likely deny it but that denial is based on info received from the same pharmaceutical reps that told them that you can safely take opiates daily for months without forming a tolerance let alone an addiction.

     

    If you can cure tinnitus like someone suggested, with acupuncture than it might not be too hard to realize that getting stuck with a needle that oozed known neurotoxins like aluminum and mercury into your body along with strange proteins that cause allergies, aborted fetus DNA, animal DNA, bacteria, genomyecine (anti bacterial agent) along with live and dead viruses might also be a cause or condition of your deafness and tinnitus.

     

    The other thing is that I have had tinnitus that lasted for days on more than one occasion.

     

    In meditation I've noticed that in silence there are naturally occurring resonances that manifest in the ear as ringing that are not tinnitus and that are different than tinnitus in how the ringing is.

     

    What I began doing in meditation is focussing in on the ringing like one focuses on their breath.

     

    Since then the ringing of tinnitus has occurred a few times. Regaurdless of what I'm doing when it occurs i stop and focus my attention on the tinnitus and it always goes away shortly after I tune into it.

     

    If you try this you may want to give it a while before you give up do to the length of time you have been experencing the tinnitus. 

  12. Posted

    I'm glad you liked my parody. It was all in good fun, and remember they were merely words just for the sake of describing something so they could not possibly offend the Buddha, just like Subhuti's ravishing the Buddha with labels and titles couldn't possibly honor the Buddha. 

     

    Sure, that's true. But what use is it to say to someone "show people compassion fairly and equally without distinction and you are on the road to enlightenment"? It s not true that to act any particular way will lead to enlightenment if someone's actions are based on being told to act that way.

     

    Quote

    8

    Highest good is like water.
    Because water excels in
    benefiting the myriad creatures
    without contending with them,
    and settles where none would like to be,
    it comes close to the Way.

     

    Quote

    38

    A truly good man is not aware of his goodness,
    and therefore has virtue. A man of the lowest virtue
    never strays from virtue and that is why he is without virtue.

    A truly good man does nothing,
    yet leaves nothing undone.
    A foolish man is always doing,
    yet much is left undone.

    A man of the highest rectitude acts, but from ulterior motive.
    A man most conversant in the rites acts, but when no one responds,
    rolls up his sleeve and resorts to persuasion by force.

    Hence when the Way was lost there was virtue;
    when virtue was lost there was benevolence;
    when benevolence was lost there was rectitude;
    when rectitude was lost there were the rites.

    The rites are the wearing thin of loyalty and good faith
    and the beginning of disorder;
    foreknowledge is the flowery embellishment of the Way
    and the beginning of folly.

    Hence the man of large mind abides in the real,
    and not in what is on the surface,
    in the fruit, not in the flower.

    Therefore accept the one, and reject the other.

    An alternative translation=

    When the Way is lost, there is goodness;
    when goodness is lost, there is kindness;
    when kindness is lost, there is morality;
    when morality is lost, there is ritual.

     

    That is what is true about that.

     

    The Buddha's teaching on the subject goes to the root. He teaches that all the varieties of distinctions, likes and dislikes, opinions and biases, and dualistic labels the mind project onto other when a person is seen such as pretty/ugly, racial, classification, classification by weight, social stratum, or any other are the symptoms of a wandering mind through a fairytale land under the influence of total delusion; he taught that all things are emptiness, nondual, and all characteristics are without self and dependent on "other" for its existence.

     

    He taught in a way to help you understand both why and how.

     

    Yet this uniquely written text that is hidden in extravagance vaguely points at acting a certain way to enjoy the fruits and it's considered to be one of the Buddha's most very important doctrines???

     

    Two things I keep thinking I should mention.

     

    First when I was reading it, I did feel like I was "getting something" but I almost felt like I was realizing the whole of religious Buddhism was a manipulativehoax, and that the proof was some how magically being expressed to the psyche by reading that absurd text. But I don't know what the feeling really was about, it was weird and I thought I remembered hearing about this non-empty magical powers that the text seem to have on people.

     

    I remember in that book 

    Hardcore Zen, that Brad Warner who I think of as a phony said he became enlightened merely be hearing the Diamond Sutra, (maybe it was the heart sutra?) Which I think is bogus.

     

    Second thing I wanted to mention per another post is that "circular logic" is to say that a thing is "self existing."

     

    It is to say that something exist merely because it does.

     

    That is in direct opposition to Buddhist thinking.

     

     

     

     

    • Like 1

  13. Posted · Edited by ion

    And this is always the type of defense that always rises to any questioning of the Diamond sutra

    "

    No text can offer more than the reader is willing to gain from it. "

     

    In other words "maybe it's you?" AKA an attack on the character of the observer rather than anything definite or relevant about the text of the Diamond Sutra.

     

    Or something like 

     

    "Isn't this the issue with all rational thought to begin with?" And then to argue the logic of that as a way of defending the Diamond Sutra instead of offering any insight into the sutra itself as though it's contents speak for itself.

     

    and btw according to the Dharma, right thinking and right view DO NOT contain  and ARE NOT conditioned by circular logic but all existing things can be seen and understood by the conditions of their origination.

     

    like ALOT of members here I have no trouble reading, deciphering and translating esoteric text with mundane and ultra mundane meanings. Tons of people here can derive and explain their interpretations of tons of religious texts.

     

    a good portion of this group is devoted to doing just that with the DDJ to mention just one but no one can approach a tangible explanation of the Diamond sutra?

     

    not even "two sentences can be explained"?

     

    I have mainly focussed on the text the Word of Buddha which describes the 4 noble truths, 8 fold path, dependent arising of suffering, dependent arising of consciousness and the three marks of existence. 

     

    The verses written by Nagarjuna are the other text I've studied the most heavily but have read, understood and identified with many other Buddhist texts as well as with Zen text, and of course the DDJ, some of that by great effort some with ease, but the Diamond Sutra nothing like any of them.

     

    for one thing like the DDJ most,Buddhist text avoid exaggerated terms and thinking in terms,of extremities. 

     

    it has hints and nuances of an,understanding of emptiness but also says things that imply that things are,not empty.

     

    I thought it seemed like the Buddha and Subhuti were reading a different sutra that to us the contents were hidden, and the Diamond Sutra is just a written recording of two guys talking about how great some other book was, without telling us what was in that other book.

     

    as though if it were now a days, someone filmed two guys looking at a book, and you could see they were astonished by the book, and heard them making proclamations ad to how great and powerful the book but they never read aloud from the book and the camera never zooms in on the text.

     

    that's what it seemed like to me, and I'm a guy who lives "homeless", sits in full lotus for no less than 40 minutes,a,day but usually more than an hour and who other wise also lives his life 100% as a path and according to and what he sees as the Dharma, and ALOT of that is at least influenced by the impact understanding the deeper meanings of spiritual teachings have had on me.

     

    other wise all the insight in the DS amounts to this-

     

    "in some countries it's,called a gato, in others It's known as a cat, but these are just conceptualizations and neither name is what it actually is."

     

    knowing that everything is empty does not lead to enlightenment, but understanding why things are empty is worthy of great consideration.

     

    the DDJ says in line 1 chapter one everything the Diamond Sutra said and tried to say without burying it in several pages of distracting exaggerations, and references to extremities which is 95% of all that the DS is.

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    Yea but big deal, I remember having a discussion with a couple friends in high school about the same thing.

     

    I'm not saying I didn't get the little tidbits of information that were buried under mountains of adverbs and continual references to extremeties, I'm saying that it shouldn't even be a Sutra, let alone such a highly reversed one.

     

    Its like a piece of artless art that because a particular person said it was great, everyone started to look deep into t until they could say "yes, yes, I can see it now, this is truly one of the greatest artworks of all time. " and suddenly everyone is saying "I see it to, yea I get it, don't you? What's wrong with you that you don't see it?"

     

    Empowers new clothes.

     

    Btw, change my mind is merely an expression sing words, but they are jut words LOL.

     

    We all know that and the Diamond Sutra teaches that over and over.

     

    All I'm saying is If there's something I don't see and you do shed some light please. We all know the mind can't be changed, but also it is never ever made up.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  15. Posted · Edited by ion

    I just read the Diamond Sutra for the first time. I'd been hearing it is one of the most important sutras. So as a person who has been on the path for nearly two decades I figured I should check it out.

     

    I was really surprised to find out there was aabsolutely no content other than two guys talking in circles about how great this Sutra they were in the middle of is.

     

    Its a total crock of s!#t.

     

    Here is a quick impersonation-

     

    "Subhuti."

     

    "Yes your magnificent Lord of all lords and fully enlightened one, the Tathagata Buddha? "

     

    "Is there a lot of salt in the 250 million oceans in the 85 million galaxies?"

     

    "Yes magnificent Lord, and fully enlightened glorious one, there are certainly lots and lots and lots of salt particles in the 250 million oceans in the 85 million galaxies. This is indeed a magnificent observation and true to the fullest oh Lord Tathagata. "

     

    Well then subhuti, tell me, if a monk were to give as much gold as there is salt in the 250 million oceans in the85 million galaxies to a beggars child would he not then receive a million times the amount of gold he gave to the beggars son in the form of merit and blessings?"

     

    "Yes oh Lord Buddha, fully enlightened blessed being who is free from all shackles and is freed of coming and going, as much merit and blessings would rain down on him as there are atoms in all the universe if he were to give as much gold to a beggars son as there are salt particles in the 250 million oceans in the 85galaxies."

     

    "Oh but Subhuti,  I tell Thee that if a person were to read just two lines of this, the greatest Sutra of all, that as we speak has not even been written yet, to anyone than that person would receive as much salt is there is in all the  oceans in universes within the multiverse multiplied by the amount of star dust in the whole cosmos squared times the amount of dust in the Sahara desert divided by 4 times a million Google in blessings and merit. Then a cloud of rainbow vapor will appear in that spot, all beings in the area will enter into nirvana and the very ground will become a holy place for all eternity. It will be that way permanently and forever!"

     

    "Oh wow holiest of the magnificent immortal ones who lived as lords throughout the 7 ages of Gopor and who have sacrificed there own lives in order that all sentient beings be saved, and honorable golden sphere of light to those suffering in the 13 hells of darkness that sure is a whole bunch of merit and blessings Tathagata! "

     

    "You think so huh Subhuti? "

     

    "Yes Lord Buddha, the Tathagata,  the holy one who is neither here nor there, I do indeed think it's a whole bunch of blessings and merit oh Lord."

     

    "Well Subhuti, I have news for you, it's not! I am only saying this just to say this, and the truth is these are merely words I'm using to get my point across, but that's all they are, just words."

     

    At this Subhuti exploded in a cloud of holy enlightenment and no trace of him was ever found. At that the Buddha looked at the multitudes who were watching in disbelief. He said "that did not really just happen." and pointed to a flower. When the multitudes were all gazing at the flower wondering what this teaching meant, the Buddha snuck out the back to get out of dodge.

     

    THE END.

     

    And that seems to be the entire content repeated over and over.

     

    They kept mentioning "this sutra" but the actual Sutra is just them mentioning the Sutra without ever getting into the Dharma.there was no Dharma or anything except circular logic making reference to something that never actually began.

     

    Change my mind.

    • Like 1

  16. Posted · Edited by ion

    Quote


     

    Desire

    Free from desire you see the mystery. Full of desire you see the manifestations.

     


    Lessen selfishness and restrain desires.


    Without desire there is stillness, and the world settles by itself.


    There is no greater crime than desire.


    I have no desire to desire, and people become like the uncarved wood by themselves.


    The sage desires no desire, does not value rare treasures, learns without learning, recovers what people have left behind.

     

    Wealth and Greed

    Not valuing wealth prevents theft.

     


    Keeping plenty of gold and jade in the palace makes no one able to defend it.


    Displaying riches and titles with pride brings about one’s downfall.


    Searching for precious goods leads astray.


    Abandon cleverness, discard profit, and thieves and robbers will disappear.


    Those who know when they have enough are rich.


    Gain or loss, what is worse?


    Greed is costly. Assembled fortunes are lost.


    There is no greater misfortune than greed.


    When the palace is magnificent, the fields are filled with weeds, and the granaries are empty.


    Some have lavish garments, carry sharp swords, and feast on food and drink. They possess more than they can spend. This is called the vanity of robbers. It is certainly not the Way.


    People starve. The rulers consume too much with their taxes. That is why people starve.


    Heaven’s Way is like stretching a bow. The high is lowered and the low is raised. Excess is reduced and deficiency is replenished. Heaven’s Way reduces excess and replenishes deficiency. People’s Way is not so. They reduce the deficient and supply the excessive.


    Who has excess and supplies the world? Only the one who follows the Way.


    The virtuous carry out the settlement, but those without virtue pursue their claims.


    The sage does not hoard. The more he does for others, the more he has. The more he thereby gives to others, the ever more he gets.

     

    Also, if you read the DDJ, (ahem!), you'll uh notice that selflessness is talked about repeatedlythrough out the whole thing. The first chapter that is directly about it is chapter 7. After that there are many direct statements about it but the entire book is saturated in allusions to there being no self or living that way By abandoning desire.

     

    Here's a verse from chapter 13 that Basicly warns against desire and the self ideology

     

    "What do you mean by “Accept misfortune as the human condition”?
    Misfortune comes from having a body.
    Without a body, how could there be misfortune"

     

    this verse Basicly tells us that all is dukkha, life is dukkha and that dukkha originates from self, and from desire.

     

    so the religions of Taoism and Buddhism might differ on these subjects but the text are quite clear that Laozi and Buddha agreed on this.

     

    the difference in the practice of Buddhism there is Moe emphasis placed on this because of the the "three marks of existence " which is the Buddha's proclamation of "no-self" and in the 4 noble truths "all life is suffering; suffering is born of desire.

     

    btw when we eat because of desireit'sccalled gluttony, propper eating is not about fulfilling desire, and Laozi teaches against eating out of desire, and eating to fulfill the taste buds.

     

    looking forward to something is not desire. Eating is often done by non-doing.

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

    Thanks theLearner. I feel my sitting practice has in many ways been preparing and urging towards this, even maybe trying to happen on its own.

     

    Youtube isn't coming in that great right now right now but I've been doing some research on zhan zhuang practice and pangu. 

     

    Looks like it is just what Im looking for. Alot of the time before I sit, I stand around the cushion quite a bit before sitting, its a kind of high energy or nervousness, sort of an apprehension about getting involved in the sit. I think that is due to the fact that I know I might be there for a while. Kinda like a smoker puffing down a smoke before going in the building. But there is also a bring myself into focus and relaxing.

     

    I can see how these/this practice will fit right in there and transform all that pre-sitting whateverness into something more powerful.

     

    Interesting that in reading about zhan zhuang, there are warnings about how practicing(standing!) incorrectly can cause bodily harm. I have no doubt that that is true. The last time my back went out was at the DMV. Just standing I felt the slightest feeling at the base of my spine, it felt like someone was lightly touching me with their finger, I kept looking back at noone. Then later I felt a pain in my neck. I spent the next day laying on a wadded up blanket in the garage pretty much un-able to move for a couple days. I have no idea how or what happened other then I was certain it had to do with something about the way I was standing.

     

    Thanks some more, Im getting fired up about this.

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    Good question. So good it deserves two answers.

     

    My first answer is  yes, because it is the core of everything, it is everywhere.

     

    My second answer is Absolutely NOT.

     

    The void is not conditioned or characterized by form; having no characteristics means it is not in contact with anything so it cant be said to have a position. Position is relative. Something can not be in contact with something else without the occurrence of conditioning. Conditioning causes characteristics. Void is without characteristics, so can not said to have an existence let alone a location.

     

    Space/vacuum is given characteristics (distances/dimensions/time) by ("form" and) phenomenon.

  19. Posted

    You eventually will have to learn from a live teacher, no matter what.

     

    Good luck.

    Im hoping to be moving on from this situation within a few weeks to another where I might be able to at least join some groups or classes or plug into something in some way that might lead to gaining formal interactive instruction, but would at least be in a state of warming up, and generating some experience-dexterity,vdirect ignorance and frustrations so that I will at least have some specific questions and things to aim for.

  20. Posted · Edited by ion

    thanks guys Ill begin looking into tis immediately.

     

    Not Void, what you bring up about standing is something I've have picked up on recently. I've been thinking about it as an exercise in mindfulness. I stand around quite a bit, and I also get cold easily. The more I've been practicing zazen in which diaphragmatic breathing is central (and has been my guide in finding just the right posture anywhere I sit), the more I notice muscle tension, standing off balance/stressing the natural skelatal balance and restricted breathing while standing and always take the opportunity to settle my bones, drop my belly and relax.

     

    Another thing I've recently tuned into which I try to bring into standing/walking as well as zazen is I discovered a kind of ever-present tension in the neck, that when relaxed lets the head float off the spine.

     

    thanks again to both of you , and any other suggestions are more then welcome 

    :)

  21. Posted

    With all due respect to the forum members, Im kind of embarrassed to even ask this panel of experts  where to begin, but that is what I'm asking.

     

    I've been practicing meditation for about 2 years, but was preparing to do so with right intentions for over 10 years before that. I knew I was going to take it very seriously, and I still do always approach sitting with total sincerity and respect so I did not start until I was ready.

     

    When I did I started doing 2 sessions a day starting with a 20 minute session. The next day I started to add 5 minutes to each session, (20min, 25min, 30,min 35min, etc) so by the end of week one I was sitting 2 hours a day for an hour each session. I kept it at that for a while mainly because I am a single parent, and a 5 minute session seems like asking too much.

     

    Did that for a few months then I dislocated my pelvic bones making firewood and didn't begin meditation for about 6 months. Since then I've become less systematic about it but Im still very dedicated.  I dont use a timer any more but I know that my sessions last anywhere from 30-45min to 3hours. I practice at least once a day, up to 6 or 7 times.

     

    I do not budge, impulse or compulse. I let the flys drink from my eyes and yellow jackets bite my face. I practice with my kids in the room, in the sun, under the moon, in the woods when the birds stop singing because a large preditor is lurking, I let my eyes rest on moving water and let my ears divide the sounds of the up-stream from the downstream into left & right ears. My "just sitting" is strong, I do not budge because impulses create realities. 

     

    So now Im feeling very strongly attracted to the internal arts, and so I would like to ask you all for advice about how to get started by myself (as in in a residence but not near town/group/class).

     

    Qigong is what comes to mind, but that might just because it seems approachable, or the popularity of the name, or that I don't really know of any other systems.

     

    I can use some recommendations of some movements/poses that I can research myself, or a good system to look up or stuff to research about different systems.

     

    I dont really know where to begin but would really appreciate any guidance offered from the Dao bums.

     

    Thanx :)

     

  22. Posted

    I like to think so too Rara, and anyone but from my point of view in relating to the OP I am not envious of that life style, but more so oppressed by it.

     

    I have never fit in or been able to fit into society. For years this was a source of self loathing. I started ditching school when I was 8, I went to 10 high schools, never got a diploma and have never been able to "succeed" in any materiel sense.

     

    As I became older I realized I didn't want materiel things. I was never very promiscuous and was not motivated by sex or money. Im happy to think that this is a reflection of my evolution, and content in the only niche I seem to fill which is a follower of my path.

     

    Problem is Im also a dad and have had alot of trouble over the years with the social convention and state institutions telling me what and where my concerns need to be, what my priorities need to be and so on. In order to live up to the state enforced standard I've had to search alot to find a community I can live and work in.

     

    A couple of years ago I did. I found a place that I loved, it was a place without industry, and about 60% native American population. It was an extremely rural place where everyone was broke and OK with it so there was a nice noncompetitive, unstructured quality of life.

     

    But you cant control others. I have basically been chased out of the community I was becoming a part of by the Principal of the Elementary school, and the secretary of records at a school in another county because my son was born during a storm that caused a 10 day power outage, I delivered him and there is no birth record.

     

    I was not avoiding the world. I took him to school everyday and the teacher let him in and he did his work. He had gone to two other schools and the one he was attending which was a charter school developed for extreme rural families for whom it is not so practical to attend a conventional school.

     

    The secretary in Humboldt county told the teacher he was not allowed to attend without a birth record which I know is false, and denying enrollment because of lack of documentation is a federal violation of constitutional and civil rights and the teacher also knew that so my son kept going. Then we were told by the teacher that her job was threatened because of my son, and the secretary in Humboldt spoke with the principal of the school in my town and filed  truancy file on my son and I and were going to send CPS to enforce their agenda. I did my research, got on the phone with the secretary of records confronted her with statements from the US dept of justice, she ignored them and hung up on me.

     

    I work hard, Im a farmer; not that kinda bum, but I am poor and the only one I could find that would help charged $240.00 for a 30 minute phone consultation. I lived with a native family and CPS was coming, and my experience has shown that CPS is an unreasonable entity that cant be catered too, and to even slightly do so is to risk having your children kidnapped.

     

    So we left but am now in the same situation as always of trying to figure out how to live in a society that wont allow me too.

  23. Posted · Edited by ion

    The essence of Buddhism is without a doubt, Ignorance; Capital "I".

     

    That is because the dharma is is mutually contingent with illusion, suffering and ignorance. The dharma does not exist of its "own" nature but purely a dependently originated response to ignorance. A lamp is used to dispel darkness only.

     

    When the dharma is known, it is not proclaimed as being, or having it's own existence.

     

    It's said that all things are impermanent, but when the dharma is known, it is known that no thing has ever been established as existing or abiding. When it is known that nothing has ever been established as existing, it becomes known that no thing is birthed, no thing abides and no thing perishes; no thing has ever been established as existing. So how could anything have an essence? And how could something with no existence come or go?

     

    Shunya-dependent origination exposes concepts like impermanent, and permanent to be completely inapplicable terms to describe presence.

     

    The dharma of shunya-dependent origination, reflects that no thing has essence or nature. Illusion can not have a nature, or an essence because it has know existence either subjective or objective, it is the fruit of delusion. So if the dharma is born of an illusion, how can the dharma have an essence or nature?

    • Like 5

  24. Posted

    BTW, IMO singularity as it seems to be the accepted term, is the two, not the one. Not to argue, but that is the way my third eye has always viewed it and my understanding of symmetry co-existing and co-arising is based on that. In fact, it is because of that view that I ever became interested in Tao, (or the view that calls it Tao).

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    Karma in its most rudimentary form co-exists with the "One". it is the symmetry between the one and two, so it self arises as the third while the two arises. 

     

    Symmetry is the reason there is a 4th, and an 8th, etc etc, and as the begining of existence  diversifies and elaborates so does symmetry. Eventually symmetry becomes karma.