GrandmasterP

47-years boy and man I've been a fully paid member of the 'rat race' and never yet found a liking for work. Retire officially two-weeks come Friday. (((( doing the happy dance as I type)))) Having to work for a living isn't conducive to cultivation but nobody seems to have come up with an alternative way of paying the bills that is legal. What got me through was being a union rep. The union IS the members and the members aren't management so there's a different dynamic and just now and again you feel as though there's a positive difference being made. Wherever there's a strong union ethos in a workplace the members are empowered and tend not to be as fecked about with as much as workers in non unionised places. Unity is strength and there's more comradeship hence less of that 'dog eat dog' BS you find in some organisations. We leave that to the management, those twonks are forever stabbing each other in the back or poisoning wells prior to stabbing.

UK Bums can find a good TaiChi class locally via this link.... http://www.taichiunion.com/ We've a TaiChi Union teacher does an afternoon class in the village hall. Only costs £3 and she's excellent.

I'd sooner have wild salmon than the farmed ones. The taste of the wild salmon is far better IMO.

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This one can be fun. Have a handout with an outline human body. Give it out in lesson one and ask the students to put their name on and then draw in where they think the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs and spleen are located. Collect in the papers and keep them until session 10 then do the same thing with new handouts. After they've redrawn the organs, give them each back their Lesson 1 drawings to compare. Everyone has become far more accurate.

167 and have that book already so if I 'win' let the next nearest have it. Nice idea for a thread BTW.

Some of the Osho cultivations do seem to be quite draining.Bio-Danza in particular. I've been to Tantra week at Osho-Leela ( working, not as a participant) and by the end of each day's sessions many of the attendees are totally washed out. Not saying it's bad cultivation but if you leave off the Osho bits and stick with the rest then check out your energy levels after a while, you'll be able to tell if it was the Osho work that was causing your fatigue. If you are knackered after cultivation then eventually you'll have to stop anyhoo so aim for a balance and be kind to yourself. All success to you.

Gassho. I am indeed a deeply facile TaoBum. That said I was serious in posting that... There are Buddhas and Buddhas out there.. For example, Amitabha Buddha.

I refer to the area beneath the belly button as "south of the equator" when teaching. They seem to like that and it avoids me using trigger terms such as 'pubic' or 'abdominal'.

Yep that's pretty much the case. Odd times they have tried airing all black ( African heritage) actors comedy shows those haven't really caught on with anyone and they seldom got a second series. All Asian ( Indian heritage) actors comedy shows though seem to go down well. We've had Goodness Gracious Me which was a super funny comedy sketch show also The Kumars at Number 43 which was a spoof chat show with real celebrities ( usually white) as guests. Indian Dad clip from Goodness Gracious Me here...

What makes you ask a question such as that CT old buddy? On topic though and apologies for joshing earlier... There are Buddhas and Buddhas out there.. For example Amitabha Buddha resides thusly... ( Mods NB no copyright issues)... http://www.fodian.net/world/0366jcc.htm

"In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded." (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

Mind is a conflicting term in Buddhism.

Thanks for the reply Harmonious Emptiness.

If more people cycled regularly then wellness might abound.

When I was nursing I never ever met an atheist hospice ( palliative 'terminal care') patient. There is solace and comfort to be found in religion, hence its enduring popularity.

@ Harmonious Emptiness... 1: Define 'systemic unfairness' please. 2: Using that definition , define and describe what you consider that a 'spiritual relationship' with ' systemic unfairness' (as defined by you)....would look like. 3: Cite your references in support of the claim that " obliviousness to (that) ignorance and systemic unfairness is ( so much) the NORM." Polite request and feel free to ignore it but I was interested in what you yourself thought. Many thanks.

+1 Stick at that cultivation woodcarver. Ten minutes a day at the same time each and every day beats two hours played just now and again. QiGong is easier to stick to than is Zazen when starting out IMO as you're moving. Baduanjin is easy enough to learn and can be played in a short time every day. Maybe keep the Zazen for a weekend 'treat'.

There's only so much that anyone can do with a sword, whatever the style. Shotgun beats sword as sword defeats knife and so on down the weapons list.

+1 It's all duality at bottom. Anyone claiming to have arrived at " Point E" immediately albeit usually silently has imagined into being both that 'Point E' at which they claim to have arrived PLUS a whole group of others who have yet to arrive at 'Point E'. Pure duality.

Just unpicking it really. It's that 'test of' that set me musing. If you and I 'test' the dimensions of a table using the same tape measure, we'll come up with the same dimensions. As would anyone else following on from us and doing the same thing with the same kit. There's replicable. Tyre pressure test likewise , and so on. 'Testing' of faith however... That has to be a subjective call surely?

Not forgetting ' Ecky Thump' that old MA from the north country here in England. Ecky Thump dojo 'school' clip here...

OK now it's found a home I'll have a go. OP asks... "Do you not think that being aware of the prevalence of ignorance and systemic unfairness in society is an important issue in one's spiritual relationship with it? Especially when obliviousness to that ignorance and systemic unfairness is so much the norm that it may in fact be a social pathology?" Before embarking upon meaningful debate we must first carefully define, in order to be able to agree upon; the terminology under discussion. Hence and for starters... 1: Define 'systemic unfairness' please. 2: Using that definition , define and describe what you consider that a 'spiritual relationship' with ' systemic unfairness' (as defined by you)....would look like. 3: Cite your references in support of the claim that " obliviousness to (that) ignorance and systemic unfairness is ( so much) the NORM." Many thanks.

I read somewhere that - "... Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." That might be hard to test if we take that as a definition of faith. Sort of testing an intangible with very different results to testing something tangible, such as, for example; checking the air pressure in tyres using a pressure gauge. In common use maybe a 'test of faith' is akin to someone asking... " Come on man! Even after everything that has happened; you still believe in Baby Jesus?" ( using Baby Jesus as an example only). Faith's maybe a slippery thing to be testing with any expectation of replicable results.