Songtsan

The problem with a set system of ethics is that because they are set, and yet the world changes, so the movement of the world can destroy the foundation on which they are based. Very much like the ocean wears stones smooth over time. It seems that the Buddhist ethical system is ripe for other religions to take advantage of. I dont know how well it will deal with things in the long run. I mean, nonviolence worked for Ghandi, so it is true that it can work, but as soon as 'the enemy' (i.e. any group of people who care only about power, control, and use any means necessary, regardless of what mask they are hiding behind) see you using a system that has worked in the past, they study and refine ways to undermine that system too. That is what the governments of the world are doing nowadays - here in USA, over in Europe, and many other places. They have learned from their mistakes, and have learned how to fight back against nonviolence through such means as propaganda, re-structuring laws, devious political moves, blackmail, and so forth. If the Buddhists don't learn new ways to deal with the situation, flexible ways, reeds that bend in the wind without breaking ways, then they will continue to suffer in places where they are under attack. I am not suggesting that I have an idea that would work, only that there is a learning process that must be undergone as these new ways are found. I do not judge Wirasu for what he is doing - he is a person too, and should be given respect for his beliefs, as should anyone. There is a true Buddha called 'Angry Buddha' I was not joking in my first post. All Buddhas are Buddhas, whether they are angry or not. It is an illusion that there is an anti-Buddha, even an anti-Buddha has Buddha nature, which is why I said the phrase 'anti-Buddha Buddha' - still a Buddha! - Buddha nature is in everyone, including the infidels and the infidel-makers. People try to divide things into Buddha nature and not-Buddha nature. I say that divisions are delusions, and that everything is joined on some hidden level, with everything else.

I think religion is every bit as powerful as government...someone who knows that they have no chance to get into a position of governmental power could easily choose the path of religion to that same ends, deviously working his/her way up to the top.

Sometimes, people who hate, may purposefully enter into religious institutions, realizing the power that those institutions have to further their agenda. It is always possible, and highly likely that he was as he was far before he entered monkhood. Not that I know anything about him, or have even read the article. But the same thing certainly has happened in most any other religion.

wow that is some beautiful stuff you wrote there...I copied it and pasted it into a .doc for later review..... I have studied Five animal styles gongfu, taichi Yang & Chen style, various sword forms (Jiang, saber, and others), Arnis/Kali, cardio kickboxing Capoiera, Pencak Silat, Isshinryu, qigong, preying mantis, and MMA...haven't studied in years though...got into spontaneous movement and its all I do now (plus standing post and MCO)....I never get into fights, and I dont care what I look like to others anymore, so I just play by myself anywhere as I feel...I do wish I had a sword though, and I do miss the fellowship.... I didn't feel your Crane was hard...I was just microfocusing on certain small parts...if its traditional - its art, and I have no critic at all. I love that kick combo and do it myself and enjoy it, but I always found it to be inefficient as far as energy dispersal is concerned...it leaves such a space open that one could be attacked in that half-second easily as you reverse the energy to come back... really, if I lived near you I would be happy to come and train with you guys...

The Tao that can be named is not the Tao - does this not mean that we are simply naming the Tao as: That which cannot be named? And still naming it in the end? The undefinable cannot be defined - does this not mean that we are simply defining the undefinable as: That which can not be defined? And still defining it in the end? That which is unknowable cannot be known - does this not mean that we are simply defining the unknowable as: That which cannot be known? And still saying we know it in the end? Pointless? better to say nothing, than say something? When asked, 'What is the Tao?' is it stupid to say, 'It cannot be named?' should one just blink ones eyes and breath, then take sword made of synthetic emerald and shoot lasers with it at the clouds? too many rote answers? cliches? worn-in wagon tracks in the mind?

me too! really...I want to be a cross between Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Native American, some white, some southeast Asian (Cambodian especially), Hindu, and east Indian...with the ripped tonedness of a black man combined with Bruce Lee body. I am an Eastern-ophile mostly. I have no problems being man...I just want to be able to be girl as well...I want to have 4 bodies at least - 2 guys, 2 girls...one girly guy body (cute as can be), one dominant badass ninja man-body, one beautiful girl-courtesan body, and one more androgynous female-ninja body...This would make me really happy - perhaps in one of the Lokas I will attain this change-form square. Also, its my goal to have tattoos that change forms on my skin, and that have personalities, and if i want they can come up off my body and be my pets (like in that movie with that girl who dressed in red and used a pair of sais...forgot name), but they live on my skin. They constantly change and morph depending on what mood I am in...almost full body tattoos, face and everything...they can also emit light, in various colors, so they are glowing tattoos, that move around my skin and change shapes all the time. I will have this one day I know! So will you all! (I am the one who gets to design the next reality matrix, fyi - we will all become Demon Kings, and have cute tails too like the people in Avatar, and nice pointy teeth - not dracula fangs, but cute ones, like avatar sort of, but even better)

Songtsan likes way you talkie talk. Thinks its neatie-neat.

Every person has a dark side...even if its the size of a grain of sand; when our focus is placed on it, it grows in power as our chi energy feeds into it. The demon grows on milk of chi focus. When the demon gets big enough, it can overtake the angels of holy vows, through its sheer might...The demon dominates the angels, the angels run and hide from the terrible Demon of Hate. This Dark Demon comes to the fore and becomes the 'I' self...its power keeps the other 'I's from coming forward, it consumes the mind mirror, spreading like a cancer, until the angels are now the size of a grain of sand. They are now angel seeds, forced back into pre-germination stage. All selves exist in every wo/man. None of us are free from any demon/angel. All seeds exist in any mind. Don't water the wrong seeds with milk of chi.

Heard this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqtlcHiSHTE

It will be ready when you disappear

A new kind of smoove.. Smoove like badass backflipin' Ninjas in Japan

Wrathful Buddha...Angry Buddha...Destructive Buddha...Terrorist Buddha...Flying Buddha of Death...Buddha of Terrible Vows...The ANTI-Buddha Buddha!!!

and they teach us how not to be so ugly, by showing us how we too can become if we don't control our own zealotry for what becomes our passion

I am a wo/man, in a mans body. 37 yrs old bio-age, 25 yrs old social-age. I am the sword of the Demon Monkey King, made of straw, and when I kick the warriors, I kick myself in the air too, and we all fly around like kung fu masters in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

Truth

Is the Tao real and functioning? I thought the Tao was everything, that we live inside it and it lives inside us - omnipresent...I don't know, I haven't read that much Taoist material - maybe 25 books overall compared to 500 Buddhist books...I do associate with being Taoist, but I also associate with being everything elsist as well. My goal is to find the top of the mountain behind all paths to the top - unify the cosmos. I agree with what CD posted pretty much 100%. My approach is a mix of Sufism, Taoism, Saktism, Shivaism, Tantrik (Indian + Tibetan), Buddhist (all vehicles), Advaita Vedantic, Gnostic, some Thelemic, and misc. stuff....I keep wandering randomly, as my desire/interest takes me, and I keep coming back around to the same things, each time I come back, my understanding is refined a little more. I keep looking at the mountain from different angles, mapping out the paths to the top, while slowly climbing up the mountain, going around and around the mountain, slowly climbing up - not being in a hurry to reach the top. I am finding all the paths that connect the paths.

You have to pass a hazing ritual

I think ghost cat is descended from celestial ghost cats

me too!

perhaps because the eternal Tao is constantly changing form, anything we name it is true only in the instance of time that we name it, and then once its changed, it is untrue...what we once named it, that is. Keep on naming!

like moving air - push forward and it swirls around your hand in circle-eddies, never really going anywhere....the Tao is always moving, if it wasnt, then it could not be moved, but it always stays the same, so it cannot be moved like you think we move things. Unless I don't really understand the Tao (true!).

True, but it is like pushing an object that is floating on the water...the faster and harder you push, the more it moves away from you. When you finally do move it, you push it farther away from yourself, at the same time pushing your own self away from it. If you try to pull it towards you, you waste energy reaching out (and pulling back) for what would have eventually come your way in the end anyways. Then you are tired. The Tao is always moving so it is easy to move, moving with it is the easiest way to move it. To try to control it is like not moving with it, but trying to control its direction to suit your own needs. I may get stupid, like when I use a word that doesn't mean anything, such as 'lupid,' but this I know.

You had to let it go, because if you truly love it, you need to let it go. If it returns to you, then you are set.

like me!

I never owned a single record...I like that sone, but I have nothing like it...however...