Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun's topics - tribe.net

Buddhist Resources II

2008-07-04T15:33:43Z

continuing the Buddhist Resources thread from this link:

http://buddhistsjustwannahavefun.tribe.net/thread/10ac3ef9-43d0-4cf4-b743-3d5afd773196

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thought it might save some scrolling down..

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The Gateless Gate - Zen Koans

Tokusan Holds His Bowl

http://www.ibiblio.org/zen/gateless-gate/13.html

++++++++

101 Zen Stories

The Voice of Happiness

http://www.101zenstories.com/index.php?story=27

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Zen Meditation Instructions

http://www.mro.org/zmm/teachings/meditation.php

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Zen Centers Guide

http://www.dharmanet.org/infowebZen.htm

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 18 replies

Desire is not the Problem, Dualistic Identity Is

2008-07-04T14:27:39Z

Desire is not the Problem, Dualistic Identity Is

Excerpts from Troma Rigtsal Rinpoche’s upcoming book,
MahaSiddha Buddhism

Seemingly never-ending, unrelenting, seductive, distracting, debilitating; oh, the ebb and flow of Desire. Rumors abound that only the most realized, hard-core, radical, fanatical, warrior-hero Buddhists could ever dare work with it. But is Desire really such a problem? Desire is the radiance of Buddha-nature, our wakefulness to the sparkling, sacred qualities of existence. We glow with it. Our world is lit up when we are in it. In the surge of desire, we feel alive, tantalized and joyous. How then could it go so wrong at times? How then could it gain the reputation as being the bane of a Buddhist’s existence? To understand the answer, we must venture into the understanding of dualism and non-duality, the heart of the MahaSiddha’s Buddhism. The fundamental teaching is that most people live their lives in a state of dissatisfaction (dukha) caused by misperception of what we are. When we misperceive our own mind, we misperceive others, our world and all of reality. And in this misperception we find awkwardness and dissatisfaction at best.

Mistaken Identity

Imagine if you thought you were a tuba - imagine how this would complicate your life. People would try to feed you and you’d think, “tubas do not need food.” So you would not eat. Your lover would try to kiss you and as soon as their lips hit your “mouthpiece” you would blare out with your loud, low tuba sounds. Of course, this would make relationships difficult. Misunderstanding what we are is a serious mistake.

If you thought you were a plum and you were really a banana, trying to be more purple and round, more plum, more tart - imagine the awkwardness. Perhaps you would tighten up, knotting up your insides to mimic a plum’s seed and cover up how soft your long, white belly really was. You might try to act more like a plum and avoid expressing those embarrassing banana sentiments. Meanwhile, with all your efforts to be a plum, you might be plagued with shame and confusion about your inability to completely hide your big yellow peel and feathery, white flesh. Our attempt to be the plum would only make our existence as a banana much more complicated than it needs to be. Misperceiving what we are is a grave error that causes us to fall into all kinds of dissatisfaction, confusion and even all out suffering. Our mistaken identity in dualism is as ill-fitting (dukha) as thinking we are a plum or a tuba. It is a subtle but serious mistake that distorts our every experience.

How Desire Could Be Twisted

Our capacity for enjoyment quickly fades and our desire becomes twisted if we manipulate it to prove we are something we’re not. For example, we may think it is imperative to be a plum and therefore we need to be more purple, plum-like and juicy to be satisfied. We believe the way to satisfaction is in being a plum. We start looking for what is missing. A mixture of desire and grasping arise in a tidal wave as we fantasize about our future as a plum. We realize we need purple pants to cover up our yellow peel. We long for those pants, we day-dream about them and invest time in finding the exact right pair. We try them on and think about how great it will feel to finally be a plum. Finally, we get the purple pants, squat and roll around and do everything we can to be a plum. But something is still missing. There is still a problem – but it isn’t desire that is the problem, nor is it the object of desire that is the problem. Purple pants are not problematic by nature. They are quite enjoyable unto themselves, they are what they are. It is only when we are trying to manipulate them to disguise what we really are that a problem arises. Purple pants cannot do that. Objects of desire cannot provide the fixed, “good” self that the dualistic habit pursues. Nothing can hide our banana-nature, so life gets very tedious and unsatisfying when we let desire get tangled up in our dualistic identity.

If we misperceive what we are, we misperceive everything else, including desire and the objects of desire. Then instead of having desire properly and fully, we confuse desire and attempt to manipulate it to serve our mistaken identity. The piece of chocolate is no longer just a piece of chocolate, it becomes a way of drugging ourselves so that we don’t have to face our own insecurity. It becomes a way to avoid emptiness, the open-ended, insecure nature of what we are. The chocolate fails to do this of course, thus that desire leads to frustration. So also, relationship fails to makes us feel secure. Work we have done fails to prove we are the “good” self. Everything we have desired only fails us when what we are really wanting is not the object of desire. When the hidden motivation is establishing some ideal Self, the objects of desire doesn’t provide it. That is dualism, forever disappointing. Trying to establish Self is a futile pursuit, since what we are is too open-ended to be captured in fixed form. That is the "me" project that brings us so much suffering as we attempt to establish an identity made up of dualistic fantasies. It is dualistic because it is form based, the Self we want to find is imagined to be some permanent, definite, secure Self, divided from the temporary, ambiguous, insecure reality of life.

Every person wants to be loved for “who they are,” what if we also loved the objects of desire in this way? What if we enjoyed things for what they really are; lacking the security or confirmation, temporary and ineffable; as empty as we are. All objects of desire give us no solid ground to stand on, and we don't have take issue with that. We can enjoy phenomena as is. Then desire is just simple minded delight. Nothing more, nothing less.

Contacting What We Are Directly

Meditation is a method for contacting what we are directly. We can observe and become intimate with what we are. We discover moments where we are not relying on reference points to deduce what we are. We have the direct experience. Our attempts to prove we are “good” or disprove that we are “bad” through referencing how we measure up to plum-ness, tuba-ness or dualism has less meaning. What we actually are becomes directly apparent. Then desire is what it is. No more, no less, it is as pure and innocent as primordial existence. We can want the cake and eat it too. There is nothing un-buddhist about that. We can enjoy the cake even more, because we can eat the cake without the confusion of trying to use the cake to take away our anxiety, or give us the happiness or confirmation. It is just cake. We eat it as it is, with the calories, pleasure and the vivid emptiness that pervades all forms.

Desire can be as enlightening as it could be poisonous. Like everything, it could be the opportunity for waking up or confusion, based on our understanding of our own mind. We have all heard about the monastic path of renouncing desire. Who couldn’t appreciate the potency in that? Most adults have followed desire into neurosis at one time or another, but it is not the only direction we could go with desire. We could be in it and find liberation. Desire will only ever point to the non-dual nature of things if we do not try to forge a Self with it.

The MahaSiddhas

"Know that desire and covetousness are Discriminating
Awareness - You will find fine sensory distinction in no
other place than a mind hungering for beautiful things,
wanting the whole world. Look into the intrinsic
freshness of your desire and there is boundless light!"
-Yeshe Tsogyal, Sky Dancer

Motivated by revenge a king tried to corrupt the MahaSiddha of the Bell, by sending a woman to seduce him. Instead of being corrupted by desire, he was enlightened. Within passion, desire, love and companionship, he found the final ingredient to go beyond ignorance. The MahaSiddha called the Glutton was not told to go on a diet. On the contrary, he was instructed to increase his appetite to extend to all phenomena. When desire is liberated from the confines of dualistic identity, it is a raw appreciation that connects us with the living energy of all things. If we set down our dualistic obsession with trying to be other than as we are, then Desire is not a problem. A banana can enjoy appreciating plums. A person can enjoy a tuba. We don’t need to renounce them, unless of course that is our cup of tea. We only need liberate our grasping at dualistic identity to enjoy our world with awareness.

Disclaimer: Buddhism is a tradition of methods for awakening. The Buddha introduced 84,000 different methods that may seem contradictory because of their differences, but are each appropriate according to the specific individuals and stages of the path for which they are intended. This article is written from the perspective of the Inner Tantras. It does not address the relationship with desire taken by renunciate or monastic practitioners who take a different view as a method for awakening.

all content © 2007 MahaSiddha Dharma
for more information visit www.MahaSiddhas.org

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 4 replies

Silly Fun II

2008-06-29T20:47:28Z

original thread here:

http://buddhistsjustwannahavefun.tribe.net/thread/c2d7343d-e9cd-4871-a3ce-b95238ccf0ad?newpostingid=f943e477-33df-4abf-a6e2-dcf4283c35e5#f943e477-33df-4abf-a6e2-dcf4283c35e5

creating second thread to make download time quicker:

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Unwords

fun word site:

http://www.unwords.com/

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 3 replies

LOLBuddhaCats

2008-06-03T05:08:39Z

The Eight-Fold LOLpath

I'm in ur dharma weel
spokin' ur 8-fold path

right view:

WANT. Can haz? ATTACHMENT. OH NOES!!1!
Sufferin kitteh is sufferin.

right intention:

worldly thingz: I renounsez tehm.
mousies: I no nom nom nommin u no more.

right speech:

abusive speech: i abandonz it
mai right speech. let me show you it. but only at the rite tiem.

right action:

mousies? rly not nom nom nommin u. srsly.
also, ceeling cat sees whut i did ther, and iz no problem.

right livelihood:

monorail cat is on-line,
an full of benevvoluns
dis monorail cat don carry no gamblerz

right effort:

unwholesumness: DO NOT WANT
wholesumness: WANT

right mindfulness:

Bare attention: I haz it.
I see whut u did ther.

right concentration:

mousies? i not even thinkin of nom nom nommin u no more. srsly.
(O NOES!!!1! Mai bliss haz rolled undr couch!)

Ah! Betr!

Ekwanimitee. I haz it again.

...and the two extra ones, right knowledge:

I see whut we did ther.

and right liberation:

Chop wood, carry water.
Shred couch, hide cat toys.
Liberated kitteh is liberated.

The Eight-Fold LOLpath is copyright Elise Matthesen 2008; please do not reprint or repost without written permission. Permission can be gotten pretty easily by sending e-mail to elise@lioness.net. (I almost always say yes, but I love to find out how far it's spreading, and the permissions thing is good as a device to satisfy my curiosity on that.) Thank you. (And if you do reprint or repost without asking me, please please please include this paragraph so that my name and contact info go along with it so that the next person can ask, and I can find out how far it goes. If you see it out there anywhere uncredited, please tack this paragraph on. My catly curiosity thanks you.)
http://elisem.livejournal.com/1270361.html

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 0 replies

Silly Fun

2008-06-01T15:51:58Z

Just for silly fun..

anyone up for a chocolate thread?

Just to share your favorite kinds of chocolate?

any time I spend thinking about chocolate is time well spent...

I'll start..Almond Roca (chocolate over buttercrunch toffee)

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 142 replies

Movie - Dhamma Brothers

2008-05-11T08:10:31Z

Dhamma Brothers

Movie about to come out, about a group of prisoners who are learning Buddhism to cope with life inside.

http://www.dhammabrothers.com/

one of my favorite charities is the Prison Ashram

Project of the Human Kindness Foundation. They have been teaching meditation to prisoners for over 30 years!

Amazing, amazing folks!

http://www.humankindness.org/project.html

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 2 replies

Missing Person - Update

2008-05-01T11:53:29Z

Hi Folks..

Awhile ago, I passed this along...about a Tribe sister who's son Chris has been missing since September.

(Here is the website:http://www.findchris.org/)

There is some news! It is the first lead in the case!

"Today a girl working at a gas station in Cortez, CO says' she can positively identify Chris as a boy that has come in several time, most recently with 2-3 day, trying to buy cigarettes..."

Here's hoping that the good folks in law enforcement can take this lead and finally bring Chris home!

Please send out some good vibes and, if you could, pass this info along to anyone you know in Colorado
and especially in the Cortez area.

Here is a link to a map for Cortez, CO:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Cortez,+CO,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

thanks,

Jon

PS - Wendy from the Tribe Net staff has given me permission to cross post

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 2 replies

Speaking of Buddhist resources...

2008-04-19T16:20:12Z

Anyone know Buddhists in the Naples, Italy area? Could you point me in their direction?

Thanks muchly!
SW :)

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 1 reply

Buddhist Resources

2008-04-16T02:03:20Z

Zen Mountain Monastery

conducts meditation retreats, also retreats in the
spiritual arts, etc.

http://www.mro.org/zmm/index.php

++++

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 111 replies

HHDL visits Seattle, makes Dave Matthews all giggly

2008-04-12T17:17:53Z

My BFF in Seattle got involved with Seeds of Compassion, the presenting organization, via the all-ages community choir that was created to sing for His Holiness ... and she says it has ballooned to 2000 members!!

Coverage in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/photos/popupV2.asp?SubID=3675&page=1>itle=Dalai%20Lama%20in%20Seattle
photos

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/video/showcase.asp?videoID=244
Dave Matthews says HHDL is “cute as the dickens.”

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/358878_davematthews12q.html
Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds tear up Key Arena

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/358730_dalai12.html
Seattle P-I feature story

May all beings be happy!

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 0 replies

4-12 Spiritually-minded folk from Rebecca Riots: "Best Band with a Conscience"

2008-04-08T03:11:21Z

Dear Friends,
Come have some "buddhist fun" with the Rebecca Riots: member Eve Decker bringsa Buddhist perspective to this upbeat, energized and meaningful folk music. - Best, Hannah

THE REBECCA RIOTS BRING FRESH RADICAL FOLK FOR OUR TIMES TO SAN GERONIMO
Folk icons The Rebecca Riots political/spiritual brand of acoustic music has
won them accolades locally and nationally, including ³Best Band with a
Conscience² from the S.F. Bay Guardian; ³This Band Should Be a Household
Name² from the East Bay Express, ³(Rebecca Riots) heals minds with its
social and political commentary" from The San Francisco Chronicle and even
³Dreamy Girl Band² from Girlfriends Magazine!

The Rebecca Riots will play at the San Geronimo Valley Community Center on
Saturday, April 12th at 8pm. We are located at 6350 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
in San Geronimo, 9 miles west of San Rafael. Tickets are selling
and we recommend advance purchase for this show. Will call tickets are
available online at http://www.sgvcc.org/artsevents/centerevents.html.
The Community Center is a great, low-key and alcohol-free venue for music
with great acoustics and an intimate size. It is only 15 minutes from San Rafael
but is nestled among the beautiful rolling hills of San Geronimo. Come out and
enjoy a hike, have a delicious meal at one of the delicious local restaurants
and catch a great concert on Saturday night!

Musically Rebecca Riots is known for upbeat, energized folk music. They do
three part harmonies, guitar, mandolin and harmonica. On stage, the three
women are charismatic, funny, and inspiring. Songs and between-song banter
touch on a range of timely political and social issues, including police
accountability; healing through interfaith spiritual practice (the three
musicians are Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist [Eve Decker, whose spiritual
home is at Spirit Rock]); caring for the country¹s homeless; gay-straight
alliance; prisoner¹s rights; positive body image for women; building with
straw bale; gratitude toward nature; facing death and loss; anti-apartheid
work; Palestinian rights; love and support of children and teens; and good
old celebratory love songs.

The band was formed in 1993. In the period from 1993-2001, Rebecca Riots
released four CDs, [Gardener (April 2000),
Live at the Freight & Salvage (1999), Some Folks (1998), Rebecca Riots
(1995)] were signed to Appleseed Recordings, and toured the United States
several times. They played the Vancouver Folk Festival, Bumbershoot, the
Salina Folk Festival, and regularly sold out multiple shows in Seattle,
Portland, and the Freight and Salvage in their home town of Berkeley,
California. They have shared stages with Peter Yarrow, Utah Phillips, Laura
Love, Street Sounds, Rhiannon, Ulali, Cheryl Wheeler, Sonia of Disappear
Fear, Gwen Avery, Alix Dobkin, Alice Stewart, and many other balladeers for
social change.

Rebecca Riots spent nearly a decade regaling the folk music world with their
catchy, thoughtful, uptempo songs before taking a break for a few years to
pursue other aspects of their lives. From 2002-2006 Rebecca Riots stopped
touring, playing one or two shows a year in Berkeley and produced one CD,
³Just As Sure². During that time Lisa had a baby and produced albums for
other singer-songwriters, Andrea became a public school teacher and visited
Palestine, and Eve did long meditation retreats and released a solo CD based
on Buddhist teachings.

In fact Eve is well-known to the Spirit Rock Meditation Center community,
³Spirit Rock has been my spiritual home since 1992.² She says. She has
performed at numerous events and benefits for the organization such as
Sylvia Boorstein¹s 70¹s birthday and is training to be a retreat leader.

The same passion that riveted audiences and drove the band to create songs
of struggle, love and inspiration has led these women back to the national
stage. After almost five years, Rebecca Riots will visit Marin as one of
their first stops in a return to touring that is generating buzz and
anticipation near and far.

The Riots will feature some of their new tunes as well as old favorites at
the SGVCC show. With five CDs already to their credit, the Riots are
preparing for a new recording that might be released as early as this fall.
"We have lots of new material that we really want to play out. New songs
need to be refined and polished and the best way to do that is to lay it on
the line and put them in front of a sophisticated live audience, like that
at San Geronimo" explained Riots member Eve Decker.

Rebecca Riots has been called "fresh, radical folk" but their recent return
to the stage shows growth and change as well. While the trio, Eve Decker,
Lisa Zeiler and Andrea Prichett have always brought their own, unique
personalities to the music, the years in-between have given lots of new
inspiration for their songs. Close harmonies and tight rhythmic guitar are
still a mainstay of the Riots. The themes of the songs still include lots of
political content, but the time off has made the music deeper. Its hard to
categorize the songs as being political or spiritual or topical or
specifically love songs. There is just a beautiful depth that happens when
Rebecca Riots do their thing.

WHERE: San Geronimo Valley Community Center
6350 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. San Geronimo, CA

WHEN: Saturday April 12th, 8pm

HOW MUCH: $15 adults/$12 seniors/$8 kids. Advance tickets recommended.
Available online at http://www.sgvcc.org/artsevents/centerevents.html. You
may also drop off payment at the Community Center (please call ahead) or
mail your check (made out to SGVCC with a note saying how many tickets you
want for what show) to us at SGVCC, Box 194, San Geronimo, CA 94963 Attn:
Hannah

VENUE CONTACT: 415-488-8888 www.sgvcc.org

--
Hannah Doress
Arts & Events Coordinator
San Geronimo Valley Community Center
arts@sgvcc.org
415-488-8888 #253
www.sgvcc.org

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 1 reply

The Interactive Vision that set the world Free

2008-04-07T06:34:54Z

I thought you might like to see the Rainbow Dream Vision.
If you like this vision, please send it to friends.
You can get a fresh copy here to post into emails:
http://www.worldgathering.net/rdvplain.html
And: http://www.worldgathering.net/vision.html
Michael Irving ~~ Scotland UK
The Big World Gathering
http://www.worldgathering.net

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Rainbow Dream Vision of Freedom ~ 1993-2012
http://worldgathering.net/vision.html

The Rainbow Dream Vision of Hope
Intertribal Medicine Societies of Turtle Island
The Twenty Count: 1993-2012

Make copies of the Rainbow prophecy, and give or send them to people anywhere on the planet. Then let them be guided by their hearts to do the same until all planetary citizens are brought to life in the Rainbow dream, so that we may dream and work together for true peace. Love, Thunder Woman

Introduction by Aleran
Throughout the ages humanity has sought out the prophecies of the spiritually gifted to instil a clear hope and vision into life. During this time many prophecies come to us trying to lead us in many different directions.
Some prophecy points to disaster, hopelessness and the annihilation of mankind. But other prophecies create a vision of joyful transformation through quantum leaps into love and light.
As things stand now, the human race is dreaming a hell.
But as individuals and as a collective humanity it is our potential to dream of paradise and to create the kingdom of heaven on our Mother Earth.
Could it be that the pain in our hearts caused by the hell we have created will spur us on into visions and creations of a world formed in love?
It is my prayer and dream, along with a multitude of others who have taught me to dream the Rainbow dream, that each and every one of you learn to dream both while awake and sleeping, the dream of unity and love through divine transformation.
This prophecy is a dream and vision that is a potential reality for mankind. It is not an ultimatum. But it is ours to behold and to create if we only dare to dream it together.

The Rainbow Dream Vision of Turtle Island
Prophecies of The Native Americans
1993-2012

PART ONE ~
The distribution and giving back to humanity of the Twenty Count.
In the Turtle Island lore we say it is the time of finding one’s path with heart.
The time of seeking perfection, growth and development.
Most importantly the time of trust and innocence, when mythologies of the world are revealing secrets.

PART TWO ~
The critical time. The time of the animal. The time of Tuwalananie, the dark force.
The reason for this is that seeds of light have been planted and we are starting to grow and the teachings are starting to come out and all those ones who have taught partial truths, who have taught deliberate lies in history, are going to be threatened by the awakening of the Rainbow people because the Rainbow people exist in every country, in every nation, in every land.
The Dark Forces will be threatened and they will use their power and their power exists in technology. We are going to see new technology appearing which will be a tremendous threat to the survival of humanity.
We must exert our influence by gathering together and sharing our ideas and plans for alternative power and for world peace. If we put a double amount of energy with what we are for, we can change it. We can change it.

PART THREE ~
The time of human to human communication.
The time the human family finally starts to become human.
There will be more information brought out into open format than has ever been seen on this planet.
We will re-establish contact in a very knowledgeable way with our ancestors from the stars.
So mark that down because it will happen. The first contact will be with the Pleiades and will be totally acknowledged and will be known to all the world powers. The second contact will be with Sirius.

PART FOUR ~
When truth seekers begin to open the veil of the crack between the worlds, we will see our memory circles.
Many of the leaders who are trying to keep us locked in the past, will not function today, will fall.
Many teachers and wise people will be seen for who they are and they will be the farmers, the labourers and the gas station attendants because the tagashala will be fully awakened.
People will begin to link up with other people in gathering together circles.
Many of these will be the so-called 'common people' and not the teachers you see up there now.

PART FIVE ~
The various winged serpent wheels will begin to turn, to dance once again and when they do the rainbow lights will be seen in dreams all over the world and these rainbow light dreams will help awaken the rest of humanity.
We will sit in a new circle of law.
All civil and social laws will have to be in conformity with natural laws or the people will not accept them and they will have the enlightenment necessary to reject those laws.
Science will once again become metaphysics. They will discover four laws that will help them jump to universal law and transcend the time-space continuum which is the limitation of the age and once again we will begin to take our power and to work with rules and laws that are cosmic laws.

PART SIX ~
We will once again see the way to continue a new dream.
We will be given the road map back to the stars and we will see the star people come out of the illusion of their two-legged form and into their actual great sleeper-dreamer form.
A powerful time approaches humanity and its really hard for me to talk about it.
I am a great dreamer but I don’t know if I dream that large.
We will see a real shift in planetary consciousness.
Many of the enemies of the humans will begin to drop away.
We will totally gain the light of the great light wheel.
There will be one humanity, one planet composed of all the different ways of dancing in complete harmony in the great gathering together circle.
All the seeds will be planted.
The Earth will have its true reality formed.
It will join the sisterhood of planets, the daughters of Copperwoman and it will create within itself all forms of all things in harmony with the everything.
We will see a whole new way of perfection.
There will be plants on this grandmother earth that will give life and sustenance as never before seen.
Starvation on the earth, all those things will be gone. There will be total balance and harmony.

PART SEVEN ~
The new race of humans will begin to design their new reality of life on this planet as they intended it to be when they first came here from the stars.
We will begin to establish this planet and use the collective consciousness to hold the power of this space in harmony with the Great Circle of Twelve and all the planets. There is a whole lot I don’t even know. There is more that I am not supposed to talk about yet.
The dream will be actualised and this planet will hold its space in the great council of planets and become a part of the universal enlightened sisterhood and brotherhood of humanity and keepers of the light circles. It's happened on many planets and it's expected to happen on a lot of other planets.
There will be a moment when the population will be 'the' Population, and something great will happen.
This planet will have its design of energy movement guided by all of humanity living here.

The Great Spirit will leave its seed and the egg of everything here on this planet and it will create itself 20 times over at the speed of light and this prophecy ends as I have been given it by the Grandmothers that I share with you now.

~~~~~~~~~

Put a double amount of energy with what we are for. We can change it.

Make copies of the Rainbow prophecy, and give or send them to people anywhere on the planet. Then let them be guided by their hearts to do the same until all planetary citizens are brought to life in the Rainbow dream, so that we may dream and work together for true peace. Love, Thunder Woman

http://worldgathering.net/vision.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Background information ~ The Greatest Vision Ever Seen

~ The Greatest Vision Ever Seen ~
~ The Rainbow Dream of Freedom ~

http://worldgathering.net/greatest.html

The Rainbow Dream Vision of Freedom ~ 1993-2012
Intertribal Medicine Societies of Turtle Island
http://worldgathering.net/vision.html

~ A powerful time approaches humanity and its really hard for me to talk about it. ~ We will see a real shift in planetary consciousness. ~ The Earth will have its true reality formed. ~ We will see a whole new way of perfection. ~ Starvation on the earth, all those things will be gone. ~

~ VISION of FREEDOM ~

I hope many people will send the Vision of Freedom to friends.

I have been involved with the Rainbow Dream Vision of Hope and Freedom since 1984. In that year, three musicians came into my one-man printing and publishing office, and said, "You really must look at this." They seemed a little (funny how life is at times) like the three wise people bringing gifts. Two days later I was distributing copies at a conference, and like me, people were amazed and astonished.

That's when my life started to be 'larger than life'.
And, in 1987, I went to visit the Hopi in Arizona, North America.

As I drove in from the west, an older man sitting by the roadside waved down my car... later, it felt to me that I was expected. He took me to meet Qwa David Monongye, and in the evening I was taken to a ceremony in the kiva. A dozen or more men descended from a ladder in the roof, and formed up in an arc of a circle.

They faced one direction, towards one of the ends of the arc, and started a slow foot-shuffling dance. Then fairly suddenly, domino-effect, turned one-by-one 180 degrees to face the other end of the arc. At that point I very nearly fell off my chair ... something had hit me. A year or more later, thinking about it, the realisation seemed to be: 'We can change the direction the world is going in. It is possible.'

I drove off, eastwards, along the Hopi mesas to find somewhere to park up, and sleep the night. In the morning I got out of the car, and was surprised to see the face of the large rock only feet from the car had a carving on it. This was the Hopi's 'Prophecy Stone', and it shows people moving in a direction, and the path splitting into two. One path goes nowhere, it fades out. But the other path goes on, and corn symbols by the path indicate that this route leads to life and prosperity.

Many other unusual and significant things occurred out there in this ancient place where it feels like time had stopped. Indeed, after visiting the oldest township on the Hopi mesas ~ a tall, sharp-ended mesa, rather like a ship of the desert ~ my watch stopped, and never worked again. There is much more that happened.

In 1986 ~ the year before my first visit to the Hopi ~ I was within sixty feet of three disc craft, for around 25 minutes. This too, was like events were coming together to inform me of something significant, something much bigger than myself. In 1993, with friends, we were very close to craft in the area of the crop patterns of mid southern England on several occasions.

Since 1993, on most days when I first step out of doors I frequently see one or more flashes in the sky, seemingly from a source fairly close, and at a lowish elevation. I have always taken the flashes to indicate the locations of disc craft which are 'parked up' and are stationary. In 2007, possibly because I was loaned a camera with an unusual infra-red setting, many craft and aerial objects started to appear in my general scenic photographs. Most images are archived here: http://worldgathering.net/scotland

(A) The Rainbow Dream Vision says: "We can change it (the direction the world is going). If we put a DOUBLE AMOUNT of effort into what we are for."

(B) The Hopi Nation has a prophecy stone which predicts the world will come to a time of choice. And if we choose the good direction, we can go on into a good life.

(C) The craft appearing all over the world, seem to be waiting and watching. To see if we can figure things out. To see if we can: 'Seize The Day'.

The writing is on the wall, and it says: 'We can change direction.'

Please send the Rainbow Dream Vision of Hope and Freedom to your friends. And let's make a stand for what we really believe in. Put a DOUBLE amount of effort and energy into what you believe is important.

Don't feel disheartened. It looks like there are some unexpected, good moves to happen yet: "There is a whole lot I don’t even know. There is more that I am not supposed to talk about yet."

Text of The Rainbow Dream Vision of Freedom:
http://worldgathering.net/vision.html

Michael Irving
World-Action and The Big World Gathering
Scotland, United Kingdom ~ http://www.worldgathering.net

http://worldgathering.net/greatest.html

~~~~~~~~~

If you like this vision, please copy it and send to friends. Thanks.

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 0 replies

Worlds Biggest Water Balloon Celebration Justin Hermin Plaza April 9th SF

2008-04-07T06:21:53Z

Non violent water ballon party at justin hermin plaza in celibration of the passing of the olympic torch.
Please be very careful not to extinguish the flame...

since the olympics should not be "Political" !

recomend red yellow and blue ballons in honor of his Holiness the Dali Lama and all those who have died in tibet to make china what it is today.

Nameste
William

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 0 replies

The Second Coming of Christ

2008-03-28T04:25:49Z

Where and in what form do you think he will appear?

Here is one possibility:

http://iseyz.com/2008/03/18/cheeses-lamb-of-gouda/

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 11 replies

London-based Buddhist travelling to California and Nevada

2008-03-26T23:02:44Z

I'm an english buddhist (female) travelling to the US (certainly LA, San Francisco and Vegas, but possibly elsewhere also) in April ,and looking for intriguing experiences while i'm there. these experinces could be zen-related or Tibetan-based, but i'm not strongly affiliated to one brand of buddhism.

any suggestions? it would help if temples and other places were reachable by public transport.

mindfully yrs,

nod

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 5 replies

Stupid Intelligent Design Tricks

2008-03-22T05:02:54Z

All the irony meters broke down on Thursday. Cause: an incident at the Mall of America multiplex.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/03/expelled.php

Oh the humanity!!

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 0 replies

URGENT! PLEASE HELP TIBET! SIGN THIS PETITION!

2008-03-18T21:58:29Z

URGENT! PLEASE HELP TIBET! SIGN THIS PETITION!
PLEASE REPOST!

> Dear friends,
>
> After decades of repression under Chinese rule,
> the Tibetan people’s frustrations have burst
> onto the streets in protests and riots. With the
> spotlight of the upcoming Olympic Games now on
> China, Tibetans are crying out to the world for
> change.
>
> The Chinese government has said that the
> protesters who have not yet surrendered "
> will be punished". Its leaders are right
> now considering a crucial choice between
> escalating brutality or dialogue that could
> determine the future of Tibet, and China.
>
> We can affect this historic choice--China does
> care about its international reputation. China’s
> President Hu Jintao needs to hear that the ’Made
> in China’ brand and the upcoming Olympics in
> Beijing can succeed only if he makes the right
> choice. But it will take an avalanche of global
> people power to get his attention--and we need
> it in the next 48 hours.
>
> The Tibetan Nobel peace prize winner and
> spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has called for
> restraint and dialogue: he needs the world’s
> people to support him. Click below now to sign
> the petition--and tell absolutely everyone you
> can right away--our goal is 1 million voices
> united for Tibet:
>
::: SIGN THE PETITION! :::
http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/6.php
>
> China’s economy is totally dependent on "
> Made in China" exports that we all buy, and
> the government is keen to make the Olympics in
> Beijing this summer a celebration of a new
> China, respected as a leading world power. China
> is also a very diverse country with a brutal
> past and has reason to be concerned about its
> stability -- some of Tibet’s rioters killed
> innocent people. But President Hu must recognize
> that the greatest danger to Chinese stability
> and development comes from hardliners who
> advocate escalating repression, not from
> Tibetans who seek dialogue and reform.
>
> We will deliver our petition directly to Chinese
> officials in London, New York, and Beijing, but
> it must be a massive number before we deliver
> the petition. Please forward this email to your
> address book with a note explaining to your
> friends why this is important, or use our tell-a-
> friend tool to email your address book--it will
> come up after you sign the petition.
>
> The Tibetan people have suffered quietly for
> decades. It is finally their moment to speak--we
> must help them be heard.
>
> With hope and respect,
>
> Ricken, Iain, Graziela, Paul, Galit, Pascal,
> Milena, Ben and the whole Avaaz team
>
> PS - It has been suggested that the Chinese
> government may block the Avaaz website as a
> result of this email, and thousands of Avaaz
> members in China will no longer be able to
> participate in our community. A poll of Avaaz
> members over the weekend showed that over 80% of
> us believed it was still important to act on
> Tibet despite this terrible potential loss to
> our community, if we thought we could make a
> difference. If we are blocked, Avaaz will help
> maintain the campaign for internet freedom for
> all Chinese people, so that our members in China
> can one day rejoin our community.
>
> Here are some links with more information on the
> Tibetan protests and the Chinese response:
>
> BBC News: UN Calls for Restraint in Tibet
> http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7301912.
> stm
>
> Human Rights Watch: China Restrain from
> Violently Attacking Protesters
> http://hrw.
> org/english/docs/2008/03/15/china18291.htm
>
> Associated Press: Tibet Unrest Sparks Global
> Reaction
> http://ap. google.
> com/article/ALeqM5gSSpPcDOPMoAiRLhPUyezuCRiXBQD8VFDD680
>
> New York Times: China Takes Steps to Thwart
> Reporting on Tibet Protests
> http://www. nytimes.
> com/2008/03/18/world/asia/18access.html?ref=world
>
> --------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> ABOUT AVAAZ
> Avaaz. org is an independent, not-for-profit
> global campaigning organization that works to
> ensure that the views and values of the world’s
> people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz
> means "voice" in many languages.)
> Avaaz receives no money from governments or
> corporations, and is staffed by a global team
> based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York,
> Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 0 replies

The Best Idea for an Invention Ever

2008-03-17T21:37:54Z

This one is going to make millions of dollars. VC firms and private investors, please contact iseyz immediately!

http://iseyz.com/2008/03/14/the-best-idea-for-an-invention-ever/

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 8 replies

One of the secrets...

2008-03-04T14:41:36Z

of happiness is appreciation.

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 1 reply

Dharma Talk in Philly

2008-02-13T19:33:16Z

Zen teacher from Vietnamese tradition, giving a Dharma Talk talk this Friday (February 15) at St Stephens Church, in Philly at 7:30pm

For more info:

http://www.phathue.com

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 0 replies

Karma vs. Dogma

2008-02-11T14:52:57Z

Our dear monk was driving through the country road when suddenly a dog crosses the road.
The car hit the poor thing, which died without much ado.
There apparently was a collar in the neck of the dog.
The monk looked around and seeing a temple, went to knock on the door.
A monk opened the door.
The first monk said: "I'm terribly sorry, but my karma ran over your dogma."

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 2 replies

Good Collection of Important Websites

2008-02-07T14:34:15Z

Dear Friends,

I found this important website which has links to all daily use Important Websites.

http://ihome.rapidmile.com

I recommend you to put it as your HOME PAGE and take use of it daily.

Also feel free to forward to your friends

Regards,
Namrata

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 0 replies

Jewish Buddhism

2008-02-06T13:40:13Z

If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?

The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. TheTao does not take sides. The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others. The Tao is not Jewish.

Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?

Drink tea and nourish life; with the first sip, joy; with the second sip, satisfaction; with the third sip, peace; with the fourth, a Danish.

Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.

Accept misfortune as a blessing. Do not wish for perfect health, or a life without problems. What would you talk about?

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single Oy.

There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?

Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems.
]

Let your mind be as a floating cloud. Let your stillness be as a wooded glen. And sit up straight. You'll never meet the Buddha with such rounded shoulders.

Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers. Each flower blossoms ten thousand times. Each blossom has ten thousand petals. You might want to see a specialist.

Be aware of your body. Be aware of your perceptions. Keep in mind that not every physical sensation is a symptom of a terminal illness.

The Torah says, Love your neighbor as yourself. The Buddha says, There is no self. So, maybe we're off the hook

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 9 replies

Presidential Find!!

2008-02-01T23:03:05Z

New Candidate for President!

http://www.cthulhu.org/

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 0 replies

Word of the Day (sanksrit)

2008-01-30T08:59:57Z

Patisamusaya - The feeling you get when someone in a higher position then you, like your boss, is less qualified then you and tells you to do something but you see the person doesnt know what they are talking about and you feel that you know better than them but you have to do what they say because they are the one in charge.

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 2 replies

watever

2008-01-25T04:14:56Z

collision
expansion
swirly things
contraction
expansion
collision of swirly things
partial expansion
contraction
expansion of swirly things
silence

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 3 replies

Before you jump on it

2008-01-24T09:52:02Z

Derren Brown Astrology/Palmistry: http://youtube.com/watch?v=haP7Ys9ocTk

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 8 replies

Does a mouse...

2008-01-19T20:09:11Z

Does a mouse have a Buddha Nature?

:D

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 10 replies

Menis

2008-01-17T17:15:50Z

http://iseyz.com/2007/12/16/menis/

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 5 replies

Heart Sutra Discourse

2008-01-10T23:44:36Z

I don't usually have a broadband connection but I got a 4 month deal that I couldn't refuse...

So I got the DivX player bundle and tried downloading some movies in the DivX format from Stage 6 where members can upload and download movies.
They had some related to Buddhism.

I found one that was really intriguing to me. It was called "the Heart Sutra" and it was a 20 minute condensation of a Chi Kung demo in Britain by a Chinese guy. He had all these black belt dudes attack him, and without even touching them physically, he was able to make them lose bodily function control and collapse as if they'd hit an invisible wall. Then he would ask them if they were OK.

It was something I'd only heard about in fables and stories.

http://www.stage6.com/Buddhism/video/1522520/Amazing!-Heart-Sutra-Discourse-With-Chi-Kung

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 3 replies

May All

2008-01-07T23:33:20Z

I used to meditate with a nice local group.

They were really a kind of women's group, who had started taking Yoga classes in the early 70's. A couple of their husbands joined in and I got to be one of the handful of men.

A lot of them were interested in insight meditation, but all different forms, including Zen Buddhism were represented. It was very pleasant. We would just sit down to meditate, once a week, for 24 minutes. It was nice, the time was marked with a little gong.

One of these folks taught me this simple Buddhist invocation:

May All Beings Be Happy
May All Beings Be Healthy
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
May All Beings Be Liberated

I have liked this invocation so much. Just saying it over makes me feel better. It makes me feel better to wish everyone joy and health and happiness.

When caught up in the day and some business interaction goes awry and I find myself angry towards another, I really feel bad about it. Not only guilty, but also obstructed....like a tiny veil has been placed over me. When I let myself go of all resentment and just say this invocation wishing everyone well, I feel so much better, like the day has started with a clean slate.

So, I thought I would try to create a little poem-thing out of it....

May All Beings Be Happy

May all beings find that place of joy. May all beings find that place to dance within themselves. May all beings remember the silly and the goofy and dance with it and in it. May all beings be free from the shackles of pain and worry, of sadness and sorrow.

May All Beings Be Healthy

May all beings' bodies dance the joy of health, the freedom from physical pains and feel the gloriousness of the body as it moves from place to place in its every changing and infinite, delicate grace.

May All Beings Be Free From Suffering

May all beings be free from suffering. May all beings be free from the yoke of suffering that binds us to earth and keeps us from living in and dreaming with the stars.

May All Beings Be Liberated

May all beings be liberated. May all beings free freedom within and without, in all their actions. May all beings celebrate the sky and the vastness of the stars in the night sky. May the sky be the limits to everyone's dreams, making the world a new found freedom, painting our stories on the canvass of our lives, wherever we may will to go. May we all, each and everyone of us, be free!

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 1 reply

Happy 2008!!

2008-01-02T15:10:27Z

Hey fellow BJWHFers! (<---try saying that out loud. It's fun.)

I've been gone from tribe for a few months again. I'm sorry I disappear like that sometimes, but it doesn't look like there have been any problems here. Shwew! :)

(By the way--and I think I've made this request before--if there are problems, arguments, trolls, really bad smells, whatever, and I don't seem to be doing anything about it, please message me directly and let me what's going on. I'll rush right in with pepper spray, mantras, and/or sandalwood incense.)

So I know you're wondering where I've been, right? No? Oh. Well...nevermind. :) Actually, I've gone to the dark side. That's right...myspace. Ugh. I resisted, but they finally got me. Not anywhere near ass much fun as tribe, of course, but it does have some draw. Anyway.

I really have just popped in here to wish everybody a Happy New Year! Here's hoping 2008 kicks 2007's ass!!

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 5 replies

Looking to join (or start) a sangha in NY

2008-01-01T17:18:02Z

So there are plenty of sangas in commercial spaces where you pay a fee or a donation, but I would much rather find something a little more intimate-like meeting in eachother's homes every couple of weeks instead. Just a sit and some tea afterward. This is what some friends and I did in Montreal and it was perfect. Any takers?

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 3 replies

Weekly meditation group in the Mission

2007-12-30T14:35:28Z

Hello sangha!

Come join us on Sunday nights.
We sit in the Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.
For more details visit our website.

http://communitybuilders.meetup.com/3/

-Michael

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 1 reply

Drikung Kagyu Global Resources / Tantric Buddhism and Mahamudra Book References / Vajrasattva Retreat in North Carolina

2007-12-30T06:45:21Z

Namaste BJWHF-istas.

Well, this went out to about 48 groups, quite a lot of pagan groups, yoga groups, tantric groups and so forth.

Of course, being unmindful of the "no cross posts" rule on ( 98% Hindu ) Practical Tantra, I got immediately slammed there and the Kagyu / Mahamudra teaching article removed from there with extreme prejudice. I apologized immediately.

"Tell me M. Rick, what brings you to Casablanca?"
"I came for the waters."

But then I remembered, there must be another group of two I could hit in my mafia / machine gunning kinda way, so I posted this to Kundalini Yoga ( 3000 + people ) and now BJWHF, for a thousand more.

So, overall, today is a good day.

Long live the Mahayana, best of all possible paths!

May everything be good in the Beginning.
May everything be good in the Middle.
May everything be good in the End.

Oh, and by the way, this is in direct response to someone on one of the Buddhist listservs who recently asked for thoughts on "what to do when your head is in wash-cycle samsara mode."

My answer, which is unlike the fourteen or so people who responded with thoughts and contemplations, comes down to yoga.

Sooooo, just so you know, some of the BWJWHF-istas actually do practices. Mantra, pranayama, awareness yoga, stuff like that.

"Tell me M. Rick, what brings you to Casablanca?"
"I came for the waters."
"But, there are no waters in Casablanca. We're in a desert here!
"I was misinformed."

K T, he who laughs last

Title: Drikung Kagyu Global Resources / Tantric Buddhism and Mahamudra Book References /
Vajrasattva Retreat in North Carolina -- Repost from "Tribe : Teaching Yoga"

Keywords: Deity Yoga, global resources for Kagyu lineage Tantric Buddhism and Mahamudra practice, book: "Pearl Rosary The Path of Purification", inner healing yoga, interfaith retreat center, North Carolina, Southern Dharma Retreat Center, Drikung Kagyu lineage, Vajrasattva empowerment and retreat January 2008.

NAMO GURU SRI HASYAVAJRAYE

Homage to Mila Joyous Vajra, King of the Mountain Yogis. For the ordeals you endured, for the sweetness of this profound transmission, and for "a few cotton threads" we thank you from our innermost hearts.

"Knots of the right and left channels [ of the human energy body ] are loosened to their natural state
By Vajrasattva mantra which draws currents in and out of the central channel.
Don't rely on any mental support other than Vajrasattva mantra repetition."
Milarepa to Rechungpa,
quoted in "Drinking the Mountain Stream: New Stories and Songs by Milarepa"

A vast amount of effective Buddhist / yogic teaching is available through the web site for Vajra Publications, specifically for Kagyu lineage tantric Buddhism and Mahamudra practice. See the web site at
http://www.vajrapub.org/

The Drikung lineage is not yet well known in the West( and that WILL change, I promise you ), but it is powerful and available in different parts of the world. See
http://www.dkinstitute.org/
This lineage offers a serious and direct path to inner yogic discipline and primordial awareness yoga ( i.e. Mahamudra ). The Drikung lineage descends from great yogic masters such as Tilopa and Naropa of India, and Marpa and Milarepa of Tibet.

The Drikung lineage is, I will state from personal and professional experience as a yogi and vajrayana guru, entirely authentic, classical, and effective: I personally received two major rounds of empowerment from His Holiness Chetsang Tulku Rinbochay, once in Seattle and again in Hawaii ( Big Island ).

During one of these, a Heruka Vajrasattva in 1987, I experienced energy pouring down through my crown center as though a gallon of milk was literally being poured through the top of my head. How many yoga teachers do you know that can do that? ( I was outwardly and inwardly sick and exhausted at the time from several years of severe difficulty, so that was very much a necessary healing for my magnetic field. Reason enough to receive Vajrasattva empowerment and do the 100,000 recitations, although of course your mileage may vary. )

Understand therefore that HH Chetsang Tulku is a New School guru and a Kagyu guru of the first rank, someone to be respected as much as Vajradhara Kalu Rinbochay and Kyabgon Khentin Tai Situpa ( these being some of my other Kagyu teachers ). He is a very gentle, quiet, generous man, very warm and approachable. I would certainly trust anyone he names vajrayana guru.

I have many primary practice texts of the Drikung Kagyu, which are excellent, and indeed these were among the first key practice texts for Kagyu devayoga sadhana to be published. Since they keep producing more great study and practice materials, I needs must make more ( debit card ) offerings to receive the precious dharma ( although my dharma and yoga book stacks are more than overflowing ). It must be emphasized that these practice texts are generically useful for all New School tantric Buddhists, where New School refers to the Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelugpa Orders of Tibetan Buddhism.

Beyond this, be aware that the Drikung school, like the Karma Kagyu school of vajrayana, incorporates a substantial amount of Old School ( Nyingma and Great Perfection ) teaching and practice. For example, their Phowa ( Consciousness Transference At Time Of Death ) does not derive from the Kagyu lineage Six Yogas of Naropa, but rather from an Old School Treasure Teaching ( terma ).

As this letter goes out to a diverse and broad set of audiences, I will say a few words on the Kagyu lineage, on deity yoga, and Mahamudra. In short, here are some truly wonderful books for you:
Book 1) "Drinking the Mountain Stream: New Stories and Songs by Milarepa", by Lama Kunga Rimpoche and Brian Cutillo. This book is extraodinarily good as an introduction and in providing key teaching/ precept songs which are both poetic and intuitive.

Book 2) "The Garland of Mahamudra Practices", by Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen and Katherine Rogers. This is a short summary of Cakrasamvara / Vajrayogini deity yoga and Mahamudra awareness yoga translated by a Drikung abbot from the writings of Kunga Rinchen, the Fifteen Lineage Holder of the Drikung Kagyu transmission. It is remarkably clear teaching on the essentials of New School vajrayana practice.

Book 3) "Clarifying the Natural State", by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal ( translation by the priceless western scholar Eric Pema Kunsang ). This practice summary for the primordial awareness yoga of Mahamudra is held to be "preeminent" and "indispensible" by the great modern scholar-yogi Khenchen Thrangu Rinbochay. 'Nuff said.

Book 4) "Becoming Vajrasattva; the Tantric Path of Purification", by [ Lama ] Thubten Yeshe, 2nd edition. A remarkably useful retreat and teaching manual on Vajrasattva. With this and Vajrasattva empowerment one can practice the indispensible deity of Purification, Vajrasattva / Diamond Being.

Now, there is going to be, in early January, a Vajrasattva empowerment and retreat to be given by a Drikung abbot ( Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin Rinpoche ) in North Carolina ( Southern Dharma Retreat Center ). Being given by an abbot, it could possibly be a major empowerment (i.e. a "four-banger", a four level catur-abhisekha empowerment ) for Vajrasattva, although I do not know. Even a medium level "three banger" Vajrasattva empowerment is really quite good.

If you live near there, farther from the world-class vajrayana empowerment venues, this is a truly great opportunity. Vajrasattva is the ultimate swiss army knife of tantric practice.
- If you are a healer, or someone in need of deep healing, this is for you.
- If you are someone oriented towards "higher consciousness", you can take this as a primary practice.
- If you have chronic psychic or mental or environmental discord, then Vajrasattva and the included Vajrapani ( Thunderbolt Holder ) are ofgreat importance for inner cleansing.
- If you are a western witch who wants to do goddess practice, you can take this transmission and thereby fully engage all the Twenty One Taras.
- If you wish to practice any of the standard Buddhist deities, such as Manjusri, Avalokitesvara, Amitabha, Vajrapani and so forth, you can do so on the basis of this one empowerment and a compendium of deity yogas, which is

Book 5) "Pearl Rosary The Path of Purification ( Sadhanas and Commentaries )" available from Vajra Publications. See
http://shop.vajrapub.org/product.sc?categoryId=1&productId=79

From that web page:
"Pearl Rosary The Path of Purification
"The content of this text is primarily meant for people who are far away and don’t have the opportunity to engage in Dharma practice in the presence of the teacher. The book itself is a representation of the teacher, and therefore is meant to help one’s Dharma practice. The text describes the methods of visualization and how to incorporate practice into our day to day life experience. .... The visualization of these deities is mainly concerned with the practices of tantrayana and mantrayana, which are the highest forms of practice. The path of visualization is very powerful and if properly engaged in, it is capable of transforming our life within a single moment.
"By engaging in this kind of practice, infinite clarity of mind is achieved, and through such power, we are able to purify our ordinary body and manifest the body of the deity. Likewise, we are able to purify ordinary speech, and manifest wisdom speech. Furthermore, we are able to purify the deluded ordinary mind, and realize the wisdom mind.
From the foreword by His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche"

The point is that it is much more direct and useful to take a single encompassing empowerment, such as the Vajrasattva, than to go here and there for smaller blessing empowerments. The Vajrasattva is of crucial importance in all schools of Indo-Tibetan vajrayana, AND at all levels, up through and including Great Seal and Great Perfection practice. I have therefore placed a short basic teaching ( under tribe member "k t" photo "Hundred Syllable mantra" ) for you.

This practice is really pervasive. You can get full Vajrasattva through many differently named transmissions, such as Cakrasamvara, Hevajra, Kalacakra, Padmasambhava, Tsik Sum Ne Dek/ Hitting The Three Essential Points, Vajrakilaya and so forth. I myself have received sixty one full Vajrasattva empowerments, often through primary lineage holders, and have completed a quarter million of the long Vajrasattva mantra. . . and intend to do more, because of the great purifying and empowering effects of this mantra and sadhana.

A story: some twelve years ago I was in Vancouver taking Native American yogic teachings from a Tsalagi ( Cherokee ) teacher named Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo. In addition to being a Tsalagi teacher of family lineage, she is also a Tibetan lama of the Nyingma lineage through HH Dudjom Rinbochay, and a Drikung Kagyu lama through HH Chetsang Tulku Rinbochay. Her young son decided to run through the teaching hall, so she called out to him, "Hey, wouldn't you like to DO SOME VAJRASATTVA PRACTICE? That was her way of telling him to settle down. So parents, this is a good practice for the kids. It's really one of the best gifts one could give a child or children, for their entire life.

I thank the Drikung lineage and Vajra Publications, HH Chetsang Tulku Rinbochay, Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin Rinpoche, and so forth. With abiding gratitude I dedicate the merit of sharing this teaching on Kagyu dharma to the Drikung teachers, all the Kagyu teachers, and those who take up these quintessential liberating practices for the benefit of all our relations.

May the Mahamudra transmission remain wide open like the sky!
May the Mahamudra transmission remain pervasive like the earth!
May the Mahamudra practitioners remain unshakeable like mountains!
May awareness remain shining like a flame!
May wakefulness remain lucid like a crystal!

OM AH NAMO GURU VAJRA DHRIKA MAHAMUDRA SIDDHI PHALA HUM
OM AH NAMO GURU PRAJNABHADRA MAHAMUDRA SIDDHI PHALA HUM
OM AH NAMO GURU JNANASIDDHI MAHAMUDRA SIDDHI PHALA HUM
OM AH NAMO GURU DHARMAMATI MAHAMUDRA SIDDHI PHALA HUM
OM AH NAMO GURU VAJRA DHVAJA MAHAMUDRA SIDDHI PHALA HUM. . . . .
NAMO NAMAHA

With best wishes to all at Southern Dharma Retreat Center, and best wishes to all of you who are willing to go forward in authentic yogic bodhisattva practice, this brief note is written quite unofficially, yet in partial fulfillment of serious formal teaching responsibilities.

Sarva mangalam! Siddhi rastu! Samaya . . .

K T, inner medical tantrika and dagger priest

Original event notice etc. follows:

" Southern Dharma Retreat Center is an interfaith retreat center which hosts meditation retreats representing the world's various spiritual traditions. Retreat teachers are experienced and recognized in their own traditions. All retreats have meditation, contemplation, and silence as underlying threads. Between teacher-led retreats, individual private retreats may be arranged.

Located part way up one of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina, isolated and forested, Southern Dharma provides a comfortable, secluded gathering place removed from everyday distractions. Retreats create an atmosphere of quiet reflection, peace, and opening to the truths within the heart. "

Contact information for SDRC:

Southern Dharma Retreat Center
1661 West Road
Hot Springs NC 28743
828-622-7112

southerndharma@earthlink.net

www.southerndharma.org

Registration Information at
http://www.southerndharma.org/RegistrationInformation.htm

-- In Drikung-Sangha@yahoogroups.com, Hun Lye <HLye@...> wrote:

Southern Dharma Retreat Center
Hot Springs, North Carolina

Presents

"Vajrasattva Retreat: Empowerment, Teachings and Practice"
January 1-4, 2008
Cost: $180 (includes meals and housing, offering to teacher is
according to one's abilities)
For registration info:
http://www.southerndharma.org/RetreatSchedule2007.htm or contact
Michael Campbell at 828-622-7112 or southerndharma@earthlink.net

*Retreat Description*
For four days of the retreat Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin Rinpoche,
co-spiritual director of the Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick,
MD will lead us in Vajrasattva meditation, a purification practice
from the Vajrayana path of Buddhism, as practiced in Tibet. The main
meditation practice in the Vajrayana path is deity yoga. With this
technique one first visualizes a being with a perfect form of a
deity. Then one creates a perfect auditory note, for example "OM,"
then one imagines a perfectly clear luminous mind. In the practice one
is empowered to first imagine all of these as a mentally "created"
being - outside oneself, then one merges with that being and imagines
oneself to have those physical qualities of perfection. Then one chants the
appropriate mantra and acquires "perfect speech." Finally one
dissolves the visualization into emptiness, thus realizing the
"perfect mind."

In doing this practice one comes to see that one's very nature is now
and always has been the same as the Buddha's - that is,
pure,uncontaminated - uncreated emptiness and luminosity. It has just
been tarnished by one's unskillful actions in the past. The
Vajrasattva practice can help to remove the tarnish so that our true
nature comes into focus. Khenpo Rinpoche will explain this further
during the first session on the evening of the 1st. On the following
morning he will give the empowerment that allows you to do this
practice on your own. For the rest of the retreat we will alternate
between doing the Vajrasattva practice, doing silent meditation and
receiving dharma talks about the Path to Enlightenment as embodied in
the Six Perfections or Paramitas.

*Khenpo Rinpoche's Bio*
Khenpo Rinpoche was born in southeastern Tibet 1970. At the age of 14
he took his monk's vows and soon after began his Buddhist Studies at
Samye Monastery, the first monastery ever built in Tibet.
He was an outstanding student from the start and excelled in all of
his subjects. In 1987, he traveled to India to enroll in the Drikung
Kagyu Institute at Jangchub Ling in Dehra Dun.

After finishing his course work he spent three years teaching lower
classes in the monastic college. He was awarded the title "Khenpo" in
1998 and then spent another three years teaching Buddhist philosophy
at the Institute. He has completed the Ngondro, Chakrasamvara and
other deity-yoga practices in retreat. Khenpo arrived at the Tibetan
Meditation Center in April 2001 to become one of the Spiritual
Co-directors of the Center. He also began his study of English at that
time and is now
quite fluent in it. He has been teaching at the Tibetan Meditation
Center, The Garchen Institute and at other Drikung Kagyu centers in
the US since then.

*Southern Dharma Retreat Center*

Southern Dharma Retreat Center is an interfaith retreat center which
hosts meditation retreats representing the world's various spiritual
traditions. Retreat teachers are experienced and recognized in their
own traditions. All retreats have meditation, contemplation, and
silence as underlying threads. Between teacher-led retreats,
individual private retreats may be arranged.

Located part way up one of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North
Carolina, isolated and forested, Southern Dharma provides a
comfortable, secluded gathering place removed from everyday
distractions. Retreats create an atmosphere of quiet reflection,
peace, and opening to the truths within the heart.

Facilities include the meditation hall, lodge, and tent platforms.
The lodge, which can accommodate twenty-three, has a dining room,
kitchen, small library, double bedrooms on the second floor, and a
dormitory room on the uppermost floor. All retreatants are housed on
the premises. Four tent platforms are located adjacent to a small
mountain stream with many waterfalls. Tent platforms may be reserved
but we are unable to take reservations for rooms in the lodge although
any preference indicated on the registration form will be taken into
consideration. Rooms are assigned first on the basis of gender, then
for any special medical reasons, and finally in the order of
registration. Only for retreats with small enrollment is a single room
available.

There are several trails -- along the stream, affording mountain
views, and one to the top of the mountain.

Dana is a Pali word (the language spoken in India during the time of
the Buddha about 400 BCE) meaning generosity. Teachers are
reimbursed by Southern Dharma only for their travel. At the end of a
retreat, retreatants are offered the opportunity to offer
contributions (anonymous if they prefer) to the teacher. Southern
Dharma Retreat Center also relies on financial support through
charitable contributions.

--- End forwarded message ---

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 6 replies

when nothingness is.

2007-12-22T21:55:47Z

cipher of silence
invisible puddle
anti matter camophlaged
are your edges round?
blank noise center less
are you a vacuum
colorless void
emptiness postulated
soiled or unsoiled
you are the result
of positive or negative
inside out junk
that became nothing evolved.

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 3 replies

Need instructions on...

2007-12-19T05:14:35Z

Yow!

I need instructions on how to put together the new Buddha-matic! Any thoughts?

<]8-D

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 18 replies

an actual buddhist joke; pretty good, actually. plus some polytheism and social psychology to boot.

2007-12-14T16:04:37Z

an actual buddhist joke; pretty good, actually. plus some polytheism and social psychology to boot.

Summary:
"One of the best ways to help people is to be kind and gentle, particularly when someone is badly hurt, alienated, burned out, or somehow has a hard time staying in touch with their inner nature or lacking clear vision for their own life. Turns out that the combination of humor and wisdom can work small miracles when other things don't seem to work at all. The technical name for this clinical strategy is an 'nlp reframe.' Throughout recorded human culture, story telling is a central part of the work of a shamanic healer. Wisdom humor should be part of the curriculum of the bodhisattva, because it supports psychological integration and balance. It's good therapy."

The [ cough- cough ] social reality:

After many years in Mahayana Buddhism and tantra, and time spent with Buddhists everywhere from Hawaii to France, I have yet to hear a western Buddhist tell a decent joke. [ Heard one truly disgusting joke during a major tantric empowerment about ten years back here on the West Coast. Will never repeat it. ] I rarely see these people express real warmth or a smile, and would be completely surprised to see any of these people dance. [ Kung fu or tai chi or aikido or reggae would qualify, for sure. Not holding my breath, folks. ]

This is in direct contrast to other pre-contact cultural systems, such as the Lakota Sioux, who have Coyote the Trickster. You can find stories of trickster spirits in a number of indigenous cultures. This is considered an important cultural heritage, and a major means of teaching the young virtues such as caution and humility, and the foolishness of arrogance. Not so with Buddhists. It's a cultural blind spot with Buddhists.

"It's all just dollies, you know? " - Humor just doesn't fly with these people. . .it's all about "Being Serious"

A couple years ago I spontaneously made a joke reference to a PhD Buddhist scholar and Tibetan translator. This was downstairs from the main temple hall, while we were all waiting for a Simhamukha empowerment. This wrathful Lion Faced Goddess is Very Scary. I personally met her once some years back, and wanted to leap off the couch and dive for cover. But then again, I really like girls who kick ass, one favorite being the real live human goddess Yeshe Tsogyel . . . and another being "Tomb Raider" Angelina Jolie. [ Like the T shirt at Folk Life said, "Adopt me, Angelina!" You know, it's like "Are we ready to save the universe?" Angelina : "Absolutely!" ]

So anyway, I turned around and told the Ph.D. Lotsawa, while we awaited entrance to the sacred mandala of empowerment, "You know something, it's all about dollies! Ken and Barbie dolls, you know. Simhamukha just happens to be a fierce Barbie, that's all." At home we use this phrase a lot, and for us it means many things in social psychological terms. For example, if a guy likes to date one woman after another, we view him as a Barbie doll collector. "It's all about dollies!" "Look, more dollies!"

I thought the line was funny - and some months later this got immediate laughs from some friends and new acquaintences at a dzogchen empowerment, thank goodness - but the poor PhD translator looked a bit disheartened and disoriented, with a quizzical look like I was somehow trying to mess with his head [ or had temporarily lost it ]. Naaah, it was just a toss off comment. Why? We had first jointly took a major empowerment together in 1980. In all the time since I'd shared about twenty seven words with him, about one word per year on average. So I was just trying to be sociable. Foolish me. . . at least my luck is consistent, right?

Yes, yes, this *is* very serious stuff, a ferocious lion-headed goddess dancing on a corpse with a chopper knife and a skull bowl filled with blood. And the protector practices are razor sharp. But an intuitive flash had just revealed to me while waiting for tantric deity empowerment # 75 or whatever, that these scroll painting and statues etc. really ARE kinda like Ken and Barbie dolls, and this reframe put dangerous esoteric matters in a broader, more balanced, and therefore more healthy, perspective for me.

My s.o. collects high-end Barbies, including Impressionist Art Barbies, Shamanic and Native American Barbies, Ken and Barbie sets [ King Arthur and Guineve, Lord Aragorn and Lady Arwen ], and like that. I gradually learned that dollies are actually very important to girls *and* women. [ Basically, if you don't know about dollies, you can't even understand female culture. Ever hear the phrase, "She's in the back, getting dolled up. . ." ? ]

So, we have scores of actual Ken and Barbie collector editions here at home . . . plus my tantric statues, real heavy duty stuff: a museum quality Vajrakilaya and Consort, a gilt Ekajati, gilt Padmasambhava, a large Tara, a good sized Vajrapani and a Shiva. Plus all the scroll painting images like the museum quality Milarepa from Nepal, and so forth. So, "Deities. Dollies. What's the difference? It's all just dollies!"

This is completely universal, as it turns out. Check out the movie Gladiator, where Russell Crowe as General Maximus is praying to little doll deities and praying for little doll representations of his wife and child. Maybe they did that in ancient Rome, you know? The Roman gods and goddesses truly embody the key cultural archetypes of their culture. More broadly, Hindus and Buddhists and Wiccans All Have Lots of Dollies. It's called polytheism, and is found everywhere. The Native Americans such as Hopi and Navaho have kachinas and there are the Three Corn Maidens and so forth.

That really distinguishes us from the Christians, the Jews, and especially the Islamists. [ In Islam, you Don't Get Any religious Dollies! They're all illegal. That includes Tara, the White Buffalo Calf Maiden, and everyone else. ] Polytheism just doesn't fly with these people. In fact, almost nothing does. And even if something *does* fly . . . But I digress.

My statement to this PhD is universally well founded in historical terms around the world, all the way back to the Willendorf Venus dolly collection of prehistory. It should have made sense, right? But noooo, nothing is *ever* simple or easy with esoteric types, Buddhist or otherwise. It's alllll gotta be serious and complicated allll the tiiime and, somehow, we've all gotta have difficulty communicating with each other, even in terms of a simple joke. Else we're not sanctimonious enough, I mean, not "proper Buddhists". So if it isn't difficult or serious, we gotta MAKE it difficult or serious, preferably both. Call it spiritual pride, call it psychological alienation, call it self-conflicted masochism, call it poor socialization. Whatever. I just have to ask, "And how is that working for you, anyway?"

"Fear and Loathing" and Running The Gauntlet

To me a brittle shut down insensitive attitude really sucks: it's unhealthy and self-defeating on several important levels. Even though I got stuck with being a vajrayana Buddhist spiritual doctor many years ago - Tag!! You're It, White Boy! - I mostly avoid Buddhist gatherings to get some fresh air, do some yoga or tai chi or mantra or whatever. Unless there's a good empowerment, 'cuz I too am really into the Dollies.

Is this dolly collecting - excuse me - continuing stream of empowerments - obsessive compulsive? At this point, I do have twenty eight full Vajrakilaya authorizations, and fifty eight full Vajrasattva authorizations [ they overlap with lots of stuff ], but it never hurts to get another good zap, another catur-abhisekha, or "four-banger" to use the technical term. As Lord Gampopa said, "Ours is a lineage of practice but it is also a lineage of blessings." So it's definitely part of being a good tantric practitioner, and I often invite some people I know to re-take major empowerments, and usually they thank me.

Given the above, I was dumbfounded to learn this year there's a listserv on tribe.net called "Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun." With a lot of members. I was kinda blown. How wonderful, I thought, this is great! Sure beats having to deal with lots of bad stuff, you know, the standard unsubstantiated attacks, vicious irrationality, clueless experts, gang action and lack of basic human values - or even decent English - often found on various religious fora.

Not that I've failed to adjust mind you. But I will *always* remember that in early 2002 a claimed tantric Buddhist [ a closet Sufi, looks like ] offered physical attack and bloodshed against me on a Buddhist listserv. There were one hundred people on that so-called Buddhist listserv, not one of whom responded to this illegal and sociopathic outburst. That tells you a lot about the emotional and social development of western Buddhists, doesn't it? Think I could make this up? And BTW, the guy was literally vowing physical violence against several million Buddhists in many countries around the world. I was really bitter for some time, and in a sense still am. So I haven't had a word with that dysfunctional crowd in over five years.

It's like Angelina Jolie famously said; "I trust no one." One LA woman asked me by email, what do you mean when you say "I'm on the team and I work alone" ? Well, you have the real answer right here, sometimes known as the Bitter Truth. What I told her was standard Tolkien, all noble and all.

Aragorn [ ‘The Lord of the Rings’, Book V, Chapter 2. ]: "I have no help to send, therefore I must go myself."

See : http://the-stewardship.org/metaphors.htm for more on Tolkien and Stewardship.

So, I'm actually a more serious sort, bookish, a mage guardian, combat shaman [ remember, I have twenty eight Vajrakilaya empowerments ! ! ], sworn protector of the Buddhist Law and so forth. Sometimes it bears down on me, as it certainly would on you. It helps to have much better "technical capabilities", grin grin. But you know the funny thing about survival and karma and social abuse and cultural warfare and all those interesting problems? It really helps A LOT to have a sense of humor, top remain light and flexible in mind and spirit. Sometimes you can even use humor to turn away conflict and physical danger, so it's almost a kind of kung-fu. That's why, last night, feeling a little worn down by some social stuff, we two watched "Almost Famous" on DVD. "It's all happening, it's all happening." If it's a good DVD, it's therapy, you know.

Having said all that, let me introduce the really cool Buddhist joke. The Dalai Lama hasn't even heard this one yet, and he knows a lot. Try this on the next Buddhist you meet, see if you get a good reaction. If not, then try getting a pulse, eh?

The remedy: Buddhist humor, from a Republican of all people [ Not from Snow Lion or any other major Buddhist catalog ]

There are, it turns out, good Buddhist jokes - maybe even a dozen or more known to humanity. In fact there is a two-for-one Buddhist joke, which my younger brother sent me as a birthday card. Being a Republican and all, he is even less fun than many western Buddhists, but you know, people can still surprise you sometimes. He likes to tease me about being one of these laughable, barking-up-the-wrong-tree Buddhist types by sending me these cards, and has found two so far. Mom likes to tease me this way also, which helps compensate and distract from her bitter rejection of lifelong Anglican communion and the way it is currently being torn in half. Go ahead and laugh, Mom. Looks like all you got was a religious dead end, so I'll laugh too.

There are Buddhist joke cards in bookstores or stationary stores the Chicago area, somewhere in the western suburbs along the Burlington rail line, more or less. I never saw anything like this in Snow Lion, but there they are, arriving by mail from the Midwest, of all places. As Richard Gere said, "Who knew? WHO KNEW?"

So here's what was on the card:

Buddha walks up to a hot dog vendor in New York City. He says to the guy, "Make Me One With Everything", and gives him some money. [ Say with complete deadpan expression, then pause for effect. ]

The hot dog vendor makes a hot dog, hands it to Buddha, and says "Here you go."

Buddha says, "Where's my change?"

The hot dog vendor says "Change comes from within."

So you know, it's all pratitya-samutpada, interdependent origination. As well as dollies, chronic miscommunication and, yes, a *few* Rangers here and there . . . just going out into the wilderness trying to make the world a better place for children and those who will come after. I too am a steward, in a long line of stewards. What we do we do for everyone. That is why spiritual teachers among the Lakota Sioux always begin by saying "All Our Relations." It is a prayer, it is an address to all beings, it is a sacred commitment to the health and well being of everyone.

The real road from here: "Kindness is my true religion."

One of the best ways to help people is to be kind and gentle, particularly when someone is badly hurt, alienated, burned out, or somehow has a hard time staying in touch with their inner nature or a vision for life. It can be as simple as listening attentively to someone who needs badly to be listened to. As the Dalai Lama said, "Kindness is my true religion." Turns out that the combination of humor and wisdom can work small miracles when other things don't seem to work at all. Story telling is a central part of the work of a shamanic healer. Wisdom humor should be part of the curriculum of the bodhisattva. And by the way, don't forget to stay in touch with your own heart.

Really feel your own heart, and you can thereby feel the hearts of others, and begin to build bridges of humanitarian worth between people. Really open the energetic matrix of your own heart center, and healing energy can flow from your hands to others who are hurt. The resonance of consciousness within your words can then reach people. This is the way to reverse the unconscious movements towards chaos and destruction, to help heal bitterness and loss, to help people find what is of real value in their own and others lives. It is worth your best efforts. This is all I have to say.

K T

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 10 replies

Lakulish Yogasan Championships 2008: Feb. 22; 23; & 24th, - City of Surat, Gujarat State, India

2007-12-12T17:32:39Z

For details and application forms, please refer to: http://www.lifemission.org/ and under "New" go to item #4 and click on "World Open Yogasan Championships".

Please note, to optimize your India trip and your experience of Lakulish Yoga you could attend or participate in the Yogasan Championships and also take in the 3 week Certificate Yoga Training Course being offered at Swami Rajarshi Muni's Malav Ashram from January 30 -February 20th. For details on the training go to http://www.lifemission.org/ and under "New" click on item # 5 " "Overseas Students Annual Yoga Certificate Training Program"

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 5 replies

What will the holidays bring?

2007-12-08T17:32:33Z

What will the holidays bring? While you might be looking forward to visiting with family, stress and conflict maybe often a part of the mix. The latest research on stress shows that short term stress is actually good for your immune system. I guess that confirms the old saying, "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Conflict can help you clarify your values, to stand up for what you believe in. Stress can be energizing, can help you accomplish what you need to in the world...but how much stress? how much conflict? Long-term stress is what makes us sick. So how do you know when to put on the brakes, to stop saying "yes" to extraneous commitments, to stop engaging in unnecessary conflict (not that that is an option necessarily one wishes to attract just by mentioning it (no-no-no).... So, harmony may very well be part of your (my) journey as we want to invite harmonious and smooth spiritual growth?

These aren't new questions, they have been asked for centuries. As the end of 2007 approaches, you may be taking stock, looking at what has transpired and what is to come, defining new samkalpas (resolutions) and perspectives, and reflecting on the meaning of inner and outer peace.

I for myself will be going to a retreat to get away from it all, be at ease and get new inspirations. Good company matters a lot for they increase immunity and hence spiritual well-being.

May we all develop the beautiful quality of patience within.

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 2 replies

Fun Buddhists in Italy?

2007-12-03T07:35:57Z

Ciao.

Wondering if anyone has connections to Buddhists in Italy. I am living here in Naples and I love it, but I do very much miss chanting and discussing things with other like minded individuals. Any websites or folks you can point me to would be great!

Thanks so much.

Blessings,
SW

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 5 replies

Deconstruction and Romance

2007-11-24T04:11:14Z

My mind has a tendency to look at things and deconstruct them...a model on TV is not a person, she is some anorexic glory hound...a old guy walking across the street is not a person, he is some ornery old coot.

I catch my mind doing this over and over again.

The artist's eye brings some relief....there is beauty behind every form, every idea, everything. I believe that, even if I can't always see it.

It is a romantic passion for life's beauty, in all things and all situations.

How do we overcome that calculating, judgmental, annoying mind?

posted in Buddhists Just Wanna Have Fun - 2 replies