!Ask Buddha!'s topics - tribe.net

Navagating the Mayas, or unknowns, as well as relating to the Diversity as best one, or others can

djsouljourn — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:06:08 GMT

Thought I would start a thread, So much goodness so much unity, also so much diversity, difference, even the subtle can be perceived as a wrong by another. therefore this post is here in hopes people can, if they choose share simple words, in and for the hopes of greater understandings in and for the abilities of being content with ones choices, while respecting, learning to respect others boundaries and still creating as there chosen Peace chooses but allowing for the time, space, other that may be needed for the realities continued healing, in other words, as you wish, I share here, that you know, but, may also share or not, and this is good , and good enough with me, and others to, or not, the canvas is bare in so many ways that (here) we might continue to recreate to, for, of, and by, greater greater perfection.
Again I offer the English word free, because i choose and believe it is mostly a good word, care to create here or offer any, any words...

Peace & Blessings to you and yours, and yes i understand the existential risks, etc., but still choose to live, and create, in my mind and way for you, others, all, in many ways, but, honestly, not all, my preference is, and i try to learn if you choose to allow me to learn anything you, may or may not share, etc. or ask, i can, give, and forgive, etc.

Peace

Oo0oO
& thanks for all that is and is good, and yet 2 be better

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Debbie Downer

Laura — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:18:00 GMT

How do you overcome the Negative Nancys and the Debbie Downers in your life? You know the type. The ones who have nothing nice to say. The ones who turn even the nicest gesture into a turd sandwich. I can't just turn my back on all of them because some of them are indeed my loved ones. I have tried to talk to them, help them to relieve their suffering, to no avail. They choose to live in this pit of despair, covered in a doom cloud that is more than depressing.

I am working on a gratefulness project right now. I am reaching out to those that mean something to me to offer my thanks for what they have brought to my life. A certain Negative Nancy keeps stepping in with not very nice things to say, questioning my every step, and really making it hard for me to focus on the intention I have. I have tried to explain and this brings only more negativity.

I have tried to ignore, I have tried not to attach, but the whole thing brings me to a place opposite of why I started this project in the first place. I feel like abandoning it. But then I feel like negativity wins.

How do I honor my original intention, live with my family, and still continue to be a human with feelings since I haven’t reached enlightenment yet?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

When the CIA convinced the Dalai Lama's Father to let them run B-24 Liberator SPYPLANE MISSIONS, in 1948, what happened?

Bob — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:07:53 GMT

NO MORE TIBET! KOREAN WAR! US ARMY for Willie Mays, so no homer record.

Barry Bonds says, "Isaiah," when he hits 756 into the Cove, so he gets prosecuted, for revealing Jews are from Ethiopia, on the downlow.

FBI Director Mueller fabricated three sets of evidence AND DESTROYED EACH, IN TURN, including trial exhibits for CR98-0087 Larson, in the course of tainting the entire world, by his USA misconduct, in San Francisco, right before his appointment, to Director of the FBI.

Why does tainted Mueller get to remain, where bills of attainder caused the FBI to refuse to report discovery of 911 terrorists, in the USA?

The attack went down because the NSA and CIA actually prevented the FBI from reporting, TO ITS OWN SUPERIORS, presence of terrorists, in the USA, which participated in the air attacks, 9/11/2001.

Pigs riot and incite. Obama has caused police to shoot blacks, INCLUDING OSCAR GRANT, III, and Lovelle Mixon to shoot five OPD, four to death, one critically wounded, while he was blasted, but OPD and BART and John Burris all blew me off and hung up.

BART PD Chief Gary Gee is resigning, wouldn't you know! Why does Oakland PD get to hang up on me, did they hire LEVI JOHNSTON, as Chief? YOU DO NOT GET TO HIRE OUT-OF-STATERS, to come into California and riot, San Francisco and Oakland! Are you all Sallies?

Sally the Pig is a media Suicide Girl, chasing Levi Johnston, in error.

What a pig, is the fabulous SARAH PALIN! She is flopping all over Levi Johnston's brief play, in the lower 48, which will end, now, if Levi is at all smart and informed, about riot and interstate nuisance and conspiracy, deeper, than creeps who say, "nukuler," and cannot conceive of how BOTH the costs and persons are corrupted, there.

No design will overshadow the corruption of BOTH tainted funds and persons, and of their illegal agendas, to cross-contaminate. NO good design will be effected, under the circumstances of fraud, which complicate business, fatally.

If you previously LOST a bush-pilot election, where all the crashers tried to lose to Joe Plumber, and Granny Maddie calls the winner a Kenyan and he loses Prop.8 in Cali and Janet's Arizona, for letting Joe stay on for half an hour, Debate III, you LOST, in order to save your own, miserable, stupid LIVES.

Bush pilots DIE, poorly informed flappers.

They DIE. In choppers, in single-engine prop planes. They DIE, dead as can be.

When the BRATS had their TITS twisted by Saladin, and so they were sent back to BRITAIN, they left their offal, in Jerusalem, called a hot, new word, since from their Pope's SHIT FOR BRAINS, they could get God to tell them, they had a couple of things to do, before they could stay, in Jerusalem, next in the Victorian Crusade, 1882: invade Beijing, through Shiites in Iran.

Fart hard for bon Jovi, on Texas-TV! Blast the Prezzie's balls, out of his perple undies, with awesome, concentrated gas!

Sally's alley is all browned out. Go home, fool! Bush pilots were born, to lose control, and they will. At war, THEY CRASH, HARD.

Perhaps you have all heard, of the famous JOHN McCAIN, or even of his fine years in North Viet Namese custody, for repeatedly bombing the Hanoi Power Station, in a lousy Skyhawk, which cannot keep doing that sort of dirt, without a SAM of some kind getting Johnny down.

747 coming out of the sky, gonna take you sky-high-airhead-airliners, down to Memphis, on a midnight special ride! Got Burt Sugarman?

You can see Russia, haha about Levi's tricking Playgirl, I can see meatwads, plural, playing U2 sedition into 2011 disasters, foretold!

When you are trying to crash, DO NOT KEEP BUZZING THE AIRHEAD-STRIPSHOW, or you are GOING TO CRASH.

So you won't get health care, from already doomed Obama, but tards, you let the deregulated power deals corrupt big construction, SO WHAT PART OF NUKES OR OIL CAN STUPID SALLY FUND, when the Chinese are about to sue her for being a cowgirl, who shoots mooses and pretends they are some sort of native, if she gets to?

YOU MAY NOT HAVE YOUR COUNTRY BACK, until you shoot down some lousy bushwackers, Tenzin.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Dissolving THE illusion of Separation ...

☼Sunshine☼ — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:23:39 GMT

fyminc.typepad.com/bob_thurman_podcast/

The first American to be ordained a Tibetan Monk by the Dalai Lama. Bob Thurman became a Tibetan monk at age 24. He's a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University, and co-founder of Tibet House US, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization.

Thurman's focus is on the balance between inner insight and cultural harmony. In interpreting the teachings of Buddha, he argues that happiness can be reliable and satisfying in an enduring way without depriving others.

Oh and Yes... He's Uma Thurman's Dad ...:))))

www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/130

And Yes ... You can ask him questions .... I also emailed him with an invitation to join us here on Tribe ...:)

Peace and blessings, let me know your thoughts on the podcast .... I loved it ..... and the video too...

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 1 reply

Bad things happen to those around my friend

joan fowler — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:09:46 GMT

My friend thinks she has bad karma or something that is causing those around her to have bad things happen. She has been ill for the past year with two tick borne illnesses, and the most recent thing that happened to someone around her is the priest that she has been talking to for help getting through the mental wear-down of the health issues had a heart attack. He is 53. She said she thinks she had bad karma. I don't know. She had done more to help people than anyone I know. She has a good, positive spirit.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Releasing the painful past

Laura — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:45:25 GMT

Dear Buddha,

I have come to a place where I am done with my painful past. I have visualized it as packing it neatly in a suitcase, taking that heavy luggage to the offending place, having a little ritual of forgiveness, letting go of the past, and leaving the baggage behind. It has been a joyful experience. It feels so light and free. At times I practically skip away, hearing the chains fall, the past melting away, and I get to step fully into the Present and Be.

In my joy however, I want to share this with others. Particularly with others I know are suffering with their own past. I know the relief of my suffering has been so enlightening, I want so much to free them also from their chains. But in my human stumblings, I find, they get stuck in the story, they get triggered by the negative, and they can only dwell in the bad place I have just left.

Perhaps I should just live the example. But when I know a little of how, it seems so cruel to allow them to continue to suffer. I know they must find it in their own time.

And then my thoughts step in. Is this just my ego? Am I so much better now that I must have a parade for myself? It doesn’t feel that way but the doubting mind does play those tricks. My intention is to relieve suffering and the root of suffering.

And yet. Such a dilemma.

In Peace,
Laura

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 2 replies

Re: Paganism and Suicide : the classical Buddhist teaching

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:12:42 GMT

From tribe pagan
Re: Paganism and Suicide : the classical Buddhist teaching

Re Mama Gaea's question:
"According to your personal beliefs, what do you think happens if one were to commit suicide? "

It's not about my "personal" beliefs. As an individually trained Buddhist guru, I will tell you what the Buddhist teaching makes emphatically clear.

To kill oneself is a form of human murder, and it has unspeakably grave consequences.

Basically, if you commit suicide, you go straight to hell. It is almost impossible to retrieve a consciousness that has committed self-murder.

Try yoga and mantra instead. That would be a needed step and the beginning of a growth cycle.

Free your awareness. Live for that which is highest in yourself and others.

We in the West do not live under the domination or major threat of Communism, Fascism, or Islam, nor under the medieval Catholic Church You have outer and inner freedom here and now, if you will but use it.

K T, dagger priest and medical tantrika

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

What are the Buddahs teachings about celabacy ?(to F# or not toF# that is the question)

djsouljourn — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 05:01:36 GMT

I have been celabate for over 11 years. I have learned alot because of this but I feel I still have questions. Where is my Souls mate? And when is the right time to be or not to be with her.

Peace & Blessings

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 7 replies

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

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 22:20:31 GMT

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 !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Dream of meeting a Rimpoche??

Wendy — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 03:42:08 GMT

Hi all new to this tribe, kinda fell in :)
Im an Aussie chic, ops old chook, who doesnt know much of anything. xx
Had this dream last night, and wondered what it could mean?
Friend and i went through many trials and tibulations on a journey to see Rimpoche (spelling) my friend became very selfish in trying to get there first, she pushed me away from the little windows we had to climb though and such.
And yes she was first into his presence, but for some reason i accepted that is how she was. He lived in a little old shack, on reaching there an old woman said he was outside somewhere, when we went looking he was sitting on the grass looking out over a mountain range. My friend went up to him and i stood back behind a rock to give them privacy, then when it was my turn, i bowed with hands joined at the heart and looked into the face of this ancient man and then wendy just disappeared!! Woke up with a fright.
The dream was very long but you get some idea of it.
I know nothing much of Buddism and wondered if anyone here has an idea what the dream may be telling me?
Blessings xxxxxxxxxxxx

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 7 replies

The Oracle of Tibet will be making three appearances in Los Angeles, June 28-30

farewell and be well :^D — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 05:34:29 GMT

June 28
THURSDAY
7:00PM
Hosted by Lucy Casado

Welcome Ceremony at the famous Lucy’s El Adobe. Owner Lucy Casado has hosted Robert F. Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, U.S. Presidents, and numerous Tibetan delegations, including Tibetan sand mandalas constructed in the "Tibetan monks room" where she will welcome Venerable Thupten Ngodup, the Medium of Tibet's Chief State Oracle.

Address:
Lucy's El Adobe Cafe & Restaurant
5536 Melrose Avenue
Hollywood, CA 90038
Contact: Dana Walden, 323-650-1101
Eemail: danagwalden@gmail.com

L.A. Contact
Dana Walden
323 650-1101
310 430-9831 (mobile)
danagwalden@gmail.com

June 29
FRIDAY
5:30 PM
"The Time is Now"
Conversation between the Venerable Thupten Ngodup, the Medium of Tibet's Chief State Oracle, Don Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj, Head of the Council of Elders of the Maya as well as Head of Indigenous Council of the Americas, and Ruben Saufkie, Hopi Messenger of Water, who will also perform the Eagle Dance. (He will be joined by his thirteen year old son, Jordan). After this dialogue, Venerable Thupten Ngodup will speak on Global Warming and personal responsibility and offer healing and blessings. Please join us for this unprecedented event.

...and a music concert with:

Sacred chanting by Tibetan monks
Cellist, Michael Fitzpatrick (website...)
Inner Voice (website...)
$25 suggested donation

Golden Bridge Yoga
Founder: Gurmukh
6322 De Longpre Ave.
Los Angeles 90028
Contact: Sadasimran
www.goldenbridgeyoga.com

L.A. Contact
Dana Walden
323 650-1101
310 430-9831 (mobile)
danagwalden@gmail.com

June 30
SATURDAY
11:00 AM
Venerable Thupten Ngodup, the Medium of Tibet's Chief State Oracle, will offer Long Life Initiation to remove obstacles, promote healing and long life; and will offer blessings.

...and music with:

Sacred chanting by Tibetan monks
Cellist, Michael Fitzpatrick (website...)
$25 suggested donation

Golden Bridge Yoga
6322 De Longpre Ave.
Los Angeles 90028
Contact: Sadasimran
www.goldenbridgeyoga.com

L.A. Contact
Dana Walden
323 650-1101
310 430-9831 (mobile)
danagwalden@gmail.com

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

With every Word we Utter

lama_jigme_gyatso — Wed, 30 May 2007 00:30:08 GMT

Mr. T, recently wrote asking:

“…I would like to know how an American
went about becoming a Buddhist Monk.”

Dear Mr. T,

With every word we utter,
with every question we ask,
in one of two destinations,
our awareness is guided.

When guided into Story,
whether past-remembered, present-analyzed or future-fantasized,
our awareness gets bogged
in Sam-sa-ra’s sorrow, pain, fear, aggression, pride, control and folly.

But, when awareness is allowed to unfurl,
in the limitless expanse of the present moment,
the love, devotion, peace, insight, happiness and bliss of our Buddha-nature
is deeply drunk, no less explored.

No, Mr. T;
no matter how politely you ask me,
I will NOT go into story
for it is but a quagmire of a trap,

deceitfully distracting us
from the cutting edge of the present moment.

No matter how politely or earnestly
a child pleads with me
to give him liquid plumber to drink,
I shall NOT give it to him.

Likewise, now matter how you may try
to persuade, coax or manipulate me,
I will NOT give you
the poison of story.

Mr. T, the allure of my past,
pales in contrast
with the importance
of your now!

Tread you Theravada, Mahayana or Mantrayana:
the highway of now
is the one path trod
by every great Buddhist saint.

There are two ways to approach this path, my friend:
by Contriving a concentration upon now,
or by Spontaneously relaxing into the present moment.

To the uninitiated, the difference in technique
could seem to be the width of a hair,
but the results could be as separate
as Heaven and Earth.

Om Mani Padme Hum,
Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Everyone Dies

lama_jigme_gyatso — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:02:04 GMT

Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika
www.LamaJigme.com

Everyone Dies
Thursday, the 22nd of March, 2007

Everyone dies.
Jesus died.
Buddha died.
What does that say about everyday folks like me and you?

The question is NOT if we are going to die.
The question is How are we going to die.

Shall we die consumed with selfishness
and it’s fear, regret and aggression?
Or do we choose to die in peace
and it’s insight, love and joy?

That is a good way to die.
Couldn’t that also be a great way to live?

Om Mani Padme Hum,
Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika

P.S.

Whether you invoke: Kwan Yin, Kuan Yin, Quan Yin,
Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig or the Great Compassionate One
using the Six syllable mantra pronounced
as “ Om Mani Padme Hum “ or “ Om Mani Peme Hung “ ;
the Buddha of Compassion is always there for you.

P.P.S.

If you desire to Automatically receive my latest essays
and learn when my seminar could be coming to your neck of the woods
you are welcome to subscribe to my Newsletter at
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/LamaJigme

P.P.P.S

If your need is real
and your desire is earnest
you may write me at
lama_jigme_gyatso@yahoo.com

to arrange a private, Over-the-Telephone:
Teaching, Counseling or Healing Treatment.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 7 replies

Is it possible to give up desire without becoming passive?

Bryan — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:24:07 GMT

Here is a question that I've been wrestling with for some time. Is it possible to give up desire without becoming passive? How do you maintain motivation without wanting something or avoiding something? Or should I just accept passivity and give up the desire for something beyond it?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 3 replies

Meal Blessing

lama_jigme_gyatso — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 02:04:08 GMT

Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika
www.LamaJigme.com

A Meal Blessing
Saturday, the 3rd of March, 2007

Mr. S, recently wrote:

“Everyday so many beings are dying or died.
Everyday so many are left behind.
A tornado stuck in Alabama.
People are dying in wars, of illnesses, starvation, and the like.

If you could take some time each day
and say a prayer or dedicate the merit of your practice
to those who dies and those who are left behind,
it would be a good thing to do.”

Dear Mr. S,

I was taught
that every meal or drink of water
is a great opportunity to both
generate and share good karma.

I do so
with the following prayers:

#1
Thank you La-ma Chen-re-zig
for your presence in my life.
Thank you for pacifying my karmic negativities
increasing my virtuous merit

guiding me directly and indirectly
and lavishing me with the blessings
of your body, speech and mind;
Om Ma-ni Pad-me Hum!

#2
I partake of this delicious food {water}
as an offering
to La-ma Chen-re-zig
who emanates

in his pea-sized aspect
of bliss-inducing light
upon this Throat-center;
Om Ma-ni Pad-me Hum!

#3
May ALL who have perished
over the last Forty-nine days
especially all who have perished
in the provision of this meal

or at my hand
now take immediate and auspicious Po-ta-la rebirth
without any other rebirths intervening.
And once there quickly accomplish full enlightenment

so they can better aid and liberate all others;
Om Ma-ni Pad-me Hum!

#4
By this virtue may I quickly attain
the enlightened state of La-ma Chen-re-zig
and then lead every living being
without exception to that state.

#5
May everyone be healthy, wealthy and happy,
may everyone practice skillfully and joyfully,
may everyone accomplish Chen-re-zig in THIS life
and then help many others do likewise;

for truly that is the meaning of life;
Om Ma-ni Pad-me Hum!

Mr. S,
Most of us eat three meals every day,
and drink a little water every hour,
so this three minuet practice could very well be performed 12-16 times every day.
I certainly hope this helps you to be of greater service to others.

Om Mani Padme Hum,
Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika

P.S.

Whether you invoke: Kwan Yin, Kuan Yin, Quan Yin,
Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig or the Great Compassionate One
using the Six syllable mantra pronounced
as “ Om Mani Padme Hum “ or “ Om Mani Peme Hung “ ;
the Buddha of Compassion is always there for you.

P.P.S.

If you desire to Automatically receive my latest essays
and learn when my seminar could be coming to your neck of the woods
you are welcome to subscribe to my Newsletter at
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/LamaJigme

P.P.P.S

If your need is real
and your desire is earnest
you may write me at
lama_jigme_gyatso@yahoo.com

to arrange a private, Over-the-Telephone:
Teaching, Counseling or Healing Treatment.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 1 reply

Questions on Buddhism

Bryan — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 20:35:40 GMT

I have been learning about buddhism and there are many ideas in it that I believe to be true wisdom. However, there are other parts of it that seem to be remnants of the time and place in which it was created or fossilizations in it's transition from truth into religion. Additionally, most of what I have read seems to be coming from different "schools" of buddhism which seem to have different interpretations of the buddha's message. I have two questions for which I would be greatful for your insights.

Is it essential to accept everything in buddhism or can you take from it what makes sense? There are some things which seem to be a fairly large belief in buddhism which don't make sense for me, for example, reincarnation.

How does one make sense of the different "schools" of buddhism? How have you chosen which version of the path that you walk?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 11 replies

Buddha in Your Mirror

Sage — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 10:14:32 GMT

http://www.amazon.com/Buddha-Your-Mirror-Practical-Buddhism/dp/0967469783

There are many forms off Buddhism. Like most other religions they make each other "not quite correct" but I've come to accept that in humans. I chose one sect largely because it was excommunicated by the monks that ran it orriginally. Now, no monks, no icons and everything is grassroots, home meetings and local community centers all geared to create value and to create indestructable happiness for each other. Nicherin Buddhism/SGI. Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Check it out...it's amazing!

Sage

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 5 replies

Karma

☼Sunshine☼ — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:09:28 GMT

changing ones karma .... I've been practicing Nichirens Daishonin's buddhism for 11 years ... love it ... does anyone care to share how their karma has changed ... or insight into the process ...

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 1 reply

best practice in the face of extremes of negativity?

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 04:39:39 GMT

i write this from something very close to despair. i am being netstalked by two who insist and persist on slandering me to others, working to have me banned from any place they happen to note we share a presence, and generally demonstrating in every moment such extremes of hatred and ill intent as to render me physically ill.

well over a month ago, as a means of practice and to try and work through this to find loving kindness and compassion, i wrote two pieces in which i specifically addressed their good qualities. and have since used it in nightly meditations.

until tonight. today has been filled with yet another spate of this overt slander and negativity, and after a short time of peace and thinking perhaps they had at long last stopped, i was unprepared to find it as present and vociferous as ever.

it angered me. i have done nothing to these people. i have severed every tie. i have allowed them to do as they do and kept my mind on wishing them good things, peace, happiness, and enlightenment.

but today, in the face of another extreme attack, i finally lost my temper. became angry. angry enough to put my attorney on it with a mind to haul them into court and stop this horrible slander they insist on performing. the brief is prepared, and i thought to speak with my lama. his counsel was not to file it. instead, to return to the pieces i had written and set myself to find the way back to how i felt before the anger.

which i will do. but it just feels like all the hard effort and best intent have been ruined. and i feel so awful for it. how can i ever hope to become more compassionate when it is this easy to topple all my best intentions? :(

what else can i do to move past this? please help.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 5 replies

Energy Vampire?

lama_jigme_gyatso — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 23:02:57 GMT

Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika
www.LamaJigme.com

Energy Vampire?
Wednesday, the 3rd of January, 2007

Could you, or maybe someone you know;
be habitually Driven by anxiety or fear?
Could you, or maybe someone you know;
be habitually Defensive or insecure?

Could you, or maybe someone you know;
be habitually Self-centered or inconsiderate?
Could you, or maybe someone you know;
be habitually Annoyed or angry?

Could you, or maybe someone you know;
be habitually Controlling or manipulative?
Could you, or maybe someone you know;
be habitually, Disorganized, scattered or irresponsible?

Could you, or maybe someone you know;
be forever denying personal responsibility or accountability
for poor planning, disorganization or irresponsibility,
often demanding, no less expecting, others to come to the rescue?

How could folks respond to you, or maybe someone you know?
Are folks typically enthused and energized by encounters
with you, or maybe someone you know;
or could they often be left feeling drained, fatigued or annoyed?

Could you, or maybe someone you know;
be more defensive then spiritually ambitious?
Could you, or maybe someone you know;
be an Energy Vampire?

Could you, or maybe someone you know;
thirst for a more meaningful existence?

Could you, or maybe someone you know;
hunger for greater:
Compassion, Insight, Peace,
Devotion, Bliss and Love?

Then now, quick, hurry:
find an effective teacher of Emotional Alchemy,
receive his or her blessings and guidance,
put his instructions into practice
and accomplish the path in THIS life!

Why? Why? Why?
Because the alternative
is UN-thinkable!

Because the alternative
is UN-bearable.

Because the alternative
denies your destiny.

Lord Buddha was born
to accomplish full enlightenment in one life
and take away the sufferings of the world.

Are you ready for the secret?
That is also why we were all born.
It is exactly why You were born!

Now!
Now is the time for action;

now is the time to find a teacher,
now is the time to receive the teachings,
now is the time to practice the teachings,
now is the time to accomplish the path!

Om Mani Padme Hum,
Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika

P.S.

Whether you invoke: Kwan Yin, Kuan Yin, Quan Yin,
Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig or the Great Compassionate One
using the Six syllable mantra pronounced
as “ Om Mani Padme Hum “ or “ Om Mani Peme Hung “ ;
the Buddha of Compassion is always there for you.

P.P.S.

If you desire to Automatically receive my latest essays
and learn when my seminar could be coming to your neck of the woods
you are welcome to subscribe to my Newsletter at
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/LamaJigme

P.P.P.S

In two weeks, I will be teaching “Emotional Alchemy”
at the “Healing Weekend” seminar
in Anaheim, California,
during the weekend of January 13th and 14th.

My seminars tend to fill up quickly.
So, to reserve your seat
contact my seminar partner, Alan F. Rockefeller,
now at (619) 746-2171
or simply write him at alanfrock2@yahoo.com

P.P.P.P.S

It has been said that “Outer Beauty comes from Inner Rapture.”
This April, I will be teaching the “Blissful Path”
at the “Five Days of Buddha Bliss” spa retreat
in Orange County, California.

To reserve your accommodations
contact my seminar partner, Alan F. Rockefeller,
now at (619) 746-2171
or simply write him at alanfrock2@yahoo.com

P.P.P.P.P.S.

When you desire to learn more about
Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika,
“Emotional Alchemy,” “Blissful Path” or
Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion
explore www.LamaJigme.com

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Ferociously Happy Heart !

lama_jigme_gyatso — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 23:51:01 GMT

Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika
www.LamaJigme.com

Ferociously Happy Heart
Monday, the 27th of November, 2006

Embrace the Ferociously Happy Heart.
Open wide the chest,
open wide it’s cage!
Free the Ferociously Happy Heart.

Stand with legs wide,
stand with a Warrior’s strength,
stand with a Mountain’s solidity.

There is NO puzzle of why…
just the wonder of what,
just the magick of Now!

Ultimately, the cloying slave driver of analysis
can NOT be grasped!

Take to the skies and fly
with the Ferociously Happy Heart!

Do NOT compress
the Ferociously Happy Heart.

Do NOT seek to contrive
the Ferociously Happy Heart.

It is the reality
lurking behind the dream.
It is the reality
dancing being the dream.

It is our true nature!

Come, let us increase our capacity for Joy!
Come, let us increase our capacity for Strength!
Come, let us increase our capacity for Peace!

Strength can scurry about the extremities,
or return to it’s home,
return to our heart.

Come, let us live from the Heart.
Come, let us live from our Center.
Come, let us live from the Now.

Our heart’s happy, solid, peaceful joy;
what is it?
It is the ultimate nature
of sorrow!

Yes, there are those
who throw spears;
spears that can fly
deep into our hearts.

Do NOT turn and run.
There is nothing to fear.
Stand firm your ground.
Open wide your heart.

Enlarge your world
with compassion’s Prayer…
“May all beings now benefit!;
Om Mani Padme Hum!”

Breath deep and explore,
“What are some of the ways
there could be NO separate or permanent
sadness to grasp?”

Relax deep into sorrow and ponder,
“How could this sadness
be just a fleeting dream?”

Do NOT fight the experience,
for that would just be Fear.
Courageously let go
into the fullness of THIS moment’s experience.

“Om Man Padme Hum,
Re-lax-ing.”

There is NO need
to violently “Pierce” the “veil of illusion,”
when all that is required
is to simply, let go.

It is folly
to chase after contemplative experience
like a silly child,
running to find the end of a rainbow!

Rather,
courageously,
stand your ground,
embrace the truth of THIS present moment.

No, NOT the idealized, ultra blissful “present moment”
of escapist fantasy;
but THIS authentic present moment,
be it gorgeous or grotesque.

Feel what you feel
and relax!

Yes, there are those
who rejoice to harm us.

But seen through the eyes
of enlightened courage
they can only
make us stronger.

This is NOT false strength
that comes from resisting;
this is true strength
that comes from surrender.

From Surrender
to a naked awareness of THIS present moment
and all it’s conventional Vulgarity…

from Surrender
to a naked awareness of THIS present moment
and all it’s ultimate Beauty!

An awareness
that is naked,
striped bare
and free from resistance…

free from avoidance,
free from retribution,
free from retreat,
free from deflection.

Breath deep
and embrace the ugliness of the nightmare
and you will relax
into the nature of the dream!

Breath deep
and embrace the ugliness of Hell
and you will relax
into the nature of Heaven.

Do NOT drop your head.
Do NOT cave your chest.
Do NOT seek
to protect your heart in vain.

Stand firm your ground.
Open wide your heart.
Let the foolish exhaust themselves
in their spear throwing.

Let their spears find their targets,
let the cutting edges do their damage.

There is nothing to fear,
there is nothing to hide from,
there is nothing to protect;
breath deep and relax!

Breath deep and relax
into the profound truth of deep insight;
breath deep and relax
into it’s vastly compassionate nature.

Compassion that is vast,
like two arms, infinitely stretched out
to hug the universe,
with a heart of strength.

The Ferocious Joy
of an Un-bound Heart.
The Ferocious Joy
of an Un-protected Heart.

The Ferocious Joy
of a vulnerable Heart.
The Ferocious Joy
of a naked Heart.

Oh how I want you
to have this!
Oh how I want you to soar with the joy
of a Ferociously Happy Heart!

Om Mani Padme Hum,
Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika

P.S.

Whether you use the name:
Kwan Yin, Kuan Yin, Quan Yin,
Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig or the Great Compassionate One;
the Buddha of Compassion is always there for you.

P.P.S.

If you desire to Automatically receive my latest essays
and learn when my seminar could be coming to your neck of the woods
you are welcome to join my E-mailing list at
lama_jigme_gyatso@yahoo.com

P.P.P.S

THIS week, I will be teaching “Emotional Alchemy”
at the “Healing Weekend seminar”
in San Diego, California,
during the weekend of December 2nd and 3rd.

If you are curious about attending
you are welcome to contact my seminar partner, Alan Rockefeller,
at (619) 470-8566
or simply write him at alanrock@pacbell.net

www.LamaJigme.com

www.myspace.com/lama_jigme_gyatso

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 1 reply

The Most Important book on Buddha's path that you will Ever read!

lama_jigme_gyatso — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 23:52:06 GMT

The Most Important book on Buddha's path that you will Ever read!

It has been said by those who know,
that His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet
knows a thing or two,
about a thing or two.

In the forward, the Dalai Lama not only lauds this text
as containing ALL the Essential instructions
to accomplish full enlightenment in one life time,
but he goes on to compare it to an elixir for reviving the dead!

This praise is of course referring to
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche’s
“The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones”

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0877734933/sr=8-1/qid=1155226571/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9288288-7189612?ie=UTF8

Having had the very good fortune to receive teachings
from every major and many minor Buddhist schools
this simple devotee to the Buddha of Compassion
can concur whole heartedly with His Holiness.

This book is so important,
that I have taken it as my Primary Text
and as such, read it from cover to cover,
Every Single Month.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, wrote this book
from the "Rime" or NON-sectarian approach.
It has something to offer everyone
from wide-eyed beginner to 9th level Bodhisattva!

Too many Americans have gotten distracted
from Buddha's path to enlightenment
by such things as:
Culture, Language, Tradition and Politics.

THIS text was designed to protect the reader
from such foolishness
and keep them alertly aware of what is most important
in their quest to accomplish the path in THIS life!

Many Theravadans and Gelugpas discribe the path of the Sutras
in terms of Renunciation, Compassion and Insight:
Dilgo Khyentse covers these from the perspective
of both a Scholar and a Yogi!

Many Nyingmapas and Kagyupas discribe the path to enlightenment
in terms of View, Meditation and Action
or Ground, Path and Fruition:
both these systems are taught in this text.

Tantra’s path is often described in terms
of Generation, Completion and Mahamudra
or Maha-yoga, Anu-yoga and Dzogchen:
again, both these systems are taught in this text.

While NO substitute for the Blessings, Transmissions
and Explanations of a fully qualified lama;
this book is an indispensable tool
for those who long to accomplish Chenrezig in THIS life time.

I enthusiastically recommend this book to all my students,
and I gently urge you to acquire it, dear reader.

And so it is in the spirit of this book’s
two Bodhichittas of Compassion and Insight
and it’s two Mahamudra's of Sutra and Tantra
that I now wish from the bottom of my heart:

May you dear reader; be happy and healthy,
may you practice skillfully and joyfully,
may you accomplish Chenrezig in THIS life time,
and help many others to do likewise!

Om Mani Padme Hum,
Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika

P.S.

In One Week I will be teaching “Emotional Alchemy”
at the “Healing Weekend seminar”
in San Diego, California
during the weekend of December 2nd and 3rd.

If you are curious about attending
you are welcome to contact my seminar partner, Alan Rockefeller,
at (619) 470-8566
or simply write him at alanrock@pacbell.net .

P.P.S.

Whether you know the Buddha of Compassion as:
Kwan Yin, Kuan Yin, Quan Yin,
Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig or the Great Compassionate One;
the Buddha of Compassion is always there for you.

P.P.P.S.

If you desire to automatically receive my latest essays
and learn when my seminar will be coming to your town
you are welcome to join my E-mailing list at
lama_jigme_gyatso@yahoo.com

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 1 reply

Hello... where do I begin?

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 03:31:41 GMT

I'd like to learn more about Budhism... can someone recommend a good book?
Thanks,
Ahna
-----------------
http://Ahna.Etsy.com

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 5 replies

Mr. R's Contemplative Questions

lama_jigme_gyatso — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 02:49:36 GMT

Mr. S, recently wrote:

Mr. R is one of the first members at E…
and he is online most every day if only for a short period.

Mr. R. moved towards the end of October
and has only been online twice since then
and not since November 2nd.

For those of you who don't know, Mr. R. is 84
and he and his wife are not in good health.
Recently they moved in with their daughter
in an attached apartment or section of the house.

I can't imagine Mr. R not getting online unless:

1. He is ill.
2. A death has occurred within the family.
3. Someone is limiting his ability to get online.

None of these scenarios is appealing and all could use some prayers.

Dear Mr.S,

I have just practiced on Mr. R's behalf.

When reciting mantras on the OUT-breath
I often find it helpful
to mentally and silently ask Contemplative questions
during the IN-breath.

After all, ya gotta breath-in some time…
otherwise, you’ll turn a funny color, tip over, and wiggle!

Having established the necessity of breathing in,
we might as well use those IN-breath’s
in the most spiritually constructive manner
that we can.

Perhaps you will enjoy these Contemplative Questions:

#1 "What are some of the ways
it could be in Mr. R's best interest
to now and evermore have internet access
whenever he wants, in the most wonderful way?"

#2 "What are some of the reasons
that Mr. R could now and evermore
receive internet access
whenever he wants, in the most wonderful way?"

#3 "If Mr. R now and evermore
received internet access
whenever he desired, in the most wonderful way;
what could that Feel like?"

I have found that these questions
can strengthen our experience
of Compassion, Confidence and Joy.

Have a beautiful day,
and thank you for caring for Mr. R,
as much as you do.
I suspect he is quite fortunate to have a friend such as you.

Om Mani Padme Hum,
Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Love and Relax

lama_jigme_gyatso — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:30:19 GMT

I was recently asked:

“Hi Lama Jigme Gyatso,
I hope to attend a Green Tara initiation this Sunday,
any thoughts?”

Dear Mr. L,

Remember NOT to get overwhelmed
during the explanation
of the Sadhana's yogas.

A great teacher once said
that man was not created for the Sabbath
but that the Sabbath was created for man.

Likewise the goal of Tantra
is not to visualize perfectly.
Perfect visualization may OR may NOT come.
What then, is the goal of Tantra?

To transcend grasping and it's causes!

Patrul Rinpoche taught:
"...one Dharma, Bodhichitta,
embodies ALL the practices
of the development and completion stages...

So all the Yogas of Tantra are merely tools for developing:
Devotion, Peace, Insight, Compassion, Joy and Bliss…

and Devotion, Peace, Joy and Bliss
are merely tools for developing Compassion and Insight.

We recite mantra
NOT for mere accumulation
but to "Tune-into" the Yidam
who already dwells within, as our Buddha-nature.

So, in essence my friend:
Love and Relax!

May Chen-re-zig, the Buddha of Compassion
lavish you with Love and Light and Laughter!

Om Mani Padme Hum,
Lama Jigme Gyatso: Rime Manipa Tantrika

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Just Be?

tashidorje — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 11:41:39 GMT

How does one just be?

What does it mean to "Just Be"?

What does it mean to you?

To me just be implies, two things; What is that has to be and how does one apply oneself to be so..

The first to me would be the divine self, Buddha nature of which their are two the developmental and the innate. By this I can see that what I need to work on is my developmental an there in lies the answer to the second of the implications, develope the mental, the capacity of the mind.

So to me to "just be" is to develop all of the positive qualities of my-self to the highest potential and decrease the negative qualities to the limit of their subtlties.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 2 replies

keeping the bliss

Laura — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 19:07:37 GMT

Dearest ones,

I find myself in a scattered place. I seem to find my bliss and then it floats away. I find myself wondering what happened.

I work hard to regain it. I meditate. I try to stay present and mindful. I try to stay on a positive alignment.

Yet it seems the busy world of work, errands, driving, and appointments chips away at my center. Then I find myself flustered, irritable, and lost. I try to accept my non-bliss and be at peace with my present state. I try to forgive myself for my suffering. I try to meditate on my healing.

What am I missing? What do you suggest I can do to stay more on the side of happiness and spend less time outside the fence in turmoil?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 6 replies

Taming The Mind & Enlightenment

Sun, 12 Dec 2004 13:02:58 GMT

I wonder if any of you have had success with the taming of the mind & acheiving enlightenment ?!?

It is said the mind, and it's endless streams of dialogue need to be suspended - that one must abandon the attachments that our sense of self, ego, creates - using time, space, and form to construct all of that with ..... to truly free ourselves from the bonds of this dimension's illusion.

I get it intellectually - I see the "math" of it - but, I sure struggle in attaining that place of liberation from the mind and form and self. And, of course, I realize that in making it a "struggle", I in turn make it yet another attachment.

I have only had the briefest glimpses of that state of enlightenment, and those were in the throws of extreme danger, where my regular state of unconsciousness had to be abandoned, or I or someone else would die or be hurt badly.

It would be most comforting to know though, that some of you have mastered this quest, without having to be in imminent danger to achieve it (it's why people race cars, parachute out of airplanes, & etc. to force themselves into absolute presence) ...

Any success stories out there from those of you able to go beyond form, self, time, duality, and this illusion ????

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 20 replies

Finding detachment

Laura — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:14:51 GMT

(forgive the x-posting)

Dear Buddha Spirits,

On my spiritual journey away from the West and more towards my Divine, I keep seeing this elusive concept of detachment. I logically see the meaning. However the practice of it seems to be so difficult.

I spent so many years emotionally detachment with the use of drugs and alcohol to overcome the effects of PTSD but that's not nearly the same at all. I know that my emotional healing and growth are stunted by my past. I am learning to live in the Now, find a way to quiet my mind in meditation, and moving in the basic correct direction, however clumsy I may be doing it. Yet this detachment thing.

I know that my current relationship would benefit a great deal if I was able to detachment myself more from it. Yet it is so counter intuative to everything I've ever been taught, shown, or had an example of in the West.

Your thoughts? Suggestions? Toss me a bone perhaps?

Thanx. Peace.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 3 replies

Krishnamurti

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 08:48:57 GMT

http://www.kfa.org/biography.php

Krishnamurti, Jiddu (b. May 12, 1895, Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, India, d. February 18, 1986, Ojai, California) born of middle-class Brahmin parents, was recognized at age fourteen by the Theosophists Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater as the coming World Teacher and proclaimed to be the vehicle for the reincarnation of Christ in the West and of Buddha in the East. Mrs. Besant adopted the boy and took him to England, where he was educated and prepared for his coming role.

He was made head of her newly formed worldwide religious organization, the Order of the Star in the East in 1911, but in 1929 after many years of questioning himself, he dissolved the Order, repudiated its claims and returned all the assets given to him for its purpose.Out of his own spiritual "process" experienced from 1922 onwards, he declared:

Truth is a pathless land and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. My only concern is to set humanity absolutely, unconditionally free. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophic knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 1 reply

pure land buddhism

clancy — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 02:48:11 GMT

i recently read an article describing pure land buddhism, a variety of buddhism that believes that humans can not hope to achieve nirvana through our own efforts, including meditation, and must rely on the supernatural aid of the buddha, the amithaba manifestation, to guide us to nirvana after death, to the pure land where we might have a chance.
http://tinyurl.com/ebh4j
is this very popular? is this buddhism, if there is no meditation? does anyone here practice it?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

To much darkness..

monica — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 22:39:05 GMT

I have been experiencing alot of bad luck latley. What am i doing wrong? what am i not doing enough of?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 4 replies

Spiritual Materialism

Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:57:26 GMT

What is it?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 2 replies

EXPOSE YOURSELF

Devon — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 22:27:40 GMT

I was just talking to a friend on the phone about our level of connection or, lack there of, due to his inability to express his feelings. If I don't know how he feels, how do I really get to know him on a deeper level? I'm not even speaking romantically, just person to person.
We all just have different capacities, you know. I am willing to share the depth of my soul to anyone who wants to know it. But, it's difficult to share with someone who is unwilling to show theirs. It's as if I pick up on their fear of sharing themself with anyone. Or is it my fear? Is it "safe" to expose yourself to one who us unwilling to do the same???..any thoughts on this?
Love and peace,
Devon

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 15 replies

what I personally do not like here

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 09:39:32 GMT

Nice to have my image up on this tribe.It is however a female buddah.In other words you took a female buddah without asking .

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Mystical awareness blossoms in silence

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:50:59 GMT

http://www.americanyogaassociation.org/Mystical%20Experiences/mystical%20american.html
Mystical awareness blossoms in silence. Americans are generally afraid of silence. Our streets are filled with portable radios, Muzak, and empty expression. Mystic involvement with our own self teaches freedom from the fear of being alone, of being silent, because the friend we seek lies within us like Sleeping Beauty: quietly asleep, waiting to be awakened.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

To be visible is to be famous: ‘I am seen, therefore I am.’

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 13:13:27 GMT

http://www.gospel-culture.org.uk/cray.htm
a very good analysis on how mainstream works.
ask a buddah ask her why ask him

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

author unknown

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 08:44:31 GMT

You are Loved

If you want to know how to heal, and how to become
a healing presence on this Earth, there is one simple
way: that is to know that you are loved. =Feel= how
you are loved. Know that you are absolutely worthy of
love. You will never be abandoned, not ever. You
will never be rejected, not for any reason. The love
that the universe has for you is absolutely without
conditions. You do not have to "earn" it. You do not
have to "deserve" it. You do not have to "prove"
anything. Most important of all, you do not have to
doubt your value or importance or worth to this
universe. The universe loves you without conditions,
without qualifications, and without reservations. The
love that the universe has for you is absolutely
unbounded. You can never expand your receptivity to
this love enough -- there will always be a greater love
that you can keep opening to. You are absolutely
worthy and absolutely accepted and loved and valued
and cherished by this universe. This is the essence of
healing.

If you understand and accept that you are totally
worthy and loved without reservation by this universe,
then you will naturally be a channel of this love for
others. If you doubt that you are loved, if you doubt
that you are worthy of love, if you wonder "Do I
deserve to be loved," then you cannot help but have
doubts about other people being worthy of love. If
you feel that you have to "deserve" love in order to
be loved, then you cannot help but feel that other
people must "deserve" love in order for you to love
them. If you feel that you may be rejected for your
weaknesses and imperfections and the mistakes that you
may make, then you cannot help but feel that other
people may be rejected for =their= mistakes and
=their= imperfections and weaknesses. So if you put
yourself down as not being totally worthy of love, you
re not making yourself a healing presence to others.
But by accepting love and its healing power, you
become a healer because you make it possible for other
people to begin to accept love as well..

If you know that =you= are absolutely worthy of
love, then you will have no doubts that everyone you
meet is absolutely worthy of love also. If you can
truly and fully accept the fact that =you= are loved
without reservation by the universe, then you will
know without doubt that everyone else you meet is also
loved without reservation, and you will share in that
love for them.

undertanding and acceptance of this love can never
cease to expand. As your Acceptance of this love
expands, your Acceptance of others and of the universe
will also expand. When you accept that the universe
loves you without conditions and without reservations,
then you will naturally live a love for others that is
without conditions and without reservations. YOU are
loved absolutely. This love will never be withdrawn.
That is the essence of healing.

Breathe that in...

Author unknown

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 2 replies

Post Pics

Big B ™ — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 18:43:13 GMT

Hello my friends,

I have not been on much and have been watching this tribe now and then. I feel that you all have keep this tribe going with little help from me. Your love and help to each other is wonderful and please keep it up.

Also please feel free to upload inspirational pictures

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 1 reply

Desire vs wish...

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 18:03:56 GMT

is either okay and how come?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 9 replies

A poem by Ikkiyu

Dazen — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:53:31 GMT

"We live in a cage of light,
an incredible cage --
animals
animals without end.

Sick of It!
Whatever it's called –
sick of the names!

I dedicate every pore to
what's here,
inside the koan clear mind,
gashes the great darkness.

I woke from a dream of death to
day's amazing death:
grass death
rice death
chairs death
death asleep or
awake.

No words –
sitting alone
night in my hut
eyes closed
hands open
wisps of an unknown face.
My death?
Who was it anyway
always where he was never?

No, not once ever seeing himself,
an eyeball speaks.

A well nobody dug,
filled with no water,
ripples, and
a shapeless weightless man drinks.

Oh green green willow
wonderfully red flower,
but I know the colors are not there.

My gray cat jumped up
just as I lifted this spoon,
we're born
we die.

If there's nowhere to rest at the end
how can I get lost along the way?

That stone Buddha deserves all the birdshit it gets!

I wave my skinny arms like
a tall flower in the wind --
I won't die,
I won't go away.
I'll always be here.

No good asking me --
I won't speak.

Only a kind deadly sincere man
can show you the way
here in the other world.

Melons, eggplants, rice, rivers, the sky --
I offer them to you on this holiday!

Oh yes,
things exist,
like the echo when you yell at the foot
of a huge mountain.

Hear the cruel no-answer until blood drips down,
beat your head against the wall of it.

The mind is
exactly this tree
that grass --
without thought or feeling
both disappear.

Not two,
not one either,
and the unpainted breeze
in the ink painting
feels cool.

Go down on your silly knees, pray
for what?
Tomorrow is yesterday.
I found my sparrow Sonrin
dead one morning
and buried him
just as gently as I would my own daughter.

I hate it.
I know it's nothing, but I
suck out the world's sweet juicy plum.

Why is it all so beautiful,
this fake dream,
this craziness?
Why?

It's logical:
if you are not going anywhere
any road is the right one.

Know nothing.
I know nothing –
nobody does.
Can you face me
and know nothing? Know?
Stare at it until your eyes drop out --
this desk, this wall, this unreal page --
only one koan matters:

you.

You stand inside me, naked infinite love.
The dawn bell rips my dreaming heart,
we're lost where the mind can't find us.

Utterly lost."

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 3 replies

So I ask you

maria — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 01:22:06 GMT

is it true, that there are people who do not have the hole of lonelyness in them? And is it so that if it can be cured, it can only be so from within?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 4 replies

Oh Holy one

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 02:04:27 GMT

are human relationships really so important or Am I wasting my time

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 4 replies

Happy New Year

Ro-from-NYC — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 08:02:54 GMT

Wishing you all a deliciously wonderful new year...full of love, joy and true abundance.

May all your dreams come true

Always

Ro

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 3 replies

hey buddha..

Missy2yssiM — Thu, 25 Nov 2004 10:36:22 GMT

alright I've been experiencing the darker side of life lately... and it sucks..I'm finally seeing a light at the end of some tunnel that hasn't been there in months! I'm just asking 4 some word or words of something that could possibly take me right to that light... or understand something about why I had to just experience all this unhappiness...... please.......... respond to this.... ANYONE!!!! Even if it is you just saying 'Bummer!' or 'Damn' .. I just to have some sort of recognition..... thank you

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 23 replies

Obsessing

Devon — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 04:45:44 GMT

Does anybody know how to calm an overly obsessive mind? I know meditation helps, but is there anything else for those "in-between" moments???

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 3 replies

Dear Buddha

Mailtrain — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 17:22:22 GMT

My friend Chris is dying in Boston. Could you please guide him through the veil and into the next world so that he experiences compassion and love and sheds all of his fears and suffering? He has not had an easy life due to a genetic degenerative disease. We made him laugh while he was here, we were his friends.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

REMINDER

jimjimblund — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 01:45:55 GMT

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in traditions because they have
been handed down for many generations.
Do not believe in anything because it is spoken
and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is
found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the
authority of your teachers and elders.
But after observation and analysis, when you find
that anything agrees with reason, and is
conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,
then accept it and live up to it. "
~The Buddha

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Oh Mighty Buddah...

Finnigan — Fri, 21 Jan 2005 06:17:30 GMT

hey buddha..

I have a question involving Love...I recently dumped...and I do mean 'dumped' in all it's harsh generalities..a beautiful Woman.
One whom was true to My heart..I needed space, and she needed commitment.. Things just don't get much better, I could have fixed the situation..but decided to let it lie, and heal itself..
no go...allthough she has moved on..seeking a Man she can claim..
I have My space..true...space to do what I need to do to get ahead..
however I feel empty..like a part of My path has been disrupted.
almost as though I'm not supposed to be on this path that I'm on now....
how do I reverse time and follow the right path...or change over to the correct one in the future,,,??? Is there anything I can do in the meantime to bide My time?

I'm stumped.
I miss her.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 5 replies

message in a dream

Laura — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:11:05 GMT

A dear friend's mother passed last year. Circumstances around her death indicated the hospital may have been partly responsible for contributing to her death, but that has not been proven. That aside...

They were both fairly enlightened women, very spiritually oriented.

Last night I had a dream with my friend and her mother in it. I was in a big sunny room with them. Her mother told me that at the end the needle broke off in her karma. She needed me to help her with that. Then I woke up.

Ok so now what?!? I so don't know how I'm supposed to help so she doesn't have to have her karma ruined or whatever. Aw ma! I need more info. The dream seemed so specific yet so cryptic, left so much unanswered.

I have never dreamed of her before that I can remember. I have had visitations in dreams before, so I am used to that.

Any suggestions?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 3 replies

Guess What!!

Missy2yssiM — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 07:50:47 GMT

Well buddha.. I am happy to say that lifes turned around for me!! Everything is working out right now. & I am no longer experiencing the darker side of life. Thank you for all your help.. & I thank all you tribe members that were there for me when I needed a guiding hand!! Thanx!!

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 2 replies

Can you figure this out?

Dominic — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 22:32:15 GMT

I was given a solid silver ring as a gift. It came from Japan from a friend who knew my interest in Buddhism. Engraved on this ring is the following:

"Anybody can enter Buddha's world.
So few can step into the Devil's."

I've pondered this for a while. "Anybody CAN enter Buddha's world" - I think the message is we can but too often WE DON'T.

The next line is "SO FEW can step into the Devil's." -- It almost sounds like a challenge. Only A FEW? And why can we ENTER Buddha's world, but we can't even STEP INTO the Devil's? I would believe that more people DO enter the "Devil's world" as in an analogy for the materialistic, self centered lifestlye western culture has adopted. Or am I taking this too seriously?

Just thought I'd throw it out there and see if anyone had any ideas....

Thanks.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 6 replies

Wisdom Cont..

Big B ™ — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 03:40:04 GMT

Through compassion, through love, it is possible to become a true human family.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 42 replies

Dear Buddha

ferrous_arts — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 02:52:01 GMT

I have recently come into an area of unfocused melancholy in my life. I am at a point of rapid and drastic change, most of it exciting, but the feelings of sadness and spiritual lethargy remain. I feel I should look for some peace, but there seems to be no time for peace. Do you have nay advice?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 3 replies

ladyk826

Big B ™ — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 20:01:09 GMT

Today I would like to share some love with you. Your spirit is wonderful and beautiful outside and in.

Come with me and share a candle and some soft conversation.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 9 replies

dear Buddha..

Thu, 14 Oct 2004 07:10:00 GMT

must find "man" to date, NOT "boy". tired of crap'ola from silly "boize"... will i actually find an intelligent cool sexy stable guy soon?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 5 replies

tom

stephanie_phillyjawn — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 22:50:29 GMT

my crush on tom is so huge, dear buddah, that i may have to become a nun.

good news is that i look good in orange! ;P

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 2 replies

A day of Reflection

Big B ™ — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 14:11:07 GMT

Today you should take this day to reflect on your life and the people in it. Reflect on what they have to offer you and what you can give them. Most important on what you have to offer them.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 7 replies

buddha?

stephanie_phillyjawn — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 22:17:14 GMT

hi!

i know you know i was laid off from my gig a couple of weeks ago, and i'm just wondering if you could share some words of wisdom for me?

i love you, and i miss hearing your voice!

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 5 replies

Daily Wisdom

Big B ™ — Mon, 16 Aug 2004 16:17:03 GMT

Peaceful living is about trusting those on whom we depend and caring for those who depend on us.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 40 replies

Relation Carry Over

Big B ™ — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 15:24:08 GMT

There are so many people in life that go from one relationship to another. The problem is they carry over problem's from one relationship to the next.

This brings something to mind. I know of a person who in a relationship she was told she had to be home and was timed on everything. Going to the store and going anywhere. Now that she has found the courage to move on from this relationship she now takes it to the extreme where she will not show up or call when she goes out. It seems she feels that somewhere inside she will not be controlled.

These are things that you may do in your current situation to over compensate for the past. Come to terms with your inner problems and find a way to address them.

Please tell me of things you may feel you do that your afraid of due to your past. Being alone, Being hurt, Being lied to.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 8 replies

Tomorrow

Fri, 03 Sep 2004 10:16:19 GMT

Buddha, what are tomorrow's winning lottery numbers?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 9 replies

ask yourself

ladyk826 — Mon, 06 Sep 2004 05:57:25 GMT

Miserable people are helping other miserable people, the blind leading others who are blind. What help can you give??

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 1 reply

today is my birthday

Jersey — Mon, 06 Sep 2004 01:28:30 GMT

Buddah, should I contemplate my navel?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 2 replies

Friends

Wed, 01 Sep 2004 00:15:22 GMT

If some of your friends ditch you, can you conclude they weren't true friends but only posing as them? Perhaps for social reasons?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 3 replies

Happiness

Sun, 22 Aug 2004 16:50:56 GMT

Buddha, would you recommend reading the Art of Happiness by Howard C. Cutler and the Dalai Lama?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 8 replies

The Way

Wed, 25 Aug 2004 19:49:46 GMT

Buddha, what's the best way to get from 6th street to 7th avenue?

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 3 replies

i love you, buddha!

stephanie_phillyjawn — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 18:32:18 GMT

you're the greatest friend a girl could have!

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 6 replies

Old proverb

Blades — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 10:50:51 GMT

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 3 replies

Buddhist Wisdom...

looooo — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 06:00:49 GMT

A monk asked, ‘What is Shouchu’s sword?’
Shouchu said, ‘Why?’
The monk said, ‘This student wants to know.’
Shouchu said, ‘Wrong!’

-Zen’s Chinese Heritage

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

daily wisdom part 2

ladyk826 — Tue, 17 Aug 2004 16:51:39 GMT

If we really want to live we'd better start at once to try; If we don't it dosent matter, we'd better start to die.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 2 replies

New Moderator

speedy0ne — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 16:19:01 GMT

I am passing it to Big B. He is here to show you all the light. He is a wise man

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 6 replies

Weak heart

Big B ™ — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 16:46:28 GMT

This is not the place for the weak heart. If your looking for answers I may guide you to them. But what you seek may not be what you want.

Always remember. I love naked women and that will help you find your way

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Shop Hours

Big B ™ — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 16:44:19 GMT

Please come stay with me at my retreat. Love is in the air here. We also Like the Bee Gees.

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 0 replies

Buddha, The Cartoon!

spawnofspawn — Sat, 14 Aug 2004 19:07:00 GMT

I've had a comedy central Buddha idea, ripe for the developing for about 6 years now. Similar humor and animation-style to South Park (ish).

That Buddha...
Always gettin' into to a jam...

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 1 reply

THE HISTORICAL BUDDHA - SHAKYAMUNI

looooo — Sat, 14 Aug 2004 18:12:32 GMT

The Birth of Shakyamuni

In history, the Buddha, of course, refers to Shakyamuni Buddha. He was not the almighty god by imagination. He was a lovely baby born around 565 B.C. in Lumbini Park in the city of Kapilavastu in the ancient northern India, today's Nepal. His name was Gotama Siddhattha, which means "he who has accomplished his aim".

Since King Suddhodana had long awaited a child, he and everyone else in the palace rejoiced at the birth of a son. The King immediately called a famous wise sage, Asita. Asita told the king, "If he remains at home, the child will become the Wheel-rolling King. If he leaves home, he will become the great teacher, the Buddha."

It was unfortunate that Maya died on the seventh day after her delivery and Maya's sister, Mahapajapati became the step mother of Siddhattha. The prince grew up in an environment of care and love, respect and joy. However, he was sometimes unhappy.

At the age of seven, the prince began to study science and technology, art and philosophy, and of course, religious knowledge under the tuition of famous scholars. He also learnt riding, archery, fencing, etc.

The prince was outstanding in all intellectual and physical subjects. Putting faith in the forecast of the sage Asita, his father expected much from his son and made him crown prince and heir apparent. But this did not please the young man, who steadily grew to be thoughtful and sad.

To cheer him up, his worried father and foster mother built three palaces, one for cold weather, one for hot weather, and one for the rainy season. They appointed many beautiful court ladies to wait on him and arranged banquets with dancing and music. Furthermore, they encouraged him to marry the lovely princess Yasodhara. Later, Siddhattha got a son called Rahula.

From a prince to a Samana

Hoping to give his son pleasure, King Suddhodana arranged four trips outside the city of Kapilavastu, one through each of its four gates. On three occasions, Siddhattha encountered distressing scenes: an aging man, a sick man and a corpse. Finally, he met a calm, serene ascetic monk, who inspired Siddhattha to have same kind of life.

Whether the story of these trips is true or not is not significant, the four gates represent the state of mind of the prince with respect to the suffering of aging, illness and death. Superficial prosperity in economy and relative stability in political environment cannot relieve people from worry, fear, anxiety and suffering and cannot lead them to ultimate happiness.

With his great compassion, the enthusiastic prince decided to give up his worldly glory and desire, and leave home. He would devote himself to search for the ultimate truth.

Though his love to his family may have hindered him, the birth of his son, Rahula, provided a favourable occasion for his departure since with the birth of his son, Siddattha had fulfilled his duty to his father and his wife according to the Indian tradition. Departing from the palace and the wearing coarse clothes, the prince chose to become a Samana.

From a Samana to an Enlightened One

Siddhatha went to Rajagaha, the capital of Magadha, which was the centre of culture with many orthodox and unorthodox monks. By that time, the two major disciplines for the sake of enlightenment were meditation and ascetic austeritics.

Siddhattha practised meditation under two famous teachers, Alara-Kalama and Uddaka-Ramaputta. The state attained by Alara-Kalama was that of a much higher formless world where matter no longer exists. Uddaka-Ramaputta reached an even higher state at which neither thought nor non-thought existed. However, Siddhatha did not find it difficult to attain both states. Attaining these states of mind did not ease his mental anxieties, because once he stopped meditation, he returned to the mental state of suffering. He knew that the true liberation from the attachment of ignorance and suffering could be attained only by reaching a state of absolute tranquillity. He left them and continued his search for the ultimate truth.

He then practised asceticism, which was very common among Samanas. They believed that the human suffering was caused by the attachment to the physical body and the mental spirit. Suffering can only be freed by detaching the spirit imposed by the body. Therefore, they tormented themselves for the purpose of weakening the power of the physical body over the mental spirit, until the body was destructed. Jainism was considered to be the best in asceticism. Nine of the outstanding disciples in Jainism starved to death in fasting, and were said to have attained ultimate freedom. Siddhattha passed through the country of Magadha to the town of Uruvela, where he settled in a grove of trees to find enlightenment. Practising austerities for six years, he was extremely tough to himself and did different things that no one could tolerate to do. He was so weak that his body comprised virtually skin and bones only.

Realizing that asceticism had no effect in attaining enlightenment, Siddhattha decided to give up austerities. He accepted a bowl of milk from a maid Sugata. He ate and gradually recovered his strength. His five followers thought that Siddhattha had given up the pursuit for enlightenment, and they left him.

Knowing that neither meditation nor ascetic austerities could lead to the Enlightenment, Siddhattha stopped following existing methods but turned to find his own way. He prepared a seat with soft grass under a Bodhi tree. Sitting in the lotus posture, he made a vow not to rise until he attained enlightenment. Having struggled with Mara Papiyan (the Evil King representing all kinds of desires, hatred and ignorance) in deep meditations in the state of Samadhi, he was finally enlightened. He discovered the ultimate truth, and understood fully and completely the reality of universe, and found the path to liberate beings from suffering of birth and death, and to attain eternal happiness.

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Why The Tribe

speedy0ne — Sat, 14 Aug 2004 18:01:43 GMT

Because there is a tribe called Ask Jesus. Well Buddha is just as great.

Maybe it will be a compatition..

http://cluster.tribe.net/tribe/servlet/template/pub%2CTribeCard.vm?tribeid=c427fa63-ff30-49bb-a148-9f2ac90b6655&_click_path=Application%5Btribe%5D.Tribe%5Bc427fa63-ff30-49bb-a148-9f2ac90b6655%5D

posted in !Ask Buddha! - 1 reply