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Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!

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  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    @federica said:

    @Bunks said:
    Driving my 8 yo daughter home from school and she asks:

    "Daddy, do I own my mind?"

    She's a deep thinker.....

    ...To which you replied....?

    I told her to shut up and stop asking silly questions!!! =)

    Na, just kidding.....I actually didn't say too much. Talked a little about the Buddhist concept of "non-self" but didn't want to get too deep into that. Save those conversations for when she's older. She did tell me she believes in rebirth.

    Shoshin
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    (@Bunks, is this Julia or your other daughter....? )

  • HozanHozan Veteran

    @Tsultrim ....calm down with the giving out of insightfuls, awesomes and lol's. You are trigger happy. ??????????

  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    @Socair it's just a finger pointing at the moon. =)

  • HozanHozan Veteran
    edited May 2018

    @Tsultrim said:
    @Socair it's just a finger pointing at the moon. =)

    ☝️?

  • HozanHozan Veteran

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited May 2018

    @Tsultrim said:
    @Socair it's just a finger pointing at the moon. =)

    Aha but what should one look at if it’s a buddha’s finger? Anyway I’ve always wondered what’s so interesting about the moon o:)

    Bunks
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    @Kerome said:> > @Tsultrim said:

    @Socair it's just a finger pointing at the moon. =)

    Anyway I’ve always wondered what’s so interesting about the moon o:)

    Perhaps it's the magical moonbeans...

  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    @federica said:
    (@Bunks, is this Julia or your other daughter....? )

    I only have one daughter @federica (Julia). My son Alex is five.

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    I'm so sorry, I apologise. I thought I remembered seeing a photo elsewhere of 2 girls. My mistake.

  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    @Kerome said:

    @Tsultrim said:
    @Socair it's just a finger pointing at the moon. =)

    Aha but what should one look at if it’s a buddha’s finger? Anyway I’ve always wondered what’s so interesting about the moon o:)

    I don't know about Buddha's finger but I know a little bit about the moon as a Buddhist symbol. You could find much more on the net I'm sure.

    The moon is a very strong symbol for realization in Zen ( A book written by Dogen Zenji a seminal teac her in Soto Zen is entitled "Moon in a Dew Drop," for example
    It's also used in Tibetan Buddhism, I remember a chant that speaks of "the rising moon of mind that dispels the torment of the kleshas", nice image, huh.

    The TB I know, however, much more frequently uses the sun as a realization symbol. We have a sadhana (practice) called the Sun of Wisdom , for example.

    Some other interesting things are that the moon in the West is generally thought of as feminine, in TB it is a masculine symbol for bliss and skillful means, while the sun is a feminine symbol for wisdom. Women are wisdom carriers in TB, while men provide skillful means
    I'm having technical problems on this forum will get off before I lose post.

    Jeroen
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    If you need technical support, @Tsultrim , feel free to post a thread here, and seek Linc's input. He's the absolute techno-whizz-kid and creator of this forum. What he doesn't know about such matters as programming and trouble-shooting, isn't worth thinking about!

  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    @federica said:
    I'm so sorry, I apologise. I thought I remembered seeing a photo elsewhere of 2 girls. My mistake.

    All good mate! :)

  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    @federica said:
    If you need technical support, @Tsultrim , feel free to post a thread here, and seek Linc's input. He's the absolute techno-whizz-kid and creator of this forum. What he doesn't know about such matters as programming and trouble-shooting, isn't worth thinking about!

    Thank you @federica, the problem was in this area., and I believe it has been resolved.

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    I came across the beginning of a german wasp nest which had been abandoned (the queen most probably killed whilst out foraging for food and wood fibres to build the nest...) Very fragile, delicate Papier-mâché 'structure...
    You can just make out the tiny cells in the centre

    Upside down

    The top where the queen had attached it to a beam on the ceiling in a friend's sleepout which had not been used in a while...

  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    I thought i would finish the moon post with a poem i wrote a long time ago after an important > @Tsultrim said:

    @Kerome said:

    @Tsultrim said:
    @Socair it's just a finger pointing at the moon. =)

    Aha but what should one look at if it’s a buddha’s finger? Anyway I’ve always wondered what’s so interesting about the moon o:)

    I don't know about Buddha's finger but I know a little bit about the moon as a Buddhist symbol. You could find much more on the net I'm sure.

    The moon is a very strong symbol for realization in Zen ( A book written by Dogen Zenji a seminal teac her in Soto Zen is entitled "Moon in a Dew Drop," for example
    It's also used in Tibetan Buddhism, I remember a chant that speaks of "the rising moon of mind that dispels the torment of the kleshas", nice image, huh.

    The TB I know, however, much more frequently uses the sun as a realization symbol. We have a sadhana (practice) called the Sun of Wisdom , for example.

    Some other interesting things are that the moon in the West is generally thought of as feminine, in TB it is a masculine symbol for bliss and skillful means, while the sun is a feminine symbol for wisdom. Women are wisdom carriers in TB, while men provide skillful means
    I'm having technical problems on this forum will get off before I lose post.

    I thought i would finish this post with a poem i wrote long ago.

                  A white heron stands in moonlight
                  With no breeze to ruffle its plumes
                  Or the water it shares with an unruffled moon.
                   Beneath fish swim in a silver ring
                   Eating as they are eaten.
                   Above cicadas buzz through me to you
                   And i pull you to me with the sound, 
                   For i love you and want you to see
                   A white heron stand in moonlight
                   With no breeze to ruffle its plumes.
    
    Shoshin
  • HozanHozan Veteran

    One fine day, in the middle of the night
    Two dead men got up to fight
    Back to back they faced eachother
    Drew their swords and shot eachother

  • HozanHozan Veteran

    Spike I do believe...

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Oh if we're going to be quoting Spike Milligna, that well-known typing error, we could be here for a week and still be in stitches.... What a gift from the Emerald Isle he was.....
    I was sent out of prep class for laughing so much at one of his books....

    There are holes in the sky
    Where the rain gets in;
    But the holes are small -
    That's why rain is thin.

    A most wond'rous Goon if ever there was....

  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    Ah, the Goon Show! One of my favourite childhood memories was camping with my parents and family friends and my father and his mate would sit by the campfire and listen to The Goons.....we would be in stitches (although I don’t think I got half the jokes!)

  • HozanHozan Veteran

    Jeroen
  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    @Socair, absolutely wonderful. Thank you.

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
    To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
    I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
    And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
    By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.

    William Congreve.

  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    Lovely, lovely. He sounds a lot like Shakespeare to me. I see he was a little later. Thank you.

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    If you want to see "nonsense" in action...just pay attention to your thoughts :)

  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    @Shoshin said:
    If you want to see "nonsense" in action...just pay attention to your thoughts :)

    Yes indeed, and that brings up the question, "" How could we ever think that they are our thoughts ? " Certainly, if they were ours, we could arrange them more sensibly. Instead, they mostly occur at random, just pop up. And that prompts another question, '' If we don't make them, then where do they come from ? "

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran
    edited May 2018

    @Tsultrim said:

    @Shoshin said:
    If you want to see "nonsense" in action...just pay attention to your thoughts :)

    Yes indeed, and that brings up the question, "" How could we ever think that they are our thoughts ? "

    Hmm...For the most part it would seem people don't give questions like these a second thought.....
    However, the Thinker of thoughts (which is Thought 'itself' ) will just keep on churning out more thoughts about thoughts and the mind as usual will become charmed by them...It would seem that the untamed mind just can't resist their charm :)

    Certainly, if they were ours, we could arrange them more sensibly. Instead, they mostly occur at random, just pop up. And that prompts another question, ''If "we" don't make them, then where do they come from ?"

    I will answer your question with a question that will answer your question ....Who wants to know ?

  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    @Shoshin said:

    @Tsultrim said:

    @Shoshin said:
    If you want to see "nonsense" in action...just pay attention to your thoughts :)

    Yes indeed, and that brings up the question, "" How could we ever think that they are our thoughts ? "

    Hmm...For the most part it would seem people don't give questions like these a second thought.....
    However, the Thinker of thoughts (which is Thought 'itself' ) will just keep on churning out more thoughts about thoughts and the mind as usual will become charmed by them...It would seem that the untamed mind just can't resist their charm :)

    Certainly, if they were ours, we could arrange them more sensibly. Instead, they mostly occur at random, just pop up. And that prompts another question, ''If "we" don't make them, then where do they come from ?"

    I will answer your question with a question that will answer your question ....Who wants to know ?

    Thought does not think thoughts. When mind is not thinking and a thought comes up, how can it come from another thought, if mind hasn't been thinking? Thoughts may cause more thought activity like when we get caught in discursiveness, but in all cases their_ origin_ is not thought.
    The question i asked already contains the answer. No need for further questions or answers.

  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    Some time ago I did a free esoteric training course with this Luciferian group
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucis_Trust

    Ay caramba, nobody told me they were Sith ... :3 ...

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    @Tsultrim said:

    Thought does not think thoughts. When mind is not thinking and a thought comes up, how can it come from another thought, if mind hasn't been thinking? Thoughts may cause more thought activity like when we get caught in discursiveness, but in all cases their_ origin_ is not thought.
    The question i asked already contains the answer. No need for further questions or answers.

    @Tsultrim

    I agree ...However, what I meant was, thought itself is the thinker, when the sense of a self (this so called "I" ) more often than not gets carried way by thoughts (be they pleasant or unpleasant/wholesome or unwholesome) , hence the sense of self habitually reacts (according to what thought pattern presents itself), creating the illusion of "I am" the thinker of the thoughts" which in this case is none other than the "thought" itself..........Well something like that "I" think ... :)

  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    Yes

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    I think you two have met your match in one another.
    How entertaining....

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Went out for a drive with my son who is over visiting from Berlin...We drove out to Orapiu wharf (the remote part of the island) and came across this Pier Shag sitting on a wharf pole without a care in the world, waiting for the ferry or a fish dinner :)

  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    @ Shoshin is that bird endemic, does it migrate?. I've never seen or heard of it. I'm a birder. but not a life book type. Birds here are quite limited, of course some you see exist nowhere else in the world.

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    @Tsultrim
    Sorry a misspelling of its name it's a pied shag also known as a pied cormorant Phalacrocorax varius they are found in New Zealand and Australia it's a coastal seabird and quite common...

  • TsultrimTsultrim Hawaii Veteran

    So it's a cormorant. Pied usually implies spots or some dAppled coloring or am I wrong. We have a pied grebe in the U.S. a lovely diving bird, but I can't remember why they call it pied

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    Happy Pentecost to all the Christian Buddhists... it’s a public holiday here and I’ve been sampling the festivities on tv, a very gentle Sunday morning.

  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    Is stress the neo-dukkha?
    What is a gal to do?
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/5d36cdca-4eb9-4089-afe7-4ca699bcde4d

    Maybe I need a new stress buster?

    sophrology

    Just when mindfulness was the new cool ...

    Whatever next?

  • Rowan1980Rowan1980 Keeper of the Zoo Asheville, NC Veteran

    I haven't visited in a while, but I wanted to pop in and say 'ello. I'm still alive, albeit living 1,000 miles south of where I was the last time I was in here! :pleased:

    BunksShoshin
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran
    edited July 2018

    @Rowan1980 said:
    I haven't visited in a while, but I wanted to pop in and say 'ello. I'm still alive, albeit living 1,000 miles south of where I was the last time I was in here! :pleased:

    Are you in Asheville now @Rowan1980?

    I spent some time working in Charlotte NC about a decade ago and we went for a day trip to Asheville - nice town.

    I mainly remember it because I was able to get a decent coffee after only finding Starbucks in Charlotte!

    It was Autumn (Fall) and the trees up in the Blue Ridge Mountains were amazing. We went to Chimney Rock too.

  • Rowan1980Rowan1980 Keeper of the Zoo Asheville, NC Veteran

    @Bunks said:

    Are you in Asheville now @Rowan1980?

    I spent some time working in Charlotte NC about a decade ago and we went for a day trip to Asheville - nice town.

    I mainly remember it because I was able to get a decent coffee after only finding Starbucks in Charlotte!

    It was Autumn (Fall) and the trees up in the Blue Ridge Mountains were amazing. We went to Chimney Rock too.

    I am! We moved down here a year ago, and we like it a lot. There seems to be much more to do here than in central Maine, plus between having access to decent bus service and Lyft, I can actually get out and do stuff even though I don't drive. People in general here seem less aloof and more friendly, too.

    I've yet to go to Charlotte, but we did spend a weekend down in Greenville, SC last autumn, which was nice. We replaced some of our camping gear, so we're going to check out the mountains via camping after Labor Day. We also want to go to Dollyworld at some point. It's not something we would think of doing when we were up north, but it's worth a look. :)

  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran
    edited July 2018

    @Rowan1980 said:

    @Bunks said:

    Are you in Asheville now @Rowan1980?

    I spent some time working in Charlotte NC about a decade ago and we went for a day trip to Asheville - nice town.

    I mainly remember it because I was able to get a decent coffee after only finding Starbucks in Charlotte!

    It was Autumn (Fall) and the trees up in the Blue Ridge Mountains were amazing. We went to Chimney Rock too.

    I am! We moved down here a year ago, and we like it a lot. There seems to be much more to do here than in central Maine, plus between having access to decent bus service and Lyft, I can actually get out and do stuff even though I don't drive. People in general here seem less aloof and more friendly, too.

    I've yet to go to Charlotte, but we did spend a weekend down in Greenville, SC last autumn, which was nice. We replaced some of our camping gear, so we're going to check out the mountains via camping after Labor Day. We also want to go to Dollyworld at some point. It's not something we would think of doing when we were up north, but it's worth a look. :)

    Nice!

    I wouldn't rush to Charlotte if I were you. Not much to see there. I was fortunate to be relocated to Denver after a couple of months which was a godsend!

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Nice to see you back @Rowan1980 :)

    On my way home from the group last night...I came across this...

    Moon over the island...(it looked better in person)

    BunksRowan1980
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    It always does, @Shoshin.... capturing that bbreathlessly wondrous moment on a phone, is a Herculean challenge... all these 'spontaneous, "Right place, Right Time" perchance' shots taken by professional photographers, can sometimes take spontaneous, right-place-right-time days - and nights - on end....!

    lobster
  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    Robot Sangha ... now available

  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    Baby rump blimp ready for flying, powered by hot air probably ...

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Well it's raining and I mean raining non-stop, (unless that is, one takes into account the space/gaps between each rain drop)... It started around 3.30am this morning, it's now 3pm and no sign of it letting up ..No doubt there will be more flooding and slips for the council and fire services to deal with..
    The rain water is flowing down the driveway, at times flowing over the new drive over drainage guttering by my car port, and the poor neighbours next door, the water running down their new vege garden path, next to their new retaining wall, is like a cascade/water fall as it makes its way into their garden ...

    Still it could be worse... :)

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    This morning the island was covered in a blanket of thick mist

    I've never seen is as thick as this on the island before ...The thickness reminded me of the smog when growing up in London about in the late 50s and 60s, however this was just mist :)

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    I was rather afraid it was your old neighbours still trying to get at you.... :p

    Shoshin
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    I wouldn't put it past them,,, a moving away parting gift ;)

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