Best Of
Re: Poem for the day
A Tale of Aristocrats and Rulers
Through centuries past, the banners flew,
For lords and kings with wealth in view.
Armies marched on fields blood-soaked,
For gold and grain, and lands revoked.
They feasted grand on others' toil,
From stolen earth and plundered soil.
Empires built on grief and strife,
Where conquest fed their noble life.
Yet now the stage has barely changed,
The players' names are rearranged.
Politicians, cloaked in suits and ties,
Still craft their wars with veiled lies.
They trade in oil, in land, in seas,
Exploit the weak with cold decrees.
A modern mask, the same old game,
Where greed and power stake their claim.
The wheel turns on, the shadows stay,
The powerful still seize their way.
But voices rise, a glowing light,
To claim what's ours, and set it right.
~Anonymous~
Shoshin1
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
No injuries, thankfully.
I slowed down enough in those two seconds that my airbag didn't deploy. So, I probably wasn't going over 20km/h at impact. But even at that speed, the car ended up a write-off.
Now comes the fun part of finding a used car to replace it. To be honest, I'm getting tired of driving, and want to be doing much less of it these days. I've noticed a definite decline in safe and courteous driving behaviour over the last few years. But I will need to replace my own two-ton polluting-spewing death machine for the immediate time-being at least.
Walker
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Ebike? Its not for everyone but in my case the ease of parking and the ability to navigate right up to the door of wherever I need to get to, means I use it for 95% of my driving. I am also blessed with being in a city that has focused on bike paths for its citizens to choose alternative transportation options.
how
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Totalled my car today.
Woman decided to turn left in front of my car. Was doing 60 clicks and I fortunately was able to scrub off enough speed and hit her car on the front fender rather than t-boning her. Could've been bad, she had her kids in the back.
Still made a complete mess of the front of my car.
I liked that car too, it was reliable and only had 130,000km on it.
Oh well, this too shall pass.
Walker
Re: Lama Tsultrim Allione on how to feed ones demons
Once there lived a demon who had a peculiar diet: he fed on the anger of others. And as his feeding ground was the human world, there was no lack of food for him.
He found it quite easy to provoke a family quarrel, or national and racial hatred. Even to stir up a war was not very difficult for him. And whenever he succeeded in causing a war, he could properly gorge himself without much further effort; because once a war starts, hate multiplies by its own momentum and affects even normally friendly people.
So the demon’s food supply became so rich that he sometimes had to restrain himself from overeating, being content with nibbling just a small piece of resentment easily found nearby.
But as often happens with successful people, he became rather overbearing and one day when feeling bored he thought:
“Shouldn’t I try it with the gods?”
On reflection he chose the Heaven of the Thirty-three Deities, ruled by Sakka, Lord of Gods. He knew that only a few of these gods had entirely eliminated the fetters of ill-will and aversion, though they were far above the kind of petty and selfish quarrels that we worldlings get into.
So by magic power he transferred himself to that heavenly realm and was lucky enough to come at a time when Sakka, the Divine King, was absent.
There was no one in the large audience hall and without much ado the demon seated himself on Sakka’s empty throne, waiting quietly for things to happen, which he hoped would bring him a good feed.
Soon, some of the gods came to the hall and first they could hardly believe their own divine eyes when they saw that ugly demon sitting on the throne, squat and grinning.
Having recovered from their shock, they started to shout and lament:
“Oh you ugly demon, how can you dare to sit on the throne of our Lord? What utter cheekiness! What a crime! You should be thrown headlong into the hell and straight into a boiling cauldron! You should be quartered alive! Begone! Begone!”
But while the gods were growing more and more angry, the demon was quite pleased because from moment to moment he grew in size, in strength, and in power.
The anger he absorbed into his system started to ooze from his body as a smoky red-glowing mist. This evil aura kept the gods at a distance and their radiance was dimmed.
Suddenly a bright glow appeared at the other end of the hall and it grew into a dazzling light from which Sakka emerged, the King of Gods.
He who had firmly entered the undeflectible Stream that leads Nibbana-wards, was unshaken by what he saw. The smoke-screen created by the gods’ anger parted when he slowly and politely approached the usurper of his throne.
‘Welcome, friend! Please remain seated. I can take another chair. May I offer you the drink of hospitality? Our Amrita is not bad this year. Or do you prefer a stronger brew, perhaps the vedic Soma?’
While Sakka spoke these friendly words, the demon rapidly shrank to a diminutive size and finally disappeared, trailing behind a whiff of malodorous smoke, which likewise soon dissolved. (Based on the Samyutta Nikaya, Sakka Samyutta, No.22)
https://www.buddhistdoor.net/features/the-anger-eating-demon/
person