Best Of
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
@Shoshin1 said:
Well, I'm sitting in my new car (a 2016 Nissan Note X) on the car ferry back to the island. I looked at a few cars over the last couple of weeks Suzuki swift, Suzuki splash, Nissan March, Nissan Note... Decided on the Note .
Looks like the one in this photo.
Had a pre purchase inspection done ✅ by a really friendly/happy young man, originally from the Philippines.
Because I had to wait longer than expected, he also did a diagnostic test too, for no extra charge .
The reason I went with the Note was it only had 24,000 kms on the clock and is in really good condition. It's a Japanese import, one owner . Plus after the PPI report I got the dealer to replace four tires, put in a new battery. It comes with a years Warrant of fitness and six month registration. I also got him to reduce the price by a couple of thousand dollars...
wishing you happy and safe motoring. as a previous Nissan owner I can in my personal experience vouch for reliability and trouble free motoring. 🙏🏻😀
Re: Buddhist View of Justice
I am not a Buddhist, as in I've yet to commit to the Dharma, but few things upset me as much as the way society, generally reacts to the suffering of those who they deem deserve it. I often encounter footage of people, sometimes teenagers given life sentences, breaking down in tears and the most average people I walk past the street are cheering and celebrating. Now more and more states are loud about extending the death penalty for this and that and I can tell, after all the damage they do, people still yearn for more, like live tv entertainment executions. It is rather traumatic for me and such intense hatred often makes me lose my will to live.
A life behind bars is wasted. A life taken is wasted. Any family that person had is broken, torn apart. Any family they could've had is lost. If I die because of someone else's fault, how could such devastation honor my memory? They shouldn't remain a danger to others, of course, they should be properly rehabilitated, but I recognize no justice in making people suffer. If they come to regret what they did, they should be able to try and make up for it in some way. And if they don't come to regret it the justice system fails a purpose that is core to its existence as far as I'm concerned.
RobinH
Re: The Plant Medicine Path
just catching up with this thread now. very interesting and informative and on the back of it I think I will order new book by Michael Pollan, it sounds very interesting. Thank you @Jeroen and to all contributors to this thread. 🙏🏻
Re: Eight Simple Zenish Habits
You don't have to turn Japanese to find value is some aspects, surely...
...and now for a musical interlude
lobster
Re: Eight Simple Zenish Habits
Interesting topic. In the way of this video, which lifts eight good things about Japanese culture into view, you could probably also find a number of good things about Dutch culture. Similarly, a given culture also has a shadow side, which becomes clear while living a number of decades as part of it.
Whether adopting a culture’s good properties is a good way towards learning to be a better person, or even a more mindful or more Buddhist person, is another matter. You don’t experience the level of conditioning of growing up in a culture, the immersion of experiencing a childhood within it. You likely acquire a certain surface-level impression.
Jeroen
Re: US Citizens! Thinking About Moving Overseas ?
I think about it.
But, at 78, with family here as cohabitants.....
It does not get much past "Think". 
Lionduck