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Lama Tsultrim Allione on how to feed ones demons
https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-practice-feeding-your-demons/
This reminded me somewhat of @lobsters rants on this subject, but turning ones demons into friends seems like a good practice.
Feeding our demons rather than fighting them contradicts the conventional approach of fighting against whatever assails us. But it turns out to be a remarkably effective path to inner integration.
Demons (maras in Sanskrit) are not bloodthirsty ghouls waiting for us in dark corners. Demons are within us. They are energies we experience every day, such as fear, illness, depression, anxiety, trauma, relationship difficulties, and addiction.
Anything that drains our energy and blocks us from being completely awake is a demon. The approach of giving form to these inner forces and feeding them, rather than struggling against them, was originally articulated by an eleventh-century female Tibetan Buddhist teacher named Machig Labdrön (1055–1145). The spiritual practice she developed was called Chöd, and it generated such amazing results that it became very popular, spreading widely throughout Tibet and beyond.
Jeroen
Re: Blessings
...From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes. ~John Roberts
person
Re: What movies are you watching?
Exactly — it is. But at the same time it is training the brain with fake stuff. We like stories because we think it is a shortcut to wisdom and experience, but in reality most of the stories told to us are not of that type anymore.
Fake news, in whatever form it takes, is definitely something to be wary of.
Online games, particularly those centred around 'killing' and 'elimination,' can condition the mind, normalising violence and aggression. We're seeing real-world examples of this, where individuals who have grown up immersed in such games commit acts of violence as though their victims are simply make-believe characters.
Mind training—such as meditation—is crucial. It's about training the mind to cut through all the noise and distractions (AKA bullshit), leaving only the essence. When it comes to movies, for example, that essence is entertainment.
For some, however, it's not so easy to separate fiction from reality. After all, there's a reason movies are called movies.
Which reminds me of this Red Tara dedication:
"May I clearly perceive all experiences to be as insubstantial as the dream fabric of the night and instantly awaken to perceive the pure wisdom displayed in the arising of every phenomena"
Shoshin1
Re: What movies are you watching?
I heard about that film… that there were some sections of sexual violence in it, although it was otherwise a competent thriller, and that put me off. I watch very few films these days, maybe half a dozen a year, and very little other tv.
It’s like my brain has understood that most television is fake, that there is nothing real to be learnt from it, that the people are just pretend people.
Jeroen
Re: Thich Minh Tuệ: Modern day practice of dhutanga
No, I was an acolyte of a tall and lazy labourer called Kenton. In my working days.
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
I would go see a doctor, stingrays can be poisonous…
Jeroen