India's an interesting place..
After travelling around for two and half months, Bangladesh, Nepal and India, (spending most of the time in India) we were happy to be leaving , but then after a while we started to miss the unique Indian experience. India seems to have that effect on you...
Shoshin1
@Jeroen said:
About time to practice… I’ve found that it helps to have a lot of solitude and quiet. If you have a lot of things to do, especially so-called “important things”, then the mind gets cluttered and stressed, and practice becomes harder. So it’s not solely about just finding a half hour to meditate, but it’s about what you do with your day.
In my experience I find this to be true. I've had periods during the winter slow season where I haven't had work for a month or more. And how I'd shape my days made an important difference to my mental state. Did I watch TV and play video games or do yoga and listen to some Dharma?
I'm not sure how it is for everyone, but it seems to take several days to a week to really settle down and let the flow of everyday life behind. So its like in finding solitude and quiet the mind is busy and distracted the whole time and then by the time it does start to calm down its time to get it busy again.
I do now think in the spirit of differing practices for different people. The style and types of practices appropriate to someone living a renunciate life and someone living a worldly life will differ.
person
When it comes to paying for a quick fix slice of enlightenment....You don't always get what you pay for...
Dharma practice is free, there for the taking, for those who are prepared to practice...
Shoshin1
here is the history of recent food trends, might be why family home cooked meals are usually healthier...
https://www.nesta.org.uk/data-visualisation-and-interactive/consuming-history-three-decades-of-change-in-how-and-what-we-eat/
lobster
“Society represses the individual by making the individual repress themselves.”
— anonymous (1970’s counterculture)
Jeroen
You can walk my path, you can wear my shoes
Learn to talk like me and be an angel too
But maybe you ain't never gonna feel this way
You ain't never gonna know me, but I know you
I'm singing it now, things can only get better
Only get better
If we see it through
That means me and I mean you too
So teach me now that things can only get better
Only get, they only get, take it on from here
You know, I know that things can only get better
I sometimes lose myself in me
I lose track of time
And I can't see the woods for the trees
You set 'em alight
Burn the bridges as you've gone, I'm too weak to fight ya
I've got my personal hell to deal with
And then you say
"Walk my path, wear my shoes
Talk like that, I'll be an angel"
And things can only get better
Can only get better now I found you
(Things can only get, can only get)
Things can only get better
Can only get better now I found you and you and you
You have shown me prejudice and greed
And you've shown me how
I must learn to deal with this disease
I look at things now
In a different light than I did before
And I've found the cause and I think that you can be my cure
So teach me to walk your path, wear your shoes
Talk like that, I'll be an angel
And things can only get better
Can only get better now I found you
(Things can only get, can only get)
Things can only get better
Can only get better now I found you
Things can only get
Things can only get better
Can only get better now I found you
(Things can only get, can only get)
And you and you and you baby
Things can only get better
They can only get better now I found you
Shoshin1
“You might know that certain things lead to dispassion, not passion; to unyoking, not to yoking; to dispersal, not accumulation; to fewer desires, not more; to contentment, not lack of contentment; to seclusion, not crowding; to energy, not laziness; to being unburdensome, not being burdensome. Categorically, you should remember these things as the teaching, the training, and the Teacher’s instructions.” (AN8.53)
Jeroen
Appearances come and go. Even the blue or white light!
What is left when appearances cease or stop?
Nibbana is the unmanifest, unborn, deathless, unconditioned, the island that you cannot go beyond.
There is, monks, an unborn[1] — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated. If there were not that unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated, there would not be the case that escape from the born — become — made — fabricated would be discerned. But precisely because there is an unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated, escape from the born — become — made — fabricated is discerned.[2]
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.8.03.than.html
The Blessed One said, "Mindfulness of death, when developed & pursued, is of great fruit & great benefit. It gains a footing in the Deathless, has the Deathless as its final end. Therefore you should develop mindfulness of death."
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an06/an06.019.than.html
Just a reminder that, new services, sites (to you) should be researched carefully prior to engaging them. There are too, too many who, it urns out can't or won't provide services as advertised. Be curious, be adventurous, but also be cautious. When you find the gem in the rubble, then you can celebrate a successful hunt.
Peace to all
Always be curious
Never stop seeking
Never stop learning
Never stop trying
Life is a challenge
Life is a great adventure
Do not worry about your seeking, your personal practice, not being pure - perfect.
It is in the seeking, the stumbling,the learning, the trying that we grow.
in this sense, the voyage is the goal. In climbing a mountain, reaching the peak is mearly the sign that marks your advance. After all, once reaching the peak, behold, more mountains. Beautiful!
Peace to all