@DagobahZen said:
Why as a species that seems so evolved, can we not learn from mistakes of the past and keep perpetuating them. The cycle of war and violence is never ending. Imagine the world we could live in if this cycle were broken.
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- All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.
- All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
- “He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,”--in those who harbour such thoughts hatred will never cease.
- “He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,”--in those who do not harbour such thoughts hatred will cease.
- For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.
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Many moons ago, one of my Tibetan Dharma teachers once said "If people truly understood the law of Karma, there would be no need for a police force, for there would be no more crimes"...
In a nutshell when you understand Karma you would police yourself....
Hence why we train/practice to become our own thought police
Shoshin1
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/13/south-africa-israel-genocide-the-hague
This piece does show that Israel’s defence against the genocide case is very weak. It’s good that these things are getting out in the press now, because what they have been doing is execrable. A quarter of the people of Gaza have no home to come back to due to the bombing.
Jeroen
@SuraShine The news are really toxic. I think rather than giving you information to be able to operate with or at least discuss/think, they give you information to react.
Kotishka
@Jeroen said:
It seems to me that one should do what feels right. If you are presented with five styles of zen and your intuition guides you to one, just try it and see how it feels.For me, meditation was like this. I tried vipassana, I tried shamatha, but in the end something simple like shikantaza, ‘just sitting’ felt better to me, or even Mooji’s instruction to just Be.
Shikantaza or Zazen work for me. 😀 It is great there are so many different methods to suit individuals.
@marcitko said:
** I managed to get the coconut-water out**, it is very delicious!
According to your first post, I thought you had already drank the coconut water, hence why I recommend throwing it hard on a concrete surface to crack it open...
The coconut water is easy to access, just punch or drill two holes in the top, big enough to put a straw into... 
Shoshin1
If I recall correctly, Angulimala was beaten to death by angry villagers whom he had tormented before. The Buddha said to him to bear with this "last task" (being subjected to a beating) as it represented the extinction of his karma; a burden that would have, if not, taken many many many lifetimes to vanquish.
While reading the sutta, I remember feeling that Angulimala seemed to not experience grief nor despair at that moment. We cannot escape our karma but, if one reaches such understanding / state, perhaps it becomes easier to let go and accept the consequences.
Kotishka
Why as a species that seems so evolved, can we not learn from mistakes of the past and keep perpetuating them. The cycle of war and violence is never ending. Imagine the world we could live in if this cycle were broken.
There was an article that stated that when the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies collide, the space between stars is so vast that there will be few actual collisions. The big effect is the relative gravitational pull that will greatly change both galaxies. They may ultimately merge with small clusters spinning off and/or one will take possession of a large galactic portion from the other.
There, according to reported indices, are signs that the collision process has already begun. While the to galaxies are still approx, 2.5 million light years apart, it was reported that we may be sharing gravitational effects. As to the voracity of those claims, I leave that to the Astronomers and Astro Physicyts.
Meanwhile, pleasant as these little excursions are, I'll be tending to the mini galaxy within my own minor sub-sub quadrant of Earth.
Peace to All
Palestine's Deputy Permanent Observer to the UN Historic speech at the UN Security Council
Such a moving speech....
You can watch the Israeli Representative member's UN speech which starts at 53 minutes in...
.....
Shoshin1