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Re: Buddhist quotes

“The sequence between shamatha and vipashyana makes perfect sense: first refine your powers of attention, then use them to explore and purify the mind, which can be directly examined only through first-person observation.”

~Alan Wallace~

Shoshin1

1

Re: Accentuate the Positive or Eliminate the Negative?

"Accentuate the Positive or Eliminate the Negative?"

A question I've pondered a lot but don't know if I've pondered up anything useful...

I've found that "keeping one iron in the fire" works best. Work on eliminating one negative thing, or accentuating one positive thing. If I try to do five things at once, I generally fail at all five.

However, working simultaneously on eliminating one negative thing and accentuating one positive thing seems to also work for me - maybe the positive thing gets positively fuelled by the released/alchemized energy of the eliminated negative thing?

I also keep noticing how everything is interconnected. An advancement in one area of life fuels advancement in others. A backtracking in one area of life fuels backtracking in another. So maybe the question is not so important and the dilemma ultimately a false one?

I also had the thought today that historically teachers gave teachings more so to monks and advanced practitioners (this may or may not be correct). These boys and gals had most probably eliminated already the most gross impurities from their lives. Hence, we ordinary folk might do best to focus on eliminating the gross impurities from our lives first, rather than aim for lofty ideals while keeping lighting fires up under our own arses .

For practical purposes, ordinary people like me would most probably do best to skip the high philosophies, and focus on cleaning up their lives to the best of their abilities and as fast as possible.

marcitko

2

Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!

These 'special' moons (Pink, Blue, Super, TurboGigaWow) have no real astronomical significance - nor appear interesting when observed - yet reporters continuously report on them in recent years.
For instance, one of them just means that it's a second full moon in a calendar month, another that at closest approach the moon is 1% bigger than usual, and a third that the full moon occurs at a time when traditionaly pink flowers were harvested in China.
As an amateur astronomer I get pissed off that they report on these nonsensical 'events', when there are so many other interesting astronomical phenomena that the public could actually enjoy viewing and/or that have astronomical significance.

marcitko

1

Re: The Taste of Zen

@Kotishka said:
How can you just sit without focusing on the breath?

You can focus on something other than your breath.

IdleChater

1

Re: Gabor Maté and Ayahuasca

I found this lady’s ayahuasca testimonial very beautiful. Maybe I’ll go do this at some point.

Jeroen

2

Re: The Giving Tree Revisted

@zorro said:

@Jeffrey said:
Yeah you can imagine an alternate story where the boy in youth provides to the tree the joy of having a boy climb the tree. And then as the boy develops more capabilities he takes care of the tree making sure it is healthy and caring for the land that the tree is in.

That would be nice, but I think the bottom line is that the tree was always happy and the boy was always unhappy. From the tree's point of view, her behavior made her happy, even when she was reduced to being nothing but a stump for the boy to sit on. So how could the scenario be improved for her by the boy being more considerate and treating her better? The improvement would be for the boy, in hopefully feeling better because he was behaving better.

My understanding of the argument made in the video is that the happiness the tree feels is a sort of cognitive dissonance or false consciousness. That giving to someone who doesn't reciprocate and only takes to the point of personal destruction is an unhealthy place to be, and its conditioning that causes the tree to not value its own health.

I think I would say that by protecting its own vitality the tree would be able to continue giving in a regenerative way and ultimately would be of more benefit in the long term. In terms of modern relationship advice the tree needed to draw better boundaries and learn to say no, to find another child to let play in its branches and eat its fruit. One that would also water and prune it. It would still have the opportunity to feel happy at giving.

person

2

Re: The Giving Tree Revisted

Yeah you can imagine an alternate story where the boy in youth provides to the tree the joy of having a boy climb the tree. And then as the boy develops more capabilities he takes care of the tree making sure it is healthy and caring for the land that the tree is in.

Jeffrey

1

Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!

Did you know that looking at newborn baby pictures is very soothing? It makes me happy…

Jeroen

3

Re: Letting go of games

I think that meditation is an experiential illumination that shows that.....

any attachment that is addressed, without simply substituting that said attachment for another attachment, is in itself a movement along the path towards suffering's cessation.

how

4

Re: The Giving Tree Revisted

I don't think it is unhealthy to give without expecting or wanting anything in return. In this relationship the boy is the unhealthy one, because he constantly takes and doesn't consider the health or happiness of the one who is giving.

zorro

1