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Buddha Unhinged
lobster
Crusty Veteran
Have you noticed, how some Buddhists, how can I put this politely . . . are . . . a little . . . what is the word . . . unhinged [one of my finer qualities] ? :screwy:
For example I knew one Buddhist who believed he was an advanced renunciate because he subsisted on two peanut butter sandwiches a day. Despite my protests that this was not the Middle Way, he persisted. A year later he had a peanut allergy and suggested I warn others that his example is not worth following - duh!
People who are mentally ill and working towards stability and overcoming - bravo.
It is those who throw common sense out the window, do whatever some dubious practice advocates and end up with a raft going inland instead of to the far shore, that is of concern.
I am quite happy with crazy tantra as it has a long history of improving peoples well being and commitment.
Also when reading some Buddhist gossip, yes I should know better, I am amazed at the level of hypocrisy of some leaders. They would make a TV Evangelist blush. What is going on? Are we all susceptible?
How do we retain clarity?
:coffee:
For example I knew one Buddhist who believed he was an advanced renunciate because he subsisted on two peanut butter sandwiches a day. Despite my protests that this was not the Middle Way, he persisted. A year later he had a peanut allergy and suggested I warn others that his example is not worth following - duh!
People who are mentally ill and working towards stability and overcoming - bravo.
It is those who throw common sense out the window, do whatever some dubious practice advocates and end up with a raft going inland instead of to the far shore, that is of concern.
I am quite happy with crazy tantra as it has a long history of improving peoples well being and commitment.
Also when reading some Buddhist gossip, yes I should know better, I am amazed at the level of hypocrisy of some leaders. They would make a TV Evangelist blush. What is going on? Are we all susceptible?
How do we retain clarity?
:coffee:
0
Comments
I recommend shaving now without a mirror.
Real clarity is ownerless.
Nut "1", retension "0".
By not retaining it.
Here in the USA we have a famous televangelist who claims that God regularly speaks to him. He confidently predicted Pres. Obama would lose the election. When Obama won, instead, this televangelist in an interview talked about how puzzled he was to have "misheard" God.
This man has had a long career and regularly predicts world events as told to him by God, and never once in that long career has he ever been right. When he's not predicting the future, he's claiming any natural catastrophe is God's punishment for liberal wickedness. Especially cities and nations that support the gay. He hates gay people.
He's become something of a joke to non-evangelists. "Oh, him again. What's the nut saying this time?" Yet, he honestly believes against all evidence and history that God tells him things and also uses weather and earthquakes to kill thousands of innocent people because a gay parade is allowed. His followers believe the same.
So yes, this man is an example of the unhinged, and he does a lot of harm. We also have unhinged Buddhists, but mostly we're harmless. We mostly just tend to hurt ourselves by trying to live on ground-up pine needles and such.
It is the unfortunates who start OK but seem to take a route that generates suffering for themselves and very often others. Crazy wisdom adepts dispense impacts, they are not ensnared by their antics. The deluded are . . . well deluded . . .
Be well my friends. Listen to your Hearts. Follow the Dharma. We have a journey to the far shore to complete. We have to be vigilant. We have to be attentive. We have to stay or attain sanity to the best of our capacity :wave:
there is no excuse for stupidity.
but it can be forgiven.
The people with the Buddhist hysteria will eventually vomit it up. The mind is clear, luminous, and unimpeded.
Being reminded of our stupidity is a cause for compassion.
For example [hi peanut lovers - be warned . . .] how many of us persist in maintaining an easy eastern posture - floor sitting, when we have spent all our lives learning to sit on chairs?
The egyptian pose is very suited to the west. See those meditators unwrapping their legs in pain as if they have achieved something? Are they nut renunciates?
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/preparing-for-meditation-sitting-still.html
Be gentle with yourself. Take the ego with you, at least part of the way . . .
This is why we swap useless crazy habits with beneficial. I will shortly be chanting to a 10 armed deity, at least one former demon, a bodhisattva and anyone else hanging about (mostly if not completely in my own head space) . . .
I may even chant to an AI from the future . . .
http://tmxxine.posterous.com/transcendental-post-quantum-ai
OM YA HA HUM
as the lobster said to the maitreya
Only the enlightened will know any better and differentiate. How many of those who preach are enlightened...?
Its a thin line between fishing and standing
on the shore like a dickhead
slainte
One thing that attracted me to Zen was the "Crazy Wisdom" tradition. Like the jesters of old, these people point out the arbitrary nature of conventional wisdom is defining reality by turning it upside down. This is unhinged behavior with a purpose. But, pointing out that conventional wisdom has its limits is not the same as denying convention has its uses and that reality is what it is.