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Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
@Bunks said:
Driving my 8 yo daughter home from school and she asks:
"Daddy, do I own my mind?"
She's a deep thinker.....
...To which you replied....?
I told her to shut up and stop asking silly questions!!!
Na, just kidding.....I actually didn't say too much. Talked a little about the Buddhist concept of "non-self" but didn't want to get too deep into that. Save those conversations for when she's older. She did tell me she believes in rebirth.
1
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
(@Bunks, is this Julia or your other daughter....? )
@Tsultrim said: @Socair it's just a finger pointing at the moon.
Aha but what should one look at if it’s a buddha’s finger? Anyway I’ve always wondered what’s so interesting about the moon
I don't know about Buddha's finger but I know a little bit about the moon as a Buddhist symbol. You could find much more on the net I'm sure.
The moon is a very strong symbol for realization in Zen ( A book written by Dogen Zenji a seminal teac her in Soto Zen is entitled "Moon in a Dew Drop," for example
It's also used in Tibetan Buddhism, I remember a chant that speaks of "the rising moon of mind that dispels the torment of the kleshas", nice image, huh.
The TB I know, however, much more frequently uses the sun as a realization symbol. We have a sadhana (practice) called the Sun of Wisdom , for example.
Some other interesting things are that the moon in the West is generally thought of as feminine, in TB it is a masculine symbol for bliss and skillful means, while the sun is a feminine symbol for wisdom. Women are wisdom carriers in TB, while men provide skillful means
I'm having technical problems on this forum will get off before I lose post.
1
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
If you need technical support, @Tsultrim , feel free to post a thread here, and seek Linc's input. He's the absolute techno-whizz-kid and creator of this forum. What he doesn't know about such matters as programming and trouble-shooting, isn't worth thinking about!
@federica said:
If you need technical support, @Tsultrim , feel free to post a thread here, and seek Linc's input. He's the absolute techno-whizz-kid and creator of this forum. What he doesn't know about such matters as programming and trouble-shooting, isn't worth thinking about!
Thank you @federica, the problem was in this area., and I believe it has been resolved.
I came across the beginning of a german wasp nest which had been abandoned (the queen most probably killed whilst out foraging for food and wood fibres to build the nest...) Very fragile, delicate Papier-mâché 'structure...
You can just make out the tiny cells in the centre
Upside down
The top where the queen had attached it to a beam on the ceiling in a friend's sleepout which had not been used in a while...
@Tsultrim said: @Socair it's just a finger pointing at the moon.
Aha but what should one look at if it’s a buddha’s finger? Anyway I’ve always wondered what’s so interesting about the moon
I don't know about Buddha's finger but I know a little bit about the moon as a Buddhist symbol. You could find much more on the net I'm sure.
The moon is a very strong symbol for realization in Zen ( A book written by Dogen Zenji a seminal teac her in Soto Zen is entitled "Moon in a Dew Drop," for example
It's also used in Tibetan Buddhism, I remember a chant that speaks of "the rising moon of mind that dispels the torment of the kleshas", nice image, huh.
The TB I know, however, much more frequently uses the sun as a realization symbol. We have a sadhana (practice) called the Sun of Wisdom , for example.
Some other interesting things are that the moon in the West is generally thought of as feminine, in TB it is a masculine symbol for bliss and skillful means, while the sun is a feminine symbol for wisdom. Women are wisdom carriers in TB, while men provide skillful means
I'm having technical problems on this forum will get off before I lose post.
I thought i would finish this post with a poem i wrote long ago.
A white heron stands in moonlight
With no breeze to ruffle its plumes
Or the water it shares with an unruffled moon.
Beneath fish swim in a silver ring
Eating as they are eaten.
Above cicadas buzz through me to you
And i pull you to me with the sound,
For i love you and want you to see
A white heron stand in moonlight
With no breeze to ruffle its plumes.
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Oh if we're going to be quoting Spike Milligna, that well-known typing error, we could be here for a week and still be in stitches.... What a gift from the Emerald Isle he was.....
I was sent out of prep class for laughing so much at one of his books....
There are holes in the sky
Where the rain gets in;
But the holes are small -
That's why rain is thin.
Ah, the Goon Show! One of my favourite childhood memories was camping with my parents and family friends and my father and his mate would sit by the campfire and listen to The Goons.....we would be in stitches (although I don’t think I got half the jokes!)
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
@Shoshin said:
If you want to see "nonsense" in action...just pay attention to your thoughts
Yes indeed, and that brings up the question, "" How could we ever think that they are our thoughts ? " Certainly, if they were ours, we could arrange them more sensibly. Instead, they mostly occur at random, just pop up. And that prompts another question, '' If we don't make them, then where do they come from ? "
@Shoshin said:
If you want to see "nonsense" in action...just pay attention to your thoughts
Yes indeed, and that brings up the question, "" How could we ever think that they are our thoughts ? "
Hmm...For the most part it would seem people don't give questions like these a second thought.....
However, the Thinker of thoughts (which is Thought 'itself' ) will just keep on churning out more thoughts about thoughts and the mind as usual will become charmed by them...It would seem that the untamed mind just can't resist their charm
Certainly, if they were ours, we could arrange them more sensibly. Instead, they mostly occur at random, just pop up. And that prompts another question, ''If "we" don't make them, then where do they come from ?"
I will answer your question with a question that will answer your question ....Who wants to know ?
@Shoshin said:
If you want to see "nonsense" in action...just pay attention to your thoughts
Yes indeed, and that brings up the question, "" How could we ever think that they are our thoughts ? "
Hmm...For the most part it would seem people don't give questions like these a second thought.....
However, the Thinker of thoughts (which is Thought 'itself' ) will just keep on churning out more thoughts about thoughts and the mind as usual will become charmed by them...It would seem that the untamed mind just can't resist their charm
Certainly, if they were ours, we could arrange them more sensibly. Instead, they mostly occur at random, just pop up. And that prompts another question, ''If "we" don't make them, then where do they come from ?"
I will answer your question with a question that will answer your question ....Who wants to know ?
Thought does not think thoughts. When mind is not thinking and a thought comes up, how can it come from another thought, if mind hasn't been thinking? Thoughts may cause more thought activity like when we get caught in discursiveness, but in all cases their_ origin_ is not thought.
The question i asked already contains the answer. No need for further questions or answers.
Thought does not think thoughts. When mind is not thinking and a thought comes up, how can it come from another thought, if mind hasn't been thinking? Thoughts may cause more thought activity like when we get caught in discursiveness, but in all cases their_ origin_ is not thought.
The question i asked already contains the answer. No need for further questions or answers.
I agree ...However, what I meant was, thought itself is the thinker, when the sense of a self (this so called "I" ) more often than not gets carried way by thoughts (be they pleasant or unpleasant/wholesome or unwholesome) , hence the sense of self habitually reacts (according to what thought pattern presents itself), creating the illusion of "I am" the thinker of the thoughts" which in this case is none other than the "thought" itself..........Well something like that "I" think ...
Went out for a drive with my son who is over visiting from Berlin...We drove out to Orapiu wharf (the remote part of the island) and came across this Pier Shag sitting on a wharf pole without a care in the world, waiting for the ferry or a fish dinner
@ Shoshin is that bird endemic, does it migrate?. I've never seen or heard of it. I'm a birder. but not a life book type. Birds here are quite limited, of course some you see exist nowhere else in the world.
@Tsultrim
Sorry a misspelling of its name it's a pied shag also known as a pied cormorant Phalacrocorax varius they are found in New Zealand and Australia it's a coastal seabird and quite common...
So it's a cormorant. Pied usually implies spots or some dAppled coloring or am I wrong. We have a pied grebe in the U.S. a lovely diving bird, but I can't remember why they call it pied
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Happy Pentecost to all the Christian Buddhists... it’s a public holiday here and I’ve been sampling the festivities on tv, a very gentle Sunday morning.
I haven't visited in a while, but I wanted to pop in and say 'ello. I'm still alive, albeit living 1,000 miles south of where I was the last time I was in here!
@Rowan1980 said:
I haven't visited in a while, but I wanted to pop in and say 'ello. I'm still alive, albeit living 1,000 miles south of where I was the last time I was in here!
I spent some time working in Charlotte NC about a decade ago and we went for a day trip to Asheville - nice town.
I mainly remember it because I was able to get a decent coffee after only finding Starbucks in Charlotte!
It was Autumn (Fall) and the trees up in the Blue Ridge Mountains were amazing. We went to Chimney Rock too.
I am! We moved down here a year ago, and we like it a lot. There seems to be much more to do here than in central Maine, plus between having access to decent bus service and Lyft, I can actually get out and do stuff even though I don't drive. People in general here seem less aloof and more friendly, too.
I've yet to go to Charlotte, but we did spend a weekend down in Greenville, SC last autumn, which was nice. We replaced some of our camping gear, so we're going to check out the mountains via camping after Labor Day. We also want to go to Dollyworld at some point. It's not something we would think of doing when we were up north, but it's worth a look.
I spent some time working in Charlotte NC about a decade ago and we went for a day trip to Asheville - nice town.
I mainly remember it because I was able to get a decent coffee after only finding Starbucks in Charlotte!
It was Autumn (Fall) and the trees up in the Blue Ridge Mountains were amazing. We went to Chimney Rock too.
I am! We moved down here a year ago, and we like it a lot. There seems to be much more to do here than in central Maine, plus between having access to decent bus service and Lyft, I can actually get out and do stuff even though I don't drive. People in general here seem less aloof and more friendly, too.
I've yet to go to Charlotte, but we did spend a weekend down in Greenville, SC last autumn, which was nice. We replaced some of our camping gear, so we're going to check out the mountains via camping after Labor Day. We also want to go to Dollyworld at some point. It's not something we would think of doing when we were up north, but it's worth a look.
Nice!
I wouldn't rush to Charlotte if I were you. Not much to see there. I was fortunate to be relocated to Denver after a couple of months which was a godsend!
On my way home from the group last night...I came across this...
Moon over the island...(it looked better in person)
2
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
It always does, @Shoshin.... capturing that bbreathlessly wondrous moment on a phone, is a Herculean challenge... all these 'spontaneous, "Right place, Right Time" perchance' shots taken by professional photographers, can sometimes take spontaneous, right-place-right-time days - and nights - on end....!
Well it's raining and I mean raining non-stop, (unless that is, one takes into account the space/gaps between each rain drop)... It started around 3.30am this morning, it's now 3pm and no sign of it letting up ..No doubt there will be more flooding and slips for the council and fire services to deal with..
The rain water is flowing down the driveway, at times flowing over the new drive over drainage guttering by my car port, and the poor neighbours next door, the water running down their new vege garden path, next to their new retaining wall, is like a cascade/water fall as it makes its way into their garden ...
This morning the island was covered in a blanket of thick mist
I've never seen is as thick as this on the island before ...The thickness reminded me of the smog when growing up in London about in the late 50s and 60s, however this was just mist
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
I was rather afraid it was your old neighbours still trying to get at you....
Comments
I told her to shut up and stop asking silly questions!!!
Na, just kidding.....I actually didn't say too much. Talked a little about the Buddhist concept of "non-self" but didn't want to get too deep into that. Save those conversations for when she's older. She did tell me she believes in rebirth.
(@Bunks, is this Julia or your other daughter....? )
@Tsultrim ....calm down with the giving out of insightfuls, awesomes and lol's. You are trigger happy. ??????????
@Socair it's just a finger pointing at the moon.
☝️?
Aha but what should one look at if it’s a buddha’s finger? Anyway I’ve always wondered what’s so interesting about the moon
Perhaps it's the magical moonbeans...
I only have one daughter @federica (Julia). My son Alex is five.
I'm so sorry, I apologise. I thought I remembered seeing a photo elsewhere of 2 girls. My mistake.
I don't know about Buddha's finger but I know a little bit about the moon as a Buddhist symbol. You could find much more on the net I'm sure.
The moon is a very strong symbol for realization in Zen ( A book written by Dogen Zenji a seminal teac her in Soto Zen is entitled "Moon in a Dew Drop," for example
It's also used in Tibetan Buddhism, I remember a chant that speaks of "the rising moon of mind that dispels the torment of the kleshas", nice image, huh.
The TB I know, however, much more frequently uses the sun as a realization symbol. We have a sadhana (practice) called the Sun of Wisdom , for example.
Some other interesting things are that the moon in the West is generally thought of as feminine, in TB it is a masculine symbol for bliss and skillful means, while the sun is a feminine symbol for wisdom. Women are wisdom carriers in TB, while men provide skillful means
I'm having technical problems on this forum will get off before I lose post.
If you need technical support, @Tsultrim , feel free to post a thread here, and seek Linc's input. He's the absolute techno-whizz-kid and creator of this forum. What he doesn't know about such matters as programming and trouble-shooting, isn't worth thinking about!
All good mate!
Thank you @federica, the problem was in this area., and I believe it has been resolved.
I came across the beginning of a german wasp nest which had been abandoned (the queen most probably killed whilst out foraging for food and wood fibres to build the nest...) Very fragile, delicate Papier-mâché 'structure...
You can just make out the tiny cells in the centre
Upside down
The top where the queen had attached it to a beam on the ceiling in a friend's sleepout which had not been used in a while...
I thought i would finish the moon post with a poem i wrote a long time ago after an important > @Tsultrim said:
I thought i would finish this post with a poem i wrote long ago.
A white heron stands in moonlight With no breeze to ruffle its plumes Or the water it shares with an unruffled moon. Beneath fish swim in a silver ring Eating as they are eaten. Above cicadas buzz through me to you And i pull you to me with the sound, For i love you and want you to see A white heron stand in moonlight With no breeze to ruffle its plumes.One fine day, in the middle of the night
Two dead men got up to fight
Back to back they faced eachother
Drew their swords and shot eachother
Spike I do believe...
Oh if we're going to be quoting Spike Milligna, that well-known typing error, we could be here for a week and still be in stitches.... What a gift from the Emerald Isle he was.....
I was sent out of prep class for laughing so much at one of his books....
There are holes in the sky
Where the rain gets in;
But the holes are small -
That's why rain is thin.
A most wond'rous Goon if ever there was....
Ah, the Goon Show! One of my favourite childhood memories was camping with my parents and family friends and my father and his mate would sit by the campfire and listen to The Goons.....we would be in stitches (although I don’t think I got half the jokes!)
@Socair, absolutely wonderful. Thank you.
Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
William Congreve.
Lovely, lovely. He sounds a lot like Shakespeare to me. I see he was a little later. Thank you.
If you want to see "nonsense" in action...just pay attention to your thoughts
Yes indeed, and that brings up the question, "" How could we ever think that they are our thoughts ? " Certainly, if they were ours, we could arrange them more sensibly. Instead, they mostly occur at random, just pop up. And that prompts another question, '' If we don't make them, then where do they come from ? "
Hmm...For the most part it would seem people don't give questions like these a second thought.....
However, the Thinker of thoughts (which is Thought 'itself' ) will just keep on churning out more thoughts about thoughts and the mind as usual will become charmed by them...It would seem that the untamed mind just can't resist their charm
I will answer your question with a question that will answer your question ....Who wants to know ?
Thought does not think thoughts. When mind is not thinking and a thought comes up, how can it come from another thought, if mind hasn't been thinking? Thoughts may cause more thought activity like when we get caught in discursiveness, but in all cases their_ origin_ is not thought.
The question i asked already contains the answer. No need for further questions or answers.
Some time ago I did a free esoteric training course with this Luciferian group
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucis_Trust
Ay caramba, nobody told me they were Sith ...
...
@Tsultrim
I agree ...However, what I meant was, thought itself is the thinker, when the sense of a self (this so called "I" ) more often than not gets carried way by thoughts (be they pleasant or unpleasant/wholesome or unwholesome) , hence the sense of self habitually reacts (according to what thought pattern presents itself), creating the illusion of "I am" the thinker of the thoughts" which in this case is none other than the "thought" itself..........Well something like that "I" think ...
Yes
I think you two have met your match in one another.
How entertaining....
Went out for a drive with my son who is over visiting from Berlin...We drove out to Orapiu wharf (the remote part of the island) and came across this Pier Shag sitting on a wharf pole without a care in the world, waiting for the ferry or a fish dinner
@ Shoshin is that bird endemic, does it migrate?. I've never seen or heard of it. I'm a birder. but not a life book type. Birds here are quite limited, of course some you see exist nowhere else in the world.
@Tsultrim
Sorry a misspelling of its name it's a pied shag also known as a pied cormorant Phalacrocorax varius they are found in New Zealand and Australia it's a coastal seabird and quite common...
So it's a cormorant. Pied usually implies spots or some dAppled coloring or am I wrong. We have a pied grebe in the U.S. a lovely diving bird, but I can't remember why they call it pied
Happy Pentecost to all the Christian Buddhists... it’s a public holiday here and I’ve been sampling the festivities on tv, a very gentle Sunday morning.
Is stress the neo-dukkha?
What is a gal to do?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/5d36cdca-4eb9-4089-afe7-4ca699bcde4d
Maybe I need a new stress buster?
sophrology
Just when mindfulness was the new cool ...
Whatever next?
I haven't visited in a while, but I wanted to pop in and say 'ello. I'm still alive, albeit living 1,000 miles south of where I was the last time I was in here!
Are you in Asheville now @Rowan1980?
I spent some time working in Charlotte NC about a decade ago and we went for a day trip to Asheville - nice town.
I mainly remember it because I was able to get a decent coffee after only finding Starbucks in Charlotte!
It was Autumn (Fall) and the trees up in the Blue Ridge Mountains were amazing. We went to Chimney Rock too.
I am! We moved down here a year ago, and we like it a lot. There seems to be much more to do here than in central Maine, plus between having access to decent bus service and Lyft, I can actually get out and do stuff even though I don't drive. People in general here seem less aloof and more friendly, too.
I've yet to go to Charlotte, but we did spend a weekend down in Greenville, SC last autumn, which was nice. We replaced some of our camping gear, so we're going to check out the mountains via camping after Labor Day. We also want to go to Dollyworld at some point. It's not something we would think of doing when we were up north, but it's worth a look.
Nice!
I wouldn't rush to Charlotte if I were you. Not much to see there. I was fortunate to be relocated to Denver after a couple of months which was a godsend!
Nice to see you back @Rowan1980
On my way home from the group last night...I came across this...
Moon over the island...(it looked better in person)
It always does, @Shoshin.... capturing that bbreathlessly wondrous moment on a phone, is a Herculean challenge... all these 'spontaneous, "Right place, Right Time" perchance' shots taken by professional photographers, can sometimes take spontaneous, right-place-right-time days - and nights - on end....!
Robot Sangha ... now available
Baby rump blimp ready for flying, powered by hot air probably ...
Well it's raining and I mean raining non-stop, (unless that is, one takes into account the space/gaps between each rain drop)... It started around 3.30am this morning, it's now 3pm and no sign of it letting up ..No doubt there will be more flooding and slips for the council and fire services to deal with..
The rain water is flowing down the driveway, at times flowing over the new drive over drainage guttering by my car port, and the poor neighbours next door, the water running down their new vege garden path, next to their new retaining wall, is like a cascade/water fall as it makes its way into their garden ...
Still it could be worse...
This morning the island was covered in a blanket of thick mist
I've never seen is as thick as this on the island before ...The thickness reminded me of the smog when growing up in London about in the late 50s and 60s, however this was just mist
I was rather afraid it was your old neighbours still trying to get at you....
I wouldn't put it past them,,, a moving away parting gift