Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
@anataman said: It was at dawn the following morning having been heeling at a 45 degree angle for most of the night and travelling between 12 and 15 knots) when the winds really picked up as we were coming up to the Isle of Wight.
That must have been scary. One of my ex-partners had sailed round the world and she had terrifying stories about 50 foot waves mid ocean.
I've sailed off-shore a little, but never out of sight of land.
Oh yes and at midnight we were about 12 miles off-shore. I had ignorantly put my life in that skippers hands. Of course I haven't volunteered to be a crew member for a night yachting experience since... I get my kicks adventure diving on nitrox when I go on holiday instead...
Hmmmm... Putting my life in my own hands? - I'm probably even more stupid than I thought....
@Cinorjer yes I see your point; I do think you have a different view of the Buddha as not particularly special; just a guy who taught the 8 fold path. For me you can make your main practice praying and that is as fine a use of your time as meditation or 'real life'. So you can in fact view Buddha as holy. No bolt of lightning will shoot out of Zen Master Bankei's grave and zap you! My teacher in a talk about the seven branches of prayer said that she met a monk that had many many bowls of water and he spent the whole day emptying them and filling them. I am transcribing a dharma talk about the seven branches of prayer. Meditation incidentally is not a separate thing from prayer because prayer is in a Buddhist context. From my perspective Buddha has to be beyond birth and death. Otherwise the dharma does not go as far as it might. And if Buddha is beyond birth and death then there is a difference between the dharma as 'mundane helper' and a practice to make your mind like Buddhas mind.
@Jeffrey said:
Cinorjer yes I see your point; I do think you have a different view of the Buddha as not particularly special; just a guy who taught the 8 fold path. For me you can make your main practice praying and that is as fine a use of your time as meditation or 'real life'. So you can in fact view Buddha as holy. No bolt of lightning will shoot out of Zen Master Bankei's grave and zap you! My teacher in a talk about the seven branches of prayer said that she met a monk that had many many bowls of water and he spent the whole day emptying them and filling them. I am transcribing a dharma talk about the seven branches of prayer. Meditation incidentally is not a separate thing from prayer because prayer is in a Buddhist context. From my perspective Buddha has to be beyond birth and death. Otherwise the dharma does not go as far as it might. And if Buddha is beyond birth and death then there is a difference between the dharma as 'mundane helper' and a practice to make your mind like Buddhas mind.
I totally respect that. Whatever my own path and understanding might be, I always tell people that in my life I have had the honor to know exactly three people who had that indescribable "something" that told me they were Buddhas walking the earth. One was a Buddhist, one was a Christian, and one was an Atheist. Every path is not the same, nor does it lead to the same place, but we are all lost in the same wilderness.
Whether you folks know it or not, you're part of this movement to extend enlightenment to everyone.
Hooray! Good plan. Why? Because the world needs enlightened beings. I for one could do with the teaching, good companionship and feeling of well being ...
Let me tell you about these beings:
They are servants before masters
They open your possibilities,
They find ways for your questions to be resolved
They are independent of your lesser expectations
Some time ago I was on a retreat sharing a chat with a group after a meal and it so happened that an enlightened person was there. Totally 'invisible' as such people often are. They were also more mature in their realisation than me, which is just the way it is. So I knew their nature but did not yet understand and operate in what was ahead of me. I made some whimsical/comic remark but this was not their way and they left the table. That is fair enough. Interaction is not only verbal or even always possible.
Most people just as in life may be totally unaware of what is significant. The assumption is that the teacher, the lama, the reputed monk are the significant. Sometimes yes. Sometimes not. Sometimes it is the embarrassment of the blind leading the blind. The important thing is sangha and good companionship is the blind heading in the right direction at least ...
It may be that a person of 'no consequence' leaving or arriving is the real catalyst to progress and opening. People like to pretend they have discernment and insight into a persons interior. Some do. Some don't. Some recognise qualities and that is a good start.
Each of us is at the table. Each of us thinks we are at some other table. Just remember it is a round table.
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
Comments
That must have been scary. One of my ex-partners had sailed round the world and she had terrifying stories about 50 foot waves mid ocean.
I've sailed off-shore a little, but never out of sight of land.
Oh yes and at midnight we were about 12 miles off-shore. I had ignorantly put my life in that skippers hands. Of course I haven't volunteered to be a crew member for a night yachting experience since... I get my kicks adventure diving on nitrox when I go on holiday instead...
Hmmmm... Putting my life in my own hands? - I'm probably even more stupid than I thought....
..\lol/...
@Cinorjer yes I see your point; I do think you have a different view of the Buddha as not particularly special; just a guy who taught the 8 fold path. For me you can make your main practice praying and that is as fine a use of your time as meditation or 'real life'. So you can in fact view Buddha as holy. No bolt of lightning will shoot out of Zen Master Bankei's grave and zap you! My teacher in a talk about the seven branches of prayer said that she met a monk that had many many bowls of water and he spent the whole day emptying them and filling them. I am transcribing a dharma talk about the seven branches of prayer. Meditation incidentally is not a separate thing from prayer because prayer is in a Buddhist context. From my perspective Buddha has to be beyond birth and death. Otherwise the dharma does not go as far as it might. And if Buddha is beyond birth and death then there is a difference between the dharma as 'mundane helper' and a practice to make your mind like Buddhas mind.
I totally respect that. Whatever my own path and understanding might be, I always tell people that in my life I have had the honor to know exactly three people who had that indescribable "something" that told me they were Buddhas walking the earth. One was a Buddhist, one was a Christian, and one was an Atheist. Every path is not the same, nor does it lead to the same place, but we are all lost in the same wilderness.
Hooray! Good plan. Why? Because the world needs enlightened beings. I for one could do with the teaching, good companionship and feeling of well being ...
Let me tell you about these beings:
Some time ago I was on a retreat sharing a chat with a group after a meal and it so happened that an enlightened person was there. Totally 'invisible' as such people often are. They were also more mature in their realisation than me, which is just the way it is. So I knew their nature but did not yet understand and operate in what was ahead of me. I made some whimsical/comic remark but this was not their way and they left the table. That is fair enough. Interaction is not only verbal or even always possible.
Most people just as in life may be totally unaware of what is significant. The assumption is that the teacher, the lama, the reputed monk are the significant. Sometimes yes. Sometimes not. Sometimes it is the embarrassment of the blind leading the blind. The important thing is sangha and good companionship is the blind heading in the right direction at least ...
It may be that a person of 'no consequence' leaving or arriving is the real catalyst to progress and opening. People like to pretend they have discernment and insight into a persons interior. Some do. Some don't. Some recognise qualities and that is a good start.
Each of us is at the table. Each of us thinks we are at some other table. Just remember it is a round table.
Now is the table widening or just a spin?
http://wanderling.tripod.com/pratyeka_buddha.html
I really like the Shambhala movement.