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.
Hi Marla!
To meditate I sit in a cross-legged position. Now comes the mental part; there is two or three ways to do this; one thing is to clear your mind of everything (I am trying to meditate because I've been a Buddhist for about a year or two and have only meditated half-a-dozen times, so you can probobly find more reliable sources than I BTW), I've only ever done that kind and by the end I feel pretty clear minded and at peace with myself. Oh, I almost forgot (I'm afraid I don't know if this is classed as meditating) I sometimes, when I'm all muddled up and don't know what choices to make I sit in a medatative position and clear my thoughts before bringing them back one-by-one and decide what I'm going to do. Then there's another one where you thing good-will such as peace and happiness to first yourself, then a loved one, then all living things, and truly mean it to make yourself a more loving person . There's also another thing (although I don't know if it's a form of meditating) where you, em, sort of feel everythings emotional pain, although I don't really understand it and I've heard if you don't do it correct you can get depressed, so I wouldn't reccomend trying it myself, although I don't know what other people might think.
Some aspects of Buddhism are confusing but this is three things I go by;
'It's fine to have a religion but use it as a guideline and not your whole beliefs, we should all celebrate and nurture our differences.'
'It's not all about doing good conduct to get into Heaven or reincarnated into a good form, we should do good conduct for this life, because no one knows for certain if it's our last state of consiousness or not.'
'Religions are very old so the words of the religious leaders past should be taken with a pinch of salt because it could get a bit like Chinese whispers.'
Hope I helped,
Love & Peace,
Joe
P.S.
If I feel a bit down and/or pessimistic I read a bit of my book about the Dalai Lama and that gets me feeling happy and optimistic. Also, there was something I forgot to say, when you need to be compassionate with ignorant or not-very-nice people take it a step at a time, this is what I intend to do;
1. Think of them as animals, as we infact are (mastered)
2. Be compassionate about them (mastered almost fully)
3. Think of them as equals (doing...)
4. Try to understand their view (doing...)
5. Be compassionate (*Gulp*)
Now remember to take me with a pinch of salt because I'm not always fully 'normal'. But I don't celebrate to much of my differences on this thread incase people get a weird first impression of me.
This post is probably a bit late, but I've just found this thread!
Anyway, my name is Tosh and I'm a Geordie-Japanese guy from North Shields, but I live in South East Wales, UK. So I'm a bit of a mongrel!
I'm 40, an ex-soldier having spent 17 years in the army, and being a typical Geordie ex-soldier type, I really should be more interested in beer, football, chips and gravy, but I've became interested in Buddhism after attending a Buddhist meditation course, and many things that 'Dave the Buddhist' said really struck some chords with me. This has led me to reading a few books on the subject, and listening to some talks monks have given that I've downloaded from the internet onto a MP3 player. So I have a little knowledge about Buddhism; very little.
I regularly meditate; normally 2 x 20 minute(ish) periods, nothing fancy just breathing meditation and trying to still my mind; I really enjoy this.
I already work a spiritual programme of Alcoholics Anonymous; not always very well I must add, but I'm recovered from the sickness that made me drink; so any way-off off-tangent posts from me will be done sober! Hopefully!
Now remember to take me with a pinch of salt because I'm not always fully 'normal'. But I don't celebrate to much of my differences on this thread incase people get a weird first impression of me.
Love & Peace again,
Me,
:wavey:
Lol! Thanks Joe, for the tips and the warning. I've heard that normal is overrated.
I'll be looking for more of those tips as I'm going along for the ride. Right now I'm delving into Pema Chodron's How to Meditate audios and looking for some local class resources, because I can tell that while I love reading, texts alone are not enough.
Hi Palzang, and thank you for the welcome. Tulsa is where I am, within a stone's throw from ORU. Cancer Treatment Center is great--my father worked through them for his colon cancer 10 years ago (very healthy now, no recurrence). I've been a Tulsan for 35 years now and really like it, in spite of its foibles.
Cool! Yeah, I was very impressed with the Cancer Treatment Center. If I ever get cancer, that's where I'm going. Tulsa is an interesting place. Had a really great steak down in Broken Arrow not far from the CTC as well. I'd go back. I did see online somewhere that there is a small Buddhist center there.
Boy...things sure get buried in this thread!! Sorry for the late replies.
Hi Dazz and thank you for the welcome!
Hello Palzang and thank you, too for the welcome! Things are quite cold in the Bluff City today at 12 degrees. Brrrr....yes, it's too bad the Pyramid sits empty; there was quite the kerfuffle to get it built all those years ago. On the upside, we have the beautiful FedEx Forum! I see that you're in robes, now I'm curious what your story is.
Hiya Tosh! I'm a mongrel too. I live in England, my dad's English, my mum's Scottish, my great-great grandfather was Irish and in the 1500s my family came from The Netherlands Hope you enjoy the forum, I love (vegetarian) gravy :wavey:
Hiya Marla :wavey:
I like you LOL
I love reading, as well as writing, and on a random note I've found out I love basket-ball (I was rubbish at football and rugby so I'm trying basket-ball and gymnastics- I love these ).
I'm too shy to go to a meditation group, I sort of like to keep other Buddhists on the other end of the computer, this way I begin to be me-me and not fake-normal-quiet-me in only a few days, if I meet new people it takes a couple of weeks. I should stop being shy at first LOL... When I first joined a Buddhist site the first thing I thought was 'what a nice group of kind, clever, open-minded people with a fine sence of humour' LOL.
Joe
When I first joined a Buddhist site the first thing I thought was 'what a nice group of kind, clever, open-minded people with a fine sence of humour' LOL.
Joe
Hello all. My name is Meghan (aka Mightymeg) and I am currently atheist with a strong interest in Buddhism. I've enjoyed the activity and diversity on these forums so far (2nd day as a member) and look forward to getting to know all of you
Hello all. My name is Meghan (aka Mightymeg) and I am currently atheist with a strong interest in Buddhism. I've enjoyed the activity and diversity on these forums so far (2nd day as a member) and look forward to getting to know all of you
Welcome im sure we look forward to getting to know you aswell.
I am a beginning Zen practitioner. I belong to a Zen specific web site, but decided to join also to learn as much as I can about Buddhism in general.
A little about me:
Married to a beautiful, but sometimes stubborn woman. I have 3 amazing daughters(ages 4,6, and 8). I have a B.A. in Philosophy, but I work as an electrician I practice martial arts(BJJ/JKD).
Came to Buddhism after a crisis in faith about 6 years ago. Had been a Christian before that. After taking a mystical literature class(studied different texts/traditions, but Dogen Zenji really did it for me) I spent 3-4 years of intellectual thought then finally decided to sit down and shut up. Well, not really the shut up part.
I was brought up Jewish and attended Reform and Conservative congregations growing up. I drifted away from Judaism in my mid- to late 20s, and I last attended shul in September 2001.
I came to Buddhism through my study of psychology, in particular CBT and other forms of therapy that teach patients to think about how they think. I was first attracted to Buddhism by way of the practice of mindfulness. I found mindfulness meditation very helpful in my own efforts to deal with feelings of anxiety and guilt.
Ultimately, I also found Buddhist teachings were able to answer my questions about good, evil and suffering.
If any of you use Twitter, you can find me there. My Twitter nom de plume is @iDharma.
Comments
To meditate I sit in a cross-legged position. Now comes the mental part; there is two or three ways to do this; one thing is to clear your mind of everything (I am trying to meditate because I've been a Buddhist for about a year or two and have only meditated half-a-dozen times, so you can probobly find more reliable sources than I BTW), I've only ever done that kind and by the end I feel pretty clear minded and at peace with myself. Oh, I almost forgot (I'm afraid I don't know if this is classed as meditating) I sometimes, when I'm all muddled up and don't know what choices to make I sit in a medatative position and clear my thoughts before bringing them back one-by-one and decide what I'm going to do. Then there's another one where you thing good-will such as peace and happiness to first yourself, then a loved one, then all living things, and truly mean it to make yourself a more loving person
Some aspects of Buddhism are confusing but this is three things I go by;
'It's fine to have a religion but use it as a guideline and not your whole beliefs, we should all celebrate and nurture our differences.'
'It's not all about doing good conduct to get into Heaven or reincarnated into a good form, we should do good conduct for this life, because no one knows for certain if it's our last state of consiousness or not.'
'Religions are very old so the words of the religious leaders past should be taken with a pinch of salt because it could get a bit like Chinese whispers.'
Hope I helped,
Love & Peace,
Joe
P.S.
If I feel a bit down and/or pessimistic I read a bit of my book about the Dalai Lama and that gets me feeling happy and optimistic. Also, there was something I forgot to say, when you need to be compassionate with ignorant or not-very-nice people take it a step at a time, this is what I intend to do;
1. Think of them as animals, as we infact are (mastered)
2. Be compassionate about them (mastered almost fully)
3. Think of them as equals (doing...)
4. Try to understand their view (doing...)
5. Be compassionate (*Gulp*)
Now remember to take me with a pinch of salt because I'm not always fully 'normal'. But I don't celebrate to much of my differences on this thread incase people get a weird first impression of me.
Love & Peace again,
Me,
:wavey:
This post is probably a bit late, but I've just found this thread!
Anyway, my name is Tosh and I'm a Geordie-Japanese guy from North Shields, but I live in South East Wales, UK. So I'm a bit of a mongrel!
I'm 40, an ex-soldier having spent 17 years in the army, and being a typical Geordie ex-soldier type, I really should be more interested in beer, football, chips and gravy, but I've became interested in Buddhism after attending a Buddhist meditation course, and many things that 'Dave the Buddhist' said really struck some chords with me. This has led me to reading a few books on the subject, and listening to some talks monks have given that I've downloaded from the internet onto a MP3 player. So I have a little knowledge about Buddhism; very little.
I regularly meditate; normally 2 x 20 minute(ish) periods, nothing fancy just breathing meditation and trying to still my mind; I really enjoy this.
I already work a spiritual programme of Alcoholics Anonymous; not always very well I must add, but I'm recovered from the sickness that made me drink; so any way-off off-tangent posts from me will be done sober! Hopefully!
Its good to be here and I've got much to learn.
Regards,
Tosh
Good start... keep it up.
With kind regards,
Sukhita
Lol! Thanks Joe, for the tips and the warning. I've heard that normal is overrated.
I'll be looking for more of those tips as I'm going along for the ride. Right now I'm delving into Pema Chodron's How to Meditate audios and looking for some local class resources, because I can tell that while I love reading, texts alone are not enough.
Nice to meet you!
.
Cool! Yeah, I was very impressed with the Cancer Treatment Center. If I ever get cancer, that's where I'm going. Tulsa is an interesting place. Had a really great steak down in Broken Arrow not far from the CTC as well. I'd go back. I did see online somewhere that there is a small Buddhist center there.
Palzang
Hi Dazz and thank you for the welcome!
Hello Palzang and thank you, too for the welcome! Things are quite cold in the Bluff City today at 12 degrees. Brrrr....yes, it's too bad the Pyramid sits empty; there was quite the kerfuffle to get it built all those years ago. On the upside, we have the beautiful FedEx Forum! I see that you're in robes, now I'm curious what your story is.
I like you
I love reading, as well as writing, and on a random note I've found out I love basket-ball (I was rubbish at football and rugby so I'm trying basket-ball and gymnastics- I love these
I'm too shy to go to a meditation group, I sort of like to keep other Buddhists on the other end of the computer, this way I begin to be me-me and not fake-normal-quiet-me in only a few days, if I meet new people it takes a couple of weeks. I should stop being shy at first LOL... When I first joined a Buddhist site the first thing I thought was 'what a nice group of kind, clever, open-minded people with a fine sence of humour' LOL.
Joe
It's actually kind of scattered here and there on the forum, but some day I'm feeling industrious I'll fill you in.
Don't feel bad, it's friggin' cold everywhere!
Palzang
Hello.
It's lovely to meet you all.
Is that a picture of you Brigid? I'm nosy and I've always wondered
Really ? How is that
Oh yes that it was a blindly good introduction
There's not much to tell.
I love rambling on about myself, LOL, see, I'm doing it now!
Ive learnt to be quiet.
I would elaborate but....
Welcome im sure we look forward to getting to know you aswell.
BTW Caz, are you offending me or having a joke, I apologise, I feel everyone's intellectually leaving me behind today LOL
That would be joke LNP
People are only offended if self cherishing is strong
Prepare to duel :tonguec:
So what are we doing koan dueling or what ?
*throws a banana split at you*
Errrrr bannana.....*Runs away*
And this is you
Im feeling the defeat, i offer you the victory
Love,
Yes, that's me.
I'm going to express my feelings with pictures a lot more
New member here.
I am a beginning Zen practitioner. I belong to a Zen specific web site, but decided to join also to learn as much as I can about Buddhism in general.
A little about me:
Married to a beautiful, but sometimes stubborn woman. I have 3 amazing daughters(ages 4,6, and 8). I have a B.A. in Philosophy, but I work as an electrician
Came to Buddhism after a crisis in faith about 6 years ago. Had been a Christian before that. After taking a mystical literature class(studied different texts/traditions, but Dogen Zenji really did it for me) I spent 3-4 years of intellectual thought then finally decided to sit down and shut up. Well, not really the shut up part.
Looking forward to discussion with everyone,
Tom Robinson
Welcome aboard.
Love & Peace
Joe
.
danny boy
peace
Welcome to the forum!
I was brought up Jewish and attended Reform and Conservative congregations growing up. I drifted away from Judaism in my mid- to late 20s, and I last attended shul in September 2001.
I came to Buddhism through my study of psychology, in particular CBT and other forms of therapy that teach patients to think about how they think. I was first attracted to Buddhism by way of the practice of mindfulness. I found mindfulness meditation very helpful in my own efforts to deal with feelings of anxiety and guilt.
Ultimately, I also found Buddhist teachings were able to answer my questions about good, evil and suffering.
If any of you use Twitter, you can find me there. My Twitter nom de plume is @iDharma.
I'm looking forward to learning from you all.