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what is your story?

In many traditions we learn by example stories. So the story goes and we are left in our own play. For example:

  • am I the teller of my own being?
  • who is the interruption?
  • Are we a break from a perfect tale?

Vajrayana creates a story we enter, resonate and leave. Others have faith in a perfected wording/mantra. Some say the dream is not worth attending.

Once upon a time …

David

Comments

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    Which K cup to select? "northern" pikes place ground.. or the Peppermint Mocha that unexpected was not sweet treat but rather flavored java beans.

    • Yes but not the only one at the plate
    • ?
    • Yes of course
  • It's like I keep losing the map to town and I gotta figure it out all over again. Every time I show up I'm covered in brambles with a goofy smile and a "hey guys!"

    • Seems more like the observer of it.

    • Delusion leading to ignorance laziness and fear.

    • I think the delusion is the tale. We are the break?

  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran

    I guess because we follow by example, it makes sense that we try to identify with the charactors and their plights. The "moral to the story" makes it all the easier to want them to win.

    I think if we finally see how we've been conditioned, it makes it easier to change the conditioned response to something more skillful. The less we act strictly according to how we've been conditioned, the more we can consciously decide how to play the game.

    I have a sneaky feeling that we are all living a Jataka Tale.

    We love our stories.

    FleaMarketlobster
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    I had a whole series of dreams a few years ago that seemed to tell a story… it was about a race who were moving by spaceship from one planet to another one, it was very sci-fi.

  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    I feel that is right @David.
    In a sense we are following the Buddhas path, however we construct that identity. Conditioning will always be with us, perhaps in degrees of subtlety, to rebel against, refine, let go of, let be etc.

    Stories 'r us.

    Increasingly we can separate out the individual from their karmic wrapping.

    It is this settled being that comes forward and we become sensitive to in others.

  • Shoshin1Shoshin1 Veteran

    what is your story?

    For the most part it's fiction, one of mystery & imagination, the plot changes moment to moment... It's a work in progress...

  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    edited May 2022

    What do the stories we tell, tell us about us?
    https://www.youtube.com/c/LikeStoriesofOld

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    If the self is not, who remains to play in the story, or indeed to tell the story?

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    Today’s story is to do with doctors, and poop. It’s not pretty. My elderly stepfather has been suffering from an obstructed bowel, which means he either can’t shit, or has to shit very urgently and produces liquid stuff. So yesterday my mother and him went to the GP who gave them a series of bottles to inject up his backside, which would cleanse out the large bowel. But my stepfather is understandably nervous about this and won’t allow my mother to administer set bottles. He wants a nurse to do it. So now we have to try and arrange a visit by a nurse, which is requiring a lot of phone calls.

    Thus far the story…

    KotishkaFleaMarketBunks
  • Life is an enigma
    You have a lifetime to work on it
    But don't stress
    You are here now

    Bunks
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited June 2022

    The poop story, episode 2. For those who were grounded by and perhaps also slightly alarmed by yesterdays episode. The neighborhood nurse came and injected the bottles, which led to several hours spent in the bathroom by my stepfather. Reliable reports reached me of several stone or clay-like lumps being passed, which were what had been obstructing the bowel. Strangely enough, after this my stepfather’s recall has been much improved, his memory is suddenly working again. Perhaps something to do with the gut-brain being relieved — did you know the body’s second largest accumulation of neurons is in the gut? Its about one-third as many neurons as are in your brain.

    Will leave it at that.

  • SuraShineSuraShine South Australia Veteran

    My story has been as I suspect, very similar to many here. After being frustrated at again becoming lax on my path and in turn discontent and a bit nihilistic with things, I did an intense meditation this morning focusing on Green Tara. With a renewed sense of purpose I have rebuilt my altar, cleaned out my room, retaken my Bodhisattva Vows from my Green Tara Empowerment last year and kicked my own arse into gear.

    We'll see how long I can sustain it. But given the pain I am feeling in my heart over world events, I am yearning to DO something useful and meaningful with my practise instead of lament and wring my hands uselessly each day.

    Bunkslobstermarcitko
  • VimalajātiVimalajāti Whitby, Ontario Veteran
    edited June 2022

    Here's a weird freaky story:

    One day, Jesus died, and while he was on the cross, his body briefly disappeared, and he entered into hell.

    Hades said unto Belial: “As I perceive, a god cometh hither.”

    The angels cried unto the archons, saying: “Remove your gates, ye princes, remove the everlasting doors, for behold the King of glory cometh down!”

    Hades said: “Who is the King of glory, that cometh down from heaven unto us?” and when Jesus had descended five hundred steps, Hades was troubled, saying: “He cometh with great fragrance and I cannot bear it!”

    But Belial answered and said: “Submit not thyself, O Hades, but be strong: for God himself hath not descended upon the earth.”

    But when Jesus had descended yet five hundred more steps, the angels and the archons cried out: “Take hold, remove the doors, for behold the King of glory cometh down!”

    And Hades said: “O, woe unto me, for I hear the breath of God!”

    And the Devil said unto Hades: “Look carefully. Who is that? For it is Elias, or Enoch, or one of the prophets that this man seemeth to me to be.”

    But Hades answered the Devil and said: “Not yet are six thousand years accomplished. And whence are these, O Belial; for the sum of the number is in mine hands!”

    "Six thousand years" and "the sum of the number is in mine hands" are trivia. We'll deal with them later maybe, but suffice to say, they deal with an old first-century Palestinian legend that Elias and Enoch will appear six thousand years after they disappeared from this earth.

    Compare with another freaky weird story:

    The Lord answered him, “Noble son, Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara entered the great Avīci hell just as a cakravartin king enters a grove made of divine jewels. Noble son, it had no effect upon his body. As he approached the Avīci hell, it cooled. The beings that were Yama’s guards were in a state of agitation and extremely terrified.

    They wondered, ‘Why has an inauspicious sign appeared in this Avīci hell?’ When the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara entered the Avīci hell, lotus flowers the size of cartwheels appeared, [hell] burst open, and the inferno of fire transformed into a pool. On seeing these inauspicious signs appear in Avīci hell, Yama’s guardians became dismayed. Then Yama’s guardians gathered their swords, clubs, short spears, long spears, maces, discuses, tridents, and so on, and, taking all their Avīci utensils, went to the Dharmarāja Yamarāja.

    "‘When they arrived, they told him, ‘Divine One, know first that our place of work is completely destroyed.’

    "Dharmarāja Yamarāja asked them, ‘Why is your place of work completely destroyed?’

    "Yama’s guardians answered, ‘Divine One, know first that an inauspicious omen appeared in this Avīci hell, all of which became peaceful and cool. There entered a handsome being, with his hair in a topknot, his body beautified by divine adornments, with an extremely loving mind, and resembling a golden statue. That is the kind of being that arrived. The moment he arrived, lotus flowers the size of cartwheels appeared, [hell] burst open, and the inferno of fire was transformed into a pool.’

    "Yamarāja wondered, ‘What deity has manifested this power? Is this a special result that has occurred through the blessing of the deity Maheśvara, Nārāyaṇa, or some other deity? Have they descended to this level? Or has a powerful rākṣasa been born who rivals great Rāvaṇa?’ He looked with his divine sight into the heavens, wondering whose blessing this could be.

    "Then he looked back into the Avīci hell and saw Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara there.”

    lobster
  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    how fantastical @Vimalajāti

    Most of us go up and down through these elevator phantasms as @SuraShine mentions. If inspired, useful. Otherwise just Game of Thrones mysticism …
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkabah_mysticism

    As I said to The Buddha only this morning, 'Where ya going buddy?'
    May have just been talking to myself of course … ;)

    SuraShine
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