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Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
The christmas lights are up here. Significantly less buy-in than last year unfortunately. I do like all the lights at night. I suppose I'm somewhere in between you both...a bit of rain and everything's soggy. Happy to hear your dad's on the mend @Jeroen
Yes It sounds like winter has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere... I've just been watching the news, minus 15 in parts of Scotland and lots of snow in London....
0
Fosdickin its eye are mirrored far off mountainsAlaska, USAVeteran
Three feet of snow on the ground here and more on the way. If not for our neighbor plowing us out, we would be stuck in the house until April.
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
It was a lucky escape for him in the end. A week of time in bed and rest with bruises and contusions is not so bad, it could have been a lot worse.
Did you know that there was a time when doctors went on strike in the UK? The death rate actually went down by 30%. There’s something to be said for the attitude that the body knows best how to heal itself.
@Fosdick said:
Three feet of snow on the ground here and more on the way. If not for our neighbor plowing us out, we would be stuck in the house until April.
Wow...sounds like it's going to be a white Xmas for you @Fosdick ....It's bloody hot and humid here, not the best when one is trying to sleep...
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I’ve been reading some Ayahuasca experience reports, it’s interesting how people cope with their habits and traumas, in some ways it compares with working with one’s inner compass during meditation.
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Just to show how dangerous my dad’s traffic accident was: his electric bike is total loss, the stainless steel frame has split, the electrics don’t work anymore and it’s beyond repairing, according to the bicycle repair shop. It must have been quite an impact.
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Hope our american members are coping alright with the extreme weather over there…
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
My father is now in Lanzarote, in La Geria or somewhere close to there.
Well I just had lunch in Auckland with 'all' my children who for the first since 2006 have all been in Aotearoa at the same time...
They live in different countries, one son in London another in Budapest and another in Berlin and my daughter is the only one who still lives in Aotearoa ....
We had a really nice lunch at a Kiwi Mexican cafe called Taco Medic not far from the ferry terminal ....
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
@Shoshin1 said:
They live in different countries, one son in London another in Budapest and another in Berlin and my daughter is the only one who still lives in Aotearoa
World travellers, obviously… usually people stay within the countries where they speak the language but your kids seem to have moved out far and wide.
World travellers, obviously… usually people stay within the countries where they speak the language but your kids seem to have moved out far and wide.
Yes and at one stage I had them in the four corners of the world...
The oldest lived in Asia, Japan,(teaching English 6 years) the second oldest in Europe, Hungary (working for a European company where English was the business language, he's been in Hungary around 8/9 years ), the youngest in South America, Peru (an exchange student living for a while in Iquitos in the Amazon, was in Peru for around a year, but now he's lived in Berlin for almost 5 years) and my daughter here in Aotearoa (she's travelled quite a bit, visiting her siblings, relatives and friends in different countries and also travelled for her work) ......
Apart from my daughter, the other have all lived in London at one stage, the eldest moved from Japan to London and still resides there...the other two after a stint in London, (two or three years) headed to Europe...
The oldest speaks Japanese and Spanish, the youngest speaks Spanish and German, plus a smattering of other European languages, the one in Hungary can understand Hungarian, but doesn't really speak it ( I think he has been learning Hungarian taking online classes) , his Hungarian partner speaks fluent English and so do most of their Hungarian friends...
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
This seems to be taking reverse psychology to an extreme, by being the most honest brand of booze out there…
Well today was a break from the rain we have been having over the last week...
The track to the beach was quite muddy/sloshy, so I had to use the wooden rails otherwise I would be slip sliding away...
The most sloshy part was also the steepest part ...tough going down .not too bad going up but had to use the rail for support, or I'd go for a tumble ...
Tomorrow we are expecting the remnants of cyclone Hale to hit, so more rain and strong winds to come...
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Yes, I count my blessings everyday...However ......in this part of the world (especially Aotearoa & Australia) we have a bit of a problem with the gap in the ozone, so it can feel a lot hotter temperature wise than it really is and this as increase due to the volcanic eruption in Tonga in 2021...and according to scientists, this widening of the gap has increased the intensity of the sun's rays...
Anyhow, on a lighter note, on this morning's jolk I spotted a dog shark ( apologises for the poor quality of the video)...It turns out its human companion had attached a float with a shark fin onto the dog's back, she takes the dog for a swim most mornings however this morning she thought it would entertain some of the beach goers (which it did)...
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Maybe so, maybe so… I think not-self(ishness) is meant in a slightly different way, although perhaps having comprehended anatta makes it easier to do from a practical point of view.
Many years ago in Vancouver we had a number of Buddhists, all from different traditions, organize into a volleyball team for a local community tournament. During the summer we would occasionally have Volleyball practice sessions at the beach. This was what some called Buddhism at the beach.
One of my most favorite Volleyball/picnic summer beach practices involved ourselves and the husband of one of our members who brought his own group of Sufis along to join in.
So on one side of the net were Buddhists who tended not to pay much attention to the boundaries of the game while on the other side was the Sufis who spent much of their time twirling while playing. It was both surreal and one of the most laugh-filled afternoons of Buddhism at the beach that I experienced.
@Shoshin1 said:
Yesterday evening we had Buddhism on the Beach ...The days are getting longer and warmer...
Buddhism on the Beach sounds like a great cocktail!
We do have a tea cocktail during discussions and after meditation.... a blend of different herbal teas and nibbles...But alas at times the number of attendants dwindle ...this is to be expected...nothing is permanent ....change is inevitable ...commitment optional
A company I worked for back in the early 1980s in Sydney, use to do a similar thing...It was part of the job...
When we visited a client home to do an house inspection and the client offered us a cup of tea... After the inspection, we would sit and have a cup of tea with the client...We were allowed one and half hours to do the inspection and more often than not the inspection only took 50 minutes to an hour, so for the rest of the time we would socialise with the client...and the idea behind this was the same as the above ...
We may have been the only human company some of the elderly clients who lived alone had had a cup of tea and a friendly chat with in a long while...I could tell that some forward to our visits,,,
And when I think about it, along with empathy & compassion, It was also an opportunity to practice patience...helping (be it in a small way) to relieve the sense of loneliness some of the elderly clients felt....A win win situation...
I wouldn't say that the company I worked for sole purpose was a humanitarian one, like most companies they were out to make a profit, but they were not driven by a time is money attitude...
@how said:
Many years ago in Vancouver we had a number of Buddhists, all from different traditions, organize into a volleyball team for a local community tournament. During the summer we would occasionally have Volleyball practice sessions at the beach. This was what some called Buddhism at the beach.
One of my most favorite Volleyball/picnic summer beach practices involved ourselves and the husband of one of our members who brought his own group of Sufis along to join in.
So on one side of the net were Buddhists who tended not to pay much attention to the boundaries of the game while on the other side was the Sufis who spent much of their time twirling while playing. It was both surreal and one of the most laugh-filled afternoons of Buddhism at the beach that I experienced.
seems like a team plan …
We could have Christians for kneeling shots and atheists to argue with taoist opposition, who would always lose.
Yes my sister who is in London said it's been freezing there and the same thing frost covering the ground....I guess it is to be expected, Jan & Feb normally being cold months there and the warmest months in this part of the world....
New Zealand Do you have wild fruit trees there? Like a mango grove? Here in Lanza, we are getting a bit of well deserved rain for our plants to keep thriving. My aloe vera experiment is going well. None have died so far
@Kotishka said:
New Zealand Do you have wild fruit trees there? Like a mango grove? Here in Lanza, we are getting a bit of well deserved rain for our plants to keep thriving. My aloe vera experiment is going well. None have died so far
In the warmer part of Aotearoa, north of the North Island mangoes are grown...On the island there are lots of banana trees in people's gardens, there were a couple of banana trees in one of the places I rented...Ladies fingers are the small variety of banana introduced from Samoa (Misi Luki in Samoan)
Just got home from work and checked the local community facebook page and was shocked when I saw the news that our Prime Minister Jacinda has resigned...
She has had a tough 5 and a half years having to deal with one crises after another , ...I feel blessed to live in a country under her kind and compassionate leadership and sad to see her go, but also happy now she can spend time with her family and have a well deserved rest...
Personally I think Jacinda has done a fantastic job
Nothing is permanent...not even outstanding PMs...
As a semitypical American I'm pretty oblivious to names, faces, and issues elsewhere on the planet. However, I will say that there have been numerous instances over the past few years where Jacinda Ardern has greatly impressed me.
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
The beach near my fathers appartment in Zandvoort, North Holland.
Managed to get a jolk in this morning before the rain set in again....
....more thunderstorms to come...and more floods and slips no doubt...
There's not been many reports of slips and flooding on the island but this could change...
My son is meant to be flying back to Berlin on Wednesday...there's a backlog of international flights due to both the domestic and international airports being flooded which caused major damage....
Just received this on my phone ( the same warning system for earthquakes)...
It's quite weird...there's a thunderstorm heavy rain, then the skies clear for a short time then another thunderstorm and more heavy rain...for example the skies have just cleared... making way for the next thunderstorm to arrive...
This morning's jolk ...A lone wind surfer riding the wind and waves
I could sense the exhilaration and adrenaline rush this wind surfer must have been having...bouncing over the wave, at times riding high above them...
Just received another Emergency Alert on my phone ...Code Red for the areas north of Auckland and Orange for Auckland ...The wind has picked up I'm guessing once it drops a bit then the heavy rains will begin again...It's meant to start around 5pm this evening and continue until 10am Wednesday
I was over in Auckland late morning/early afternoon, had a dental appointment ( the first of two fillings)...the ferry trips over and back were smooth for the most part, a bit choppy in some parts...no doubt after 5pm it's going to be a roller coaster ride for the commuters...
Great news...my son's just boarded his flight back to Berlin...
First perception could well be.... one of deception...
...but then the truth one sees...puts the mind at ease...
0
Fosdickin its eye are mirrored far off mountainsAlaska, USAVeteran
Saw a Northern Flying Squirrel on the bird feeder the other night - I'd been hoping to see one for the last fifty years. Cuter than the regular squirrel, bigger eyes. No picture - the window is too dirty and I haven't been able to find a squeegee to clean it. Nonetheless, here's is a photograph from the net -
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
For the first time in many years I feel sad and disappointed without any reason.
Imagine being so so mindful as to go for years always knowing the reason for ever feeling sad & disappointed.
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Yes! That was me, I was usually positive in mood, and when I felt sad or disappointed I knew why. And all of a sudden today, I am sad and disappointed without a clear reason. The mood has just taken me.
From the meditative perspective, I am not much of a fan of the deliberate inducing of
either moods of negativity or positivity. Both carry the seeds of their own potential suffering. Not that I'm insinuating that this is what you do.
Just that there is the first noble truth, that a practice can assuage for a while....until this too changes again like everything else..which signals and challenges our practice to find just as much acceptance within of that which feels uncomfortable as we formally did with that which was more comfortable or neutral in nature.
@Jeroen said:
For the first time in many years I feel sad and disappointed without any reason.
Thus have I heard..
Just as sadness is Dukkha, happiness is Dukkha both are unsatisfactory due to their nature....A desire for one to go away (aversion) and a longing for the other to stay (desire)
Both states are impermanent ...
Dukkha arises due to aversion towards one and clinging to the other...
And as @how has mentioned, we need to develop an acceptance of both experiences for what they are just energy in motion "feelings/emotions" which come and go...this acceptance I guess is what's known as the middle way...
Rumi sums it up...
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably._ He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
>
Comments
The 11th of December was the anniversary of Osho’s birth.
Yesterday evening we had Buddhism on the Beach ...The days are getting longer and warmer...
You could have fooled me… we are having a cold snap, nighttime temps are reaching -6 celsius.
The christmas lights are up here. Significantly less buy-in than last year unfortunately. I do like all the lights at night. I suppose I'm somewhere in between you both...a bit of rain and everything's soggy. Happy to hear your dad's on the mend @Jeroen
Yes It sounds like winter has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere... I've just been watching the news, minus 15 in parts of Scotland and lots of snow in London....
Three feet of snow on the ground here and more on the way. If not for our neighbor plowing us out, we would be stuck in the house until April.
It was a lucky escape for him in the end. A week of time in bed and rest with bruises and contusions is not so bad, it could have been a lot worse.
Did you know that there was a time when doctors went on strike in the UK? The death rate actually went down by 30%. There’s something to be said for the attitude that the body knows best how to heal itself.
Wow...sounds like it's going to be a white Xmas for you @Fosdick ....It's bloody hot and humid here, not the best when one is trying to sleep...
We all find our own way to aquanimity.
I’ve been reading some Ayahuasca experience reports, it’s interesting how people cope with their habits and traumas, in some ways it compares with working with one’s inner compass during meditation.
Just to show how dangerous my dad’s traffic accident was: his electric bike is total loss, the stainless steel frame has split, the electrics don’t work anymore and it’s beyond repairing, according to the bicycle repair shop. It must have been quite an impact.
Hope our american members are coping alright with the extreme weather over there…
My father is now in Lanzarote, in La Geria or somewhere close to there.
Well I just had lunch in Auckland with 'all' my children who for the first since 2006 have all been in Aotearoa at the same time...
They live in different countries, one son in London another in Budapest and another in Berlin and my daughter is the only one who still lives in Aotearoa ....
We had a really nice lunch at a Kiwi Mexican cafe called Taco Medic not far from the ferry terminal ....
World travellers, obviously… usually people stay within the countries where they speak the language but your kids seem to have moved out far and wide.
Yes and at one stage I had them in the four corners of the world...
The oldest lived in Asia, Japan,(teaching English 6 years) the second oldest in Europe, Hungary (working for a European company where English was the business language, he's been in Hungary around 8/9 years ), the youngest in South America, Peru (an exchange student living for a while in Iquitos in the Amazon, was in Peru for around a year, but now he's lived in Berlin for almost 5 years) and my daughter here in Aotearoa (she's travelled quite a bit, visiting her siblings, relatives and friends in different countries and also travelled for her work) ......
Apart from my daughter, the other have all lived in London at one stage, the eldest moved from Japan to London and still resides there...the other two after a stint in London, (two or three years) headed to Europe...
The oldest speaks Japanese and Spanish, the youngest speaks Spanish and German, plus a smattering of other European languages, the one in Hungary can understand Hungarian, but doesn't really speak it ( I think he has been learning Hungarian taking online classes) , his Hungarian partner speaks fluent English and so do most of their Hungarian friends...
This seems to be taking reverse psychology to an extreme, by being the most honest brand of booze out there…
http://alcoholicvodka.com/
Well today was a break from the rain we have been having over the last week...
The track to the beach was quite muddy/sloshy, so I had to use the wooden rails otherwise I would be slip sliding away...
The most sloshy part was also the steepest part ...tough going down .not too bad going up but had to use the rail for support, or I'd go for a tumble ...
Tomorrow we are expecting the remnants of cyclone Hale to hit, so more rain and strong winds to come...
It’s a beautiful place, @shoshin1
Yes, I count my blessings everyday...However ......in this part of the world (especially Aotearoa & Australia) we have a bit of a problem with the gap in the ozone, so it can feel a lot hotter temperature wise than it really is and this as increase due to the volcanic eruption in Tonga in 2021...and according to scientists, this widening of the gap has increased the intensity of the sun's rays...
Anyhow, on a lighter note, on this morning's jolk I spotted a dog shark ( apologises for the poor quality of the video)...It turns out its human companion had attached a float with a shark fin onto the dog's back, she takes the dog for a swim most mornings however this morning she thought it would entertain some of the beach goers (which it did)...
Is this anatta?
Maybe so, maybe so… I think not-self(ishness) is meant in a slightly different way, although perhaps having comprehended anatta makes it easier to do from a practical point of view.
Buddhism on the Beach sounds like a great cocktail!
Many years ago in Vancouver we had a number of Buddhists, all from different traditions, organize into a volleyball team for a local community tournament. During the summer we would occasionally have Volleyball practice sessions at the beach. This was what some called Buddhism at the beach.
One of my most favorite Volleyball/picnic summer beach practices involved ourselves and the husband of one of our members who brought his own group of Sufis along to join in.
So on one side of the net were Buddhists who tended not to pay much attention to the boundaries of the game while on the other side was the Sufis who spent much of their time twirling while playing. It was both surreal and one of the most laugh-filled afternoons of Buddhism at the beach that I experienced.
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful memory
We do have a tea cocktail during discussions and after meditation.... a blend of different herbal teas and nibbles...But alas at times the number of attendants dwindle ...this is to be expected...nothing is permanent ....change is inevitable ...commitment optional
A company I worked for back in the early 1980s in Sydney, use to do a similar thing...It was part of the job...
When we visited a client home to do an house inspection and the client offered us a cup of tea... After the inspection, we would sit and have a cup of tea with the client...We were allowed one and half hours to do the inspection and more often than not the inspection only took 50 minutes to an hour, so for the rest of the time we would socialise with the client...and the idea behind this was the same as the above ...
We may have been the only human company some of the elderly clients who lived alone had had a cup of tea and a friendly chat with in a long while...I could tell that some forward to our visits,,,
And when I think about it, along with empathy & compassion, It was also an opportunity to practice patience...helping (be it in a small way) to relieve the sense of loneliness some of the elderly clients felt....A win win situation...
I wouldn't say that the company I worked for sole purpose was a humanitarian one, like most companies they were out to make a profit, but they were not driven by a time is money attitude...
seems like a team plan …
We could have Christians for kneeling shots and atheists to argue with taoist opposition, who would always lose.
long ago I started the spiritual olympics …
https://web.archive.org/web/20060718233622/http://pages.britishlibrary.net/lobster/so/events.htm
meanwhile:
https://stottilien.com/2013/04/03/crazy-wisdom-the-archetype-of-the-fool-the-clown-the-jester-and-the-trickster/
It’s no longer raining outside and the birds are tweeting.
Well what can I say .... it's bloody hot today ..and it feels like I'm melting away...
Its 2 degrees below zero and frost is covering the ground…
Yes my sister who is in London said it's been freezing there and the same thing frost covering the ground....I guess it is to be expected, Jan & Feb normally being cold months there and the warmest months in this part of the world....
New Zealand
Do you have wild fruit trees there? Like a mango grove? Here in Lanza, we are getting a bit of well deserved rain for our plants to keep thriving. My aloe vera experiment is going well. None have died so far 
In the warmer part of Aotearoa, north of the North Island mangoes are grown...On the island there are lots of banana trees in people's gardens, there were a couple of banana trees in one of the places I rented...Ladies fingers are the small variety of banana introduced from Samoa (Misi Luki in Samoan)
This project was started a few years ago Waiheke Food Map
wot they haz different weather in different parts of the world?
Here is a moose, demonstrating moose tai chi spiralling energy
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-moose-sheds-antlers-1.6716287?__vfz=medium=sharebar
You will have to cut and paste that 'link' into your browser
Sorry it is not properly provided/formatted
Just got home from work and checked the local community facebook page and was shocked when I saw the news that our Prime Minister Jacinda has resigned...
She has had a tough 5 and a half years having to deal with one crises after another , ...I feel blessed to live in a country under her kind and compassionate leadership and sad to see her go, but also happy now she can spend time with her family and have a well deserved rest...
Personally I think Jacinda has done a fantastic job
Nothing is permanent...not even outstanding PMs...
As a semitypical American I'm pretty oblivious to names, faces, and issues elsewhere on the planet. However, I will say that there have been numerous instances over the past few years where Jacinda Ardern has greatly impressed me.
The beach near my fathers appartment in Zandvoort, North Holland.
It's bucketing down...It started overnight on Thursday and hasn't stopped...Quite a bit of flooding....
245 mms of rain fell in 24 hours, and yesterday evening between 7pm and 8 pm,
71 mms fell...Floods and slips all over Auckland....
Managed to get a jolk in this morning before the rain set in again....
....more thunderstorms to come...and more floods and slips no doubt...
There's not been many reports of slips and flooding on the island but this could change...
My son is meant to be flying back to Berlin on Wednesday...there's a backlog of international flights due to both the domestic and international airports being flooded which caused major damage....
Just received this on my phone ( the same warning system for earthquakes)...
It's quite weird...there's a thunderstorm heavy rain, then the skies clear for a short time then another thunderstorm and more heavy rain...for example the skies have just cleared... making way for the next thunderstorm to arrive...
This morning's jolk ...A lone wind surfer riding the wind and waves
I could sense the exhilaration and adrenaline rush this wind surfer must have been having...bouncing over the wave, at times riding high above them...
Just received another Emergency Alert on my phone ...Code Red for the areas north of Auckland and Orange for Auckland ...The wind has picked up I'm guessing once it drops a bit then the heavy rains will begin again...It's meant to start around 5pm this evening and continue until 10am Wednesday
I was over in Auckland late morning/early afternoon, had a dental appointment ( the first of two fillings)...the ferry trips over and back were smooth for the most part, a bit choppy in some parts...no doubt after 5pm it's going to be a roller coaster ride for the commuters...
Great news...my son's just boarded his flight back to Berlin...
First perception could well be.... one of deception...
...but then the truth one sees...puts the mind at ease...
Saw a Northern Flying Squirrel on the bird feeder the other night - I'd been hoping to see one for the last fifty years. Cuter than the regular squirrel, bigger eyes. No picture - the window is too dirty and I haven't been able to find a squeegee to clean it. Nonetheless, here's is a photograph from the net -
For the first time in many years I feel sad and disappointed without any reason.
Imagine being so so mindful as to go for years always knowing the reason for ever feeling sad & disappointed.
Yes! That was me, I was usually positive in mood, and when I felt sad or disappointed I knew why. And all of a sudden today, I am sad and disappointed without a clear reason. The mood has just taken me.
From the meditative perspective, I am not much of a fan of the deliberate inducing of
either moods of negativity or positivity. Both carry the seeds of their own potential suffering. Not that I'm insinuating that this is what you do.
Just that there is the first noble truth, that a practice can assuage for a while....until this too changes again like everything else..which signals and challenges our practice to find just as much acceptance within of that which feels uncomfortable as we formally did with that which was more comfortable or neutral in nature.
Thus have I heard..
Just as sadness is Dukkha, happiness is Dukkha both are unsatisfactory due to their nature....A desire for one to go away (aversion) and a longing for the other to stay (desire)
Both states are impermanent ...
Dukkha arises due to aversion towards one and clinging to the other...
And as @how has mentioned, we need to develop an acceptance of both experiences for what they are just energy in motion "feelings/emotions" which come and go...this acceptance I guess is what's known as the middle way...
Rumi sums it up...
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably._
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
>