May we grow metta in our hearts.

May all be well and happy.

May little dust be in our eyes.

May the conditions be ripe for us to walk the path.

May we help make the conditions ripe to see the path.

Merry B'day.

Agree with most of the advice here. Do something that you will enjoy, with or without others.

It is a sad thing to rely on others for your own happiness. Doesn't mean you should be selfish.

Its like if you wanna eat, gotta learn to fish. Not wait for someone to give it to you. But you can find someone who is willing to teach you. Next time you can pass it forward too to someone else who needs that skill.

Just nice its a new year in your life, you should think about it. Grow into a more capable person rather than a needier one. But most of all enjoy your day, you sound like you have years of youth ahead.

Metta

er.. guys, i really like reading your comments but maybe if you stuck to the topic?

or is this your demonstration of how individual's egos can contribute to religious movements having egos?

Originally posted by mountaintop:

Buddhists believe in solving problems and conflicts through peaceful solutions. Sadly, not everyone, Buddhists and Non-Buddhists included, share this view. We can only pray now that peace and calm, would befall on the country soon.

not everyone who claims to be buddhist really follows the buddha's teachings. And how many of us that try to follow, can do so mindfully momment to momment? For those of us who have not completely tamed our minds, we would still be susceptible to greed hatred and delusion right?

Those of us, when faring better, we can dedicate our practice and blessings to those who are more unfortunate. People in dafur, iraq, burma, those in natural disasters and those without faculties and other conditions to practise and realise the dhamma.

May all beings see the true nature of all conditioned things and emerge from the murky waters imparing our vision.

someone mentioned this idea that suicide will deepen one's reliance in the 'i' due to the intense craving for the object the victim was fixated upon believing death was the only way..

that one hard to turn back to the shore i suppose, at least for awhile.

Oh you are mistaken, he said heart of protecting FROM others.

Protecting oneself from others. That's what you meant right, sinweiy?

Originally posted by bohiruci:

soemt is a southern school , please refrain from using emptiness teaching
you are making people unwelcome in Wisdom Bliss lor

Thanks for the concern bro, but love to hear views that i may not be familiar with also, best thing in a forum like this. If you remember also there were a few of us that loved to talk about emptiness back in poly days. Also curious about what concerns are behind the voices.

much gratitude

Originally posted by An Eternal Now:

What I said there about no-thinker and anatta is one of the main doctrines of Theravada.

In fact stressed in Theravada... to constantly experience the arising and passing of each thought and each moment of experience, this is one of the subjects of Vipassana practise.

good info as always.
It may be due to the emphasis on other teachings to lay peoples that this practise is overlooked. The meditation teachers will usually emphasise this to more experienced yogis. You can find such teachings form venerable ones such as the late ajahn chah.

There is much that we can learn from others and ourselves. One great advantage of discussion platforms such as a forum.

Originally posted by sinweiy:

you cannot have the heart of hurting people, but you still need the heart of protecting from people.

i say the heart of protecting from people also cannot have. very tiring...everytime suspect this suspect that.

/\

How about the heart of protecting people? Especially in line with the precepts.
i tend to lean towards the protect others and you protect yourself idea in this context.

this saying keeps coming to mind when i think about the topic on suicide.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
-Lao Tzu

Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:

You watched Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring again?

can this be a koan?

Originally posted by Xprobe:

touchy...does my posting create unrest in you?

Keep that Don't know mind!

hee just another stray thought

really really? :]

Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:

I believe that Karma as believed in Buddhism is very unreal.

sorry a stray thought from the topic.

but just wondering if anyone else saw these questions that follow:

what is real? what is not? are words real? ideas? is real really real?

thanks for the wealth of info as always..)

i think i want to go try catching some thoughts and leave imagining reality form words.

something to think about on views

"Monks, there are these two conditions for the arising of wrong view. Which two? The voice of another and inappropriate attention. These are the two conditions for the arising of wrong view."

"Monks, there are these two conditions for the arising of right view. Which two? The voice of another and appropriate attention. These are the two conditions for the arising of right view."

from Ghosa Suttas, Anguttara Nikaya 2.125-126

thank you for the pointers toward freedom.

AEN, no it is not my koan practise for i'm not familar with koans.

Originally posted by An Eternal Now:

What is the 'thinker'? Isn't it just another thought?

thats my homework.

Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:

No such thing as a psychological death. I can understand diminished personality from having a lobotomy but your psychological death is kinda nonsensical.

hehe i see why you are known for your references to lobotomy in your posts

maybe try to see it like this:

if one sees and realises that what one has been using to identify and address oneself as is no longer true, no longer accurate, maybe even funny, what would one do?

what would you do? can you not say that this psychological image of your self has died? and if your thinking has changed then are you not psychologically changed? died and reborn? how many times have you actually changed this way in your life?

if one has not studied one's own being in terms of physical and mental phenomena to a certain degree, it may be hard to appreciate this concept not to mention understand it.

so take the simple-yet-often-passed footpath to the hills of self discovery sometimes, taking time off from the fast and furious highway to the shiny bright lights of the cities of desires and possesions

Originally posted by goldevil:

although I do not eat meat , when I go near the supermarket , I would still be attracted by the smell of the meat especially roasted ones .

is this a bad karma ?

does this attraction bring detriment or wellbeing to you?

Originally posted by paperflower:

i ever pondered...

if one thinks...

then one has not 'not found' the thinker

Originally posted by An Eternal Now:

I think you might get a better answer from http://islam.sgforums.com

Yes it is not only harmful to others religious groups when we criticize without full awareness to whether there are truely reliable accounts to the negative image we have. We also harm our own "group" by giving a bad impression to others.

There is a saying that goes something like: "the tongue is like an axe that can harm others and oneself if not wielded with care."

I think everyone posting here could use a drink of cool water, a step back and enjoy the flow of this simple yet rejuvenating potion through our physical beings as if it were flowing into a large yet tranquil lake.

like my younger brother said when he was but a toddler: "water tastes good!"

Hello friends,
interesting i must say how Xephone thinks..

i'm do not know your intention for starting this thread, so i shall not speculate on it.

i wonder if you are into the idea that sexual reproduction is an important goal for humankind to to keep us from going extinct. That it would be the responsible thing for every human to try to have kids?

In human society today having kids will be expected of couples by their parents especially and other relatives and this is the norm. There are a variety of reasons for this, mostly it is a traditional norm. But the core reasons why it is still popular would i think are because bringing up children helps parents to develop good human qualities and that is valued in many levels of society.

Couples themselves would want kids for a variety of reasons, some considered less sound like too much pressure from families and people in their lives. Since such decisions are made under stress so it is a negative way to have children.

Considered more sound would be the couple want a child/children of their own, the joy that a child could bring into their lives, which they might feel incomplete without it. This one would be a much more positive way to consider childbearing and most couples i imagine would want it to be this way.

However both starts cannot guarantee a good child-rearing experience and even harder to say if the child will turn out as a good or bad person in society.

Looking at the idea that one would be responsible only if to have children for the perpetuation or even the good of of humankind, how is it different from the stress one gets from the first example? Not much i reckon.

Even if say one were to believe in such a responsibility, and enjoy fulfilling it, although it may agree with a national policy encouraging one to have more children to prevent an ever-growing graying population, does it seem morally right to you? Bringing a human life into the world is a decision you make for that life. The value should be worth more than just using that innocent life to make a country more populous or youthful for the sake of material prosperity. That goes the same for the idea to perpetuate the existence of the human species.

A responsible being, i would imagine, considers many factors before deciding whether to have offspring. Factors pertaining to whether it is even good or safe for the child to be born at that time or place. Taking into consideration the wellbeing of this life that you can bring into this world should take precedence over even the biological desire of all beings to have offspring even if that desire gives very "good vibes". Humans are capable of such thought which allows for compassion and altrusim usually attributed to higher beings and holy saints.

We have the brain power and thinking capabilities to break old habits and develop ones that make life more worthwhile, meaningful. We can literally, think our way out of problems. As some would agree as it was through thinking in particular ways that problems seem to exist in the first place. It is easy to follow a popular idea/belief and many examples exist in traditions, cultures around the world. Not many seem to take the time to piece the jigsaw in life on their own, checking if each piece fits with another.

It is good to think but more important to look. For what good is thinking when it is about things we did not look clearly at? We might just end up with a complete but mis-solved puzzle.