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May 20th, 2008
rainbow_winx
 | 10:43 am - New Interest
Hi. This is my first post to this community. I have recently become interested in Buddhism. I am currently in between religions right now and I'm trying to find out if this is for me. The other week, I found a small Buddha statue and bought it. I have always wanted one-don't know why. I know some people think it's strange to get/want something you know nothing about but I've always wanted one. He is in my purse right now. My friend has Buddist beliefs but she had to destroy all of her Buddhas because somebody put a curse on them! I want to find out as much as I can about this-as well how to avoid something like that happening to me! Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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dwaleberry
 | 01:28 pm - A Neuronal Satori
Consciousness, being the result of the collective firing of neuronal networks, some of which are not only monitoring other networks but also looping in on themselves and becoming self-referencing, can be likened to a vastly complex melody played by thousands of violins that is is not only aware of its own existence, but can also exert, up to a certain degree, an influence upon the strings that contribute to its own existence. Once one violin changes its play, the melody changes, if only in volume, but the more strings remain silent, the more the ephemeral melody vanishes until all is silent. The violins are not the melody, nor vice versa.
Memories being activated net clusters of neurons that changed their cellular firing patterns and neuronal connections due to electrical signal patterns generated by events in the past, consciousness can reference prior experiences by activating relevant neuronal clusters.
The sense of self, therefore, largely derives itself from the memories of what happened to us in the past and how we reacted to them. Yet those memories were imprinted by someone else! The person you are now is very different from the person you were 10 or 20 years ago yet we say to ourselves that "we" experienced it, while in reality it was someone very different. It is as if we built our identity by reading a book and identifying ourselves with the character depicted therein, perhaps scoffing at this analogy only because the information imprinted on our memory neurons are much more readily available to us, giving us the illusion of these memories being "ours".
The self, consciousness building itself an identity from the memories of someone very different, then becomes unveiled as a construct that strives for stable continuance by grabbing one mask after the other, saying "this is me" while it is, in reality, nothing more than a transient melody that changes continually from one moment to the next.
Opinions?
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May 19th, 2008
erikted
 | 08:34 pm - Buddhist Blogs?
What's you favorite Buddhist blog/LJ and why?
( My picks )
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vijeno
 | 05:32 pm - Anatta and transcendence
When we say no-self, wouldn't it be closer to the truth to say that the self gets transcended? That it's still there on one level, and on a greater level, it's just not important anymore? Is that another way of saying that form is emptiness and emptiness is form?
This might well be one aspect where I am at odds with buddhist teachings, and probably would stay that way, so it's of some importance to me to find out about your opinions!
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May 18th, 2008
doi_bung
 | 10:25 pm - Le Phat Dan - Celebration of Buddha's Birthday in Memphis, TN....
( Watch the Video )
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standardbyke500
 | 03:55 pm - My First Retreat
Hello,
I am new to the community. I have been practicing for about 4 months, and the awareness I've gained in that time has been amazing. I practice at a meditation center near my home a couple times a week, and just did my first half-day retreat yesterday. It consisted of sitting meditation, walking meditation, Dharma talks, a tea break, and more sitting and walking meditation. I really enjoyed it and found it to be a great experience. I only knew a couple people there, but by the end I felt this strange bond with everyone, just after half a day with them. I am looking forward to doing more retreats and growing deeper in my practice. I am also grateful to find this community. Thanks for reading.
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owl_clan
 | 02:17 pm - Buddhism isn't profound, except when it is
Far beyond deluded thoughts, this is Nirvana...
It's a minor amusement when you think about it, but Buddhism's gentle request is that we work diligently to overcome the stories we tell ourselves. When we hear some profound teaching, which helps us to understand something about our experience (such as a great theory/story on death and rebirth or the defeating of suffering) we think it's quite awesome, and we're happy. But then you meditate more and you begin to see through the story. This is not to say that a good story is false or untrue; this is to say that relative truths (like all stories) have a use, and a limit.
Buddhism "ends" (not that it really ever "began") in a place of no story at all. Beyond deluded thoughts, beyond the "beginning and the end", in a reference-free void where the mind is aroused but no longer resting on any concept or object of mind. There's no more story- just the experience of boundless freedom. So when you think about it, what we need for "profundity" to exist isn't there, either. There's nothing at all profound about freedom. For a deluded mind, the idea of freedom is profound because it's contrasted with deluded ideas like delusion or slavery or suffering. But even those things are just attachments, stories we tell ourselves. When they are gone, even what we thought we knew about "freedom" is also gone.
Buddhism: The Virus that Erases Religious Programs from the Hard Drive and then Deletes Itself
By the logic I was discussing above (not that I care much about logic), there's nothing profound about the natural state. If Buddhism can be considered a meta-story, which exists to undo our habitual dominant storylines (and the rest of our flaming little shite that we think is so important), then enlightenment is a subordinate storyline, an exception-outcome storyline that gradually takes apart our personal narratives, and even undoes itself, one day.
With most religions, you begin with a narrative, and work to maintain it. With Buddhism, you begin with a narrative which you work to gradually lose or dissolve. Even if you think you'll hold on to Buddhism, you won't- if you follow the Dharmic path properly, it vanishes of its own accord- it becomes lighter and simpler until it doesn't exist at all; you've crossed the water by that time and you don't need the raft anymore. That's a pretty profound thought, but only to the story-drunk people here, like you and me. When the wisdom recognizing reality reaches its full power, there's nothing profound remaining.
Ha! I just realized a trans-linguistic barrier pun! Buddhism the Meta-story, and Buddhism the Metta-story! Ha! Hahahah!
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May 17th, 2008
ocha_no_hanashi
 | 06:46 pm - Religious facilities?
Buddhists generally devote themselves to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Some even devote themselves to their Guru, too. Sangha does not necessarily have to be a massive congregation complete with a giant golden statue of Buddha. Just a few people and a mud mound vaguely shaped like a meditating Buddha is enough so it has been said.
However, I should like to ask:
How important are religious facilities to you?
By this I mean temples, retreat centers, altar rooms, statues, etc...? Does a physical infrastructure hinder or aid your practice?
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okmyturn
 | 05:27 pm - Dealing with Tengu
My practice must be reaching a pinnacle, as I now have supernatural interference. Tengu have been appearing all over my townhouse, cackling while I try to meditate and knocking over my gorgeous meditation timer and Dalai Lama lithographs.
I talked to my guru and fashion designer ChiChi Saib, but he has no clue. Given that Tengu have been harassing enlightened monasteries for thousands of years, is there an exorcism ritual I can do?
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owl_clan
 | 01:20 pm - The Vatican Goes Cosmic! Again!
Yeah, so apparently we can't put limits on God's creative freedom. That being said, don't they limit God's creative freedom to create more than one sexual orientation? Sounds to me like they're not on board for homosexuality, or the possibility that God could see beyond genitalia enough to be okay with women in the priesthood, or with the now proven complete psychological and medical health of masturbation, (to just name three subjects) but they are on board for those "extraterrestrial brothers". Typical.
This is the same church that teaches us that infants are born sinful and deserving of hell and death- but apparently, aliens out in the cosmos somewhere might never have sinned and remained in "full friendship with God". Just us humans would have to be the red-headed step children of the universe. Nah, there's no human self-loathing here! My advice to you all: STAY BUDDHIST.
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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican's chief astronomer says there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of "extraterrestrial brothers" perhaps more evolved than humans.
"In my opinion this possibility (of life on other planets) exists," said Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, a 45-year-old Jesuit priest who is head of the Vatican Observatory and a scientific adviser to Pope Benedict.
"How can we exclude that life has developed elsewhere," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in an interview in its Tuesday-Wednesday edition, explaining that the large number of galaxies with their own planets made this possible.
Asked if he was referring to beings similar to humans or even more evolved than humans, he said: "Certainly, in a universe this big you can't exclude this hypothesis".
In the interview headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," he said he saw no conflict between belief in such beings and faith in God.
"Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth, there can be other beings, even intelligent, created by God. This is not in contrast with our faith because we can't put limits on God's creative freedom," he said.
"Why can't we speak of a 'brother extraterrestrial'? It would still be part of creation," he said.
Funes, who runs the observatory which is based south of Rome and in Arizona, held out the possibility that the human race might actually be the "lost sheep" of the universe.
"There could be (other beings) who remained in full friendship with their creator," he said.
THE "BIG BANG"?
Christians have sometimes been at odds with scientists over whether the Bible should be read literally and issues such as creationism versus evolution have been hotly debated for decades.
The Inquisition condemned astronomer Galileo in the 17th century for insisting that the earth revolved around the sun. The Catholic Church did not rehabilitate him until 1992.
Funes said dialogue between faith and science could be improved if scientists learned more about the Bible and the Church kept more up to date with scientific progress.
Funes, an Argentine, said he believed as an astronomer that the most likely explanation for the start of the universe was "the big bang", the theory that it sprang into existence from dense matter billions of years ago.
But he said this was not in conflict with faith in God as a creator. "God is the creator. There is a sense to creation. We are not children of an accident ...," he said.
"As an astronomer, I continue to believe that God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the product of something casual but children of a good father who has a project of love in mind for us," he said.
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sublimevisions
 | 06:15 am - who controls what you feel?
one person suggests: you control what you feel. only you.
another says: when i meet someone i really dislike, i find that i really just dislike those aspects of myself.
another asks: where's your locus of control?
i'm building an argument about how we interact with others and how we let others affect us which will eventually lead into a practice on how to stay cool calm and collected no matter what happens. i like to mirror people and try to empathise with them. now starting to find that i empathise well, but sometimes when it is a really intense face to face conversation, it's hard to separate the "speaker's feelings" from "listener's feelings". i end up feeling what resentment that someone was just clearing or emotion someone was conveying.
i dislike acting on emotion. i think they are intangible and impermanent therefore not logical. yet as a need based creature, I act on quazi-logic when influenced by emotion. therein lies the conundrum.
is this a normal effect of social interaction?
on a different note: how do your emotions effect your practice. how do you manage them. if someone says something so strongly that it affects you. is it them affecting you or is it really you affecting you? how do you manage this? (or do you even put this much mindfulness and thought into this subject?)
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May 14th, 2008
femininenigma
 | 06:24 pm - Urban Buddhist Guide??
I was at a Tibet shop some time back and I saw an interesting book about Buddhism in the city, something about staying grounded and peaceful in the noise and hustle. It seemed pretty new... Does anyone have any idea what book this was? I can't remember the title or anything :(
Thanks!
Current Location: Olympia
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/blue/curious.gif) curious
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May 13th, 2008
zenmouse
 | 11:26 pm
Came across these shirts while surfing for cuteness.
PEACE! Dalai Lama
Thought I might share. :D
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theclon
 | 07:25 pm
Hello I have been apart of this community for about a week now, but this is my first post.
Recently I have decided to engage in a more rigorous practice (at least for me) and have increased my meditation substantially. I have been using some guided meditations(pod-casts) to keep me motivated and on the right track. One of the guided meditations taught of the six realms and how to meditate on them. It also spoke a lot of also working on posture. I am in my 6th day of this and have felt alot of emotions being released during my meditation, sometimes to the point of my body shaking. Has anyone else experienced this? Also when I am sleeping my dreams have become very vivid and hard to handle (i guess you could call these 'bad' dreams). I wake up in the morning and feel like I have very disturbing things going on in my subconscious that are working themselves out slowly through my meditation.
Has anyone hit these (i guess you could say negative) points? Are these things that i will eventually work through? or am i doing something wrong?
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May 12th, 2008
owl_clan
| 06:09 pm - Everything I need to know in life I learned from the Karate Kid, Pt.1
Everything I need to know in life
I learned from the Karate Kid, Pt.1
1. If you discover that you're a painfully skinny, dweeby poor kid from the East Coast who is forced by poverty to move with his wise-cracking, hard-working single mom to the trendy West Coast, into a low-rent apartment complex, and forced to attend the local high school for all the affluent kids, you need to realize that you're stuck in an 80's movie. Once you are aware of this fact, make it your first priority to come on to the girlfriend of the extremely spoiled and brutally skilled local bully your first day of school. Try to avoid riding your bike after that. And stop being such a whiny, dweeby poor kid.
2. It's a cruel, cruel, cruel summer
3. Local victims of bully attacks with aspirations of martial arts greatness will do anything for you, including painting fences and waxing parking lots full of cars. Just make sure you're a retired Asian man with trite, stereotypical one-liners and bonsai tree clippers, and you should skate it off well.
4. Nothing gets you laid faster than your mom driving you to your first date with the local rich girl, in your beaten-up ghetto car that has to roll downhill to get started.
5. You know, points or no points, you're DEAD MEAT.
6. Mercy is for the weak. Here, on the street, in competition, a man confronts you, he is the enemy; An enemy deserves no mercy.
7. First learn stand...then learn fly...nature's rule, not mine.
8. Better learn balance...balance is key. Balance good...everything good. Balance bad...better pack up and go home.
9. Man who catch fly with chopstick, accomplish anything.
10. Look eye, always look eye!
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3_nirodha
 | 12:23 am - I'm lost
I feel I'm at a masquerade every time I step outside of my home. Everyone's wearing a costume... their ego. And here I am, tearing mine off, wondering if they'll kick me out.
I'm lost. I'm afraid.
Has anyone experienced this?
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May 11th, 2008
nakedmen
 | 10:42 pm - Happy Mother's Day!
This is to our mothers, who by hook or by crook, whether it was out of "fake love" attachment or real compassion it doesn't matter, are completely responsible for our existence. And then, in most cases, our upbringing. And then, in most cases, our current state of mind, which could be much worse.
Their sacrifice carries heavy karma; when they're forced to let go of their children they suffer, the suffering will probably get worse as they get older, and it'll get worse as their children become more distant, and this is all part of what they've given to us. Most elderly people suffer in this way, our parents will too, and we will too if we're lucky to live that long. Hopefully we can pay some of this sacrifice back before our parents are gone, but probably not. They might even die with great suffering, and be born in the lower realms, if you believe in that. They might not have even any remote chance to be enlightened.
And if your mother made mistakes and you can't relate to this, then she was suffering greatly before and suffering now anyway, and we can all relate to the causes and conditions of their behavior and extend compassion. And if we're parents ourselves, we can extend similar compassion to our children.
I think about this, then extend it to grandparents, aunts, uncles, their parents, and so forth. The same thing happened with our parents and their parents, and it goes back at least tens of thousands of years, or even to the beginning of time. One of the Tibetan sayings goes (paraphrased, unsure of the original source) "all sentient beings have been our mothers at one time or another," so we can all extend compassion to them as if they cared for us as our mothers did. Every sentient being is our mother, in one way or another.
"7. In short, both directly and indirectly, I offer every happiness and benefit to all my mothers. I shall secretly take upon myself all their harmful actions and suffering" (The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation *).
Hopefully we can appreciate our mothers, then extend the compassion to as many beings as possible, and truly honor mothers day by improving our minds with this compassion and use it to benefit others in honor of our mothers' unrequitable sacrifices. And I'm by no means anyone who should be suggesting prayers to others, but this helped my thinking today, so I wish to share it in hopes of creating a similar result with what few others who might be interested. Have a good Mother's Day!
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anomniverse
 | 05:48 pm - A message to all members of Buddhists
Members of Buddhists,
My imagination, desires, and recent experiences have led me to ask everyone here to make the conscious efforts necessary to find one-another in our dreams with the intention of promoting our spiritual progresses. I am prepared for such experiences, for I am willing to enjoy them, willing to learn from them, I am not afraid of them or how I may react in them, and I am not afraid of awakening prematurely or awaking to no memory of these experiences; I now know, no such experience is, in any way, a waste. I hope every member in this community may benefit in some way from having read my mindset, and is, too, open to this.
Peace,
Charles
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kittyx_x
 | 03:12 pm - New girl with questions..
Hello,
I've just joined this Community & I have a few questions regarding Buddhism. I'm aware that the following questions may seem naive, but I'm here to learn & I'd rather seem foolish for asking a questions, then be foolish for not asking.
*Can you be a Buddhist & be a meat-eater collectively?
*Can you be a Buddhist & not know all of the history?
*Can any tell me the 'rules' of Buddhism? In bullet points? - this isn't meant to be an arrogant question - just that I find it easier to retain information that way.
*With regards to sex, are ther any 'rules'? - that sounds abit weird I know...
Sorry if the above seems strange, I'm just quite shy & sometimes my wording sounds snooty.
Any thoughts?
Thank You ♥
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May 9th, 2008
nailles
 | 10:07 pm - Hilow
What is the Buddhist notion of consciousness?
Current Mood: curious
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