Search results

There was once a young monk who asked the master, "what is the fundamental principle of Buddhism?" The master replied, "follow me into the garden", the young monk walked with the teacher into the moonlight garden where the master pointed out two bamboo stalks growing and said "there, do you see...

See, once again we do not disagree. The word "perfect" was a poor choice, I like "It is as it is" very much too. I seem to remember, perhaps the Taoists could steer me right, that the Chinese word "Li" means everything in its perfect order, such as how a cloud organizes itself or the way sea...

Indeed. I think the book "Man's Search for Meaning" (Frankl) illuminates that idea very elegantly. The problem here is that in western culture we are taught that we MUST control both inner and outer things. This again is a double bind, because in a sense the controller is the controlee. The Zen...

Couldn't agree more. We have had this conversation before I think! One of my favorite books "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" by Chogyam Trungpa talks about that very thing. There can be no up without a down, and mindfulness practice is the same way. The inner peace does come and the...

So would it be safe to say then, the resolution of an apparent dilemma is that both are true? Everything in the universe is already perfect, and we perceive it as a mess that needs fixing. That leads me to believe that the only real problem exists by virtue of the way we perceive, the kind of...

Perhaps. If so, then wouldn't there have to be two universes, two realities? If we posit that there is a oneness to the universe if, as we often say, all things are one, then there cannot be two. If there are two, then the concept of "oneness" must be wrong. Do you see the dilemma?

The sages and mystics of all religions seem to speak a common tongue. Ultimate Reality, the Truth that underpins all things, is true. Further, the experienced nature of the Ultimate Reality is peace, harmony, bliss, ecstatic union. Julian of Norwich observed that “…All shall be well and all...

The interesting thing is, few people stop to think about how and what they are thinking, believing that the very mode of thought they employ is the only one. "Metacognition", is thinking about thinking, and this kind of cultivated awareness reveals all kinds of interesting things about the way...

Okay, just a thought experiment: suppose we replaced the word "religion" with the phrase "love song". Wouldn't the idea of a "true love song" seem ridiculous? How could one song of love be true and another not? Eventually we would get deep into arguments about the kind of love being sung about...

What a huge difference there is between discernment and judging. A human being's first knee jerk reaction to anything is usually self-justification. This is just psych 101, but you can see how nearly anyone who clings tightly to a sense of "me" is drawn to such chicanery.

You'll be much happier with the new R410a unit. R22 is getting expensive. I charge 35.00 a pound to recharge units here in Colorado

Oh, you get used to it...

You know, this might be the most succinct and the most genuine post I have ever read. Thank you for that!

The protagonist in Somerset Maugham's The Razors Edge has an oceanic experience on a frozen mountainside wherein he sees all below him as essentially one. Many of us have had insights into the essence of reality in very ordinary sounding ways, yet they are as beautiful and profound as anything I...

You may be confusing method with drawing conclusions. There is an overlap because as Thomas will point out, there is a certain methodology in religion as well, a certain logic which proceeds from a beginning concept or hypothesis. It has been pointed out that Buddhism is 2500 years of empirical...

From my studies of neurology and psychology, I would have to agree with Thomas. Yes the brain lights up as indicated by the use of FMRI. Mattieu Ricard, the Bhuddist monk has been working Dr. Richard Davidson for years. His brain lights up intensely during different types of meditation! So now...

Sometimes I think we get lost in talking about the personalities that use a method rather than the method itself. I have known many people in the sciences who are extremely arrogant authoritarians in their own right, and I've met people who practice religion who have bright inquiring minds that...

An elegant answer, thank you! By the way, it occurred to me that you might not remember me. my avatar is now the village idiot, the holy fool, when before I wore armor, and called myself paladin.

What I hear Thomas saying is that the exoteric and the esoteric really are one, so to minimize the importance of one is to deny that relationship. At least that's how I read it. Thomas?

Ah, my old friend, once again we cannot disagree. I cannot argue with your sentiment, nor your reasoning. As so often in the past, we have met on similar ground, only to find we really are talking about the same thing. This is the problem with our language, it constrains and shapes our thinking...