﻿Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, August 5th, 2015 at 4:21 AM
Title: Re: Natural State and Nature
Content:
steve_bakr said:
I am correct, by the way, in reporting that Dzogchen masters such as Longchenpa define Rigpa as the nature of mind.

Malcolm wrote:
Citation please?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, August 5th, 2015 at 3:45 AM
Title: Re: Natural State and Nature
Content:
steve_bakr said:
I am a tiny bit uncomfortable here with the word "consciousness" out of the fear of introducing subcategories such as "subconscious" or "unconscious." Honestly, the other poster is correct in prefering "awareness" to "consciousness" because all the Dzogchen literature and texts that I have seen use "awareness," specifically "Intrinsic Awareness." The word "intrinsic" signifies that awareness is intrinsic to mind; that is, awareness is the nature of mind.

Malcolm wrote:
This is because of the allergy people have to the word "consciousness", it is not a justifiable translation based on the term "consciousness" by itself.

There are a range of words in Tibetan that use the particle "shes pa" such as rnam shes, ye shes, shes rab, shes pa itself, and so on. They all refer to modes of consciousness. Rig pa refers to what that consciousness knows. Pristine consciousness [ ye shes ] is one thing, our ordinary state of consciousness [ rnam shes ] something else — but they both have the same basis, shes pa.

Dzogchen terminology for these things is a very sophisticated psychology of delusion and liberation, but unfortunately, it has been obscured by translations that are not precise and clear.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, August 5th, 2015 at 3:18 AM
Title: Re: Issues in the History of Indian Buddhism
Content:
Indrajala said:
Again, so far as I can tell though there's nothing saying the Chinese noticed a significant (or any) Buddhist presence in Tibet in the Yarlung period. Later medieval historians can say what they want about this period, but questions will remain. Compare that with the Chinese accounts of places like Kucha, Khotan, Samarkand, Koguryo, Japan and SE Asian nations where popular devotion to Buddhism is noted.

Malcolm wrote:
Well, China is not the navel of the world.

Your argument runs as follows, "The Chinese did write about it, therefore it did not exist."

Tibet was of interest to China solely because Tibetans threatened their interests on the Silk Road. Other than that, China had no interest in the Tibetans, this, more than anything else, explains the lack of mention of Tibetan in Chinese annals.

This is not the case with "Khotan, Samarkand, Koguryo, Japan and SE Asian nations..." where China had active trade interests.

As for Tibetan Ministers, well, they were soldiers; and even in the time of the 5th Dalai Lama, there were certain kinds of animal sacrifices done in Lhasa. This does not mean that the population as a whole were not interested in Dharma.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, August 5th, 2015 at 3:12 AM
Title: Re: Issues in the History of Indian Buddhism
Content:
Indrajala said:
If you're going to rely on oral tradition or written records detailing things centuries after they happened, there's ways to read them which usually means not taking them literally.

Malcolm wrote:
Buddha forbid that we ever take anything on people's word.

History does not have be such a cynical business, so laden with materialist concerns and a materialist outlook on life.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, August 5th, 2015 at 2:06 AM
Title: Re: Dzogchen & Vipashyana on thoughts
Content:
zenman said:
If he taught meditation practices like trekcho and thogal going straight and keeping to the point, then sure I'd probably tune in too.

Malcolm wrote:
He does not teach techniques. He teaches Dzogchen. If you do not know the state of Dzogchen, you cannot practice either tregchö or thögal.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, August 5th, 2015 at 1:58 AM
Title: Re: Dzogchen & Vipashyana on thoughts
Content:
zenman said:
About a week ago I watched one of his webcasts, annual Padmashambhava transmission, as I have done a few times before. With respect to all concerned, I am not interested in learning Tibetan to read a text for 35 minutes. I also didn't see anything special in him or his teachings before. I also doubt if he gives detailed in-depth advice on these webcasts in public as teachings becoming diluted always happens when there are hundreds of people, big organisation, involved. I don't want to sound an idiot (although I probably can't help it) saying this but please correct me if I am wrong...


Malcolm wrote:
I am not interested... I also didn't see...I also doubt...

Pretty clear Chogyal Namkhai Norbu is not the teacher for you.

Good luck.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, August 5th, 2015 at 1:20 AM
Title: Re: Issues in the History of Indian Buddhism
Content:


Indrajala said:
I think this is credible, but then what about the rest of Yarlung Tibet? How did they feel about Buddhism?

Malcolm wrote:
Different people had very different feelings, depending on whether they had ties to the old Zhang Zhung aristocracy or not. These feelings are reported in any number of sources, some early, some late. The earliest dating to the late ninth century. Trisong De'utsen's suppression of Bon, for example, is widely recorded in both Bon and Buddhist sources.

Indrajala said:
Also, how dedicated was said king to Buddhism? Did he still practice animal sacrifice? How much was it to build up legitimacy and international image, as was the case in other nations? These are questions to ask.

Malcolm wrote:
One, his mother, a Chinese woman, the wife of Me Agtsom, was very devoted to Buddhadharma.

Second, we have the evidence of the enormous amount of state-backed translations, imperial support of temples, and so on, numerous pandits invited to Tibet. There is an enormous amount of evidence both in terms of bilingual inscriptions in Tibetan and Chinese, and so on, if you care to examine it. It may not be your real area of interest, but there is no reason to slight it due to your lack of interest.

Indrajala said:
This idea that something only valid if there is an external source is a little silly. It means for example, the Spanish are the only arbiters what we may know about Mexican civilization.
No, you compare Spanish claims against archaeology and whatever surviving native accounts that still exist.

Malcolm wrote:
How do you assess pre-Colombian claims? You see the point? You can only go on native accounts. The issues in Tibet are much the same.

Indrajala said:
What are the external checks on the Chinese Civilization? According to your theory, all of Chinese history is suspect since unless there is external corroboration of something in a foreign source.
Ancient Chinese histories are generally reliable after a bit of critical examination. It can often be checked against existing archaeological and art records too. There's also enormous amounts of literature not issued by any court you can read court histories against.

Malcolm wrote:
Well, the same goes for Tibetan historical literature...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, August 4th, 2015 at 11:35 PM
Title: Re: Issues in the History of Indian Buddhism
Content:


Indrajala said:
In the case of Tibet, I've looked at the Tang Chinese account of it in two fascicles (fairly lengthy, which highlights how important Tibet was to the Tang history). It is interesting, for example, that it doesn't seem to mention Buddhism. There were plenty of envoys going to Tibet from China, but there's no real mention of a Buddhist institution in Yarlung Tibet. They mention a lot of blood sacrifices being done to seal oaths. So, how does that fit with the traditional Tibet narratives (especially later on when Yarlung kings are retroactively made Buddhist kings)? The legends have their place in cultural memory, but historians need to be critical and objective.

Malcolm wrote:
What period are you referring to? 600 to 700, 700 to 800, 800 to 842?

There is no doubt that Tri srong De'u bstan [742-797] was a Buddhist king. He built Samye, etc.

This idea that something only valid if there is an external source is a little silly. It means for example, the Spanish are the only arbiters what we may know about Mexican civilization.

What are the external checks on the Chinese Civilization? According to your theory, all of Chinese history is suspect since unless there is external corroboration of something in a foreign source.

I think such an approach is excessively myopic.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, August 4th, 2015 at 8:38 PM
Title: Re: Vairocana
Content:


kalden yungdrung said:
- Emanational translator how can this be seen?

Mutsug Marro
KY

Malcolm wrote:
Meaning, that he was the continuum of a realized being.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, August 4th, 2015 at 7:16 AM
Title: Re: Fires in CA and Rigdzin Ling Dharma Center
Content:
T. Chokyi said:
Conditions at Rigdzin Ling Dharma Center:

http://chagdudgonpa.org/fires-near-rigdzin-ling/

They have heavy smoke there in Northern CA from the forest fires, they are asking for prayers.

Malcolm wrote:
They need to intensive Sang and Serkyem, then it will be fine.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, August 4th, 2015 at 7:13 AM
Title: Re: Dzogchen & Vipashyana on thoughts
Content:


zenman said:
One of the things Jackson has said is that at some point of history, thogal was taught right from the start to students before the presently used systems were developed. Maybe it was before 15th century or something like that. Me not being a specialist of the Tibetan tradition I don't know in detail what these methods refer to but I guess like preliminary practices/ngondro and deity/tantric practices. He also said that there is one lineage of dzogchen, Palyul, who never did this and who still teach thogal first.

Malcolm wrote:
What they teach in Palyul is separation of samsara and nirvana which is the preliminary for thogal; actual thogal is reserved for post tregcho teachings.

zenman said:
I keep hearing this abuse-thing (underline). I have learned about the thogal-practices, space gazing and sky gazing, from texts provided by Jackson, and have tried them out. I never experienced such clarity during many years of zen training with top masters of the world. I suppose these two practices are the most central ones in thogal. Are they? They have been described also in several books, like one by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Lopon Tenzin Namdak. I don't see any reason why gazing could not be taught to anyone and tried, or how this could become a problem or create obstacles. However I think it requires calmness (shamatta).

Malcolm wrote:
All you are doing is blocking your own realization by approaching things in the wrong way. What a pity. Luckily, no one is %100 percent hopeless while they are alive.

I suggest you stop screwing around and find a real Dzogchen master, Buddhist or Bon, it does not matter.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, August 4th, 2015 at 7:08 AM
Title: Re: Vairocana
Content:


kalden yungdrung said:
He would be banished by the ministers because he was practising Buddhism. That means, the court was still a little Bon orientated under the reign of Triten Datsun. I know he got an agreement with the great Bonpo Mahasiddha  Gyerpung Nangzher Lodpo. The king promissed Gyerpung Nangzher Lodpo, not to destroy the Bon teachings . GNL was famous for the throwing of the magical bombs, from which you explained that this was all illusion somehow. Further did he subdue the sky God Nyingpantse and made him the guardian of the Zhang Zhung Nyengyud Dzogchen cycle of Teachings.

Malcolm wrote:
The Bon histories seem a little confused about the dates of Gyerpung Nangzher Lodpo. When you study all available documents, it becomes clear that Gyerpung Nangzher Lodpo was a contemporary of Srongtsang Gampo in the 7th century, not Trisrong Detsan in the 8th. Srongtsan Gampo assassinated Ligmincha, not Trisrong De'utsan.


kalden yungdrung said:
But the Tib king Triten Detsun banned finally Vairocana. Well then what did he do there (in eastern Tibet)?

Malcolm wrote:
He taught the people of Gyalmo Rong.

kalden yungdrung said:
Know he collected 5 Dzogchen texts in India.

- Do you know from whom he did receive these 5 texts and how these Dzogchen texts are called?

Malcolm wrote:
His teacher was Shri Singha and the five texts are the Dorje Sems pa Namkhai Che, Khyung lding chen po, Rtsal Chen sprug pa, Rig pa'i khyu byug, and the Byang chub sems sgom.

kalden yungdrung said:
This Dzogchen style is also i guess involved in the Nyingma. How can i see the Guru Rinpoche who is somewhere a student from a Dzogchenpa.

Malcolm wrote:
Guru Rinpoche's Dzogchen master was also Shri Singha.

kalden yungdrung said:
There are doubts about if Guru Rinpoche would be a founder of Dzogchen. Tantras that is sure Padmasambhava's speciality. So i only want to say some have doubts.

Malcolm wrote:
The founder of "Buddhist" Dzogchen is Garab Dorje.

All the Dzogchen teachings of Guru Rinpoche are termas.

kalden yungdrung said:
Guess Vairocana did made the translation. But as a fresh "greenhorn" in the Sanskrit language, can his translations, or from other Sanskrit - Tibetan translators, be seen as reliable ?

Malcolm wrote:
[/quote]

Vairocana was an "emanational" translator, meaning his translations are impeccable.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, August 3rd, 2015 at 9:58 PM
Title: Re: Dzogchen & Vipashyana on thoughts
Content:
zenman said:
Okey. I don't either trust him 100% because I know better.

Is Jackson fully realised? Surely not. Has he had some insights? Probably.

Why did you mention about him contacting the translator? Do you think it is suspicious?

Malcolm wrote:
Everyone has some insights, that does not make them qualified to teach Dzogchen or even Vajrayāna.

It is not easy to be a teacher — this means you are responsible for your students progress.

There are still a few really qualified teachers of Dzogchen around such as Chogyal Namkhai Norbu. Why waste your time with anything less? I know Jax's point of view very well — he constantly criticizes Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, he does not like Song of the Vajra, Vajra dance as well as the secondary practices that ChNN communicates, etc. This merely demonstrates something about Jax and nothing at all about ChNN's teachings.

Anyone can write a nice book about Dzogchen — its words are very easy to understand and fun to repeat. But there is a difference between a Dzogchen master like Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and someone like Jax. You can observe this in their conduct and activity. CHNN never expresses anything but respect for his own teachers and others. Jax puts himself on a pedestal and likes to criticize people who he has taken teachings from without cause. This speaks volumes.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, August 3rd, 2015 at 9:39 PM
Title: Re: Dzogchen & Vipashyana on thoughts
Content:
zenman said:
People in this thread alone have said all these things of him and yet no one has come forth with actual and clear testimonial of his credentials, whether he has been authorised or not.
Dear Magnus,

Thanks for your info. I'll inform him that he is going
wrong direction.

With many Tashu Delegs NN.

Malcolm wrote:
Magnus is the user heart.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, August 3rd, 2015 at 9:33 PM
Title: Re: Vairocana
Content:
kalden yungdrung said:
Tashi delek DW members,

Vairocana, a well known Dzogchen Master, was one time in India to collect Dzogchen teachings.
He got some teachings from Shri Simha.

But when he returned to the Tibetan court, he was banished to the eastern tib. Provinces.

- What formed the reason for Vairocana's banishment.?
-  Is here meant the "converted" Bonpo Vairocana?

Mutsug marro
KY

Malcolm wrote:
He was banished because jealous ministers wanted to execute him, but Kin Trizrong De'utsen would not permit it.

Yes, this refers to Bagor Vairocana, who originally followed Bon, and who some say, converted Bon texts into Buddhist texts into order to save them. There are a number of Bon termas which involve Vairocana.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, August 3rd, 2015 at 9:15 AM
Title: Re: Help with the Mahāyāna Sūtras Please?
Content:
Serenity509 said:
What is the most widely loved and read sutra in Mahayana Buddhism? I would guess it's the Lotus Sutra, but I could be wrong.


Malcolm wrote:
Heart Sutra, actually.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, August 3rd, 2015 at 6:29 AM
Title: Re: Issues in the History of Indian Buddhism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
According to Tibetans, they count Srong btsan gam po as being the 35th king, and consider that they were a vassal state of Zhang Zhung until Srong btsan gam po assassinated the King of Zhang Zhung

Indrajala said:
That's quite plausible, but what did 'king' mean in the sixth or even fifth century? It might refer to the people who were Tibetans' ancestors and not much else.

The same problem is actually present in the history of Japan: early written sources are clearly written long after the fact and by a centralized government-court needing to legitimize itself and its leadership in the face of a longstanding aristocracy with competing interests. Although there actually lived the emperors specified in the histories, they were effectively local chieftains when they lived and much of what later became recognized as 'Japan' did not have anything to do with them.

Malcolm wrote:
There are a number of sources of early Tibetan history, but as you might expect, they mostly date from the 9th century onward.


Indrajala said:
The idea that the Tibetans descend from Qiang people who fled to Tibet has refuted by a number of Tibetan historians, many inconsistencies with this theory.
Do you have any credible academic sources in English that address this?

Malcolm wrote:
Light of Kailash, vol. 1.


Indrajala said:
There is nothing I'm aware of that refutes the medieval Chinese account that Tibet as a recognizable polity only goes back at best to the late fifth century.

Malcolm wrote:
There are plenty of Tibetan sources that refute this idea.

Then there is the interesting text, the Vimalaprabhaparipṛcchā which refers to Tibetan assaults on Khotan, most scholars think it dates to the 7th century, contemporary with Srong btsan gam po, but I have my doubts about this.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, August 2nd, 2015 at 9:34 PM
Title: Re: Issues in the History of Indian Buddhism
Content:


Indrajala said:
This brings to mind a question: when did there appear self-identifying Tibetans?

Malcolm wrote:
According to Tibetans, they count Srong btsan gam po as being the 35th king, and consider that they were a vassal state of Zhang Zhung until Srong btsan gam po assassinated the King of Zhang Zhung

Indrajala said:
The ethnogenesis of Tibet described by the Chinese for consideration:

https://wenyanwen.blogspot.com/2014/05/tibetan-ethnogenesis-in-tang-history.html

I'm not saying this is necessarily correct, but the Chinese never heard of Tibetans until the seventh century basically, and they had reliable records going back to the Han dynasty. The peoples in what is now Tibet (especially Amdo it seems) were often known as  Qiang 羌.

Malcolm wrote:
The idea that the Tibetans descend from Qiang people who fled to Tibet has refuted by a number of Tibetan historians, many inconsistencies with this theory.


Indrajala said:
He adapted an earlier system based on his exposure to Sanskrit. It is likely therefore that while in general Bhrami must have formed the basis for all scripts in Zhang Zhung and Tibet, it is very hasty to claim that writing did not exist in Tibet prior to the 7th century, especially given the clear accounts of the books of Bonpos being burned by Buddhists during the late eighth century from both sides.

Malcolm wrote:
Are there any foreign accounts that would support this theory?[/quote]

There is nothing to refute it.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, August 2nd, 2015 at 9:46 AM
Title: Re: 6 Realms and Kalpa's
Content:


kalden yungdrung said:
- Why would it not be that the 6 Realms used in Tib.Buddhism etc. , dissolve into emptiness?


Malcolm wrote:
They do, at the end of every major eon, beginning with the hell realms and continuing up to the third realm. Everything below that is destroyed.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, August 2nd, 2015 at 8:19 AM
Title: Re: Issues in the History of Indian Buddhism
Content:
Indrajala said:
- In how far is the Tibetan script based on i guess Sanskrit? I have heard Tibetans went to India to get a script.
Yes, the Tibetan script is based on a Sanskrit script. There were many Sanskrit scripts. The earliest two were Kharoshthi and Brahmi:

Malcolm wrote:
The Bonpos assert that Tibetan script is derived from Zhang zhung smar script, from around 100 BCE. Given that Tibetans engaged on one of the most amazing cultural self-immolations during the 9th century, and given considerable evidence that Tibetans were familiar with writing prior the 7th century based on their being a vassal state of Zhang Zhung, disregarding for a moment the origin of Zhang Zhung smar script, the Tibetans certainly knew what writing was at a very early date.

The idea that Thonmi Sambhota "invented" Tibetan writing is an error. He adapted an earlier system based on his exposure to Sanskrit. It is likely therefore that while in general Bhrami must have formed the basis for all scripts in Zhang Zhung and Tibet, it is very hasty to claim that writing did not exist in Tibet prior to the 7th century, especially given the clear accounts of the books of Bonpos being burned by Buddhists during the late eighth century from both sides.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, August 2nd, 2015 at 1:53 AM
Title: Re: Ganesh in Tibetan Buddhism
Content:


WeiHan said:
Does it means that nobody practice it for the sole aim of attaining enlightenment as a yidam?

Malcolm wrote:
Ganapati is not a Yidam, he is a lokapala. No one practices Ganapati for awakening.


[Mod note 2022: This topic has been locked due to it's old age.]


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, August 2nd, 2015 at 1:08 AM
Title: Re: Envy and rejoicing
Content:
pael said:
Someone has lot of money, nice house&garden. Can you rejoice that? I see that one has lot of suffering of change.

Malcolm wrote:
They have nice enjoyments, that is from their merit, so of course we rejoice.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, August 1st, 2015 at 9:30 PM
Title: Re: Dzongsar Khyentse Webcast-Is There Buddhism Without Rebi
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
Fairly simple, mind cannot be reduced to material events, and mind must have a cause which is nonmaterial; excluding then some supernatural cause of the mind stream, the mind stream both transmigrates and is beginningless.

WeiHan said:
That is the Mind Only school assertion that the cause for consciousness is the moment of consciousness preceding it. But does the Madhyamika school necessarily agrees with that?

Malcolm wrote:
Conventionally, yes.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, August 1st, 2015 at 8:55 PM
Title: Re: Ganesh in Tibetan Buddhism
Content:
Ray Rudha said:
Allright, it's time to set things straight around here.

Ganapati is ENLIGHTENED.


Malcolm wrote:
The intiation text connected with the 13 Golden Dharmas states very clearly that Avalokiteshvara bounds Ganapati under samaya, and threatened to split his head open if he disobeyed and did not adopt the three trainings (discipline, samadhi and wisdom). This initiation text explicitly refers to Ganapati as a 'jig rten pa, i.e. a worldly one.

The account of Ganapati in the book, dam can bstan srung gi rnam r thar composed by the 18th century savant, sle lung bshad pa rdo rje, repeats the account in the above text, nearly word for word.

Based on this, we can see that it is generally considered that Ganapati is a worldly protector bound under oaths.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, August 1st, 2015 at 6:49 PM
Title: Re: Dzongsar Khyentse Webcast-Is There Buddhism Without Rebi
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Honestly, I found the whole thing rather disappointing. One, he never answered anyone's questions. Two, he merely asserted that we should not reject rebirth since it was valid conventional truth, but when pressed could never produce the many arguments which prove rebirth.

Mostly, I thought it was a very rambling, aimless presentation.

Fortyeightvows said:
For my own education and to share with others what are one or two of the arguments which prove rebirth?

Malcolm wrote:
Fairly simple, mind cannot be reduced to material events, and mind must have a cause which is nonmaterial; excluding then some supernatural cause of the mind stream, the mind stream both transmigrates and is beginningless.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, August 1st, 2015 at 6:47 PM
Title: Re: Form-skandha
Content:
pael said:
There are five vedana. Pleasure and mental pleasure, pain and mental pain, and neutral sensation.
Does every of 5 senses have these 5 vedanas? Is seeing of ugly things only mental pain or actual pain?

Malcolm wrote:
Yes.

It can be both. For example, you smell something disgusting and it makes you vomit.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, August 1st, 2015 at 8:35 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
All of these things form based the development of the embryo.

Finney said:
Malcolm, can you recommend an English language book (translation or otherwise) for this? A while back I was thumbing through Garrett's book and iirc there were several different models (medical tantras, kalachakra, Drakpa Gyaltsen's, and so on). They seemed to differ on various points, though I don't know if those differences are significant for our purposes. Maybe Garrett's book is the one to get? It's frightfully expensive and seemed more of a survey of the literature and it's place in Tibetan culture rather than a text intending to teach embryology, but if it's the best that's out there...

Malcolm wrote:
You can find Garret's book on the web if you look hard, it is hte best survey on the subject.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, August 1st, 2015 at 4:49 AM
Title: Re: Embryo
Content:
kalden yungdrung said:
Tashi delek DW members,

If we have the embryo, then arises for me the question then were the Pathways in the body like the Sushumna, Ida and Nadi etc. first or after the existence of the embryo "developed"?

I guess that it happens with the help of the 5 elements also.....in a following order, as well physical as well mental / consciousness etc.

- Would be the reversal state of dissolving of the elements, at the state of death, be the construction of the embryo maybe ?


Mutsug Marro
KY

Malcolm wrote:
They develop along with the body as well as assist in the development of the body.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, August 1st, 2015 at 12:41 AM
Title: Re: Did the Buddha teach about the The Five Skandhas directl
Content:
frank123 said:
Hello,

Did the Buddha teach about the Five Skandhas directly or are did the teaching on them come about at a later time based on the principles of his teachings?

Malcolm wrote:
Directly.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 31st, 2015 at 11:18 PM
Title: Re: Form-skandha
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
M-la's response is skillful means. It refers to the first ten of the eleven resultant forms.

Malcolm wrote:
Avijñapti is rejected by Sautrantikas, this is why I did not mention it.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 31st, 2015 at 9:37 PM
Title: Re: Form-skandha
Content:
pael said:
Does form skandha only refer to beings body? Or every material thing/part in universe (sun, moon, atoms,etc.)?
Shortly, does it mean self and its belongings?

Malcolm wrote:
It refers to one's body, one's physical sense organs and their objects.

So for example, anything you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or touching is, for the duration of that sense contact, part of the rupa-skanda or material aggregate [form is an incorrect translation here].


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 31st, 2015 at 9:08 PM
Title: Re: TTM
Content:
kalden yungdrung said:
Tashi delek DW members,


Found this photo somewhere in my one of my albums.
I guess it has something to do with Dzogchen..........

[attachment=0]TTM 00.jpg[/attachment]

 - Can someone of you tell me what is here depicted? 

Mutsug Marro
KY

Malcolm wrote:
It has nothing to do with Dzogchen it is an illustration of the heart and lungs, and its channels, and the small intestines.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 31st, 2015 at 9:04 PM
Title: Re: Pranayama in Dzogchen
Content:
kalden yungdrung said:
The Mind is riding on air. If we "manipulate" the prana in the right channel(s), un-knot some heart obstructions, then some Dzogchen experiences would go easier. I guess we can see all these exercises as secondary. But without this Yantra Yoga etc. , what do you think , are then some Dzogchen experiences (visions) also not possible ?
Do you mean here the Yantra Yoga of Vairiocana, like it is practiced in the Sangha of Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche?


alpha said:
Yes . That book.

From what i know visions can arise without the help of yogas and pranayamas.

Malcolm wrote:
This is what is said in the Vima sNying thig on the subject:
If the vāyu is exhausted, 
appearances will be exhausted. 
However, while appearances are not exhausted, 
the embodied will not be liberated. 
Therefore, it is important to cultivate the vāyu,
one should cultivate this method,
the methods of exhausting and eliminating vāyu.
The point of Dzogchen practice is not merely to have visions. The point of Dzogchen practice is to exhaust them.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 31st, 2015 at 5:26 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:
zenman said:
What is the best dzogchen book on winds and channels in English?

Derek said:
A bit late to the party, but are these the kind of books you're looking for?

Clear Light of Bliss: Tantric Meditation Manual

The Bliss of Inner Fire: Heart Practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa

Malcolm wrote:
Nothing at all to do with Dzogchen.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 31st, 2015 at 3:47 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:
kalden yungdrung said:
[
But i heard that the channels used for the visions in Dzogchen are not based on the consciousness.
So the knowledge about the Dzogchen channels is different than the Nadis, Bidhu's in Yoga Tantra, i guess so.

Malcolm wrote:
All of these things form based the development of the embryo. You really do need to study some more.


kalden yungdrung said:
Tashi delek N,

Yes that studying is a never ending story until now. Like it.
All of these things form based the development of the embryo.
- That could be many things which develop the embryo, what are your suggestions here?
- Taken in account the Bardo,what do you think influences here the embryo?


Mutsug Marro
KY

Malcolm wrote:
I am referring to how things work for human beings in this life.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 31st, 2015 at 1:36 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:
kalden yungdrung said:
[
But i heard that the channels used for the visions in Dzogchen are not based on the consciousness.
So the knowledge about the Dzogchen channels is different than the Nadis, Bidhu's in Yoga Tantra, i guess so.

Malcolm wrote:
All of these things form based the development of the embryo. You really do need to study some more.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 31st, 2015 at 1:02 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:
kalden yungdrung said:
Tashi delek N,

According Lopon Tenzin Namdak:
1. the sounds, rays and lights spontaneously existing within the Base (gzhi) of the natural state;
2. their arising due to secondary causes (rkyen) created within the experience of the natural state;
3. the arising of sounds, rays and lights during the practice 
of the Path (lam)
4. their arising during the Bardo.

Mutsug Marro
KY

Malcolm wrote:
That is fine, but there is a way HOW this happens. That involves understanding the anatomy of the body and its channels and winds.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 31st, 2015 at 12:18 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
Ivo said:
The only practice where some kind of effort comes into play is thogyal.

Malcolm wrote:
And even that effort depends on total relaxation.

WeiHan said:
Like sleeping

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, getting good sleep requires total relaxation.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 11:16 PM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
Ivo said:
The only practice where some kind of effort comes into play is thogyal.

Malcolm wrote:
And even that effort depends on total relaxation.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 11:09 PM
Title: Re: Tibetan worldview.
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Astus, you are really off your rocker here.

Astus said:
How so?

Malcolm wrote:
Science is not an invisible sentient being.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 10:45 PM
Title: Re: Tibetan worldview.
Content:


Astus said:
So, if there are any local spirits to be integrated/converted to Buddhism, that spirit is science.

Malcolm wrote:
Astus, you are really off your rocker here.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 10:34 PM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
The whole things is based on one's plumbing. There is one kind of plumbing for the mind; there is another kind of plumbing for rig pa.

One needs to understand this plumbing. But I am not going to discuss it here.

fckw said:
Sorry, just a language question. I'm not a native English speaker, and in my vocabulary plumbing is this:

http://www.reedsplumbing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/plumbing.jpg

What do you mean with plumbing in respect to meditation? Is this a Dzogchen technique that simply carries such a name, or is this a figurative way of speaking here? No need to go into any details beyond that.

Malcolm wrote:
Plumbing, meaning pipes and tubes that carry things from one place in the body to another.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 7:46 PM
Title: Re: Tibetan worldview.
Content:
Astus said:
Could it be a Western mentality that wants to force a culturally foreign view on every aspect of one's interpretation of the world?

As Buddhism spread it has adapted to the local beliefs. It's not the same pantheon in different countries that ordinary Buddhists believe in, even if the ancient Indian gods are integrated to some extent.

Should those who follow Japanese Buddhism erect altars not only for Shakyamuni and Amitabha but also for Amaterasu, Hachiman and the current emperor?

Malcolm wrote:
Buddhadharma has always recognized the existence of bhumipatis and granted them respect, and occasionally forceful conversion.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 7:11 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:
kalden yungdrung said:
Namdrol wrote:The discussion of the plumbing of various kinds is discussed in the ZZNG texts on the six lamps and other places.
Tashi delek N,

Well there is spoken in the ZZNG Dzogchen text about 4 Lamps.

- What are then the other 2 Lamps for the application of "plumbing" ?

Mutsug Marro
KY

Malcolm wrote:
Kalden:

There is a detailed commentary on the six lamps. You should ask your teacher about it. If you are mainly following the presentation of the Chag tri, maybe is not mentioned so much there.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 6:59 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
theanarchist said:
If I say, a state of craving is undesirable and instead I do my best to rest my mind in rigpa to end it, that is renunciation. You decide to give it up. It's renouncing the samsaric state of craving.

Malcolm wrote:
Again, you are failing to observe that there is a difference wishing to be free of samsara and paths of the śravaka, pratyekabuddha and bodhisattva, i.e., the paths of renunciation.

Vajrayāna practitioners do not follow those paths because in this day and age we are for the most part too heavily afflicted to follow them successfully on the one hand, and on the other hand we are more intelligent and so on, and thus do not need to follow those paths.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 4:30 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
Right. So to rephrase my question in the terms you just used; when the afflictions are not recognized for what they are (wisdoms), and still have the power of poisons to produce karma, is that Vajrayana practice or samsaric activity?


Malcolm wrote:
If you are a Vajrayāna practitioner, and you allow yourself to fall under the power of afflictions through lack of awareness, you have broken your samaya. That is even worse than samsaric activity.

smcj said:
Basically that is the point I've been trying to make for quite a few pages now. Thanks.

Malcolm wrote:
No, you were making the point that you should avoid as much as possible having such afflictive states.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 4:29 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:


Ivo said:
Dzogchen is not a path of renunciation, not by any stretch of the imagination.

theanarchist said:
It is.

Malcolm wrote:
No, it is not. Here "path" means "method." Neither the method of Vajrayāna practice (the two stages) nor the method of Dzogchen use the method of renunciation as the path (taking restrictive vows, eschewing objects of desire and so on).

theanarchist said:
Also, you have to decide that samsara is crap in the first place to decide to take up the path of dzogchen, that in itself is renunciation.

Malcolm wrote:
Having a sense of disgust for continuing in samsara does not equal using renunciation as a path method.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 4:16 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
Right. So to rephrase my question in the terms you just used; when the afflictions are not recognized for what they are (wisdoms), and still have the power of poisons to produce karma, is that Vajrayana practice or samsaric activity?


Malcolm wrote:
If you are a Vajrayāna practitioner, and you allow yourself to fall under the power of afflictions through lack of awareness, you have broken your samaya. That is even worse than samsaric activity.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 4:12 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:


kalden yungdrung said:
Yes i know the wind element plays a role as fuel for the "Mind".

Malcolm wrote:
The whole things is based on one's plumbing. There is one kind of plumbing for the mind; there is another kind of plumbing for rig pa.

One needs to understand this plumbing. But I am not going to discuss it here.


kalden yungdrung said:
Tashi delek N,

Thanks for your replies.

Well this plumbing is new for me, maybe i will get in the nearby future a teaching of this.
Don' t know if we apply this technique in Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyud Dzogchen.

Mutsug Marro
KY

Malcolm wrote:
The discussion of the plumbing of various kinds is discussed in the ZZNG texts on the six lamps and other places.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 3:21 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:


kalden yungdrung said:
Yes i know the wind element plays a role as fuel for the "Mind".

Malcolm wrote:
The whole things is based on one's plumbing. There is one kind of plumbing for the mind; there is another kind of plumbing for rig pa.

One needs to understand this plumbing. But I am not going to discuss it here.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 3:13 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
WeiHan said:
Which Vajrayana schools teach only tantras methods without teaching sutra foundation such as refuge, bodhicitta etc...prior as a basis..

Malcolm wrote:
Dzogchen.

WeiHan said:
I am not sure which Dzogchen lineage does that nowaday .

Malcolm wrote:
Dzogchen Community of course.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 3:05 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
WeiHan said:
Which Vajrayana schools teach only tantras methods without teaching sutra foundation such as refuge, bodhicitta etc...prior as a basis..

Malcolm wrote:
Dzogchen.

Garab Dorje never said:

"Get a Tibetan name, then start out with the four immeasurables, etc."

He said, "Have the encounter of self-recognition." aka, "direct introduction."


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 3:04 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
You very carefully did not answer my question. So let's try this again.

So are you saying that an affliction, such as anger, can be indulged/acted upon on the level of affliction and call it Vajrayana?
It has to be experienced in order to be addressed. It has to be allowed to arise, be seen and recognized.
Right. And if at that point it is not transmuted into enlightened wisdom, and remains an affliction, is that Vajrayana practice or is that samsaric activity?

Malcolm wrote:
You are really missing the point. When you observe anger arise in your mind, as a Vajrayāna practitioner, this is understood to be wisdom. It is not "turned" into wisdom, it always was. Such afflictions are poison because they are not recognized — when they are recognized, they have no power, and therefore, one does not act in ways that produce karma. This Vajrayāna method is very indirect, because it requires a lot of conceptual effort, but in principle it is the same as the the idea of liberation through recognition in Dzogchen.

For example, you become angry, but if you are a Vajrayāna practitioner, you cannot be angry at your own mandala, so when you apply the practice "all appearances are the deity" this cuts the force of anger.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 2:42 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:


kalden yungdrung said:
The only yoga to develop the visions (Thogal), i know , are the 5 or 6 postures.

Malcolm wrote:
And what do they do? They control the wind in the body, among other things.

Since the main problem that interferes with developing one's practice in Dzogchen is the mind, and the mind rides on the winds, by controlling the latter one controls the former.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 2:40 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:


smcj said:
So are you saying that an affliction, such as anger, can be indulged/acted upon on the level of affliction and call it Vajrayana?

Malcolm wrote:
It has to be experienced in order to be addressed. It has to be allowed to arise, be seen and recognized.

So yes, one should not suppress one's afflictive states in Vajrayāna practice.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 2:14 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
But in Tantra, how would you ever transmute an affliction into it's wisdom without even going near the affliction itself?
If you are not capable of transmitting an affliction you shun them and the situations that give rise to them.

Malcolm wrote:
No, Vajrayāna is not a path of giving up sense desires.

smcj said:
If you are an advanced practitioner and are capable of transmuting an affliction into wisdom--which is an extraordinary accomplishment--then you can get near the affliction. Once transmuted it is no longer a poison, but now a medicine, an expression of the enlightened mind. But in either scenario the affliction is never simply indulged in as an affliction per se. That is Vajrayana 101.

Malcolm wrote:
No. All appearances are the deity. All sounds are mantra. All thoughts are wisdom. This is Vajrayana 101.

The path of transformation means that you do not reject things that cause afflictions to arise; you utilize those things and through the practice of creation stage, transform them. For example, the yoga eating food, the yoga of sleep, washing and so on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 1:47 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:
bryandavis said:
Wouldn't the use of the meditation stick in Longde constitute manipulation or control or prana?

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, this was already mentioned.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 1:18 AM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:
fckw said:
The A-Khrid also contains such teachings. Besides it also instructions on dream yoga and, in certain versions, on phowa.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, as does Zhang Zhung Snyan Rgyud.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 11:49 PM
Title: Re: Harsh speech
Content:
pael said:
What is harsh speech (6th non-virtue)? How you know which words are harsh?

Malcolm wrote:
Harsh speech means speech intended to hurt others.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 11:33 PM
Title: Re: How do you answer people who try to convert you?
Content:



Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 11:25 PM
Title: Re: Bhakha Tulku, Dorje Drolod at Zuni Mtn. Stupa
Content:
DGA said:
http://zunimountainstupa.org/events-retreats/
Please Join Bhakha Tulku Rinpoche, Tulku Orgyen Rinpoche and the Vairotsana Lamas September 4-7, 2015, Labor Day weekend, for the annual Dorje Drollo Retreat at the Zuni Mountain Stupa.
anyone here thinking of attending this?  please let me know if so.

Malcolm wrote:
Not going, but Bhakha Tulku is a very cool guy.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 11:06 PM
Title: Re: How do you answer people who try to convert you?
Content:
Serenity509 said:
It's a little weird when Christians insist Buddha didn't rise from the dead, therefore Buddhism must be a false religion...

Malcolm wrote:
Buddha never died. Who wants to follow a religion that idolizes a revenant?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 10:29 PM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
There is extensive amounts of prāṇayāma in sems sde practice.


alpha said:
Can you give us some examples of translated semde texts which contain prana work and so on ?

Malcolm wrote:
No, I cannot it. It is contained within the oral instructions connected with 18 sems sde rig pa'i rtsal dbangs. In other words, it is an important part of sems sde practice, but it is not contained within texts such as the Kun byed rgyal po etc.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 10:05 PM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
You said:
Personally i have never came across a book on ddzogchen praxis where we would have details on how to get to the state of dzogchen by manipulating the winds and working with the channels
???

alpha said:
What i  wanted to say was primary, primary practices.Secondary , yes.There are as many as you like.

Malcolm wrote:
There is extensive amounts of prāṇayāma in sems sde practice.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 9:32 PM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:


alpha said:
Yantra yoga as well as Yoga of prana are preparatory secondary practices.

Malcolm wrote:
A preparation for what?

alpha said:
A preparation for entering the state of dzogchen.

Malcolm wrote:
You said:
Personally i have never came across a book on ddzogchen praxis where we would have details on how to get to the state of dzogchen by manipulating the winds and working with the channels
???


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 9:31 PM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:


alpha said:
Yantra yoga as well as Yoga of prana are preparatory secondary practices.

Malcolm wrote:
A preparation for what?

alpha said:
The longde i know has no pranayama.

Malcolm wrote:
I suggest you examine the Longde commentaries.

alpha said:
A preparation for entering the state of dzogchen.There are thousands of this kind of preparatory practices sutra and tantra alike.

The actual longde method does not contain any pranayama.Pranayamas are only done in connection with balancing the elements and at other times when the circulation in the right channel is obstructed.

Malcolm wrote:
You mean to tell me that you do not control [āyama] the prāṇa in Longde at all? Of course you do.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 9:13 PM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:


alpha said:
Yantra yoga as well as Yoga of prana are preparatory secondary practices.

Malcolm wrote:
A preparation for what?

alpha said:
The longde i know has no pranayama.

Malcolm wrote:
I suggest you examine the Longde commentaries.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 8:55 PM
Title: Re: Best dzogchen book on winds and channels
Content:
alpha said:
Personally i have never came across a book on ddzogchen praxis where we would have details on how to get to the state of dzogchen by manipulating the winds and working with the channels.However, with the right instructiion from an authentic teacher you can get to the state of dzogchen using any practice or method.

Malcolm wrote:
Yantra Yoga

Longde (One controls channels and uses pranāyama in this system)

Oral Instructions on the Yoga of Prana for Clarity and Emptiness by ChNN. There is a detailed instruction on pranāyama in the Vima Nyinthig called the rlung gyi phra khrid. The book by ChNN is very similar in many respects.

And of course the practice of thögal is based on understanding the channels and so on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 4:26 AM
Title: Re: Dzogchen & Vipashyana on thoughts
Content:
kalden yungdrung said:
Have some difficulties to understand her Pristine Consciousness.
Thought that Wisdom self emanating is and so i don't see a relation with Consciousness.
- Could you maybe translate this Pristine Consciousness in Tibetan / Sanskrit?

Malcolm wrote:
ye shes = pristine [ye] consciousness [shes].

Wisdom, in English, does not really accurately translate ye shes. In English, wisdom means sagacity, intelligence, sense, common sense, shrewdness, astuteness, smartness, judiciousness, judgment, prudence, circumspection; logic, rationale, rationality, soundness, advisability. ANTONYMS folly, stupidity. as well as knowledge, learning, erudition, sophistication, scholarship, philosophy; lore.

Consciousness means the state of being awake and aware of one's surroundings, the awareness or perception of something by a person; the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world: consciousness emerges from the operations of the brain.

Now, there is in English no word that genuinely captures the sense of the term ye shes. And the sense of ye shes has gone beyond the Sanskrit term jñāna, at least in Dzogchen texts.

Ye shes is not inert, it is conscious; but it is not a conceptual or dualistic consciousness, it is therefore pristine.


kalden yungdrung said:
- It does not come from other places will that mean that here is spoken of a certain Self ?


_ What do you think about this Self, which would not be a copy, has no beginning ?

Malcolm wrote:
The term rang byung ye shes, self-originated pristine consciousness, is noncontroversial. It is not a self, ala Hinduism.

kalden yungdrung said:
The mind is connected with the flow of winds or vāyu, rlung in the body.
- Do you make use of two Minds in this explanation?

Malcolm wrote:
No, there is sems and ye shes.

kalden yungdrung said:
Yeshe, wisdom, pristine consciousness, is free from such movements.
- So Dzogchen would be obtainable without Tantra ( movements , winds, yoga etc.) ?

Malcolm wrote:
Depends on what you mean by tantra, do you mean creation and completion stage? Then yes. Do you mean without doing anything at all related to channels, winds and so on, then no.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 3:29 AM
Title: Re: Dzogchen & Vipashyana on thoughts
Content:


kalden yungdrung said:
- Pristine consciousness self-originates from the beginning.
Could you explain that maybe ?

Malcolm wrote:
It is something you need to discover within you, since it does not come from some other place.

kalden yungdrung said:
_ Free from the Mind.
Could you also explain this ?

Malcolm wrote:
The mind is connected with the flow of winds or vāyu, rlung in the body. Yeshe, wisdom, pristine consciousness, is free from such movements.

kalden yungdrung said:
The result is self-appearing perfect Buddhahood.

Malcolm wrote:
Buddhahood cannot be made to appear from causes and conditions, it only arises when one's own real state is understood.


M


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 1:47 AM
Title: Re: Dzogchen & Vipashyana on thoughts
Content:
DGA said:
Thank you for this.

I'd thought zenman had asked a somewhat different question, hence my response.

Malcolm wrote:
One has to very precise, because different Dzogchen texts say different things depending on context.

The problem is that some people attempt to explain Dzogchen without understanding the principle of different texts and series, and so make a sort of stew of things.

Another problem is the modern intellectual fad of considering the bodhicitta texts such as five earlier lungs translated by Vairocana to be the "authentic original" or "radical" Dzogchen.

As you said, it is better to find an authentic master such as ChNN, Loppon Tenzin Namdag, etc.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2015 at 10:59 PM
Title: Re: Dzogchen & Vipashyana on thoughts
Content:
zenman said:
I wonder how can anyone with a long study of the field, acting as a teacher, whether authentic or not, be so confused about a basic matter such as this...

DGA said:
You've answered your own question.  An authentic practitioner isn't confused about this.

Someone who is confused about this, and has been confused about it for a long time, and has trotted his confusion out as though it's a pedigree in the public square, is rather clearly not an authentic teacher.


Malcolm wrote:
The problem here is mostly around definitions.

What is meant by "mind"? What is meant by "awareness?" What is meant by "wisdom."

One can certainly find many Dzogchen texts that assert mind and wisdom are mutually exclusive. For example, one of the texts in the Pellucid Transcendent State of Samantabhadra cycle declares:
The general dharma systems assert buddhahood for the mind. The system of the Pellucid Transcendent State of the Great Perfection does not assert buddhahood in the mind. The mind is the basis of accumulating various traces. Buddhahood is self-originate pristine consciousness [rang byung ye shes] that is free from thought. There is no place for traces to accumulate in the pristine consciousness that is free from thought.
It then cites a text called Molten Silver:
Observe the mind with the mind, there isn’t anything to see;
likewise, even though the nature of the mind is understood to be empty, this is not buddhahood;
that removes afflictions, but does not increase wisdom.
Hoping for buddhahood in the mind is like a feather being carried by the wind.
It finally distinguishes that mind and pristine consciousness [ ye shes ] have different results:
The results are not the same: the mind is mounted on the vāyu, and the mental concepts of the merged vāyu and mind move wildly. An undercurrent of concepts arise, accumulating as an undercurrent of traces. The present cause of birth in samsara is always engaging in the dualism of an apprehended object and an apprehending subject through combining both mind and the breath. Since one possesses a mind of an apprehended object and an apprehending subject, concepts arise in the mind. Since various concepts proliferate, temporary concepts arose. Since the five poisonous afflictions arose in the mind, they increased to eighty-four thousand. Since concepts proliferate in the mind, in every instant of time, one hundred concepts arise and on hundred cease. Therefore, the wheel of suffering is uninterrupted. The result is the ripening of the three lower realms.

Pristine consciousness self-originates from the beginning, is without breath, is pellucid, free from the mind, limpidly clear, non-conceptual and completely blissful. Since it is without arising and ceasing, it does not move. Clear in uniformity, unchanging and uninterrupted, clarity and non-conceptuality, bliss and emptiness are the same. The result is self-appearing perfect buddhahood.
So, one needs to be careful.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2015 at 2:24 AM
Title: Re: Issues in the History of Indian Buddhism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Generally these accounts — dating from the 11th through 13th century — portray Buddhism as being under siege by wicked Hindu Kings, with accounts of violence, sorcery and contests.

Indrajala said:
Now that you mention these, I recall reading about them, but I am curious as to whether most Tibetan masters in history were aware of the direct correspondence between the violence described in Vajrayāna texts and the real life violence between Brahmanical and Buddhist societies.

Oh, absolutely, it is major theme in all lineages histories of the siddhas.

The explanation of the symbolic import of abhicarya rites and so on was confined to mundane practitioners who had not achieved siddhi.
So that leads to the question: how many people were aware of the non-symbolic import of abhicāra rites?

Malcolm wrote:
Pretty much everyone in Tibet, including common people. I mean look, just examine the bio of Milarepa — what was he famous for? Rites for summoning hail connected with the planetary god, Rahula. Everyone in Tibet knows this, it is part of the common culture.

Wrathful rituals to dispatch demons as well as enemies are part and parcel of Tibetan religious life. There was a whole class of ritualists called Sogdogpas whose main job was ritually repelling Mongolians.

Rites known as Zor, which translates to something in modern parlance like "magical bomb," but literally means "sickle" or "scythe", are very popular. They are popular because people believe they work.

There is for example in Gelug history, the example of using abhicara rites to kill one of the Karmapas before he had a chance to reach the Chinese emperor.  A famed Gelug master was concerned that if the Karmapa as allowed to reach the Qing emperor,, things would be bad for the fortune of the Gelug school. 

There is much less erotica in Tibetan Vajrayāna than its Indian forbear, because the Tibetans were rather prudish, but have a rather violent character and are pretty war-like. They have just sublimated most of their aggression into religious and business pursuits, and they are self-consciously aware of this to a high degree.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2015 at 1:31 AM
Title: Re: A question about stream entry in Mahayana
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
First bhumi is Mahāyāna stream entry according to the presentation if the Abhisamayālamkara.

Phenomniverse said:
How can the other path attainments be interpreted from a Mahayana perspective?  For example, in a sadhana it says 'the state of a non-returner is attained'.  Is non-returning not something to be avoided for a Bodhisattva?

Malcolm wrote:
A non-returner is an eighth stage bodhisattva who is not longer subject to rebirth in the desire realm, since they have attained power over birth.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2015 at 1:30 AM
Title: Re: A question about stream entry in Mahayana
Content:
Jinzang said:
I was told (though others disputed with me on the point) that once one becomes a stream enterer one is irrevocably bound to become an arhat. You can't change your mind at that point and enter the bodhisattva path.

Malcolm wrote:
This is the Hinayāna point of view. This is not the Mahāyāna view of the matter.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2015 at 1:21 AM
Title: Re: Issues in the History of Indian Buddhism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
It was understood quite well. Do you think all exercise of abhicarya rites, even in the modern day, are merely symbolic exercises? I can assure you this is not the case.

Indrajala said:
Are there period Tibetan sources which express an understanding of the actual circumstances in India, particularly with regard to violence?

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, there is the rnam thar of Virupa, which while committed to writing in the late 12th century, certainly was communicated orally from the mid 11th. There is the songs of Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen which make fun of going to pilgrimage to Bodhgaya since a) it is controlled by Hindus, and b) one is likely to be murdered by hostile hill tribes on the way.

Also the 12th century bio of Padmasambhava reports a great deal of hostility between Hindus and Buddhists, and the stories of the 84 mahāsiddhas are full of magical battles between Hindus and Buddhists. There is even the 13th century confrontation between Harananda and Sakya Pandita. In short, Tibetans knew very well that India was a hostile place for Buddhists, which is why they largely ceased going there for anything other than trade purposes by the 13th century. They also received regular reports of Hindu hostilities from refugee Indian Buddhists who frequently took refuge in Tibet as late as the 15th century.

Generally these accounts — dating from the 11th through 13th century — portray Buddhism as being under siege by wicked Hindu Kings, with accounts of violence, sorcery and contests.

The explanation of the symbolic import of abhicarya rites and so on was confined to mundane practitioners who had not achieved siddhi.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2015 at 9:00 PM
Title: Re: Issues in the History of Indian Buddhism
Content:
Indrajala said:
Verardi's argument is that the symbolism of violence in the tantric materials is not strictly symbolic: it actually reflects real life violence as a reaction to centuries of antagonistic and hostile Brahmanism. It seems when the Tibetans inherited these practices, the historical background and context behind them were not really understood, which is also why modern teachers likewise would interpret things as being entirely symbolic.

Malcolm wrote:
It was understood quite well. Do you think all exercise of abhicarya rites, even in the modern day, are merely symbolic exercises? I can assure you this is not the case.

However, the criteria for being able to engage of rites of liberation on more than a symbolic level requires that the practitioner be a siddhi in fact. You should examine the story of Virupa, as his tale has the largest number of hostile and violent interactions with Hindus.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 26th, 2015 at 3:36 AM
Title: Re: A question about stream entry in Mahayana
Content:
Phenomniverse said:
I'm wondering what place stream-entry and other path attainments (culminating in arahatship) have in Mahayana Buddhism?  Are they mentioned, and if so how are they understood in the context of the Bodhisattva ideal of remaining in samsara for the benefit of all beings?  If you attain stream entry does that lead inevitably and irrevocably to the abandoning of samsara as Theravada suggests?

Malcolm wrote:
First bhumi is Mahāyāna stream entry according to the presentation if the Abhisamayālamkara.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 25th, 2015 at 8:21 AM
Title: Re: Definition(s) of "non-dual"
Content:
smcj said:
This is the problem. It is either a translation issue (my guess), or GR was not speaking in a precise way (possible, but unlikely).
Since he is discussing Phowa, there is also the possibility that he is euphemistically talking about...  :jaw drop:

...but that's just more speculation.


Malcolm wrote:
euphemistic = imprecise.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 25th, 2015 at 8:16 AM
Title: Re: Definition(s) of "non-dual"
Content:


T. Chokyi said:
If you understand then what difference does it make how a wisdom teacher phrases things, it does not seem imprecise to me. There probably isn't a mistake in translation just possibly a mistake in how it's been interpreted.
Therefore, they are able to destroy the self-grasping in the minds of others. This is the supreme Phowa

Malcolm wrote:
This is the problem. It is either a translation issue (my guess), or GR was not speaking in a precise way (possible, but unlikely).


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 25th, 2015 at 12:30 AM
Title: Re: Definition(s) of "non-dual"
Content:
T. Chokyi said:
Perhaps the way it is worded makes it so you can't understand it, but anything Garchen Rinpoche says to his students as an instruction can be taken seriously, his students understand him.

Malcolm wrote:
I understand what it says. The way it is worded is not consistent with the Buddha's teachings. So it is either a mistake in translation, or GR was speaking imprecisely.

It would be awesome if my self-grasping could be destroyed by a Buddha without my having to do anything. Sign me up.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 24th, 2015 at 9:58 PM
Title: Re: Definition(s) of "non-dual"
Content:
smcj said:
From another thread. Garching R. weighs in on the definition of "non-dual".

Garchin R. said:
Those who understand the view of non-duality, that self and others are not separate, can practice the Dharmakaya Phowa. The Dharmakaya Phowa is very powerful. Those who do not understand the non-duality of self and others should practice the Phowa of compassion - the Samboghakaya and Nirmanakaya Phowa. So those who perceive a duality of self and others, who think that we are separate from each other, should practice the Samboghakaya or Nirmanakaya Phowa - the Phowa of compassion. Those who understand that a duality of self and others does not exist within the mind, can practice the Dharmakaya Phowa. Because they have given rise to compassion, they have love; and because they have realized emptiness, they know that a duality of self and others does not exist. Therefore, they are able to destroy the self-grasping in the minds of others. This is the supreme Phowa

smcj said:
(formatting mine)

How does that square with Madhyamaka?

Malcolm wrote:
In Madhyamaka, ultimately there is no duality because neither existence nor nonexistence, self and other, etc. is established in the ultimate.

However, the final statement, "they are able to destroy the self-grasping in the minds of others"  is not consistent with the premise, "because they have realized emptiness, they know that a duality of self and others does not exist."

Further, there is the added problem — Buddhas have realized everything to realize, and have abandoned everything to abandon, they have perfect compassion which is unlimited. For what reason then have they not destroyed self-grasping that exists in the mind of all sentient beings? Therefore, I don't think that this statement above can be taken seriously. It also contradicts the statement of the Buddha:
Misdeeds cannot be washed away by water,
the suffering of living beings cannot be removed with the hand,
my realization cannot transferred to another,
but by showing the true nature of things, there will be liberation.

M


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 24th, 2015 at 9:43 PM
Title: Re: Neti Pots and you
Content:
Ayu said:
What kind of water do you recommend?

Malcolm wrote:
You should use only a distilled water saline solution in your nostrils.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 24th, 2015 at 9:32 PM
Title: Re: Neti Pots and you
Content:
Ayu said:
I did not know before what is a neti pot. For me such a pot looks strange. I do it just with my hand under a tap.

Malcolm wrote:
One should never use tap water to clean sinuses.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 24th, 2015 at 7:53 PM
Title: Re: Neti Pots and you
Content:
Johnny Dangerous said:
So, I have used one of these for years for chronic sinusitis, doctor ordered years ago, before the post themselves were a thing, and theymade you use a big syringe and saline cup. I've heard different things from different health professionals on how often to use them. Many of them have told me (ENT's in particular) basically to use it every day, I stopped doing this a while back because using it everyday seemed to make my sinuses feel permanently inflamed. Now I use it when I start to feel stuffy, feel a cold etc. coming on, or oddly..when my vision seems kind of dull. For some reason, I could swear it has always made my vision a little clearer after doing in terms of vividness of colors etc.

Anyone have detailed experiences with neti pots?

Malcolm wrote:
You should use some oil after doing neti because it dries out your sinuses.

http://www.banyanbotanicals.com/nasya-oil-7/

Use only neti only when needed.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 24th, 2015 at 7:45 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:


WeiHan said:
My point isn't that one year of data is sufficient to proof that there is no global warming in the last 50 years so I am not guilty of cherry picking data.

Malcolm wrote:
Umm., no.

WeiHan said:
“These people are not making any claim that we’re going to have some big recovery [in sea ice],” says Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (who was not involved with the paper), adding that decreasing trends in the sea ice mean we’re still eventually heading toward a seasonally ice-free Arctic ocean. “But it’s going to occur in fits and starts because the sea ice is highly variable — we’re going to go up some years, down in others.”

Serreze does have some criticism for the paper. This study shows that “sea ice thickness, like extent, is highly variable,” he says. “Now, we’ve already known that it’s highly variable … So it’s really not saying anything new there.” He also has some concerns about the basic methods the researchers used to compute changes in sea ice volume, arguing that they made some “suspect assumptions” about certain important factors that could affect their calculations, like the thickness of snow cover on the ice.

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/07/20/no-arctic-sea-ice-is-not-going-to-be-okay/


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 24th, 2015 at 8:39 AM
Title: Re: Purchasing things made by slave labor
Content:
Boomerang said:
If you know that a popular commercial product comes from slave labor, is there a negative karmic consequence to purchasing it?


Malcolm wrote:
It cuts both ways.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 24th, 2015 at 2:43 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
They should go talk to this guy, King Indrabhuti:

kirtu said:
Not everyone can or should be King Indrabhuti.  Some people even within Tibetan Buddhism are inclined to a more ascetic life.

Malcolm wrote:
Sure, totally valid choice.



kirtu said:
However your comments on the Chinese freaking out are dead on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 24th, 2015 at 2:26 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
Jikan said:
I'm going to have to go back and figure out how a discussion on anti-Tibetan propaganda turned into a discussion about sexuality.

Malcolm wrote:
Easy, sex is the main thing that freaks Chinese people out, and there is a lot of sex in Tibetan Buddhism, "sacred" and "otherwise." That is why some Chinese Buddhists and others hate Tibetan Buddhists. We get laid [when we can], work it into our path, and don't apologize for it.

Some people have this insane idea that you cannot be awakened and sexual. They should go talk to this guy, King Indrabhuti:


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 11:19 PM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
A mandala image, no matter how many deities in it there are, is a single figure. It is not two things. When there is a yabyum, it means the principle of bliss is being emphasized.
Right. Let us start with that understanding as a common basis for further discussion. So now what is it that we are disagreeing on?

Malcolm wrote:
I am just clarifying a point.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 11:13 PM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
EDIT 2 - No, I think my original understanding was correct, and my comment re: your view of the yab-yum still stands. Therefore this is the correct view:
Urgyen Dorje said:
... the yab yum has the same symbolism.  It has to ... It's not pointing to a particular skillfull means.

smcj said:
Exactly so. As you've said, a visualized single figure will still have an implement to symbolize the inclusion of the method/wisdom dichotomy as an integrated whole. That is a symbolic description of the enlightened mind, right? And, as your own posts have explained, that inclusion is no different than a yab/yum visualization with two figures, right? Therefore the two figure visualization is a symbolic depiction of the enlightened mind, right? A two figure visualization has the same symbolism as a single figure only with the dichotomy more fully expressed in the symbolism. And all this various visualizations are done with the figures on lotus flower to demonstrate that they are unstained by samsara, right?

Malcolm wrote:
A mandala image, no matter how many deities in it there are, is a single figure. It is not two things. When there is a yabyum, it means the principle of bliss is being emphasized.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 11:03 PM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
Other sects could easily have different presentations.
Indeed, you but were over generalizing from the specific point of view of your experience.
Au contraire. I was not generalizing, and I was not speaking from my own experience. I was reiterating what has been said by two authentic Dharma sources, and all along I have been very specific about the context. And I have left the door open for presentation from other sects about the subject, as long as they are backed up by authentic Dharma sources. Given that the tantras need commentary by living masters I think that a cut and paste from a tantra about this subject is not enough, and that people should be willing to back up what they opine with quotes from their teacher on the subject.

Malcolm wrote:
Just go read the Lamdre version of the Hevajra sadhana. For that matter, just take Lamdre. Everyone who takes Lamdre receives complete instructions in all completion stage practices including Karmamudra practice.

Karmamudra is not that important for Dzogchen practitioners, because it is not their path, nevetheless there are literally hundreds of instructions for using sex in the path found in various cycles of Dzogchen teachings.

smcj said:
Given that the Gelugpas as a sect were initiated as a reform movement motivated largely by Tsongkhapa's reaction/criticism of what he saw as the abuse of Vajrayana ideas into the lax morality of his day, with this practice specifically at the very top of his list,

Malcolm wrote:
This is unsubstantiated, though you repeat it often enough as if it were true. Tsongkhapa never envisioned that he was even starting a movement, much less a movement that was in reaction to lax morality. This is a western fantasy that has no historical basis in reality.

smcj said:
Tsongkhapa's criticism/reaction to the Nyingma approach to this practice was also basically a sectarian criticism.

Malcolm wrote:
Oh, and what criticism is that? If it exists, you should say what it is, in what text, in which volume of his collected works.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 10:46 PM
Title: Re: Gotama/Shakyamuni
Content:
pema yeshe said:
AND samantabhadra/bhadhri is YOU!!!

have fun everyone!


Simon E. said:
So I am the Dharmakaya ?

alpha said:
You are all three.Dharmakaya Sambogakaya Nirmanakaya

Malcolm wrote:
We have all three as potentials, we still have to recognize them in direct perception. That is what practice is for.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 10:27 PM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
It still bewilders me why we presume karmamudra is the only method to take sexuality onto the path.

Malcolm wrote:
It isn't. there is also the yoga of passion.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 9:23 PM
Title: Re: Gotama/Shakyamuni
Content:
smcj said:
...the claim was made that all forms of Buddhism are derived 'directly ' from ' Gotama, The Buddha '.
My understanding is that Vajradhara is understood to be the enlightenment of Sakyamuni as seen from the Vajrayana perspective. So that's why at the very top of the Kagyu Refuge tree is a small Vajradhara, representing Sakyamuni. Then you also visualize your own teacher as Vajradhara, not because he is in any sense the same personage as Sakyamuni, but the enlightenment presented to you by him is still the enlightenment of Sakyamuni as has been passed down through the lineage(s).

Malcolm wrote:
This is not how things are presented in Dzogchen, or for that matter in Sakya or Nyingma. In both Sakya and Nyingma for example, the nirmanakāya is not considered to be the "Teacher". There is only one teacher, Buddha Samantabhadhra/Vajradhara. This single teacher, the dharmakāya, called Samantabhadra, emanates the Samabhogakāya, in this case Vajradhara, who in turn emanates the nirmanakāyas such as Śākyamuni. I am fairly certain the Kagyus also present things in this way.

The Gelugpas understand it the way you present it.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 9:00 PM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
Well duh, of course. That's the point. For one thing I self-identify as a dilettante. The teaching I received, and have regurgitated here, was directed towards me, a non-yogi. That's what makes it appropriate to repeat in a public forum such as this. If I was discussing the specifics of the practice that would be completely inappropriate.

Malcolm wrote:
Actually, you should not be commenting about it all in my opinion.


smcj said:
Like I said, JKhedrup's geshe confirmed these ideas independently here at DW on anther thread.

Malcolm wrote:
And as I said, what the hell do monks know about it? Nothing, it is not something they practice.


smcj said:
Other sects could easily have different presentations.

Malcolm wrote:
Indeed, you but were over generalizing from the specific point of view of your experience.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 6:22 AM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:


Queequeg said:
Tathagatagarbha is totally unacceptable to them because it too much seems to assert an essence.

Malcolm wrote:
They simple do not understand that tathāgatagarbha simply refers to the innate luminosity of the mind, or in other words, its purity.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 5:13 AM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:
Jikan said:
I think we're straying into the weeds with the discussion around Jambudvipa.

I suppose it's better to ask what remains relevant to the needs of ordinary people in Japanese Buddhist traditions.  I'll argue that they offer a means to liberation from the suffering and struggle of everyday life on ordinary terms.  How this interfaces with contemporary Japanese social life and institutions, the substrate upon which these traditions depend for their continued existence, is a separate matter and I don't know how to address it.

Malcolm wrote:
if (typeof bbmedia == 'undefined') { bbmedia = true; var e = document.createElement('script'); e.async = true; e.src = 'bbmedia.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(e, s); }
https://phpbbex.com/ [video]


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 4:55 AM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
The point is not whether the description is literally precise in all its details, however, the fact is that it describes an Indo-centric view of the world where Jambudvipa is the southern most continent relative to the landmass of the Himalayas.

BTW, the four continents and the eight minor continents are all described in the Abhidharmakosha.

Queequeg said:
I'm more or less taking what your arguing implicitly to suggest, there are myriads of people whose understanding of the world around them do not coincide with the "Indo-centric" views, or more expansively, the ideas of the substance of matter (being composed of 4 or 5 elements), for example, or the construction of people as 5 aggregates, and yet, I don't accept that they are precluded from Buddhist attainment because they don't adopt these subjective views.

Malcolm wrote:
If you don't understand the five aggregates, you will never attain buddhahood. Why? Because you will never understand what absence of self really means in any concrete way.

The four or five elements are phenomenological descriptions of matter (hardness, liquidity, heat, motility and absence of obstruction), they are not considered things in themselves, at least, not in Yogacara on up.

If you do not understand the five elements, you will not understand the meaning of rūpaskandha.

Myriads of people do not attain buddhahood.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 4:41 AM
Title: Re: Tricycle: Anne Klein on the transmission of Tibetan Budd
Content:
drodul said:
What about the idea that tulkus can reincarnate in multiple bodies as the body, speech, mind, quality & activity incarnations?  Does this accord with the Buddha's teachings on reincarnation, or is it a political expedient?

Malcolm wrote:
Those are not reincarnations, those are emanations. This comes from the idea that someone achieved buddhahood, like Khyentse Wangpo, and thus, their activities can manifest in this way.

But these are not "yang srid."


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 4:32 AM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
All four continents as well as their minor continents are held to be inhabited by human beings. Where did you ever get the idea that only Jambudvipa was inhabited by human beings?

Queequeg said:
I must have read a different myth than you.

Malcolm wrote:
The point is not whether the description is literally precise in all its details, however, the fact is that it describes an Indo-centric view of the world where Jambudvipa is the southern most continent relative to the landmass of the Himalayas.

BTW, the four continents and the eight minor continents are all described in the Abhidharmakosha.

Not only this, it is pretty clear that in India at any rate, cosmologies like the Kosha were not taken literally in India, since the Indians knew the world was round and "suspended" in space.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 4:30 AM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:
Queequeg said:
There are some ideas that are very clearly wrong.

Jikan said:
Is this true across all Japanese traditions?  Some more than others, or some not at all?

Queequeg said:
I referred to Jambudvipa, but more generally, Buddhist cosmology supposes the world is a disc, floating on an ocean of cream, or whatever the myth proposes. If someone insists this is essential to Buddhist understanding, I have to bow out of that project. I don't think it is essential.

Malcolm wrote:
There are several Buddhist cosmological descriptions, not merely one. There is a Hinayāna description, which people are fond of making fun of (despite that fact Ptolomy concurs with Abhidharma cosmology by naming the people of the Northern steps of central Asia"Ottarakurus", and describing that place as a vast grassland, etc.)

There is also a Mahāyāna description, etc.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 4:27 AM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:
Queequeg said:
There are some ideas that are very clearly wrong. A literal conception of Jambudvipa doesn't coincide with what we know this world to look like, for one/

Malcolm wrote:
It coincides with the shape of India very well, for that is what Jambudvipa is, the subcontinent of India.

Queequeg said:
Where Jambudvipa is the only continent inhabited by humans? OK.

Malcolm wrote:
All four continents as well as their minor continents are held to be inhabited by human beings. Where did you ever get the idea that only Jambudvipa was inhabited by human beings?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 3:14 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
Well, in that case, no disrespect intended, but you really do not know what you are talking about.
If I were trying to teach this practice that would be a fair criticism. However that is not what I am doing. What I have repeated here is what is appropriate for Dharma students that are not advanced yogis to hear. Since this is a public internet forum I believe this presentation is the one that should be put forward regarding this topic.

Malcolm wrote:
And I think you are merely furthering misinformation and phobia.

smcj said:
I have faithfully repeated what my teacher explained to me in regards to this practice, which was independently confirmed by JKhedrup's geshe here on another thread at DW.

Malcolm wrote:
What the hell do monks know about these things? Nothing, that's what.

smcj said:
I do find is amusing to be taking a more conservative position on this than you obviously are doing. That's not easy to do. I'm actually somewhat proud of it.

Malcolm wrote:
Your approach is not more conservative in any respect at all. It is the opposite, actually. It is Vajrayāna lite™


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 3:04 AM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:
Queequeg said:
generally though, if something can't be supported by evidence, its going to fall into the "indeterminate" category at best.

Malcolm wrote:
For example, Buddhahood.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 3:02 AM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:
Queequeg said:
Malcolm, what you assert has to be assumed from the start to bear out. You're familiar enough with how this argument plays out. There's no need to continue.

Malcolm wrote:
Not at all, even when you start from an agnostic position, you will discover, upon investigation, that so called "empirical reality" is no more real than last night's dream.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 3:00 AM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:
Queequeg said:
There are some ideas that are very clearly wrong. A literal conception of Jambudvipa doesn't coincide with what we know this world to look like, for one/

Malcolm wrote:
It coincides with the shape of India very well, for that is what Jambudvipa is, the subcontinent of India.


Queequeg said:
To catalog all the ideas woven into Buddhist discourse that are quite clearly wrong should not be that controversial. I honestly can't spend the time to compile a list, but there are very clearly many ideas that we'd consider magic or alchemy treated in Buddhist texts as literal truths.

Malcolm wrote:
For example?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 2:57 AM
Title: Re: Tricycle: Anne Klein on the transmission of Tibetan Budd
Content:


fckw said:
1. It is not clear at all whether reincarnation - if it exists - actually follows linear time. Maybe our previous reincarnation was in the future. Ever thought about that?

Malcolm wrote:
Not possible by definition.

fckw said:
2. It is not clear at all whether an individual does reincarnate as a single other individual.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, it is very clear in the teaching of the Buddha that transmigration is serial and unique. For example, the Buddha says:
I am the owner of my actions,[1] heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.'
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.057.than.html

fckw said:
Assume, for example, it is reborn in the formless realms. Where is its individuality then? Or why shouldn't one be reborn as several people?

Malcolm wrote:
Every sentient being in the formless realm has a unique jivendriya, an organ of vitality, as well as a mind.

fckw said:
3. Reincarnation - if it exists - does not give rebirth to the "same" individual. According to Buddhist dharma, it's the karmic impulse that continues, not the personality. Since the karmic impulse has no personality it's simply nonsensical to talk of someone's previous life in the way it is done here.

Malcolm wrote:
Rebirth is not a karmic impulse that continues. The Buddha never taught this. Rebirth is the serial appropriation of addictive aggregates because of afflictions in a mind stream.

fckw said:
4. Assuming that the victims - all of them - indeed were the previous oppressors and their oppressors - all of them - the previous victims. Then what about the pre-previous incarnations? Where is the beginning? As we all know, there is none. Therefore, arguing with a random previous life (the one before this one) if in fact there are incountable ones is silly.

Malcolm wrote:
All we need to know is that sentient beings are born conditioned by affliction and action and if they do not awaken, they will continue to cultivate affliction and action with no end in sight.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 2:01 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Time to sell the beach house:
The study—written by James Hansen, NASA's former lead climate scientist, and 16 co-authors, many of whom are considered among the top in their fields—concludes that glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica will melt 10 times faster than previous consensus estimates, resulting in sea level rise of at least 10 feet in as little as 50 years. The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, brings new importance to a feedback loop in the ocean near Antarctica that results in cooler freshwater from melting glaciers forcing warmer, saltier water underneath the ice sheets, speeding up the melting rate. Hansen, who is known for being alarmist and also right, acknowledges that his study implies change far beyond previous consensus estimates. In a conference call with reporters, he said he hoped the new findings would be "substantially more persuasive than anything previously published." I certainly find them to be.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/07/20/sea_level_study_james_hansen_issues_dire_climate_warning.html


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 1:04 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
Unknown said:
"Collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion."

Malcolm wrote:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 at 11:16 PM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:
Jikan said:
To give an example:  Some Japanese traditions (Tendai and the Nichiren schools) uphold the view of Chih-i that the Buddha taught the Dharma in five periods, and these five periods correspond to certain texts as benchmarks, with the Avatamsaka coming first and the Lotus and Parinirvana sutras coming last.  Suppose one were to apply the methods of contemporary science and reason* to this schema, which is upheld as a historical truth by many in the Hokke schools.  How long would this doctrine last--or how might it change?  And how might those changes, including the total implosion of this doctrine upon itself, impact the central practices of those schools?

Malcolm wrote:
Or, how are they going to negotiate the collision with other Buddhist traditions that have wildly different notions about the transmission of Dharma?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 at 9:42 PM
Title: Re: Including other practices before dedication in Short Tun
Content:
haak0n said:
I think its a little too much. Wrathful practice + mandarava or oser chenma doesnt sound like a good combination.
My suggestion is to break up your sessions accordingly, but this is only my opinion.

Finney said:
Actually, it's quite common to do both in a thun. When discussing practice with different lamas (who are not part of the DC) I've heard various peaceful/wrathful combinations: yamantaka and tara, vajrakilaya and chenrezig, etc. If you're not confident in your lha'i nga rgyal (divine pride), though, I could see not wanting to do both kinds in one sitting.


haak0n said:
I think its the opposite. When I first started in the DC I always wanted to do a little of many different practices every day for their relative benefits.
Now I more feel like 'one practice covers all'. Thats more confidence no?

Malcolm wrote:
We have different conditions, so we work with circumstances.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 at 9:35 PM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:


Queequeg said:
Thanks for the clarification. I'm on the same page in that sense. My intent was to address the idea that a scientific, empirical, and rational approach should not be at odds with the fundamental truths of Buddhism

Malcolm wrote:
The fundamental truths of  Buddhism are predicated on the abhijñā of the Buddha, which involved recalling myriad past lives. This is a fundamental truth of Buddhism that is at odds with a "scientific, empirical, and rational" approach to reality, which is predicated on the ordinary, contaminated, deluded consciousness of sentient beings.

Queequeg said:
Buddhism if it will be useful to people now and in the future will need to be reconciled with and expressed through scientific ideas, even if it ultimately leads to Buddhism transforming and leaving a mark on science...

Malcolm wrote:
Modern science is in no position to evaluate Buddhist doctrines of mind, nor the nature of the mind.

Queequeg said:
But retreating into medieval or ancient beliefs just to preserve dharma as its been handed down is an unwise plan that I think will have very limited appeal...

Malcolm wrote:
It is amazing to see how people think that their limited, conventional, "empirical", consciousness is the benchmark for truth. This limited, conventional, "empirical", consciousness is precisely the reason we sentient beings transmigrate in samsara. The "empirical" world we experience is just a kind of karmic vision. It is no more true than a dream.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 at 9:30 PM
Title: Re: Loss of Japanese traditions
Content:
Queequeg said:
Nobody is going to give up atmospheric science to go back to the idea that dragons cause rain...

Malcolm wrote:
Nāga pujas to generate rain are indeed very effective.

Queequeg said:
when I'm diagnosed with cancer, I'd like my chemo rather than the suggestion of a pilgrimage to see the Medicine Buddha statue.

Malcolm wrote:
Depends on whether you have a one lifetime view or a view that includes rebirth. The merit of the latter certainly exceeds the merit of the former.

Queequeg said:
If the heart of the Buddhist teachings is true, then its true in the most immediate viral meme and there is something of dharma in it that will resonate with people - you don't need to insist on an ancient Indian pantheon and geography; there is some expression of it that will connect with people now. If we haven't found it yet, then that's our failure as Buddhists who live now.

Malcolm wrote:
Hence, the corporate mindfulness movement...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 at 9:57 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
As I've said all along, consort practice is not sex.

Malcolm wrote:
I think you really have never received instructions for this practice. If you had, you would have understood that it is also called "taking desire into the path."

smcj said:
Have I had detailed instructions, as in how to actually do it? No.

Malcolm wrote:
Well, in that case, no disrespect intended, but you really do not know what you are talking about.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 at 6:42 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
As I've said all along, consort practice is not sex.

Malcolm wrote:
I think you really have never received instructions for this practice. If you had, you would have understood that it is also called "taking desire into the path."


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 at 1:43 AM
Title: Re: Gotama/Shakyamuni
Content:
Kunga Lhadzom said:
What's the difference between Gotama Shakyamuni and  Samantabhadra (Ultimately)

Malcolm wrote:
Samantabhadra is the dharmakāya, of whom Śākyamuni is an emanation.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 at 12:37 AM
Title: Re: Gotama/Shakyamuni
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
No, they have it wrong. All forms of Buddhism derive from Samantabhadra.

dzogchungpa said:
I wonder what Samantabhadra derives from?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 at 12:05 AM
Title: Re: Gotama/Shakyamuni
Content:
Simon E. said:
In a thread now locked the claim was made that all forms of Buddhism are derived 'directly  ' from ' Gotama,  The Buddha '.

What say you ?


Malcolm wrote:
No, they have it wrong. All forms of Buddhism derive from Samantabhadra.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 at 10:22 PM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Oh, an in mexico, they marry alligators:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3145964/Mexican-mayor-marries-ALLIGATOR-believed-princess-traditional-ceremony-hundreds-not-reptile-baptized.html


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 at 9:52 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
One of the skillful means that is a remedy to such disturbance of the elements is the practice of sang.  This is something we either believe or don't believe as the understanding of such things come from primordial wisdom, not conceptual mind.

Malcolm wrote:
Of course, some idiot is likely to claim that by burning juniper and rhododendron one is contributing to warming...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 at 9:51 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:



Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 at 9:47 PM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
So I guess what it boils down to is this: traditionally the institution of marriage is between one man and one woman, one man and one tree, one women and one fruit, several brothers and one women, several women and one man and so on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 at 5:23 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
kirtu said:
The way you have written this is a strawman (as I have already pointed out).  So nothing says exactly that or anything close to those semantics.

Malcolm wrote:
It is not a strawman — there is no support at all in sūtra or tantra for the tulku system in Tibetan Buddhism.

This is a different issue than the general teaching that variegated nirmanakāyas will appear for the benefit of sentient beings. No method for recognizing these is provided in the sūtras and tantras. Why? Because nirmanakāyas know they are nimanakāyas. They do not need a process of confirmation.

Then there of course my post on the subject.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 at 5:13 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
DKR just indicted the tulku system for giving a wrong view of reincarnation, at around 38 minutes into the first session

dzogchungpa said:
I almost got up to ask a question about what exactly he meant by this remark but, sadly, I was too timid.

What do you think he might have been getting at?

Malcolm wrote:
The idea that an integral person incarnates.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 at 12:18 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Or it is Mahāmudra view, or it is Prajñāpāramita view, and so on. It is the final view the Buddha taught in all sūtra and tantras.

Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
I offer respect again.

Well, "ati" is indeed "utmost", or "final".

Would it be fair to say your rejection of the reincarnate kun rdzob sprul sku is more or less part and parcel of your rejection of the necessity of the purification/transformation yanas?


Malcolm wrote:
I don't reject reincarnations, I reject the system of recognizing them. I think the system of recognizing tulkus hugely liable to eight worldly dharmas and actually provides a breeding ground for them within the bosom of Tibetan Buddhist institutions.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 10:55 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
"Everyone is a tulku", " ... rinpoches all the way down" and "sacred outlook [already] comes from having discovered your real nature" are statements of ati view. This view states that confusion dawns as wisdom.

Malcolm wrote:
Or it is Mahāmudra view, or it is Prajñāpāramita view, and so on. It is the final view the Buddha taught in all sūtra and tantras.

Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
The view of the paths of purification and transformation states that the path must still clarify confusion. Thus even in that view, "sacred outlook" is still a path, and not yet a complete wisdom.

Malcolm wrote:
The basis of delusion is vidyā. Confusion is already clear. The world is already sacred. We don't need a view to make it so. If you need a "view" or an "outlook" to make the world sacred, then something is wrong with your view and outlook.
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
Even in the view which regards the path of self-liberation as a complete path in and of itself, the blessings of the kundzop guru are required, particularly for the secondary practices, which are numerous.

Malcolm wrote:
The blessings of the relative guru is just knowledge of our primordial state. That is the only blessing we need, it does not matter what other paths we think we are following. One can fill an ocean the size of the billion-fold universe with tears of devotion and never be one step closer to recognizing one's real state. We don't need that kind of blessing. We only need the blessing of direct introduction.

Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
This is because even in ati view, only a realized master can abide constantly in naturally arising primordial wisdom.

Malcolm wrote:
We all abide constantly in self-originated pristine consciousness [ rang byung ye shes ] and always have. The only difference between oneself and a master is the degree to which one has integrated with that understanding.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 9:57 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
In my view this will result in the further irrelevance of sacred outlook, which is already a myth, hence a joke, in our so called post enlightenment culture.

Malcolm wrote:
"Sacred outlook" is just a contrivance unless it comes from having discovered your real nature.


Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
My teacher is a vajra guru, and a tulku. Because my guru has taught this view, I adopt this view. Therefore it is not a matter of opinion.

Malcolm wrote:
Everyone is a tulku. From my blog:
The purpose of this post is to settle a controversy [and perhaps create another] and remove a misunderstanding about so called "sprul skus" or reincarnations, that venerable institution that causes so much controversy in Tibetan Buddhism.

In the teaching of the Great Perfection there are two kinds of so called nirmanakāyas or tulkus. First, there are impure forward-progression [ma dag pa lugs 'byung] nirmanakāyas  i.e. all sentient beings. These arise because of ignorance.

The second are pure reverse-progression [dag pa lugs ldog] nirmanakāyas: among these there are also two, those that come from the dharmakāya and sambhogakāya, nirmanākāyas of compassion if you will. The second are called nirmanakāyas of the attained result, these are sentient beings of pure karma, blessed by being seen by the buddhas, who make more and more progress, attaining higher and higher states of yogic understanding.

Thus we sentient beings are all nirmanakāyas -- differentiated only by our level of relative attainment and relative level of pure and impure karma.

The so-called "tulkus" of institutional Tibetan Buddhism are also sentient beings; some with higher yogic attainments, some with none, and others with some. Because they are sentient beings, some remember their rebirths well, and others not at all. Some achieve high levels of yogic understanding, some are great teachers, some are panditas, poets and artists. Some tulkus are mere politicians, some are gangsters, some are thieves. But they are all sentient beings. Not one of them was not born from the womb of a human mother.

Most tulkus are never "recognized" because anyone who practices Dharma sincerely is a tulku, no matter what level of "realization" they are reputed to have, whether or not they have been recognized. In this sense, a tulku is defined as someone who acts to help sentient beings inspired by the compassion of the buddhas for sentient beings.

We are all rinpoches, precious ones. Sentient beings are precious because their plight is the cause of the compassion of the buddhas. Buddhas are precious because they exist solely to aid sentient beings from suffering. I guess you could say it is rinpoches all the way down.

Some people crave recognition, wanting others to acknowledge their status -- consider yourselves acknowledged  but don't expect a title. If you want people to consider you a tulku, act like one. If you must, fake it. Faking it may even lead to developing some real compassion which exceeds your petty narrow-minded grasping to titles and position. Being a pure reverse-progression tulku means cherishing all sentient beings. Nothing is holding you back but your own selfishness.

The Dzogchen teachings acknowledge that all sentient beings are tulkus. But whether that is meaningful is not up to the buddhas, it is up to each one of us and our dedication to the path of awakening and benefitting our fellow tulkus.

In reality, tulkuhood is defined not by robes, titles, race, position, gender, education, or creed but by how we are able to apply wisdom and compassion in our efforts to aid sentient beings and alleviate their suffering.

http://www.atikosha.org/2011/01/we-are-all-rinpoches-nirmanakayas-and.html


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 9:51 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:


kirtu said:
Yes, of course it did.  People make excuses but prior to creation of the Internet it was not possible to provide universal education to the vast majority of humanity, and certainly not on demand.  Prior to the popularity of MOOC's it was unlikely but possible.  The real date for universal education for humanity is really about 2004.  we still have a way to go before we can really claim that any Dharma practitioner that wants to can receive quality Dharma education but that is clearly coming fast (for example critical commentaries across traditions are still not available, etc.)

Kirt

Malcolm wrote:
You said:
we have now passed the point in history where we can no longer provide a basic Dharma education to everyone desiring one.
I said:
That point in history never existed.

In other words, there never was a point in history where we could provide a basic Dharma education to everyone desiring one. You apparently meant the opposite of what you wrote.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 9:46 PM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:


ShineeSeoul said:
I don't want to create controversies by answering this question, because my opinion based on Mahayana Buddhism..therefore, I think sex cannot be part of enligthment path, as Buddha has said in Pali Tripitaka as will as Taisho tripitaka, The Tibetan tantras have additional scriptures, which believe in transfering the negative energy into positive one which is enlightment..however, according to other sources, Buddha has cut everything to reach enlightment, he won't engage in sex, or any other sexual form, including tantric one, to avoid attachment as will as negative Karma that might be the result

Malcolm wrote:
The Buddha taught three paths: the path of renunciation which is common to Hinayāna and Mahāyāna; the path of transformation which is general Vajrayāna and the path of self-liberation, which is also termed Atiyoga.

The principles of the higher paths often seem to contradict the principles of the lower paths, but in reality, they are all aiming at the same point, buddhahood. If someone does not have faith in a path, for example, karmamudra, they should leave it aside and not criticize it, because many masters in India and Tibet have attained complete buddhahood through practicing this path. One should be careful not to criticize Vajrayāna teachings, because one will abandon the Dharma if one does so.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 7:41 AM
Title: Re: Dzongsar Khyentse Webcast-Is There Buddhism Without Rebi
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Honestly, I found the whole thing rather disappointing. One, he never answered anyone's questions. Two, he merely asserted that we should not reject rebirth since it was valid conventional truth, but when pressed could never produce the many arguments which prove rebirth.

Mostly, I thought it was a very rambling, aimless presentation.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 7:09 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Can anyone point me to a reference in either sūtra or tantra, Nyingma or Sarma, that says, "In the last 500 years of the Dharma, the only way the Dharma will be preserved is through recognizing small children as the reincarnations of dead masters"?

kirtu said:
You know for a fact that the claims supporting tulku recognition are selective readings of sutras and hagiographic material usually related to purported prophecies originating with Padmasambhava (or Shakyamuni in the case of sutric sources) down to visions and declarations of teachers that other find authoritative.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, the same citations reused for all kinds of different people.



kirtu said:
So from Incarnation, Chapter 2 In the ninth century, Guru Padmasambhava gave a prophecy to the king (King Trisong Detsen) about the king's future tulkus:

Lord, you will serve beings in India for (the next) thirteen lives,
After that, in the region of Lungmar of Lhotrag,
You will take birth as Nima Ozer, a master of kama and terma teachings
And you will serve beings through esoteric activities,
After that, in Pangje of Lhotrag,
You will manifest as Chokyi Wangchuk

Malcolm wrote:
Oh, no one doubts that are predictions of rebirths in sūtra as well as tantra; but the question I asked was very pointed, "Can anyone point me to a reference in either sūtra or tantra, Nyingma or Sarma, that says, "In the last 500 years of the Dharma, the only way the Dharma will be preserved is through recognizing small children as the reincarnations of dead masters"?"

And the answer is: no where.

kirtu said:
The funny thing too is that people somehow believe tulkus get better training than ordinary people. Really, this is a fantasy. The fact is that young tulkus are often put to work at a very young age raising money for their monasteries, and as a result, they often have very inferior training compared with normal scholars in shedras.
Well this has to be fixed.  And of course we have now passed the point in history where we can no longer provide a basic Dharma education to everyone desiring one.  So with a little work everyone can raise their level of scholarship and practice.

Malcolm wrote:
That point in history never existed.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 4:01 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
It hardly makes sense as there's 500M Buddhists on the planet, about 7-8% of the population.  Buddhists have certainly been getting it on for the last 2500 years.  You'd think we'd be able to talk about it and, as you say, integrate it into practice.

Malcolm wrote:
Well, Buddhism /= Buddhadharma.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 3:44 AM
Title: Re: Guru trapur
Content:
kashmir said:
Is it ok to use the long and short guru trapper mantras interchangeably even though CNN gives usually the shorter one?


Malcolm wrote:
You only need the short one.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 3:40 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:


smcj said:
If someone that hasn't taken a vow of celibacy wants to have sex, let them have sex. But using an advanced Vajrayana practice as a pretext for normal sex is sacrilege imo.

Malcolm wrote:
I see, so we are supposed to use eating yoga, sleeping yogas, waking yogas and so on, but when it comes to sex, we are just supposed not integrate this into our practice because it is sex?

That hardly makes any sense at all.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 2:21 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:


theanarchist said:
There are plant species that have male and female individuals. For example the Ginko

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, this is common knowledge.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 2:07 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
I'm down with that.  Dendrophelia.

But... Gasp... *the cold flush of fear*... Is it a FEMALE tree she married???


Malcolm wrote:
Transgendered, I think...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 1:56 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
This is actually one of the most interesting things I've seen on DW.

We better make sure the trees can't get married.  The horror, the horror.
A tree is currently getting more action than a lot of men out there.

According to news.com.au, Emma McCabe, 31, told Closer magazine  she has found the most satisfying sexual relationship she’s ever had in a tall poplar tree she has named Tim.

McCabe intends to marry the tree because all of her relationships with humans have failed miserably.

Malcolm wrote:
http://elitedaily.com/news/world/woman-marrying-tree-best-sex/977768/


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 1:39 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
DKR just indicted the tulku system for giving a wrong view of reincarnation, at around 38 minutes into the first session


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 12:33 AM
Title: Re: Identification of rGya-mThso'i lBu-ba
Content:
pemachophel said:
Thanks Loppon-la. One of my Dharma friends is trying to make Naga incense here in the U.S. She loves to offer Naga sang on every lu-theb day. She ran out of commercial Naga sang; so she's trying to create her own. She's done a great job of tracking down and sourcing ingredients. I'll tell her what you've said.



Malcolm wrote:
I think generally, what ChNN recommends is to just use juniper and other aromatic smelling plants like sage, etc.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 12:24 AM
Title: Re: Identification of rGya-mThso Bu-wa
Content:
pemachophel said:
Can anyone help me with the identification of rgya.mtsho.bu.ba? One on-line source I've found says cuttlefish bone. A friend suggests it might be meershaum based on a translation of the Tibetan name (sea bubbles or foam). I had thought it is cuttlefish bone, but then I found out it's an ingredient in a Naga sang recipe and I know you're not supposed to offer animal products to the Nagas.

Any clarification of this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.


Malcolm wrote:
rgya mtsho bu ba is defined in Tibetan materia medica as an earth and stone medicine. However, it is indeed cuttlefish bone that is wild crafted from beaches.

The main problem with offering incense to Nagas is that most Tibetan incense contains musk, and other animal products. But since this is a sea product, I don't think there is an issue, especially if you get it from a traditional source where it is beach harvested, rather than a fishing byproduct. It is used for kidney heat and illnesses of the brain.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 11:43 PM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
Trees too (are roots legs?).

Malcolm wrote:
No, roots are the brains of a tree.

Urgyen Dorje said:
This year celebrates the 200th aniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, best known for his theory of evolution summarized in On the Origin of Species. Less well known is that, in the second half of his life, Darwin’s major scientific focus turned towards plants. He wrote several books on plants, the next-to-last of which, The Power of Movement of Plants, published together with his son Francis, opened plants to a new view. Here we amplify the final sentence of this book in which the Darwins proposed that: “It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the tip of the radicle thus endowed [with sensitivity] and having the power of directing the movements of the adjoining parts, acts like the brain of one of the lower animals; the brain being seated within the anterior end of the body, receiving impressions from the sense-organs, and directing the several movements.” This sentence conveys two important messages: first, that the root apex may be considered to be a ‘brain-like’ organ endowed with a sensitivity which controls its navigation through soil; second, that the root apex represents the anterior end of the plant body. In this article, we discuss both these statements.

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819436/


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 11:34 PM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:


theanarchist said:
And by the way, the partner has to have the same qualification, so I imagine it's not easy to find a suitable consort anyway.

Malcolm wrote:
They just have to be at the same level do realization or absence thereof. Anyway, with regards to this topic, most people have not received instruction, and really, don't know what they are talking about.


theanarchist said:
Exactly. But there is the myth that an old lama f--ing some random young girl equals consort practice.

Malcolm wrote:
That is not a myth. Sometimes, in the past, if an older lama had an obstacle to their longevity, they would take a young consort, generally between 16-18 years of age.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 11:16 PM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:


theanarchist said:
And by the way, the partner has to have the same qualification, so I imagine it's not easy to find a suitable consort anyway.

Malcolm wrote:
They just have to be at the same level do realization or absence thereof. Anyway, with regards to this topic, most people have not received instruction, and really, don't know what they are talking about.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 9:00 PM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
ShineeSeoul said:
I have just stating my opinion regarding the topic which is some group protesting Tibetan Buddhism...not meant to be provocative

I wasn't aware also until now that the consort practice has been admitted to be exist...so just stating my opinion...thats it

Malcolm wrote:
Of course, there is eating yoga, sleeping yoga, yogas for defecating and urinating too, so naturally there is a sexual yoga as well. If you are monk, you do not practice the last one.

ShineeSeoul said:
what i have learn here from member response, is that, even vajrayana monk can still have sex with consort if they are high practitioner? or so called qualified enough?

Malcolm wrote:
That is a difficult point, and your answer will vary depending on who you ask.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 9:30 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
It wouldn't break my heart if it was formally and officially discontinued..

Malcolm wrote:
It never will be, and it should not be.

smcj said:
As is with the issue of tulkus, the question is one of cost/benefit.

I've got no dog in this fight. WAY above my pay grade. I'm just pointing out that it has a huge downside to it, as is evidenced in this thread. Plus I'm never going to do that practice.

Malcolm wrote:
There is no downside. There is however the fact that some people do not understand what we are doing. Do we get rid of wrathful rituals merely because someone freaks out through their misconception that Buddhadharma is purely pacifist? Of course not. It is the same with the whole range of Vajrayāna practice.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 9:06 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
smcj said:
It wouldn't break my heart if it was formally and officially discontinued..

Malcolm wrote:
It never will be, and it should not be.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 8:08 AM
Title: Re: Anti-Tibetan Buddhism Signs
Content:
ShineeSeoul said:
I have just stating my opinion regarding the topic which is some group protesting Tibetan Buddhism...not meant to be provocative

I wasn't aware also until now that the consort practice has been admitted to be exist...so just stating my opinion...thats it

Malcolm wrote:
Of course, there is eating yoga, sleeping yoga, yogas for defecating and urinating too, so naturally there is a sexual yoga as well. If you are monk, you do not practice the last one.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 8:06 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
maybay said:
Put that way, it would seem each court case is something to be regretted. Is that the response you've seen?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 8:05 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
maybay said:
I think I've been pretty consistent in wanting to discuss the underlying issues Malcolm. If UD says he values compassion, and that is not consistent with his presentation, then I question that, just as I am curious about the values of American society which seem to produce similarly conflicting views.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 8:01 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Meanwhile, in real world where there is little knowledge of and less interest in such traditions, worldly people lead worldly lives which means they need worldly remedies for their worldly problems.

maybay said:
Worldly people don't lead, they follow, blindly, and their worldly problems continue. What they need is Dharma.

Malcolm wrote:
So are you out there standing on a street corner? No, you are pontificating to the choir, only the difference is, you seem to think that choir has not anticipated your lecture.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 7:15 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
maybay said:
For someone who puts love and compassion in front Urgyen, I'm sorry to say your writing sounds almost nothing like how the Dalai Lama writes. How do you explain this disparity? Is your's a different flavor of compassion? I'm trying to place your head-bashing rhetoric in the context of our discussion.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 5:45 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
rory said:
Here is the clan, the warlike virile males of the past, remaking the present devoid of corrupting reason:
ISIS throwing 4 gay men off a roof.

I look to ancient Greece and Rome; the birth of ideas of democracy and equality under the law

maybay said:
Islam is like the shadow of the west and everything it represents. The more one pushes toward reason, the more the other pulls away from it. Only non-dual spiritual traditions offer any meaningful alternative.

Malcolm wrote:
Meanwhile, in real world where there is little knowledge of and less interest in such traditions, worldly people lead worldly lives which means they need worldly remedies for their worldly problems.

Philosopher kings are terrible rulers, and worse leaders. And Utopias are hells...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 3:56 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Possibly of interest...

http://tulkus1880to2018.net/exhibition/

http://about.tbrc.org/tibetan-tulku-lines-and-networks/


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 19th, 2015 at 1:59 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:


maybay said:
Seems like these days people don't need a reason to murder.

Malcolm wrote:
They never did.

maybay said:
Then your sentence "Countless fools have murdered and caused the murder of others in the name of honor, chivalry and valor" is meaningless.

Malcolm wrote:
People have always used pretenses (such as honor, chivalry, valor, glory, etc.) for acts that fundamentally are devoid of reason, reasoning and reasons.

maybay said:
Dr. Freya Reeves Lambides, Editor
Avalon to Camelot Dear Dr. Lambides,
My previous letter [Vol. 1 No. 4, p. 2] was hastily written, without the thought that it would be published. Of course my use of the term "fascism” was imprecise. The lesson, I suppose, is that one should not write anything one would not care to see in print.

However, I will stand on and even expand my indictment of chivalric literature, in which I have such illustrious predecessors as Petrarch and Cervantes. Chivalric literature has been predominantly deceptive; that is, it has attempted to mislead readers or listeners about historical truth. It has encouraged bloodshed for the sake of principle, and discouraged learning and study. It also promoted an immature concept of the relations between the sexes, and was, if not openly anti-Semitic (there is a famous example of the latter in the Cid), at least quite in harmony with the birth of modern anti-Semitism in the late Middle Ages.

Of course there are works which are exempt from some or all of the charges. Obviously the literature would not have been written or read if some desire for it were not there; however, to exonerate the literature on these grounds is the same as exonerating handguns with the argument “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Of our postwar presidents it was the most aggressive, who laid the foundation for the Vietnam War, with whom chivalry is most closely associated. The role of southern chivalry, derived from the neo-Arthurianism of Sir Walter Scott, in setting the scene for the Civil War was pointed out a century ago; nothing in southern chivalry was found incompatible with slavery. According to its constitution, the Ku Klux Klan embodies in its principles “all that is chivalric in conduct” (Stanley Frost, The Challenge of the Klan [1924; rpt. New York: AMS, 1969], p. 68).

I do, then, object to the glamorization and popularization of chivalric literature, and to the eager interest in those seemingly central questions, the existence of a historical Arthur and the origin of the grail legend. It is not that the investigation is wrong in itself (though it says something about us that chivalry is today the most popular aspect of the medieval world), but the motivation behind it is, on the whole, misguided. Chivalric literature, like all myths, should be studied, but not taught.

You have said you are not certain that Return to Camelot makes the case I imply. I will quote only one sentence from the opening paragraph of the final chapter, “The Great War”: “ One conclusion is undeniable: the ideals of chivalry worked with one accord in favor of war ” (p. 276).
Just as you found part of my letter hard to understand, one sentence in your answer is unclear to me. Who are the “beings like Merlin who transcend our known realities”? If you maintain that there are unknown realities, then you have left scholarship, and me, behind.
Sincerely,
Daniel Eisenberg
(Published in Avalon to Camelot, 2, No. 2 (1986 [1987], p. 2.)


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 11:53 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
I'm with you.

See what I've put in bold below.  I think where we differ is that I'm asserting we're the ones idealizing Tibetan cultural institutions, even more so than most Tibetans.

Malcolm wrote:
Frankly, we are just naive, as a whole, making unwarranted assumptions based in a Shangri-la attitude.

But we are learning...

We do not need to imagine to accept the Dharma, we have to accept everything Tibetan. That will not work at all. We need to practice a Dharma that functions within our culture.

Urgyen Dorje said:
But the truth is that for a Westerner to practice a teaching that comes from Tibet there is no need for that person to become like a Tibetan. On the contrary, it is of fundamental importance for him to know how to integrate that teaching with his own culture in order to be able to communicate it, in its essential form, to other Westerners. But often, when people approach an Eastern teaching, they believe that their own culture is of no value. This attitude is very mistaken, because every culture has its value, related to the environment ment and circumstances in which it arose. No culture can be said to be better than another; rather it depends on the human individual whether he or she will derive greater or lesser advantage from it in terms of inner development. For this reason it is useless to transport rules and customs into a cultural environment different from the one in which they arose.

Malcolm wrote:
Chogyal Namkhai Norbu. Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State (Kindle Locations 149-155). Kindle Edition.

We can respect the Dharma, yet be doubtful of the tulku system's long term value in the modern world, and still be very good practitioners.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 11:39 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
ngodrup said:
B analogy, you rarely hear people say the American
constitutional democracy system is corrupt and should be disposed of.

Malcolm wrote:
Actually, we often hear that here from some of the more so called "conservative" voices on this forum (I guess they want a monarchial restoration or some such silliness).

More seriously, American Democracy has become corrupted by money and power. This will be the major theme of the next election:




ngodrup said:
On a tangential topic of Ch NNR, I have heard at least one very prominent Geshe--
a candidate for Ganden Tri-- speak very highly of him, citing specifically his service
to the Tibetan people by publishing on Tibetan History and Culture. The same Geshe
openly criticizes pervasive nepotism in Tibetan society.

Malcolm wrote:
That's cool.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 10:49 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Truthfully, the only reincarnation that I have any confidence is in Chogyal Namkhai Norbu because he was recognized by someone who attained rainbow body, his uncle. The rest of them I really don't believe in.


theanarchist said:
This here is completely anonymous so I can say this much.

Almost two decades ago I met a Tibetan lama and I had a nagging suspicion that I had to have known that man from before. I don't know what made me do it, but we were alone in that room, I pointed at a photo that someone had put on the shrine that showed his supposed previous incarnation and I asked him, what's your connection to that one. He said, in a very strange voice, "that's me", and we both knew, it was the truth.

That man absolutely hates to be put on a throne or be praised as a teacher, or dragged in front of a crowd.

Some say that he is Manjushri incarnate, I just say, he is the most intelligent person I have ever had the pleasure having converstation with.

Malcolm wrote:
Again, the point is not that there are no reincarnations; the point is that the tulku system basically corrupt, meaning that it is too easily manipulated for financial, personal and political gain. It does not mean that every tulku is false, though it is my conviction that the vast majority of so called tulkus [95%+] are absolutely not the reincarnations of the masters they whose names they bear, in other words, no more than 5 in every 100.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 10:43 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
The funny thing too is that people somehow believe tulkus get better training than ordinary people. Really, this is a fantasy. The fact is that young tulkus are often put to work at a very young age raising money for their monasteries, and as a result, they often have very inferior training compared with normal scholars in shedras.


theanarchist said:
In the Nyingma lineages a lot of the tulkus come from a family background of lamas, so those get a very good dharma education for certain. Just look as the family of Tulku Orgyen

Malcolm wrote:
It's a mixed bag, actually. Some tulkus get great educations. Some just learn some rituals, and mainly go around giving blessings to raise money. I have met both kinds.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 10:16 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
in my seats it's good to get off the wagon of Americans for Tibetan cultural reform.  We don't have dogs in that fight, nor should we.  Being a Buddhist doesn't give us papers to disassemble Tibetan religious culture.  Heard of cultural imperialism?

That comment isn't an encouragement to give it all a pass.  We're creating an American vajrayana culture every time we host lamas and put on teachings, even though we have few realized western teachers.  We can make the choice to be indifferent to these aspects of Tibetan culture by cultivating our own attitudes.

Malcolm wrote:
I have no interest in Tibetan cultural reform. We are in agreement that any modifications of Tibetan culture should come from Tibetans, not Americans, Europeans or Chinese people. This however does not prevent us from observing that some Tibetan cultural institutions maybe are not all that they are cracked up to be.

It is important to recognize however that there are Tibetan cultural practices, like recognizing tulkus, that are not actually part of the Dharma. Can anyone point me to a reference in either sūtra or tantra, Nyingma or Sarma, that says, "In the last 500 years of the Dharma, the only way the Dharma will be preserved is through recognizing small children as the reincarnations of dead masters"?

The funny thing too is that people somehow believe tulkus get better training than ordinary people. Really, this is a fantasy. The fact is that young tulkus are often put to work at a very young age raising money for their monasteries, and as a result, they often have very inferior training compared with normal scholars in shedras.

Of course we have to understand that the practice of recognizing tulkus began with the second and third Karmapa, and these masters were fantastic. Then it became a big fashion, and within 200 hundred years, tulkus were being recognized everywhere.

We also should understand that the 5th Dalai Lama's recognition, by his own account, was completely fraudulent. He was also a fantastic master, but he certainly was not the reincarnation of the fourth Dalai Lama.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 9:15 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
MiphamFan said:
No, they were former Chan Buddhists.

Malcolm wrote:
And a number of Bonpos, like Bagor Vairocana.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 9:14 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
theanarchist said:
Then how is it, that so few western practitioners qualify to teach vajrayana or dzogchen, even after decades following that path?

Malcolm wrote:
Who says this is so?

theanarchist said:
When Padmasambhava introduced tantric buddhism in a wider fashion in Tibet, the first generation of disciples produced a ton of realized teachers.

Malcolm wrote:
Tons? You mean 25, don't you?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 7:52 PM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:


maybay said:
Seems like these days people don't need a reason to murder.

Malcolm wrote:
They never did.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 7:49 PM
Title: Re: Thich Nhat Hanh news and health care cost
Content:


Kim O'Hara said:
In a word, the US spends a lot more but doesn't get a lot more for the money.


Kim


theanarchist said:
Yep.

Artificial hip joint surgery in the USA cost five times as much as in Germany. And in Germany everyone who gets one automatically gets three weeks of full time rehabilitation along with the surgery, paid in full by health insurance and if you are still working, with sick pay.

Malcolm wrote:
Again, quite irrelevant to the program TNH has entered.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 7:49 PM
Title: Re: Thich Nhat Hanh news and health care cost
Content:


Kim O'Hara said:
In a word, the US spends a lot more but doesn't get a lot more for the money.

Kim

Malcolm wrote:
That has no bearing on the merits of the program TNH entered.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 7:41 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Even then we have travesties such as Steven Segal and so on.


theanarchist said:
Yeah. No idea how that came to pass.

I mean, it was Penor Rinpoche who "recognized" him.

Malcolm wrote:
I know how it happened, and it was not really Penor Rinpoche's fault. I am not going to say anymore on the subject.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 7:39 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
There have also been many more great masters who were not tulkus (thank goodness), such as Ngala Changchub Dorje, Thangton Gyalpo, etc., the list is very long.


theanarchist said:
Nyoshul Khenpo.


But I guess in times where it costs thousands and thousands of dollars to  do long term retreat, I doubt that we will get many realized practitioners from the pool of people more seriously interested in Tibetan buddhism. Because people interested in it can't afford the retreat time and most people these days are no longer hardy enough to live in a cave off nettles (and a lifestyle like that is forbidden in a lot of places anyway, try that in the Alps and you get arrested)

Malcolm wrote:
The idea that you have to live this hardcore ascetic lifestyle to become a realized person is a myth. You do not need to spend years and years in retreat. I know many people who have spend years and years in retreat and they are just as screwed up now as when they went into retreat, and just as ordinary. I also have done long term intensive retreat (3+ years), and while it was an awesome experience, I certainly did not come out of it a realized person. At least according to my master, there is no need for this. As long as one applies the the teachings in a consistent way to one's life, integrating view, meditation and conduct,  then one will eventually attain realization. Anyway, most of us will attain realization in the bardo, not in this life.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 7:29 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
It can't be fixed. It has been broken for centuries,


theanarchist said:
Erm, until recent times the tulku system also produced seriously great, realized teachers.

So certain problems within the tulku system have been present for centuries, but there have been a lot of cases where it worked just fine. Teachers like Dzongsar Khyentse are proof for that.


Malcolm wrote:
Apparently you did not read my posts carefully. In any event, the true recognition of tulkus depends on realized masters. Even then we have travesties such as Steven Segal and so on.

The system is broken, irreparably. This does not mean that there are no realized masters recognizing proper candidates, but in general, most people recognized as tulkus, even by this or that high lama, are not really reincarnations.

There is a story told about Khyentse Wangpo. Some monks were seeking the reincarnation of their lama, and they went to him, he recognized this boy as a reincarnation, but the boy proved to be rather ordinary. They went back to Khentse Wangpo to express their doubt. He became a little annoyed, and said, "Do you want to find the real incarnation of your master."

The monks all very eagerly agreed. Khyentse told them, "Go out behind the barn and call your master's name."

They did so, and young bull calf broke away from his mother to come and greet them.

Part of the reason why the tulku system is broken is because of the expectations of average Tibetans who won't donate to monasteries that have no reincarnations.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 7:08 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:


pemachophel said:
Why am I saying this? To say the whole system is bogus is, in my experience, incorrect. If ChNN and His Son are both genuine Tulkus, They Themselves prove the system is not bogus.

Malcolm wrote:
ChNN was recognized by his uncle as a reincarnation of Adzom Drugpa, it is true. But all this proves is that some people with abhijñā can recognize the mindstreams of others. It does not prove that the system of transferring properties and titles through the tulku system is not fraught with corruption from top to bottom. It does not explain why, as ChNN quips, that tulkus seem in general to get worse with every passing generation, and not better.

pemachophel said:
To say the system is broken is also probably not incorrect.

Malcolm wrote:
It can't be fixed. It has been broken for centuries, and as I pointed out, many of the major internal conflicts we see in Tibetan history since the 17th century, one way or another, is a result of tulku politics. Just look at the mess caused by the Karmapa controversy, the Panchen Lama, etc. There was even a lot of bad blood, since calmed, over the Dudjom recognitions. Adzom Drugpa's life was constantly in danger when he was a boy because of his recognition, and ChNN was poisoned as a young age because he was recognized as Zhabdrung Ngagwang Namgyal's incarnation.

No one denies that there have been exemplary reincarnations who have been great masters. There have also been many more great masters who were not tulkus (thank goodness), such as Ngala Changchub Dorje, Thangton Gyalpo, etc., the list is very long.

pemachophel said:
Sorry if I'm rambling but I don't think the system is bogus top to bottom. I think the system requires change, possibly even radical change, but I don't think it should be scrapped entirely. In my experience, by identifying beings Who actually are Tulkus and then training them correctly, you can produce Teachers Who can do really amazing things for both the Dharma and sentient beings, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche Himself being a case in point.

Malcolm wrote:
I honestly don't think you will find much of a difference between training people recognized as tulkus and those who are not. Why? Because the vast majority of tulkus are not recognized by realized masters such Togden Urgyen Tenzin.

Thus, I do not see any indication that people recognized as tulkus necessarily demonstrate better qualities than other people, and indeed, it is often the reverse.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 6:30 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:


MiphamFan said:
Isn't Dzongsar Khyentse himself one of these who criticize ChNN?

Malcolm wrote:
I don't know, is he?

MiphamFan said:
I remember reading somewhere that he criticized ChNN for writing his books on Tibetan history before.

Actually it seems to me that that is the main reason why exile Nyingmapas have a strange attitude towards him, because he regards some of the Bonpo teachings as valid. There is that story of the Khenpos coming to him for example.

Malcolm wrote:
Well, the Bonpos dont like his histories very much either.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 6:21 PM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:


MiphamFan said:
Isn't Dzongsar Khyentse himself one of these who criticize ChNN?

Malcolm wrote:
I don't know, is he?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 9:06 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Reincarnations are one thing, the tulku system is quite another. Lets  not conflate them. The latter is, in my opinion, bogus.

pemachophel said:
In my personal experience, there definitely are Tulkus. I am not saying I'm one, but I have known a number very closely, including my son. I have known some when they were very young and still remembered their past life. I have known others who have lost those memories. I have known Tibetan Tulkus and American Tulkus. One of these American Tulkus is one of the best examples I know of a real Tulku with the knowledge and ability to back up His "pedigree." I have been involved in the search for my own Root Guru's reincarnation, and I can tell you that, up to the point I was involved, it was far from frivolous and was completely apolitical. It was also guided by two very highly practiced and developed Teachers Whose siddhi and sincerity I trust implicitly. I feel quite confident that some highly realized Lamas can identify Tulkus, know where They have been born and Who They currently are. I also am quite sure there are false Tulkus recognized only for political/financial reasons. I've known Tulkus Who were brought up inside the monastic institutions and Tulkus Whose parents chose not to go that route. I've known good and not so good Tulkus.

Why am I saying this? To say the whole system is bogus is, in my experience, incorrect. If ChNN and His Son are both genuine Tulkus, They Themselves prove the system is not bogus. To say the system is broken is also probably not incorrect. To say that the whole system should be abandoned A) is not gonna happen any time soon, and B) I think it is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Young Tulkus Who are actually Tulkus and are either not trained or improperly trained are a great loss to themselves, the Dharma, and sentient beings. I say this having chosen not to allow my son to be trained in the traditional way. Should many of the young Tulkus be undergoing stricter, better training? Yes. Should I be undergoing stricter, better training? Also yes.

This is the Kaliyuga, the Dharma-ending age. Peoples' kleshas are getting stronger and stronger, thicker and thicker. We are all in this downward spiral of degeneration, and it takes more and more merit and wisdom to escape, let alone reverse, this trend. Do many young Tulkus today need a wake-up call? Yes, from my experience, I think so. Will all of Them heed that wake-up call? No. Will some? Yes -- some. Are there some really good young Tulkus out there? Yes, in my experience there are. Check out Khedrup Jigme Kundrol in Bhutan. Check out Guru Khyentse Ozer in Bhutan. Check out Kathog Situ Rinpoche in Bhutan. Check out Gyalwai Nyugu Rinpoche. All four of these young Tulkus appear, at least to me and my clouded perception, to exhibit real renunciation. And isn't that the real problem with those Tulkus Who are not living up to our expectations? Lack of renunciation.

Sorry if I'm rambling but I don't think the system is bogus top to bottom. I think the system requires change, possibly even radical change, but I don't think it should be scrapped entirely. In my experience, by identifying beings Who actually are Tulkus and then training them correctly, you can produce Teachers Who can do really amazing things for both the Dharma and sentient beings, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche Himself being a case in point.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 8:30 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
maybay said:
Ok Malcolm. You think honour, chivalry, valour, is not important now. Money money. Consume consume.

Malcolm wrote:
I dont think they were important then, and I dont think that they are important now. Most of this honor, chivalry and valour claptrap was invented for romance novels.

Basic human decency does not require these romantic fantasies in which you indulge. It merely requires caring for others more than oneself. Countless fools have murdered and caused the murder of others in the name of honor, chivalry and valor. Such romantic fools will continue to do so, sadly.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 7:07 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:


maybay said:
Why would a man rape, beat and imprison his own property?

Malcolm wrote:
It happened all the time.

maybay said:
The type of man who abuses what is his will not prosper, and those who protect and nurture what is theirs will flourish.

Malcolm wrote:
They seem to have gotten along just fine, since women and children were completely replaceable commodities.

maybay said:
This was the age of righteous effort and reward. Men, their clans, their people, were sovereigns, and lived by ethics.

Malcolm wrote:
What fantasy novels have you been reading? Your romanticism of the past is perhaps appropriate for a thirteen year old child, but not for an educated adult.

maybay said:
In our age, we have no people, only individuals, and no ethics, only rights. We control each other with computers and surveillance. We are still owned, but by the many. When a hurricane hits Louisiana and thieves break into shops, we say, look, that is what the past was like without law and order. Absoluteness nonsense.

Malcolm wrote:
You really should read some accounts of "law and order" as it existed in that glorious past you are so on about.

maybay said:
History is not something to be judged lightly.

Malcolm wrote:
Nor is it something for fawning romanticization such as the above.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 5:04 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
It's a pretty radical thing to say.

Malcolm wrote:
It is a necessary thing to say. Chogyal Namkhai  Norbu has been pointing out the faults of the tulku system for many years, for example, pointing out that the qualities of reincarnations are usually progressively worse with each generation, rather than progressively better. Of course, ChNN is an outlier, and Tibetans really don't pay any attention to him. Despite his fame in the West, exile Tibetans in general regard him with suspicion and disdain. If they only had a clue, all of these young Tibetan tulkus in India interested in Dzogchen would study with him.

T. Chokyi said:
I have a good feeling about Yeshe Namkhai CHNN's son, I think CHNN probably isn't referring to Yeshe Namkhai when he points out the faults of the "tulku system", after all YN wasn't really a part of that system in the sense that he was sought out or "discovered" at a young age etc.. I sometimes wonder if YN is going to be seen a little more by webcast. The movie on his life and relationship with his father was great, and so were the activities accompanying the release of the movie (My Reincarnation), but since that time I have not heard much about YN's role within Dzogchen Community (present/future). I tuned in to the webcast he gave, but I don't know of any other webcasts besides the one he gave which was already several years ago.

Do you know what his activities are or will be?

Malcolm wrote:
ChNN in this case is really convinced his son is the reincarnation of his other uncle, the least known Khyentse incarnation. [people should read The Lamp That Enlightens Narrow Minds ]. For a while. Yeshe was listed with his father as a teacher in the Community. Then he apparently decided he did not want to be in that role anymore, so he had his name removed. This was after My Reincarnation was aired all over the world.

Characteristically, ChNN. while confident of his son's "pedigree", chose not to subject him to a monastic education.

AFAIK, CHNN's son and daughter will inherit the responsibility of continuing their father's legacy. Who knows what it will look like. I have no idea, myself.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 4:57 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
He is free, he can walk away.

Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
Until he has samaya with some students ...

Malcolm wrote:
He or she does not need to subject their students to all this craziness.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 4:46 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
the tulku system may have worked in a certain historical and cultural context.

Malcolm wrote:
Did it? I am really not sure of this at all.


Urgyen Dorje said:
in the american dharma scene with tibetan buddhism in diaspora it is a disaster.

Malcolm wrote:
Definitely.

Urgyen Dorje said:
you have teachers with the title tulku but no qualities working the system to have a career,

Malcolm wrote:
Check.

Urgyen Dorje said:
and you have american buddhists who either fall headfirst for anyone called tulku

Malcolm wrote:
Check.

Urgyen Dorje said:
or they react violently against the political and social institution of tulkus.

Malcolm wrote:
Understandable, since it is basically just an exercise in the eight worldly Dharmas.

Urgyen Dorje said:
this is why this young tulku i know hates the system.  he's young and he's in training and he's on the ropes no matter what he does.

Malcolm wrote:
He is free, he can walk away.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 4:35 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
EDIT: By radical I just meant the back-biting thing.

EDIT 2
Malcolm wrote:
... exile Tibetans in general regard him with suspicion and disdain ...

Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
?!

Really. I did not know that.

Malcolm wrote:
Sure, when I tell most educated exile Tibetans (Nyingma Lamas especially) that my root guru is Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, it is usually met with uncomfortable silence and a rapid change of subject. In Tibet, however, it is the opposite. Actually, the best lamas are still in Tibet (with certain exceptions in exile).


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 4:20 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
theanarchist said:
They are suffering from the "modern lifestyle" dilemma just like us normal people unfortunately.

Lamas like Mingyur Rinpoche, who spend considerable time in retreat in their younger years seem to have become rather rare....

But is the environment of those young Rinpoches, where they grow up, really encouraging the lifestyle of a yogi? Don't they prefer to have them as a representative figurehead for their predecessors monastic institutions?

Wouldn't it be good to let them experience the more shitty sides of todays samsare life for a few years, to motivate them to develop some amount of renunciation and a motivation to do something about the suffering present in the world?

philji said:
I think this more than the Tulku system is to blame. Young tulkus are treated like superstars, go on tour like rock stars and fawned over by male and female groupies. Hardly a conducive life for a yogi....

Malcolm wrote:
No point in complaining about the symptoms if one does not address the cause.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 4:18 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
re-shape

Malcolm wrote:
Better to eliminate. Both in exile and in occupied Tibet.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 4:11 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
It's a pretty radical thing to say.

Malcolm wrote:
It is a necessary thing to say. Chogyal Namkhai  Norbu has been pointing out the faults of the tulku system for many years, for example, pointing out that the qualities of reincarnations are usually progressively worse with each generation, rather than progressively better. Of course, ChNN is an outlier, and Tibetans really don't pay any attention to him. Despite his fame in the West, exile Tibetans in general regard him with suspicion and disdain. If they only had a clue, all of these young Tibetan tulkus in India interested in Dzogchen would study with him.

Truthfully, there is very little knowledge of Dzogchen teachings these days among the younger generation of Tibetan lamas. It is mostly intellectual dancing on books. These young guys really do not have very much knowledge even of the meaning of the two stages. They are mostly sutrayāna Kadampa style lamrimpas. So it is not wonder that people who follow such lamas have very little understanding of the real essence of the teachings. There are some notable exceptions in Tulku Urgyen's family, but Tulku Urgyen was a real Dzogchen master.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 4:00 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
Yea.

I don't know, they may have much bigger problems, even just re: children, monasteries, etc.



I don't know if you can get rid of politics.

To bring this back to topic, the solution may just be for some of the high profilers to behave themselves.

This sounds like throwing baby out w bathwater.

Plus like I say, there's history, what do you do with that?

Malcolm wrote:
History is in the past, it is finished, just writing on a page — is it worthwhile to keep making the same mistakes over and over again because of a tradition that does not even have any support in sūtra or tantra?

Truthfully, the only reincarnation that I have any confidence is in Chogyal Namkhai Norbu because he was recognized by someone who attained rainbow body, his uncle. The rest of them I really don't believe in.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 3:55 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
M-la, you've said this before ...

smcj said:
…and this is not anything like what DJKR said at the start of this thread.

Malcolm wrote:
Sure, I am just identifying the real cause of the problem that DKR is talking about. It does not mean that people recognized as tulkus do not have a lot of merit, of course they do — it is like being born into a wealthy family and so on, and other high rebirths in samsara. But tulkus are for the most part ordinary sentient beings who have to train every bit as much as those of us who are not recognized as tulkus.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 3:52 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
M-la, you've said this before ...

If nirmanakaya is unrepeatable, that seems to weaken the role of kundzop guru back into a preceptor or spiritual friend. Who wants to nail themselves to someone who just received blessings in this one life? If I ever get a yidam, my door to the vajra world would become more just yidam only, not guru.

Anyway how would you say that, the tul ku was never valid or at some point they stopped coming back?

Malcolm wrote:
You must a distinction between the actual nirmanakāya, the guru as a representation of the nirmanakāya and the Tibetan religio-political system of consecrating small children as living statues to ensure donations for monasteries.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 3:44 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
smcj said:
It is just more proof that tulku system is completely bogus and needs to be phased out.
"Completely bogus"?

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, the tulku system is completely bogus and needs to be phased out.

smcj said:
How many of your teachers are tulkus? Have you run this idea by them?

Malcolm wrote:
A number of my teachers are tulkus. They are not naive. They are also trapped in the system.

smcj said:
Personally I think Gesar Mukpo did an adequate job of dispelling any fantasies about what being a tulku guarantees with his documentary. The whole issue with labrangs is a completely different matter.

Malcolm wrote:
The tulku system is just a money and power game, it always has been. My point of view on the tulku system is no secret. Every single major nasty political issue in Tibetan Buddhism today stems from the politics surrounding tulkus, from the Karmapa to the Gyalpo cult.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 3:23 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
Unknown said:
It’s the season when wildfires rage, and this year they’re raging particularly hard: In June alone, Alaska saw 1.1 million acres go up in flames. In California, firefighters had responded to 3,381 wildfires by July 11, “1,000 more than the average over the previous five years,” The New York Times reports in a big feature on wildfires in the state.

And that’s likely not a coincidence. A study published this week in Nature Communications connects worsening wildfire seasons to climate change, and suggests the trend will continue in the years ahead as climate change rolls forward. “Wildfires occur at the intersection of dry weather, available fuel and ignition sources,” the study’s authors write. Of those factors, “weather is the most variable.”

The study also suggests that wildfires will themselves play a role in driving climate change, creating a nasty feedback loop.

Malcolm wrote:
http://grist.org/news/climate-change-is-making-wildfires-worse-and-wildfires-are-making-climate-change-worse
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150714/ncomms8537/fig_tab/ncomms8537_F3.html


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 3:21 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
I wonder if this was an oblique reference to money rather than expertise. Current troubles for certain lineages, etc.


dzogchungpa said:
Well, if I recall correctly, he said that he had criticized the Tulkus in question to their faces, but he felt that "backbiting" might be more effective...

Malcolm wrote:
It is just more proof that tulku system is completely bogus and needs to be phased out.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 3:18 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
Unknown said:
Humans will either go extinct or be forced to return to hunter-gatherer lifestyles if we continue to destroy Earth's plant life, a study has found.

John Schramski, from the University of Georgia, has said our planet will become less and less hospitable as a result of plant loss, and if we do not go extinct, our lifestyles will revert to those of our ancestors 12,000 years ago.

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/humans-face-extinction-if-plant-destruction-continues-laws-thermodynamics-have-no-mercy-1511026
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/07/14/1508353112.abstract


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 1:08 AM
Title: Re: Wake up call
Content:
ngodrup said:
Ok so a vajra sibling posted this elsewhere. And the request was made by Rinpoche himself,
to quote him on it, so out goes this little note.

Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche said today in front of a large group of about 800 practitioners,
that he thinks the young Tibetan lineage holders coming up in general are quite unimpressive.
They're lazy and spoiled, and they need to do a lot better.

His goal of telling us was to a) shame them via back biting (he said this, not me.) by circulating
what he said on the internet. b) exceed the "lineage holders" by becoming great practitioners and
with a lot of knowledge ourselves, thereby shaming them into improving themselves.

He explicitly said that *some* Lamas even give empowerments for practices they haven't
themselves received. So we must basically become better than them, and thereby insisting
on qualified, experienced teachers that actually meet our needs as serious practitioners. So
maybe they will step up to the plate, as it were.

Malcolm wrote:
Nothing I have not been saying for years, especially with regard to Dzogchen teachings, of which there are very few qualified teachers.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 17th, 2015 at 11:01 PM
Title: Re: Thich Nhat Hanh news and health care cost
Content:
theanarchist said:
Why do they take him in the USA for treatment, when medical treatment and rehabilitation there is more expensive than everywhere else in the world while not better than at state of the art institutions in Europe?


Malcolm wrote:
Well, it's obvious — the program he is in the US is the best in the world for this kind of problem.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 17th, 2015 at 9:55 PM
Title: Re: Including other practices before dedication in Short Tun
Content:
Hansei said:
Does anybody know if it is okay to include other practices before the dedication of merits in the Short Tun?

For instance; after Dopa, doing the short version of Mandarava (starting from Guruyoga), then Odzer Chenma, and then the dedication of merits.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, you are free and there is no problem with this at all.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 17th, 2015 at 6:22 AM
Title: Re: Meat Eating Mantras
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
And if it really is so simple for lay people to make a good connection dead animals, why do some Tibetan Buddhists act like these methods don't exist? Is it a sectarian thing?
Lack of confidence in themselves as well as the teachings.

Boomerang said:
But aren't there high ranking teachers who discourage meat eating and never mention these dharanis and mantras? Why do they prefer not to inform people?

Malcolm wrote:
I can only tell you what my teacher says. Frankly, I don't much care about what other teachers says, whether high ranking or not.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 16th, 2015 at 12:09 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Kings are not parents and subjects are not children, so your analogy fails.

Zhen Li said:
While every subject is a child, not every king is a parent.

The point was about giving consent however.
Malcolm wrote:
The kind of King Aryadeva is referring to is the one who thinks he has power by dint of his own virtues and entitlement, the kind of kings who sold the bill of goods of "divine right" of kingship (which of course was met with the god given rights of the people in response).

Zhen Li said:
While kings are kings by accident, and thus shouldn't be blamed for their position, there may in fact be virtuous and able kings. There may also be mediocre kings. But there are also mediocre presidents and doges. That's just the nature of things. Divine right is essentially saying, I'm here because nature put me here (i.e. I was born here), I am here by right of the fact that s*** happens and I'm the owner, not because of virtue or ability. Actually, merit is completely irrelevant to the question of divine right.

It would be nice to see your sources for Aryadeva's claims, since I doubt he's thinking about "divine right" as per Jean Bodin or the Basilikon Doron.

Malcolm wrote:
Read the whole of chapter four of the Catuḥśatikā.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 15th, 2015 at 11:01 PM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Zhen Li said:
Kings are indeed the most dependent, and constantly under the sword of Damocles. But "the ruled" is an abstraction, and such a matter isn't relevant until it becomes so, people do not constantly bestow consent by virtue of doing nothing, it's a natural tendency towards respect for order and the rule of law, just a child can't be said to be under the guardianship of parents because they constantly grant consent, they simply do what is in their interest by dependent and conditioned nature, not by constant free choice -- which is why as I always say, a decent governmental structure is meaningless without a virtuous (and rational) populace.

Kings may or may not be fools however, and I would resist generalisations about people simply based upon how they were born. Such a natural aversion towards a group of people regardless of deeds done or undone cannot be, in my opinion, very equanimous or compassionate, and seems to reflect only knee-jerk reaction. I'd resist judgement until proven deserving of it.

Malcolm wrote:
Kings are not parents and subjects are not children, so your analogy fails.

The kind of King Aryadeva is referring to is the one who thinks he has power by dint of his own virtues and entitlement, the kind of kings who sold the bill of goods of "divine right" of kingship (which of course was met with the god given rights of the people in response).

A king who is elected on the other hand, clearly understands he rules with consent of the ruled.

M


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 15th, 2015 at 10:56 PM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Kings rule merely by consent of the ruled. .


theanarchist said:
Erm, where is the consent when the non consentees are threatened with life in horrible prisons, torture, social marginalisation, bullying, even death?

Malcolm wrote:
Even so, such rulers rule by the consent of those who choose not to depose them, for example, Hitler.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 15th, 2015 at 8:16 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Zhen Li said:
Well of course they're in treasonous rebellion. What strikes one most blatantly about the Declaration is how almost none of what it claims is true. But sovereignty rests on more than legalities. To be a formalist about things, a right can simply be a legal acceptance of the way things are, as how a right by conquest works. The rebels defeated the crown's forces, with the support of Britain's rivals. Therefore the USA is theirs.

Malcolm wrote:
Kings rule merely by consent of the ruled. This is very clearly spelled out by Āryadeva who considers kings the worst of fools, and the most dependent of all people.

George III was such an embarrassment, the House of Hanover changed its name to Windsor.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 15th, 2015 at 5:54 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
maybay said:
Declarationism philosophy, therefore, insists that if the United States rejects the natural rights philosophy of the Declaration of Independence upon which it was founded, it of necessity becomes, retro-actively, an illegitimate government in treasonous rebellion against its rightful government of Crown and Parliament in London; and therefore, the Declaration and Constitution must be held as legally inseparable throughout the entire United States of America (both Federal and State) and its territories.

Malcolm wrote:
Legal theology, and nonsense to boot.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 15th, 2015 at 2:44 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
Unknown said:
Since climate change deniers have a particular fascination with sunspot cycles, this story has predictably been picked up by all manner of conservative news media, with a post in the Telegraph quickly gathering up tens of thousands of shares. The only problem is, it’s a wildly inaccurate reading of the research.

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/07/13/sunspot_cycles_won_t_cause_a_mini_ice_age_by_2030.html


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 15th, 2015 at 12:32 AM
Title: Re: Enlightened yet fat
Content:


lostitude said:
But again, I may have let my sufi background influence my judgement too much. In sufism the two major sources of attachment and cravings are sex and food, and it is believed that all desires derive from these two basic drives. Which makes food consumption a major indicator of how much progress a sufi student is making. Apparently this tool is not used in buddhism, which seems to mae sense since I have never heard of fasting exercises in buddhism (or do they exist?).

Malcolm wrote:
In Tibetan Medicine as well as Ayurveda being slim is ideal from a health standpoint; however in Buddhadharma weight is not used as an indicator of spiritual progress.

We have enough issues in the West with poor body image, there is no point in confusing weight with spiritual progress. The two are unrelated.

That said, one should endeavor to reduce attachment to food, clothes, and so on., and in Tibetan Buddhism at any rate, there are any number of ways to go about this.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 at 3:01 AM
Title: Re: Upcoming titles
Content:


Nicholas Weeks said:
Wallace, the translator addresses this on pp xxix-xxx, saying (as does his lama) that the read 'should' etc, but the 'texts themselves do not require' even the preliminaries.  If the danger were that severe, neither Wallace, nor his lama, nor Wisdom pubs. would put the books out in this unrestricted fashion.  Beside I do have some of the attitudes his lama wanted a reader to have.

Malcolm wrote:
Frankly, Dzogchen is not something one can understand from a book. I am not saying this to put you down, I am saying this so you don't leave your knowledge in a state of intellectual sterility, since I want everyone to be able to wake up through direct knowledge of Dzogchen and Vajrayāna teachings. Anyway, who said anything about peliminaries? But in order to understand Dzogchen you must receive direct introduction.

Nicholas Weeks said:
Granted and understood, but many Dzogchen lamas have written texts, I would expect they should be read.  Direct introduction coming later rather than before the reading is better, but I am not free to leave my sick wife. Kapish?


Malcolm wrote:
You can easily receive direct introduction from Chogyal Namkhai Norbu via webcast. It is sufficient.

All those lamas who wrote books could not have imagined that they would be flying around the world in pdfs or even printed electronically. Anyway, I am glad you have devotion for the books, I am merely suggesting that you make an effort to receive transmission.

I am sorry to hear about your wife.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 at 2:35 AM
Title: Re: No, the external world is an illusion, right?
Content:
MalaBeads said:
I have a question though for you. Is there a translation of the ninth chapter of this work available in english that you can recommend?

Thanks in advance.

Malcolm wrote:
There are quite a few, the one by Kunpal is probably the best from a Nyingma POV.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 at 2:31 AM
Title: Re: Upcoming titles
Content:


Nicholas Weeks said:
Wallace, the translator addresses this on pp xxix-xxx, saying (as does his lama) that the read 'should' etc, but the 'texts themselves do not require' even the preliminaries.  If the danger were that severe, neither Wallace, nor his lama, nor Wisdom pubs. would put the books out in this unrestricted fashion.  Beside I do have some of the attitudes his lama wanted a reader to have.

Malcolm wrote:
Frankly, Dzogchen is not something one can understand from a book. I am not saying this to put you down, I am saying this so you don't leave your knowledge in a state of intellectual sterility, since I want everyone to be able to wake up through direct knowledge of Dzogchen and Vajrayāna teachings. Anyway, who said anything about peliminaries? But in order to understand Dzogchen you must receive direct introduction.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 at 2:10 AM
Title: Re: Upcoming titles
Content:
Nicholas Weeks said:
Another great set of teachings from Dudjom Lingpa, coming in July 2015:

http://www.wisdompubs.org/book/special-offer-dudjom-lingpas-visions-great-perfection
Magnificent work, just beginning to study it.

Malcolm wrote:
Frankly, before you set out to read these Dzogchen texts, it is better you receive Dzogchen transmission from someone qualified. Also, you really do need the lung for these texts, it is best to have that before proceeding.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 at 1:22 AM
Title: Re: Sexual and physical abuse in religious institutions
Content:


daelm said:
Secondly, whether you think well of Tibetans in India or not, they have taken a principled stance in favor of real autonomy. They're been trying to maintain a discrete cultural core, rather than accept becoming third-rate indigenous people in the Chinese hierarchy, whereas Tibetans in the TAR are at real risk of occupying the same status in China as Native Americans do in the US. You may not like that cultural core, and there are components of it that urgently need modernising, but for Tibetans in the TAR, the cultural core that is held intact in India is a vital touchstone, as their status and quality of life is eroded on all other fronts.

Malcolm wrote:
I think the more apt cultural metaphor is the British and the Highlands Scots in the 18th century, apart from the nomads, in which case the Native Americans and US Gvt is perfectly apt.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 at 1:19 AM
Title: Re: No, the external world is an illusion, right?
Content:
muni said:
"When the notions of real and unreal
Are absent from before the mind,
Then, there is no other possibility,
But to rest in total peace, beyond concepts." Khenpo Shenga.

Malcolm wrote:
[/quote]

This verse is actually from the wisdom chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 at 11:49 PM
Title: Re: Overview on Sakya-Teachings?
Content:
Karma Dorje said:
Malcolm, which of the Sakya ngondro were you commissioned to translate? Will that be published in the near future?


Malcolm wrote:
Khenchen Ngalo's text. The translation is finished, it will be released sometime, but at this point it is not easy to say when.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 at 11:49 PM
Title: Re: Overview on Sakya-Teachings?
Content:
Karma Dorje said:
Malcolm, which of the Sakya ngondro were you commissioned to translate? Will that be published in the near future?


Malcolm wrote:
Khenchen Ngalo's text. The translation is finished, it will be released sometime, but at this point it is not easy to say when.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 at 9:44 PM
Title: Re: future role of Sakya Trizin what do you think about it?
Content:
WeiHan said:
This arrangement has a modern parallel since most CEOs in MNCs have a 3-years tenure contract to show their results these days.


Malcolm wrote:
It is actually based on the term of the Ngor Khenpos. Ngor had four palaces, and in order to make sure qualified teachers from the four palaces would have their turn, a Ngor Khenpo would serve for three years and then give up his place to the next in line.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 at 9:36 PM
Title: Re: Overview on Sakya-Teachings?
Content:
Ivo said:
I won't answer in full the OP question, as the answer could be really extensive and difficult, but I want to correct something which is not entirely true here. Tantric ngondro as is practiced in Kagyu and Nyingma has never existed in Sakya until a couple of decades ago, so to say that it is important in Sakya is a gross overstatement. The only existing Sakya ngondro was composed by the late Deshung Rinpoche on the request of some students who wanted to have in Sakya the equivalent of the ngondro practiced in the other traditions. That's it. A couple of other Sakya lamas started teaching it afterwards but it is by no means required, or seen as very important and it is not really connected to any cycle per se, although it ends with a Sapan Guru Yoga, which is considered very precious in the tradition.

Malcolm wrote:
Ngondro in Sakya is connected with one's sadhana practice and done within that context, adding mandala and guru yoga in their appropriate places.

For example, the lengthy Ngondro commentary by twentieth century Nalendra master, Ngalo Khechen, does not present an independent ngondro text, but rather, frames the ngondro recitations within the context of the Hevajra sadhanas, and also includes the manner of doing Ngondro for Naro Khachod, Yamantaka and Tsembupa Chenrezi. According to him, for example, prostrations are better done with the guru yoga accumulation, not refuge.

Nevertheless, in Sakya, the idea of counting accumulations is a rather modern innovations. In the past, when embarking on a long retreat, one would devote some weeks or months to ngondro.

Deshung Tulku's ngondro is indeed a modern composition, and is influenced by Kongtrul's ngondro, but it is not the classical way Ngondro in Sakya has been done.

Ngalo Khenchen's text is highly influenced by Paltrul Rinpoche, containing long passages quoted from kun bzang bla ma'i zhal lung.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 at 9:36 PM
Title: Re: Overview on Sakya-Teachings?
Content:
Ivo said:
I won't answer in full the OP question, as the answer could be really extensive and difficult, but I want to correct something which is not entirely true here. Tantric ngondro as is practiced in Kagyu and Nyingma has never existed in Sakya until a couple of decades ago, so to say that it is important in Sakya is a gross overstatement. The only existing Sakya ngondro was composed by the late Deshung Rinpoche on the request of some students who wanted to have in Sakya the equivalent of the ngondro practiced in the other traditions. That's it. A couple of other Sakya lamas started teaching it afterwards but it is by no means required, or seen as very important and it is not really connected to any cycle per se, although it ends with a Sapan Guru Yoga, which is considered very precious in the tradition.

Malcolm wrote:
Ngondro in Sakya is connected with one's sadhana practice and done within that context, adding mandala and guru yoga in their appropriate places.

For example, the lengthy Ngondro commentary by twentieth century Nalendra master, Ngalo Khechen, does not present an independent ngondro text, but rather, frames the ngondro recitations within the context of the Hevajra sadhanas, and also includes the manner of doing Ngondro for Naro Khachod, Yamantaka and Tsembupa Chenrezi. According to him, for example, prostrations are better done with the guru yoga accumulation, not refuge.

Nevertheless, in Sakya, the idea of counting accumulations is a rather modern innovations. In the past, when embarking on a long retreat, one would devote some weeks or months to ngondro.

Deshung Tulku's ngondro is indeed a modern composition, and is influenced by Kongtrul's ngondro, but it is not the classical way Ngondro in Sakya has been done.

Ngalo Khenchen's text is highly influenced by Paltrul Rinpoche, containing long passages quoted from kun bzang bla ma'i zhal lung.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 at 9:25 AM
Title: Re: Trecho, togal and kati in sanskrit?
Content:
tingdzin said:
OK, Malcolm, but does this Sampatti nama exist in Sanskrit?

Malcolm wrote:
The Samapatti nāma purports to be a lung, a citation of the ati bkod pa chen po rgyud. The point is that the text khregs chod bdun pa is given the sanskrit title " Samapatti nāma," meaning that whoever titled it clearly understood khregs chod as a synonym for snyoms par 'jug pa.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 12th, 2015 at 10:44 PM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
MiphamFan said:
In the Dzogchen intimate instructions, for example, the Khandro Nyinthig, this distinction is fully articulated, and there are techniques for conserving the latter while releasing the former.
Has ChNN taught any of these before?

Malcolm wrote:
I don't know. But as I said, you can look at what he says about these issues in Birth, Life and Death.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 12th, 2015 at 10:39 PM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Zhen Li said:
This is why it makes far more sense simply to stop state recognition of marriage. It's fine and good to think "poor couples," but what about the poor singles who have little other choice but to suffer alone in hospital?

Malcolm wrote:
As long as marriage has something to do with avoidance of tax on inheritance for spouses and so on, for that long the gvt. will be involved in marriages.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 12th, 2015 at 9:28 PM
Title: Re: Trecho, togal and kati in sanskrit?
Content:
tingdzin said:
Stewart:
Are these words from a Sanskrit source? A lot of people, including some Tibetans, are so eager to find Indian equivalents for everything in Tibetan Buddhism that they back-translate to Sanskrit, sometimes even inventing terminology for which there is no existing Sanskrit or Indian proof.

Malcolm wrote:
One of the 119 intimate instructions is the khregs chod bdun pa. Its sanskrit title is Samapatti nāma. This text exists in the Bairo rgyud 'bum as well.

Vyutkrāntaka is a well known term, a type of samapatti, and is translated into Tibetan as thod rgal. It means something like skipping stages.  Khyentse Wangpo explains the term thod rgal in just that way in one of his notes on Dzogchen in his collected works.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 12th, 2015 at 9:20 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
WeiHan said:
Not only are we not heading into global warming, we are most likely into a mini ice age as new study on Sun's activity cycle predicts a "maunder minimum" in the 2030s. The last time we have maunder minimum effect in the 17th century, London's River Thames freezed.


Is a mini ICE AGE on the way? Scientists warn the sun will 'go to sleep' in 2030 and could cause temperatures to plummet

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3156594/Is-mini-ICE-AGE-way-Scientists-warn-sun-sleep-2020-cause-temperatures-plummet.html
A new grand solar minimum would not trigger another LIA; in fact, the maximum 0.3°C cooling would barely make a dent in the human-caused global warming over the next century. While it would be enough to offset to about a decade's worth of human-caused warming, it's also important to bear in mind that any solar cooling would only be temporary, until the end of the solar minimum.

Malcolm wrote:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/aug/14/global-warming-solar-minimum-barely-dent


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 12th, 2015 at 9:10 PM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
tingdzin said:
Well, without going too much into restricted areas, of course seminal continence is also valued in Vajrayana. One treads a line here in discussing it at all, but to say that it is not a factor in Buddhist practice needs some qualification.

Malcolm wrote:
In general the tantras of secret mantra do not distinguish between sukra and ojas. However, the principle reason for seminal continence in Vajrayāna practice is that for men, semen is the basis of experiencing a blissful sensation.

In reality, what one needs to conserve is ojas. ChNN's Birth, LIfe and Death discusses the issue of the difference between semen [ khu ba ] and ojas [ mdangs ] in some detail and recommends releasing the former while conserving the latter.

In the Dzogchen intimate instructions, for example, the Khandro Nyinthig, this distinction is fully articulated, and there are techniques for conserving the latter while releasing the former.

In general, practitioners of Dzogchen do not have to worry about the issue of seminal retention unless they are suffering from ojas depletion [ojas is mainly depleted by stress]. They are more concerned with other kinds of bindus, the "ultimate" ones; not the the ones that come about from eating food.

In Tibetan medicine it is stated that forcefully trying to suppress ejaculation leads to stones and even impotence. So, guys, if you feel it move, it is better to let it go.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 12th, 2015 at 5:09 AM
Title: Re: Basic questions about Nichiren
Content:
rory said:
namely the eternity of the Buddha and that all people have a permanent buddhanature.y


theanarchist said:
Mmh, claiming that something is permanent contradicts buddhadharma.

Malcolm wrote:
Dharmakāya is permanent, liberation is permanent and so on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 9:38 PM
Title: Re: About enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism
Content:


Modus.Ponens said:
It seems to me (perhaps unfairly), that the theravada focuses a lot more on the extinction aspect, than the flourishing aspect. So I would ask what is the tibetan view about how to make the extinction of suffering to flourish into what you regard as full buddhahood.

Malcolm wrote:
Actually, sangs pa here  [སངས་བ] means to wake up, རྒྱས་ means fully. Sangs in more ordinary language means to purify. You see it etymologized both ways in Tibetan texts.

In the second case, where it means remove, it means having removed [sangs] the the two obscurations, wisdom increases [rgyas].


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 8:20 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
Whoever said anything about being realized?.


theanarchist said:
The application of the vajrayana methods to your negative emotion must be successful.

So for example you are angry, you apply the vajrayana practice and the anger is liberated into, I think with anger it's discerning wisdom. Case closed.

But if you are angry, apply the vajrayana practice, and afterwards despite giving your best you are still angry, then you might better switch to loving kindness practice, chopping wood, psychotherapy, whatever gets the job done and you out of that state of mind.

Malcolm wrote:
Anger is mirror-like wisdom. When anger is recognized as anger, that is mirror-like wisdom, then it is liberated. You don't need to apply some antidote to anger to "liberate" it into mirror-like wisdom, anger has always been mirror-like wisdom from the very beginning. Likewise, the five aggregates have always been the five buddhas and so on. This is why applying methods of contemplating the impurity of the body and so on are not proper for Vajrayāna practitioners.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 5:35 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
That kind of antidote is inappropriate in Vajrayāna.


theanarchist said:
It is, when you are not yet able to dissolve your delusions in the view of emptiness nature. Of course if you are able to do it, applying conceptual antidotes would be inappropriate. But a practitioner should be realistic about his or her abilities.

Failing to apply a conceptual antidote to negative emotion while fooling oneself about being a realized practitioner can end up in vajra hell.

You remember the story of Rudra?

Malcolm wrote:
Whoever said anything about being realized? Such antidotes are inconsistent with pure vision, which is a practice.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 5:27 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Med check time?

Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
Hi, yes? Tashi Rinpoche here. You said you wanted to speak to me. What's that? You're unhappy? Why is that? Oh. Well, I'm sure a doctor can prescribe some lotion you can spread on it ...

What's that? Something a bit more radical? Ok, well, tell you what, I'll sell you a jewel. A magic jewel. Yes. Yes. That's right. It's very powerful. It's the wish granting jewel of wrathful spaghetti tentacles, who is the protector of all 90s hair music everywhere. Success is guaranteed. No not right away, you'll get it halfway down the interstate. When? Oh, four days from now it all goes clear. As it were. That's right. Hehe. Don't you trust me?

Huh? You have no money? Well, ok, tell you what no worries, I'll give it to you for free. Yes, out of the goodness of my heart. Well, because I'm a nice guy that's why. So ... I assume you're around, I'll meet you on the corner of Duane and Reade in 5 minutes ... ?

What's that. You live where? SWEDEN? Well what the hell man how do you expect me to give you this jewel when you live thousands of miles away?

Sigh, ok, ok, stop ... whining like that. Oh, stop sobbing, Jesus. You're making your rash spread. I'll let you in on a little secret, I told a kind of fib. It's not really an actual, physical jewel, you see, it's more like a phrase. What? Phrase. PHRASE. No not phase, PHRASE ... sigh, yes, ok if you like, magic spell. Yes, fine, whatever floats your boat. Yes, you speak it. Over and over again. Right. Just say the words. Yes ... sigh ... like a spell.

So anyway, we need a few things, I'm gonna hit you over the head with my beer bottle and then throw this gum wrapper into this circle I'm drawing on the ground with some chalk ... Why? Because the phrase ... sorry, spell, doesn't work unless we do this stuff. Them's the rules. Why? I dunno why man, why do you have the rub the lamp to get the genie to come out instead of just tell him you want to chat, that's just how it works with this kind of ... spell. You want another kind of spell, go see some other guy. No, no it's ok you're not actually here. Just try to imagine what I'm doing as best you can, then I'll just let you know what it is. Mkay?

Ok, so that's done. So put your ear close to the phone, I'll whisper it to you. What? You're not using a phone? An online video? Like a whatumacallit, a webcast? Cool man! Whoa, that's like so techno. Far out. What's that? You want to invite some of your buddies so they can hear it too? Sure! Invite the whole neighborhood let's make this a party! The more the merrier! (Sheesh I didn't know they had the internet in Sweden).

OK, here we go I'm going to whisper it to you guys right now ... Huh? Something else you think you should mention ok ... Right you already said you're watching me on a video, on the internet. A webcast, right?

... What do you mean, "not live"? What do you mean? ... You're watching me ... on a server? What's that? ... Um, ok. You mean, like ... from a video tape or something like that ... ?

Wait ... how can I whisper this to you ... if I'm ... not really talking to you ... ? Wait. Who ... are you actually? I mean ... how can I really be talking to you ... if you're not really here right now ... Ok, wait I'm starting to really get freaked out ... Who am I really talking to? How can a ... guy on TV talk to some one who's watching TV ... Who the f*ck are you anyway? What do you mean you have a rash you're not really here, how can you have a rash when you're not really even here - who are you and who am I talking to?! Jesus F*g Christ, who are you just some kind of voice in my head or what?!?! Tell me right now who are you and who am I talking to and how can I be really talking to you right now if I'm on TV and your'e watching TV and WTF!!! Guard! Guard! This is the fifth time I told you today I'm not allowing any more calls! Stop talking about your rash! And stop speaking Swedish! I don't even speak Swedish! Waitaminute how can I be understanding you if I don't speak Swedish, guard! Guard! These restraints are coming loose and there's a bug over by the corner where the pads are coming off the wall and NO I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR RASH ANYMORE! Get out of my head whoever you are! Guard! Guard! Tell this voice in my head to get out of my head! You WHAT! You just clicked on a link and found this groovy vid and you're going to watch it and then go order a BURGER? How can you eat a burger when you have a rash all over your OH GOD OH GOD THE RASH IS SPREADING IT'S SPREADING IT'S COMING OUT OF THE WALLS IT'S CRAWLING LIKE A BUG ALL OVER THE GUARD GUARD GUARD GUARD GGGGGGGGAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR

if (typeof bbmedia == 'undefined') { bbmedia = true; var e = document.createElement('script'); e.async = true; e.src = 'bbmedia.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(e, s); }
https://phpbbex.com/ [video]


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 5:26 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
You might want to tell Shantideva then, he has practically a whole chapter on how to become throughly disgusted with the bodies of the opposite sex as an antidote to desire.


theanarchist said:
As an antidote, of course..

Malcolm wrote:
That kind of antidote is inappropriate in Vajrayāna.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 4:58 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
This is why the sutras teach meditation on the foulness of the body...
.

Malcolm wrote:
If you are a common Mahāyāna practitioner, this is fine. This is not acceptable in Vajrayāna.



theanarchist said:
It's not acceptable in Mahayana either, as in emptiness nature, there is no such thing as pure or impure, so this idea is conceptual thinking and has to be overcome.

Malcolm wrote:
You might want to tell Shantideva then, he has practically a whole chapter on how to become throughly disgusted with the bodies of the opposite sex as an antidote to desire.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 3:34 AM
Title: Re: Prophecy of Padmasambhava in the Nirvana Sutra
Content:
tomamundsen said:
Hi,

I have read somewhere that this quote comes from the Nirvana Sutra:
Eight years after my parinirvana, a remarkable being with the name Padmasambhava will appear in the center of a lotus and reveal the highest teaching concerning the ultimate state of the true nature, bringing great benefit to all sentient beings.
However, I can't find it in there. Which version of the Nirvana Sutra contains this?

Malcolm wrote:
It does not appear to be extant in the Nirvana Sutra versions that we have.

The actual citation is:
Twelve years
after my nirvana,
a person better than all
will arise on Dhanakośa Island.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 2:57 AM
Title: Re: About enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism
Content:
MalaBeads said:
It seems as if people are using the word "theravada" here as if it represented all 18 schools of buddhism that developed after the Buddha died. It doesnt. Theravada is only one of the 18 schools that developed at that time. There were 18 schools in the "hinayana". We usually only know one of them in the west. But they are not synonymous.

Malcolm wrote:
Correct, it is bunch of PC bullshit. Some Tibetan teachers, trying to avoid the term Hināyāna, have begun substituting the term Theravada for it.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 2:33 AM
Title: Re: About enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism
Content:
Ayu said:
This assertion is illogical. An arahat has no conceptual hindrances anymore.

Malcolm wrote:
Of course they do, Vasubandhu writes in his commentary on Abhidharma that arhats and pratyekabuddhas both possess non-afflcitive ignorance; as others have noted, this is a the obscuration of knowledge.

If arhats had no knowledge obscurations, they would be omniscient.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 12:57 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
This is why the sutras teach meditation on the foulness of the body...
.

Malcolm wrote:
If you are a common Mahāyāna practitioner, this is fine. This is not acceptable in Vajrayāna.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2015 at 12:19 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
Do you wanna be a cowboy or a Buddhist? Does Dharma matter more to you, or culture?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 10th, 2015 at 11:50 PM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
In order to truly be disciplined and have a tamed mind.


theanarchist said:
Having a tamed mind and discipline in a dharma sense has nothing to do with what we here in the west usually consider to be discipline.


Because the definition of discipline in buddhism is totally different to how the word is defined in western languages.

Malcolm wrote:
Yeah, but you have to understand, Chinese Buddhists are obsessed with moral conduct...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 10th, 2015 at 7:57 PM
Title: Re: Re Tibetan Disease Names
Content:
Fortyeightvows said:
I don't know any tibetan but for what it's worth:
'g.yan pa' is given as "a skin disease, some kind of itch" in the book I had mentioned in this thread: http://dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=19973

Malcolm wrote:
It is a skin disease where there is itching and weeping of lymph, probably psoriasis.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 10th, 2015 at 5:17 AM
Title: Re: Maybe it's time to ban discussion about anything...
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
We all know what to do:


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 10th, 2015 at 5:14 AM
Title: Re: Re Tibetan Disease Names
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
srang rdo means weight use to measure srang of gold, must be a misspelling, or usage has been forgotten.
phol mig -- more a description of symptoms, many small round pimples in a round area on the skin that are very itchy
'brum bu -- pox of all kinds.
gcong -- general term for chronic illnesses
dal rgol (dal rgal) ?
gzhang 'brum — hemorrhoids
khong mdze -- internal leprosy (but it is not really leprosy, it is instead an internal lymphatic disease)
me dbal -- no translation, it is a kind of painful red rash.
gyen pa ??
sems rgyu ba -- labile emotion/unstable mind.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 10th, 2015 at 4:54 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
I was with you until you jumped the shark.

smcj said:
It's ok, I got what was being said (I think). Most Tibetans don't grok that we are not able to believe in anything greater than ourselves. It's so fundamental to their worldview that they just can't understand our limitation. So they skip that part, and then things go wrong.

Malcolm wrote:
Ahem...as Chogyal Namkhai Norbu says:
The very meaning of the Tibetan term Dzogchen, "Great Perfection," refers to the true primordial state of every individual and not to any transcendent reality.
My analysis of the problem is precisely the reverses of yours: Most Tibetans cannot grok that we are obsessed with finding something greater or outside ourselves. It is so fundamental to their view, they even call themselves "nang pa", insiders, because they are convinced that the sole cause of all problems in the world come from inside, not from outside. The difficulty they have with westerners is that we are very good and looking through glasses, telescopes, microscopes and so on, and terrible at really looking in mirrors.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 10th, 2015 at 4:39 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
MiphamFan said:
Does Tibetan medicine say anything about it?

theanarchist said:
I did a quick research on the internet and Chinese medicine seems to be against it.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, the Chinese culture seems a bit superstitious regarding semen retention. According to Tibetan Medicine and Ayurveda, semen is a waste product.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 10:27 PM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
MiphamFan said:
Malcolm, what about the harms of masturbation and porn from a health perspective though?

Does Tibetan medicine say anything about it?

Surely, the widespread availability of porn is not a positive thing even psychologically? Do you not think it distorts how people relate to sex?


Malcolm wrote:
Tibetan medicine says nothing at all about masturbation.

Porn is a different issue altogether. The main danger with porn for the individual, is that might cause them to become a specific kind of paṇḍaka, only able to be aroused by watching others have sex.

Beyond that, there are many social issues to consider with porn. That being said, it is something that should be legal, since making it illegal marginalizes sex workers even more than they are now.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 8:08 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:


Zhen Li said:
Actually, I mentioned how they begin, the root, or mula. This is greed.

Malcolm wrote:
I think you mean craving, but whatever. No, in reality, the cause of all of these things is the knowledge obscuration of ignorance; rather than the afflictive ignorance of the "first" nidāna of dependent origination.

theanarchist said:
So what negative karma does masturbating create?
Negative karma is negative karma, or dark/black karma.

Malcolm wrote:
You did not answer her question.

theanarchist said:
Also, have you ever done a monastic retreat?

Malcolm wrote:
I know you did not ask her — however, I did a three year+ solitary retreat. I think I have a bit of a better idea of the value of solitude, silence and so on than most.

theanarchist said:
Again, this is really similar to what I said to theanarchist. If you're on an intensive meditation retreat with 20 other folks, and you're the only one slipping out the back to take a swig from your flask, your mind simply isn't going to be as supple as the other participants.

Malcolm wrote:
Oh bullshit. And quite honestly, a retreat with 20 people is no retreat at all. It's a quiet riot.

M


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 6:16 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:


theanarchist said:
So what negative karma does masturbating create?

At maximum it perpetuates the attachment to sexual pleasure that already exists in your mindstream, just like having consensual sex with a partner does.

The advantage of masturbation to sex with a partner is that no attachment to another person is involved. For example it can not become the cause for being jealous and all the possible negative consequences this might develop (like insulting, harming or killing another person in a fit of jealous rage)

Malcolm wrote:
If masturbating is bad, I can't imagine the consequences of Dharmabating, it must be much worse. I think they would have to invent a hell for that, oh wait, we are in it, Dharmawheel.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 6:14 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
Sorry, but the sutras do not mention the notion of harming others as being the criterion for wholesome and unwholesome, wholesome and unwholesomeare classifed based upon the root (mula) and whether they have good or bad results for the person engaging in the actions.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, but one has to understand why actions are defined as positive and negative. So far all you have done is discuss symptoms, by you have not actually understood the cause. Until you understand the cause, you cannot remove the disease.

Do you think for example, we practice avihimsa just for ourselves? Why is avihimsa, hri, and so on associated with positive minds?

The positive and negative nature of actions is clearly defined by virtue of their object. So for example, harming a Buddha or killing an Arhat is a much worse transgression than killing a normal human being. The weight of an action is defined by our intent, satisfaction and so on.

What you are not perceiving, or don't care about, is why these nonvirtues are considered nonvirtues to begin with. Certainly, they are nonvirtuous for all sentient beings — so why?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 5:23 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
I am not disputing this. But greed, lust, desire. These aren't necessarily the best ways to get to the heavenly realms.

Malcolm wrote:
My point still stands — when one masturbates, one is not harming anyone else, no more than eating food harmful to anyone else.

The criteria of why the ten nonvirtues are nonvirtuous has to do mainly with how the seven physical nonvirtues impact others around us.

Masturbation is a transgression only for monastics, while it may be included in sexual misconduct from a preceptual point of view, it has to be considered primarily a transgression of disobedience. Sexual misconduct is a natural transgression because it harms others. Since masturbation does not fulfill this requirement, it is therefore not part of sexual misconduct. These days it is a little hard to justify oral sex and anal sex as sexual misconduct as well, from the natural nonvirtue point of view. I think in general this is why there is just not much heat about it. One does not hear Buddhist teachers railing against fellatio and cunnalingus, etc., in the same way they trip out against eating meat and drinking alcohol...speaking of which it is time for me to go have dinner...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 5:00 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
Sex is mentally and physically damaging, it's an incredibly filthy and disease prone activity, some of which can cause death. It also gives rise to birth, which is suffering. It also is a major source of desire and attachment and hence perpetuates dependent origination. This is not to say that there are not cleaner or safer ways of doing it.
.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 4:55 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Jurisprudence can only exist with respect to rights bearing individuals.

maybay said:
All the more puzzling why anyone would be taking issue with the Dalai Lama, a refugee.

Malcolm wrote:
Huh?

maybay said:
The sort of fuzzy thinking expressed by Deleuze above is why the Anglo-American ethicists don't really take Continental philosophers very seriously on such issues.
Anglo-American ethicists. Is that some funny joke?

Malcolm wrote:
As I said, fuzzy thinking. Something you won't find among analytical philosophers, but is very prevalent on the continent. Groovy French guys like Deleuze have mistaken Litcrit for philosophy, and it shows.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 4:52 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
theanarchist said:
...no no fasion precept for lay people.

Malcolm wrote:
But there really should be...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 4:49 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
That has nothing to do with inherency. Such things are dependently originated and thus empty of inherent existence.

Malcolm wrote:
Uhuh, and why is it "bad" when an animal kills another animal for food? Because their minds are filled with negative mental factors. Why are those mental factors negative? What is it that makes them negative?

While I will certainly agree with you that there is no inherently existing negative mental factors, nevertheless mental factors can be considered inherently bad if they invariably produce negative effects.

But really, we do not have to be allergic to the word "inherent." Indian Buddhist scholars use it all the time in a positive fashion, even Nāgārjuna.

The main point of course is that the ten nonvirtues are nonvirtues naturally, and do not depend on a social context to make them "bad." If you indulge in them, you will take rebirth in lower realms; if you practice their opposite, you will take rebirth in higher realms — no precepts needed.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 4:41 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
harm for others.
You are not properly making a distinction between precepts and the ten nonvirtues. You must learn to make this distinction, otherwise you will never understand the principle of Hināyāna teachings.

The ten nonvirtues are nonvirtues because they cause disruption to others. The ten virtues are virtues because observing them creates harmony with others. This has nothing to do with vows, trainings and so on.

Malice, greed and ignorance are nonvirtues inherently because they motivate acts which disturb others. Their opposite, love, generosity and wisdom are inherently virtuous because they motivate acts that benefit others. This is what makes virtuous conduct socially valuable and laudable.

This is the first I've heard of such inherency, and is exactly the kind of thing that theanarchist is arguing against. Source?

Malcolm wrote:
You do not need a source. Do the action of animals cause them to fall into lower realms, yes or no? Animals cannot take precepts, nor train in them, nevertheless their virtuous and nonvirtuous actions have karmic consequences. Therefore all actions are either virtuous, nonvirtuous or neutral, inherently so.

However, you can understand this from Vasubandhu's discussion of alcohol with regard to lay persons were he makes a distinction between transgressions by nature and transgressions through disobedience.

We can understand then that the precepts concerning killing, stealing, lying and sexual misconduct are all vows linked with natural nonvirtues, the breaking of which are transgressions by nature  — the rest of Hinayāna Buddhist vows are transgressions through disobedience.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 4:13 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
rory said:
I don't care, I want to be in a position where I don't have to care; I don't want to depend on the kindness of others

maybay said:
What kind of Buddhist are you anyway? I mean, I don't mean to get personal, but your posts seem centered on nothing more than getting your way. The world is full of problems and that's just samsara for you. Any progress you might make resolving one set of problems will be lost to another. And even if you do manage to rise to higher states of being, that ultimately isn't going to help your Dharma practice. We need to learn how to live with problems. Consider this quote:
Deleuze recommends jurisprudence to address specific user groups that negotiate how to live with a problem. Instead of a general and transcendent rights-bearing subject, we have life and the problems of life that proceed only case-by-case, something for jurisprudence to unravel and honor. Jurisprudence addresses the situation to make it livable, it resists coding it with transcendent evaluations of abuse. Justice and Rights do not exist. Only jurisprudence exists and it alone is capable of creating law [droit].
Is your situation livable? Ask yourself that.

Malcolm wrote:
Jurisprudence can only exist with respect to rights bearing individuals. The sort of fuzzy thinking expressed by Deleuze above is why the Anglo-American ethicists don't really take Continental philosophers very seriously on such issues.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 3:55 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
No, that is too monolithic a statement.

Zhen Li said:
Perhaps so, but the same was said by the Dalai Lama. However, in my opinion, I would be surprised if you asked a monk 1500 years ago, and they approved of masturbation.

Malcolm wrote:
Monks disapprove of a lot of things — a rather uptight bunch, for the most part. And are not the Sangha Mahāyānists take refuge in...so I really could care less what most monks think of these kinds of issues.

Concerning the sūtra text, without a Sanskrit original or a Tibetan translation to compare the Dharmakṣema translation to, it is uncertain.
You have already stated this. But your view of canon from the historical perspective, as I understand from other threads, is fairly literalist.
I think that most "academic scholarship" in Buddhism is primarily self-serving bullshit written by people trying to feed their families. I think the search for the origins of Mahāyāna is entirely speculative and am completely comfortable with traditional narratives — legends, if you will — around its rise in India. I don't mistake those for history — but I also think the Academic Buddhist historiography is largely a crock of shit.
I know you do not hold a high opinion of academic scholarship on the topic, and your abrasive comments to that effect are the reason why Ven. Huifeng no longer visits this site...
If Huifeng does not visit this site, I am not to blame — he is a grown up, he does not need to remain in a place of reactivity.

Tsongkhapa mistaken attributes the passage from Daśākuśalakarmapathanirdeśa to Atisha. Please see foot note 386 in the Snow Lion Edition of volume one of Lam Rim Chen mo.
Which is not to say that Atisha did not also say that. This may also not be indicating a quote of the "Great Elder," but rather simply stating that he agrees with the quote prior, which is what it says. It also says the same after another quote - which would make sense: "The Great Elder also taught this."
But in fact there is no evidence that masturbation is what is being referred to. The comment is really rather non-specific.
Tsongkhapa himself does not mention it.
He says "Inappropriate body parts are body parts other than the vagina."
Again, this is not very specific. yes, mouth, anus, etc.

In short, it is extremely silly to make broad declarations for the Tibetan tradition on the basis of one text by an Indian author which is not supported, AFAICT, in sūtras found in the Tibetan Canon.

Sexual misconduct should be defined on the basis of conduct that is harmful others. We can see in the instance of minors, those under the protection of others, the spouses of others, in places where public offense will be taken and so on, that there is clear harm to others. But we cannot see this in the case of masturbation. Frankly, it is a little difficult to see how oral sex is harmful to others as long as it is consensual. I would suggest that morays around nonharmful sexual conduct are strictly cultural and may be adjusted to suit cultural climates. In general the ten nonvirtues all depend on how one relates to other sentient beings. It is very easy to see why malice, greed and ignorance are harmful to others, as motivators for killing, stealing, sexual misconduct in general, as well as lying, harsh speech, calumny and gossip. But is very hard to see where consensual sexual acts can fit here as nonvirtues unless one is a monk or a nun.\

What you fail to understand is that the ten nonvirtues are defined as "natural" in so far as it does not matter if you are ant or an anteater. They have nothing to do with trainings, and everything to do with establishing what creates eudaemonic environment for everyone. Precepts are abstracted out of those, and of course, we can understand that consuming alcohol, for lay people, is the only prohibition which is by command, rather than through observing inherency. When you say that masturbation is sexual misconduct, you are making the claim it is inherently nonvirtuous, like killing, stealing, lying and assaulting minors.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 2:59 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
I am simply stating what is fact. Buddhist scriptural tradition holds that masturbation is sexual misconduct.

Malcolm wrote:
No, that is too monolithic a statement. The Buddhist tradition holds masturbation is sexual misconduct for monks — on that we can all agree. The issue is whether it is to be considered the same for lay people, and that is a contested issue, it is not settled at all.

Concerning the sūtra text, without a Sanskrit original or a Tibetan translation to compare the Dharmakṣema translation to, it is uncertain.

Atisha, BTW, says no such thing.

Tsongkhapa mistaken attributes the passage from Daśākuśalakarmapathanirdeśa to Atisha. Please see foot note 386 in the Snow Lion Edition of volume one of Lam Rim Chen mo.

Tsongkhapa himself does not mention it.

So you are down to two actual texts that say anything about the issue. Only one in the Tibetan tradition, a late short text on the ten nonvirtues and an Chinese translation by a translator of dubious repute.

Considering the paucity of sources, I would say your claim is slim at best.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 2:20 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
You have yet to demonstrate that avoiding masturbation, for lay people, is a) a rule for training b) akusala c) not conducive to awakening and conducive to bad rebirth.
Sexual misconduct is abstained from by the 3rd precept - s.m. is both akusala and conducive to a bad rebirth. The only difficulty is you choose not to accept any texts which claim that it is sexual misconduct.
One is a sūtra we do not read, the other is an Indian text in which is late and inconsistent with earlier texts of the same genre.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 2:00 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Precepts are not of themselves conducive to awakening.

Zhen Li said:
The Buddhist path is holistic.

Malcolm wrote:
Nonsense. For example, Mahāyāna monks may handle gold, but are forbidden to eat meat; Hinayāna monks are barred from handling gold, but may eat meat, and so on it goes.

Mahayanists may even violate monastic vows without actually losing them, if situations call for it.

If someone is a Vajrayāna practitioner, then all sense pleasures are acceptable conduct.

There is no such thing as a universal training which applies to all practitioners.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 1:56 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
You seem to fail to understand that these things are not absolutes. The principle of Hinayāna conduct in general is not harming others.

Zhen Li said:
These sutras are Mahayana sutras. But no, I don't misunderstand that it is a skilful means, I have reiterated this every few posts.
Malcolm wrote:
You will fail to convince me that masturbation harms others [or oneself for that matter, unless it is a symptom of a pathology]. In this case then, we can really discard the idea that masturbation is sexual misconduct unless of course one does it in public, in front of a Buddharūpa, and so on.

Zhen Li said:
The point isn't not harming others, may I please see your scriptural source?

The point of the precepts, as far as the Buddhist texts are concerned, is training (as in the Pali, sikkhāpadaṃ, rule for training) and avoiding actions that are unwholesome (akusala) and not conducive to awakening and which conduce to a bad rebirth.

Malcolm wrote:
You have yet to demonstrate that avoiding masturbation, for lay people, is a) a rule for training b) akusala c) not conducive to awakening and conducive to bad rebirth.

In which hell or preta realm does one take rebirth for masturbating? Why is there complete silence on the issue in Abhidharma?

Why is there complete silence in the issue in sūtra, apart from the one Chinese sūtra you can produce? Maybe it is really not so important.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 1:47 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
theanarchist said:
The wording you use shows how wrong your attitude towards this is.

Nothing is PROHIBITED in buddhism. In buddhism there is no entity handing out rulebooks what you are not allowed to do, like in the theistic revelation based religions.

Zhen Li said:
We can get hung up on words, but I think you know what I mean. The precepts are voluntary. You choose to prohibit yourself from doing that which isn't conducive to awakening.

Malcolm wrote:
Precepts are not of themselves conducive to awakening.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 1:42 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
Well, the sutra refers to the disciple being referred to as potentially having a wife. Also, it really doesn't make sense to say that only vaginal intercourse is not sexual misconduct if the person being referred to is a monk, in which case, it is sexual misconduct.

Malcolm wrote:
You seem to fail to understand that these things are not absolutes. The principle of Hinayāna conduct in general is not harming others. You will fail to convince me that masturbation harms others [or oneself for that matter, unless it is a symptom of a pathology]. In this case then, we can really discard the idea that masturbation is sexual misconduct unless of course one does it in public, in front of a Buddharūpa, and so on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 1:11 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:


Zhen Li said:
if you want to convince people

Malcolm wrote:
I have zero interest in convincing anyone of of anything.

Zhen Li said:
Again, I am not fully convinced that masturbation is not prohibited for lay people in any text found in Tibetan. Now, I cannot confirm this, since I couldn't find the material in the primary text, but according to Alexander Berzin in "Explanation of Buddhist Sexual Ethics: An Historical Perspective," masturbation is considered sexual misconduct for a layperson in the Lam-rim chen-mo, along with Asvaghosa and Atisa.

Malcolm wrote:
This indeed really quite late. There is no sutra that mentions it, and in Vinaya it applies strictly to monastics. Also the Daśākuśalakarmapathanirdeśa of Aśvaghoṣa is not clear that this refers to lay people — it is like it was included with general sexual misconduct because it is misconduct for monastics. The text is very short, less than a folio.
I don't generally given much importance to sūtras in the Chinese canon if there is no corresponding Tibetan translation. In fact, I tend to ignore them altogether.
And how about Newar Sanskrit sutras without Tibetan translation? Where is the line drawn, and upon what grounds?[/quote]

Which sūtras did you have in mind?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 12:29 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
This one is common Mahāyāna and provisional.

But can you explain how these criteria address the matter of application of a sutra to oneself? In what cases, and why, does a sutra become applicable to oneself? Also, where does Tibetan canon vs. non-Tibetan canon influence this?

As far as I have read Buddhist texts, I never once came across the notion of applicability or inapplicability of a sutra to oneself.

Malcolm wrote:
As to your first question, it depends on the understanding and maturity of the practitioner. A 13 year old boy needs different teachings than a 70 year old man. Sutras are like medicine — if one has a specific illness, one applies an appropriate diet, conduct, medicine and therapy. If one has a specific problem, one applies to Buddha's teachings to that problem. But there is no such thing as one teaching that suits every person.

Your next question can be answered for example, by looking in the Abhidharmakośabhaṣyaṃ. Theravadins for example, do not accept the antarabhāva because they reject the sūtra in which it is taught since it is absent from their own canon. Vasubandhu points that many sūtras have been lost, and then proceeds to argue the point for the antarabhāva on logical grounds.

I don't generally given much importance to sūtras in the Chinese canon if there is no corresponding Tibetan translation. In fact, I tend to ignore them altogether.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 12:05 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
I am sorry, but we don't read this sūtra, it is not in the Tibetan Canon, as far as I know it is not mentioned anywhere, and so therefore it does not apply to us.

Zhen Li said:
What exactly does it mean for a sutra to apply to you?

Malcolm wrote:
There are a number of criteria: Is it Hinayāna or Mahāyāna? Is it common Mahāyāna or uncommon Mahāyāna Secret Mantra? Is is provisional or definitive? Is it explicit or intentional? Etc.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 12:02 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
We are only claiming that this is what is advocated as a skilful path, which has its benefits. Nothing metaphysical.

Malcolm wrote:
There are many skillful paths for many different people. There is not only one path for everyone. For example, if someone is a practitioner of Buddha's Great Perfection teachings, then there really are no set rules at all. One applies conduct to one's life according to what is beneficial at that time without making up strict rules or thinking that one needs to follow precepts.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 8th, 2015 at 11:54 PM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
There is no precept against masturbation for lay people.

Zhen Li said:
It is sexual misconduct according to the Sūtra of the Upāsaka Precepts. But it seems people like to pick and choose which version of sexual misconduct they want to practice by, fair enough.

Malcolm wrote:
I am sorry, but we don't read this sūtra, it is not in the Tibetan Canon, as far as I know it is not mentioned anywhere, and so therefore it does not apply to us.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 8th, 2015 at 10:09 PM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Zhen Li said:
Besides the obvious fact that one is saving money and having more free time by being single, and avoiding the possibility that one might get married and all of the trappings that brings, not exposing oneself to carnal pleasures makes one's mind cool and calm, free and more aware.:

Malcolm wrote:
If you need to "not expose" yourself to carnal pleasures [meaning in fact "pleasant physical sensations"], this is a sign that your mind is becoming frozen, rigid, bound and more confused.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 8th, 2015 at 9:26 PM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
If you have a catechistic attitude towards precepts, it is unlikely you will understand that they are only necessary for people who have a problem refraining from killing, lying, sexual misconduct and so on.

Zhen Li said:
Skilful means. You adjust what you say according to who you're talking to.

Malcolm wrote:
There is no precept against masturbation for lay people.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 8th, 2015 at 7:33 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:


Zhen Li said:
A lot of this comes down to basic Buddhist knowledge: six-sense bases -> contact -> feeling -> craving -> attachment -> becoming -> birth -> entire mass of suffering.

Malcolm wrote:
There is no causal link between sensation and craving. Why? Because sensation is strictly a result; however, in some people sensation is a condition for further craving, but it is not the cause of craving. Affliction causes affliction and action; action causes suffering. Suffering is a result. It does not cause anything, it can however act as a condition in some people for further affliction.

Zhen Li said:
If you only post on a Buddhist internet forum, but don't uphold the precepts...

Malcolm wrote:
If you have a catechistic attitude towards precepts, it is unlikely you will understand that they are only necessary for people who have a problem refraining from killing, lying, sexual misconduct and so on. Those of us who do not have these issues do not need precepts at all. We also do not need to call ourselves "Buddhists" to be practitioners of Buddhadharma, of which there are many kinds.

Zhen Li said:
and have a consistent meditation practice, then it's unlikely that you are going to have the same perspective as practicing Buddhists who can see both what suffering constitutes and is caused by, and see its gradual lessening through practice.

Malcolm wrote:
Precepts and meditation do not reduce suffering. If they did, also Hindus would have less suffering.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 8th, 2015 at 7:28 AM
Title: Re: The harms of Masturbation and Porn
Content:


SeeLion said:
Actually, there is some similarity: in both cases, desire arises, and that's the whole problem - in the Buddhist view.

Malcolm wrote:
Depends on which Buddhist view you are talking about.

SeeLion said:
Research shows that as little as few servings of alcohol per week increase the cancer risk by some margin.

Malcolm wrote:
Hearsay.

SeeLion said:
As a strictly personal experience, I am able to see the clouding of the mind which comes from 1 spoon of wine.

Malcolm wrote:
Your mind must be pretty susceptible to your body's metabolic rate, hate to see what sugar does to you.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 9:08 PM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:


Jikan said:
But if you sympathize with this position in some way, you can't just say it outright, especially if some of "them" might hear you.  You have to dogwhistle it, or talk around it.  You can't name it, or specify it.  It has to be left implied or unsaid.

Malcolm wrote:
It is obvious who the bigots are, the so called "social conservatives" who are neither social nor conservative at all.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 7:29 PM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Johnny Dangerous said:
*LARP martyrdom*

THAT is a keeper.

I feel like the thread is perhaps beginning to exhaust itself, does anyone have anything else to say, would people like the discussion to continue, or have we finished for now?

Malcolm wrote:
I think we are done here.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 7:37 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
conebeckham said:
In any case, those who expended great effort to achieve legal equal standing surely feel great benefit from the results. This should be obvious.

maybay said:
Well its not.

Malcolm wrote:
To those who are feebleminded.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 7:32 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
maybay said:
The motivation behind writing a constitution that separates powers is distrust of human nature.

Malcolm wrote:
Huh? The establishment clause has the very opposite effect what you state here.

maybay said:
The motivation behind, i.e. the cause.

Malcolm wrote:
The cause, i.e., motivation, of the Establishment clause was prevention of a state religion — much to the chagrin of fundamentalists in this country who pedal the mistaken notion that America was founded as a Christian nation.
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion...
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/bar1796t.asp


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 7:31 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Johnny Dangerous said:
I don't want to see them disappear or get marginalized any more than I want that for other groups, but it is simply the ways the cards have fallen that they have to deal with living in a society that has experienced a demographic shift in views regarding homosexuality. That is their problem, and I hope their own internal structures can deal with that and move on.

maybay said:
They are not masters of their own internal structures, as this case proves. It is your problem, and everybody else in the country.

Malcolm wrote:
No, actually, it is not our problem. If people's "internal structure" can't deal with racial, gender and marriage equality, that is their problem. Why? Because there are only two kinds of problems in the world "My problem" and "Not my problem."


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 7:29 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
maybay said:
Nevermind what it is.

Malcolm wrote:
What it is is what really matters.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 6:12 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Johnny Dangerous said:
Surely the best thing for all is a legal arrangement where they can live their consciences, and adhere to their beliefs while not being free to enforce their notions of sanctity on those who do not share them. If you think the SCOTUS ruling does not do that, explain why.

maybay said:
Law is just one thread in the fabric of forceful notions. You don't seem to recognize that.

Malcolm wrote:
Actually, what he recognizes is that most of this is merely a bunch of sour grapes from people who tried to turn their religious convictions into law in defiance of both the 1st and 14th amendments to the US Constitution. The law is settled, the rest of the noise from the batshit crazy right is the pathetic whinging of those who are on the wrong side of justice, morals and law.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 6:06 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Uh huh, so slavery was traditional in the US, denying black people civil rights was traditional in the South — we were to just let that "die out quietly?"

maybay said:
Consider the United States as a marriage of states. Now why not allow divorce? You misbehave, we separate. Why does that never happen?

Malcolm wrote:
The USA is not a polygamous marriage. It is a Union. Completely different beasts, not even in the same kingdom, taxonomically speaking.

Anyway, the South tried to secede, started a war over slavery, and lost. End of story. There is as much hope of the US allowing a state to secede as there is hope that China will somehow grow a real conscience and liberate Tibet. In the case of China, however, the parallel between US treatment of Native Americans and their treatment Tibetans is precise.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 6:00 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Johnny Dangerous said:
No one is bombing, or otherwise oppressing fundamentalist Christians in this country, at all.

maybay said:
Clint just rubbished their values. Why did he do that? He doesn't believe in sanctity. He's an actor after all.

Malcolm wrote:
This is a non-sequitor. He is an actor so therefore he does not value the sanctity of marriage? Well, given the divorce rates amongst some of the most vocal opponents of gay marriage, I'd say they don't either.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 5:56 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
maybay said:
The motivation behind writing a constitution that separates powers is distrust of human nature.

Malcolm wrote:
Huh? The establishment clause has the very opposite effect what you state here.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
People who work for the state therefore are not permitted to impose their religious prejudice in the coarse of their normal duties, and if they are found to do so, are likely to be prosecuted for violating the civil rights of others. Somehow, the tea party people have forgotten all about the first amendment.

However, the basis of the SCOTUS decision regaring marriage is founded on the due process clause of the 14th amendment:
"[w]ithout doubt...denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint but also the right of the individual to contract, to engage in any of the common occupations of life, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and generally to enjoy those privileges long recognized at common law as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.
You see, here, there is no restriction placed around who can marry, establish a home and raise children. Anyone may marry anyone else, and unless they are proven to be unfit, may raise children.

You can argue all you like that when this was written individuals meant individual men and women, nevertheless, societies change, and since gender is not specified in the Constitution, and since DOMA has been thrown out as entirely unconstitutional (rightly so), marriage equality was recognized. It is a done deal, and the rest of the modern world will follow suit, leaving Fundamentalists to deal with the issue as best they can, whether well nor poorly. We are not responsible for their feelings on any level.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 5:40 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
maybay said:
In their minds all they are doing it upholding tradition.

Malcolm wrote:
It is the same with ISIS. It is the same with female circumcision. Do you approve of something merely because it is "traditional?"

maybay said:
No, you give that tradition space to die out quietly.

Malcolm wrote:
Uh huh, so slavery was traditional in the US, denying black people civil rights was traditional in the South — we were to just let that "die out quietly?"

maybay said:
Try some principles of Taoist governance for a change. What have you got to lose.

Malcolm wrote:
Ummmm, the same Taoist principles of government that relied on massive spy networks, and various other Machiavellian approaches?

Anyway, this is not China.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 4:33 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Masaru said:
[Edit]

Malcolm wrote:
And this is relevant how?

Masaru said:
I know you don't understand. You're too far removed from reality in your bubble echo chambers to see it.

Malcolm wrote:
The reality is that the court ruled, and some conservatives are freaking out, but only some. Others, with more common sense, have the following attitude:


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 4:20 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
maybay said:
In their minds all they are doing it upholding tradition.

Malcolm wrote:
It is the same with ISIS. It is the same with female circumcision. Do you approve of something merely because it is "traditional?"


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 3:22 AM
Title: Re: Dzogchen Purificatory Practices, What're the Differences
Content:
Shemmy said:
I have no idea what it's purpose or function is either, so I suppose it is just for curiosity sake at this point.

Malcolm wrote:
It is a purification of six lokas combined with Vajrasattva guru yoga.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 2:03 AM
Title: Re: We've been doing it wrong....
Content:
dzogchungpa said:
How do you say 'twerk' in Tibetan, anyway?


Malcolm wrote:
It is not translatable into Tibetan.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 6th, 2015 at 8:36 PM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Luke said:
Doesn't the fact that this ruling has currently put gay people in the media spotlight also put gay people in more danger of violent hate crimes?

Malcolm wrote:
I am quite sure that African Americans would not exchange risk of hate crimes for their civil rights. Would you?


Luke said:
All these gay marriage stories have certainly gotten the attention of the angry ultra-conservative extremists in the US and given them a target.

Malcolm wrote:
This too will pass.

Luke said:
Modern America is so extremely pro-gay that I think it would be a lot more likely that a straight person would lose his or her job because of making a not-totally-sensitive, non-PC comment about gays.

Malcolm wrote:
I am not "pro-gay", I am pro-civil rights.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 6th, 2015 at 6:29 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Johnny Dangerous said:
I personally don't get why the official marriage label was important, the people who are so firmly against gay marriage will not, IMO start seeing them as equal regardless of what it's called.  But then, I am not gay, and I do not face those circumstances, which i'm  sure colors my opinion.

Malcolm wrote:
Married people have rights unmarried people do not — it is as simple as that.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 6th, 2015 at 3:35 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Masaru said:
Well, God forbid that people who are against all forms of homosexuality are ever able to rouse enough support to thoroughly supress it after this oddly aggressive move on the part of gays, marked with a bit of intolerance. I don't understand the need to keep up with the Joneses. Marriage is about kids, period. [

Malcolm wrote:
A lot of gay people have children.

Masaru said:
And for some reason, the religious and conservative seem to be better at making and rearing them, and passing on their values.

Malcolm wrote:
Really, you have some proof of this?


Masaru said:
I hope that, in the long run, the fears of the Christian conservatives and the conservatives of other faiths are baseless...

Malcolm wrote:
They are.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 6th, 2015 at 3:02 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
SCOTUS has decided what the law is

maybay said:
We share a law Malcolm, but not the law of SCOTUS. You should try to accept that.

Malcolm wrote:
SCOTUS interprets laws, it does not make them. In this case, SCOTUS has interpreted the constitution to find that same gender marriage cannot be banned in any of the the fifty States. It is very simple.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 6th, 2015 at 2:55 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Johnny Dangerous said:
and from Indrajala the only real argument..regarding how we interpret or internalize Buddhist commentary on sexual misconduct.

Malcolm wrote:
Needless to say, the issues covers orifices and who a given person can pursue as a partner with no mention of gender.

The only place where the issue of gender preference and gender identity is really brought up is Vinaya, where certain kinds of paṇḍakas (which would include straight men who can only be turned on by watching other people have intercourse) are barred from ordaining.

There are at least two place in Mahāyāna sutra where the issue of gender identity is basically found to be a delusion: the episode concerning the Goddess of the Ganges in the Vimalakirti Sutra and the Nāgā Princess in the Lotus. I am sure there are more.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 6th, 2015 at 2:47 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Johnny Dangerous said:
in the absence if a better argument, I know where I stand.

maybay said:
Well I'm more doubtful of where I stand, and I don't see why I should even have an opinion on something like this.

Malcolm wrote:
You have an awful lot of posts one the subject for someone who does not see why they should have an opinion on the subject


maybay said:
The problem is that a constitutional democracy relies on an engaged citizenry otherwise it falls apart.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, indeed. It was engaged citizenry that brought this issue to the courts, and SOCTUS decided. The US has three branches of government (Legislative, Executive and Judicial], not just two. People somehow think that the judicial branch has not active role in government, but in fact they do, and that is to interpret the law where necessary the legislative and executive branches cannot act appropriately or where there is some doubt.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, July 6th, 2015 at 2:32 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Johnny Dangerous said:
Can you point out where someone has insisted (in the thread) that any opposition makes one a bigot?

maybay said:
Start with posts 10 and 11.

Malcolm wrote:
Posts ten and eleven pointed out that there was indeed bigoted opposition (from neo-nazis along with a suggestion of relocation), not that disagreement with SCOTUS itself constituted bigotry. One can disagree all one likes with SCOTUS's decision in this matter, but it is irrelevant. SCOTUS has decided what the law is, and that settles it.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 5th, 2015 at 9:12 PM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Luke said:
There are many Christian, Muslim, and Orthodox Jewish married couples who are against gay marriage.

Malcolm wrote:
So what? There were many white couples against mixed race marriage, not so long ago.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 5th, 2015 at 7:08 PM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:


Masaru said:
I've read advice given to laypeople about finances and family life. The fact that he even gives advice on how husband should treat wives and which kinds of women to seek out or avoid is an endorsement of heterosexuality in itself.

Malcolm wrote:
No, it is a recognition of a certain state of affairs.


[/quote]...whether, getting back to homosexuality, it's psychologically healthy for children be raised by gay couples is another issue.[/quote]

I know many children raised by gay couples, and I can assure you that they are all fine, healthy young people with no problems, top of their classes, generally heterosexual in gender orientation and so on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 5th, 2015 at 9:30 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:


Indrajala said:
When you go to the National Museum of India you see figures like this:




It should be no surprise therefore that most Buddhists in Asia and their leadership do not endorse same sex marriage and find it rather alien.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 5th, 2015 at 9:27 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Masaru said:
When it's explained that between the Buddhist canon and the context from which it arose, homosexual practices were frowned upon...

Malcolm wrote:
Citation please. Otherwise, your comments can be dismissed as worthless.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 5th, 2015 at 9:23 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Indrajala said:
but nevertheless I've never seen homosexuality endorsed, encouraged or portrayed positively in any classical Buddhist literature...

Malcolm wrote:
Nor have you seen heterosexuality endorsed, encouraged or portrayed positively in any classical Buddhist literature.

Classical Buddhist literature [i.e. pre-7th century] is generally rather negative about sexual activity in general.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, July 5th, 2015 at 9:20 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Masaru said:
We have to be honest about what Buddhism actually says about homosexuality...

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, and the Buddha says nothing about it at all...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 5:02 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Indrajala said:
hierarchy, social roles and gender roles...

Malcolm wrote:
...have all proven to be rather fluid in human history and in societies around the world.

maybay said:
And for good reason, except that in USA they like to turn everything into immutable law.

Malcolm wrote:
Really, you mean unlike other countries?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 5:01 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
maybay said:
Law courts are not in a position to launch extended investigations into the psychological motivations of plaintiffs just to determine if they have a case.

Malcolm wrote:
Neither are internet forums.

It is plain and simple: SCOTUS decided there was reason to hear the case, they heard it, they decided.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 4:19 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Not at present, but really, don't you think this whole patriarchal/matriarchal thing is a bit dated?

Zhen Li said:
I don't think it's dated. I am willing to be flexible though, queens can often do a lot of good if they have a male heart, like Queen Elizabeth,

"I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field."

Malcolm wrote:
You guys are living in a fantasy world.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 4:04 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Zhen Li said:
While there are matrilineal societies, there are no matriarchal societies.

Malcolm wrote:
Not at present, but really, don't you think this whole patriarchal/matriarchal thing is a bit dated?

Zhen Li said:
Humans are just apes after all, and we have a division of labour and sexual dimorphism like any other mammal. For efficiency and structure, men do one thing, women do another. It's fair, even if it is not perfect equality.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, if your criteria is simply biology.

Zhen Li said:
Also, Indrajala is right about hierarchy. All societies have and will hierarchy. It is not a question of fluidity - there is no flow from not having a hierarchy to having a non-hierarchy.

Malcolm wrote:
[/quote][/quote]

I did not say there was a flow from " having a hierarchy to having a non-hierarchy,."  I said that such things were fluid.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 3:25 AM
Title: Re: Supreme Court: Same-Sex Marriage a Right Nationwid
Content:


rory said:
I agree with you entirely Urgyen Dorje;  people should be allowed to make freely the relationships individuals desire and it's wrong for the state to intervene. Those poor elderly ladies, it's just wrong.As for polyandry, polyamory, polygamy; again free people; freedom to choose.
gassho
Rory


Malcolm wrote:
In this case, you should be glad SCOTUS intervened, it was a favorable intervention.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 3:23 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Indrajala said:
hierarchy, social roles and gender roles...

Malcolm wrote:
...have all proven to be rather fluid in human history and in societies around the world.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 3:20 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Zhen Li said:
If polyamorous marriages will eventually be allowed, why not just forget the whole marriage law thing and stop the state discrimination against single people! We are the same flesh and blood as those who have lovers, so why should we be treated any differently!

Malcolm wrote:
Huh?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 3:17 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:


maybay said:
What is it about marriage that makes it a basic human right? Why do we need legislation in the first place?

Malcolm wrote:
It is quite simply really, married people are afforded certain rights and privileges denied to unmarried people. Those rights and privileges are granted by law surrounding property transference and so on. In the end, it really all has to do with the disposition of property and inheritance. That is why the State is involved with this issue.

maybay said:
There are civil unions for that.

Malcolm wrote:
Not any more.


maybay said:
We will cross the bridge of polyamorous marriages when we come to that. In principle, I see no valid reason however to ban polyamorous marriage either.
Well the supreme court did, so maybe you should have a look at the history.

Malcolm wrote:
That was then, this is now.

maybay said:
That does not work in cases where people are being denied basic justice [fairness] in all kinds of ways.
This case is not about justice. It has been a desperate attempt at achieving social acceptance through the legislature, and if it hasn't already been done, through the dictionary.

Malcolm wrote:
Of course it is about justice, otherwise SCOTUS would never have agreed to hear the case.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 3:15 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Now my question is, what other values are they compromising for what other laws?
Irrelevant question.

maybay said:
The supreme court doesn't need you to defend its decisions with sanitary responses to foreign nationals. At least I hope it doesn't.

Malcolm wrote:
If you are a foreign national, than what do you care what SCOTUS decides?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 12:53 AM
Title: Re: The practice of Green Tara and Ganapuja
Content:
Sukhamrita said:
Hi everyone, I hope you do fine.
I have a question, maybe it was answered before, I've done a short research before posting, but didn't find an answer so I'm gonna ask you by this way.
This is addressed specifically for members of Dzogchen Community. I wanna know how to integrate the Yoga of Arya Tara and Ganapuja, because Rinpoche have not given a specific transmission for a practice of Ganapuja with Green Tara, but I have received the lung transmission of the original terma practice of Anuyoga Green Tara of Adzom Drukpa, by webcast from Lama Tsultrim Allione.
By the way the original practice is different than Rinpoche's one, so I'd wanna focus on the practice of Green Tara and integrate also Ganapuja, to make it more complete.
Has Rinpoche said something on this? Is this possible? How should I proceed if possible?
Well that's it. I hope you can help me with this.

Tashi Delek!


Malcolm wrote:
I suggest you write ChNN directly.

Sukhamrita said:
Hi Malcolm. I decided to ask by this way, if anyone knew about it, because I don't wanna bother Rinpoche with this questions. He is a very busy person, so if there is a possibility to solve this kind of doubts or questions by more experienced practitioners, better not to make him waste his precious time. He is always doing lot of things.
Well, thanks anyway ^_^

Malcolm wrote:
It is never wrong to ask your teacher a focused practice question.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 9:24 PM
Title: Re: Understanding why ISIL beheads
Content:
Caodemarte said:
Buddhism has historically been used as an excuse for the most appalling violence. Buddhist societies have at least the same level of violence as non-Buddhist states,  ]

Malcolm wrote:
For example?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 7:19 PM
Title: Re: The practice of Green Tara and Ganapuja
Content:
haak0n said:
Green Tara practice with meat and alcohol doesnt seem quite right

Malcolm wrote:
It can be just fine with Tārā in the three inner tantras.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 7:18 PM
Title: Re: The practice of Green Tara and Ganapuja
Content:
Sukhamrita said:
Hi everyone, I hope you do fine.
I have a question, maybe it was answered before, I've done a short research before posting, but didn't find an answer so I'm gonna ask you by this way.
This is addressed specifically for members of Dzogchen Community. I wanna know how to integrate the Yoga of Arya Tara and Ganapuja, because Rinpoche have not given a specific transmission for a practice of Ganapuja with Green Tara, but I have received the lung transmission of the original terma practice of Anuyoga Green Tara of Adzom Drukpa, by webcast from Lama Tsultrim Allione.
By the way the original practice is different than Rinpoche's one, so I'd wanna focus on the practice of Green Tara and integrate also Ganapuja, to make it more complete.
Has Rinpoche said something on this? Is this possible? How should I proceed if possible?
Well that's it. I hope you can help me with this.

Tashi Delek!


Malcolm wrote:
I suggest you write ChNN directly.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 8:46 AM
Title: Re: Supreme Court: Same-Sex Marriage a Right Nationwide
Content:
tingdzin said:
It's fine that gay people can now be married. On the other hand, is there any logical reason that gay marriage should be acceptable while polygamy or polyandry are not?


Malcolm wrote:
It is mainly a property issue, really. But I am sure we will face this issue in the courts soon enough. As far as I am concerned Polyamorous marriage is fine. Tibetans have had both polyandry and polygamy for centuries.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 8:45 AM
Title: Re: Supreme Court: Same-Sex Marriage a Right Nationwide
Content:
dreambow said:
I would like to think happy thoughts about what happens to small children adopted by two men, maybe they will have a joyful and a safe upbringing?  On the other hand who will monitor what happens to these children?

Malcolm wrote:
What utter rubbish.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 8:43 AM
Title: Re: May be its time to ban discussion about Homosexuallity..
Content:
Shadok said:
for the same reason discussion about Shugden was banned.  The debate is getting very heated.  It will only contribute to creation of bad karma, to fellow sanghas.   It will not help educate anyone, people have made up their mind.  It is only causing disharmony among  Sanghas.  Otherwise this forum will become nothing more than place to promote political/government propaganda.

Malcolm wrote:
I don't see how. People are capable of having reasoned discussions about this issue. I don't really see much public disagreement on this issue apart from a couple of "conservatives" who are voicing their opinion, a day late and a dollar short.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 8:41 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Masaru said:
And even if that doesn't occur, it doesn't mean that the implications of the technologies we have been developing for a while won't lead to very, very old human objectives finally being completed. What happens when foot-binding becomes engineered and congenital? When social norms are no longer needed to achieve certain standards of beauty through class and breeding? When genetic homogeneity is finally achieved through an engineered process? When the emperor no longer needs a tribute of wives, nor any clothes? When the state is truly your parent?

Will we really transcend ourselves, or simply cement our ignorance into the blood of humanity?

maybay said:
Well I guess it won't matter, as long as the human remains are fed back into the living in perfectly equal measure. As long as everything is fair, who cares where we're going. The earth could be encircled in darkness, so long as the shadows fall equally on us all.

Malcolm wrote:
Equal opportunity and fairness is a basic set of conditions. That basic set of conditions does not guarantee anyone certain outcomes in life, it merely guarantees that everyone has, from a secular, legal point of view, the same chances to succeed. In the past, heterosexual people who chose to be married were unfairly advantaged. The basic lack of justice in the marriage issue has now been resolved.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 8:36 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:


maybay said:
What is it about marriage that makes it a basic human right? Why do we need legislation in the first place?

Malcolm wrote:
It is quite simply really, married people are afforded certain rights and privileges denied to unmarried people. Those rights and privileges are granted by law surrounding property transference and so on. In the end, it really all has to do with the disposition of property and inheritance. That is why the State is involved with this issue.

maybay said:
The tacit suggestion is that marriage is "normal" and that homosexuals are now normal because they can marry.

Malcolm wrote:
No, the suggestion is that homosexuals are normal, and because they are normal they should not be barred from enjoying the same rights and privileges that other normal people enjoy.

maybay said:
Where does that leave people who don't marry?

Malcolm wrote:
People who are in committed relationships who choose not to marry now suffer from a lack of rights and privileges regardless of their gender orientation. In the past, heterosexual people were unfairly granted rights and privileges denied homosexual people merely based on gender orientation. This lack of fairness in the law has been remedied.

maybay said:
What about polygamy?

Malcolm wrote:
We will cross the bridge of polyamorous marriages when we come to that. In principle, I see no valid reason however to ban polyamorous marriage either.

maybay said:
Now my question is, what other values are they compromising for what other laws?

Malcolm wrote:
Irrelevant question.

maybay said:
That wasn't my point. I'm suggesting that the one-sided rhetoric against a group of people and the unwillingness to see things from their perspective doesn't help you or them in the long run.

Malcolm wrote:
Some Christians may need some pastoral counseling to help them deal with this issue, other than that, they do not need help. They are not being discriminated against.

maybay said:
The fairest ruling is not to judge at all.

Malcolm wrote:
That does not work in cases where people are being denied basic justice [fairness] in all kinds of ways.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 3:51 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
maybay said:
Every time the supreme court overrules a law of the state, the state loses some small sense of autonomy.

Malcolm wrote:
State's Rights was used an excuse to go to war over slavery.

We live in a federal republic. This means that federal law trumps state law every time. SCOTUS has decided that the states are not allowed to pass laws forbidding people of the same gender to be married. This is a good thing.

Some things, like marriage equality, simply boil down to questions of fairness. Fairness, as we know, is the essence of justice. As Rawls notes:
The two principles of justice (noted above) are as follows:

a. Each person has an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic rights and liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme for all; and in this scheme the equal political liberties, and only those liberties, are to be guaranteed their fair value.

b. Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: first, they are to be attached to positions and offices open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; and second, they are to be to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society.
Rawls, John (2011-02-10). Political Liberalism: Expanded Edition (Columbia Classics in Philosophy) (pp. 5-6). Columbia University Press. Kindle Edition.

Further:
This priority of the right over the good in justice as fairness turns out to be a central feature of the conception. It imposes certain criteria on the design of the basic structure as a whole; these arrangements must not tend to generate propensities and attitudes contrary to the two principles of justice (that is, to certain principles which are given from the first a definite content) and they must insure that just institutions are stable.
RAWLS, John (2009-06-30). A THEORY OF JUSTICE (ORIG EDN) (Oxford Paperbacks 301 301) (pp. 31-32). Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition.

The fact is that allowing different states to have different standards for marriage compromised principle a.

maybay said:
Now consider the losers in this decision. Do they sound like the kind of people who can afford to lose ground? Do you believe them when they say its important to them?

Malcolm wrote:
They have not lost anything apart from their face. The idea that marriage equality = discrimination against Christians is absolutely ludicrous.

maybay said:
This is not a simple matter of individual rights.

Malcolm wrote:
It is, as stated above, a matter of fairness.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 12:44 AM
Title: Re: Khenpo Jigphun Manjusri terma
Content:
narraboth said:
I think it is actually a Mipham guruyoga terma... I might be able to translate

Malcolm wrote:
Depends, could be the Mañjuśrījñanasattva teachings KJP revealed at Five Peaked Mountain, along with his related concise Dzogchen cycle, Sanggye Lagchang.

This was translated by Barron and is available from Padma Publishing.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 2nd, 2015 at 8:23 PM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Wayfarer said:
I am a bit at a loss to understand how Buddhists are supposed to stand on the sidelines and applaud these events when they are blatantly sensualistic.

Malcolm wrote:
I was not aware that Buddhists were supposed to anti-sensualistic...seems to me those folks are just having fun. I think a bit if sensualism would do most Buddhists some good, actually. Especially in terms of removing wooden members from posterior regions.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 2nd, 2015 at 8:17 PM
Title: Re: Forum-Community-Sangha
Content:
Indrajala said:
...and actually appreciate it when others online are equally forthcoming about who they are.

Malcolm wrote:
Indeed.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 2nd, 2015 at 8:16 PM
Title: Re: Forum-Community-Sangha
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Only when you posted outrageous and inflammatory nonsense.

Indrajala said:
Then there were the subsequent accusations I was being paid off by the PRC.

At the time, ironically, I wished that were so because I was broke as hell!

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, well, people say ridiculous things in response to other ridiculous things all the time.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 2nd, 2015 at 7:59 AM
Title: Re: Forum-Community-Sangha
Content:


Urgyen Dorje said:
Now that I've spit my teacher's names out, I feel I've earned the right to ask what the backstory is here-- why is this such an issue?
.

Malcolm wrote:
Because of the amount of harassment anonymous users have subjected other users to in the past, and it is actually enormous and pervasive.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 2nd, 2015 at 1:51 AM
Title: Re: Forum-Community-Sangha
Content:
Indrajala said:
Again, I can point to cases of great concern and assistance I've received from people online, but conversely I've been on the receiving end of venom more than once (in particular from Tibetan Buddhists).

Malcolm wrote:
Only when you posted outrageous and inflammatory nonsense.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, July 2nd, 2015 at 12:45 AM
Title: Re: Forum-Community-Sangha
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
Scholastic discussion is valued more than personal experience.  Not just from recent threads, but there are some issues relating to community member identity/anonymity, outing one's teachers, and so on.

Malcolm wrote:
Personal experience is subjective, and cannot be quantified. For example, "Today I experienced that Lama X is Vajradhara!" Nice, but so what?

As far as anonymity goes, people whose actual identity is not secret tend to be taken more seriously in discussions; at least, I take them more seriously. I tend to regard the posts of the anonymous as being more frivolous, less worthy of attention, and their opinions of less consequence.

I personally think it is disingenuous to conceal one's teachers, but hey, that's just me. I frankly think that Buddhist boards should have non-anonymity policies. Tried that at Vajracakra, and people were too freaked out to sign up. So we gave it up — market forces prevailed.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 1st, 2015 at 10:44 PM
Title: Re: Dzogchen Community - membership question
Content:
Jikan said:
on the topic of the new membership website... I've not found a way to get the system to acknowledge that I'm a member, nor can I find someone to contact about the site.  I haven't contacted the gar yet, because I think this is a website issue until proven otherwise.  Advice?

Malcolm wrote:
You have to register, then it assigns you a number, and then you can pay your dues.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, July 1st, 2015 at 9:21 PM
Title: Re: Dzogchen Community - membership question
Content:
daelm said:
hi all

I have a quick question - mailed the IDC but no reply. So I thought to ask here.

I live in South Africa and for a few years paid membership to Tsegyelgar East, for convenience. I let that lapse a little while ago. Is there now a membership option for people in my position, who'd belong to the IDC, but not to a particular gar?

Regards

d


Malcolm wrote:
Yes, there is. Since prices have been made uniform, you just pick the gar you want to affiliate with (in your case Dzambu Ling) at the new membership website.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 30th, 2015 at 8:57 PM
Title: Re: No Anonymity.
Content:
Simon E. said:
My first response to that Indrajala is to suggest that the person who made those allegations felt able to do so because of their forum anonymity.
I suspect that the absence of anonymity would cut through such shenanigans like a knife through butter.

Indrajala said:
The forum is publicly visible, so it wouldn't matter that much.

I just wish whoever sent the e-mail had the guts to present themselves rather than hiding behind an anonymous e-mail address.

Malcolm wrote:
If it's any consolation, it wasn't me.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 30th, 2015 at 8:45 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


rory said:
Sorry I'd meant to post my reply (to a similar thread) in the Mahayana forum. But now i'm quite interested where did the Buddha forbid eating human flesh, and I believe I understand enough from my knowledge of Indian tantra and panchamakara, that human flesh would be fine. So technically then wouldn't it be more compassionate to eat a dead human than various animals?
gassho
Rory

Malcolm wrote:
The Buddha forbad eating human meat as well as the meat of predators in the Vinaya.

For what reason would eating the meat of a dead human be more compassionate than that of an animal?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 30th, 2015 at 8:38 AM
Title: Re: Fivefold Mahamudra
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
i guess, what i was wondering, was back in the day of phagmodrugpa and jigten sumgon, long before the sadhanas we're familiar with were written, were there people who did their fivefold mahamdura practice with another yidam?  such as hevajra, which his holiness is working to preserve and revive currently...

Malcolm wrote:
AFAIK, no. However, I can tell you that Norje Repa in his treatment of 5FMM does not specify a specific Yidam. Rigzin Chokyi Dragpa however, in his commentary on the former text treats it as it Heruka is the deity of 5FMM.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 30th, 2015 at 8:36 AM
Title: Re: Fivefold Mahamudra
Content:
bryandavis said:
What part of the country or world are you in or what Drikung Lamas do you take teachings from? Just curious.

Urgyen Dorje said:
I'm sorry, but I don't feel safe saying anything that would identify me or my lamas.  For the sake of my lamas, I wouldn't want my negative qualities revealed here to be reflected on them-- and there have been many pointed out.

Malcolm wrote:
Oh come on...this is just arrogant.

Not only that, you already have said plenty that places you in the Southeast, north of Cuba, south of Atlanta, Drikung, etc.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 30th, 2015 at 12:31 AM
Title: Re: Is karma fair?
Content:
Boomerang said:
In other words, do beings deserve the consequences of their karma? My understanding is that buddhadharma is not about things being fair and unfair, because there is no judgment; karma is only a description of reality, not a prescription of how it should be. The only thing Shakyamuni thought beings deserved was to be enlightened, but sadly their karma prevented that from happening.

However, I've heard other Buddhists say that karma is fair and that people deserve the higher realms, lower realms, et cetera, kind of like, "What goes around comes around." It seems lacking in compassion to me. Mahasi Sayadaw used the word "deserve" in this essay on karma, or at least that's how it was translated.

Malcolm wrote:
Karma is not fair or unfair. It is merely the consequences of our intentional actions.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 29th, 2015 at 11:39 PM
Title: Re: How do you get reborn as a deva/animal in Mahayana?
Content:
Boomerang said:
The word they are translation as "emotion" is klesha. Klesha in best translated as affliction.

Cultivating love and compassion results in birth in the higher realms; once there however, pride overtakes one's mind.
Does this mean most non-Buddhist humans will be reborn as animals, and that everyone who is currently human was previously a stream enterer, made aspiration prayers with bodhicitta, or held right views while being afflicted by desire?

Malcolm wrote:
We cannot say, since we do not know what anyone's karma is, however, there are more beings in lower realms than in higher realms.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 29th, 2015 at 11:22 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
Unknown said:
The study from Mora and the University of Hawaii, Manoa, shifts the way in which climate scientists have been examining the implications of greenhouse emissions.
While most have focused on the rapidly warming climate in the Arctic and the effects on wildlife such as polar bears and also sea levels, Mora's team are concerned with the effects on people - specifically the tropics - where the majority of the world's population lives and whose citizens have contributed the least to global warming.
It is in the already warm tropics that an increase of only a couple of degrees can alter the balance of life, crippling crops, spreading disease and leading to mass migration away to cooler climes.
'The warming in the tropics is not as much but we are rather more quickly going to go outside that recent experience of temperature and that is going to be devastating to species and it is probably going to be devastating to people,' said Stuart Pimm, a conservation biologist at Duke University, to
NBC News.
Mora and his colleagues collated global climate models and built an index of estimates on when a given spot on the globe will change beyond temperatures experienced on Earth over the past 150 years between 1860 and 2005.


Malcolm wrote:
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2451604/Apocalypse-Now-Unstoppable-man-climate-change-reality-end-decade-make-New-York-London-Paris-uninhabitable-45-years-says-new-study.html#ixzz3eStEokkZ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook


http://www.nature.com/articles/nature12540.epdf


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 29th, 2015 at 9:33 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
mirrormind said:
Just for the record, 1 package of ground meat at the supermarket contains the meat of approximately 150 pigs and 60 cows. This means you can be super efficient as a dzogchen practitioner if you have the intention of creating a good cause for suffering animals by eating their meat.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, and ChNN often mentions this.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 29th, 2015 at 9:32 PM
Title: Re: How do you get reborn as a deva/animal in Mahayana?
Content:
Boomerang said:
The Theravada sources I read tend to say that cultivating a mind of generosity, kindness, and practicing virtue results in rebirth as a deva, while Mahayana sources tersely mention that the minds of devas are dominated by pride. Which is it, and what exactly are people so proud of that results in rebirth as a deva?

They say that rebirth as an animal is due to the emotion of ignorance or confusion. Ignorance isn't an emotion in English, so this confuses me. Does it mean naively holding wrong views? Well technically, doesn't everyone who is not Buddhist hold wrong views? What sort of mind state would result in you being reborn as an animal and not a human?

Malcolm wrote:
The word they are translation as "emotion" is klesha. Klesha in best translated as affliction.

Cultivating love and compassion results in birth in the higher realms; once there however, pride overtakes one's mind.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 29th, 2015 at 1:50 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
I have a Y chromosome and a penis.

Malcolm wrote:
Given gender politics these days, this is far too limiting a definition of what it means to be male.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, June 28th, 2015 at 4:06 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
Sure.  I have karma here though.  I have commitments
to others.  I teach.  I help run a dharma center.  I have
service that I do.

Malcolm wrote:
All the activities of this life are meaningless in every way, like good and bad dreams in one period of sleep.
-- Chetsun Senge Wangchug.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, June 28th, 2015 at 3:52 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
That's my area of the south.

Malcolm wrote:
Ever think about moving?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Sunday, June 28th, 2015 at 1:43 AM
Title: Re: SCOTUS Decision
Content:
Tenso said:
I wonder how the southern states are going to react to all of this? I don't really see them taking this sitting down.

Malcolm wrote:
What are they going to do, try again to secede?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 8:40 PM
Title: Re: future role of Sakya Trizin what do you think about it?
Content:
ngodrup said:
"Trizin Emeritus."

Malcolm wrote:
Trisur...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 8:07 PM
Title: Re: question on proof
Content:
charles said:
Can one personally prove to oneself that a permanent cessation of suffering is possible?

Malcolm wrote:
Of course. Just give up one addiction. When you do, you have proven to your self that a permanent cessation of suffering is possible.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 7:56 PM
Title: Re: Hair empowerment
Content:
ngodrup said:
My teacher definitively allowed for exceptions, saying
"it's not the length of the hair that matters."

Malcolm wrote:
Unless it does.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 7:56 PM
Title: Re: Hair empowerment
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
When I received the Troma Wang from Ngapa Yeshe Dorje, when he came to the hair wang, he said those who could not take the commitment were allowed to apologize.

When I received requested Ngapga vows from KDL, he made it very clear to those of us present that we were not to cut our hair for any reason. However, the hair empowerment connected with the KDL's Krodhakali cycle is much different than the one found in Dudjom Tersar.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 12:14 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
ok.  above rory asked what the difference was between eating pig meat and human meat at ganacakra and you said human meat was forbidden.

i guess my own understanding was correct then... hmm... i missed something.
i'm curious why human meat is forbidden for ganapuja...

Malcolm wrote:
It isn't.  It is one of the meats Buddha forbad in general, along the meat of predators and so on.
Rory is not a vajrayana person, she was not asking about ganapujas.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 11:16 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
i'm curious why human meat is forbidden for ganapuja...

Malcolm wrote:
It isn't.  It is one of the meats Buddha forbad in general, along the meat of predators and so on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 7:15 AM
Title: Re: Meat Eating Mantras
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
It is because they are man eaters. Rakṣasa in fact refer to the australio-asians who plagued the sea routes between Indonesia and Madagascar and all islands in-between.

Also cannibal tribes living the Himalayas were referred to by this name.

Mother's Lap said:
What are the differences in character between rakshasas and yakshas in general?

Malcolm wrote:
Different class of being. The latter are spirits, the former are human cannibals.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 7:13 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
rory said:
if you belong to some kind of lineage where those with samaya are told to eat meat, that is what I meant. Simply that.

what is the difference between dead pigmeat and dead humanmeat?
gassho
Rory


Malcolm wrote:
The former is not forbidden, the latter is.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 5:11 AM
Title: Re: Meat Eating Mantras
Content:
pemachophel said:
Flesh from [someone] born a Brahmin seven times, anyone?

Malcolm wrote:
I know a guy...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 5:10 AM
Title: Re: Meat Eating Mantras
Content:


Boomerang said:
Are devas food for other devas?

Malcolm wrote:
No, they are not, just as humans are not food for other humans.

Mother's Lap said:
When they say rakshasas are cannibals, does it mean they eat each other or just because they're man-eaters?

Malcolm wrote:
It is because they are man eaters. Rakṣasa in fact refer to the australio-asians who plagued the sea routes between Indonesia and Madagascar and all islands in-between.

Also cannibal tribes living the Himalayas were referred to by this name.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 4:52 AM
Title: Re: Meat Eating Mantras
Content:


Boomerang said:
Are devas food for other devas?

Malcolm wrote:
No, they are not, just as humans are not food for other humans.

kirtu said:
Well historically and even today, humans are food for some other humans.

Kirt

Malcolm wrote:
Generally, cannibals don't eat other humans for nutrition, but for power.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2015 at 2:31 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Norwegian said:
And Urgyen Dorje, Malcolm didn't say people were hassled and pushed out of the Dzogchen Community. He said some people have left ChNN and the community due to their putting more importance on their dietary preferences, rather than the precious instructions of their own guru.

Urgyen Dorje said:
I don't doubt that there's some grasping at dietary preferences.

But I've been at this for 25 years, I'll be there's some self-appointed samaya cops in the sangha giving people crap.  I've yet to find a sangha that didn't have such guardians....

Malcolm wrote:
Not about eating meat...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 26th, 2015 at 10:49 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
What is true is that people have gotten the idea that Garchen Rinpoche was called out here.

Malcolm wrote:
Frankly, that is their problem for listening to hearsay.

What is true is that many Lams do not accept to idea of internet transmissions at all, and so they do not do them. Many of these same Lamas might not accept these transmissions given by ChNN, Garchen Rinpoche and so on as valid.

But what no one accepts is that one may receive an empowerment from a recording.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 26th, 2015 at 10:15 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
Garchen Rinpoche never said one should go to video archived empowerments and get the wang that way.

Malcolm wrote:
Nevertheless, some of Garchen Rinpoche's students have been claiming that Garchen RInpoche asserts that empowerments can be obtained this way.

You will note that no one has ever slighted, belittled or accused Garchen Rinpoche of doing anything negative at all. All focus has been on the misconceptions promulgated (no doubt with a sincere motivation) by people other than him.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 26th, 2015 at 10:08 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
What Norbu Rinpoche says is that Dzogchen practitioners who choose not to eat meat "out of compassion", when there are methods available, are practicing miserable compassion. He is not talking about Chinese Mahāyānists and so on.

srivijaya said:
Is it a requirement for his disciples to eat meat? Just wondering how that would work if a vegetarian joined the ranks of his followers. Would the person be instructed to start eating meat in order to practice greater compassion?

Malcolm wrote:
Much to the discomfort some of them, yes. There are some people who have left the community over the issue. Their loss.

ChNN does not tell people individually, "You must eat meat." He does however bring up the issue with great frequency and much vehemence. This vehemence made the OP uncomfortable.He is not telling people merely that they should not refuse meat during ganapujas. He is critiquing in general the idea that Dzogchen practitioners should refrain from eating meat and presents the opposite point of view.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 26th, 2015 at 10:06 PM
Title: Re: Meat Eating Mantras
Content:


Boomerang said:
Are devas food for other devas?

Malcolm wrote:
No, they are not, just as humans are not food for other humans.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 26th, 2015 at 3:43 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
If empowerment by live webcast is not a problem, then how did Garchen Rinpoche even get evoked in this matter?

Malcolm wrote:
Because some people have the crazy idea that Garchen Rinpoche endorses the idea that people can receive empowerments from recordings of empowerments posted on Youtube.

They promoted this idea, and continue to do so, and were very angry that I negated this idea.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 26th, 2015 at 12:56 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Lhasa said:
Malcolm.... Shaming doesn't work on me.

Malcolm wrote:
I never shamed you. I did say that your statement was ridiculous (which it is).


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 26th, 2015 at 12:55 AM
Title: Re: The Mahayana idea of karma and vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
It's easier to just go out somewhere and let everyone deal with their own needs.
I know I've had friends over and I've had to juggle the fact that Sue is vegetarian, except for wild caught salmon, but she's gluten free, and can't eat nightshades... while Billy is paleo, and only eats free range beef and leafy greens... and Betty is macrobiotic... and then...

Malcolm wrote:
Maybe, but it is easier to feed Billy than Sue or Betty.
Indeed.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 26th, 2015 at 12:49 AM
Title: Re: The Mahayana idea of karma and vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
It seems to have spilled over into the dharma.
I know I've had friends over and I've had to juggle the fact that Sue is vegetarian, except for wild caught salmon, but she's gluten free, and can't eat nightshades... while Billy is paleo, and only eats free range beef and leafy greens... and Betty is macrobiotic... and then...


Malcolm wrote:
This a peculiarly American madness.
Maybe, but it is easier to feed Billy than Sue or Betty.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 26th, 2015 at 12:41 AM
Title: Re: The Mahayana idea of karma and vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
I know I've had friends over and I've had to juggle the fact that Sue is vegetarian, except for wild caught salmon, but she's gluten free, and can't eat nightshades... while Billy is paleo, and only eats free range beef and leafy greens... and Betty is macrobiotic... and then...


Malcolm wrote:
This a peculiarly American madness.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 26th, 2015 at 12:38 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
So you accept your involvement in the wholesale killing of sentient beings to bring plant-based food to your table?
I don't think you got the point I was making.

srivijaya said:
Ditto.

...that those who choose not to are practicing "miserable compassion".

Malcolm wrote:
What Norbu Rinpoche says is that Dzogchen practitioners who choose not to eat meat "out of compassion", when there are methods available, are practicing miserable compassion. He is not talking about Chinese Mahāyānists and so on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 10:16 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
This has caused a lot of people a lot of suffering.

Malcolm wrote:
Suffering of their own making.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 10:00 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
... but I do know that many people have understood threads on Dharma Wheel to be calling Garchen Rinpoche out for corrupting the vajrayana, leading students astray, and so on, by offering live webcast empowerments.

Malcolm wrote:
That has never been an issue, not even once. How things become corrupted by gossip, that no one can control.

The issue was that some people had the mistaken idea that they could watch a video recording of an empowerment that had already happened in the past (i.e. one that they had missed) and receive empowerment from it.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 9:04 PM
Title: Re: The Mahayana idea of karma and vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
I'm not calling you out, Malcolm, but I too would like clarification about your comment that Chatral Rinpoche is speaking to non-practitioners.

This is somewhat relevant for me, as some close dharma friends follow the tradition of Chatral-la, Shabkar, Patrul and so on, and they're pretty serious about the vegetarian thing, and they too point to Chatral Rinpoche and his family.  I also have close dharma friends who follow the tradition held by your teacher, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, whom I also consider a teacher from webcast transmissions, who follows the traditional view that eating animals benefits them.

-- UD

Malcolm wrote:
Norbu Rinpoche insists that the point of view on meat-eating expressed by Shabkar, Nyal Pema Duddul and so on are aimed at non-practitioners. This is where I derive my opinion. This is why he says again and again, if you are a common Mahāyāna practitioner, you should not eat meat. But if you are a Dzogchen practitioner, you should eat (some) meat. You also should drink (some) alcohol.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 9:02 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
pemachophel said:
"Chatral Rinpoche is speaking to non-practitioners."

Loppon-la, where are you getting this idea about Kyabje Chatral Rinpoche? If this teaching is only for non-practitioners, why is He so personally insistent on not eating meat? When I used to prescribe Chinese medicines for Him, even these had to be free of any animal ingredients. His whole family are vegetarians, His entire retinue. These people are some pretty heavy-hitting practitioners. Are you saying Seymo Saraswati Rinpoche is not a practitioner, Khandro Kamala is not a practitioner?

I've eaten in His house with Him and His family a number of time. No one is eating meat.

Malcolm wrote:
I understand that Chatral Rinpoche is himself a strict vegetarian and teetotaler since the time he was 48, I believe.

But here, Chatral Rinpoche is setting an example for people who are not really practitioners (and I am excluding his family, close entourage). It is understandable. Most Tibetans are not really Dzogchen practitioners. That is the context in which you need to understand both mine and ChNN's statements.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 8:53 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Lhasa said:
I've been given practice instructions for a personal retreat, permissions for practice texts and how to use mantras etc., affirmation that I did receive an empowerment over a live webcast, directly from him. So he responds to requests for help.

Malcolm wrote:
No one ever said empowerments over live webcast were invalid, did they? The key word here is "live." What has been under question is the notion that one can receive transmissions and empowerments from recordings.

Lhasa said:
One last comment, people who have had in-person contact with their Teachers, cannot give valid information on the internet-only relationship between Lamas and their students.

Malcolm wrote:
I am sorry, but this is statement is just as ridiculous as it is untrue.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 8:43 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
srivijaya said:
If one eats the flesh of sentient beings, then fine but at least concede some minuscule involvement in the process which involves the rearing, slaughter and sale of their flesh (it's called supply and demand).

Malcolm wrote:
So you accept your involvement in the wholesale killing of sentient beings to bring plant-based food to your table?

srivijaya said:
Sure being a vegetarian isn't the magic wand to end suffering that its more stridently irritating advocates would have us believe. This is samsara after all and there are limits to what is achievable. But in the end, we are Buddhists and in possession of some oddly unique "facts" (if we accept them as such). Facts like all sentient beings have been our mothers (or other relatives) in past lives. This puts a different perspective on eating their flesh - one which we can perhaps ignore if it gets in the way of our enjoyment.

Malcolm wrote:
All sentient beings certainly have been our mothers, so think of that when you blithely fork that broccoli into your mouth, feeling all smug about being a vegetarian, because it is a certainty that countless sentient beings have been killed in the process of providing you with that morsel.

srivijaya said:
I choose not to use my stomach as a digestive unit for the cadavers of slain mother beings. Does that qualify as "miserable compassion" in someone's opinion? No idea and why should anyone care? It's the volitional opt-out I'm comfortable to live by.

Malcolm wrote:
No, you simply choose to leave the cadavers unthought of in the fields and factories after they have been poisoned, crushed, maimed and so on, without giving them a second thought because your food, so you believe, is free from the taint of the death of millions upon millions of creatures.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 7:20 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
It's all triggered by bringing cold cuts and wine to a ganapuja.

I have no respect for Buddhist culture.  I have no respect for Asian culture.  I wouldn't understand because I'm an American.  Americans dont' have any morals, any ethics.  I've broken my vows.  I need to confess.  I've created obstacles for the lama.  Blah blah blah blah.


Malcolm wrote:
Yes, it is complete bullshit, why bother to associate with such children?

Dharma centers are just places which foster delusion. I avoid them. Dharmawheel is quite bad enough already...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 7:07 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
KeithBC said:
Thank you all for illustrating my point so effectively: that people get defensive when they encounter something that calls their values into question.  That is the source of most of the denial on the climate change issue.

Om mani padme hum
Keith


Malcolm wrote:
I am not defensive —— people without or not faith in methods should not eat meat.

Dan74 said:
It appears that even within the tradition, there are different views (cf Norbu Rinpoche and Chatral Rinpoche), so is it more the faith in one's root teacher then?

Malcolm wrote:
I already explained this, it is audience. Chatral Rinpoche is speaking to non-practitioners.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 7:05 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
See, dig, Malcolm is a loppon.

Malcolm wrote:
Umm, I don't wear a badge, and most people have no idea. I just don't take shit from anyone.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 6:33 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
I out myself and declare my mongrel pedigree in advance.
I spoke as an  inji convert in this thread because I've been stopped at the door of a ganapuja by Asian Buddhists more than once and lectured about my lack of respect for "Buddhist culture" for bringing meat or alcohol, only to have the lama or choppon wave me in.  Only to have some matronly old lady lecture me every time i see her about Buddhist values.

Malcolm wrote:
No one would dare lecture me about anything because they know they will get a mouthful in return.

"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
-- Admiral David Farragut.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 5:48 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Urgyen Dorje said:
I will abstain from using "inji convert" in a more general context.  I'll need to find a better way to describe "non-Tibetan non-Asian Euro-Americans who picked this thing up not from their families".

Malcolm wrote:
"Buddhist" works quite nicely. As I said, no one emerges from their mother's womb recite the Refuge to the Triple Gem. Everyone who is a Dharma practitioner has to receive refuge somehow in some way from someone.

Either no one is a Buddhist convert, or everyone is.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 5:33 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
KeithBC said:
Thank you all for illustrating my point so effectively: that people get defensive when they encounter something that calls their values into question.  That is the source of most of the denial on the climate change issue.

Om mani padme hum
Keith


Malcolm wrote:
I am not defensive —— people without or not faith in methods should not eat meat.

Tenso said:
Hinayanists don't have any so called "methods." Are they wrong to eat meat?

Malcolm wrote:
They may eat meat that is pure in three ways. But they are not helping anyone.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 4:47 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
So if a Tibetan friend says, yo, inji, you want to help me paint these tormas, I should be calling him or her out as being a racist, like a person of color being called a ni@@er?

Malcolm wrote:
"Inji convert" = "less than an authentic, red-blooded Tibetan."
You can just tell them you don't like that word. If they persist, you can tell them it is racist.

Tibetans have a word for Americans, Aripa. They use it when they are talking about Americans, etc. For example, KDL did not call me an Inji Loppon, he called me an Ari Loppon.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 4:41 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
I
So educate away.

Malcolm wrote:
"Inji convert" = "less than an authentic, red-blooded Tibetan."


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 4:37 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
haha said:
]
I heard CNNR said that he was given all the empowerments before he arrived to his root master and that was in his master dream; he did not believe that and asked for the empowerment. It is really difficult to believe because one cannot verified it through sutra or tantra.

Malcolm wrote:
Not all the empowerments. One empowerment.

In any case, before ChNN arrived at Rigzin Chanchub Dorje's, he had received thousands of empowerments.

This is an interesting case. It is an example of how what might true in the dimension of an awakened person will not match the impure vision of those of us who are not awake. And this is why we work with methods in a proper way according to how they are taught in the tantras.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 3:48 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Fortyeightvows said:
Take it easy.
Is the other thread on vegetarianism this nuts?
Every language has it's slurs and it is generally considered low class to use them. In my experience this is at least true in some asian cultures as well as in america where I live.
Remember that this forum is not just used by 'convert buddhists'.
Also I don't know what type of 'asian sanghas' you've been to. You can always remind them that the buddha wasn't chinese!
I actually say very often that a lot of people can't correctly separate between chinese culture and buddhism, can't tell where one ends and the other begins. It's a shame really.
And I don't know about 'most asians' either.... but then, I don't know about 'most americans' either so....

Malcolm wrote:
There is no question most Americans do not know jack shit about Dharma.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 3:32 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
Dude.  I don't know why you're hammering on me calling me narrow-minded, xenophobic, and racist.

Malcolm wrote:
I am not calling you out, I am pointing that, rather bizarrely, you are catering to Tibetan racist, xenophobic exceptionalism.

I simply pointed out the term inji was racist, and that I take exception to it. You on the other hand have proclaimed your willingness to embrace the term, belittling though it is in fact.

Urgyen Dorje said:
I actually reported that I have encountered people of Asian descent who claimed the uniqueness of Asian Buddhist culture and that as such I'm an outsider.  If you want to call anything xenophobic and racist, call THAT out, not ME.

Malcolm wrote:
I am calling that out, and not you. However by calling yourself a dharma mutt, a convert and so on, you cater to their misperceptions. Most Asians you have met do not know jack shit about Dharma even though they are born in "Buddhist" families.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 3:16 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
Don't tell me what my experience is and is not.

On e-sangha and in meat space I've been called out quite a few times, primarily by Asian Buddhists, by generalizing my experience and not specifying that I'm a mutt American convert.

Malcolm wrote:
Asians don't own Buddhadharma. I won't cater to their narrow-mindedness, xenophobia and racism where it exists.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 3:15 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
How do you come off calling me a racist?

Malcolm wrote:
I didn't say you were a racist, but you are making excuses for Tibetan racism.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 2:13 AM
Title: Re: Meat Eating Mantras
Content:


tomamundsen said:
Is this the best mantra to use with live animals as well? Say you are hiking in the woods and there are all kinds of animals around. Is it best to keep reciting these six syllables? Or would some other practice be more effective?

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, it is the BEST mantra in every respect since it is also the condensed version of song of the vajra. Plus, at least in the DC, it has a very nice melody.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 1:41 AM
Title: Re: Meat Eating Mantras
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
The best mantra to use is the six syllables of Samantabhadra.

Boomerang said:
A A Ha Sha Sa Ma? A Ah Sha Sa Ma Ha? Is that for Dzogchen practioners or for everybody? Are you supposed to say it 3, 7, 21 times, or just once?

Malcolm wrote:
Both versions are correct. You can say it once or as many times as you like.

When you say it to animals, also it creates a good cause.

It is in fact the Buddhas of the six realms in the form of syllables.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2015 at 12:50 AM
Title: Re: Meat Eating Mantras
Content:
Boomerang said:
I've seen Buddhist organizations post various mantras online that allow you to bless meat before eating it so that your negative karma is diminished and you benefit the animal. The way the mantras are put out in the open gives me the impression that anyone can use them without transmission. Even Sravasti Abbey, which is a vegetarian institution, posted a meat eating mantra on their website.

Am I correct in thinking that these mantras are okay for any person to compassionately use while eating meat? The mani mantra is one of them. Can a person use any old mantra to bless the meat of dead animals?

And if it really is so simple for lay people to make a good connection dead animals, why do some Tibetan Buddhists act like these methods don't exist? Is it a sectarian thing?

http://thubtenchodron.org/2010/04/recitations-morning/
http://www.drukpachoegon.info/rinpoche-teachings/audios/mantra-to-bless-meat-before-eating.aspx
https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/education/teachings/texts/mantras/various_mantras_everyday_dharmaC5.pdf?4e84cd

Malcolm wrote:
The best mantra to use is the six syllables of Samantabhadra.

Some of these "mantras" are dharanis, which come from sūtra and thus require no transmission.

Boomerang said:
And if it really is so simple for lay people to make a good connection dead animals, why do some Tibetan Buddhists act like these methods don't exist? Is it a sectarian thing?

Malcolm wrote:
Lack of confidence in themselves as well as the teachings.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 11:58 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Urgyen Dorje said:
If I don't qualify what I say about dharma with being a mutt, I'm stepping on somebody.

Malcolm wrote:
Bullshit.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 11:56 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
pael said:
Is it om benza sato hung? Just that. Without any other prayers, visualizations, etc?
With four powers?
So I can do short mantra without lung?

Malcolm wrote:
Yes. It is included in lung for long mantra. With four powers.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 11:51 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
They have a culture I'm an outsider to.  And I'm good with that.  I respect that.

Malcolm wrote:
Buddhadhama is not a "culture."

Urgyen Dorje said:
Political correctness can go to heck.

Malcolm wrote:
The term "inji" is racist, just like the term "nigger", "kike", "hebe", "wetback", "chink", "dago", "ofay", "casper", "pollock", "jap", "kraut", "jerry", and so on. You sound like an African American who says, "Oh, it's ok that my white friend calls me "nigger" since he is real nice to me."

The term "inji" is very offensive, and I make sure Tibetans I know understand this.

Urgyen Dorje said:
As for "revert" and "convert" and all that, I wasn't trying to make a rigorous philosophical point.  I'm just trying to find a word that distinguishes me from somebody who was born into a Buddhist cultural and religious life form one that has not.

Malcolm wrote:
As I pointed out, you were born into it. There is no other way it can be.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 11:40 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
pael said:
I try follow.
I thought if there is some shorter/simpler method to purify samaya? Like om mani peme hung.
I fear long recitation is threat to my health. I have genetic disease.
It wasn't my original intention to start daily recitation practice when I took initiation. But I heard it included samaya. Without regular practice commitment.

Malcolm wrote:
Do short Vajrasattva.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 10:56 PM
Title: Re: Hair empowerment
Content:
Lingpupa said:
Some Nyingma empowerments have a large number of subsidiary parts: the dorje empowerment, the bell empowerment, the shawl empowerment, the earring empowerment and so on. There can be dozens of them. One possibility is the "hair" empowerment in which the disciple is "empowered" and committed to never cut their hair again. Just like monks and nuns shave their heads as a sign of renunciation, so the long hair of the dzogchen yogi is worn as a sign of the disciple's commitment to leaving their mind in its natural state.

My tip would be to avoid it unless you are very sure, as you may find, perhaps some years down the line, that you want or need to look more conventional again.

Malcolm wrote:
Seconded. You have to be very sure you can follow this samaya before you take it.

However, it is not so much about looks. Long hair can be conventional, but here you are not allowed to trim you hair or cut it, so if you get knots in your hair that you cannot comb out, well, you have to leave them.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 10:53 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
pael said:
But I have not heard entire Longchen Nyingthig Vajrasattva sadhana. They e-mailed me I should do it.
I am not sure may I do it. It has six syllable Vajrasattva also. I have not heard it.
If I recite 100,000 times 100-syllables samaya gets purified? Are there other methods (sutra methods or others) to purify broken samayas?

Malcolm wrote:
You can do it. Or if you have some doubt, go get the lung for any ngondro you think you like, and do that one.

In the meantime, you can just follow instructions in Words of my Perfect teacher. Ok?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 10:33 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
Given that it's a corruption of "english" it's hard to see how it's racist.

Malcolm wrote:
It's racist because it is applied to all foreigners.

Urgyen Dorje said:
Not to bust chops, but you could make the case that it is xenophobic, but not racist.

Malcolm wrote:
Its racist. I don't know if you have ever been subjected to Tibetan racism. I have. It's like calling all people of African heritage "niggers." Tibetans have another word for that, and it is equally racist.

Urgyen Dorje said:
Yes.  There is similar language used is Islam.  People who adopt the faith use the term "revert" instead of "convert" to mean returning to a former condition of belief.  I guess I could say I'm a Buddhist revert based on your reasoning.

Malcolm wrote:
No, also that is not the same thing. We have a precious human birth. This means we created causes in the past to meet the Dharma in this life. It matters not one wit whether one is born into a nominally Buddhist family or not. There are plenty of people born to Buddhist parents who do not pursue the path, even nominally.


Urgyen Dorje said:
In common discussion, to distinguish Buddhists who adopted the faith (in this life) versus those who were born into it (in this life), what is the accepted terminology for communicative ease?

Malcolm wrote:
There is none. By your reasoning, everyone is a convert to Buddhism. No one is born with refuge in the Triple Gem.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 10:21 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
pael said:
I have taken Amitayus initiation from Konchog Chidu. I think I have broken many samayas. They didn't gave any daily commitment.  I have got from them Shakyamuni sadhana and Vajrasattva sadhana. I have been in Shakyamuni sadhana recitation session and heard 100-syllable mantra at Dharma lecture, not entire sadhana. Is these accounted as lung?
How then I purify other samaya breakages? I have not done any preliminaries. Not outer, not inner.
I am confused.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes. These count as lung.

So you have the lung for Vajrasattva. Normally, you should accumulate 100,000.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 10:15 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
Given that it's a corruption of "english" it's hard to see how it's racist.

Malcolm wrote:
It's racist because it is applied to all foreigners of white skin. It is also used disparagingly by Tibetans.

Urgyen Dorje said:
Given that I've only heard it used with friends, it's hard to see it as disparaging.  Given that a "convert" is somebody who has undergone "conversion"-- the decisive adoption of a religion, as opposed to being born into it-- it's hard to see how using that term is nonsense.

Malcolm wrote:
Do you believe in rebirth? In that case, it is impossible to be a convert to Dharma. We followers of Buddhadharma were all born into the Dharma based on past life causes and conditions.

Urgyen Dorje said:
Let me know the accepted way to refer to "Euro-American people who took up Buddhism but weren't born into it" then...

Malcolm wrote:
Buddhists.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 9:58 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
I call myself an "inji convert" because that's Tibetans and Tibetan lamas have referred to people like myself.

Malcolm wrote:
Its a racist term. The idea that we are "converts" is also nonsense.

I am not an "inji", I am an American. I am also not a convert.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 9:42 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
I think it's useful to appreciate that there are subtexts woven through this subject.   It's clear to me that inji converts to vajrayana are responding to a variety of issues, as are contemporary lamas, all of which stand outside the skillful means of the vajrayana.  Quite bluntly, at least in America, we've gone insane when it comes to food, in particular animal products.  It's the only time in human history that people intentionally drive animals into various disease states only to eat them.  It's a far cry from hunting-gathering, and it's a far cry from culling herd-stocks from a local microecology.  It's really a form of madness. It's also an American thing to feel that we're malnourished unless our whole alimentary canal is full of red meat, which is another form of madness, and simultaneously a health and environmental crisis.  Whether the response of vegetarian ganapuja's is the proper response is really up to individuals and their lamas IMHO, but I think it's best to be realistic and honest that people are responding to this issue of meat eating along multiple axes...

Malcolm wrote:
First of all, why are you using the racist, belittling term, inji?

Secondly, there are no "converts" to Buddhism.

Of course people are responding to this issue along a variety of axes. I am merely clarifying the principles enunciated by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and Dzogchen teachings (Do you have any idea of how many kinds of meat are recommended for Chulen in the sgra thal gyur tantra?)

Meat and dairy consumption is rising world wide because, frankly, meat and dairy based diets are more nutritionally dense than solely plant-based diets and people become larger and more powerful when they rely on them. When they enter the middle class, of course they want more meat in their diets. Of course this brings a range of health issues into play.

But here the discussion mainly revolves around a discomfited response to ChNN's teachings. We can discuss side issues, but lets keep it a little focused, ok?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 9:24 PM
Title: Re: Dzogchen Community of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
Content:
T. Chokyi said:
1) First you have to know Lam Rim to compare, and I know Lam Rim, there isn't any "Lam Rim" lacking in CHNN's teachings,
in other words, all of deepest levels of Lam Rim are fulfilled in the Dzogchen teachings of CHNN, but you have to know what you are looking for. If you want straight up traditional teachers to learn Lam Rim there are many, for example, step by step here: http://thubtenchodron.org/1991/04/stages-path-enlightenment-intro/ but if you know the teachings, and you hear CHNN year in and out, you will see that Dzogchen path fulfills and explains the essence of all the Lam Rim teachings. Also remember that CHNN is a Dzogchen master, he is coming at those very topics from that view, therefore the answer to your question lies in the path itself. That path is where you will see differences and similarities to a highly traditional approach, but there is nothing on this path that goes contrary to those teachings, rather it fulfills those teachings quite completely. Remember CHNN was trained thoroughly and completely in Lam Rim, he has both an extensive Kagyu background and Sakyapa background and knows the Lam Rim well, he could easily compare back and forth topic by topic point by point how Dzogchen path does not lack the essence of the Lam Rim.  Quite frankly many of the teachers in Dzoghchen community and beyond can explain this, an in depth answer could fill many pages.

2) Yes, there are many places like this, both in the USA and all over the world. If you are in the USA toward the East Coast you could visit Conway Ma. this summer when CHNN is there, and meet members of the Dzogchen community and learn some practices in person. http://tsegyalgar.org/localcenters/tsegyalgareast/

chimechodra said:
Thank you very much for your answers, it is much appreciated! Regarding the Lam Rim question, that was my sense of it from what I've seen in researching this question. I figured someone as incredibly well trained as ChNN would not miss such vital points, and above all wants to present the teachings in a way that would bring us the most benefit. And regarding the second point, thank you, that's good to know! I'm trying to see if I can request the time off from work to go and experience that retreat, even if it's for one day in order to receive transmission in person. Looking forward to the possibility of that happening!

Malcolm wrote:
His book, the Precious Vase, is an example of a Lam Rim text.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 9:23 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
pael said:
I have seen&read few lines of Guhyagarbha tantra on web. Is it bad karma? How to purify it?

Malcolm wrote:
Seeing a few lines of a tantra here and there will not harm you. But taking a tantra reading it from cover to cover if you do have at least one major empowerment is not a good thing. In general, it is better to have the lung, but at least one must have a wang.

pael said:
Can breakage of samaya be purified with Vajrasattva without lung? If not, how it can be purified?

Malcolm wrote:
You cannot break samaya if you have never received empowerment or Dzogchen transmission because you do not have it.

But you can cause problems between you and the teachings if you try to read things for which you have no authority. In this case, it is sufficient to understand that you have made a mistake. That is purification enough.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 9:20 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
No. In my ideal world, animals would not be slaughtered at all. There are many ways to benefit animals through the six liberations while they are alive as well. Unfortunately, it is not likely I can have contact with those who wind up before me on my plate before they are slaughtered/fished, and so therefore I use the methods available to me to help as I can.

anjali said:
Agreed. In an ideal world no animals would be slaughtered. Your answer helps me refine my question.

Sadly, we don't live in an ideal world. Vajrayana practitoners live in a world where so many animals are slaughtered for consumption. Given that fact, would the most compassionate diet possible be one where every bite we take is making a connection with a slaughtered animal?

Yes, I know this is going to an extreme, but I'm not being flippant. Just pushing the envelope to get at the full implication that eating meat with right view benefits the consumed animal. Followed to it's logical conclusion, it would seem to imply that the most ethical/compassionate diet for a vajrayana practitioner living in today's world should be an exclusively meat-eating diet?

Malcolm wrote:
Every bite we take is already connected with a slaughtered animal down to every piece of lettuce. Therefore, the most ethical and compassionate diet is to understand that every thing we eat involves the death of some creature somewhere, somehow.

The principle of Buddhadharma is avihimsa, non-harming. But there is very little we can do in the world control the harm of the kind of wide spread agriculture and other related industries do to the world and the living creatures in it, both sentient and non-sentient. We cannot control other human beings, all we can do is control ourselves, refrain from harming others, and try to benefit those who have been harmed by any means possible. When someone who has received Dzogchen teachings refuses to eat meat when it is offered to them, or in a puja, they are effectively deciding not to help some being that has been harmed. In this case, not eating meat harms compassion.

Since we are not Jains nor followers of Devadatta, we do not believe that karma is an automatic non-volitional force that comes from every act that we engage in. Karma only comes from any intentional act in which we engage.

Also we have a responsibility to ourselves. We must eat meat when it is indicated for our health. There are, in both Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine, many forms of meat, many kinds of animal products, that are used regularly. The reason we do not use regular Tibetan incense for Nāgā pujas is because in general Tibetan incense contains musk, which is harmful and offensive to Nāgās. Also we must not eat too much of any one thing, because this will cause our humors to become unbalanced. So the principle of nonharming includes not harming ourselves, and that extends to our diets.

As in everything, there are limits to our capacity. So we do what we can, always wish we could do more and never lose our focus of compassion for all.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 5:23 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
naljor said:
I also believe in the necessity of live transmission, but there is something very interesting - http://www.khordong.de/alt/Engl/rand_e.html - recorded lung for text in the book BEING RIGHT THERE by Chimed Rigdzin Rinpoche.

Malcolm wrote:
yes, it is a recording. No possibility of receiving transmission from it. Plus, there are plenty of living people who have the real lung. Get it from them.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 4:54 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
kashmir said:
Lets put this to rest now. If one has a tantric initiation and commitments it explains in the fourteen common tantric root downfalls that : "Not relying properly on the subastnces that bond us closely to tantric practice (such as consider as nauseating the consecrated alcohol and meat tasted specifically in periodic offering ceremonies known as tsog pujas, to refuse them on the grounds of being a teetotaler or a vegetarian, or alternatively, to take them in large quantities with gusto and attachment."
and who said you were unenlightened?

Malcolm wrote:
The vow actually specifies refusing samaya articles only. You are supposed to enjoy them with gusto, but without attachment.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 2:34 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


anjali said:
This is my primary motivation for eating meat, all other things aside.
If we follow this reasoning to it's logical conclusion, would you agree that your ideal diet (not considering health issues) would be exclusively carnivorous, and from as many different animals as possible? The reasoning being that one would want to create good causes for as many animals as possible, and that would entail eating as much meat as possible from as many different animals as possible? I'm not being confrontational here. I'm sincerely curious as to the full implications of this position.

Malcolm wrote:
No. In my ideal world, animals would not be slaughtered at all. There are many ways to benefit animals through the six liberations while they are alive as well. Unfortunately, it is not likely I can have contact with those who wind up before me on my plate before they are slaughtered/fished, and so therefore I use the methods available to me to help as I can.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 1:26 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
pael said:
I have seen&read few lines of Guhyagarbha tantra on web. Is it bad karma? How to purify it?

Malcolm wrote:
Seeing a few lines of a tantra here and there will not harm you. But taking a tantra reading it from cover to cover if you do have at least one major empowerment is not a good thing. In general, it is better to have the lung, but at least one must have a wang.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 1:14 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
pael said:
How about tantras translated to english, example Hevajra tantra? May you read it? Without initiation? Someone is selling Hevajra tantra

Malcolm wrote:
In fact, you may not, if you wish to follow the rules.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at 1:03 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
KeithBC said:
Thank you all for illustrating my point so effectively: that people get defensive when they encounter something that calls their values into question.  That is the source of most of the denial on the climate change issue.

Om mani padme hum
Keith


Malcolm wrote:
I am not defensive —— people without or not faith in methods should not eat meat.

As far as industrial agriculture goes, CAFO's and so on, this is pernicious in the extreme.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 11:33 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
If faith were sufficient to receive an empowerment, one could just hit oneself on the head with any book one wants to practice and that would be sufficient. But it does not work like that.

smcj said:
The point of my post was basically to reiterate what Garchen R. said, which is that without faith even an in-person initiation is invalid. How much more so over the internet?

Malcolm wrote:
If you had no faith, why would you go?

If a guru gives empowerment to someone who has no faith, they break their own commitments.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 11:24 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
smcj said:
From where I sit the gist of the entire issue comes down to; do I personally have enough confidence in a specific wong I have received to invest myself in a retreat on that practice? Because if the wong was not valid I will be wasting my time, no fruit will come.

As such, the question for me personally is really moot. Up until now I have not done long retreats on any practice, so what does it matter? And if I do decide to go do a retreat somewhere, I've got all the in-person wongs I could ever need. So for me I can happily participate on internet Dharma all day long and presumably it will be only of some benefit. I don't have to actually rely on any of it. I liken it to the idea behind prayer flags, which is that the mantras and prayers on the flags get blown downwind and spread their blessings that way. Only instead of the wind the blessings "blown" all over the planet via the internet. Why not?

For those that are isolated and have to rely on internet Dharma as the basis for their practice, I suggest that they do a little study of how "faith" comes into play for an initiation. The prevailing internet culture, and even the prevailing modern in-person Dharma culture, adamantly insists that faith is not required in Buddhism. In contrast to that, Garchen R. has said that without faith even an in-person wong is ineffective. This needs to be understood and not rationalized or re-defined in such a way as to accommodate our modern preconditions for Dharma.


Malcolm wrote:
Faith is a necessary condition, but not sufficient. There is no need to cite Drikung Kagyu texts which insist on empowerments being given in the proper way, since they just agree with everything said already.

If faith were sufficient to receive an empowerment, one could just hit oneself on the head with any book one wants to practice and that would be sufficient. But it does not work like that.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 11:05 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
KeithBC said:
Thoughtful analysis, Urgyen Dorje, and probably correct.  One additional bias that contributes to the problem is an avoidance of personal responsibility.

If people want to believe that they are inherently good people, then they will reject any suggestion that their actions can contribute to any harmful outcome.  "If I am a good person, then I can't be contributing to a global catastrophe.  Therefore any carbon dioxide my actions generate cannot be contributing to global warming.  Therefore the scientists must be wrong."

This same avoidance of guilt happens with other topics, too.  I see it all the time on the topic of vegetarianism (including on this forum).

Om mani padme hum
Keith

Malcolm wrote:
In the case of climate change, the issue isn't eat meat/don't eat meat, the issue is industrialized food production. For example, why are most tomatoes round? Answer: hamburgers.

In order to farm with organic inputs, animals are a requirement, not an option. Otherwise, we just continue our dependence on petro-chemical based farming.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 10:44 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
All very good advice, unfortunately, it has nothing do with the question at hand. The question at hand is how to properly enter into the training Tulku Orgyen is talking about. So this topic is not mere criticism for criticism's sake.

Lhasa said:
TULKU URGYEN
Extract from a Teaching.
Pure Perception:

"Vajrayana in general is training in pure perception—Dzogchen is even much more so.

How can you call yourself a practitioner of Dzogchen if you spend your time defaming, finding fault with or criticizing others? Maintain the view of pure sight, sound and awareness. This is how samsara and nirvana actually are, pervaded by the three kayas or three vajras. Sentient beings might not be aware of their Buddha Nature, but they are nevertheless endowed with the three kayas.

You need to train in pure perception by accepting and respecting the three kayas in everyone. Great masters do perceive all sights, sound and cognitive activity as infinite purity. Once recognition of awareness is stabilized, there is no more impurity to be perceived.

Train in this by thinking: "As the Buddha Nature pervades all beings, not a single being is unsuitable." The more you respect Buddha Nature in others and train in pure perception, the more your own practice will progress.

Slandering beings is slandering Buddha nature; stop doing that. If due to your own impurity you perceive mistakes in other beings, at least do not voice them.
If your awareness practice is too weak to sustain pure perception naturally, try to develop a rapport within an intellectual understanding of Buddha Nature in others. Know that your impure perception of others only happens either because you have not recognized genuine awareness, or because that recognition is not developed. Criticizing and slandering others puts you out of tune with the enlightened essence.

You mainly harm yourself. The most unrealized so-called practitioner of Dzogchen can at least keep his or her mouth shut, even if he can not actually maintain the view.

A deceitful person sees everybody with suspicion and finds many mistakes in others. A pure person naturally perceives others to be good. How much more so does a perfect yogin or yogini. He or she has the perception of infinite purity. They will actually perceive all forms as the bodies of the deities, all sounds as mantra, and all thoughts and emotions as the display of awareness.

In their perception of pure sight, sound and awareness there is no attachment to friends, or aversion to enemies. Awareness itself being free from concepts of good and bad, proper and improper, they perceive everything as great equanimity. They do not accept or reject friends or foes. They perceive not the tiniest speck of impurity.

As is said, "Arriving at a golden island, one cannot find ordinary earth or stones even if one searches for them." In general, good and bad are your own perception, so you cannot possibly see faults in others when your own are purified."


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 8:44 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
The six liberations are peaceful methods, and involve creating good causes for sentient beings to meet the teachings in the future through sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and memory using various visual mantras, incenses made according to special recipes, pills, and so on.

Basically, when one uses the methods of creating good causes, all of those animals that one consumes in future lives will take rebirth as one's students when oneself becomes an awakened being. This is why theanarchist's objections are based on a faulty premise.

Tsongkhapafan said:
If this was your motivation for eating meat, it couldn't be faulted.

Malcolm wrote:
This is my primary motivation for eating meat, all other things aside.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 8:30 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
MiphamFan said:
So that applies to the other 5 meats too?

Then what about certain statements that they should be consumed in ganapujas? One must be a vidyadhara to consume the 5 meats?

Malcolm wrote:
I said in general. Ganapujas are a special case. Here, the point is consuming the five meats traditionally not consumed by Indians and left in the charnel grounds, i.e., meat of humans, cows, elephants, dogs and horses. Why? Because these meats were regarded by Brahmins as impure. The point in this instance is to overcome attachment to so called "pure and impure" food. And no, one does not have to be a Vidyadhāra to consume these meats in the ganacakra. But I think that most people would not be able to manage this. This is a general principle in niruttarayogatantra.

The principle here in Dzogchen is however a bit different. The point here is to create a positive cause for the cattle, fowl and fish that we humans normally consume in order that sentient being meet with the Dharma, and so on, in future lives.

There is the interesting case of Urgyen Lingpa's body. Urgyen Lingpa was held to be a seven timer, i.e, reborn as a brahmin or in Tibet, a tulku, seven times. It is held that his flesh had the power to create a special cause for those who ate small portions of it. So, his mummified kudung (unfortunately now destroyed) in Tibet was pockmarked from people taking small portions of his flesh for this reason. Once, when Chogyal Namkahi Norbu was giving Medicine Buddha in Tsegyalgar, he included a pill containing the flesh of this master in the vase water.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 8:21 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
The six liberations are peaceful methods, and involve creating good causes for sentient beings to meet the teachings in the future through sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and memory using various visual mantras, incenses made according to special recipes, pills, and so on.

Basically, when one uses the methods of creating good causes, all of those animals that one consumes in future lives will take rebirth as one's students when oneself becomes an awakened being. This is why theanarchist's objections are based on a faulty premise.

Wenzi said:
How about humans who have lived without connection to Dharma despite their precious human births? Can one create this connection by eating their flesh?

Malcolm wrote:
Two things here: first, a human birth is not "precious" unless one has a connection with Dharma.

Second, human meat (as well as the meat of predators) is in general forbidden to people. One cannot create a positive connection by doing something nonvirtuous.

Also human beings can be benefitted by liberation through seeing, hearing, smelling, etc., as well, even if they have no interest in or connection with the Dharma.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 7:59 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
theanarchist said:
But that's something else entirely than buying that delicious steak because you like the taste. Now if you are are a realized practitioner, eat the meat without attachment, only to liberate the being, that's something entirely different too.

Malcolm wrote:
It's no different than buying a pair of leather shows because you like the look and fit, or a silk shirt because you like the look and feel of silk, or a pashmina shawl because it is stylish and keeps you warm.

One does not need to be a "realized practitioner" to benefit beings through consuming their meat. As I pointed out above, when you consume meat using Vajrayāna methods, those animals will all be reborn as your disciples when you become a buddha yourself.

The same thing applies when weather leather shows, wool sweaters, silk shirts and so on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 10:01 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Fortyeightvows said:
Thank you. I have heard of these things before but only a little bit. So the difference is both in the method and the result, correct? At least the short term or immediate result i mean.

If appropriate, would you please elaborate on the criteria?
And
Are these teachings primarily from terma or can they be found in the canon as well?

Malcolm wrote:
The teachings on "liberation" can be found in both new tantra as well as Nyingma tantras. The six liberations can only be found in Dzogchen tantras.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 9:53 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
You are conflating the wrathful Vajrayāna practice of "liberation" [sgrol] with the practice of the six liberations (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and recollection) — they are not the same thing at all.

Fortyeightvows said:
Would you kindly explain this a bit further?

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, the practice of sgrol ba, liberation, is the practice of wrathfully separating a sentient being's consciousness from its body through ritual means and delivering it into the dharmadhātu. There are ten criteria through which someone or something might be subject to such a rite. For example, there is a large wasp that lives in Bhutan and Southern Tibet called "rGya nag rgyal po" (Chinese King). It kills many small creatures and drags them into its burrow, paralyzes them, and lays its eggs in them. According to the late Kunzang Dechen Lingpa, this creature is completely wicked, and its sting can be fatal to humans. Using this wasp as an example, he said there are some creatures who should be killed and that one should not naively allow one's Mahāyāna orientation to prevent one from seeing what is the greater good for all beings, just to protect the life of one wicked being. He said that in this case, proper Mahāyāna conduct would be to eliminate Gyanag Gyalpos wherever and whenever one found them because these creatures are pernicious.

The six liberations are peaceful methods, and involve creating good causes for sentient beings to meet the teachings in the future through sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and memory using various visual mantras, incenses made according to special recipes, pills, and so on.

Basically, when one uses the methods of creating good causes, all of those animals that one consumes in future lives will take rebirth as one's students when oneself becomes an awakened being. This is why theanarchist's objections are based on a faulty premise.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 9:34 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Honestly, whenever the subject of Vegetarianism comes up I swear I must be talking to the reincarnations of the followers of Devadatta.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 9:33 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
You are conflating the wrathful Vajrayāna practice of "liberation" [sgrol] with the practice of the six liberations (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and recollection) — they are not the same thing at all.

As I mentioned previously, not only Chogyal Namkhai Norbu teaches such methods that he insists are to be used by all of his students, also the great terton Kunzang Dechen Lingpa revealed termas detailing these methods as well.

Fortyeightvows said:
Would you kindly explain this a bit further?

Malcolm wrote:
Which part?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 9:30 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
I have already dispensed with this objection. One is only responsible for an animal's suffering if one orders an animal killed for one or kills it oneself.


theanarchist said:
As I wrote, the price for the meat includes the wages of the butcher. So with the money I pay for the meat I pay the work of the butcher who killed the animal. So as an end result, me and the other people who bought the meat of this specific animal paid for the act of the slaughter.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, this is true. Likewise, when you wear silk shirts, you are paying for the death of silk worms. When you wear leather, you are also paying the butcher. When you wear wool, you are paying for the deaths of countless creatures that inhabit the wool of sheep that are sheared as well as the paying for the cruel suffering endured by the sheep, as well as the lambs who are stolen from their mothers by the sheep herders and butchered for their meat and so on. If you buy glue, you are paying the butcher for the hooves and so on. Do you have pets? If so, again you are paying the butcher. Do you pay taxes, then you are paying for wars, executions, imprisonment and so on.

Are you karmically responsible? No. karma is volition and and verbal and physical acts which come from volitions. If you have no volition to kill something, you do not accrue the karma of killing. If you do not ask someone to kill something, again you have no karma related to that act of killing. Buying meat in a shop is no more an act of killing than buying leather shoes in a department store.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 9:23 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
...if you are a Vajrayāna practitioner, claiming you are not eating meat "out of compassion" is lame and inferior conduct — that is just how it is. And in particular, in the context of Dzogchen teachings (the context here) it is especially lame.

anjali said:
Really? Those are strong words. So, just to be completely clear, you truly consider Chatral Rinpoche's (as well as Shabkar's, and other highly regarded lamas') veggie diet(s) to be especially lame and inferior conduct from a Vajrayana/Dzogchen perspective?

Malcolm wrote:
Why don't you ask ChNN what he thinks? It is he after all who first used the words "miserable compassion" to describe to compassion of those practitioners who eschew eating meat. His point of view is well known. I am merely fleshing out the details for those of little faith.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 9:20 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Tsongkhapafan said:
I agree. This sounds like a huge cop-out for people who are attached to eating other living beings bodies and want to continue to do so. Mahayana Sutras are clear that eating meat harms compassion. It's the bodhisattva's way of life to do whatever we can to minimise the suffering of living beings, therefore it's not lame to eat a vegetarian diet.

http://www.shabkar.org/vegetarianism/


theanarchist said:
And the day you attain realisation and become a vidyadhara with the ability to liberate an animal through the ingestion of the meat, that day you can still return to eating meat in order to benefit them. I mean, no problem if folk like Do Khyentse eat meat. I doubt that you find so many people who are at this level.


Again, having delusions about one's realisations and spiritual abilities, thinking one can benefit beings with one's vajrayana practice when in reality one can't would break samaya.

Malcolm wrote:
One does not need to have high realizations to benefit such animals who wind up as our food through Vajrayāna methods, this is false equivalence.

The power of the methods of creating good causes, including the consumption of meat, arises from the blessings of Buddha Samantabhadra's words of truth, and not the realization of this or that yogi.

You are conflating the wrathful Vajrayāna practice of "liberation" [sgrol] with the practice of the six liberations (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and recollection) — they are not the same thing at all.

As I mentioned previously, not only Chogyal Namkhai Norbu teaches such methods that he insists are to be used by all of his students, also the great terton Kunzang Dechen Lingpa revealed termas detailing these methods as well.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 9:14 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
...if you are a Vajrayāna practitioner, claiming you are not eating meat "out of compassion" is lame and inferior conduct — that is just how it is. And in particular, in the context of Dzogchen teachings (the context here) it is especially lame.

anjali said:
Really? Those are strong words. So, just to be completely clear, you truly consider Chatral Rinpoche's (as well as Shabkar's, and other highly regarded lamas') veggie diet(s) to be especially lame and inferior conduct from a Vajrayana/Dzogchen perspective?

Malcolm wrote:
I have already explained that these words are oriented towards those who are not practitioners of Dzogchen.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 7:29 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
In reality it is impossible for us to remove the suffering of other sentient beings at all,.


theanarchist said:
But do you want to be the agent responsible for the suffering?

That would be like "oh, don't try to prevent a war, doing so won't prevent the suffering of those beings anyway"


This is the slippery slope of  excusing other beings suffering with their karma and conveniently not even trying to do something about it.

Malcolm wrote:
Well, for one, I am a doctor of Tibetan Medicine so one can hardly accuse me of being indifferent to the suffering of sentient beings, but I also know the limitations of treatment. In reality all suffering comes about from the three poisons, and the three poisons come from the innate grasping at "I am." Not even a Buddha can remove this, let alone the pain in your little finger when pricked with a thorn.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 7:27 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
In reality it is impossible for us to remove the suffering of other sentient beings at all,.


theanarchist said:
But do you want to be the agent responsible for the suffering?
.


Malcolm wrote:
I have already dispensed with this objection. One is only responsible for an animal's suffering if one orders an animal killed for one or kills it oneself.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 6:31 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
if you are a Vajrayāna practitioner, claiming you are not eating meat "out of compassion" is lame and inferior conduct — that is just how it is. And in particular, in the context of Dzogchen teachings (the context here) it is especially lame.

Tsongkhapafan said:
What's lame is contributing to suffering unnecessarily, whatever path you're following.

Malcolm wrote:
Bhavaviveka proves, even while mentioning the Lanka and so on, that eating meat in three ways does not contribute to suffering. If eating meat pure in three ways contributes to suffering, he points out so does wearing wool, leather, silk etc.

So, in fact, as long as the meat one consumes is pure in three ways it does not contribute to the suffering of a given animal at all. I know this is hard for people to understand, but it is the case.

In reality it is impossible for us to remove the suffering of other sentient beings at all, even one tiny bit. Not even Buddhas can remove the suffering of other beings. If we believe that by refusing to eat meat we are reducing some other beings suffering, we are deluding ourselves because we have not understood the nature of suffering at all. As Maitreya points out in samsare there is not so much as an area the size of a needle tip in which happiness may be found. Therefore, what can we do to help? All we can do is make efforts at creating positive causes for sentient beings to meet the Dharma in the future. For example, the Root Tantra of Heruka states that Vajrayāna practitioners themselves are "Liberation through seeing." Any being who sees Vajrayāna practitioner plants a seed for meeting the Buddhas and hearing Dharma teachings. But dead animals cannot see or hear anything. Therefore, we have methods connected with creating a positive cause for those sentient beings whom human beings commonly consume because we have a closer relationship with those types of animals.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 5:52 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Tsongkhapafan said:
Tibetan monks love to eat meat. If you are refraining from eating meat for compassionate reasons, no one can fault your decision.

Whatever you do with compassion cannot be faulted. You can also eat meat with compassion but if you can reduce suffering in this world by refraining from endorsing the wholesale slaughter of millions of sentient beings every day, why wouldn't you?  The Lankavatara Sutra, among others, also endorses refraining from eating meat.

Malcolm wrote:
As already noted, if you are a common Mahāyāna practitioner without special Vajrayāna methods, then of course, you should refrain from eating meat. But if you are a Vajrayāna practitioner, claiming you are not eating meat "out of compassion" is lame and inferior conduct — that is just how it is. And in particular, in the context of Dzogchen teachings (the context here) it is especially lame.

dzogchungpa said:
How do you say "especially lame" in Tibetan?

Malcolm wrote:
rab tu smad.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 5:21 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Tsongkhapafan said:
Tibetan monks love to eat meat. If you are refraining from eating meat for compassionate reasons, no one can fault your decision.

Whatever you do with compassion cannot be faulted. You can also eat meat with compassion but if you can reduce suffering in this world by refraining from endorsing the wholesale slaughter of millions of sentient beings every day, why wouldn't you?  The Lankavatara Sutra, among others, also endorses refraining from eating meat.

Malcolm wrote:
As already noted, if you are a common Mahāyāna practitioner without special Vajrayāna methods, then of course, you should refrain from eating meat. But if you are a Vajrayāna practitioner, claiming you are not eating meat "out of compassion" is lame and inferior conduct — that is just how it is. And in particular, in the context of Dzogchen teachings (the context here) it is especially lame.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 4:36 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Paul said:
*bumping my post in the hope someone can answer it...*

Malcolm wrote:
You can recite the mantra from Jigme Lingpa's short ganapuja,"ram yam....puja hoh!" for example. Or just the three syllables.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 4:34 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
anjali said:
For example, I wonder how many buddhists, of any persuasion, follow the advice in the Puttamansa Sutta: A Son's Flesh:

Malcolm wrote:
This is Hinayāna teaching. It does not apply to Dzogchen and Vajrayāna practitioners. As Dzogchen and Vajrayāna practitioners, we are supposed to enjoy all objects of desire of the five senses as objects of desire. We are not Hinayāna monks refusing to mix the sauce into our rice.

So while there are certainly some Buddhists who apply this method, it is not really the principle of our teaching here.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 4:20 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
bryandavis said:
The most attentive service and accurate to menu meal preparation I have experienced was in a high end french gourmet restaurant.

The absolute worst service and lack of attention to detail and meal preparation on numerous occasions by different employees I have ever had by far is in a raw vegan restaurant.

I'm just saying. lol.

Malcolm wrote:
Oh yes, I have had very similar experiences. The vegan restaurants I have been to have been universally awful.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 3:18 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
That connection is a debt, a lan chags. It is not a connection for liberation, but a connection from bondage in samsara.

anjali said:
Agreed, but surely it isn't required to consume the flesh of our former mothers in daily diet to make connections for liberation?

Malcolm wrote:
Eating meat to satisfy vows for oneself is also the opposite of compassion concern for others.

anjali said:
Agreed, but one can also reasonably ask, how much flesh does one need to consume to generate compassionate concern for our mothers?

Johnny Dangerous said:
Sure, but one could just as easily ask "how many high-end vegan/vegetarian lifestyle products and services does one need"...in the First World, most vegetarians and vegans I know do almost the opposite of buying or eating based on need. If they bought based on need they would likely be more frugal and less finicky about what they eat, and where they shop.  Instead, I would estimate that something like 10% of the vegans/vegetarians I know eat based on need, the rest have something akin to an eating disorder, often possible due to income. Sounds harsh I know,  but we have to make a distinction between ways of practicing vegetarianism or veganism to answer some of these questions adequately.

Malcolm wrote:
Orthorexia Nervosa:

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/orthorexia-nervosa

Johnny Dangerous said:
Younger realized her new brand had also turned into a new lifestyle and taken over her daily decisions. After becoming upset her local West Village juice bar didn’t have a particular green juice, she planned on having that day she made her friend go with her to another juice bar a mile away just to satiate her restrictive diet needs...Younger, who has over 70,000 followers on her Instagram account alone, has decided to begin reintroducing eggs, fish, and organic chicken back into her diet and loosen the reigns of her strict vegan lifestyle and change her account name to "The Blonde Veggie." She’s actually received death threats from hardcore vegans through Facebook, email, and Instagram.

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.medicaldaily.com/how-veganism-led-blogger-jordan-younger-develop-eating-disorder-orthorexia-3-steps-prevent-obsession


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 2:51 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
That connection is a debt, a lan chags. It is not a connection for liberation, but a connection from bondage in samsara.
Agreed, but surely it isn't required to consume the flesh of our former mothers in daily diet to make connections for liberation?
Nothing is required.
Eating meat to satisfy vows for oneself is also the opposite of compassion concern for others.
Agreed, but one can also reasonably ask, how much flesh does one need to consume to generate compassionate concern for our mothers?
Question is, "Is it better, out of compassion, to eschew eating meat or not?" ChNN's answer is that question is that it is better not to eschew eating meat out of compassion. If a Dzogchen practitioner is truly compassionate it is better they eat meat.

Naturally, people are also free to do what they feel is right.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 2:03 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Boomerang said:
In any case, there are any number of very highly qualified teachers you can make a connection with out there.
At this point I feel reluctant to make a connection with any more teachers. I thought the third highest ranking teacher in the Drikung Kagyu lineage would be okay, but the next thing I know people are telling me that I cursed myself and he didn't really say the things he said. How do I know who to trust?

Malcolm wrote:
You can trust lineage heads. The Dalai Lama, Sakya Trizin, the Karmapa, Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche, etc. Then you can trust the lamas which are responsible to them, and so on.

I never said don't trust Garchen Rinpoche, I said go meet him in person.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 1:58 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


monktastic said:
Yes, and they must order meat in approximate proportion to the demand. If the demand for a particular meat were to drop fivefold, again, they are smart enough to reduce their purchasing of that particular meat in the long term.

The rest of your post is accurate. We all have complicity in many systems. But it's painful (particularly on a Buddhist forum) to watch people pretend that they have no responsibility in this specific one.

Malcolm wrote:
In reality, supermarkets order far more meat than they will sell, knowingly, in order to keep fresh meat on hand at all times. Their model does not allow for scarcity, and given that the price of meat is kept artificially low in Western Markets, this is no actual connection between consumer demand and supply in this instance.

http://www.meatinfo.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/18294/Farmers_see_drop_in_meat_returns_due_to_oversupply.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/19/usa-ports-meat-idUSL1N0VT23S20150219
http://allafrica.com/stories/201504140881.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/oversupply-is-main-reason-for-fall-in-beef-prices-says-coveney-1.1904916

Food waste:

http://www.wri.org/publication/reducing-food-loss-and-waste
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/08/22/how-food-actually-gets-wasted-in-the-united-states/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141013-food-waste-national-security-environment-science-ngfood/

Interestingly, meat is wasted less than any other food, because it can be stored longer by freezing and so on.

Thus the idea that a meat-inclusive diet is more harmful to creatures than a solely plant-based diet is shown to be a fallacy.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 1:14 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Boomerang said:
In that case, what should I do to fix this problem?

Malcolm wrote:
You should go and meet a teacher face to face (best case) or through a live webcast (next best) and receive transmissions in a proper way. If you have faith in Garchen Rinpoche, go meet him.

Boomerang said:
Shouldn't I stay away from Garchen Rinpoche since his statements were what encouraged me to create this negative karma in the first place? How is it okay for him to publicly support empowerment via recording but a downfall for me to believe him? If I went up to him now and requested empowerment, specifically because I doubt his statement on empowerments, wouldn't that be impure vision or something?

Malcolm wrote:
I am not really sure if he does support empowerment via recordings, despite what his students say. And in any case the pure vision of buddhas cannot remove the impure vision of sentient beings. If it could, we would have no need to practice at all.

In any case, there are any number of very highly qualified teachers you can make a connection with out there.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 1:00 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Boomerang said:
In that case, what should I do to fix this problem?

Malcolm wrote:
You should go and meet a teacher face to face (best case) or through a live webcast (next best) and receive transmissions in a proper way. If you have faith in Garchen Rinpoche, go meet him.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 12:49 AM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:
Boomerang said:
Karma is volition, so since I intended to receive lung and empowerment in an improper way, am I in danger of going to the lower realms? That's the message I get from your posts, for example, this one:

https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=16286&hilit=recording+transmission&start=120#p230363
Therefore, if someone asks me, I will always honestly tell them that it is impossible to receive any kind of Vajrayāna transmission from a recording of a prior event. People are of course free to disagree and that is between them and lower realms.
If I really am going to avici hell I'd rather know now than be paranoid about it for the rest of my life.

Malcolm wrote:
There is no such thing as fixed karma in Buddhadharma. One can purify anything. Including taking teachings in a less than optimal way.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 12:47 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Johnny Dangerous said:
Uh no,actually an enormous amount of food (including meat) either goes to waste or gets intentionally destroyed. The idea that an individual person buying a chicken or not is the main factor in food production decisions is simply untrue.

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, there is that also. For example, when Patrul was complaining about monasteries, it was a time when monasteries would contract a certain number of sheep to be slaughtered at a given time. Now, there is no need for anyone to contract with anyone. In the first world under capitalism, the system is that one, with sufficient money, can buy any food one likes more or less at any time of the year without having to special order it from anyone. The cost of food production has been driven artificially low in order that massive surpluses in food are generated so that waste of food does not impact the profitability of grocery markets (thank you, international migrant labor!).


Author: Malcolm
Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 at 12:47 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
i.e. the myth that "less creatures would be killed in a plant-based diet."

monktastic said:
AFAIK this is not a myth. It really does harm/kill many fewer animals to eat one pound of vegetables than one pound of meat (which required many pounds of vegetation to be raised).

Also, I see many spurious arguments here about why buying one chicken at the supermarket does not cause the death of one chicken. It does not cause the death of that one chicken, but the supermarket WILL order one more chicken to fill its spot. You may pretend that second chicken has nothing to do with you... until the next week when you go back to the market and lo and behold, there are more dead chickens waiting for you.

Whether you choose to participate in this or not is surely a very individual matter, and the matter of connecting with dead chickens is far above my pay grade. But it's crazy to take part in a system and then pretend you have precisely zero complicity in it. We all make choices that harm other beings, and though there's no point in being weighed down by guilt over them, it's disingenuous to claim that we're doing all of them for noble reasons. We can simply do what we can, and admit we're not fully compassionate beings yet.

Malcolm wrote:
What follows is a true story — some people when to the present Karmapa, Urgyen Thrinly, asking him if is was better to ransom a cow or not ransom it? The Karmapa replied, well, if you ransom the cow, another cow will just be moved up the line to be slaughtered sooner, whereas, if you do not intercede, the next cow in line be able to live longer. So he declined to give them advice in the matter.

As far as your counterclaim goes, that applies only to feed lot animals, animals raised in CFO's and so on, like most chickens, pigs, turkeys and what not.

As far as your claim about supermarkets go, it is also false. Supermarkets will continue to order meat from meat suppliers for as long as there are people who eat meat (i.e. forever).

Also, even Vegans participate in the trade of flesh by continuing to eat organically grown products which are fertilized with bone meal, blood meal and feather meal, all very standard organic amendments which are substantial cash inputs into the slaughterhouse business.

The point is that there is no one who is not complicit in some manner in "the system".

As for myself, I apply the methods taught by my gurus, knowing that I am making a difference.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 22nd, 2015 at 11:48 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Paul said:
I'd love lamas to also do this kind of thing to those with 'gluten intolerances'.

Anders said:
Celiac disease is a measurable medical condition.

Malcolm wrote:
Eating meat will not cause a problem in their case.

People are free. Whether they eat meat or not is not the issue. The issue really that Rinpoche is pointing to is the fallacies in the idea that choosing not to eat meat is more "compassionate". He has pointed in many ways the falsity of this thinking because it does not truly address the suffering of nonhumans in the whole chain of agricultural production.

Quite honestly, the American Philosopher, Robert Nozik provides a much better and more well reasoned argument for not eating animals in his Anarchy, State and Utopia where he discards utilitarian arguments for the eating of animals because animals "count for something."

Anders said:
If some animals count for something, which animals count, how much do they count, and how can this be determined? Suppose (as I believe the evidence supports) that eating animals is not necessary for health and is not less expensive than alternate equally healthy diets available to people in the United States. The gain, then, from the eating of animals is pleasures of the palate, gustatory delights, varied tastes. I would not claim that these are not truly pleasant, delightful, and interesting. The question is: do they, or rather does the marginal addition in them gained by eating animals rather than only nonanimals, outweigh the moral weight to be given to animals’ lives and pain? Given that animals are to count for something, is the extra gain obtained by eating them rather than nonanimal products greater than the moral cost? How might these questions be decided?

Malcolm wrote:
Nozick, Robert (2013-11-12). Anarchy, State, and Utopia (pp. 36-37). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.

Anders said:
What about persons distinguishes them from animals, so that stringent constraints apply to how persons may be treated, yet not to how animals may be treated? 11 Could beings from another galaxy stand to us as it is usually thought we do to animals, and if so, would they be justified in treating us as means à la utilitarianism? Are organisms arranged on some ascending scale, so that any may be sacrificed or caused to suffer to achieve a greater total benefit for those not lower on the scale? Such an elitist hierarchical view would distinguish three moral statuses (forming an interval partition of the scale):

Status 1: The being may not be sacrificed, harmed, and so on, for any other organism’s sake.
Status 2: The being may be sacrificed, harmed, and so on, only for the sake of beings higher on the scale, but not for the sake of beings at the same level.
Status 3: The being may be sacrificed, harmed, and so on, for the sake of other beings at the same or higher levels on the scale.

If animals occupy status 3 and we occupy status 1, what occupies status 2? Perhaps we occupy status 2! Is it morally forbidden to use people as means for the benefit of others, or is it only forbidden to use them for the sake of other people, that is, for beings at the same level?* Do ordinary views include the possibility of more than one significant moral divide (like that between persons and animals), and might one come on the other side of human beings?

Malcolm wrote:
Nozick, Robert (2013-11-12). Anarchy, State, and Utopia (pp. 45-46). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.


There are also Singer's arguments.

So the real question that ChNN is placing before us is: what does one do for the countless sentient beings that are slaughtered in food production? How do we benefit all these sentient beings (who indeed count for something)? What method do we use? Even Vegans have to admit that they use the above elite hierarchical model in their ethics, a "being may be sacrificed, harmed, and so on, for the sake of other beings at the same or higher levels on the scale" merely by permitting agriculture. However, their excuse, is in my opinion very lame. They claim in general, "While it is true that beings die in the production of plant-based food, we do not intend that harm nor are we raising beings to be used as food. The death of beings in food production is a regrettable fact of agriculture, a by-product that we do not intend but cannot avoid in order to sustain ourselves."

In other words, they claim they are following their diet because of the intrinsic value of living creatures, but at the same time resort to utilitarianism to rationalize the broad destruction of creatures in food production, claiming a utilitarian advantage to a plant based diet as a selling point, i.e. the myth that "less creatures would be killed in a plant-based diet." The other hoax in their thinking is that idea that we should not exploit creatures such as cows and bees for milk and honey, while happily using lady bugs to kill agricultural pests and so on.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 22nd, 2015 at 11:22 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:


Boomerang said:
Okay, so is Garchen Rinpoche intentionally sending himself and hundreds of other people to hell, including me and other people on this forum?

Malcolm wrote:
I can only related to you what is described in the tantras. I am not going to opine on Garchen Rinpoche's intentions.

Boomerang said:
Does that mean you're agnostic about the validity of Garchen Rinpoche's recorded empowerments. I ask because to me it sounded like you were saying that you believe, with the Mahāmudratilaka Tantra as your reference, that regardless of Rinpoche's positive intentions and siddhis he is hellbound, as well as myself, Lhasa, Sherab Dorje, and others. If that's the case please tell me straight up so I can emotionally prepare myself; hell is scary. You have corrected my views in the past and I rely on you to do it again. You can PM me if that's what you prefer.

Malcolm wrote:
I think it is pretty clear that Garchen Rinpoche wants students to attend in person or by live webcast. As far as recordings go, I imagine that his thinking runs as follows, "if beginners, new people, want to practice, they can get an idea from watching an online recording, and perhaps there is some positive connection made to the teaching and if they recite the mantra, there is no harm."

But for example, HHDL makes it very clear that watching Kalacakra online does not grant one the empowerment. Also CHNN makes it very clear that empowerments that rely on substances cannot be given via webcast. Other Lamas may have a different ideas about this, but I really think in general all Lamas will agree that there is no way one can receive an empowerment from a recording of an empowerment. I am quite certain, for example, if you wrote ChNN on this subject, he would say very clearly to you that you cannot receive any kind of transmission from a recording.

And one thing I am pretty clear on is that no one receives empowerments or a lung from a recording.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 22nd, 2015 at 8:23 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
I am something in a similar situation as LunaRoja, and am also informed by Pollen and others in terms of food politics.  In the final analysis, it's actually hunting-gathering that has the least ecological impact and the least amount of suffering, so I figure I'm OK interpolating between a vegetarian diet and something of a flexitarian diet.

That said, this causes me some pause in dharma circles.  I feel somewhat caught between a rock and a hard place.  My vegetarian-vegan dharma siblings evoke Shabkar and Patrul on the Tibetan side, and sutra on the Chan/Zen side, and chide me for this flexitarian approach and chide me for incorporating meat in ganapuja.  We have had vegetarian-vegan Buddhists show up for ganapuja and they have been horrified by the presence of meat.  On the flip side, when I orbit into the vegan-vegetarian side of the pool, then I have my tantrica friends chiding me for "the worst type of compassion" and for breaking samaya at ganapuja for either putting on a white tsok, or for just tasting but not actively eating meat and drinking alcohol.

In some way I feel that I am on the margin of some larger cultural issue, maybe from the Tibetan side, but maybe from the inji convert side.

It's not just about meat either.  I often encounter this belief that all five tastes must be present in the ganapuja, and this becomes something of a fault line when two people bring pickles and nobody ends up with "bitter" or "pungent".  When I ask lamas they're like, well, in my part of Tibet we offered tsampa and just tsampa because that's all we had, so it's clear the forrest is lost for the trees on many levels.

Malcolm wrote:
Ok, first it is six tastes (sweet, salty, sour, hot, bitter, astringent) and though there may be some text that specifies this, I have never seen it.

It is possible that one can do a ganapuja with nothing at all, after all, the important part is to work with circumstances. However, there is no one among us who unable to get meat and unable to get alcohol as offerings.

As to the idea of using nectar pills, well, this does not challenge one's capacity nor does it encourage one to integrate. The adoption of vegetarianism into ganapujas is a misapplication of the path of renunciation (i.e. common Mahāyāna) to Varjayāna.

According to ChNN,  Zhabkar, Paltrul and Pema Duddul's exhortations to not eat meat are for non-practitioners, that is, people who do not understand the meaning of Dzogchen teachings.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 22nd, 2015 at 8:10 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
The connection is created by the practitioner towards the animal.

Reibeam said:
Would it be correct to assume this connection is also made if one uses candles made of tallow (animal fat) on thier shrine that are used during Ganapujas and other rituals such as invocation of the lamp?

Malcolm wrote:
Such candles are fine for wrathful rites, but should not be used in general, for the same reason we do not use animal products in sang offerings to Nāgās.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 22nd, 2015 at 8:09 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
jmlee369 said:
If there is no volition on the part of the animal to create the connection, how can it be accomplished?

anjali said:
Well, the way I've heard it explained is that we already have a connection with the animal--if you believe that all sentient beings have been our mother at some point in our past lives. In a sense, eating the flesh of an animal is eating the flesh of one of our former mothers. I can only speak for myself in saying that that understanding is enough for me to eliminate consuming meat as part of my diet, or consuming the least amount possible to satisfy vows in a ritual setting.

Malcolm wrote:
That connection is a debt, a lan chags. It is not a connection for liberation, but a connection from bondage in samsara.

Eating meat to satisfy vows for oneself is also the opposite of compassion concern for others.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 22nd, 2015 at 8:06 PM
Title: Re: Interview with Khenchen Rigdzin Dorje on the Nyingmapa V
Content:
DENZONG said:
I HAVE ALL THE PAPERS AND DOCUMENTS TO PROVE THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE STATEMENTS BELOW.                                                                                                Taktse Nyingma Institute, Gangtok, Sikkim. This property belongs to The Chogyal(King) Tenzing Tobgyal Wongchuk Namgyal of Sikkim, and he later donated it to The Tsuklakhang Trust. Khempo Rinzing was given in-charge of this Institute by the Chogyal under an agreement in 1997. And he broke many clauses of the agreement and due to which he was asked to leave the institute. And some of the clauses that he broke was getting married. Any teacher or professor or principal of a Sheda is not suppose to get married and if he does he has to leave the Sheda. He's been asked to leave the Sheda for many years and he has not yet vacated that Sheda. A case was registered in the Lok Adalat, Gangtok, Sikkim against him and he never turned out, not even once and the case is still going on. I hope this will clarify the ownership of the Sheda/Taktse Nyingma Institute, Gangtok, Sikkim.

Malcolm wrote:
Again, this is just hearsay on an internet website.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Monday, June 22nd, 2015 at 7:15 AM
Title: Re: Ksha.ya'i.nad
Content:
pemachophel said:
Can anyone tell me what kind of disease ksha.ya'i.nad is?

Thanks


Malcolm wrote:
First of all it is a cold bile disease.

It is a wasting disease, but it is fact not tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is another illness, called " gcong chen zad byed ", something like "major chronic consumption."

Kṣaya [kshaya nagpo] is fatal, there is no cure. It is something like terminal jaundice. What happens here is that the bile from the bladder spreads through the entire body, including the channels, skin, bones and so on. Since it consumes them, it is call "consumption" (zad byed) in Tibetan. It is also called black [nag po] because the patients complexion becomes dark. The skin and so on become dark blue and the nails have black spots.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 9:48 PM
Title: Re: HHDL advice: Westerners to take monk/nun as teacher
Content:
Adamantine said:
with this logic then Namkhai Norbu for instance would be less ideal as a teacher than any random bikshu? I have a hard time accepting that. I think level of realization is the most important factor in my own criteria for teachers.

Malcolm wrote:
In general, ordinary people cannot ascertain who is awakened and who is not. The story of Virupa is illustrative here.

People's idea of who is "realized" is very fickle and subjective.

Adamantine said:
Yes but equally how could an ordinary person know when a bikshu is truly keeping their vows purely? Would'n't you need extraordinary powers of insight to know even this?

Malcolm wrote:
Good thing we have the Dalai Lama around...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 8:09 PM
Title: Re: HHDL advice: Westerners to take monk/nun as teacher
Content:
Adamantine said:
with this logic then Namkhai Norbu for instance would be less ideal as a teacher than any random bikshu? I have a hard time accepting that. I think level of realization is the most important factor in my own criteria for teachers.

Malcolm wrote:
In general, ordinary people cannot ascertain who is awakened and who is not. The story of Virupa is illustrative here.

People's idea of who is "realized" is very fickle and subjective.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 6:48 PM
Title: Re: Interview with Khenchen Rigdzin Dorje on the Nyingmapa V
Content:
DENZONG said:
Taktse Nyingma Institute, Gangtok, Sikkim. This property belongs to The Chogyal(King) Tenzing Tobgyal Wongchuk Namgyal of Sikkim, and he later donated it to The Tsuklakhang Trust. Khempo Rinzing was given in-charge of this Institute by the Chogyal under an agreement in 1997. And he broke many clauses of the agreement and due to which he was asked to leave the institute. And some of the clauses that he broke was getting married. Any teacher or professor or principal of a Sheda is not suppose to get married and if he does he has to leave the Sheda. He's been asked to leave the Sheda for many years and he has not yet vacated that Sheda. A case was registered in the Lok Adalat, Gangtok, Sikkim against him and he never turned out, not even once and the case is still going on. I hope this will clarify the ownership of the Sheda/Taktse Nyingma Institute, Gangtok, Sikkim.

Malcolm wrote:
This is just hearsay.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 6:47 PM
Title: Re: Phowa on insects
Content:
Tenso said:
I've heard some stories of people doing this. How possible is this for an average practitioner? Does one need to be of a high realization?

Malcolm wrote:
Better to sing song of the vajra, or six spaces of Samantabhadra. More effective...

Tenso said:
Why would that be more effective than phowa?

Malcolm wrote:
In order for phowa to be effective, one must expert in it, have done the practice and produced signs. By contrast, song of the vajra has no such requirement.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 6:40 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcom said:
Once an animal has been killed, its meat is inert. There is no consciousness present, ergo, purchasing the meat of an animal that has already been killed does not contribute to the suffering of that sentient being.
Otherwise, when you buy meat in a modern market, the consciousness of that animal is long dead, well on its way to yet another rebirth. There is no connection between meat that I buy, and the suffering of said animal.
Indeed, it is also not unrealistic to ask Vajrayāna practitioners to apply methods we have been taught to create positive connections so that beings whose flesh we consume meet the Dharma.

jmlee369 said:
This is one thing I've been curious about for a while now. There are several methods in both lower and higher tantric texts that enable practitioners to benefit beings by interacting in some way with dead remains. How exactly does this work if the consciousness is long gone from the body? Then there's the whole "Buddhas cannot wash away wrongdoing and obscuration with water..." thing, and how even the Buddhas and bodhisattvas cannot intervene if a being lacks the merit etc. If there is no volition on the part of the animal to create the connection, how can it be accomplished?

Malcolm wrote:
The connection is created by the practitioner towards the animal.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 6:39 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
KeithBC said:
Solar power is good and necessary.  But the real issue lurking behind all this is sustainability.  How sustainable is the solar cell industry?  To be specific, those solar cells are made in a coal-powered factory.  So does the coal saved by their use equal the coal consumed by their manufacture?  i don't know the answer, and I bet neither do the manufacturers.  This is the type of question we need answers to in addressing climate change or any of the other sustainability issues.  I would be a lot more comfortable with solar power if the panels were made in a solar-powered factory.

Om mani padme hum
Keith


Malcolm wrote:
Not only this, but solar cells require rare earth minerals, and in most places in the world, they are bound up with radioactive isotopes making them very problematical to mine. They also are only strip mined.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 8:14 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


TocharianB said:
Overall, it is a difficult teaching that I am trying to observe to benefit beings.

Malcolm wrote:
I don't think it is that difficult. The imperative is to create positive connections for sentient beings.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 8:12 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
TocharianB said:
This teaching of ChNN Rinpoche rejects that idea--it enjoins me to act in a way that presupposes my being a practitioner of Buddhadharma sets me apart. I should eat meat while markets provide it to benefit beings, while believing that it would be better for everyone who is not a practitioner to abstain...

Malcolm wrote:
Correct, perfectly stated. Only I would go further and point out that part of the Madhyamaka tradition rejects the tathāgatagarbha tradition's prohibition against eating meat as long as it is pure in three ways.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 8:10 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
MiphamFan said:
I don't think Chatral is influenced by wanting donations from Chinese, and there has been a fairly long strain of vegetarianism in Nyingma.

In Mipham's Satirical poem on the four schools he notes that actually, and says that Gelugpas like meat the most.

But I think accommodating to Chinese tastes has influenced a lot of modern TB teachers. I think they are better off presenting themselves as laymen if they are such rather than being ambiguous about it to people who are uninformed though.


Malcolm wrote:
There exists no Mahāyāna commitment in the Indo-Tibetan tradition to avoid meat. It is not part of our bodhisattva vows.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 8:06 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Eating meat is solely a problem if you killed an animal yourself, asked for it to be killed or witnessed it killed. Bhavaviveka demonstrates this quite well in the Tarkajavala. These days, the main impetus to be vegetarian comes from narrow-minded Chinese Buddhists. Tibetan Lamas give into this because they want donations.

jmlee369 said:
I don't think you can criticise the Chinese too much for upholding the scriptures and precepts.


Malcolm wrote:
The prohibition against eating meat may exist in the Chinese bodhisattva vows, but not in the Indian bodhisattva vows, and the Tibetan traditions that follow the latter. And as I pointed out, the Tarkajvala rejects that idea that eating meat that is pure in three ways has a fault. Bhavaviveka, a Mahayan̄ist, is quite aware of the Lanka and so on, and in fact mentions it by name.

The main sūtras that rail against meat eating are the Tathāhatagarbha sūtras.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 8:04 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
jmlee369 said:
In terms the meat that is pure in three ways, while it is indeed the case for monastics, I have yet to see that concept applied for lay people in scripture.

Malcolm wrote:
It applies since lay people have a vow against killing, just like bhikṣus, etc.

jmlee369 said:
As for plant cultivation and the harm it causes to sentient beings, meat eating is compounding the problem because of the feed that livestock consume. Going down one trophic level would reduce the amount of beings harmed from plant cultivation as well.

Overall, while it is unrealistic to ask the whole world to adopt vegetarianism, it's not too much to ask that people reduce their meat consumption a little bit.

Malcolm wrote:
Indeed, it is also not unrealistic to ask Vajrayāna practitioners to apply methods we have been taught to create positive connections so that beings whose flesh we consume meet the Dharma.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:39 AM
Title: Re: Phowa on insects
Content:
Tenso said:
I've heard some stories of people doing this. How possible is this for an average practitioner? Does one need to be of a high realization?

Malcolm wrote:
Better to sing song of the vajra, or six spaces of Samantabhadra. More effective...


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:37 AM
Title: Re: "V"s in Sanskrit
Content:
MiphamFan said:
Tibetan ba or wa itself might have been a labiodental approximant in his time. It is in some modern Kham dialects still.

Malcolm wrote:
Dude, the only people who know what a "labiodental approximant" is are modern linguists. Not even Sanskritists know WTF this is. Honestly. You are being a trifle ridiculous and unhelpful here.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:35 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
Saoshun said:
No such thing as global warming. It's rather getting colder then it was couple years ago.

Urgyen Dorje said:
So you've made a truth claim.  What is the factual basis for this truth claim?

Malcolm wrote:
Is it just me? Or did anyone notice our two climate deniers use Chinese nyms?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:31 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
Saoshun said:
No such thing as global warming. It's rather getting colder then it was couple years ago.

Malcolm wrote:
Dude, you are so so wrong...

Saoshun said:
Worldwide, 2001-2010 was the warmest decade on record since thermometer-based observations began. Global average surface temperature has risen at an average rate of 0.15°F per decade since 1901 (see Figure 2), similar to the rate of warming within the contiguous 48 states. Since the late 1970s, however, the United States has warmed faster than the global rate.

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/weather-climate/temperature.html

Saoshun said:
The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for 2014 was the highest among all years since record keeping began in 1880. The December combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was also the highest on record.

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/201412


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:28 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
bryandavis said:
But by buying meat I add to the demand for the meat. If nobody would buy it, nobody would be paid to slaughter animals
I believe the ChNNR said something like this already, but I will say it also.


Malcolm wrote:
He should just stop eating meat since he feels so strongly that it is wrong. The only one at fault here is him, since he admitted he eats meat, but feels that it is really, really karmically wrong.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:22 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
theanarchist said:
Okay, next time I need a car, I buy one from a dealer in stolen goods, because, you know once the car is stolen from it's previous owner, it's inert.

When I buy it I automatically ask for it to be killed. The price of the meat includes the wage of the professional butcher doing it. I pay him with the money I pay for the meat.

Malcolm wrote:
Now, you are simply making irrational arguments. A car is inert from the start.

You only pay a butcher if you ask him to kill an animal for you. This is clearly forbidden. Otherwise, when you buy meat in a modern market, the consciousness of that animal is long dead, well on its way to yet another rebirth. There is no connection between meat that I buy, and the suffering of said animal. It already happened and is finished, for that life.

Karma is volition, and the secondary acts of body and voice that proceed from that. In order for killing to be part of my karma, I must request some being be killed or do it myself. Otherwise, there is no karma involved.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:19 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
theanarchist said:
You have to be to some degree be happy that someone else did the deed for you that enables you to eat this meat without doing it yourself.

I mean, the alternative is to sit in front of your steak feeling guilty while enjoying the delicious taste.

Malcolm wrote:
Not at all.

I can enjoy the taste of meat at the same time that I am sorry there is the suffering of killing in the world. When I eat meat I do so in recognition that Samsara is a terrible place. Also, when I eat vegetables I likewise am aware of the many millions of creatures killed every day to bring nice vegetables to my table.

I do not feel guilty for the acts committed by others. If there was no meat in the markets, I would not eat it and I would not miss it for a second.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:13 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Saoshun said:
if someone have sincere heart will see that it's not about animal suffering .


theanarchist said:
No, slaughtering and eating animals is not about animal suffering...

Malcolm wrote:
Meat does not suffer. Once an animal has been killed, its meat is inert. There is no consciousness present,  ergo, purchasing the meat of an animal that has already been killed does not contribute to the suffering of that sentient being.

Eating meat is solely a problem if you killed an animal yourself, asked for it to be killed or witnessed it killed. Bhavaviveka demonstrates this quite well in the Tarkajavala. These days, the main impetus to be vegetarian comes from narrow-minded Chinese Buddhists. Tibetan Lamas give into this because they want donations.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:11 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Kelwin said:
Karma certainly works within the relative world...

Malcolm wrote:
Karma is volition, and that is all it is. Purchasing meat does not necessarily carry with it the volition to kill. Asserting that is does is absurd.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:09 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
An action must be complete in three ways in order to accrue a full karma from it. .


theanarchist said:
But you still get an incomplete karma. Plus, it's said, if you rejoice in an act, you get as much karma as the person performing it.


Johnny Dangerous said:
Eating meat is not rejoicing in the killing of animals,  what a hyperbolic suggestion.

Malcolm wrote:
Agreed, the suggestion is hyperbolic.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:09 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
An action must be complete in three ways in order to accrue a full karma from it. .


theanarchist said:
But you still get an incomplete karma. Plus, it's said, if you rejoice in an act, you get as much karma as the person performing it.

Malcolm wrote:
No, actually, you don't as long as meat is pure in three ways.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 6:24 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
Nonsense. They would do that activity this regardless of whether you buy that meat or not.


theanarchist said:
But by buying meat I add to the demand for the meat. If nobody would buy it, nobody would be paid to slaughter animals. Of course my contribution is small, but as far as I have learned about karma, if you participate in a group activity, you have part of that karma.


Don't get me wrong, I do on occasion eat meat, but I see it as a karmically problematic activity, as I am not able to send anyone off to a pure land.

Malcolm wrote:
An action must be complete in three ways in order to accrue a full karma from it.

Anyway, the point is not sending sentient beings to a pure realm, the point is creating a connection so that sentient beings meet the Dharma.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 5:52 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
theanarchist said:
And what does he say about eating meat if you have to butcher the animals yourself?

Malcolm wrote:
One cannot kill animals. This kind of meat is forbidden.

theanarchist said:
So in fact, by buying meat you pay someone else to accumulate negative karma.

Malcolm wrote:
Nonsense. They would do that activity this regardless of whether you buy that meat or not because there are so many other people who buy meat.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 3:20 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:



Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 2:51 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
WeiHan said:
If people have been keen to check up data, the current trend of increasing surface temperature started around 1910 (or there about).

Malcolm wrote:
Yes, 100 years after wide spread deforestation and destruction of grasslands in the Northern Hemisphere and 150 years after the beginning of the industrial revolution.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 2:47 AM
Title: Re: Difference between 4th and 5th Skandha
Content:
catlady2112 said:
I'm very confused by the heap consciousness.  I assume it means more than "thinking."

Malcolm wrote:
It means a moment of mind, that is all. Full disclosure: I am someone who has studied Abhidharma for many years, and have taught it on more than one occasion.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 2:45 AM
Title: Re: Difference between 4th and 5th Skandha
Content:
catlady2112 said:
I'm having trouble understanding the skandhas in terms of "experience."  Every teacher seems to have different ways of explaining them.  I learned them as 1) Form 2) Feeling 3) Discrimination 4) Volition 5) Consciousness.

Malcolm wrote:
They are 1) matter (as opposed to the object of the eye, form) 2) feeling 3) ideation 4) formations 5 consciousness.



catlady2112 said:
I find that every teacher uses a different words/translations for each heap.  The set I listed are are from Geshe Dargye, and it's what I grew up with, so I am most familiar with these word choices.

Malcolm wrote:
The terms for Sanskrit and Tibetan respectively are rūpa and gzugs. It is become a common thing for translators to translate rūpaskandha as the "form aggregate", but it is not accurate and does not correspond with the definition of form in English "configuration, formation, structure, construction, arrangement, appearance, exterior, outline, format, layout, design." What does correspond is "matter", i.e. "constituent, raw material, element, component."

When we are taking about the rūpāyatana, the sense base of form, however, the object of the eye, then form is perfect, i.e., "configuration, formation, structure, construction, arrangement, appearance, exterior, outline, format, layout, design."

Words are relative, but they important in that they shape our understanding. If the terms we use are not accurate, how can our understanding be accurate? Geshe Dhargye never thought about these things in English. He did not know English. The fault lies with his translators.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 1:49 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
WeiHan said:
Not only has the ice cap not disappeared but it actually grows

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2738653/Stunning-satellite-images-summer-ice-cap-thicker-covers-1-7million-square-kilometres-MORE-2-years-ago-despite-Al-Gore-s-prediction-ICE-FREE-now.html

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2014/09/some-important-context-on-arctic-sea-ice-melt/

Read it and weep.

WeiHan said:
Like real. Of course they come out to patch their wrong prediction and you are happy with their explanation? Simply extending the time scale? Why not even longer time scale like what I suggested?

Malcolm wrote:
Because there is no data to support a longer time scale as far as pictures of arctic ice go. Of course, we have journal evidence from sailors and so on, but this is anecdotal at best.

Face it Wei Han, we are living in time when the climate change is 100 percent being caused by human activities. You remind me of this guy:


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 1:36 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
Ummm, last I checked Al Gore is also not a climate scientist.

WeiHan said:
That is not the point. The point is that politician can exaggerate the issue for their own self interest.

Malcolm wrote:
We are talking about the science behind it. That is what counts, not what politicians say.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 1:36 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
WeiHan said:
Not only has the ice cap not disappeared but it actually grows

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2738653/Stunning-satellite-images-summer-ice-cap-thicker-covers-1-7million-square-kilometres-MORE-2-years-ago-despite-Al-Gore-s-prediction-ICE-FREE-now.html

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2014/09/some-important-context-on-arctic-sea-ice-melt/

Read it and weep.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 1:28 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
I guess I don't know how you can do actual anuttarayoga tsog if you are veggie.

Malcolm wrote:
You can't.

Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
Can the offering be vegetarian?

Malcolm wrote:
Meat and alcohol are indispensable in a ganapuja.

If you refuse it, you are breaking a samaya.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 1:21 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
WeiHan said:
The global warming crowds even predicted in 2008 that by June 2015, NYC will be underwater. ABC News.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gk-qiVK6C4

Malcolm wrote:
Ummm...you are confusing entertainment with science. Not even the most radical, hysterical climate scientist would ever endorse such dramatizations.

WeiHan said:
Fine. 7 years ago, Al Gore predicted that the arctic will be completely gone in 5 years. Today, not only has it not disappear, it has grown in size and sea ice content.

Malcolm wrote:
Ummm, last I checked Al Gore is also not a climate scientist.

As to your claim:
Arctic sea ice extent for May 2015 averaged 12.65 million square kilometers (4.88 million square miles), the third lowest May ice extent in the satellite record. This is 730,000 square kilometers (282,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 long-term average of 13.38 million square kilometers (5.17 million square miles) and 70,000 square kilometers (27,000 square miles) above the record low for the month, observed in 2004.
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

WeiHan said:
Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is at its lowest May level since records began in the 1980s.
Ice coverage around the North Pole is currently just 11.32m sq km, compared with a 30 year average of 12.5m sq km.
This figure is even lower than the 11.89m sq km of 2012, when sea ice coverage reached its lowest summer time level. Ice extent generally reaches its lowest level in mid September. In 2012 there were just 3.2m sq km of sea ice in the Arctic.
Arctic sea ice decreased at a rate of around four percent per decade between 1978 and 1996, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC expects the extent of sea ice to decrease by 20 percent by 2050, with some ice-free summers by the same time.
Melting sea ice does not affect sea levels but it does affect the amount of heat that is absorbed. Typically sea ice reflects between 50 and 70 percent of incoming solar radiation, compared with just seven to 10 percent by ocean water.
This is likely to result in accelerating warming in the Arctic, which in turn, raises the likelihood of accelerating ice loss – a negative feedback.
A loss of sea ice reduces the protection afforded to coastal regions and is expected to result in higher waves and an increase in storm surges, inundation and coastal erosion.
The loss of sea ice does have some benefits; previously inaccessible shipping routes will become open to commercial traffic.
For example, voyage times between Rotterdam, Netherlands and Yokohama, Japan, would be reduced by 40 percent using this Northern Sea Route compared with the conventional route through the Suez Canal.
It is uncertain whether this year’s rapid decrease in coverage will be maintained, but warm air over Canada and Alaska is expected to move across the North Pole in the coming week.
The melting of surface ice sets up melt ponds which absorb heat and make the acceleration of ice loss much more likely.

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/arctic-sea-ice-disappearing-record-rate-150524091720040.html


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 1:07 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
WeiHan said:
The global warming crowds even predicted in 2008 that by June 2015, NYC will be underwater. ABC News.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gk-qiVK6C4

Malcolm wrote:
Ummm...you are confusing entertainment with science. Not even the most radical, hysterical climate scientist would ever endorse such dramatizations.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 1:00 AM
Title: Re: Difference between 4th and 5th Skandha
Content:
Karma Dondrup Tashi said:
off topic again - I've never understood why feeling comes before formations.

Malcolm wrote:
Because it is the strongest mental factor that keeps us in samsara. The aggregates are ordered by their strength in keeping us in samsara.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 12:59 AM
Title: Re: "V"s in Sanskrit
Content:


Greg said:
Are you saying that to trained ears it always sounds the same and they can never detect a difference?

Further, it is not a silly question. I am curious about why it sometimes sounds to me one way and sometimes sounds another. That is a perfectly legitimately thing to be curious about. If you are hung up on English equivalences we could just call them Sound A and Sound B.

Malcolm wrote:
In Kashmir, this sound was pronounced B as in Baj[z]ra (or as it is today in Nepal) , as noted by Sakya Pandita in How to Pronounce Mantras. It is pronounced Wa, according to his ear, by Central Indians.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 12:44 AM
Title: Re: Difference between 4th and 5th Skandha
Content:
catlady2112 said:
I'm having trouble understanding the skandhas in terms of "experience."  Every teacher seems to have different ways of explaining them.  I learned them as 1) Form 2) Feeling 3) Discrimination 4) Volition 5) Consciousness.

Malcolm wrote:
They are 1) matter (as opposed to the object of the eye, form) 2) feeling 3) ideation 4) formations 5 consciousness.




catlady2112 said:
It is easy for me to understand the 1st 3 in terms of what my mind does by 1) separating myself from other objects 2) having a positive, negative or neutral feeling and 3) creating a solid concepts around how I file/name them in my mind.

Malcolm wrote:
Actually, the material aggregate includes all physical sense organs as objects. Your understanding of 2 and 3 is ok.



catlady2112 said:
I was taught that #4 was the reaction that resulted from the first 3.  For example, I see what appears to be a large snake and become frightened.  #4 might be an impulsive reaction: such as my body shaking, screaming or running away.

Malcolm wrote:
Here is another place where you are understanding incorrectly. The formation aggregate is composed of mental factors that operate in formations, there are either 51 or 100 mental factors depending on the presentation. So for example, a positive mind in the desire realm always has 22 mental factors accompanying it. Volition is only one of the ten neutral mental factors that accompany all minds in the desire realm.

Your perception of a snake, and reacting to it viscerally is still 2 and 3. 2 and 3 are mental factors also, but because they have such a strong role in samsara, they are treated as separate aggregates.

catlady2112 said:
Also I've always been confused about #5 Consciousness. Most texts tend to describe this as a concept instead of an experience.

Malcolm wrote:
The aggregate of consciousness is the identical to the mental organ, your mind, it is what thinks.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 12:02 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
But if you are a Dzogchen practitioner, then since you have methods to benefit sentient beings, being a strict vegetarian is, in his opinion, "miserable compassion."

tomamundsen said:
Does this mean ganachakra, or are there other methods as well?

Malcolm wrote:
All meals should be ganapujas.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 12:01 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
WeiHan said:
See.

Data released showed that "global warming" stopped 16 years ago. The graphs even show that it is cyclical.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2217286/Global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago-reveals-Met-Office-report-quietly-released--chart-prove-it.html
So their model is predicting a continuous increase of surface temperature but yet temperature has stalled for 16 years and they have to come up with a cycle theory to patch up an explanation. What does it says? Bottom line, even for a novice that didn't read up their explanation, you should be able to conclude that the model that they have been relying on is inaccurate.
The linear trend from August 1997 (in the middle of an exceptionally strong El Nino) to August 2012 (coming at the tail end of a double-dip La Nina) is about 0.03°C/decade, amounting to a temperature increase of 0.05°C over that period, but equally we could calculate the linear trend from 1999, during the subsequent La Nina, and show a more substantial warming.
As we’ve stressed before, choosing a starting or end point on short-term scales can be very misleading. Climate change can only be detected from multi-decadal timescales due to the inherent variability in the climate system. If you use a longer period from HadCRUT4 the trend looks very different. For example, 1979 to 2011 shows 0.16°C/decade (or 0.15°C/decade in the NCDC dataset, 0.16°C/decade in GISS). Looking at successive decades over this period, each decade was warmer than the previous – so the 1990s were warmer than the 1980s, and the 2000s were warmer than both. Eight of the top ten warmest years have occurred in the last decade.

Malcolm wrote:
http://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2012/10/14/met-office-in-the-media-14-october-2012/


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 11:49 PM
Title: Re: Relapsing from Buddhist Practice
Content:
kdolma said:
Hi Malcolm and Johnny,

The problem is that since I've started practicing, these afflictive states have been stronger, more and prolonged. Before, there was not much tension/swinging emotions/delusions, maybe it's because I am trying to observe and not let anything manifest in my mind (and/or) letting it manifest but not reacting to it.

I guess I am afraid of creating future suffering through my afflictive states because once I have thought something bad, I am already creating bad karma. The biggest hindrance to this is my self-deception, ego, and self-centeredness. How can I be more honest and sincere in accepting my mistakes and faults?

Malcolm wrote:
Of course they SEEM stronger, but they are not. You are merely seeing them as they are for the first time.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 11:47 PM
Title: Re: Pema Khandro?
Content:
smcj said:
I did not think much of her 30 years ago, but she's been at this a long time.

Malcolm wrote:
You mean when she was 10?

smcj said:
If I remember correctly she was active in the Santa Cruz area as Cali Ma back in the '80s as an adult. She was trying to get some land together near the crest of Hwy 17. She looked much the same.

It occurs to me that if she has figured out the secret to eternal youthful appearance she will become the biggest guru in America!

Malcolm wrote:
Umm, she would have been 11, actually. She was born in 1974, a wood tiger. I think your memory is a little fuzzy.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 10:54 PM
Title: Re: Pema Khandro?
Content:
smcj said:
I did not think much of her 30 years ago, but she's been at this a long time.

Malcolm wrote:
You mean when she was 10?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 10:48 PM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Justamechanic said:
Thank you Malcolm for answering my post.  I'm still confused as to how it is "miserable compassion" to not engage in meat eating.  I've never heard him specify that it's okay for practitioners of the lower tantras to be vegetarians.  In fact, at the teaching in LA he became red faced and angry and it appeared to me that he slammed his fist down in denouncing vegetarians, he didn't specify as to which practitioners could still be vegetarians. He never mentioned any scriptural reference or commentarial reference to back up this statement. Do you know of any?  I have no doubt that Norbu is an enlightened being, it's just that his statements run counter to statements by Chatral Rinpoche and other Dzogchen masters. I thought as Buddhists we were supposed to do no harm.  I'm just a blue collar guy in rural Northern California and this really has my head spinning.

Malcolm wrote:
Well, the famous one that ChNN always quotes from the Hevajra Tantra (though you won't find it in the extant two chapter version)
Those with compassion eat meat;
those with samaya drink alcohol.
The Hevajra also observes that one should not distinguish between pure foods (i.e. acceptable to Brahmins) and impure foods.

Then in a treasure of Kunzang Dechen Lingpa connected with six dimensions of Samantabhadra mantra (འ་ཨ་ཧ་ཤ་ས་མ), it is said:
If yogins who possess great compassion cannot help but accept meat and blood, that should be considered to be the flesh and blood is a sentient being that is actually present...Yogins who have created bodhicitta, there is nothing more profound than this to benefit migrating beings! For example, there isn’t anyway to guide sentient beings who have no connections. As in the aforementioned example, likewise after flesh and blood is enjoyed in a feast, their minds are purified and sent up [into the dharmadhātu].  All my lineage of followers should practice this in earnest, bringing benefit both to themselves and others.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 9:37 PM
Title: Re: Mantra Liberation Through Hearing ("Ha Gan Ga")
Content:


Boomerang said:
Okay, so is Garchen Rinpoche intentionally sending himself and hundreds of other people to hell, including me and other people on this forum?

Malcolm wrote:
I can only related to you what is described in the tantras. I am not going to opine on Garchen Rinpoche's intentions.

The essence of Vajrayāna is a live connection with a teacher, emphasis on live. If someone wants to study with Garchen Rinpoche, then they should make the effort to go and meet him in person.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 9:28 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
Simon E. said:
How do you propose bringing China and India into line ?

Malcolm wrote:
They need this more than anyone else because they are the two most densely populated places on the planet.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 9:27 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:


madhusudan said:
Could all (or most of) the goals of reducing Global Warming be accomplished through a campaign of reducing pollution?

Malcolm wrote:
No. We need a systemic and global reorganization of human society along the lines described by the deep ecologists and social ecologists. Then maybe, just maybe, we wont shit ourselves to death in our own beds.

madhusudan said:
Okay. And that accords perfectly with being responsible for the well being of all sentient beings. But how do you envision that being accomplished?

Locally and voluntarily through education, community building and neighborly collective action?

By fiat through centralized coercive force? e.g. U.N., treaties, laws, etc.

Some combination of those two?

Something else?

I'd prefer the first option, but it is slow and our current systems do not favor it. The urgency of environmental destruction compels us to consider the second. What is your view?

Malcolm wrote:
Our current economic system is not geared towards supporting sustainability because it is based on resource extraction and consumption, rather than conservation and durability.

So we need a combination of local initiatives as well as strong environmental and resource treaties.

We also have to abandon the idea of the growth economy.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 8:39 PM
Title: Re: HHDL advice: Westerners to take monk/nun as teacher
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
It is something stated in the Kālacakra tantra, actually. The best guru is a bhikṣu or bhikṣuni, the next best, a novice, the inferior guru is a householder.

dzoki said:
I think that this statement should not be taken only literally. For example Saraha said after taking consort and having attained realization: "Now I am real bikshu."
I believe that bikshu means something else in tantras and tantric language than it means in sutra and vinaya. Hence the confusion in Tibetan monastic tradition.

Malcolm wrote:
Nice try, but in reality the commentaries like the Vimalaprabha, as well as the Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion, are pretty clear that in this case bhikṣu means bhikṣu, someone who holds all three vows completely, including monastic vows.

Also, Saraha was never a monk.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 8:33 PM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:


madhusudan said:
Could all (or most of) the goals of reducing Global Warming be accomplished through a campaign of reducing pollution?

Malcolm wrote:
No. We need a systemic and global reorganization of human society along the lines described by the deep ecologists and social ecologists. Then maybe, just maybe, we wont shit ourselves to death in our own beds.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 8:09 PM
Title: Re: Pema Khandro?
Content:
tingdzin said:
In Tibetan Buddhism, as anywhere else, success is rewarded with accolade and failure is rewarded with obscurity, and it really has very little to do with puritan notions of authenticity, as much as we may wish it to be otherwise.
"Authenticity" is actually something to be valued, if the lineages are not to decline, long-term. This is not to say that the Tibetans had their act together on this matter all the time.

Malcolm wrote:
You are completely missing my point. My first point is that no one's qualifications to be a teacher has ever been established or refuted on a board such as Dharmawheel, and so on. My second point is that as long as someone can get some Tibetan to vouch for them, it is very difficult to make an argument that someone is an "inauthentic" teacher.

Those of us who have studied the actual history of Tibetan Buddhism, such as yourself, should understand that charges of charlatanism are quite wide spread among all four schools. We should also understand that charges of charlatanism have never ever prevented anyone from gathering students, building monasteries, funding stupas, statues, pujas, shedras and so on. The Shugden affair should prove that much to everyone. Do most of us here regard Shugden as inauthentic? Yes? Do most of us here regard teachers who promulgate this practice as inauthentic? Yes. Does that stop Shugdenpas in the slightest? No! The same thing applies to Michael Roach, and other "controversial" teachers.

Truly, the people who loose the most in this game of authenticity are the self-appointed purveyors of imagined authenticity. In order to question the authenticity of another teacher, first one must prove that one is in fact an arbiter of such authenticity. None of us here can do this. Because of this, accusing this women of being a fraud or a charlatan is a losing game. It is also unfair, and even sexist.

Honestly, the best practice is that when someone you know personally approaches you in private about this or that teachers credentials, then you can give your opinion — but making a public spectacle out of someone who is regarded as a teacher by others is simple bad form. I know, because I have been involved in this practice in the past and now regard it as folly.

You will recall that even Chogyur Lingpa in the beginning was derided as a charlatan. It was mainly due to his association with Khyentse Wangpo that his revelations were found acceptable.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 7:35 AM
Title: Re: Namkhai Norbu and Vegetarianism
Content:
Justamechanic said:
Hello All,  I'm a new member here and was wondering if anyone knows why Namkhai Norbu is so against vegetarianism?  I attended one of his teachings about a year ago and he said that vegetarianism is the "worst kind of compassion".  He has repeated this stance on other occasions.  I know of no other Buddhist teacher or teaching that contains this message.  My partner is a long time student of his and this is creating a lot of friction in my relationship as I am a long time vegetarian and an eleven year student of both Kagyu and Nyingma teachings.

Malcolm wrote:
He is not against Vegetarianism, per se. If you are a common Mahāyāna practitioner, or a practitioner of lower tantras, he is all for it.

But if you are a Dzogchen practitioner, then since you have methods to benefit sentient beings, being a strict vegetarian is, in his opinion, "miserable compassion."

If he is not your teacher, however, you should let your partner know that he or she is conditioning you, since that is also not correct.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 7:33 AM
Title: Re: Dropping Jesus
Content:
Fa Dao said:
This is getting ridiculous... the abrahamic religions cannot and will not lead one to Total Enlightenment. Nowhere in any of their writings or teachings does it even include the idea of it..no base for it, no path for it, and no mention of any fruit for it. To say that these traditions are the spiritual equal of Buddhadharma in that regard is nothing but politically correct nonsense...its just that simple.....sorry man, I know its against the "rules" here but somebody had to say it...

steveb1 said:
Sorry, but there are strands of the New Testament that do include the idea of enlightenment.

Malcolm wrote:
Bodhi is a very specific idea. Nothing in Christianity remotely approaches it.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 5:38 AM
Title: Re: Relapsing from Buddhist Practice
Content:
kdolma said:
Hi everyone,

I am still new to Buddhism and felt a tremendous sense of renunciation and clarity when I was first introduced. Death, impermanence, karma,etc..seemed to make complete sense before and I felt very inspired and confident, fearless, courageous, and uplifted like I had really found something profound that had stripped all the earlier notions I had about life/this world. But now, it's as if I have forgotten everything and the earlier renunciation seems to have faded, and I don't sense much urgency like before.

What can I do if I relapse with my practice? I feel so guilty, ashamed, and can't shake out the self-hate and self-blaming when I wasn't practicing mentally very well throughout the day. My anger and aggression keeps coming up and it completely overwhelms me that I end up mentally thinking bad things about others, hating them, blaming them and then I regret it and keep going round and round in circles. When I get angry at my friends and family, since I've harmed them, I can't shake out the anger, guilt, blame, and hate towards myself. Also, the most saddest thing is my self-deception, "oh it's ok, I can try even harder and purify next time even if I have gotten angry at someone..."

Please help me with your advice especially for someone who is still new to Buddhism.

Malcolm wrote:
All of this is afflictive thinking. You need to recognize it for what it is and not give it a lot of energy.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 4:18 AM
Title: Re: Maintaining Motivation
Content:


Anders said:
How would one go about regulating this element to address such a disorder then?

Malcolm wrote:
Yantra yoga, prāṇayāma, eating a vata pacifying diet and so on.

Vasana said:
Do you have any reliable resources to point to for a vata pacifying diet Malcom?
Not always satisfied with the credibility of some of the links found online.

Malcolm wrote:
Dr. Lad's website has good reliable information about this.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 4:16 AM
Title: Re: Dropping Jesus
Content:
Tenso said:
How so?

Malcolm wrote:
My afflictions are much reduced as a result of following the Dharma. I am unconfused about reality. What else is awakening other than that?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 4:14 AM
Title: Re: Dropping Jesus
Content:
Queequeg said:
Upaya must be explicit?


Malcolm wrote:
For example, Śīlabhadra writes in the Āryabuddhabhūmivyākhyāna:

Skillful means is the path that equally produces wisdom and compassion.
Asanga's Abhidharmasammucaya defines it like so:
Skill means is of four kinds: the skill in ripening sentient beings is the four means of conversion; [sentient beings] are placed in the virtues because of having been gathered by those [four means]

Queequeg said:
Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

My understanding of skillful means is that the being led by skillful means does not know that they are being led by skillful means. They may have no idea that they are being drawn onto the path. Its only in retrospect that they might realize they were being led.

I don't think this is at odds with the commentaries you cited.


Malcolm wrote:
Umm...we do not sucker people into following the Dharma. We lead them, openly and honestly, to the Dharma. We do not, as they say in Tibet, show the tail of the deer to sell horse meat, i.e. use deceptive practices.

In other words, we do not tell people oh, Jesus taught Buddhahood. We can say to Christians who show an interest in Dharma, however, "Jesus and Buddha are alike in that they both taught compassion", and then explain why the compassion taught by the Buddha is more profound than that taught by Jesus, etc.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 3:28 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
WeiHan said:
Climate scientists caught fudging data again.

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2014/09/19/australian-meteorologists-caught-fudging-numbers

Malcolm wrote:
https://theconversation.com/no-the-bureau-of-meteorology-is-not-fiddling-its-weather-data-31009


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 3:22 AM
Title: Re: Dropping Jesus
Content:


Malcolm wrote:
The answer is no. Neither of those two worldly traditions will bring anyone even within the vicinity of true awakening, let alone near it — so how can they be upāyas?

An upāya is something used to introduce someone to the path.

Tenso said:
Buddhism leads to true awakening? You know this for sure or is it just mere faith?

Malcolm wrote:
I know this for sure.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 3:11 AM
Title: Re: Dropping Jesus
Content:
Queequeg said:
Upaya must be explicit?


Malcolm wrote:
For example, Śīlabhadra writes in the Āryabuddhabhūmivyākhyāna:

Skillful means is the path that equally produces wisdom and compassion.
Asanga's Abhidharmasammucaya defines it like so:
Skill means is of four kinds: the skill in ripening sentient beings is the four means of conversion; [sentient beings] are placed in the virtues because of having been gathered by those [four means]


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 2:19 AM
Title: Re: Myanmar monk's Islamophobia
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
Right, there are all kinds of Sufis. Some make the Taliban look like liberals.

My point still stands, however. If someone's refuge is Buddha, Dharma Sangha, then they are Buddhist — but if not, then not.

My knowledge of Sufism is limited to Mystical Dimensions of Islam.


Urgyen Dorje said:
I'm not going to debate whether she is really a Buddhist.

That would take getting into the theology and ontology of her school of Sufism and how she reconciled her native Sufi practice and upbringing with the dharma.  That's not my voice.  That said, in the time she tutored me in her tradition, there was nothing that contradicted the four seals of the dharma.

It's also something I categorically won't do: police people's refuge.
Sure.  It' still weird to me though...

I hadn't thought of any of this stuff in years and years and years.

I guess it's my karma to be introduced to compassion to animals, vegetarianism, etc., from an observant muslim woman.  Forever screwed to have have a perspective one can meaningfully share with others...

Malcolm wrote:
If her refuge is Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, she is not a Muslim.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 2:16 AM
Title: Re: Dropping Jesus
Content:
Malcolm wrote:
The answer is no. Neither of those two worldly traditions will bring anyone even within the vicinity of true awakening, let alone near it — so how can they be upāyas?

Queequeg said:
That's a an unwieldy proposition - not disagreeing, but there are too many component parts - so I propose setting this aside for the time being at least.

Earlier you said:
A means used to bring people to the definitive meaning which is the Buddha, i.e. the state of total awakening.
An upāya is something used to introduce someone to the path.
Was this narrowing of scope intentional?

Malcolm wrote:
People cannot be brought to the definitive meaning without being introduced to the path.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 2:14 AM
Title: Re: Global Warming / Climate Change: Caused by human activi
Content:
WeiHan said:
Climate scientists have been caught tempering with climate data that world scientists relied on

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11367272/Climategate-the-sequel-How-we-are-STILL-being-tricked-with-flawed-data-on-global-warming.html

Malcolm wrote:
http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/nothing-false-about-temperature-data/


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 2:06 AM
Title: Re: Myanmar monk's Islamophobia
Content:
Urgyen Dorje said:
Sure.  It' still weird to me though...

I hadn't thought of any of this stuff in years and years and years.

I guess it's my karma to be introduced to compassion to animals, vegetarianism, etc., from an observant muslim woman.  Forever screwed to have have a perspective one can meaningfully share with others...

Malcolm wrote:
If her refuge is Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, she is not a Muslim.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 1:47 AM
Title: Re: Dropping Jesus
Content:
Queequeg said:
What about my question?

Malcolm wrote:
I answered it with another question.

Queequeg said:
I don't think your question answered my question at all.

Malcolm wrote:
The answer is no. Neither of those two worldly traditions will bring anyone even within the vicinity of true awakening, let alone near it — so how can they be upāyas?

An upāya is something used to introduce someone to the path.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 1:44 AM
Title: Re: Myanmar monk's Islamophobia
Content:


Urgyen Dorje said:
Sidebar: This is a really good example of how strange I find this forum.  I made a posting about whether anyone knew any muslims or had been to any Islamic cultural events, and a few posts later I'm defending whether I'd eat a halal kabob.

Malcolm wrote:
The kind of food and type of event has bearing on the discussion, no?


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 1:41 AM
Title: Re: Dropping Jesus
Content:
Queequeg said:
What about my question?

Malcolm wrote:
I answered it with another question.


Author: Malcolm
Date: Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 1:40 AM
Title: Re: Dropping Jesus
Content:
Queequeg said:
I'm not ready to write everything non-Buddhist off. Convince me.


Malcolm wrote:
What is the cause of samsara?


