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champinhom
Lord Justhappensness


Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 987
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has anybody run across this guy before?
#22212882 - 09/09/15 03:50 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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-------------------- My father used to say: I don't care what else you do in life, just don't be an asshole. People, forgive me when I forget what my daddy said. Cut back the proliferating list of people whose opinions can hurt you. Unless they have done or want to do you some good, their views are just not worth tracking. Saul Bellow “People are just cannibals unless they leave each other alone.” Doris Lessing Those whom the gods would save, they dower with compassion. Mr. P. Silocybin
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
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Re: has anybody run across this guy before? [Re: champinhom]
#22213672 - 09/09/15 06:27 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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I've watched a video before. It is the perennial message of the Remember: Be Here Now, The Eternal Now (Paul Tillich), or The Power of Now (E. Tolle). It's the Formless Yoga requiring so specific technique, Realization of Rigpa, Practicing the Presence, and a lot of other names. In its most spiritual meaning Islam means 'surrender,' i.e., to the Will of God, which translates into the immediacy of the moment. What is needful in any given moment? How can one be merciful, compassionate?
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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champinhom
Lord Justhappensness


Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 987
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said: How can one be merciful, compassionate?
How can you be anything but what you are RIGHT NOW? Now is spontaneous. And, since now it all that is, all that is is spontaneous. This, as far as I can see, is THE great truth, the one thing most valuable to know. It frees you to shut up and watch.
-------------------- My father used to say: I don't care what else you do in life, just don't be an asshole. People, forgive me when I forget what my daddy said. Cut back the proliferating list of people whose opinions can hurt you. Unless they have done or want to do you some good, their views are just not worth tracking. Saul Bellow “People are just cannibals unless they leave each other alone.” Doris Lessing Those whom the gods would save, they dower with compassion. Mr. P. Silocybin
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
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Re: has anybody run across this guy before? [Re: champinhom]
#22216817 - 09/10/15 01:04 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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Detachment (Emptiness) is the vertical axis, Compassion in the horizontal axis. They are one Reality.
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said: Detachment (Emptiness) is the vertical axis, Compassion in the horizontal axis. They are one Reality.
Mark, could you please expand upon this?
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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MarkostheGnostic
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Re: has anybody run across this guy before? [Re: DividedQuantum]
#22217200 - 09/10/15 02:43 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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The Nyingmapa School of the Vajrayana in particular use the symbol of Samantabhadra (Blue) and Samantabhadri (White) in Yab-Yum sexual congress. They are together the Adi-Buddha, the "Primordial Buddha" of Non-dual Reality. I was responding to the poster who appeared to be addressing only one side of the Primordial Reality, which in dualism manifests for the human being as Wisdom and Compassion, Prajna and Karuna, Emptiness and Form (Masculine & Feminine, respectively). On the side of Form, we all appear as separate beings, and as separate, we strive for unity, hence the cosmic symbolism or Primordial Reality being symbolized in human terms as two beings in sexual union. But, as one moves through the world of duality, the 'motive energy' by which we communicate and recognize the truth of our Ultimate Unity is by acting Compassionately towards one another (not sexually). Compassion is not separate from Wisdom (which is sometimes called Emptiness, Spaciousness or in human terms, Detachment), and Wisdom is both achieved and made manifest by Compassion in Action. Acting Compassionately means acting Wisely. This has nothing to do with being weak or allowing oneself to be subject to abuse. We must be equally Compassionate towards ourselves, and we must not enable others to act in non-Compassionate ways towards us or anyone else.
Compassion, incidentally, requires Dispassion (a synonym of Detachment). To act Compassionately, to throw oneself over a man on the tracks to protect him from an oncoming subway car, to rush into a burning house to save a dog and her puppies, requires Detachment, selflessness, no thought of your own safety as your natural instincts for self-preservation have been transcended by the transcendental nature of Compassion. Compassion therefore is a spontaneous manifestation of Wisdom, of Self-Emptying. It flows objectively towards 'others' which is the horizontal dimension of spiritual life whereas the vertical dimension is purely subjective. So out of our meditative experiences of Unity, non-duality, the Realization of the non-substantiality of our selfhood (all the same thing), our quickness to respond to another's suffering is the action of Transpersonal Primordial Reality upon a psychophysical plane, or on a social, individual, personal level. This is the horizontal axis of Compassion.
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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thank you
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
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Re: has anybody run across this guy before? [Re: DividedQuantum]
#22218390 - 09/10/15 07:32 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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champinhom
Lord Justhappensness


Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 987
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said: The Nyingmapa School of the Vajrayana in particular use the symbol of Samantabhadra (Blue) and Samantabhadri (White) in Yab-Yum sexual congress. They are together the Adi-Buddha, the "Primordial Buddha" of Non-dual Reality. I was responding to the poster who appeared to be addressing only one side of the Primordial Reality, which in dualism manifests for the human being as Wisdom and Compassion, Prajna and Karuna, Emptiness and Form (Masculine & Feminine, respectively). On the side of Form, we all appear as separate beings, and as separate, we strive for unity, hence the cosmic symbolism or Primordial Reality being symbolized in human terms as two beings in sexual union. But, as one moves through the world of duality, the 'motive energy' by which we communicate and recognize the truth of our Ultimate Unity is by acting Compassionately towards one another (not sexually). Compassion is not separate from Wisdom (which is sometimes called Emptiness, Spaciousness or in human terms, Detachment), and Wisdom is both achieved and made manifest by Compassion in Action. Acting Compassionately means acting Wisely. This has nothing to do with being weak or allowing oneself to be subject to abuse. We must be equally Compassionate towards ourselves, and we must not enable others to act in non-Compassionate ways towards us or anyone else.
Compassion, incidentally, requires Dispassion (a synonym of Detachment). To act Compassionately, to throw oneself over a man on the tracks to protect him from an oncoming subway car, to rush into a burning house to save a dog and her puppies, requires Detachment, selflessness, no thought of your own safety as your natural instincts for self-preservation have been transcended by the transcendental nature of Compassion. Compassion therefore is a spontaneous manifestation of Wisdom, of Self-Emptying. It flows objectively towards 'others' which is the horizontal dimension of spiritual life whereas the vertical dimension is purely subjective. So out of our meditative experiences of Unity, non-duality, the Realization of the non-substantiality of our selfhood (all the same thing), our quickness to respond to another's suffering is the action of Transpersonal Primordial Reality upon a psychophysical plane, or on a social, individual, personal level. This is the horizontal axis of Compassion.

I won't argue with the above. It is something I would have to read over more than a couple of times to even begin to unpack. I am too simple minded for Buddhist metaphysics anyway. Unendowed.
I will just say this to explain my position with regard to all these imperatives Buddhism deals out-- Meditate! Be compassionate! Be mindful! Notice impermanence!, etc.. IT IS ALL ALREADY HAPPENING. The only imperative that has any validity for me is: Notice the inherent spontaneity of WHAT IS. If you ever once really see it, you can see it from then on anytime you want. Emaho! (Please excuse me if I sound like a zealot. I guess I am one. I guess I am.)
-------------------- My father used to say: I don't care what else you do in life, just don't be an asshole. People, forgive me when I forget what my daddy said. Cut back the proliferating list of people whose opinions can hurt you. Unless they have done or want to do you some good, their views are just not worth tracking. Saul Bellow “People are just cannibals unless they leave each other alone.” Doris Lessing Those whom the gods would save, they dower with compassion. Mr. P. Silocybin
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champinhom
Lord Justhappensness


Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 987
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Re: has anybody run across this guy before? [Re: champinhom]
#22218433 - 09/10/15 07:42 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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And, mind you, despite what I have just posted directly above, I still do a lot of meditation. I still do noticing impermanence practice. I still try --some of the time--to avoid being an asshole with people.
All that just happens, just keeps happening too.
-------------------- My father used to say: I don't care what else you do in life, just don't be an asshole. People, forgive me when I forget what my daddy said. Cut back the proliferating list of people whose opinions can hurt you. Unless they have done or want to do you some good, their views are just not worth tracking. Saul Bellow “People are just cannibals unless they leave each other alone.” Doris Lessing Those whom the gods would save, they dower with compassion. Mr. P. Silocybin
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 2 days
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Re: has anybody run across this guy before? [Re: champinhom]
#22219669 - 09/11/15 12:57 AM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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One decides to be Compassionate, primarily, but when dealing with the multitudes of assholes, one employs more of Detachment. The idea is NOT to become an asshole oneself, and by practicing what I have stated as simply as I could, one can just as simply avoid being an asshole. A moment of perverse emotional satisfaction at someone's discomfort from being an asshole will result in more problems for that asshole than it will for the stranger he never encounters again. The effects of being an asshole are cumulative and no matter how long one sits in Detachment, sitting is not going to burn the accrued karmic debt. Sitting is not going to make the asshole a better person. He is going to have to redouble his efforts to practice Compassion even if he doesn't feel it. It is something akin to the notion of doing penance in the West.
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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