Topic: Buddhist sayings

[erik]

The more you try to force thought out, the more of a problem it becomes. The more you disapprove of your own neuroses, the more of a problem they become. The time to disapprove of them is if they are hurting others; and then in the moment. But one does not go into punishing oneself for having them at other times. If one is aware that one has patterns, then one has to say, I need to have some awareness while this pattern is performing. If I punish myself for having the pattern whilst I am having it, then this actually acts as a screen which hides the neurosis – I can be the good person who is disapproving of the bad habit. That means I never get to see this habit, this neurosis, because I am too busy being the person who is disapproving of it. This is actually a way of maintaining the neurosis.

[erik]

Anyone who believes anything, at some level, makes the choice to believe. If we make the choice to believe because there’s a spiritually materialistic payoff in believing, then as soon as the payoff ceases to function we lose our belief. With rebirth, I would say that there is a grave danger of the payoff being connected with emotional comfort of some kind and that is deadly in terms of an authentic Buddhist practice. Buddhism is not actually emotionally comfortable in terms of the need to experience continuity. If we are to call ourselves Buddhists we have to accept the practice of discovering that we are discontinuous – that the ‘I’ is momentary.

[erik]

Buddhism is always the refuge of no-refuge - it is complete. It is open – it is not closed. And it is wakeful – it is not hiding in some way. Sang-gyé kyab-su ché: I establish confidence in the actuality of complete, open wakefulness.

[erik]

We have to know that ultimate, everlasting happiness will not come if we could just get that new job, adopt a new lifestyle, clinch the business deal, buy a new house, change the type of car we drive, give up the car and buy a bike and trailer, if we become vegetarian or vegan, take more exercise, find our ideal partner, buy a new wardrobe of clothes, or have a change of scene, career, friends. We have to feel this enough to actually start practising and discovering experientially that the cause of our dissatisfaction is something fundamental in ourselves, rather than anything we can manipulate externally. We must realise that there is nothing in our lives we can manipulate and change that will ultimately quieten the feeling of unsatisfactoriness. It is our own relationship with experience that creates unhappiness.

[erik]

Drala Jong innately exists in human beings. ‘Drala’ is the appreciative faculty which exponentially enlivens people the more they engage with the world. Appreciation is the key to enjoyment and to delighting in the enjoyment of others. When we learn to appreciate phenomena our sense fields ‘Jong’ begin to sparkle and a sense of generosity is born which connects us with others. Although Vajrayana Buddhism is by no means unknown in the West – the sense in which enjoyment and compassion are mutually interdependent remains unexpressed. We would like Drala Jong to be a place where human beings could discover the pleasure of existence – the pleasure that animates the sense fields and revitalises the Arts – and the art of living.

[erik]

You have to address your own level of fear, and that is called compassion – simply being with ‘what is there’. Accepting the whole texture of what you feel without having to act out, or lash out in some primitive bid for self-preservation. We have to trust the texture of what is happening and relax with the ‘rip-tides’ of what we feel. If there’s some space, then that becomes possible. It’s a ride though... but if we reject ‘the ride’... we get ridden... and the spurs bite deep!.

[erik]

When we allow our emotional realm to be as it is, we are freed to experience the texture of life directly. We can side-step the sour orthodoxy of preordained likes, dislikes, and habitual concepts. When we allow our perceptual life to be as it is, we are self-liberated to be as we are.

[Ke-ke wan]

When we allow our emotional realm to be as it is, we are freed to experience the texture of life directly. We can side-step the sour orthodoxy of preordained likes, dislikes, and habitual concepts. When we allow our perceptual life to be as it is, we are self-liberated to be as we are.

Sounds like heaven. And free

[erik]

In Buddhism our confused and neurotic condition is often compared to being asleep-because our relationship with reality is more like being in a dream than being awake. We lack awareness because of our habitual patterns so that we are like confused and unresponsive sleepwalkers.

[Jahn]

In Buddhism our confused and neurotic condition is often compared to being asleep-because our relationship with reality is more like being in a dream than being awake. We lack awareness because of our habitual patterns so that we are like confused and unresponsive sleepwalkers.

[Ke-ke wan]

In Buddhism our confused and neurotic condition is often compared to being asleep-because our relationship with reality is more like being in a dream than being awake. We lack awareness because of our habitual patterns so that we are like confused and unresponsive sleepwalkers.

I remember when I first learned Shamanism, met a lady who was teaching precept language.  The art of saying what you mean so that others can easily understand, but also so that you understand yourself.
One of her most valuable tools was to use the word "I" instead of other pronouns whenever it fit,as well as other deliberate uses of language where we sometimes have become lax.  Because , depending on words chosen, the (deeper)  meaning of sentences can change.  And then she also teaches how to speak myself, rather than speaking others.  It's something I've carried with me for a lot of years and will try to find the post either here or Gypsy Garden.

Voicing ourselves Home, the article was called.  Carol Proudfoot Edgar.
Precept language.  Fascinating and powerful way to speak.  She uses it in realtion to how we relate to others and also how we relate to our bodies and illness etc.  For eg instead of I have a headache, I am aching my head. 

I hope I can find the article.

[erik]

Tantra acknowledges that pleasure and pain exist. Tantra acknowledges that pleasure and pain are dualistic expressions of the non-dual state. Because of this, Tantra is happening all the time.

[erik]

Emptiness is the moment before a situation is born. Emptiness is comprehension. Emptiness is astonishment or wordless wonder. Emptiness is the quality of sensation that is neither one thing nor another. These are all reflections of emptiness.

[Ke-ke wan]

Tantra acknowledges that pleasure and pain exist. Tantra acknowledges that pleasure and pain are dualistic expressions of the non-dual state. Because of this, Tantra is happening all the time.

Oh, I missed this post.  Great quote.  Interesting

[Firestarter]

The more you try to force thought out, the more of a problem it becomes. The more you disapprove of your own neuroses, the more of a problem they become. The time to disapprove of them is if they are hurting others; and then in the moment. But one does not go into punishing oneself for having them at other times. If one is aware that one has patterns, then one has to say, I need to have some awareness while this pattern is performing. If I punish myself for having the pattern whilst I am having it, then this actually acts as a screen which hides the neurosis – I can be the good person who is disapproving of the bad habit. That means I never get to see this habit, this neurosis, because I am too busy being the person who is disapproving of it. This is actually a way of maintaining the neurosis.

Yes!