Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

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WuMing
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by WuMing »

Ayu wrote:
WuMing wrote:
I recommend that when anyone decides to make a Dharma connection with someone, they take some time to investigate the person they wish to make a connection with.
source: Dharma protectors and samaya
How was this one illuminating?
Maybe not illuminating, but a sound advice which is often forgotten, especially by newbie.
Life is great and death has to be just as great as life.
- Mike Tyson
People not only don't know what's happening to them, they don't even know that they don't know.
- Noam Chomsky
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Hieros Gamos
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by Hieros Gamos »

Ayu wrote:How was this one illuminating?
Nobody does it.

I want to get to the first stage of realization. Do you know how to do this? What are the steps in particular? How do you know this? What do you claim to have attained? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Oh, you um "teach internationally"? What's your level of availability? Why do you teach? If there's a problem with you is there a governing organization?

Etc.

How many people do that as opposed to just glance at the resume?
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Ayu
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by Ayu »

Hieros Gamos wrote:
Ayu wrote:How was this one illuminating?
Nobody does it.

I want to get to the first stage of realization. Do you know how to do this? What are the steps in particular? How do you know this? What do you claim to have attained? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Oh, you um "teach internationally"? What's your level of availability? Why do you teach? If there's a problem with you is there a governing organization?

Etc.

How many people do that as opposed to just glance at the resume?
May you please explain, what you wrote? I don't have the foggiest idea what you mean. :shrug:
PNs are also accepted. :smile:
uan
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by uan »

Ayu wrote:
Malcolm wrote: I recommend that when anyone decides to make a Dharma connection with someone, they take some time to investigate the person they wish to make a connection with.
How was this one illuminating?
Ayu wrote:
Hieros Gamos wrote: Nobody does it.

I want to get to the first stage of realization. Do you know how to do this? What are the steps in particular? How do you know this? What do you claim to have attained? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Oh, you um "teach internationally"? What's your level of availability? Why do you teach? If there's a problem with you is there a governing organization?

Etc.

How many people do that as opposed to just glance at the resume?
May you please explain, what you wrote? I don't have the foggiest idea what you mean. :shrug:
PNs are also accepted. :smile:
I guess a good starting point would be for you to explain how Malcolm's comment isn't illuminating.
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Ayu
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by Ayu »

Yes, that is a good starting point.
I never wrote, it isn't illuminating, I just asked. I believed, it must be illuminating for Wu Ming, cause he quoted it in here. So I asked why. And he explained it. Thank you.

I''m sorry, I'm not able to write or to read between the lines. My English is simple. I asked for my better understanding. Okay? :smile:
uan
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by uan »

Ayu wrote: I''m sorry, I'm not able to write or to read between the lines. My English is simple. I asked for my better understanding. Okay? :smile:
No need to be sorry for your English. I wouldn't be able to participate on a non-English forum, so I have massive respect for non-native English speakers who do participate here (and on other English language forums)!

One thought I had was that the initial question you asked was exactly as you said, asking for a simple clarification. It was my error not to just ask if that's what you were asking about. :anjali:
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WuMing
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by WuMing »

A teacher is more important than a school. Find a teacher you trust.


source Help Choosing a School
Life is great and death has to be just as great as life.
- Mike Tyson
People not only don't know what's happening to them, they don't even know that they don't know.
- Noam Chomsky
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WuMing
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by WuMing »

Our compassion, etc., no matter how "spontaneous" it is, is always tainted with objectification.
source: Bodhisattva's remorse
Life is great and death has to be just as great as life.
- Mike Tyson
People not only don't know what's happening to them, they don't even know that they don't know.
- Noam Chomsky
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WuMing
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by WuMing »

This quote can be used as a reminder, one I often enough forget myself, way too often infact. Thank you Malcolm for posting and participating on this forum, I appreciate your knowledge, insights and comments very much!
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.
source: Loss of Japanese traditions
Life is great and death has to be just as great as life.
- Mike Tyson
People not only don't know what's happening to them, they don't even know that they don't know.
- Noam Chomsky
daelm
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by daelm »

Virgo wrote:I've had the incredible fortune to read Malcolm for almost a decade. It's hard to express how beneficial it has been for me. That's the truth.

Kevin
agreed. more than i can properly communicate.
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WuMing
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by WuMing »

ON SAMAYA
... Samaya is not some invisible force. Samaya is simply an agreement. If you don't want that agreement anymore, it is dissolved.
Samaya is like any other vow. It is a sustained intention. When one changes one's intention, that stream is interrupted.
... commitment to liberation, which is the essential "samaya" in which all other relative samayas are contained.
(all emphasis mine)

these quotes come from this topic How long do you meditate for?

THANK YOU MALCOLM-la!
Life is great and death has to be just as great as life.
- Mike Tyson
People not only don't know what's happening to them, they don't even know that they don't know.
- Noam Chomsky
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WuMing
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by WuMing »

Three quotes:
Emptiness is emptiness. There is only one way to realize it, which is, to realize it. Everything else is bullshit.
found here Bliss in Zen (sukha)
Interpretations of and approaches to emptiness are not important. Realization of emptiness is important.

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svāhā.
found here Bliss in Zen (sukha)
There is no technique: there is only recognition, realization and awakening. Meditation is a distraction.
found here Bliss in Zen (sukha)
Life is great and death has to be just as great as life.
- Mike Tyson
People not only don't know what's happening to them, they don't even know that they don't know.
- Noam Chomsky
Saoshun
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by Saoshun »

There is no afterlife, just one long bardo that begins with delusion and ends with awakening.
How do you know it? It's like saying that after death will be haven. Is not changing anything in person experience of life besides beliefs which can be anything.

can you explain more Malcom?
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by Thomas Amundsen »

Saoshun wrote:
There is no afterlife, just one long bardo that begins with delusion and ends with awakening.
How do you know it? It's like saying that after death will be haven. Is not changing anything in person experience of life besides beliefs which can be anything.

can you explain more Malcom?
This is one of my all-time favorite quotes from Malcolm. I'm also interested in hearing more :D
Saoshun
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by Saoshun »

and if there is no afterlife per se, why people do phowa etc?
Malcolm
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by Malcolm »

Samsara itself is a bardo, as is awakening. It does not matter how many "lifetimes" we spend in it, since the mind stream itself does not die, but in each lifetime, appropriates a new form.

The bardo of samsara begins with delusion and ends with awakening, there is no "afterlife."
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by Adamantine »

It just so happens the Rigpa Glimpse of the Day for today April 8th, just appeared in my inbox:
Because life is nothing but a perpetual fluctuation of birth, death, and transition, so bardo experiences are happening to us all the time, and are a basic part of our psychological makeup. Normally, however, we are oblivious to the bardos and their gaps, as our mind passes from one so-called solid situation to the next, habitually ignoring the transitions that are always occurring.

In fact, as the teachings can help us to understand, every moment of our experience is a bardo, as each thought and each emotion arises out of, and dies back into, the essence of mind. It is in moments of strong change and transition especially, the teachings make us aware, that the true skylike, primordial nature of mind will have a chance to manifest.
Contentment is the ultimate wealth;
Detachment is the final happiness. ~Sri Saraha
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Grigoris
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by Grigoris »

Adamantine wrote:Because life is nothing but a perpetual fluctuation of birth, death, and transition, so bardo experiences are happening to us all the time, and are a basic part of our psychological makeup. Normally, however, we are oblivious to the bardos and their gaps, as our mind passes from one so-called solid situation to the next, habitually ignoring the transitions that are always occurring.

In fact, as the teachings can help us to understand, every moment of our experience is a bardo, as each thought and each emotion arises out of, and dies back into, the essence of mind. It is in moments of strong change and transition especially, the teachings make us aware, that the true skylike, primordial nature of mind will have a chance to manifest.
Now that is one sexually satisfying quote! :smile: Who is it from?
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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Adamantine
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by Adamantine »

Sherab Dorje wrote:
Adamantine wrote:Because life is nothing but a perpetual fluctuation of birth, death, and transition, so bardo experiences are happening to us all the time, and are a basic part of our psychological makeup. Normally, however, we are oblivious to the bardos and their gaps, as our mind passes from one so-called solid situation to the next, habitually ignoring the transitions that are always occurring.

In fact, as the teachings can help us to understand, every moment of our experience is a bardo, as each thought and each emotion arises out of, and dies back into, the essence of mind. It is in moments of strong change and transition especially, the teachings make us aware, that the true skylike, primordial nature of mind will have a chance to manifest.
Now that is one sexually satisfying quote! :smile: Who is it from?
Pretty sure 95% of the quotes in the Rigpa glimpse mailings are from Sogyal Rinpoche,, , if they are not then they're attributed. You too can subscribe: [email protected]
I'm not sure how I got on their list but there's some golden nuggets in there so I am happy to keep em coming.
Contentment is the ultimate wealth;
Detachment is the final happiness. ~Sri Saraha
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WuMing
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Re: Illuminating Quotes by Malcolm Namdrol-la

Post by WuMing »

The following is a post that shows, once again, how fortunate we all are to have Malcolm here on DW (actually we all should be very grateful), and that he actually shares some of his time here. This is how I feel and think about it, at least!
on translation I can't speak to what other translators do or don't do. And of course more than one scholar has taken issue with Dowman's translations, the same applies to Tony Duff, etc. But that is not very important. Why? We would be very foolish to think that after translating Dharma texts into English for a generation that we are in any position to stake out definite positions about how things could or should be translated into English.

For example, someone brought up the example of "stong pa nyid" as a translation for śūnyatā. Śūnyatā was originally translated into Tibetan as "ye 'byams." Very few people are aware of this, and so we run into rather strange translations of the term, not realizing it translated śūnyatā. So what to do? Do we translate it as "having always been without limitations?," "having always overflowed?," two quite literal translations of the term? Or do we use the very loose approximation "timeless infinity," as one translator suggests? Or do we translate it as emptiness, as we generally translate stong pa nyid? ...
from the thread Keith Dowman's argument for his "interpretive free" translation style

Thank you Malcolm for this post and your thoughts on translation, and showing your approach to translation work.

Thank you! :bow:
Life is great and death has to be just as great as life.
- Mike Tyson
People not only don't know what's happening to them, they don't even know that they don't know.
- Noam Chomsky
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