Lost foolish being

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Namu Butsu
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Lost foolish being

Post by Namu Butsu »

So I have tried a lot of different paths. I have been trying to see if i could be a person of yogic discipline. i thought I could gain power over energy to help heal people (mainly a close one I love who is suffering). I thought my pranayama would cure my social anxiety and calm the body for integration of the truth. I thought my self inquiry and natural meditation would allow me to see the truth in all things. But now I am back to the very fact that I cannot do anything. I am weak and am in poverty spiritually. My anger has been suppressed and comes out in unwholesome ways. None of my practices have helped. Sometimes I think perhaps if i was truly disciplined and practiced every day it would change, but I feel I am incapable of that. So all I can do is chant the nembutsu. Even I feel that chanting the nembutsu will not save me, but this comes from the conditioned mind of a foolish being. If Amida buddha is not real I will be lost forever. If he is real then it is only through his grace that I will be enlighten ever.

Namu Amida Butsu
:alien:
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"Just say the nembutsu and be liberated" Shinran Shonin
"However hard it may be to bid farewell to this world, when the conditions that bind us to this saha [samsara] realm run out, we are powerless to do anything as the final hour arrives and we are swept away to that Land." -A Record in Lament of Divergences
Rakz
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by Rakz »

Any spiritual path no matter which it may be should be viewed as a marathon rather than a sprint.
greentara
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by greentara »

namu butsu, Certainly a sincere and frank posting. A great Indian yogi once said 'how do you know there is no progress?' If we want something to happen instantly it may appear that nothing is happening. Continue with no expectations, its the only way. Chanting is always beneficial.
Admin_PC
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by Admin_PC »

Welcome :anjali:
Namu Butsu wrote:...If Amida buddha is not real I will be lost forever. If he is real then it is only through his grace that I will be enlighten ever.
But isn't the point of enlightenment losing the "I am" forever? ;)
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Johnny Dangerous
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

Just give up, seriously..there's no way out of the prison man, it doesn't work like "do this, then everything is better" that's the first noble truth. Don't try to create a shangri-la and then go there, just do what you can and try to accept wherever you're at with things.

I know it's not a Pure Land answer, but in other traditions some would say that feelings of hopelessness are actually a sign of seeing things a bit more clearly....probably talk to a teacher of some sort.
Meditate upon Bodhicitta when afflicted by disease

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when sad

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when suffering occurs

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when you are scared

-Khunu Lama
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padma norbu
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by padma norbu »

So... pranayama... OP's statement of "I thought my pranayama would cure my social anxiety and calm the body for integration of the truth" makes me think it probably takes many hours of work where nothing seems to really be happening before anything noticeable takes place from the practice... is that right?

I have not shelled out the money to learn it yet since I have plenty of other things to spend money on like bills, but was considering it soon. Yantra Yoga book and Breathe DVD have been sitting there gathering dust for some time because I just didn't think it would do much (unless maybe I turned into an avid breather) and now you seem to be confirming that. Sadly, I was searching for "pranayama" because my experience for the past 6 months of doing the Five Tibetan Rites caused me to think I was wrong and should learn Yantra Yoga / pranayama soon, but now I am not so sure.

OP, how much pranayama have you done?
"Use what seems like poison as medicine. We can use our personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings." Pema Chodron
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Grigoris
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by Grigoris »

padma norbu wrote:Sadly, I was searching for "pranayama" because my experience for the past 6 months of doing the Five Tibetan Rites caused me to think I was wrong and should learn Yantra Yoga / pranayama soon, but now I am not so sure.
Just to be nosy (please disregard the question if you wish), but why would you spend precious time doing techinques whose validity is questioned, when there are so many authorised lineage holders in the US that you could learn "legit" techniques 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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padma norbu
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by padma norbu »

Sherab Dorje wrote:
padma norbu wrote:Sadly, I was searching for "pranayama" because my experience for the past 6 months of doing the Five Tibetan Rites caused me to think I was wrong and should learn Yantra Yoga / pranayama soon, but now I am not so sure.
Just to be nosy (please disregard the question if you wish), but why would you spend precious time doing techinques whose validity is questioned, when there are so many authorised lineage holders in the US that you could learn "legit" techniques from?
I don't have authentic lineage-holding pushup teachings or a lineage-holding jogging coach, either. There is no pranayama in The Five Tibetans, it is just exercise. Also, it was identified as part of some fairly obscure yoga in the Sakya lineage by a lama someone, not that it actually matters.

EDIT: That wasn't meant as snippy. I apologize if it sounded that way. I find it hard to be blunt as I normally am without sounding rude when I write. I wonder if I sound rude when I talk and don't realize it.
Last edited by padma norbu on Wed Sep 04, 2013 6:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Use what seems like poison as medicine. We can use our personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings." Pema Chodron
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Astus
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by Astus »

Fortunately birth in the Pure Land does not require special techniques or empowerments. Realising that one is full of karmic defilements, that only Amitabha's Vow can help in reaching enlightenment, and sincerely aspiring for birth in the Pure Land, these are the essentials for having right faith. And even in times of doubt one should keep the name in mind.
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
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Grigoris
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by Grigoris »

padma norbu wrote:I don't have authentic lineage-holding pushup teachings or a lineage-holding jogging coach, either.
Fair enough, neither do I! :smile: But if you are looking for a yogic exercise routine surely there must be somebody near you that teaches Surya Namaskar or Ashtanga Yoga?
"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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padma norbu
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by padma norbu »

Sherab Dorje wrote:
padma norbu wrote:I don't have authentic lineage-holding pushup teachings or a lineage-holding jogging coach, either.
Fair enough, neither do I! :smile: But if you are looking for a yogic exercise routine surely there must be somebody near you that teaches Surya Namaskar or Ashtanga Yoga?
Exactly. I'm not. I'm interested in The 5 Tibetan Rites which take me about 2 or 3 minutes to do and make me feel amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I began to realize there must be something to this "coordination of energy" stuff Namkhai Norbu is always talking about and so I started thinking about yantra yoga, but I in fact do not want to do yantra yoga. I am interested in learning pranayama now, though. See how I brought this back to the topic I was interested in hearing more about from OP? :D
"Use what seems like poison as medicine. We can use our personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings." Pema Chodron
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Grigoris
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by Grigoris »

The 5 Tibetan Rites are a pseudo-yoga routine (or a rip off and repackage of a proper routine).
"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
plwk
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by plwk »

Image
Well namu butsu, Amida has reached out his hand to us, question is, what about our part?
Singing about the glories of Amida extending his hand to us is of little value if I don't extend mine as well...
Kinda like listening to a sales talk but not buying anything at the end of the day.
In the final analysis, you get to see & know your own butsu.
That's what Amida would want for all of us.
There's no saving by anyone or anything. Just your own.
Amida merely extends his hand but I have to extend mine as well.
Think about it.
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lobster
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by lobster »

Namu Butsu wrote: If he is real
A very real post. In a sense we become or attune to the nature of our focus. Most people are unaware they are lost, having found a teaching, teacher or practice to attach to.
You have decided what you can do. That is well, that is a path, that is a potential. All you need do is travel a little more certainly . . . you are no more lost than those with other preferred 'realities'. :yinyang:
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padma norbu
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by padma norbu »

Sherab Dorje wrote:The 5 Tibetan Rites are a pseudo-yoga routine (or a rip off and repackage of a proper routine).
I do not care. I thought we already covered this?
"Use what seems like poison as medicine. We can use our personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings." Pema Chodron
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Grigoris
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Re: Lost foolish being

Post by Grigoris »

Apaprently so.
"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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