Search found 506 matches

by Boomerang
Fri Jan 26, 2024 12:12 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: What is supposed to be kept secret? What isn't?
Replies: 19
Views: 1065

Re: What is supposed to be kept secret? What isn't?

Below are examples of books that made me consider starting a YouTube channel. When I see these books, I imagine that there are people who would benefit from learning about them in the form of fair use video essays and book reviews. If it's okay for people to write books about these topics, I would i...
by Boomerang
Thu Jan 25, 2024 2:04 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: What is supposed to be kept secret? What isn't?
Replies: 19
Views: 1065

What is supposed to be kept secret? What isn't?

Vajrayana is also called secret mantra. Some things are supposed to be kept secret, I think. But I can go on Amazon and see so many books about this "secret" tradition. I find the books interesting, and sometimes I think about making a YouTube channel dedicated to them. But before I do tha...
by Boomerang
Sat Dec 16, 2023 5:28 pm
Forum: Help Required
Topic: Enlightenment as soon as possible
Replies: 9
Views: 419

Re: Enlightenment as soon as possible

I think the fastest path for you depends on your unique qualities. Dzogchen is a faster path on paper, but Dzogchen didn't work for Milarepa, so his Dzogchen teacher told him to leave and study with Marpa. Then Marpa gave him the longest ngondro of all time, followed by other things that weren't Dzo...
by Boomerang
Thu Nov 02, 2023 8:52 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: How should a Tibetan Buddhist lay person view sensual pleasures?
Replies: 21
Views: 1664

Re: How should a Tibetan Buddhist lay person view sensual pleasures?

I appreciate everyone's answers. I'm learning that I need to be radically honest with myself and be mindful of whether I'm engaging in sense pleasures out of craving & attachment, or as a form of sincere Buddhist practice.
by Boomerang
Tue Oct 31, 2023 8:41 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: How should a Tibetan Buddhist lay person view sensual pleasures?
Replies: 21
Views: 1664

How should a Tibetan Buddhist lay person view sensual pleasures?

My understanding of what sets tantra and dzogchen apart from the personal liberation teachings is that instead of abandoning sensual pleasures, we can use them on the path to become liberated faster. But the fact that we can use delicious food, sex, etc. for spiritual practice doesn't mean it's okay...
by Boomerang
Fri Jul 28, 2023 7:18 am
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: US monk awarded Gelug Geshe degree
Replies: 3
Views: 567

Re: US monk awarded Gelug Geshe degree

I rejoice in the merit of everyone who made this accomplishment possible.
by Boomerang
Tue Jul 25, 2023 4:45 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Is it good to have a bit of trauma to keep you motivated in practice?
Replies: 5
Views: 1037

Is it good to have a bit of trauma to keep you motivated in practice?

If you're serious enough about your practice to go into a one, three, or seven year retreat, I reckon you need to have a very intense personality. With more distractions than ever trying to steal our time, you can't have the mindset of an ordinary person while also being really successful in dharma ...
by Boomerang
Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:49 pm
Forum: Prayers and Aspirations
Topic: Prayers for my mother
Replies: 8
Views: 1263

Re: Prayers for my mother

Praying now.
by Boomerang
Sat May 27, 2023 7:01 pm
Forum: Dzogchen
Topic: Why so gray?
Replies: 89
Views: 8591

Re: Why so gray?

I'm in my 20s, and I've always assumed that most older Westerners became interested in Buddhism because the beatnik movement, hippie movement, and Hollywood films like Kundun attracted them from the 1950s to 1990s. Youth culture isn't like that now.
by Boomerang
Sat Mar 25, 2023 5:48 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: People with professional careers in Buddhist organizations: do you recommend it?
Replies: 4
Views: 683

Re: People with professional careers in Buddhist organizations: do you recommend it?

I started a Buddhist NFP (501c3 in the USA) with the mission of fundraising for, building, and maintaining a monastery in Wisconsin. I currently serve as the president of that org's board. I have no business or marketing skills at all. For the most part, that is also true for the volunteer board me...
by Boomerang
Sat Mar 25, 2023 4:32 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: People with professional careers in Buddhist organizations: do you recommend it?
Replies: 4
Views: 683

People with professional careers in Buddhist organizations: do you recommend it?

I've fantasized about using my professional skills (marketing) to help Buddhist organizations for a long time. One of the biggest things stopping me is that 99% of people I've ever heard talk about working with nonprofits say it's a bad idea. Nonprofits are among the worst clients out there, they sa...
by Boomerang
Fri Feb 24, 2023 4:03 pm
Forum: Buddhist Tantra Talk
Topic: For students of Choegyal Namkhai Norbu, can the Vajrasattva pdf be turned into a complete ngondro?
Replies: 0
Views: 1178

For students of Choegyal Namkhai Norbu, can the Vajrasattva pdf be turned into a complete ngondro?

On the website, there's a 10-page pdf for Vajrasattva practice, titled Practica-Vajrasattva. It includes a refuge verse, a bodhicitta verse, and a mandala offering. If someone wanted to, could they use this text as a basis to do a traditional ngondro with 100,000 repetitions? I'm not sure if this pd...
by Boomerang
Thu Feb 23, 2023 11:43 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Meat Eating Mantras
Replies: 114
Views: 6211

Re: Meat Eating Mantras

I've never read it myself, but here's a quote from Lama Zopa Rinpoche crediting a meat mantra to a Manjugosha tantra. Interesting! Any chance you identified which tantra is being referenced? The tantra says, "those with compassion eat meat; those with samaya drink alcohol." Got a chapter/...
by Boomerang
Thu Feb 23, 2023 11:15 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Meat Eating Mantras
Replies: 114
Views: 6211

Re: Meat Eating Mantras

In the context of this conversation, outside = when you're at a restaurant for the purpose of eating food for sustenance rather than when you're in a ganacakra and eating them for the sake of non-dual wisdom. If you believe animals can only be benefited in a properly done ritual, you could eat some...
by Boomerang
Thu Feb 23, 2023 11:11 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Meat Eating Mantras
Replies: 114
Views: 6211

Re: Meat Eating Mantras

Since when is one who practices the two stages ever outside this context? In the context of this conversation, outside = when you're at a restaurant for the purpose of eating food for sustenance rather than when you're in a ganacakra and eating them for the sake of non-dual wisdom. If you believe a...
by Boomerang
Thu Feb 23, 2023 10:55 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Meat Eating Mantras
Replies: 114
Views: 6211

Re: Meat Eating Mantras

For a practitioner this is never, nothing is outside ones sadhana. This is why we have waking yoga, washing yoga, eating yoga, yoga of passion, etc. But we don't apply the instructions for waking yoga to yoga of passion, do we? This is my exact point. My claim is that the Indian tantric texts of co...
by Boomerang
Sun Feb 19, 2023 6:59 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Is it okay to eat meat & be in an unclean place while reciting the 21 Taras praises?
Replies: 8
Views: 987

Is it okay to eat meat & be in an unclean place while reciting the 21 Taras praises?

I thought the general rule for Green Tara practice was that you have to abstain from the black foods (meat, garlic, etc.) and maintain cleanliness. And these rules are the reason why Green Tara practice is generally done in the morning, before Tibetan people eat any meat. But I've heard that it's no...
by Boomerang
Sat Nov 19, 2022 3:37 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: How exactly do you "practice" the outer preliminaries?
Replies: 21
Views: 1234

Re: How exactly do you "practice" the outer preliminaries?

Thank you to everyone for your help.
by Boomerang
Sun Nov 13, 2022 3:45 am
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: How exactly do you "practice" the outer preliminaries?
Replies: 21
Views: 1234

How exactly do you "practice" the outer preliminaries?

I understand how to practice a prostration. You clasp your hands, kneel, etc. But what does it mean to "practice" the outer preliminaries? Reading a text about the 4 thoughts like Words of My Perfect Teacher 100,000 times?

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