Search found 60 matches

by SpinyNorman
Sat Jun 18, 2016 7:56 am
Forum: Mahamudra
Topic: Mahamudra meditation problem: locating the mind
Replies: 476
Views: 94944

Re: Mahamudra meditation problem: locating the mind

The mind is without location. However, it is quite normal to feel that you are looking out from behind your eyes. We, after, all, reside in a body, so to speak. I have had experiences when my mind was somewhere outside of my body. But you cannot function very well in the world that way--i.e. intera...
by SpinyNorman
Tue Jan 12, 2016 4:18 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Emptiness
Replies: 312
Views: 52025

Re: Emptiness

rachmiel wrote:Chances are you'll find that you believe the flower actually exists. ...Is it a real entity? Or is it an owner/self we posit to a set of interdependent phenomena?
Though if you drop a "brick" on your "foot" the "pain" feels real enough. ;)
by SpinyNorman
Tue Jan 12, 2016 6:52 am
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Privacy vs surveillance
Replies: 21
Views: 5856

Re: Privacy vs surveillance

The violation of privacy is in itself a crime. But crimes are defined by legal systems, and again those are a product of human cultures. For example it isn't a crime for commercial companies to invade my privacy by cold-calling me on my unlisted home telephone number. Maybe it should be, but it isn...
by SpinyNorman
Tue Jan 12, 2016 6:29 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Emptiness
Replies: 312
Views: 52025

Re: Emptiness

Johnny Dangerous wrote: How are processes different from things?
Dynamic v. static.

Dependently arising stages v. end product.
by SpinyNorman
Tue Jan 12, 2016 6:20 am
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Privacy vs surveillance
Replies: 21
Views: 5856

Re: Privacy vs surveillance

Your subordinate clause seems to suggest that you agree with my perspective that chattel slavery is a crime, yet you conclude by sticking to your guns. If rights are constructs, there is no objective standard by which to judge. By what standard do you judge slavery to be wrong? No, I don't think th...
by SpinyNorman
Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:06 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Emptiness
Replies: 312
Views: 52025

Re: Emptiness

Spiny, It's a fun meditation to view everything as processes, including yourself, rather than static objects ... does something to your sense of the flow of time. I quite like time-lapse photography, the way it speeds up the flow of time, you can see the change in apparently static objects much mor...
by SpinyNorman
Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:44 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Emptiness
Replies: 312
Views: 52025

Re: Emptiness

rachmiel wrote:But (imo) there IS no owner of these parts, there is only a set of processes that happen to exist in an
interdependent web. Flower points to this web of processes.
A phrase I've found helpful is: "No things, only processes." Or perhaps just one big process? ;)
by SpinyNorman
Sun Jan 10, 2016 8:14 pm
Forum: Media
Topic: Music time
Replies: 5271
Views: 879595

Re: Music time

Jon Anderson - Awaken

phpBB [video]
by SpinyNorman
Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:09 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: How does it feel to age to you?
Replies: 20
Views: 5326

Re: How does it feel to age to you?

For us younger members of the forum, did any of you 'oldies' feel resistance or dissatisfaction at the inevitability of aging and at what point[s] and in which forms, did acceptance arrive? I've experienced some frustration with stuff not working as well and not being able to do things in the same ...
by SpinyNorman
Sun Jan 10, 2016 8:35 am
Forum: Meditation
Topic: Meditation in Nature
Replies: 66
Views: 22180

Re: Meditation in Nature

skittles wrote:If you can, keep the wiring in the walls to a minimum if you can hear or feel the wires and magnetic fields oscillating.
Maybe an isolation tank would be useful: ;)
http://www.collective-evolution.com/201 ... -and-soul/
by SpinyNorman
Sat Jan 09, 2016 5:56 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Privacy vs surveillance
Replies: 21
Views: 5856

Re: Privacy vs surveillance

In another time and place, chattel slavery was widely practiced. I interpret this as a grave crime. Through the lens of your perspective, which I might term moral relativism, how would you view that historical phenomenon? I think human rights are a good cause to get behind, but I do see them as a h...
by SpinyNorman
Sat Jan 09, 2016 12:51 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Privacy vs surveillance
Replies: 21
Views: 5856

Re: Privacy vs surveillance

madhusudan wrote:Privacy is a pre-existing and inherent right.
Says who? Surely human rights are subject to human convention?
by SpinyNorman
Sat Jan 09, 2016 12:33 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: What is faith?
Replies: 92
Views: 10857

Re: What is faith?

Astus wrote:That is actually what accepting on faith is: trusting in what others say without gaining an understanding on one's own.
But that only goes so far. Sooner or later there is a need to develop personal confidence through experience.
by SpinyNorman
Sat Jan 09, 2016 12:30 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Privacy vs surveillance
Replies: 21
Views: 5856

Re: Privacy vs surveillance

You know, if you really wanted to fight this, you would get corporate access to a data aggregator and use the data against influencial persons. All the supposedly anonymized data from google etc. actually isn't and it goes straight into the hands of data aggregators which then supply it to others. ...
by SpinyNorman
Sat Jan 09, 2016 10:44 am
Forum: Meditation
Topic: Meditation in Nature
Replies: 66
Views: 22180

Re: Meditation in Nature

Thanks, but that's too shamanic for my taste. I use the elements more as an insight practice into conditionality and interconnectedness. There are also the kasina meditations in Theravada, some information on which is available on the Internet. These are usually (I think) used to develop shamatha, ...
by SpinyNorman
Fri Jan 08, 2016 12:16 pm
Forum: Ethical Conduct
Topic: Idle speech/gossip (7th non-virtous action)
Replies: 5
Views: 4991

Re: Idle speech/gossip (7th non-virtous action)

pael wrote:What is idle speech/gossip?
I think it's all about intention. In Britain we talk about the weather a lot but usually the intention behind such small talk is to be friendly, so I don't see it as a major problem.

Gossip is different because there is usually unskillful intention behind it.
by SpinyNorman
Fri Jan 08, 2016 12:10 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Listening Skills
Replies: 11
Views: 3725

Re: Listening Skills

I used to be part of an Interbeing sangha, and we would practice "deep listening". It works on the principle that people can speak freely without interruption, and that they "hold the floor" until they have said what they need and want to say, with the rest of the group listenin...
by SpinyNorman
Thu Jan 07, 2016 1:37 pm
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Listening Skills
Replies: 11
Views: 3725

Re: Listening Skills

To that end, what tips can other forum members offer this thread with regards to techniques, skills and methods (etc) in order to better observe, understand and learn from what our life-experience can offer. I used to be part of an Interbeing sangha, and we would practice "deep listening"...
by SpinyNorman
Wed Jan 06, 2016 2:50 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: What is faith?
Replies: 92
Views: 10857

Re: What is faith?

Punya wrote:1. complete trust or confidence in someone or something
2. strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.
For me it's not about beliefs but about confidence in the efficacy of particular practices, based on experience.
by SpinyNorman
Wed Jan 06, 2016 2:39 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Solving Problems the Buddhist Way
Replies: 38
Views: 10866

Re: Solving Problems the Buddhist Way

With the teachings on sunyata and dependent origination in mind, I think an understanding of conditionality and interconnectedness is often useful.

A modern expression of this approach would be something like Systems thinking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_thinking

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