Search found 285 matches

by Alfredo
Mon Apr 28, 2014 1:55 am
Forum: Language
Topic: Tibetan version of short Longchen Nyingthik sadhanas?
Replies: 4
Views: 1709

Re: Tibetan version of short Longchen Nyingthik sadhanas?

Okay, let's try this a different way: Can anyone provide the Tibetan for either or both of the following passages? (Their English source is given above.) Thank you! I. Long version (compiled by Jigme Trinle Oser, trans. Cortland Dahl) TAKING REFUGE In the true Three Jewels--the Buddha--and Three Roo...
by Alfredo
Sun Apr 27, 2014 11:12 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Refuge without dharma/refuge name
Replies: 20
Views: 6472

Re: Refuge without dharma/refuge name

"Tundra" can be your dharma name! Or you can let us vote and pick.
by Alfredo
Sat Apr 26, 2014 11:57 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Validity of recorded empowerments
Replies: 357
Views: 82232

Re: Validity of recorded empowerments

"Dear Ju Mipham, "I hope this letter find you well. (Oh wait...) "You know, the other day a bunch of us were arguing on the internet...never mind what that is. Just answer 'yes' or 'no' for me, willya? "In case of a dispute, whose opinion ought to prevail--yours, or that of the i...
by Alfredo
Fri Apr 25, 2014 10:58 pm
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: Validity of recorded empowerments
Replies: 357
Views: 82232

Re: Validity of recorded empowerments

Say, don't the sutras say that Buddhas have the power to multiply their bodies and teach simultaneously in many different places? Do you suppose THEIR empowerments would be valid?

Look, if you accept Garchen Rinpoche (or whoever) as your guru, and he says its valid, then end of story.
by Alfredo
Fri Apr 25, 2014 10:50 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Is "mystical union" a part of Buddhism?
Replies: 43
Views: 6469

Re: Is "mystical union" a part of Buddhism?

Namaste jeetzitar, and AUM NAMO SHIVAYAM!

"Shiva merging into Buddha" could describe the history of Tibetan tantra!
by Alfredo
Fri Apr 25, 2014 7:27 am
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Recent leaps in the understanding of hatha yoga
Replies: 2
Views: 1226

Re: Recent leaps in the understanding of hatha yoga

Sadhu! Sadhu!

(Adesh and paranam if you read this, Jim!)
by Alfredo
Fri Apr 25, 2014 3:33 am
Forum: Lounge
Topic: Using Astral Projection for Dharma Practice
Replies: 54
Views: 10520

Re: Using Astral Projection for Dharma Practice

Somebody named "Aemilius" ought to recognize a Neo-Platonic allusion! The soul (or rational faculty) is immortal because it is made of the same stuff as the stars. The central Hermetic belief is that the soul mirrors to cosmos (this is why astrology works). Theosophists popularized the lan...
by Alfredo
Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:35 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Why did you choose Buddhism?
Replies: 98
Views: 27229

Re: Why did you choose Buddhism?

As a teenager I was attracted to various Eastern religions--to some extent through the lens of romantic Theosophical and New Age influences, which portray Tibet in particular as a mystical place. In my twenties, I travelled to Asia (various countries) on a kind of gap year, in the course of which I ...
by Alfredo
Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:24 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Is "mystical union" a part of Buddhism?
Replies: 43
Views: 6469

Re: Is "mystical union" a part of Buddhism?

Say, how does a Buddhist order a hot dog? (Oh, you've heard that one.) The OP describes a felt experience of mystical union. While this doesn't seem very Buddhist (this language is more typical of Advaita Vedanta, or even some traditions within Catholicism!), several of the posts above point out exa...
by Alfredo
Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:49 am
Forum: Tibetan Buddhism
Topic: visualization of buddha on top of your head
Replies: 1
Views: 554

visualization of buddha on top of your head

Question: when you visualize a buddha or bodhisattva seated on top of your head, is that buddha or bodhisattva facing in the same direction as you, or facing "backwards" / facing you (the same as if you were visualizing it in front of you)? Does it matter if that buddha or bodhisattva has ...
by Alfredo
Sun Apr 20, 2014 10:33 pm
Forum: Language
Topic: Tibetan version of short Longchen Nyingthik sadhanas?
Replies: 4
Views: 1709

Tibetan version of short Longchen Nyingthik sadhanas?

Okay, I've got Cortland Dahl's translation of..various things related to the Longchen Nyingthik preliminary practices--the book is Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary Practices (Snow Lion, 2009). Parts of it have been separately circulated among Dzongsar Khyentse Ri...
by Alfredo
Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:50 am
Forum: Ethical Conduct
Topic: Buddhist Hate Crimes
Replies: 70
Views: 19411

Re: Buddhist Hate Crimes

There are thousands more stories like this. You must have great confidence in the Bhutan government, military, and police. Or a remarkable hatred of conmmunism, that you would show such disregard for the human rights, and civil legal rights, of noncombatants.
by Alfredo
Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:03 am
Forum: Ethical Conduct
Topic: Buddhist Hate Crimes
Replies: 70
Views: 19411

Re: Buddhist Hate Crimes

While some of the Nepalis may well have been there "illegally," bear in mind that the law was changed retroactively, and enforced with none too much solicitude for the rights of those deported. The communist (Naxalite) movement based in NE India did make "incursions" into Bhutan ...
by Alfredo
Thu Apr 17, 2014 3:17 pm
Forum: Ethical Conduct
Topic: Buddhist Hate Crimes
Replies: 70
Views: 19411

Re: Buddhist Hate Crimes

The reality is that a bunch of people who had been born in Bhutan were forced into exile, apparently in order to prevent that Nepali-speaking Hindu population from gaining a demographic majority, and then having Bhutan face a Sikkim-like fate.
by Alfredo
Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:19 am
Forum: Ethical Conduct
Topic: Buddhist Hate Crimes
Replies: 70
Views: 19411

Re: Buddhist Hate Crimes

I am concerned about these things too. Most of the examples involve Theravadin monks (probably because most of the countries in which Buddhist monks have any real political power are Theravadin), but Bhutan's government (officially Drukpa Kargyud, with some Nyingma representation) perpetrated ethnic...
by Alfredo
Fri Apr 11, 2014 3:51 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Questions from a Curious World's Religions Student
Replies: 11
Views: 2683

Re: Questions from a Curious World's Religions Student

1. What does it mean to be human? (Do humans have souls? Do only humans have souls?) There is a traditional Buddhist phrase, "precious human rebirth," which suggests that being reborn as a human is as rare as a sea turtle who, once in a zillion years, sticks his head into some kind of hoo...
by Alfredo
Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:25 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: What is the correct pronunciation of the syllable/letter A?
Replies: 19
Views: 4789

Re: What is the correct pronunciation of the syllable/letter

Perhaps Dzongchungpa would know something about this...? :D Effectively, both are pronounced "ah" (as in f a ther). The Tibetans have to distinguish the names of the letters by saying "a chen" (big A) and "a chung" (little a). The big one (that looks like a W) is the ma...
by Alfredo
Sat Mar 29, 2014 11:07 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: How to "upgrade" my meditation?
Replies: 23
Views: 4204

Re: How to "upgrade" my meditation?

And remember: there is no spoon.
by Alfredo
Sat Mar 29, 2014 11:05 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: Enlightenment possible for laymen?
Replies: 45
Views: 7608

Re: Enlightenment possible for laymen?

I personally feel that "enlightenment" is a myth. It is a story told to glorify and elevate various culture-heroes, and perhaps one's own teachers. So I guess the answer to your question is--it depends on whether the laymen are Theravada or Mahayana! And whether they leave any spiritual of...

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