If you spent as much time doing ngondro as you did complaining about not doing ngondro you would have done a ngondro, or not?
But seriously: ngondro is better than bacon dude, you are missing out!
Dude, I'm doing ngondro! But I won't have anything like the traditional numbers any time soon!
Anyway, aren't you a vegetarian?
They've opened the retreat up to people who have done around half of their ngondro. But, I'm with you, I'd rather wait till next year when I should be basically ready. By then maybe you can come along, eh?
Then, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti spoke to the elder Śāriputra and the great disciples: “Reverends, eat of the food of the Tathāgata! It is ambrosia perfumed by the great compassion. But do not fix your minds in narrow-minded attitudes, lest you be unable to receive its gift.”
- Chapter 9, The Feast Brought by the Emanated Incarnation
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Vimalakīrti”
There's this tradition in Catholic/Orthodox countries of showing respect to sacred images of saints by kissing them.
Is this something that is done in the Buddhist world? Bowing and touching with your forehead is probably the parallel here. Would this work in a Buddhist context?
Then, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti spoke to the elder Śāriputra and the great disciples: “Reverends, eat of the food of the Tathāgata! It is ambrosia perfumed by the great compassion. But do not fix your minds in narrow-minded attitudes, lest you be unable to receive its gift.”
- Chapter 9, The Feast Brought by the Emanated Incarnation
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Vimalakīrti”
There's this tradition in Catholic/Orthodox countries of showing respect to sacred images of saints by kissing them.
Is this something that is done in the Buddhist world? Bowing and touching with your forehead is probably the parallel here. Would this work in a Buddhist context?
I know of people who give their statue a bath from time to time and give it some clothing or put a scarf around it, so the Buddha doesn't catch a cold.
Kissing seems strange to me.
Some people cover the statues of their temple with gold.
I ordered Malcolm's book well before Christmas, it still has not arrived. Supposedly it will take three or so weeks for delivery. Buddhahood may occur in this life, but delivery of this book seems like it's taking a lifetime.
Last edited by TharpaChodron on Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
And...Next year around this time I will be doing my Rushen and Treckchod instruction retreat with Lama Pema Dorje, if all goes as planned.
That should be fantastic. I've received a fair amount of teaching and several empowerments from him since he lives in the Bay Area, but unfortunately I have not been able to attend his Trekchod retreats since I have not completed a traditional ngondro.
I sure hope so. I've seen him but never received any teachings from him before.
I took teachings from Lama Pema Dorje twice and learned a lot. I have a great deal of respect for him.
That should be fantastic. I've received a fair amount of teaching and several empowerments from him since he lives in the Bay Area, but unfortunately I have not been able to attend his Trekchod retreats since I have not completed a traditional ngondro.
I sure hope so. I've seen him but never received any teachings from him before.
I took teachings from Lama Pema Dorje twice and learned a lot. I have a great deal of respect for him.
not a random thought sorry for the
The rules of Random Thought thread. One does not talk about Random Thought thread. And there are no rules about Random Thought thread.
The rules of Random Thought thread. One does not talk about Random Thought thread. And there are no rules about Random Thought thread.
10-4
here's a legit random thought
when I was an adolescent, I hated this song and I hated the older kids who liked it with the heat of ten thousand suns
15 million views on youtube...? there's a book out there called The Encyclopedia of Stupidity. It explains everything. But that's hardly a random thought. Moving on.
I was back in my pissant hometown of Gladstone, Oregon, USA last week and my daughter (19 months) was spinning in circles like a whirling dervish, shouting ROUND AND ROUND like a little kid who just learned those words might do (because that's what she is, a little kid spinning in circles like a whirling dervish, shouting ROUND AND ROUND like she just learned those words, because she did just learn those words). What does my father-in-law do? He nods his head rhythmically and whispers "round and round" like it's karaoke night on Meathead Mountain. The old fart's poor taste aligns him with the dick-stuck-in-a-beehive bullies of my adolescence. A full quarter of my kid's DNA...
It's not hatred anymore and I'm not castigating my father-in-law for our differences in taste but there's something about that milieu that makes me want to do some serious drinking. I'll never escape from that waterlogged, moldy, everyone-knows-this-is-nowhere nonsense because it's in my head. King Buzzo moved to LA. He's right. At age 14, I figured I'd know I had made it when I could go a full day without having to deal with wet socks from walking in the rain with leaky shoes on. but guess what? The feeling-tone of my own afflictions is wet feet squeaking away from mullet-headed buttrockers who knew they had no future, and that's feeling more and more like a life sentence for your friend DGA.
I'd like to share my thoughts about one of my cats. He's a tired old man named Donovan because he meows like this:
We call him Donnie. He's dirty most of the time and talks too much. "Shut the **** up, Donnie."
Back in May or June, he was declining badly... not eating, pissing in strange places, losing weight. The vet ran some tests and told us that Donnie's kidneys were failing and he'd be dead in three months, so we might as well let him do whatever he wants and eat however he wants.
Since then, Donnie's been living his best life. We let him outside in spite of the traffic because the neighbors feed him all manner of high and lowbrow cuisine. The kids play with him. He swats at the possums and runs from the raccoons. He's back to his normal weight and his kidney function seems to have been restored, which doesn't happen in nature.
... Back in May or June, he was declining badly... not eating, pissing in strange places, losing weight. The vet ran some tests and told us that Donnie's kidneys were failing and he'd be dead in three months, so we might as well let him do whatever he wants and eat however he wants.
Since then, Donnie's been living his best life. We let him outside in spite of the traffic because the neighbors feed him all manner of high and lowbrow cuisine. The kids play with him. He swats at the possums and runs from the raccoons. He's back to his normal weight and his kidney function seems to have been restored, which doesn't happen in nature.
Good story. Again and again it appears to me that doctors do not know as much about life and death as they think.
My friend was put into despair when her father's doctor told her, her father would most probably die within two weeks due to lung cancer. But in reality the father managed to improve and he lived for more than one year after this bad prognosis. This year of life was very important for the whole family. They could clean old quarrels and restore harmony before he died.
I think, it always depends on the quality of the tool. Any good cutting tool is not cheap. Expensive scissors or knifes cut well a whole lifetime while cheap quality is able to cut only shortly or never.
Then, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti spoke to the elder Śāriputra and the great disciples: “Reverends, eat of the food of the Tathāgata! It is ambrosia perfumed by the great compassion. But do not fix your minds in narrow-minded attitudes, lest you be unable to receive its gift.”
- Chapter 9, The Feast Brought by the Emanated Incarnation
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Vimalakīrti”
Generally, enjoyment of speech is the gateway to poor [results]. So it becomes the foundation for generating all negative emotional states. Jampel Pawo, The Certainty of the Diamond Mind