The Mirror of Galadriel
THIRD APPARITION
Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are.
Macbeth shall never vanquished be until
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him.
Macbeth - Act 4, scene 1
William Shakespeare
Death Bardo and the Afterlife
“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.”
Genesis, xxviii, 12 – KJV
Are Appearance and Reputation Important?
All appearance is delusion.
If you view all appearance as nonappearance,
Then that view is your true nature.
Do not become attached to any thoughts that arise in the mind.
What is a Bodhisattva?
bodhisattva, in Buddhism, one who seeks awakening (bodhi)—hence, an individual on the path to becoming a Buddha.
Power and Equanimity
All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
Friedrich Nietzsche
How Much is Enough – Dissatisfaction
In Japanese Buddhism, the Hungry Ghosts are considered to have two variants: the gaki and the jikininki. Gaki (餓鬼) are the spirits of jealous or greedy people who, as punishment for their mortal vices, have been cursed with an insatiable hunger for a particular substance or object.
Bodhisattva Vow and Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra
Like a blind man fumbling in garbage
Happens to find a rare and precious gem,
Likewise I have discovered
The jewel of the precious Bodhi-mind.
Buddhist Nihilism and Controlled Folly
I have no control over who might read the blog nor what they may make of it. The only thing I have responsibility for is my own folly. It is up to me if I express that folly in an impeccable manner or not.
Are You Important – A Big Cheese?
Many people behave as if the entire universe revolves around their lower posterior sphincter. They feel very important and entitled. They think that the universe should submit to all their petty wants, ambitions and desires.
Being a big cheese is not Buddha-nature…you cannot be a big cheese and a Buddha.
Ploy Fatigue
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion bright as magnesium...
The Logic of Fate
The role of the Moirai was to ensure that every being, mortal and divine, lived out their destiny as it was assigned to them by the laws of the universe. For mortals, this destiny spanned their entire lives and was represented as a thread spun from a spindle.
The Array of the Thus-Gone One Akṣobhya
Literally “unperturbed” or “immovable.” The Buddha of the eastern Buddha-field of Abhirati
In the Time of No Buddhas
“Pratyekabuddhas are said to achieve enlightenment on their own, without the use of teachers or guides, according to some traditions by seeing and understanding dependent origination. They are said to arise only in ages where there are no Buddhas and the Buddhist teachings are lost.”
Modern Chöd Practice
As society changes and evolves so do our fears and anxieties. The charnel grounds of a Tibetan vulture sky burial might be replaced by the high technology instrument room and months of drip by drip chemotherapy
Leaving the Palace of Rājā Śuddhodana
Renouncing power, status and wealth is bat-shit crazy…
Was Siddartha a wastrel and a loser?
Lunatic or Mahāsiddha?
There is a tendency to equate anything straying from norm as lunacy or madness. At a push one might be allowed to be creatively avant garde. From inside the hamster wheel those on the outside look crazy.
de baard maakt nog geen filosoof
People have preconceived ideas about what they are prepared to learn and from whom. They place limits on acceptable knowledge.