[Gem]

Originally Posted by naturesflow

Wonder why this thread hasn't taken off into some good discussions. Is it you Gem? Or is it me? lol..Being such a pivotal point of self awareness, maybe others don't like "thinking" about it..hehe

It's me. I'm on a different wavelength, in my own private Idaho, and others are interested in a Buddhism which I've never heard of (and I think is hoopla). In my case, The teachings of Buddhism can't involve these sorts of things, Gods, Deities, Hindu chants and so forth, because it makes into a sect, which means it is no longer universal. The Buddhism I know is for anyone, so we don't convert people 'our brand of God', we don't have deities, we don't teach people Hindi chanting. We teach meditation and the reasoning behind it to anyone who wants to learn - even Buddhist monks, as well as people of all religious backgrounds. No one is ever asked to believe anything. It's just that their sectarian individual religions and individual beliefs are irrelevant to the teaching because dhamma is universal. I think people become disconcerted when we say it doesn't really matter what they believe in, because they give a lot of importance to these beliefs, just like they give a lot of importance to their knowledge, as we do tend to think out individual thoughts are very important - which is the basic problem I guess. But we can deal with these sorts of attachments through the meditation process, and before too long, all these beliefs, thoughts, knowledges, will seem entertaining at best, but otherwise quite trivial, so it no longer matters. It actually never mattered as far as Buddhist teaching is concerned.

We must be the only ones interested in mindful practice..haha.

The quote says it all really-understanding of the total process of oneself.

all the way...

That's Buddhism as I have experienced it - know yourself.

As a side story. I started a new job last week, I had to practice some moments in the public arena, staying grounded and present, mindfully with the external process of others being themselves - come as you are moments. It was intense at times, but dropping into that "being" of all process in me, opened a wonderful feeling of being immersed in the beautiful chaos of others as they were and seeing the beauty and joy arise regardless. Once I might have missed those moments as I once was, not grounded in the whole in myself... It was a rather fast manifestation of events, where I had no time to entertain myself in old ways, I was more open and present and seeing myself get through at a deeper level in myself, pleasantly surprised at the emerging connections I was able to experience which were wonderful. Direct face to face moments like this and alone, are important for me to learn the art of walking the meditative path, mindfully and present with the total process of myself and accepting people just as they are...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwSxuB_cJJ8

Very cool. I'm not at ease in the public arena... I'm starting to realise that I'm a 'very different' sort of individual... I'll watch that video now.