Hey Dharmanites, 

I just had a fun & insightful conversation with long-time Vajrayana practitioner & meditation teacher Charlie Awbery. 

In this podcast we speak about the difference between Sutric & Tantric view, the vehicles of Buddhism & their different endpoints, why the Sutric view can be problematic for householders, different perspectives on awakening, the Evolving Ground meditation community, integrating emptiness & form practices, and learning from transmission.

Check it below & let me know what you think. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMz6caPX07s&t=197s

I found her last week, probably through a notification of your incoming video, so I browsed a little in her method at Evolving Ground ("remaining uninvolved") and found it disappointing: beginners should from the get-go practice just like those in High-EQ, hoping that eventually things will click. 

​​​​​​​

sects, sects, sects, all some buddhists ever think about...

Are you saying that remaining uninvolved is far too advanced for most beginners?

I think it's important to mention that she includes scaffolding practices such as counting the breath which can be dropped or integrated as needed. 

Is thinking about different approaches to Buddhism or Awakening not important? Id love it if you could expand more on your comment. 

it was just punnishment...


when presented with different approaches Monkey would clap his hands in delight and turn cartwheels, saying, "it's all one to me..."


yes, thinking about different approaches is not important...yes, we have no bananas today...

it's amusing...
fun, even...
but not important...

have fun, bra, you're good at it and getting better...I actually watched the two pod casts and might watch more if you are niceto me...
​​​​​​​
(it was the old lady I was criticizing...in fun...did you not get the joke?)

actually I watched all of the loch kelly podcast and bailed early on sutric/tantric as I didn't agree with her from the getgo...

there isn't any progress from one method to another, no progress in any respect...

​​​​​​​any vessel that can cross the water will do...

For most (lay) beginners, "remaining uninvolved" [translates] into "just sitting", which is good in creating a routine, etc, but most of the time would be daydreaming if not coupled with other techniques. Noting and sweeping are two tools that any meditator should have at hand, when needed. And that fosters concentration too. So gaining insights and concentration is a win-win situation. Remaining uninvolved may be best used once you know a little bit of how your mind works, which gives you stability for it to flourish. But you can also stagnate there, so there you'll need  other tools like self-inquiry, active concentration techniques and even metta, that may put you back on track. 

The debate between Sutric and Tantric practices is an exhausted discussion, "beating a dead horse" americans say isn't it? It's just a marketing tool that Mahayana and Vajrayana crowds like to insert into the conversation again and again. If any, DhO and sister communities have been amalgamating all three traditions, in an always provisional case by case modality, during the last 15 years. 

These posts may be of your interest:

- The Pragmatic Dharma Approach
- At a certain point, MCTB needs to be left behind and WUTYL needs to be picked up
- "Four Gears" of practice in Ken McLeod's Wake Up to Your Life

 

traduce
trə-doo͞s′, -dyoo͞s′
transitive verb
To make false or malicious statements about (someone) in order to cause humiliation or disgrace. synonym: malign.




Hey, traduce me!

Just sitting with occasional daydreams is better than occupying the mind with placeholders.


​​​​​​​
omar khayyam:

LXXVII

And this I know: whether the one True Light
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite,
One Flash of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.

beginner's mind is the way

Ohh! Thank you Terry!!

​​​​​​​That's the problem when you start to feel confident in a foreign language but end up screwing it up  I hope you all understood that by "traduces" I meant "translates" or "means". In Spanish -> traducir = translate. Same problem happens with "molestar" (to tease-annoy) and english "molest"... a memorable annecdote when a friend was asked why was he sent to the Principal's office and he answered "I was molesting the teacher" 

no offense taken...


but, 

​​​​​​​when I am just sitting I am totally nvolved...

Sure Terry, but you are not a beginner at all. That was the whole point

but I aspire to beginner's mind....



from the gospel of thomas:

(4) Jesus said, "The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old
about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they
will become one and the same."


tao te ching

​​​​​​​55
He who is in harmony with the Tao
is like a newborn child.

Godspeed! 

oh, I'm getting younger speedily enough...

won't be long now I'll be toddling, drooling and pooping my dipes...


​​​​​​​the alpha and the omega

Ah those myriads of diapers, go , go , go on and on, until gone gone gone.