I'd been working on compiling and editing a series of threads on the practice of tummo from Kenneth's site, I've turned it into a downloadable pdf and rejigged the formatting so that it reads as one coherent piece. I thought it might be a good idea to create an off-site repository for good posts and threads from this site and other pragmatic/hardcore dharma forums, just taking the text and editing it so that there's a linear flow to the main topic and taking out the non-practice related comments or anything that's not necessary to the subject at hand.

Obviously the consent of the author(s) should be sought, but I know sometimes it's difficult to do so if the person no longer posts or is uncontactable. My only intention with this project is to provide a way of taking some of the down-to-earth, practical wisdom posted on these sites and editing it, correcting grammar and spelling if necessary, then making it freely available as a download for those interested. I have no intention of turning it into anything commercial, I'm happy to do the work and upload it in my own time as I've found it to be a valuable process in itself in my own practice. If anyone would have an issue with their material being posted, or if it's maybe being used elsewhere and/or commercially, then I have no problem removing or not using it.

I'd like this to be a community project with everyone suggesting threads or submitting their own compilations, perhaps even making it into a collaborative thing with DhO versions being used for the wiki or whatever. I think it's a good idea and could be useful in providing straightforward instructions on beginner to advanced practices, as well as some useful exchanges within the threads, in a convenient package.

Ideas? Thoughts?

Here's the first one I've put together: Loco Austriaco's Instructions on Tummo

Tommy

P.S. The name, in case you're wondering, is a roundabout wordplay thing referring to a storehouse of pragmatic dharma. It seemed like a good name at the time...I don't speak Latin. Or Tibetan.

Excellent idea Tommy, I've been thinking along the same lines myself. So many good posts and discussions gets buried, it would be nice to revive some of them. Especially for newcomers, if you weren't around when something was first posted you wouldn't even know what to search for.

I already have a one-document version of Ian's jhana thread if that's of any interest? Would need Ian's permission first though. What about other ready-made pieces, say like Trent's wonder essay, is that outside the scope? And on the other side of the spectrum, what about compilations? Taking one subjects and cherry-picking relevant posts? That would mean more copyright issues and more subjectivity... Just trowing it out there.

Any specific ideas regarding formatting? Do you use a template?

I'll dig around and see if I can find some gems, will post here before starting something so people don't work on the same stuff.

I really like the sound of this, but I question the current format: published PDFs. I'd love to help create some form of knowledge base and I imagine this knowledge base is what Daniel was sort of looking to create with this forum in the first place.

I’ve been bending my brain lately trying to figure out a new format for communicating knowledge, but I’m kinda stuck. For the purposes mentioned in Tommy's post, should we make a wiki? A co-op blog? A new forum?

There are countless blogs out there already, and I dunno if another one is the best approach. There are even other good forums out there (*gasp* it’s true!). What about thinking about the project as some form of curation? Then again, there are already several curation blogs (like awakeningtoreality.com).

The structure of a blog is somewhat counter to the intent of Tommy’s project (to promote high-quality but buried content) because content will be buried on a blog. Another approach with a different structure is a wiki. Daniel has already tried to get that up and running and it doesn't seem to me to have been very successful. A wiki is more open, less suited for curation and heavily topic based.

Then there are other interesting formats such as Q&A (see Quora, the Stack Exchange network and Yahoo Answers), conversational format (see Branch) and much more.

Thoughts?

It is a lovely idea, I think the DhO wiki would be most suitable.

In the end, the medium matters little, what is really lacking is people who are willing to do the editing.

Do with it as you see fit. You have my permission provided you don't characterize it as anything other than one person's anecdotal experience with instruction from the Pali Canon of discourses.

Unlike some here, I long ago lost interest in anything other than original source material (the Pali Canon or Chinese Agamas).

Anything in, the agamas you would recommend? I have been reading a lot of Thanissaro lately, and have been getting a lot out of it.

I mention them only because they pretty much mirror what is stated in the Pali Canon, since they were based on the same material as the Canon. This is not always the case when one examines Tibetan or Zen sources of scriptural references.

And, yes, I agree that Thanissaro Bhikkhu is a good source for commentarial material on the Canon. Once you get around some of his unorthodox usages of terms (I prefer "the establishment of mindfulness" to "frames of reference" when referring to the word satipatthana), his understanding of the basics and fundamentals of the teaching is spot on!

Thanks, Ian And.

I've started using Archive.org to upload these files 'cause it'll be more secure and reliable, and also allows for cataloging and maintaining the files if changes need to be made. Box is good and I'll still use it to upload .rar files of all the formats as a package for easy download, but Archive will be a safer bet in the long run.

All Formats (.rar).

Archive link.

I'm going to add this article to the wiki too under the "Energy Practices" section, if it's o.k. with Daniel.

I agree with you completely, maybe it'd be possible to have a sub-category within the wiki for more detailed explication of the techniques themselves? We've got the various topics like jhanas, vipassana, etc, etc but I think a more practical, how-to of the basic techniques would also be really useful; I'm doing something similar with this Methods of Awakening project and I was thinking about whether or not some of the material from there could be used in that way.

I've been working on stuff for the wiki for a while now, but I haven't come up with anything I was confident enough in to actually use other than a small addition to the vipassana page. It's a shame it hasn't been picked up on more, I know Steph was working on some stuff too but other than that I don't know that much has been changed. Hopefully in getting this AP project started up it'll be a good excuse to sift through what's on here already and start to build up, as you said, more of a knowledge base.

Format-wise, I haven't really thought about it and have just stuck to A4 size with some clear, easy-to-read fonts. I'll get back to you on that one...

Tommy - I just saw this and think it's a great idea. I know that particularly on KFD there are some excellent practice threads that I really want to read through but can't face doing so on the screen. Perhaps particular practice threads would make worthwhile candidates for the Alaya Pragmatica?