One Word

Hokai Sobol, modified 16 Years ago at 3/17/08 12:50 PM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/17/08 12:50 PM

One Word

Posts: 4 Join Date: 4/30/09 Recent Posts
Forum: Practical Dharma

If you'd have just one word to express your core practice at this point, what would it be? What is the signifier you'd use as the finger pointing for you at this time, at this point on your path? What comes to mind first? Give your word, and then - if you need to, and definitely if you must - elaborate on that.
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Florian, modified 16 Years ago at 3/17/08 9:46 PM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/17/08 9:46 PM

RE: One Word

Posts: 1028 Join Date: 4/28/09 Recent Posts
Developing
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Wet Paint, modified 16 Years ago at 3/18/08 3:26 AM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/18/08 3:26 AM

RE: One Word

Posts: 22924 Join Date: 8/6/09 Recent Posts
Author: sonamdolma

Thanks, Hokai. Its gotta be - "amazing".

I've only been here a week and major changes have occurred. Paid a little bit of attention (several days) to my tingles and itches, gained more equanimity re past spiritual failures and then - like a block had been removed - my kundalini started quivering and shivering and rising - its been almost totally inactive for about ten years. Should've moved from shamata to vipassina sooner.

Any kundalini experts out there .... ?

And, while I'm asking for advice - I don't want to be known as sonamdolma and would prefer to use my real name. Can't sm to change that on my site.-

ust call me.....Ann.
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Vincent Horn, modified 16 Years ago at 3/18/08 3:24 PM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/18/08 3:24 PM

RE: One Word

Posts: 211 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Ordinary emoticon
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Wet Paint, modified 16 Years ago at 3/19/08 8:02 PM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/19/08 8:02 PM

RE: One Word

Posts: 22924 Join Date: 8/6/09 Recent Posts
Author: woman_alone

Resolve.

The level of dedication has changed, thanks in part to D.O. I'm in the early stages of the path, but the goal is clear now, and the resolve to practice is firm.
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Florian, modified 16 Years ago at 3/19/08 9:52 PM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/19/08 9:52 PM

RE: One Word

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So what about you, Hokai?
Hokai Sobol, modified 16 Years ago at 3/20/08 3:06 AM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/20/08 3:06 AM

RE: One Word

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My own core practice at this point seems to have the taste of "immediacy". Not to be too elaborate about it, the immediacy refers to the "all-at-once" nature of being here with all it entails; this all-at-on(c)eness of apparent opposites is what I'd refer to as immediacy. Not straying would be another way of putting it, but that seems to conceal more than it reveals about the actual phase and/or condition, and the praxis it involves.
Martin Mai, modified 16 Years ago at 3/29/08 2:08 AM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/29/08 2:08 AM

RE: One Word

Posts: 0 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
uplifting

...because I experience a constantly increasing speed in awareness which feels to me like uplifting
Guillermo Z, modified 16 Years ago at 3/29/08 6:25 AM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/29/08 6:25 AM

RE: One Word

Posts: 20 Join Date: 9/8/09 Recent Posts
My take would be "Committed". I finally realized that practicing is the only way to go! If you follow the instructions and invest enough time and energy you will see the unfolding of the Dharma.
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Chris Marti, modified 16 Years ago at 3/29/08 11:22 AM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/29/08 11:22 AM

RE: One Word

Posts: 379 Join Date: 7/7/09 Recent Posts
Hello, Hokai. My one word is --- ground.
Hokai Sobol, modified 16 Years ago at 3/29/08 1:51 PM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/29/08 1:51 PM

RE: One Word

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This is looking great. You might want to see how Vince elaborated on "ordinary". Check his post
http://www.vincenthorn.com/2008/03/29/summing-it-up-in-one-word-ordinary/
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Vincent Horn, modified 16 Years ago at 3/29/08 2:08 PM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/29/08 2:08 PM

RE: One Word

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Ah, yeah. Thanks for linking to that Hokai. I really dig this thread and the way this question challenges one to sum up their experience, and do it fairly simply.
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Chris Marti, modified 16 Years ago at 3/30/08 6:27 AM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/30/08 6:27 AM

RE: One Word

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I said my one word is "ground." Words cannot go there. Ideas cannot go there. So.... it's impossible to describe. I chose one word as was suggested, but no word is much better.
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Chris Marti, modified 16 Years ago at 3/30/08 6:30 AM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/30/08 6:30 AM

RE: One Word

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Vince, I really like your essay on "ordinary." Thanks for posting it on your web site, and thanks Hokai, for linking to it.
Hokai Sobol, modified 16 Years ago at 3/30/08 7:29 AM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/30/08 7:29 AM

RE: One Word

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Hi, Chris. No description is necessary, unless you find it useful. But then again, don't be afraid to elaborate what makes "ground" the apt moniker for your core practice. Usually, there are several, perhaps half-dozen, terms that somehow delineate the One Word, and make it organically connected to the whole Indra's Net from your meaning-making vantage point. Those additional notions are points where your Word intersects with others'. Enjoy!
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Chris Marti, modified 16 Years ago at 3/30/08 8:41 AM
Created 16 Years ago at 3/30/08 8:41 AM

RE: One Word

Posts: 379 Join Date: 7/7/09 Recent Posts
Hokai, yes, I could have used several other terms, like "home.". I never knew ground before I had practiced long and hard for some years, but now I know it has always been. I suspect I knew it much better before my left brain functions took over at some point in my very early development as a human being. Once that happened what is commonly called "mind" (controller, interpreter, nag, boss, what have you) became the pre-eminent way I experienced the world. So I have gone through a years-long process of realizing just how noisy my mind is, how selfish and often just plain misleading it can be. At some point, though, after experiencing a lot of despondency, this mind ceased to be the sole or sometimes the leading interpreter of my existence, allowing me access to a more right brain set of perceptions that dance, flicker and change in rapid, chaotic succession all the time. It is this perspective that brought the realization, after re-engaging it over and over and over again, that the world is just like that and therein lies a peace and security that is surprising and quite unexpected. My own silly name for that experience is "ground."

Sorry for the clumsiness, but this is at least a little elaboration on my very own one word.
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 4/8/08 8:15 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 4/8/08 8:15 AM

RE: One Word

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Author: Abe_Dunkelheit

relax
peter handley, modified 15 Years ago at 4/8/08 3:37 PM
Created 15 Years ago at 4/8/08 3:37 PM

RE: One Word

Posts: 0 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
'Innocent', for reasons I have trouble clarifying. Something about approaching things with directness , and not trying to be so damn clever all the time.
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 5/30/08 4:03 PM
Created 15 Years ago at 5/30/08 4:03 PM

RE: One Word

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Author: nails88

Infancy
That's where my practice is at. Well, started to practice on a regular basis last week.
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 6/11/08 4:44 PM
Created 15 Years ago at 6/11/08 4:44 PM

RE: One Word

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Author: ccasey

For today it was "Sit". Kind of like what I ask my dog to do--from that perspective of discipline, and also from my dog's perspective--"sure, okay, what for? got anything good? oh well, I'll just do it."
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Jackson Wilshire, modified 15 Years ago at 7/3/08 3:42 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 7/3/08 3:42 AM

RE: One Word

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Worthwhile.
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Lee G Moore, modified 15 Years ago at 7/4/08 6:09 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 7/4/08 6:09 AM

RE: One Word

Posts: 18 Join Date: 7/4/09 Recent Posts
"Is"

While Is may seem a bit cliche or esoteric or whatever, I really have no other word right now. Other words I might have given depending on what time you caught me are:

Determination
Hunger
Intensity
Hopeless
Ease
Surrender

These all capture overall flavor of practice at various stages
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 7/5/08 12:18 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 7/5/08 12:18 AM

RE: One Word

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Author: MikeTek

I agree, but for me also: Uncertain.
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Jackson Wilshire, modified 15 Years ago at 7/5/08 7:19 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 7/5/08 7:19 AM

RE: One Word

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Yes, 'uncertain' is a word that quite honestly describes my practice as well.
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 9/19/08 12:15 PM
Created 15 Years ago at 9/19/08 12:15 PM

RE: One Word

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Author: DharmaPutz

floundering
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 11/23/08 6:14 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 11/23/08 6:14 AM

RE: One Word

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Author: lm913

overwrought
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 11/23/08 11:28 PM
Created 15 Years ago at 11/23/08 11:28 PM

RE: One Word

Posts: 22924 Join Date: 8/6/09 Recent Posts
Author: JJosh

between a "umm", a "what" and "ok"