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Chanting Growers Group

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PassTheDoobie

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I'm a little wacked after our conversation

I'm a little wacked after our conversation

I come full circle in another cycle of learning.
Wisdom is coming from life.
I know I don't know anything.

Tears flowing for the pain of others.
A desire to free all suffering. Where the fuck is this coming from? I don't know.

Whole huge belief sets crashed against the rocks of time.
With less time before me than behind me
and I don't know anything.

What am I thinking?
I don't know what I'm thinking.
I don't know anything.


Sorry to sound like a goofball, but the pain of others can be more than you can imagine. It can be more than you can bare. It can be a reality so different from your own that everything you thought you knew is not longer universal, and the other universe can mean only one thing....you realize

You don't know anything
 
G

Guest

Always as It Should Be!

Always as It Should Be!

Well I think that we all can agree that we all got something from it. Even the people who silently sit back. Thats Great!
You are so right SoCal!
And Big Brother Tommy!
A challenge of the minds. When situations are so intense with another there is always a mirror and as much for us as others.
This is where Sr. Leaders look at ya and say "Congratulations! Chant appreciation for the opportunity to change something deep within us and giving us this opportunity. It is not anything to be sad over. There is no Guilt! Ya Bow, and go forward! We can't keep looking back brother! We were there for 4 years. Love and Hugs to ya!
And Vegas Buddha! Where they hell are ya?
Southern Girl
 

PassTheDoobie

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Hey! I never said a word about being sad!

Hey! I never said a word about being sad!

The experience of the last day and a half has NOTHING to do with sad. It is experience and contemplation. I have nothing to be guilty for! Except probably some arrogance myself. But when have I ever been shy about admitting that!

But what has happened is beyond words. I would love to share it but it is too wierd to express. It's almost like too much information. I have to process it. I can only do that in front of the Gohonzon chanting.

It is a Natty kind of thing. It's a solemness of seeing and knowing. It's a moment of reprocessing. It's why I keep saying I know nothing. I have to be able to explain this to myself before I can explain it to anyone else.

It's a different reality then the one I know. Mine is what you know it to be. His is something else altogether. It's like one of us measures in miles, the other in kilometers.

The bottom line for me is to never ever want to be anybody but whom I am. I have to be one of the luckiest people on this earth! How much different things could be if I had not met who I met and had the relationships of experience and faith that are the foundation of my practice.

I would be easy for me to judge, but I am not qualified! I know nothing of this other world I have seen. I don't know if I could hang! I might just give up and curl up in a ball, letting lifetiome after lifetime pass without the energy to change. I have so much fortune and I just blow it on the dumbest, most selfish things!

What have I been thinking!

LOL

I don't know what I'm thinking!
 

amsterdame

Member
You're beautiful, doob, and I hope to join in on some of your conversations here in the near future.

My spirituality springs from an eclectic path, a smattering of shamanism, Buddhism, Taoism, and agnosticism, haha, but at its root is a prayer for harmonious rhythm and a passion for the dance of life. (Don't mean that just metaphorically, I use music, rhythm, and dance in the way you use chanting....)

A gift that came to me today, that I pass along:

"Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same. Every wonderful sight will vanish; every sweet word will fade, But do not be disheartened, The source they come from is eternal, growing, Branching out, giving new life and new joy. Why do you weep? The source is within you And this whole world is springing up from it." - Jelauddin Rumi

Peace and good vibes~ :)
 

PassTheDoobie

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Wow! Kickasss! Right on the money!

Wow! Kickasss! Right on the money!

The hair on my arm is standing up on end! Thank you! Please let's all keep sharing!

Also, know that he and I are emailing back and forth like the dickins. I wish I could post some of what is being said, so a greater audience could participate in the conversation. But I have to respect his privacy, and I cannot directly comment on things in his life that would become obvious if the dialogue becomes a shared one.

So everybody start speaking out so when he gets back he can see we want to talk about life more than the history of Buddhism. Frankly, IMHO, That is the lesson to share, not which lay organization any of you should hook up with, or the common mortal opinions (Mr. Ikeda excepted, IMO) of their leaders.

We are the family here. This is our comumunity. We are equal brothers and sisters. We all have something to share. All of our life experiences occur for ourselves and for others.

IMHO that is what you call HUMANITY!
 

amsterdame

Member
hehee natty gurrl, the drum circle has been my church for over a decade! I've been so smitten with it that I ended up writing a book -- general gist was focused on my contact with spirit and other-worldly experiences through drumming and dancing.

Nothing like a few good tokes, to open the doorways, feel deep into your inner groove and then move with the flow of the universe!

Love to y'all! :wave:
 
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amsterdame

Member
dear doob, Don'tcha just love synchronicities?! :D I look forward to conversations about such things as collective wisdom and consciousness - ways in which we tap into it, how we notice when it's tapping into us, and what we can do with that awareness.

Count me in for talking more generally about life as well, since I know so very little of the history of Buddhism, and my interests at this time aren't pulling me in that direction.

It occus to me as the initial author, it may be good for you to consider whether or not you want to do that in this string or start another one, since this is about Chanting Growers... it could be kinda confusing for new people coming in.

Peace and good vibes~
 

PassTheDoobie

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Nah, This thread will do....

Nah, This thread will do....

I thought about that, but we are all chanters from the infinite past, we just don't know it. It depends on your peception of what chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is. IMNSHO, it is nothing more than embracing the Law of Cause And Effect in the most direct manner one can, and this Law is at the top of the food chain, the top of the pyramid, the tip of the spear. It governs all of your experiences, and therefore is the universal common denominator. Expressing that neutrally, to provide respect for all thinking, without discarding any, is the key.

It is the basis of 'do unto others' and the tenents of Buddhism are plagerized by untold authors of self help books. If I am participating in ANYTHING, you are going to hear about Buddhism.
'You reap what you sow' is a universal truth. My ultimate desire is to express myself in an unobtrusive and objective manner. But make no mistake about it, my goal and self dedicated mission in life is to reveal this truth as a manifistation of the Mystic Law.

I don't have to sell you on it. It cannot be sold. But is reflected in the life of everyone and if you are not aware of it, you can be. Is one even searching for a greater truth? I cannot make that decision for anyone but myself. But I can speak to all things, hoping that someone who is, is listening.

Amsterdame, you have been kind enough to say nice things, as has Nattty and many others. But I believe those observations to be reflective of you! Not me! I have been taught to view my life as a reflection of my me. Eternal and ever transforming. Continuously seeking through living. I do my best to let life lead me; to have faith in the Mystic Law. To lend myself to others as they see fit. But never ceasing to say what it is I am seeing.

If there is anything I want to share, now more than ever, it is who I am and the experiences that make me see these things this way. If I take off the gloves and sit down with a doobie to pass around and tell my story, (not one any more extraordinary than the ones that follow), you will all be extremely entertained, if not convinced that I might be onto something.

But I will never stop suggesting that you try chanting. That fact is the key to the life I have been so fortunate to have lived. I couldn't live life any other way. In my experience, it is the basis of what you are calling synchronicity. I hope you understand.

Thomas
 
G

Guest

Great Rhythm

Great Rhythm

Amsterdame
I loved the thoughts that you shared they were great. I hope you share more in the future. We all individually bring to the thread our own personal beliefs and spirituality. There is a common thread to it all and that is what makes it so easy to share. There is something to be learned from everyone.
And as PTB, this thread was originated with NamMyoRengeKyo as the key, that some of us follow. It would seem wrong to destroy that, for that is what it is. But hopefully, it draws that from all you share. Hope I made that clear.
PTB< Been here before. Can't wait to hear where you are on the other side of all this. Have seen ya go thru this before. Wonderful to feel the sense of it again. I may not KNOW what it is you are experiencing. But understand the energy of it all to well and it is yet another validation to returning. Southern Girl
 

amsterdame

Member
Hey there doob and southern girl~ just have time for a quick post this morning... and thanks very much for the warm welcome to this string!

Just to clarify, I wasn't suggesting destroying this thread, just starting a new one to focus perhaps on a more general conversation about life and spirituality while the focus and integrity of the subject matter here (chanting) is preserved.

I should mention that in a former lifetime I spent several years moderating a variety of boards. So what you're hearing is my ex-moderator personas talkin. ;)

Peace and good vibes~
 

PassTheDoobie

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Don'tcha just love synchronicities?!

Don'tcha just love synchronicities?!

I just has been driving me crazy wanting to get on here to update everyone, but the volume of shit my fingers are typing is running against the laws of nature. There is only so much you can say in a day through your fingers. In that way this all kind of sucks, 'cause my voice is the great gift I was born with. Words conveying thoughts is my great treasure and the difference of my life, in the living (of it). So I just have to get this out there before I set off to see the wizard.

The drum circle, the rhythms, the synchronicities, these are the basis of buddhist reality as it pertains to the Law. Amsterdame, you are running in parallel. You are talking about buddhism whether you want to, care to, or know that you are doing it. Chanting is nothing more than putting your life into play to be in rythm with your environment.

The power of your life, your Buddha Nature, is activated and has great influence on this manifestation of rhythm. It is the process by which your desires are fulfilled. We have no concept of a "god" answering our prayers.

The reality, in my opinion, is that these "prayers" are answered via the power of our lives becoming manifest through the invocation of the Daimoku which contains acknowledgement and praise and a desire for all suffering to end and all beings becoming equal. This is what you are doing and conveying when you chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. It occurs in exact moment to moment parallel with your prayer for more mundane desires to be fulfilled. This is expedient means.

I wanted to share all of the synchronicities of last weekend, but the flow was so cosmic, that that will have to wait for another day. There is just too much to share and not enought time to type it all. However here is a quick one from just last evening.

I am here living in the US with my sister-in-law who goes to community college here locally. Our real home is in Asia (I am going home again next week! Yea!). She came back from her summer visit home thinking she would just finish off two courses and bail at the end of the semester. She will get her certificate with the addition of these two courses and qualify for critical training here in the US.

A week or so ago, she was disheartened and ready to give up because she found out, to get into the critical training program, she would have to take a full course load, (not just the two classes) and that only 40% of the applicants get in. Not encouraging odds or requirements for her; and she pays for all of her classes herself. She was ready to give up.

She is a grown up, so rather that tell her what to do, I said chant about it. She is not one to reflect a daily practice of Buddhism, but she does do Daimoku from time to time. She says she chanted, but admitted it was while sitting in her room listening to me. She finally said, "Please Tong Mu (me), tell me what to do."

I said, " I can't. That decision has to come from your life. I tell you to sit in front of the Gohonzon and have respect and make efforts and cause and you don't listen. Now you want me to make an important decision for you. I won't! If you can't chant, then I suggest you go get on your knees and pray to Jesus or Allah or whatever it is you are thinking is your higher power, because you need to pray!"

She started laughing her ass off. She is from a buddhist cluture, but oddly the addition of the white boy from America is the basis that virtually all of my Asian family now chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. She started to do as I suggested! All I did was encurage her to follow her heart and not be afraid, and that I would support whatever decision she made. So last night she says, "I have made my decision!"

She then tells me she has decided to go for it. But the PS is that she doesn't have the money for all of the extra courses she is going to take to qualify with a full load. They were never in her thinking or planning, and tuition costs have sky rocketed in the last couple of years. She asks, "Can I borrow the money?'

WELL!!!! Now what have I gotten myself into here! I was encouraging her to follow her dreams but now my compliance with her request might be the difference in it happening. She had done an excell spreadsheet showing that she needed to borrow $1800, and repay it at a rate of $500 a month. I said, "Ask Your sister (my wife)!"

We are stretched to the limit right now. Four kids have been born within 15 months. The expense of a US residence. Two mortgages in asia, one for where we live now and another on a place we got in forclosure (but a seven figure forclosure) that we are renovating this month and next into the eight bedroom, four bath home of our future. We have three maids, live-in full time. Etc, Etc, Etc. We don't have a lot of spare change.

She called the wife, and then said the wife said for me to call her back. My wife said she wanted to help but had found herself in a cash flow crisis and was looking to scurry up 30 G's herself to pay a vendor. Ok, I thought, I'll just have to not pay some bills like the rent for a couple of months out, and juggle this thing to help her (I usually advance pay the rent here, my landlord has become a good friend, and works within the constraints of our cashflow).

So I go back to my lil sis, and say, "OK. Let me figure out how to do this. I have to move some things around. Let me figure it out tomorrow. I don't have that much cash here, and I'll have to transfer some more into checking tomorrow to cover what I need to give you." She asks, "Can you do it tonight?" "No! I told you I don't have that kind of cash." "Would it be more convenient to use a credit card?" "Wow, we can do it on a CC? Cool! Let me make sure I have enough of an open line on a card to do it that way."

I went back to my cluttered desk to think and remembered an offer that I had opened that afternoon from B of A. I had paid it no attention, as it was just another balance transfer offer, but I thought maybe it would allow me to pay one card down enough to free up what she needed. "No interest until February. No balance transfer or check fees" I had seen that part, but now I noticed a custom message to me on the left side of the page. "Since you are such a valued customer we have increased your credit line by $2000, so you can get the most out of this special offer." "use these checks to pay...or college tuition...!

"Hah! Fuck an A! Yes! Yes! Yes!" Free money, in exactly the right amount, at exactly the right time! Being in rythm with my environment, from making good causes and changing my KARMA!

Happy , Happy , Happy Boy! Synchronicities?!

I call it NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO! I am off to see the wizard.

love you all!

T
 

PassTheDoobie

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
PS!

PS!

And while I was taking the time and responsibility to share that story of the Law, I just won my last auction! HA HA!

You all better watch out for the seed lottery!
I'm feeling lucky folks!
 
G

Guest

You Go Boy!

You Go Boy!

Go Tommy!
I too will be going home next week. And I will have plenty of time to chant, for I will be painting 1600sq ft of walls, replacing mailboxes, digging up flower beds, putting up a fence. Yeah! That has definitely got to change something.
Seriously, good job. The old Tommy is coming alive! SG
 

PassTheDoobie

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I went off to see the wizard.....

I went off to see the wizard.....

...and ended up finding out he was really YODA! Shit, if I keep having such piles of sychronicities to discuss, I will never have the time to type them all out. I had the best time! We really conntected life to life in a dynamic way that leads to hours and days and weeks and years of caring and sharing. I have seldom been as impressed with someone, in my whole life, as I was this weekend! How often do you meet someone that you smile at and they smile back at you the whole time you are together. From the first moment to the last moment; we smiled (more like beamed), and looked each other in the eye and communicated from our hearts. There was genuine joy. It was cosmic. I have come back a better and more humble person. I am so very fortunate to have this friend in my life. My own arrogance has given way to deep appreciation and humility.

I fucking met YODA!!!

May the FORCE be with us all!

Thomas
 

PassTheDoobie

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I wish!

I wish!

I think obi wan kenobi would have shown more wisdom than me!

Maybe more like an ageless (and VERY well preserved) Luke Sky Walker, because now if I should ever find anyone trying to fuck with Yoda, it's out with the light saber and time to kick some ass!

T
 

SoCal Hippy

Active member
Veteran
a wise man yoda was....

a wise man yoda was....

What a mindblowing weekend! enjoyed all the time with Vegas and PTD. wish it coulda been longer.
Did some hanging, went to listen to some great live classic rock. I hadn't stayed up tht late having a good time in ages. Thx again doobie for making the effort coming here and glad again things are on the positive with u n vegas.

Gotta be amazed how things allways work for the best even tho when things looked really f***ed up u never know how things could possibly end in a postive way. Buddhism is so cool as I have found you don't have a wait a long time to get a result. There is always some 'pain' involved but time an time again we always win. Isn't that what Buddhism is all about? Win or lose???
It's not about 'just getting by' or the ability to avoid and not confront problems, its all about facing whatever problems or challenges we are facing, overcoming them and winning! What also is happening at the same time is having the most positive and incredible high-life condition with the results being more confidence, energy and more wisdom to thereby take the correct actions to solve other challenges or problems we are facing. What this means to me is we can never escape our problems but we can find the means to win over them. Buddhism answers that question over an over again and never allows you to stray from your happiness as long as you are chanting.

yes...Yoda a wise man he was. Definetley showed some of a Buddha's attributes.....

Yoda says: "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

"The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see the future is."

"Do or do not... there is no try."

and a fav....."I do, yes, I do. Sick have I become. Old and weak. When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not. Hmm?"

SoCal
 

SoCal Hippy

Active member
Veteran
Pls don't go nattynatty gurl

Pls don't go nattynatty gurl

I myself and alot of your friends here at IC would really miss all your positive spirit and insites into life and that would be a shame. yes, there are people here that I believe you could call ignorant, but then how can these ppl change with out encountering such a positive person in their lifes
(tht is YOU! natty)

again, this i believe is the 1 neg abt this kind of interaction among ppl....but as we persevere for truth and understanding, it all works out in the end.
 

PassTheDoobie

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Sweet Gurrl!

Sweet Gurrl!

NattyNattyGurrl!

Such an honor that you would consider this place a refuge! How we perceive anything, I think, has to do with our condition of life. Your life condition can be torn down or built up by exactly the same circumstance. Maintaining compassion and wisdom is extremely difficult.

It is usually manifest when we are enjoying our high life condition and becomes obscured when we are in a low one. That is the primary use of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. It raises your life condition. I am not asking you to do so, just reminding you of all of the conversations we have had so far.

I do love you. You are one of the most special people I know. The Rasta manner of communication can easily become a target to people in low life conditions and sometimes even be misunderstood by those in higher ones, ignorant by no fault of their own, save lack of the opportunity to have this manner of communication made clear to them.

I hurt when you hurt. What I saw when I reread what you forwarded for review, was some miscommuincation more so than malice (at least that was clearly the case in the second thread). Everyone that knows you understands what a sweet and sensitive person you are. Like a beautiful but rare and fragile flower. Those that have not had the good fortune or life condition to perceive your true entity, are less likely to "get it" right away. You know that!

Or at least you do when your life condition is high. I have seen and felt your compasion for others. The site is changing, but so is everything around us continually. We will never find the perfect place where everthing stays just as we like it, because everything is always changing and nothing is ever standing still.

So we can make it better or let it get worse. It is our choice. It is nothing more and nothing less! When our life condition is high, we "get it"! We have courage and confidence to make things and maintain things in a manner to our liking. The struggle to do so is a task of joy. When our life condition is low, it is usually more of a (for me anyway), "Fuck it!" I am so honored to know you because I have never seen that life condition come form you. I am so lucky to know you, sunshine gurrl.

But part of what makes the earth inhabiltable is the formation and reality of clouds. Sometimes they make rain, but always they serve a purpose. Calm down, talk to Jah, and you will see these very things that have been written, in a completely different light. I am sure of that.

Anytime you get into a conversation with people where there are strong feelings present, someone without the life condition to perceive the the true nature of what is being said, will say something that reflects their life condition. How those words effect us, is not up to them or even reflective of the words
themselves.

More people love you than dislike you or don't understand you. I read them saying that all of the time, in all of the places you have posted on this site. After all, that is how we know each other, and why I sent you that first PM that started our friendship in the first place.

If you get your life condition back up to where it usually is, everything will be fine. I am sure of that.

If not, I will whip out my light saber and kick some ass for you! LOL

Mmuuaahha!!!

Thomas
 

PassTheDoobie

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
And one more thing!

And one more thing!

Any and all Bullshit that polutes this thread is the fertilizer of life and the thing that makes us grow. Bullshit in life is the nutes we need to reflect HUGE and STICKY BUDS OF HAPPINESS!

I say, BRING ON THE BULLSHIT! THIS IS WHERE IT BELONGS! LET'S TEACH EACH OTHER THE SKILLS AND BENEFITS OF COMPOSTING!!!

OR MAYBE CALM-POSTING?

<winks and laughter>

T
 
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