Your words on spoiled teachers had me thinking about people with a large amount of highly volatile energy and no stable means of diffusing it. The goal here seems to be a kind of homeostasis, where the oscillating frequency has a simple and harmonious ratio rather than dissolving into unpleasant static. People with very little money often understand how difficult it is to strike a balance between raw survival and satisfaction, doing what one loves for a job so to speak. If one is highly focused on survival then one might end up akin to a pan handler or someone who is willing to go to any lengths necessary to sustain themselves, throwing away any contemplation of higher matters in favor of food and shelter and water. I'm sure you'd agree that it's tragic to see how many of us are locked into a survival state where otherwise, if time was there, a dedication towards teaching could yield spiritual truths that would otherwise go completely untapped. Sadly a pan handler with a good grasp of the dharma often seems to be the only one to benefit from their wisdom, with no means of teaching and no audience to listen. They're in the thick of it, they're doing everything, they're shed entirely of possessions, but if they are to transcend and attain a level of stability they might achieve a pleasant harmony that might ring out for generations. I think this is what causes many of us to spoil teachers, this drive to help these people get out of the rat race and do what they love. Thing is, it seems as though speaking about one's actions and doing those actions requires an entirely different skill set... If one were only speaking rather than doing then it's easy to imagine one might end up like a famous artist who no longer feels the spark for creation, who no longer has material to draw from. Like rappers who became popular for their words about poverty and doing what one had to do to survive suddenly getting a bunch of money, and for that all of their songs suddenly sound like everything else on the radio. There's people who know how to cause good things with their money, starting organizations and charities or foundations that platform truly genuine teachers all around the world, but it's difficult to get practice for it. I'm harkened to thoughts of a person who might be held in high esteem, whose every word might make or break one's day, like a celebrity that commoners might tell tales of every small interaction. From such a position one might say true words and have them etched deeply into a lot of people, but the same can go for deeply flawed words. It requires a fantastic amount of self control to harness that energy... Many of the more problematic celebrities seem to diffuse their energy into their status or public image, being "so... *them*" so to speak, maybe even having a built expectation that they are playing a character as a vessel... but the very strong among us can diffuse it all into themselves, becoming much more powerful for it. What people do with that power, that expectation, is what builds a generation. They have the power to, like Ghengis Khan, impregnate an entire country. Is the genetic information they are spreading en masse the next evolutionary step? Is it transcendent or more of the same? We owe everything to these people, the true buddhas in my eyes. They're why we have all of this technology, all of these small things we can rely upon... Our bodies even manifest relative to their sum wisdom. We must be careful to harness all of this energy, sustain it harmoniously, transcend the signal to reach overtones of transcendence that sound like two notes played at the same time.
Thank you for your insightful and well considered words. There is too much depth here to respond to each point but as regards the issue of survival- this is a fundamental consideration for any sincere spiritual practitioner. There are many ways of addressing this challenge, but few of us have the wherewithal to apply the methods of a Yogi like Milarepa. Of note: although Milarepa was almost unknown in his own time, over the centuries he has become one of the most inspiring and influential figure in Tibetan Buddhism and as such has led many to realisation, experience, and appreciation of this sublime path. 🙏🙏🙏
Of course, this is just a case study, but I'm trying to talk about myself because I don't know exactly to what extent my experiences and reactions are transferable. I had been practicing Zen for many years at that time, and I think relatively seriously, and became very ill in several ways, which led to me becoming a drug addict and homeless. For me this time was one if not the most important in my life, stigmatized, lonely, constantly beaten up and always on the edge of survival, it gave me the opportunity to see deep neuroses in myself, and so I could start to address them bit by bit, I almost had to die to be able to look at some aspects of myself honestly at all. Of course, these are just my experiences and I think that when survival is actually at risk, different people probably take different paths, inside and out, and it can take a long time to resolve these “tensions”, however the path may continue from there. As far as I know the Buddha used to call for homelessness, which imho is a good exercise, but not if you want to break yourself and probably not if it is “forced”. As far as possession in general is concerned, I often have to think of Tyler Durden (Fight Club): “Everything you have has you at some point!”. Best regards !
@@franzhaas5597, I am curious. What is the role that intellect is supposed to play? At the thought, I am immediately brought to a question I had earlier during one of his other videos. I hear a lot about the mind in this beautiful system of life teaching, but where is the heart to be found? I have found recently that the mind is too messy and the heart is a much better discriminator than reason. What are your thoughts? Thanks for the discussion. :)
@Stringbandmama this is a valid question. The mind is very messy. When it comes to intellect, you have to discriminate on what is real and what is not real. Through books and a good spiritual Master you will be posed questions that you have to ponder. There are many false beliefs that most human beings have that hold them in bondage. Like over consumerism and grasping for things that you can not have. As for matter's of the heart, if you don't control your feelings, they will control you. That is where discri.mination and meditation help you out. That is my two cents, but you'd rather be consulting the llama in the video above. He is way more qualified than me, but I appreciate you writing to me anyway. Good luck.
@@franzhaas5597 , thank you. This is beautiful and insightful. What is a Llama, if I may ask a kind brother or sister? Thank you so much for this. I would love to visit with the llama in this video, and I have so much to ask and discuss. I hope to one day be gifted with the honor of his time, consideration, and wisdom.
I have an 85-year old JW neighbor. She puts a full face of makeup on everyday, bleaches her hair blond, and wears dresses and heels. She has that high-pitched, Mini Mouse voice and says "hello" to everyone like a little girl. Her house is covered with pink, fluffy mats everywhere and she has huge Bibles on all her tables decorated with flowers. She goes to JW twice a week. She's the biggest hater and slanderer in our neighborhood. All the terrible fights and conflicts between everyone goes back to her starting them. JW teaches their followers to put on the outside appearances only but sadly, they don't teach how to be good on the inside.
I'm very glad you mentioned Sadhguru in the context of inauthentic spiritual teacher. He always struck me as so obviously motivated by the worldly benefits of his rockstar-guru lifestyle; like enriching himself and buddying-up with celebrities and politicians. I'm not saying his persona is entirely a grift - his account of his spiritual awakening may very well be true and he may have started out with the best of intentions - but he definitely exhibits some major red flags. Even if you ignore the expensive watches, flashy motorcycles, and involvement in the meat industry, his interactions with the audience leave a lot to be desired. When answering audience questions, for example, he often provides flippant or dismissive answers that seem to be less about imparting wisdom and more about cracking jokes at the questioner's expense. Whatever answer he does provide is often in the form of trite aphorisms and shallow quips meant to bait applause from the audience. His spiritual shortcomings are particularly apparent when comparing him to other teachers who seem much more capable of drawing from a deep wellspring of knowledge while also exhibiting genuine compassion (Thich Nhat Hanh comes to mind). I just can't understand how so many people are so easily enthralled by a figure as transparent as Sadhguru.
I think I know which video you meant about Sadguru dismissing question and cracking condescending jpke. It's a video where a vegan girl asked why he exploits cows. That video changed my view of him. After watching that video I stopped watching/listening to him.
@@mauryagupta6024 Exactly. For me, that same interaction immediately transformed my perspective of him from someone who may not be for me, but clearly provides some service to those making up his large audiences ("to each their own" sort of thing) into a man clearly enthralled by his ego and, therefore, unsuited to providing the least bit of guidance to those who come with honest questions, seeking helpful answers.
My experience in religious organizations has been unfortunate. As a young person, I was spoonfed a box of information and taught not to question or develop my own experience. Just follow along with everyone else. I feel like that makes us more vulnerable and primed for abusive behaviors from others within those organizations. Then, as soon as you grow up a little and try to bring the abuse to the light of the leadership, they do whatever it takes to cover it up, gaslight, and pretend like everything is normal. I am incredibly grateful for this path. Developing my practice has been the best thing that I've done for myself. I'm also glad im not running around the house yelling #shivashivaallnight anymore! Thank you for all you do for us, Lama 🙏💚
Sadly this is an all too common story Mary, I am glad you found some independence, who know? Soon you may be meditating on top of a volcano or in the middle of the Pacific ocean 😆🤣😆
I was born into Catholicism...deep rooted, yet i finally came out of that to realize other teachings such as Buddhism and Daoism.. such esoteric teachings resonate WAY more with me. Thank you for sharing your experiance!!.just found ur channel
If there is a merciful god, reincarnation is the only policy I could accept from such a being. Eternal paradise or eternal punishment are equally unappealing destinations.
@@grimble4564 eternal heaven or hell are logically impossible. Everything has an ending. And life is just like a dream,an illusion, constantly changing and impermanent
True teacher here! Have been listening to you only for a short time and found that applying your wisdom to my own life has been so beneficial, I smile a lot more, life is easier. Thank you Lama Choga for coming into my life. Much love sent to you.
@Thought-Police-101 Had to take a moment to think about this. Can only see what is true for self. Need a good teacher to assist in finding the guru within. We all have knowledge, but many prefer to stay ignorant, as I have in past, worldly. I thirst to change, know truth as to assist others, even in the smallest way is useful. When I say, (true teacher) a real guide for the betterment of the whole, without asking for anything in return, rare. Thank you again Lama Choga Thank you thought police, you did get me thinking :)
I appreciate your down to earth, matter of fact manner. The fact you've lived in the west and succumbed to the trappings before relinquishing them has grown your wisdom in reaching western buddhists. Your energy is very authentic, and you've got a great wry sense of humour! So glad I found you. Appreciate your inputs muchly. Best wishes from South Africa.
Hello Nina from South Africa and thank you for your support. I lived a very mundane and wayward life, I hope to put that experience to some use and to bring some benefit. Would make up for all the messing around I did! 🙏🙏🙏
Buddhism requires one to practice to gain insight. I can experience Buddhism and its truth for myself. Christianity was not like that for me. Also, Christianity closed my mind. Buddhism opened it and I was able to gain compassion even for the people that have hurt me the most.
Look up 2nd century Gnostics. Veerryy similar. They too knew that truth came through knowledge one gained through experience, to have gnosis. They were concerned very little about faith. They, too, viewed this world, this realm, this plane of existence to be illusionary, one that must be transcended. In early times of forgotten epochs, Christianity and Buddhism, in their earlier forms, as well with Islam, to share in a comminality.
@@I_scribbles Similar, yes. But its critical to point out to new Buddhists one distinct difference between Gnostic and Buddhist belief. Buddhists do not see the material plane as in any way evil or negative, or the spiritual plane as superior. Nirvana and Samsara are ultimately both illusions. Transcendence or awakening is this realization. 🐕🦺🙏🐕🦺
Yes, unfortunately, the powers that be have warped Christianity into a false religion in order to control others and feed off of the energy of the ignorant. I am very saddened when I hear people speak of Christianity as a whole in one particular light, I.e. when they lump all the false teachings of the mainstream narcissists as the whole of what Christianity is and stands for. I think both the fake christians and the people who hate Christianity because of their experience with the fake christians do more harm to one another and to humanity by having such stereotypes and prejudices crystallized into their psyches.
@@I_scribbles, Indeed, Christ Himself was an Essene. He was quite mystical and His teachings have been whitewashed and westernized. It was His people that purposely preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls, and His people who covered up Gobekli Tempe so that we would rediscover it and be able to break free of the illusory mindset force fed to us upon our births.
I have seen a lot of Kool Aide drinking over the years. I am so grateful to my parents for not being authoritarian and for always encouraging me to think for myself even though I'm sure I made it very difficult for them at times. Sorry, parents. I was also very fortunate to have one teacher who lived more humbly and ate more simply than we the students. He never demanded obedience of course. His humility was a great model. He never set out to be a teacher either, but people "found him" in India and brought him to the USA, and he just went along with it. Rare.
We want something and/or someone to trust, some kind of North Star to look to. If we find something we can trust we will follow it no matter what. I'm in my 60th year, began practicing 11 years ago. I met my Teacher then, just after I began practicing, but it wasn't until 2020 that I took refuge with him. In February this year I took Bodhisattva vows with him. We talked for a while afterwards and of the several things I remember him saying, one was "Being a teacher is a huge responsibility." I have great trust in him. I have toyed with the idea of teaching but I think I'm too weak to not begin to tailor my offer in order to please my students, if I were to depend on them financially. So I live a very small life, very frugal and earn a little money, hopefully enough, looking after old people with dementia. I wish I had more money but I don't think I'm ever going to have the wisdom to earn it through spiritual teaching without being corrupted by it. Bit of a confession session! I really appreciate your content, thank you.
@Thought-Police-101 There is no personal inner essence that I have found. I have looked within every day for 11 and a half years. Initially I found lots of emotional activity, lots of mental activity which bit by bit took clearer and simpler forms. On continuing to look, I saw that this activity is subjective. On continuing to look I found that this subjective experience is one little slice of what underlies it, pure unmediated awakened and illumined attention. Maybe that's what you mean by 'spirit', and I can understand why that might be seen in those terms but in my experience there is nothing personal about it at all. It's not mine, it is universal.
@Thought-Police-101 Indeed. The work of dispelling one's own notion of 'me' is a lifelong project, tunneling through the rockface of self-cherishing - which includes self-rejection by the way. The most powerful aid, tool or weapon you can have in this endeavor is compassion for others, as without that only nihilism awaits.
This is very painful for me. My mothers family does not care about facts and when i asked them to prove it they shunned me and threatened me ( I was around 13 at that time ) for me i study alot and had some refutation against them only to be not understood not even debate but wrather just bullied into trying to be normal. for me i am stil searching for the truth
❤ keep up your search friend, many people are just not able to think for themselves. So have compassion for them, but at the same time believe in your self ❤
Thank you for being direct and putting this into language that those watching a UA-cam Channel can understand. I have been listening to Krishnamurti for years and years, but many do not understand what he is talking about (to me his message is "clear as day," to use another's phrase, but I am surprised at how dumbfounded people often are after listening to his direct -- albeit at times somewhat abstruse -- language). Indeed, herd mentality, not thinking for oneself, blind belief, blaming others for one's own shortcomings, etc. etc. are destroying our world from the inside out. This and corruption/greed, as if money was something that can make us deeply satisfied or as though we could bring it with us to the grave...
Did you ever question Krishnamurti and his teaching? I did! Otherwise your making him into a guru which he abhorred. As K said, you are the guru,the saviour,the teacher. Forget Krishnamurti.
No, I am not deifying him. I said that his message is clear, and part of that message is not to take what he (or anyone else) says as "the Truth," but to investigate for oneself. Yes, forget Krishnamurti, forget this, forget that, etc. Buddha: "Be a lamp unto oneself." JK: "Be a light unto oneself." Osho: "Be a joke unto oneself." Self: There is No self.
I for one feel a deep sense of gratitude for the karma of having started following you and the teachings that have been enjoyed by us all ..Thankyou Lama Choga 🙏🙏🙏🌟
I’ve been in Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhism for 20 years. For me it’s practice, however for the majority of people surrounding my life it’s all Tibetan politics, dogma, sycophantic; they came to escape western religion only to give their power over to Tibetan institutionalization. Some people I know are so immersed in Tibetan Buddhism that they’ve lost the ability to critically think, make clear decisions, have self esteem, have good judgement. For example, I know someone whose doctor told them it would be good to exercise and to eat healthier, but this person refuses because they are too pious; it’s too taboo for a monastic; it’s all a culture of codependency, shame, denial, of cultish proportion. Seriously, they would have been better off in life if they never encountered Buddhism whatsoever!!!
People have Awakened to their True Nature and then made a religion about it. Today, people write a book and make a UA-cam channel. Apparently, non-duality is a market.
@@ultimatemeaningyes, I was wary of con men. I began reading Tich Naht Hahn and some videos here. I've found that using reason can help. If they sound dodgy then stay away.
@@ultimatemeaning why don't you mention the indoctrination and brainwashing of young people by the democrat run propaganda media, and the current cult like adherence or be scorned of modern "progressives" and "liberals"
Thank you again ! Yes, you say something important! This has probably happened at all times and unfortunately the currency that corrupts someone is not always so easily recognizable either , sometimes it's money , sometimes power and other times maybe worship or whatever it is that makes us cling , even “letting go” can be an obsession in which you collect your “points”...BUT I am unfortunately not completely free of all that either , just an ordinary lost person !
I took a journey called life. I failed many times. I lived in the underworld. I partnered with the rich. I fought in great battles. I've watched the stars turn through many nights. I've Dreamed dreams of the past, tomorrow and the many futures. ... ... Heya my name is Dianna
Hello sir, while I appreciated the message and what you brought on as a great presentation of advice; I do realize that sometimes I am ridiculed for following my spiritual path, and it being called as false. In all honesty how would you approach this? Any advice is appreciated, thank you.
Hi Zark, sorry to hear that others are ridiculing you. Unfortunately many people are critical of those with spiritual conviction and there isn't a lot that can be done about the negativity of others. the main thing is that a practitioner inspires others through their own inner transformation and their faith in their chosen path.Having resolute conviction in one's journey is a sign of strength, and not only that but sincere practice makes one impervious to the derision of others. By developing spiritual qualities you will gain the respect of those who have intelligence and potential, and whereas it is nearly impossible to influence those who are small minded and prone to intense negativity once you gain the respect of the critical thinkers you will naturally suffer less from the haters. This is because once they notice other people taking you seriously they themselves will become embarrassed to criticize you publicly. Best wishes on your chosen journey friend 🙏🙏🙏
I was watching a former U.S. Navy Seal on UA-cam, he shared what his mentor told him about on preparing himself. His mentor advised to get rid of everything, from his car to his girlfriend, all the comforts. All the things to retreat to. When those are gone, there is no retreat to comfort. Got to go it alone.
Your words bring comfort,i have no teachers(physically present)i live in a small town where most folks see Buddha as a chubby,smiling figure,i get it.i've accepted the Dharmma (after MUCH examination)so when the question of trust in teachers arises the dharmma is my guide,Jetsun Milarepa is my Dharmic super hero,whose life is an inspiration,whose example say's KenDen you can do this too.my aspiration at this point of my 64yrs is to firmly plant dharmma in the mind stream to become a monk in my next rodeo.my dharmma teacher is the Lam Rim Chenmo,BIG thanks to Atisha,and Je Tsong Kha Pa,and now most humbly, you.i take refuge in the Buddha,the Dharmma,and the Sangha.😊
I have to disagree to some extent with the comments about blind faith in conspiracy theories. Unless we answer all questions how do we know what is conspiracy and what isn't...From the perspective that if questions are unanswered or ignored, or even labelled as conspiracy without thourough investigation then this is the same as the blind faith in the temple.... questions are always good even if they cannot be answered immediately...... we all want the ultimate truth and if that ultimate truth is really ultimate truth it will withstand rigorous questions 🌺 this is true for all learning not only spiritual
I agree with your points. I would only like to add that we know what is conspiracy and what is not by venturing within, and not necessarily or always involving the venturing outwards. In other words, you already have the answers you seek. We all do. It is just that we have all forgotten how to connect within and wait for the ultimate truth to manifest itself from within. I have been guilty of this venturing out, so very much lately. Venturing back inward seemed so painful and time consuming, especially for a single parent of young children. I’ve been getting there though it has taken a lot of time. My ego and my fear, or lack of faith, has been more than just a thorn in my side. It has purposefully hindered my progression towards Deification, but even in my shortcomings and delays, many lessons have been learned and many more lessons are being recognized as needed. Basically, looking for the answers or the ultimate truth outside of ourselves is a futile endeavor and is the snare that many are stumbled upon. It is good to seek answers. It is better to seek answers within.
Here's my experience with these theories. People often come up to me in public thinking that I will be open to their theories (something to do with being a monk guess) and so for example they will tell that the US army created the Spanish influenza in WW1. Our tribal instinct is not to be seen to disagree, but when I say "I 'm not into conspiracy theories I need to see proof" then they often feel offended. So the question is "why on earth would they expect me just to believe the wild statement of a stranger who walks up to me in the street?" I think the reason why so many people do accept these sorts of trite statements is because they are disillusioned with the world and looking for something or someone else to blame. But in the Buddha Dharma at least this is a mistake, as it is taught our experiences of happiness and sorrow are a consequence of our personal and shared karma. 🙏🙏🙏
@@ultimatemeaningHonestly I find it a bit endearing that people just come up to you and spout their conspiracy theories. I feel that in their head they see a monk and go "this guy will listen to me without judgement, he's a monk!" But sadly it seems they can't handle your disagreement with their ideas.
Currently, I am undergoing a deep dive into Plato's book The Parmenids, a commentary compiled by Proclus. At the end of book 2 of 7 in it, both Parmenides and Zeno(a disciple of Parmenides) smile at one another in a way showing admiration regarding Socrates(who was young in this dialog) because he made objections to these great men - in Parmenides and Zeno - and only such a serious student, and in a true and reverential way, is worthy of such divine doctrine. Critical thinking, retroduction, reason and logic, apophasis, and synthesis are not only so very important, but such an inquisitive disposition enables one to be receptible to the higher things....and without, a person's heart isn't really in what they think, do or believe.
So true my friend thank you for sharing. Sadly there are those who aren't able to apply reasoning to a sufficient degree, and so for them they need the good karma for meeting an authentic tradition that the can exercise blind faith in. (this lifetime at least).🙏🙏🙏
Set aside the conspiracy theorists There was something very wrong regarding the C o v i d narrative And to tell people they are stupid for being alarmed abd concerned when deep down they knew things didnt add up is most unkind Being a leader means listening to peoples fears and learni g what is behind them so you can unveil them in a loving and kind way
Nay, to dismiss the 99 percent certainty that the plandemic was an unprecedented exaggeration and mass mind control you need to be really really brainwashed and disconnected from reality. Having said that, there are many conspiracy theories that are undoubtedly bullshit. The flat earth theory is a towering example. By the way, the very term ''conspiracy theory'' is misleading bc any theory should be evaluated according to only one criterion and that is: Is it TRUE or not.
Pandemics have been going on and the pathogens have been evolving as long as there has been biological beings. And even if there was a lab leak (something that is inevitable) the Corona strain was first detected around the 1920's Disease is a natural way to keep the species in check and with human proliferation will come an acceleration of these mutations and an increase in frequency of pandemic episodes. Thanks for sharing
I was also kinda caught off guard when I heard implied in the video that Tucker Carson is a conspiracy theorist, and that Donald Trump is a liar. I follow Tucker Carson fairly closely and in my opinion it is not fair to use that term against him. And I also attended two of President Trump’s rallies (even participated in the January 6 events). I would suggest anyone who wants to know more about the origin of Covid to watch the UA-cam channel Peak Prosperity. Brett Weinstein is also another scientist who discusses this subject. I also wonder what kind of lies President Trump said that would warrant the statement “everything he said is a lie.” I hear this statement from people I know, my co-worker, and when pressed they really don’t have a good answer for why they say such thing. One of them said they got it from CNN. Sometimes I see people who are very good at a particular subject yet totally clueless about another seemingly obvious area of knowledge, and I feel that that might be the case in this video. For instance, Joe Rogan is very good and knowledgeable in many areas, but he did not know what an “NPC” character mean, something that I thought was common knowledge. One other comment I’d like to make is that to label someone names, such as conspiracy theorists, racists, anti-Semitic, nazis, et cetera, is something that should be avoided, especially from a spiritual leader, because it automatically ascribe attributes to people who may not espouse any of those attributes, and open them up to negative consequences that they don’t deserve. Before using those terms, such as conspiracy theorists, it would be good to look into who came up with the term and why they came up with it.
If you believe that there was a pandemic caused by a microscopic ball with spikes on it then you've fallen victim of the same illusion as everyone else... My daoist friends were wise to it.
The book Vital Lies And Simple Truths by Daniel Goleman has a lot of very interesting insights on how group mentality comes to be, why people double down on bad decisions, and how colossal errors in judgement can be allowed by the best of intentions. It's very acessible and a great introductory work for social psychology in general. I quite like it, perhaps because i'm an extreme skeptic to the point of being a bit of a prick, but my lack of firm belief in anything at all is something bothersome too. This is a thought that surfaces often when i'm engaging with content you put out, as i relate with your history of extreme insecurity and self-sabotage, and even doubt in the institution of buddhism as a whole despite my interest in it, but i'm not sure if i'll circle back to it like you have. Regardless, i've really been appreciating your insight lately, and i'm hoping what i might learn from this can help me put a little more faith in discovering what my true inclinations actually are, as well as the choices i make for myself. I feel like you're a quite refreshing addition to the community of spiritual practicioners who try to keep it real. Looking forward to hearing more from you in the future. Cheers.
Truly, you have at least glimpsed the path. I know I am blessed to hear from you. Please, what might you say if Buddha shakyamuni were to have become enlightened this year, what would he do?
@@StringbandmamaI am not afraid to call an ace an ace and a spade a spade. Religion is rooted in duality. Right, and wrong, light, and darkness, everything and nothing ect ect. All of which are iresolvable conflicts. It is also split into multiple different religions, more iresolvable conflicts. (I won't even go into secular conflicts) Your brain is essentially a computer. Every one of these iresolvable conflicts you add to your progaming slows your processor down. Your mind will try and resolve these independent of your conscious effort. Once you add enough iresolvable conflicts, you end up with a population of minds who are only ten percent cognitive function loss away from total cognitive failure. Your all operating at almost brain death levels because you have accepted the error code that is the cumulation of human "knowledge". Which is just thousands of years of bad fiction. This is a cohesive system, equal parts light, equal parts shadow. These forces work together. Religion pretends these forces are in opposition to each other. This is not only false, but dumb.
I find that for any religion to be worth my time it has to be able to live harmoniously with our understanding of the physical world. This doesn't work for a lot of the teachings of the Abrahamic religions (Christianity/Islam/Judaism), but for religions that focus less on deity and more on our own existence and experiences such as Buddhism/Taoism/Confuscianism it appears that syncretism with modern science is possible, and that is why some of these Eastern teachings are much more interesting to me.
Lama I think you have a lot of good points. What you say in regards to the spiritual community is very true, however when you talk about the "experts" in regards to scientific fields, many of them are motivated/influenced by both monetary and political ends. Just because they are learned to some degree does not at all mean they are wise and neutral distributors of knowledge. Why not apply this criticism of religious practitioners to scientific practitioners equally? Many of these scientific institutions are also very, very corrupt and ruled by the distributors of money, whether that be pharmaceutical, agricultural, chemical, whatever lobbies. One only has to look at the absolute poison that is in the majority of "food" for sale at grocery stores to see the proof.
"From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me" Once you acknowledge that some irrational behaviours stem from certain brain parts such as insula and amygdala and renounce it, you're no longer a dog, but a bird. A human can attain the greatest high when they take charge of their own fate.
This had to be said but it is a difficult situation for people that would need an authentic spiritual teacher given that as you explained the most authentic masters are reluctant to having students.
93 Thanks for the video I believe it will help a lot of people understand the problem with blind faith, although I want to believe that I don't fall into blind faith (I'm overly skeptical) I do know that I fall into my daily material life more than I spend time in my book learning process when I'm home
I agree that we should be careful about our attitudes toward religion, to avoid victimizing ourselves through stupid application of herd instinct. The test as you rightly put it, is whether the religion has compassion at its core. Leaders who lack that quality are taking people down a dark path. As a religious practitioner in a ‘teaching’ role I do not experience anything like ‘blind obedience’ among the laity but rather a learned skepticism and independence of thought and action among them, likely due in my current situation to having a long line of pretty bad teachers they learned to distrust as unreliable, and whose teachings were serially contradictory in the details. 10 teachers in 30 years can create a lot of cynicism. I do not cultivate anything like blind faith among the laity but always strive to share my own discoveries of the internal coherence of our shared religious faith, making use of the terms of religious worship appropriate to the contemplation of the intellectible elements of the religious experience. At the core of our shared tradition is the worship of God in religious ritual. I strive to keep my discourse about worship rational so that the meaning of the ritual is not obscure. We make a strong distinction between essence and accident in our tradition, so that rational critique of everything we do and say is welcome; we do not confuse Church with God. Subsidiarily the priests are not confused with God.
Stimulating thoughts✨ We humans crave a deeper connection within and around ourselves. Without this, we can feel lost and overwhelmed…many simply immerse themselves in the physical world. Religions are human constructs created to meet our needs. Beliefs offer explanations, hope, power ( ability to influence),comfort and joy. Even if illusory, beliefs have powerful emotional effects on our lives, at the cost of truly understanding. Our very existence connects each of us with infinite time and space…this is the deepest connection. We are all cosmic companions in this phenomenal experience of life💫
whenever i go to religious places i dont do any of that stuff.. i dont prostrate.. dont sing... i just sit there... i might get some of the food or dance with the women...
Hahdha you know for me, the moment the priests started saying cats don't go to heaven, I was like "Oh thats too bad, I was starting to like Jesus" I thought this was the Catholic Church, I was very young. Then I mixed it out with the chaos of Hindu dieties. It was almost like I could see the asuras and devas duke it out. Of course, do not throw out the baby with the bath water. That baby has nirvana, it won't work.
I am conflicted. The world seems to be full of suffering, yet also full of joys, and I don't know what to do with this. If I can escape from it and be liberated, I will be leaving much behind, including many people that are dear to me whom I would gladly die for. Freedom from all this sounds nice, but at the same time, I am worried of being selfish. I am so caught up in the clockwork of the world and all the rules and duties I have bound myself too that I don't know how to not be so much a part of it. What am I missing?
You have hit on some really essential points Jack. The trick is to be of the world but not in it. And also there is no need to give up on sentient beings. Awakening is a slow process and one doesn't have to what will happen at the end of the journey. We need suffering and happiness as well, because it is by identifying with these that we come to find the middle way. Enlightenment in the MahaYana is called "the non abiding in Samsara, nor transcending to Nirvana" This also means that one does not need to escape the mundane nor seek the supernatural Thanks for sharing friend 🙏🙏🙏
This may be one of the few things I am doing right. Every spiritual tradition that I have looked into has some sort of great Truth it points to. And that Truth, in reality, seems all connected regardless of the tradition. But, the act of following a tradition blindly does seem to bring about ignorance. As if, in religion people seek to no longer ask questions. They just want comfortable and acceptable answers. And, this isn't what I want. Whenever I decide to attend a church of any sort, all I want to do is talk to the pastor, priest, whatever and exchange ideas about existence, life, God, etc. and, generally, they aren't all that interested. Do I live a simple life? I don't totally know what that means. I feel like I haven't, growing up here in the USA, most of my life has been struggling to make myself fit into the world, and distract myself from my discontent. But over time, all distraction loses succor, and the discontent remains. And, I find myself living in my car, still discontent, and still unconsciously using external things to distract myself, even as I "know" that it isn't going to solve or change anything. I continue to work at putting down the way things make sense to me on paper. I hope someday to feel ready and capable to teach, and to teach successfully. I know what you mean about being afraid of money. Truly, it is only the amount of money that keeps me in a home, and not hungry that I truly desire, but in writing and teaching, I see only people making not enough money to survive, or making way too much money for anyone's good, which is even worse. I do not know what I would do with a million dollars. Feel relief, setting down the burden of worry for how I will survive would probably come first, but after I became comfortable it seems to me that the only viable options are to give the rest away, hoping it will do good (this could mean spending it to create something that is lasting, to do good) or, to chain myself to it by using it to find more and better distraction. Which, would be spiritually destructive I am certain. So, I try not to be impatient with this process, though I still am, I try not to be discontent with the world of humanity, but I often am. And, I do not know what would be worse, to have nothing ever change, to continue waking up to the same world and the same problems again and again, or to "make it big" get published, sell a million copies of my book, and be put on a pedestal. In the former, at least I am still on the journey, even if I am often wandering off only to need to find it again, but the latter feels like it would be the end of the journey. Not truly the destination, but rather stopping wherever I stop and claiming it as "the destination". This is what I want to avoid, and it is difficult.
I think the gurus really do become enlightened and then realize that it was really power, wealth and women that were the actual values all along. they had the realization that there can be no desire to have no desire.
Ive always thought that we arent really taught to use logic and reasoning. We instead use logic and reasoning as catch all terms that mean ''good'', we are taught that religon is illogical, specially christianity, we are taught about all the historical instances were that was proven to be the case, but then most of us also grew up being told that eastern religions were enlightened and logical and not 'evil' in the way that christianity theoretically was. So what we learned in short was, Christianity bad, eastern religions good. Trough the guise of 'Christianity dumb and illogical, Eastern religions enlightened and logical'', then when we go to a buddhist temple for example, we arent trying to be logical, we dont come with any healthy skepticism , we let our guard down because we have been told ''these are the good guys, you have nothing to fear from them''', when we instead talk to a christian preist we pretend to act skeptical and full of genuine questions, but in reality we are often just agressively trying to poke holes in their logic, to prove them wrong and ridicule them, because we have been told ''christianity bad''. I didnt explain myself that well but i hope the point is still understandable, even tho we genuenly value logic and reason we dont treat it as the highest value, but we pretend we do, and that leads to contradictions in our actions
Just found jour videos. Great comment, i had a big laugh. We live in a area with a lot of divers religious traditions, so there is always somewhere a ceremoni or prayer going on. We get along very well becours of the diversety im very sure about that. Thank jou for the refreshing vieuwpoints
@@ultimatemeaning Jep, special if jou do not want to be the hang-out STUPID tourist, i did one arlantique to the motherland.(& back ha ha). . . arabspeakers, spanisch speakers afghani irani iraki turks & marok. Italianos ONE half INTIindiian who is my oldes & first native frend (our oldest kids where born in the same jear, his ex was a frend of mine). The ethiopian, Irri-peoples beautiful femina from the motherland. Jes its a blessing. The 2e & 3e generation kids?: we do not even know anymore where they are from original. . .& some dutch people. i was born here but i am 3e generation polisch & italian & spanisch-roots. . . . ha ha big GOOD mix . . . .
People cling. When something new comes along, they want it to be THE answer to their problems. To necessitate this, they must plug all the loopholes, which usually means they become scriptural literalists or guru-addicts.
"...don't drink the Kool aid" , very nice, you have already spiced up my day, even without having seen the video. I have to deal with my “inner” Jim Jones much more often than with “outer” Jim Jones who wants to offer me strangely mixed drinks in ever-changing colors and flavors , and the “little self” gladly accepts them from time to time! 🙄However, I find missionary endeavors in general “somewhat” strange , no matter what religion or philosophy they come from , how can I know which path is destined for someone, the path is always only under one's own feet, what may seem like a tragedy or total aimlessness from the outside can imho be exactly the path that is important for the respective person , I suppose ?! And to: “save someone from hell” , I spontaneously think of: “the worst things sometimes arise from the best intentions”! I'm looking forward to your video! 🙏
@@rigocolas I'm glad you're ok, but I may have missed subtleties of language, especially humor and irony, in your post, English is not my first language and so it's always a little blind flight, so I apologize if this is the case! 🙏
I resonate with this so much it's incredible! Not to cross reference channels or teaching styles but on Actualized Leo does a three-part series on deconstructing the myth of science here on UA-cam. That was a very mind-blowing profound realization 6 hours of my life well spent. I think that most people are stuck in a deep paradigm lock being trained to look for someone else to give an answer unable to truly think for themselves.
@@ultimatemeaning Ultimately I look at this as a stop along the road which led me to channels such as yours. Some content is hit or miss and other content was intellectually insightful my favorite would be what is paradox that video I had to watch multiple times to absorb. All this aside good to see your doing well and continuing to upload great content 😊❤️
I'm not so sure that such compulsions to convert are always motivated by love, or concern for the state of another's soul. But often more about externalising their own doubts and lack of faith. And I guess, depending on their religious motivations, competitiveness, imperiousness, or just good old fashioned xenophobia. Sorry, do I seem cynical? Oops. Oh well.✌🌵🕸
There was one Advanced Tibetan born Lama who passed in 1991 who was in possession of a sacred object which was found by a Terton (one who finds hidden sacred objects) and passed on to him. The object was valuable and used to bless students and others. He asked my own teacher a master but not of Buddhist line if he wanted to buy it for 60k and my teacher rebuked him saying keep it , or gift it, only , do not sell it. He did sell it and went back to tibet with the cash and used it to rebuild a monastery destroyed by chinese. I felt this was a higher usage of money but again it weakens the power of the blessing object, what do you think ( also no idea who bought the dagger hopefully not a private collecter)
Some Tibetan teachers come to the West (or go to China) and say they are raising money for benevolent causes only to use the money to enrich themselves and their family. Others need the money to feed the monks in their monastery- an act of desperation and a sign of the decline in Buddhism in Tibet. The best thing in terms of the dharma is to give people the means to liberation and this seldom happens through blessing and ritual. In order to awaken the practitioner needs to change their fundamental way of thinking, and the way this is transmitted is through the activity of teaching and listening to the Dharma. So if you want to benefit beings the most effective way is to support the study of the Dharma. Thanks for sharing 🙏🙏🙏
What are your thoughts on the Monroe Institute? I listened to a story of a Buddhist monk going there and talking about how they were about to achieve states of meditation that take 10 years of practice to achieve traditionally
This is open to any replies, but I am wondering how a Buddhist who seeks to eliminate negative emotions views what I perceive to be beauty in the struggle, frustration, and negative emotions inherent to the human experience. I think intensely experiencing the full range of emotion is what it means to live as a human, but perhaps that is why absolute compassion is viewed as a spiritual quality.
funny thing about string theory is that it came about because particle physicist's wanted a a way to "fix" the current model even though it works just fine and there have been no issues with it. But they just randomly invented some arbitrary thing "string theory" to try and fit everything together and wrap it up in a nice pretty bow. But the issue is that string theory has no way to be proven or even disproven so it's not even a "theory" because it cant be tested and instead of giving up on this thing they made up and even after years of studying with no results under their belt string theorists will still cling to it. like bro just accept the standard model, it works.
The standard model does, in fact, not work. There is a reason why there are umpteen different theories to try and explain why the standard model does not work when applied to the mass distribution and rotational velocity of observed galaxies.
@ultimatemeaning It has more to do with keeping out things that don't add to something's identity. That's why many old Christian cathedrals have gargoyles on the OUTSIDE of the church. They represent the things that don't add to to the identity of Christianity but are still acknowledged by it. This is how any group of people works. Whether it's a church community, a city, a state, a nation, etc.. IMHO, Buddhism lacks any insight into this pattern of reality while this pattern was well understood by the Abrahamic religions.
@@chrisparker2118 Do you mean pattern of "identification?" If so then I must say this is the principle point of the Buddhist tenet and the inner meaning of the middle way. And in this regard Abrahamic religions as all theistic religions are less encompassing. 🙏🙏🙏
@ultimatemeaning What I mean by identity is the oneness of either a thing, an individual person, or a group of people because all things are a "one" from multiplicity nested within a larger "one" nested within a even larger "one" and so on. This is the pattern I'm referring to. Whether that's the inner teaching of the middle way, I don't know.
@@chrisparker2118 This is indeed the meaning of identity (in Buddhism) but also the notion of "one-ness" and "Multiplicity". In fact it is identity associated with the 8 elaborations. Coming, going, arising, ceasing, one-ness, multiplicity, sameness and difference.
Yes, good point, a teacher should perform real miracles before taking students, and also what kind of weak teachers are those who are persuaded by money and status, I find their weakness disgusting, they are pathetic, and also those who run for the hills from the challange I find them to be the same. If people give you money and praises you give to others money and praises. Be like the moron who wins at lotery, he will not become rich and in a year will be in more debt than before he won the lotery.
Are babies not the newest students of the spiritual teacher's teaching? How do you recommend the many children refute the hand that feeds them spiritual teachings cleverly smokescreened by "sensual instinct clinging"? I am ignorant and seeking guidance.
I found that we need to question everything, even the words of those we trust. Perhaps at some point everything we are told becomes untrue to us. It’s all about maintaining an open mind. Getting closer and closer to our own inner silence, the true master. The best wall to bounce our ideas off. Also the truth is not just an answer to the question, black and white, for the higher truth would be why do we ask this question at all. What are our true motivations. Truth as the big picture l.
So if Jewish individuals make up the largest demographic of Nobel Prize Laureates, is it safe to say they understand the fundamentals of reality well enough to communicate scientific progress?
I'm sorry to break it to ya, but those Christians who try to convert you are NOT trying to save you from Hell. That's just their excuse. What they're really after is brownie points with God. Despite their own Bible telling them that it's only through grace one is saved, they still think they can earn their way into Heaven. And you should see what their missions trips to Africa & Haiti do to those people there. As I think about it, I can't say every Christian is like that, but it IS bad enough that many share my opinion. Mybe one in every twenty is actually concerned for your sake. I was raised an atheit in the Southern states. So, I speak from that experience. Perhaps it's different where you are.
Hi Chris. Thanks for sharing. I am well aware that for some it is like that, but many of those I meet here in Canada are very kind and sincere. But there is a hint of sarcasm in my tone, right? Just a little bit.
@@chrisrozema1599, I honestly don’t think the christians are trying to convert anyone for the sake of their soul or for brownie points with God. I think they’ve been brainwashed into perpetrating great harm upon the world under the guise of protecting it. Most of them are genuinely good people, but they are not fully aware of the nature of spiritual and social influences, and they fear breaking out of the herd. The rest of them, well, those are the wolves in sheep clothing who use these tools as a mechanism of control and slavery. They are fully aware of what they do, and they are fine with it. Those are the ones that we have to blame for the traumatizing experiences of so many of the victims of Institutionalized Belief.
Interesting topic! I'm sure you're aware by now how youtube, nevermind the modern internet, has become infested with idolism and "e-celebs". What are your thoughts about likes/dislikes, number of subscribers in relation to your own channel? Are you not concerned that you will grow attached to these numbers and feel you have to perform better and become more "Mainstream"?
How do you determine authenticity ? Thats the path you want to go down. Youll soon find all anyone is doing is deciding based on feel whether they trust someone/institution enough to believe. Most people dont even know how they think. This is a world of lies. Almost nothing you "know" actually came from your experience. All beleif all trust. All feeling.
Hi Isaac, this is the 16th Karmapa's dream flag (it came to him in a spiritual dream) It is the symbol of the Karma Kagyu that is my particular lineage of Tibetan Buddhism 🙏🙏🙏
@@ultimatemeaning 🙏🙏An honor to learn about such a beautiful flag. I find it very serene, It has very calming effect on the mind. Is it appropriate for those not associated with the lineage to have?
Take some time off and study on something that would make you a better thinker; in other words, learn to become an independent thinker. Don't rely or be dependent on applications, products, and material things. The subjects I studied are calculus and physics.
Your words on spoiled teachers had me thinking about people with a large amount of highly volatile energy and no stable means of diffusing it. The goal here seems to be a kind of homeostasis, where the oscillating frequency has a simple and harmonious ratio rather than dissolving into unpleasant static. People with very little money often understand how difficult it is to strike a balance between raw survival and satisfaction, doing what one loves for a job so to speak. If one is highly focused on survival then one might end up akin to a pan handler or someone who is willing to go to any lengths necessary to sustain themselves, throwing away any contemplation of higher matters in favor of food and shelter and water.
I'm sure you'd agree that it's tragic to see how many of us are locked into a survival state where otherwise, if time was there, a dedication towards teaching could yield spiritual truths that would otherwise go completely untapped. Sadly a pan handler with a good grasp of the dharma often seems to be the only one to benefit from their wisdom, with no means of teaching and no audience to listen. They're in the thick of it, they're doing everything, they're shed entirely of possessions, but if they are to transcend and attain a level of stability they might achieve a pleasant harmony that might ring out for generations. I think this is what causes many of us to spoil teachers, this drive to help these people get out of the rat race and do what they love.
Thing is, it seems as though speaking about one's actions and doing those actions requires an entirely different skill set... If one were only speaking rather than doing then it's easy to imagine one might end up like a famous artist who no longer feels the spark for creation, who no longer has material to draw from. Like rappers who became popular for their words about poverty and doing what one had to do to survive suddenly getting a bunch of money, and for that all of their songs suddenly sound like everything else on the radio. There's people who know how to cause good things with their money, starting organizations and charities or foundations that platform truly genuine teachers all around the world, but it's difficult to get practice for it.
I'm harkened to thoughts of a person who might be held in high esteem, whose every word might make or break one's day, like a celebrity that commoners might tell tales of every small interaction. From such a position one might say true words and have them etched deeply into a lot of people, but the same can go for deeply flawed words. It requires a fantastic amount of self control to harness that energy... Many of the more problematic celebrities seem to diffuse their energy into their status or public image, being "so... *them*" so to speak, maybe even having a built expectation that they are playing a character as a vessel... but the very strong among us can diffuse it all into themselves, becoming much more powerful for it.
What people do with that power, that expectation, is what builds a generation. They have the power to, like Ghengis Khan, impregnate an entire country. Is the genetic information they are spreading en masse the next evolutionary step? Is it transcendent or more of the same? We owe everything to these people, the true buddhas in my eyes. They're why we have all of this technology, all of these small things we can rely upon... Our bodies even manifest relative to their sum wisdom. We must be careful to harness all of this energy, sustain it harmoniously, transcend the signal to reach overtones of transcendence that sound like two notes played at the same time.
Thank you for your insightful and well considered words. There is too much depth here to respond to each point but as regards the issue of survival- this is a fundamental consideration for any sincere spiritual practitioner. There are many ways of addressing this challenge, but few of us have the wherewithal to apply the methods of a Yogi like Milarepa.
Of note: although Milarepa was almost unknown in his own time, over the centuries he has become one of the most inspiring and influential figure in Tibetan Buddhism and as such has led many to realisation, experience, and appreciation of this sublime path.
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Of course, this is just a case study, but I'm trying to talk about myself because I don't know exactly to what extent my experiences and reactions are transferable. I had been practicing Zen for many years at that time, and I think relatively seriously, and became very ill in several ways, which led to me becoming a drug addict and homeless. For me this time was one if not the most important in my life, stigmatized, lonely, constantly beaten up and always on the edge of survival, it gave me the opportunity to see deep neuroses in myself, and so I could start to address them bit by bit, I almost had to die to be able to look at some aspects of myself honestly at all. Of course, these are just my experiences and I think that when survival is actually at risk, different people probably take different paths, inside and out, and it can take a long time to resolve these “tensions”, however the path may continue from there. As far as I know the Buddha used to call for homelessness, which imho is a good exercise, but not if you want to break yourself and probably not if it is “forced”. As far as possession in general is concerned, I often have to think of Tyler Durden (Fight Club): “Everything you have has you at some point!”. Best regards !
@@ultimatemeaning I'm glad we are all in accord with these subtle elements of karma we see play out in an exaggerated way.
It's one of the big reasons I love Buddhism. you have to have a mind of discrimination. You have to use your intellect. 📿🙏
Wisdom is key! 🙏
@@franzhaas5597, I am curious. What is the role that intellect is supposed to play?
At the thought, I am immediately brought to a question I had earlier during one of his other videos. I hear a lot about the mind in this beautiful system of life teaching, but where is the heart to be found?
I have found recently that the mind is too messy and the heart is a much better discriminator than reason. What are your thoughts? Thanks for the discussion. :)
Ahh not everyone uses their head, so that fact that you do, makes you a cut above everyone else! Go intellect!!!
@Stringbandmama this is a valid question. The mind is very messy. When it comes to intellect, you have to discriminate on what is real and what is not real. Through books and a good spiritual Master you will be posed questions that you have to ponder. There are many false beliefs that most human beings have that hold them in bondage. Like over consumerism and grasping for things that you can not have.
As for matter's of the heart, if you don't control your feelings, they will control you. That is where discri.mination and meditation help you out.
That is my two cents, but you'd rather be consulting the llama in the video above. He is way more qualified than me, but I appreciate you writing to me anyway. Good luck.
@@franzhaas5597 , thank you. This is beautiful and insightful. What is a Llama, if I may ask a kind brother or sister? Thank you so much for this. I would love to visit with the llama in this video, and I have so much to ask and discuss. I hope to one day be gifted with the honor of his time, consideration, and wisdom.
I have an 85-year old JW neighbor. She puts a full face of makeup on everyday, bleaches her hair blond, and wears dresses and heels. She has that high-pitched, Mini Mouse voice and says "hello" to everyone like a little girl. Her house is covered with pink, fluffy mats everywhere and she has huge Bibles on all her tables decorated with flowers. She goes to JW twice a week.
She's the biggest hater and slanderer in our neighborhood. All the terrible fights and conflicts between everyone goes back to her starting them.
JW teaches their followers to put on the outside appearances only but sadly, they don't teach how to be good on the inside.
How sad, let's all give rise to love and compassion for the poor old woman ans hope that she finds a better iteration in future lives. ♥🤍💙
I'm very glad you mentioned Sadhguru in the context of inauthentic spiritual teacher. He always struck me as so obviously motivated by the worldly benefits of his rockstar-guru lifestyle; like enriching himself and buddying-up with celebrities and politicians. I'm not saying his persona is entirely a grift - his account of his spiritual awakening may very well be true and he may have started out with the best of intentions - but he definitely exhibits some major red flags. Even if you ignore the expensive watches, flashy motorcycles, and involvement in the meat industry, his interactions with the audience leave a lot to be desired. When answering audience questions, for example, he often provides flippant or dismissive answers that seem to be less about imparting wisdom and more about cracking jokes at the questioner's expense. Whatever answer he does provide is often in the form of trite aphorisms and shallow quips meant to bait applause from the audience. His spiritual shortcomings are particularly apparent when comparing him to other teachers who seem much more capable of drawing from a deep wellspring of knowledge while also exhibiting genuine compassion (Thich Nhat Hanh comes to mind). I just can't understand how so many people are so easily enthralled by a figure as transparent as Sadhguru.
I don't know much about him but I am familiar with this type of Guru. They are kinda like celebrities in India
I think I know which video you meant about Sadguru dismissing question and cracking condescending jpke. It's a video where a vegan girl asked why he exploits cows. That video changed my view of him. After watching that video I stopped watching/listening to him.
@@mauryagupta6024 Exactly. For me, that same interaction immediately transformed my perspective of him from someone who may not be for me, but clearly provides some service to those making up his large audiences ("to each their own" sort of thing) into a man clearly enthralled by his ego and, therefore, unsuited to providing the least bit of guidance to those who come with honest questions, seeking helpful answers.
My experience in religious organizations has been unfortunate. As a young person, I was spoonfed a box of information and taught not to question or develop my own experience. Just follow along with everyone else. I feel like that makes us more vulnerable and primed for abusive behaviors from others within those organizations. Then, as soon as you grow up a little and try to bring the abuse to the light of the leadership, they do whatever it takes to cover it up, gaslight, and pretend like everything is normal. I am incredibly grateful for this path. Developing my practice has been the best thing that I've done for myself. I'm also glad im not running around the house yelling #shivashivaallnight anymore! Thank you for all you do for us, Lama 🙏💚
Sadly this is an all too common story Mary, I am glad you found some independence, who know? Soon you may be meditating on top of a volcano or in the middle of the Pacific ocean 😆🤣😆
@ultimatemeaning ooo I'll take the top of a volcano please 🌋
I was born into Catholicism...deep rooted, yet i finally came out of that to realize other teachings such as Buddhism and Daoism.. such esoteric teachings resonate WAY more with me. Thank you for sharing your experiance!!.just found ur channel
Thank you for finding yourself and for finding me Kevin. May you resonate with a sonorous tone all the way to awakening! ♥
You should look into the history of hesychasm.
@@chuckliquor3663 Thanks for the recommendation chuck that looks very interesting 🙏🙏🙏
If there is a merciful god, reincarnation is the only policy I could accept from such a being. Eternal paradise or eternal punishment are equally unappealing destinations.
@@grimble4564 eternal heaven or hell are logically impossible. Everything has an ending.
And life is just like a dream,an illusion, constantly changing and impermanent
True teacher here! Have been listening to you only for a short time and found that applying your wisdom to my own life has been so beneficial, I smile a lot more, life is easier. Thank you Lama Choga for coming into my life. Much love sent to you.
Thank you Donella for your kind words and for applying intelligence and mindfulness to your life. This is of great benefit to society as a whole! ♥♥♥
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@@donellacurley4941 ♥
@Thought-Police-101 Had to take a moment to think about this. Can only see what is true for self. Need a good teacher to assist in finding the guru within. We all have knowledge, but many prefer to stay ignorant, as I have in past, worldly. I thirst to change, know truth as to assist others, even in the smallest way is useful. When I say, (true teacher) a real guide for the betterment of the whole, without asking for anything in return, rare. Thank you again Lama Choga
Thank you thought police, you did get me thinking :)
Faith is pretending to know something that you don't know .
😆🤣😆 I like it! 😆🤣😆
@@ultimatemeaning Of course you do
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Faith is love. Faith is freedom. Faith is Truth.
Intelligent faith that is. Not blind
5:50 then i proceed to laugh 'this isnt really a laughing matter', ive never shut my mouth faster before😅
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I appreciate your down to earth, matter of fact manner. The fact you've lived in the west and succumbed to the trappings before relinquishing them has grown your wisdom in reaching western buddhists. Your energy is very authentic, and you've got a great wry sense of humour! So glad I found you. Appreciate your inputs muchly. Best wishes from South Africa.
Hello Nina from South Africa and thank you for your support. I lived a very mundane and wayward life, I hope to put that experience to some use and to bring some benefit. Would make up for all the messing around I did! 🙏🙏🙏
Buddhism requires one to practice to gain insight. I can experience Buddhism and its truth for myself. Christianity was not like that for me. Also, Christianity closed my mind. Buddhism opened it and I was able to gain compassion even for the people that have hurt me the most.
Look up 2nd century Gnostics. Veerryy similar. They too knew that truth came through knowledge one gained through experience, to have gnosis.
They were concerned very little about faith.
They, too, viewed this world, this realm, this plane of existence to be illusionary, one that must be transcended.
In early times of forgotten epochs, Christianity and Buddhism, in their earlier forms, as well with Islam, to share in a comminality.
@@I_scribbles Similar, yes. But its critical to point out to new Buddhists one distinct difference between Gnostic and Buddhist belief. Buddhists do not see the material plane as in any way evil or negative, or the spiritual plane as superior. Nirvana and Samsara are ultimately both illusions. Transcendence or awakening is this realization.
🐕🦺🙏🐕🦺
Yes, unfortunately, the powers that be have warped Christianity into a false religion in order to control others and feed off of the energy of the ignorant.
I am very saddened when I hear people speak of Christianity as a whole in one particular light, I.e. when they lump all the false teachings of the mainstream narcissists as the whole of what Christianity is and stands for.
I think both the fake christians and the people who hate Christianity because of their experience with the fake christians do more harm to one another and to humanity by having such stereotypes and prejudices crystallized into their psyches.
@@I_scribbles, Indeed, Christ Himself was an Essene. He was quite mystical and His teachings have been whitewashed and westernized. It was His people that purposely preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls, and His people who covered up Gobekli Tempe so that we would rediscover it and be able to break free of the illusory mindset force fed to us upon our births.
I have seen a lot of Kool Aide drinking over the years. I am so grateful to my parents for not being authoritarian and for always encouraging me to think for myself even though I'm sure I made it very difficult for them at times. Sorry, parents. I was also very fortunate to have one teacher who lived more humbly and ate more simply than we the students. He never demanded obedience of course. His humility was a great model. He never set out to be a teacher either, but people "found him" in India and brought him to the USA, and he just went along with it. Rare.
You're doing them a favour by being independent Barbara ♥♥♥
We want something and/or someone to trust, some kind of North Star to look to. If we find something we can trust we will follow it no matter what.
I'm in my 60th year, began practicing 11 years ago. I met my Teacher then, just after I began practicing, but it wasn't until 2020 that I took refuge with him. In February this year I took Bodhisattva vows with him. We talked for a while afterwards and of the several things I remember him saying, one was "Being a teacher is a huge responsibility." I have great trust in him. I have toyed with the idea of teaching but I think I'm too weak to not begin to tailor my offer in order to please my students, if I were to depend on them financially.
So I live a very small life, very frugal and earn a little money, hopefully enough, looking after old people with dementia. I wish I had more money but I don't think I'm ever going to have the wisdom to earn it through spiritual teaching without being corrupted by it.
Bit of a confession session! I really appreciate your content, thank you.
@Thought-Police-101 What do you mean by 'spirit'?
@Thought-Police-101 There is no personal inner essence that I have found. I have looked within every day for 11 and a half years. Initially I found lots of emotional activity, lots of mental activity which bit by bit took clearer and simpler forms. On continuing to look, I saw that this activity is subjective. On continuing to look I found that this subjective experience is one little slice of what underlies it, pure unmediated awakened and illumined attention. Maybe that's what you mean by 'spirit', and I can understand why that might be seen in those terms but in my experience there is nothing personal about it at all. It's not mine, it is universal.
@Thought-Police-101 Indeed. The work of dispelling one's own notion of 'me' is a lifelong project, tunneling through the rockface of self-cherishing - which includes self-rejection by the way. The most powerful aid, tool or weapon you can have in this endeavor is compassion for others, as without that only nihilism awaits.
This is very painful for me. My mothers family does not care about facts and when i asked them to prove it they shunned me and threatened me ( I was around 13 at that time ) for me i study alot and had some refutation against them only to be not understood not even debate but wrather just bullied into trying to be normal. for me i am stil searching for the truth
❤ keep up your search friend, many people are just not able to think for themselves. So have compassion for them, but at the same time believe in your self ❤
Thank you for being direct and putting this into language that those watching a UA-cam Channel can understand. I have been listening to Krishnamurti for years and years, but many do not understand what he is talking about (to me his message is "clear as day," to use another's phrase, but I am surprised at how dumbfounded people often are after listening to his direct -- albeit at times somewhat abstruse -- language). Indeed, herd mentality, not thinking for oneself, blind belief, blaming others for one's own shortcomings, etc. etc. are destroying our world from the inside out. This and corruption/greed, as if money was something that can make us deeply satisfied or as though we could bring it with us to the grave...
Did you ever question Krishnamurti and his teaching? I did! Otherwise your making him into a guru which he abhorred. As K said, you are the guru,the saviour,the teacher. Forget Krishnamurti.
No, I am not deifying him. I said that his message is clear, and part of that message is not to take what he (or anyone else) says as "the Truth," but to investigate for oneself. Yes, forget Krishnamurti, forget this, forget that, etc. Buddha: "Be a lamp unto oneself." JK: "Be a light unto oneself." Osho: "Be a joke unto oneself." Self: There is No self.
Thank for sharing that friend!
I for one feel a deep sense of gratitude for the karma of having started following you and the teachings that have been enjoyed by us all ..Thankyou Lama Choga 🙏🙏🙏🌟
Thank Paul my friend 🙏🙏🙏
@PP-G me too!! Everytime I really start to think about it, I just start crying my eyes out. Hope you are well, friend 🙏💚
@maryfreund4957 I hear that!..I am good Mary and hope that you are too my friend 🙏😁🙏
I’ve been in Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhism for 20 years. For me it’s practice, however for the majority of people surrounding my life it’s all Tibetan politics, dogma, sycophantic; they came to escape western religion only to give their power over to Tibetan institutionalization. Some people I know are so immersed in Tibetan Buddhism that they’ve lost the ability to critically think, make clear decisions, have self esteem, have good judgement. For example, I know someone whose doctor told them it would be good to exercise and to eat healthier, but this person refuses because they are too pious; it’s too taboo for a monastic; it’s all a culture of codependency, shame, denial, of cultish proportion. Seriously, they would have been better off in life if they never encountered Buddhism whatsoever!!!
This is so true and a big issue in all spiritual paths not only Vajrayana Buddhism. Thanks for sharing 🙏🙏🙏
People have Awakened to their True Nature and then made a religion about it. Today, people write a book and make a UA-cam channel. Apparently, non-duality is a market.
This is wonderful! I’m just coming in late. I’ll watch the beginning after. Thank you for your teachings - as always!
Thanks Brian. In your own time friend 🙏
Yesterday, I stumbled upon a website titled "Controversial 'Buddhist' Teachers, Groups & cults". Shocking.
Thanks for sharing that Ken I will look it up, but there certainly are a lot of dodgy people claiming to teach the sublime dharma out there ♥
@@ultimatemeaningyes, I was wary of con men. I began reading Tich Naht Hahn and some videos here. I've found that using reason can help. If they sound dodgy then stay away.
Brother thank you so much, I needed to hear this. ❤
♥🧡💛 Thanks for listening bro ♥🧡💛
My brother thinks he is too smart to be fooled because he's not religious.... and he believes in Q Anon....
Q Anon, holy crap I though it was joke when I got out of retreat now I know it is not funny at all! ♥🧡💛
@@ultimatemeaning why don't you mention the indoctrination and brainwashing of young people by the democrat run propaganda media, and the current cult like adherence or be scorned of modern "progressives" and "liberals"
Thank you! I am grateful for your time and effort!
Thanks for listening and participating ♥🧡💛
Thank you again ! Yes, you say something important! This has probably happened at all times and unfortunately the currency that corrupts someone is not always so easily recognizable either , sometimes it's money , sometimes power and other times maybe worship or whatever it is that makes us cling , even “letting go” can be an obsession in which you collect your “points”...BUT I am unfortunately not completely free of all that either , just an ordinary lost person !
Thanks for Sharing that🙏
@@ultimatemeaning 🙏🖖
I took a journey called life. I failed many times. I lived in the underworld. I partnered with the rich. I fought in great battles. I've watched the stars turn through many nights. I've Dreamed dreams of the past, tomorrow and the many futures. ...
... Heya my name is Dianna
I'm right with you there Dianna, failing every step of the way ♥🧡💛
Hello sir, while I appreciated the message and what you brought on as a great presentation of advice; I do realize that sometimes I am ridiculed for following my spiritual path, and it being called as false. In all honesty how would you approach this? Any advice is appreciated, thank you.
Hi Zark, sorry to hear that others are ridiculing you. Unfortunately many people are critical of those with spiritual conviction and there isn't a lot that can be done about the negativity of others.
the main thing is that a practitioner inspires others through their own inner transformation and their faith in their chosen path.Having resolute conviction in one's journey is a sign of strength, and not only that but sincere practice makes one impervious to the derision of others.
By developing spiritual qualities you will gain the respect of those who have intelligence and potential, and whereas it is nearly impossible to influence those who are small minded and prone to intense negativity once you gain the respect of the critical thinkers you will naturally suffer less from the haters. This is because once they notice other people taking you seriously they themselves will become embarrassed to criticize you publicly.
Best wishes on your chosen journey friend
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Excellent video - more people need to hear this! Thank you for your teaching and practice. Wisdom and discernment are absolutely key in any path.
Thanks SAR!
I loved this. Thank you for sharing gems!
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I was watching a former U.S. Navy Seal on UA-cam, he shared what his mentor told him about on preparing himself. His mentor advised to get rid of everything, from his car to his girlfriend, all the comforts. All the things to retreat to.
When those are gone, there is no retreat to comfort.
Got to go it alone.
Yeah I did this before going into a 4 year retreat on the island of Arran. I can vouch for this approach
"I am with you until the end of the age."
The full video is much better than the preview. So much truth!
The preview is a trailer of another Short. I should make actual preview I guess. I never thought of that! Thanks
Your words bring comfort,i have no teachers(physically present)i live in a small town where most folks see Buddha as a chubby,smiling figure,i get it.i've accepted the Dharmma (after MUCH examination)so when the question of trust in teachers arises the dharmma is my guide,Jetsun Milarepa is my Dharmic super hero,whose life is an inspiration,whose example say's KenDen you can do this too.my aspiration at this point of my 64yrs is to firmly plant dharmma in the mind stream to become a monk in my next rodeo.my dharmma teacher is the Lam Rim Chenmo,BIG thanks to Atisha,and Je Tsong Kha Pa,and now most humbly, you.i take refuge in the Buddha,the Dharmma,and the Sangha.😊
Thanks for shouting out for the masters of the past 🤍♥🤍
I know so many people that need to see this video. Wonderful stuff! ❤
Thank you Kathy feel free to share 🙏🙏🙏
I have to disagree to some extent with the comments about blind faith in conspiracy theories. Unless we answer all questions how do we know what is conspiracy and what isn't...From the perspective that if questions are unanswered or ignored, or even labelled as conspiracy without thourough investigation then this is the same as the blind faith in the temple.... questions are always good even if they cannot be answered immediately...... we all want the ultimate truth and if that ultimate truth is really ultimate truth it will withstand rigorous questions 🌺 this is true for all learning not only spiritual
I agree with your points. I would only like to add that we know what is conspiracy and what is not by venturing within, and not necessarily or always involving the venturing outwards.
In other words, you already have the answers you seek. We all do. It is just that we have all forgotten how to connect within and wait for the ultimate truth to manifest itself from within.
I have been guilty of this venturing out, so very much lately. Venturing back inward seemed so painful and time consuming, especially for a single parent of young children.
I’ve been getting there though it has taken a lot of time. My ego and my fear, or lack of faith, has been more than just a thorn in my side. It has purposefully hindered my progression towards Deification, but even in my shortcomings and delays, many lessons have been learned and many more lessons are being recognized as needed.
Basically, looking for the answers or the ultimate truth outside of ourselves is a futile endeavor and is the snare that many are stumbled upon. It is good to seek answers. It is better to seek answers within.
Here's my experience with these theories. People often come up to me in public thinking that I will be open to their theories (something to do with being a monk guess) and so for example they will tell that the US army created the Spanish influenza in WW1.
Our tribal instinct is not to be seen to disagree, but when I say "I 'm not into conspiracy theories I need to see proof" then they often feel offended.
So the question is "why on earth would they expect me just to believe the wild statement of a stranger who walks up to me in the street?"
I think the reason why so many people do accept these sorts of trite statements is because they are disillusioned with the world and looking for something or someone else to blame.
But in the Buddha Dharma at least this is a mistake, as it is taught our experiences of happiness and sorrow are a consequence of our personal and shared karma.
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@@Stringbandmama You obviously haven't experienced many of the lying churches of the West!!!
@@ultimatemeaningHonestly I find it a bit endearing that people just come up to you and spout their conspiracy theories. I feel that in their head they see a monk and go "this guy will listen to me without judgement, he's a monk!" But sadly it seems they can't handle your disagreement with their ideas.
Currently, I am undergoing a deep dive into Plato's book The Parmenids, a commentary compiled by Proclus. At the end of book 2 of 7 in it, both Parmenides and Zeno(a disciple of Parmenides) smile at one another in a way showing admiration regarding Socrates(who was young in this dialog) because he made objections to these great men - in Parmenides and Zeno - and only such a serious student, and in a true and reverential way, is worthy of such divine doctrine.
Critical thinking, retroduction, reason and logic, apophasis, and synthesis are not only so very important, but such an inquisitive disposition enables one to be receptible to the higher things....and without, a person's heart isn't really in what they think, do or believe.
So true my friend thank you for sharing. Sadly there are those who aren't able to apply reasoning to a sufficient degree, and so for them they need the good karma for meeting an authentic tradition that the can exercise blind faith in. (this lifetime at least).🙏🙏🙏
Wow! sounds tasty! ♥🧡💛
Set aside the conspiracy theorists
There was something very wrong regarding the C o v i d narrative
And to tell people they are stupid for being alarmed abd concerned when deep down they knew things didnt add up is most unkind
Being a leader means listening to peoples fears and learni g what is behind them so you can unveil them in a loving and kind way
Nay, to dismiss the 99 percent certainty that the plandemic was an unprecedented exaggeration and mass mind control you need to be really really brainwashed and disconnected from reality. Having said that, there are many conspiracy theories that are undoubtedly bullshit. The flat earth theory is a towering example. By the way, the very term ''conspiracy theory'' is misleading bc any theory should be evaluated according to only one criterion and that is: Is it TRUE or not.
Pandemics have been going on and the pathogens have been evolving as long as there has been biological beings. And even if there was a lab leak (something that is inevitable) the Corona strain was first detected around the 1920's
Disease is a natural way to keep the species in check and with human proliferation will come an acceleration of these mutations and an increase in frequency of pandemic episodes.
Thanks for sharing
I was also kinda caught off guard when I heard implied in the video that Tucker Carson is a conspiracy theorist, and that Donald Trump is a liar. I follow Tucker Carson fairly closely and in my opinion it is not fair to use that term against him. And I also attended two of President Trump’s rallies (even participated in the January 6 events). I would suggest anyone who wants to know more about the origin of Covid to watch the UA-cam channel Peak Prosperity. Brett Weinstein is also another scientist who discusses this subject. I also wonder what kind of lies President Trump said that would warrant the statement “everything he said is a lie.” I hear this statement from people I know, my co-worker, and when pressed they really don’t have a good answer for why they say such thing. One of them said they got it from CNN. Sometimes I see people who are very good at a particular subject yet totally clueless about another seemingly obvious area of knowledge, and I feel that that might be the case in this video. For instance, Joe Rogan is very good and knowledgeable in many areas, but he did not know what an “NPC” character mean, something that I thought was common knowledge.
One other comment I’d like to make is that to label someone names, such as conspiracy theorists, racists, anti-Semitic, nazis, et cetera, is something that should be avoided, especially from a spiritual leader, because it automatically ascribe attributes to people who may not espouse any of those attributes, and open them up to negative consequences that they don’t deserve. Before using those terms, such as conspiracy theorists, it would be good to look into who came up with the term and why they came up with it.
If you believe that there was a pandemic caused by a microscopic ball with spikes on it then you've fallen victim of the same illusion as everyone else... My daoist friends were wise to it.
Yes there was something very wrong with the whole story...
Ahhh. Like a soothing balm to troubled soul. Thank you.
Thanks friend!
The book Vital Lies And Simple Truths by Daniel Goleman has a lot of very interesting insights on how group mentality comes to be, why people double down on bad decisions, and how colossal errors in judgement can be allowed by the best of intentions. It's very acessible and a great introductory work for social psychology in general.
I quite like it, perhaps because i'm an extreme skeptic to the point of being a bit of a prick, but my lack of firm belief in anything at all is something bothersome too. This is a thought that surfaces often when i'm engaging with content you put out, as i relate with your history of extreme insecurity and self-sabotage, and even doubt in the institution of buddhism as a whole despite my interest in it, but i'm not sure if i'll circle back to it like you have. Regardless, i've really been appreciating your insight lately, and i'm hoping what i might learn from this can help me put a little more faith in discovering what my true inclinations actually are, as well as the choices i make for myself.
I feel like you're a quite refreshing addition to the community of spiritual practicioners who try to keep it real. Looking forward to hearing more from you in the future. Cheers.
Thanks for the tip ♥🧡💛
Thank you. 🙏🌈
Welcome Raquel 🙏🙏🙏
Truly, you have at least glimpsed the path. I know I am blessed to hear from you. Please, what might you say if Buddha shakyamuni were to have become enlightened this year, what would he do?
♥🧡💛
I like it, calling religious people stupid in the title. Sombody is chanelling their inner non dual troll. This is the way 🙃
Like I said in the channel "I am not calling religion (or religious people) stupid. Otherwise I would be calling myself stupid right? 🙏🙏🙏
@@ultimatemeaning I mean, some people don't consider Buddhism a religion but a lifestyle or tradition.
@@ultimatemeaning, umm, but, you literally said that we have a lower IQ. I am pretty sure that is the same as calling us stupid.
@@StringbandmamaI am not afraid to call an ace an ace and a spade a spade. Religion is rooted in duality. Right, and wrong, light, and darkness, everything and nothing ect ect. All of which are iresolvable conflicts. It is also split into multiple different religions, more iresolvable conflicts. (I won't even go into secular conflicts)
Your brain is essentially a computer. Every one of these iresolvable conflicts you add to your progaming slows your processor down. Your mind will try and resolve these independent of your conscious effort. Once you add enough iresolvable conflicts, you end up with a population of minds who are only ten percent cognitive function loss away from total cognitive failure.
Your all operating at almost brain death levels because you have accepted the error code that is the cumulation of human "knowledge". Which is just thousands of years of bad fiction. This is a cohesive system, equal parts light, equal parts shadow. These forces work together. Religion pretends these forces are in opposition to each other. This is not only false, but dumb.
I find that for any religion to be worth my time it has to be able to live harmoniously with our understanding of the physical world. This doesn't work for a lot of the teachings of the Abrahamic religions (Christianity/Islam/Judaism), but for religions that focus less on deity and more on our own existence and experiences such as Buddhism/Taoism/Confuscianism it appears that syncretism with modern science is possible, and that is why some of these Eastern teachings are much more interesting to me.
perhaps more modern manifestations of religion? ♥🧡💛
15 seconds in and im like "he just read my mind"
😆🤣😆 Radar
This has been huge problem in India in recent years.
Sadly it is endemic for many centuries, at the same time many have also gained realisation
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Lama I think you have a lot of good points. What you say in regards to the spiritual community is very true, however when you talk about the "experts" in regards to scientific fields, many of them are motivated/influenced by both monetary and political ends. Just because they are learned to some degree does not at all mean they are wise and neutral distributors of knowledge. Why not apply this criticism of religious practitioners to scientific practitioners equally? Many of these scientific institutions are also very, very corrupt and ruled by the distributors of money, whether that be pharmaceutical, agricultural, chemical, whatever lobbies. One only has to look at the absolute poison that is in the majority of "food" for sale at grocery stores to see the proof.
♥🧡💛 lot of politics in science for sure!
"From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me"
Once you acknowledge that some irrational behaviours stem from certain brain parts such as insula and amygdala and renounce it, you're no longer a dog, but a bird. A human can attain the greatest high when they take charge of their own fate.
This is the key message of Buddhism "Take charge of your lives"
@@ultimatemeaning And the true cessations
@@uret2 Let's fly!
Thank you for the pointing!
Thank you for looking! 👀
Understood. Thank you for your kind attention.
And you for your friend! ♥
This had to be said but it is a difficult situation for people that would need an authentic spiritual teacher given that as you explained the most authentic masters are reluctant to having students.
Difficult paradox my friend, and this is why aspiration is so important! 🙏🙏🙏
Many thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Pleasure Dexter!
So you are telling me to think for myself? I will follow these instructions totally and without question.... I love Buddhist paradoxes
Alan Watts said a Guru is someone that steals your watch and sells it back to You
That was Santana's guru, wasn't it? 😆🤣😆
@@ultimatemeaning
Alan Watts?
I'm not sure what you mean
Then your up for a great journey once you realize the profoundness of that man. @@paigegray3324
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Thanks for the video I believe it will help a lot of people understand the problem with blind faith, although I want to believe that I don't fall into blind faith (I'm overly skeptical) I do know that I fall into my daily material life more than I spend time in my book learning process when I'm home
I agree that we should be careful about our attitudes toward religion, to avoid victimizing ourselves through stupid application of herd instinct. The test as you rightly put it, is whether the religion has compassion at its core. Leaders who lack that quality are taking people down a dark path.
As a religious practitioner in a ‘teaching’ role I do not experience anything like ‘blind obedience’ among the laity but rather a learned skepticism and independence of thought and action among them, likely due in my current situation to having a long line of pretty bad teachers they learned to distrust as unreliable, and whose teachings were serially contradictory in the details. 10 teachers in 30 years can create a lot of cynicism.
I do not cultivate anything like blind faith among the laity but always strive to share my own discoveries of the internal coherence of our shared religious faith, making use of the terms of religious worship appropriate to the contemplation of the intellectible elements of the religious experience. At the core of our shared tradition is the worship of God in religious ritual. I strive to keep my discourse about worship rational so that the meaning of the ritual is not obscure. We make a strong distinction between essence and accident in our tradition, so that rational critique of everything we do and say is welcome; we do not confuse Church with God. Subsidiarily the priests are not confused with God.
I like to say DO WHAT YOU CAN WHERE YOU ARE WITH WHAT YOU HAVE.
Stimulating thoughts✨
We humans crave a deeper connection within and around ourselves. Without this, we can feel lost and overwhelmed…many simply immerse themselves in the physical world. Religions are human constructs created to meet our needs. Beliefs offer explanations, hope, power ( ability to influence),comfort and joy. Even if illusory, beliefs have powerful emotional effects on our lives, at the cost of truly understanding.
Our very existence connects each of us with infinite time and space…this is the deepest connection. We are all cosmic companions in this phenomenal experience of life💫
May we remain together until awakening!
3:27 I thought you said you spent twelve years in retreat
Yeah 4 years on the isle of Arran in a strict Vajrayana retreat and then 8 years in Nepal ♥🧡💛
whenever i go to religious places i dont do any of that stuff.. i dont prostrate.. dont sing... i just sit there... i might get some of the food or dance with the women...
Hahdha you know for me, the moment the priests started saying cats don't go to heaven, I was like "Oh thats too bad, I was starting to like Jesus" I thought this was the Catholic Church, I was very young. Then I mixed it out with the chaos of Hindu dieties. It was almost like I could see the asuras and devas duke it out. Of course, do not throw out the baby with the bath water. That baby has nirvana, it won't work.
Funny I had similar thought when I was young!
Excellent talk. Thank you.
Thanks Blair, much appreciated 🙏🙏🙏
I am conflicted. The world seems to be full of suffering, yet also full of joys, and I don't know what to do with this. If I can escape from it and be liberated, I will be leaving much behind, including many people that are dear to me whom I would gladly die for. Freedom from all this sounds nice, but at the same time, I am worried of being selfish. I am so caught up in the clockwork of the world and all the rules and duties I have bound myself too that I don't know how to not be so much a part of it. What am I missing?
You have hit on some really essential points Jack. The trick is to be of the world but not in it. And also there is no need to give up on sentient beings. Awakening is a slow process and one doesn't have to what will happen at the end of the journey.
We need suffering and happiness as well, because it is by identifying with these that we come to find the middle way.
Enlightenment in the MahaYana is called "the non abiding in Samsara, nor transcending to Nirvana" This also means that one does not need to escape the mundane nor seek the supernatural
Thanks for sharing friend
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Opinions are like a$$holes and everyone's got one. A wise person once told me that.
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Most people have more than one.
@@jeremywvarietyofviewpoints3104 😆🤣😆
im new to this stuff. im gonna watch more of ur videos and maybe plan some time to do my own deeper research.
im gonna watch ur videos from oldest to newest since i feel like i need ur lore to fully feel like i understand these newer videos
I wish you luck friend ♥🧡💛
This may be one of the few things I am doing right. Every spiritual tradition that I have looked into has some sort of great Truth it points to. And that Truth, in reality, seems all connected regardless of the tradition. But, the act of following a tradition blindly does seem to bring about ignorance. As if, in religion people seek to no longer ask questions. They just want comfortable and acceptable answers. And, this isn't what I want. Whenever I decide to attend a church of any sort, all I want to do is talk to the pastor, priest, whatever and exchange ideas about existence, life, God, etc. and, generally, they aren't all that interested.
Do I live a simple life? I don't totally know what that means. I feel like I haven't, growing up here in the USA, most of my life has been struggling to make myself fit into the world, and distract myself from my discontent. But over time, all distraction loses succor, and the discontent remains.
And, I find myself living in my car, still discontent, and still unconsciously using external things to distract myself, even as I "know" that it isn't going to solve or change anything.
I continue to work at putting down the way things make sense to me on paper. I hope someday to feel ready and capable to teach, and to teach successfully.
I know what you mean about being afraid of money. Truly, it is only the amount of money that keeps me in a home, and not hungry that I truly desire, but in writing and teaching, I see only people making not enough money to survive, or making way too much money for anyone's good, which is even worse.
I do not know what I would do with a million dollars. Feel relief, setting down the burden of worry for how I will survive would probably come first, but after I became comfortable it seems to me that the only viable options are to give the rest away, hoping it will do good (this could mean spending it to create something that is lasting, to do good) or, to chain myself to it by using it to find more and better distraction. Which, would be spiritually destructive I am certain.
So, I try not to be impatient with this process, though I still am, I try not to be discontent with the world of humanity, but I often am.
And, I do not know what would be worse, to have nothing ever change, to continue waking up to the same world and the same problems again and again, or to "make it big" get published, sell a million copies of my book, and be put on a pedestal. In the former, at least I am still on the journey, even if I am often wandering off only to need to find it again, but the latter feels like it would be the end of the journey. Not truly the destination, but rather stopping wherever I stop and claiming it as "the destination". This is what I want to avoid, and it is difficult.
I think the gurus really do become enlightened and then realize that it was really power, wealth and women that were the actual values all along. they had the realization that there can be no desire to have no desire.
Thank you!!
WELCOME!
Ive always thought that we arent really taught to use logic and reasoning. We instead use logic and reasoning as catch all terms that mean ''good'', we are taught that religon is illogical, specially christianity, we are taught about all the historical instances were that was proven to be the case, but then most of us also grew up being told that eastern religions were enlightened and logical and not 'evil' in the way that christianity theoretically was.
So what we learned in short was, Christianity bad, eastern religions good. Trough the guise of 'Christianity dumb and illogical, Eastern religions enlightened and logical'', then when we go to a buddhist temple for example, we arent trying to be logical, we dont come with any healthy skepticism , we let our guard down because we have been told ''these are the good guys, you have nothing to fear from them''', when we instead talk to a christian preist we pretend to act skeptical and full of genuine questions, but in reality we are often just agressively trying to poke holes in their logic, to prove them wrong and ridicule them, because we have been told ''christianity bad''.
I didnt explain myself that well but i hope the point is still understandable, even tho we genuenly value logic and reason we dont treat it as the highest value, but we pretend we do, and that leads to contradictions in our actions
Just found jour videos. Great comment, i had a big laugh. We live in a area with a lot of divers religious traditions, so there is always somewhere a ceremoni or prayer going on. We get along very well becours of the diversety im very sure about that. Thank jou for the refreshing vieuwpoints
That sounds like heaven friend! ♥
@@ultimatemeaning Jep, special if jou do not want to be the hang-out STUPID tourist, i did one arlantique to the motherland.(& back ha ha). . . arabspeakers, spanisch speakers afghani irani iraki turks & marok. Italianos ONE half INTIindiian who is my oldes & first native frend (our oldest kids where born in the same jear, his ex was a frend of mine). The ethiopian, Irri-peoples beautiful femina from the motherland. Jes its a blessing. The 2e & 3e generation kids?: we do not even know anymore where they are from original. . .& some dutch people. i was born here but i am 3e generation polisch & italian & spanisch-roots. . . . ha ha big GOOD mix . . . .
Short sweet and to the point. Thank you and Namaste
Thank you Lamar!
With this understanding, how do yoh see Mr. Goenka who build vipassana centers.
His method is good for busy people for sure ♥🧡💛
Wonderful, thank you
My pleasure Ben!
People cling. When something new comes along, they want it to be THE answer to their problems. To necessitate this, they must plug all the loopholes, which usually means they become scriptural literalists or guru-addicts.
You have a good understanding of this process, thanks for sharing! 🙏🙏🙏
"...don't drink the Kool aid" , very nice, you have already spiced up my day, even without having seen the video. I have to deal with my “inner” Jim Jones much more often than with “outer” Jim Jones who wants to offer me strangely mixed drinks in ever-changing colors and flavors , and the “little self” gladly accepts them from time to time! 🙄However, I find missionary endeavors in general “somewhat” strange , no matter what religion or philosophy they come from , how can I know which path is destined for someone, the path is always only under one's own feet, what may seem like a tragedy or total aimlessness from the outside can imho be exactly the path that is important for the respective person , I suppose ?! And to: “save someone from hell” , I spontaneously think of: “the worst things sometimes arise from the best intentions”! I'm looking forward to your video! 🙏
😆🤣😆 see you there Mono!
I should be ok, I drank out of the vat labeled "grape aid"
@@rigocolas I'm glad you're ok, but I may have missed subtleties of language, especially humor and irony, in your post, English is not my first language and so it's always a little blind flight, so I apologize if this is the case! 🙏
@@rigocolas 😆🤣😆
@@mono6839 I think you got it!
The irony here is painful to watch
It wasn't religion it is senility 😆🤣😆
We have no discernment, I know, it is terrible to see. 👁️♾️❤️🔥
I resonate with this so much it's incredible! Not to cross reference channels or teaching styles but on Actualized Leo does a three-part series on deconstructing the myth of science here on UA-cam. That was a very mind-blowing profound realization 6 hours of my life well spent. I think that most people are stuck in a deep paradigm lock being trained to look for someone else to give an answer unable to truly think for themselves.
Thank you for sharing your experience Steven and also for the tip. I will look up Actualized Leo (that's a UA-cam channel right?) 🙏🙏🙏
@@ultimatemeaning Ultimately I look at this as a stop along the road which led me to channels such as yours. Some content is hit or miss and other content was intellectually insightful my favorite would be what is paradox that video I had to watch multiple times to absorb. All this aside good to see your doing well and continuing to upload great content 😊❤️
@@StevenLeMieux Thank you Steven for your words of encouragement! ♥
I'm not so sure that such compulsions to convert are always motivated by love, or concern for the state of another's soul. But often more about externalising their own doubts and lack of faith. And I guess, depending on their religious motivations, competitiveness, imperiousness, or just good old fashioned xenophobia. Sorry, do I seem cynical? Oops. Oh well.✌🌵🕸
Any topic is welcome here if it is sincere, and if not then we must learn to tolerate that too! Thanks for sharing hope you can catch the new video ♥
There was one Advanced Tibetan born Lama who passed in 1991 who was in possession of a sacred object which was found by a Terton (one who finds hidden sacred objects) and passed on to him. The object was valuable and used to bless students and others. He asked my own teacher a master but not of Buddhist line if he wanted to buy it for 60k and my teacher rebuked him saying keep it , or gift it, only , do not sell it. He did sell it and went back to tibet with the cash and used it to rebuild a monastery destroyed by chinese. I felt this was a higher usage of money but again it weakens the power of the blessing object, what do you think ( also no idea who bought the dagger hopefully not a private collecter)
Some Tibetan teachers come to the West (or go to China) and say they are raising money for benevolent causes only to use the money to enrich themselves and their family. Others need the money to feed the monks in their monastery- an act of desperation and a sign of the decline in Buddhism in Tibet.
The best thing in terms of the dharma is to give people the means to liberation and this seldom happens through blessing and ritual. In order to awaken the practitioner needs to change their fundamental way of thinking, and the way this is transmitted is through the activity of teaching and listening to the Dharma.
So if you want to benefit beings the most effective way is to support the study of the Dharma.
Thanks for sharing
🙏🙏🙏
What are your thoughts on the Monroe Institute? I listened to a story of a Buddhist monk going there and talking about how they were about to achieve states of meditation that take 10 years of practice to achieve traditionally
Religion is for those that dont wanna go to hell.
Spirituality is for those that have already been there.
😆🤣😆 Love it! I might quote you on that! 😆🤣😆
I mean, I tried to buy Lama Choga an instant pot and he said no.
This is open to any replies, but I am wondering how a Buddhist who seeks to eliminate negative emotions views what I perceive to be beauty in the struggle, frustration, and negative emotions inherent to the human experience. I think intensely experiencing the full range of emotion is what it means to live as a human, but perhaps that is why absolute compassion is viewed as a spiritual quality.
funny thing about string theory is that it came about because particle physicist's wanted a a way to "fix" the current model even though it works just fine and there have been no issues with it. But they just randomly invented some arbitrary thing "string theory" to try and fit everything together and wrap it up in a nice pretty bow. But the issue is that string theory has no way to be proven or even disproven so it's not even a "theory" because it cant be tested and instead of giving up on this thing they made up and even after years of studying with no results under their belt string theorists will still cling to it. like bro just accept the standard model, it works.
The standard model does, in fact, not work. There is a reason why there are umpteen different theories to try and explain why the standard model does not work when applied to the mass distribution and rotational velocity of observed galaxies.
Why do some go to a Temple but others go to a Church?
Power and Control.
Narcissist personalities. They want your resources to feel full.
There is a strong compelling factor when gathering en-masse it has to do with our tribalism 🙏🙏🙏
@ultimatemeaning It has more to do with keeping out things that don't add to something's identity. That's why many old Christian cathedrals have gargoyles on the OUTSIDE of the church. They represent the things that don't add to to the identity of Christianity but are still acknowledged by it. This is how any group of people works. Whether it's a church community, a city, a state, a nation, etc.. IMHO, Buddhism lacks any insight into this pattern of reality while this pattern was well understood by the Abrahamic religions.
@@chrisparker2118 Do you mean pattern of "identification?" If so then I must say this is the principle point of the Buddhist tenet and the inner meaning of the middle way.
And in this regard Abrahamic religions as all theistic religions are less encompassing.
🙏🙏🙏
@ultimatemeaning What I mean by identity is the oneness of either a thing, an individual person, or a group of people because all things are a "one" from multiplicity nested within a larger "one" nested within a even larger "one" and so on. This is the pattern I'm referring to. Whether that's the inner teaching of the middle way, I don't know.
@@chrisparker2118 This is indeed the meaning of identity (in Buddhism) but also the notion of "one-ness" and "Multiplicity". In fact it is identity associated with the 8 elaborations. Coming, going, arising, ceasing, one-ness, multiplicity, sameness and difference.
Yes, good point, a teacher should perform real miracles before taking students, and also what kind of weak teachers are those who are persuaded by money and status, I find their weakness disgusting, they are pathetic, and also those who run for the hills from the challange I find them to be the same. If people give you money and praises you give to others money and praises. Be like the moron who wins at lotery, he will not become rich and in a year will be in more debt than before he won the lotery.
Faith is a bad thing and not a pathway to truth
@@JohnLovell-q9p the land of truth is a pathless land?aka j Krishnamurthy?
@@BeALiteU2urself No it is not if a person uses the scientific method
@@JohnLovell-q9p pray tell me the truth then
@@BeALiteU2urself The truth comports with reality
@@JohnLovell-q9p what's reality please
Are babies not the newest students of the spiritual teacher's teaching? How do you recommend the many children refute the hand that feeds them spiritual teachings cleverly smokescreened by "sensual instinct clinging"? I am ignorant and seeking guidance.
Someone has already drank the Kool-Aid. Bozu mojin!
Who's that?
@@ultimatemeaning The monk that cannot see.
@@lawrencewilliamson5480 Ah I see I tried to find it on the internet
@@ultimatemeaning That is where it was the whole time Bozu! 🙈….Interesting! ☝️
I found that we need to question everything, even the words of those we trust. Perhaps at some point everything we are told becomes untrue to us. It’s all about maintaining an open mind. Getting closer and closer to our own inner silence, the true master. The best wall to bounce our ideas off. Also the truth is not just an answer to the question, black and white, for the higher truth would be why do we ask this question at all. What are our true motivations. Truth as the big picture l.
Lost my interest in being spoon-fed anything a long time ago. I like to predicate my world view on the best available information.
I like your way of thinking friend! 🙏🙏🙏
So true
Thanks
If you ask the question of 'how' instead of 'why', will people learn more?
So if Jewish individuals make up the largest demographic of Nobel Prize Laureates, is it safe to say they understand the fundamentals of reality well enough to communicate scientific progress?
Has any Buddhist won a Nobel Prize in a science area?
Enrapturing sweet music. Highest regards.
I'm sorry to break it to ya, but those Christians who try to convert you are NOT trying to save you from Hell. That's just their excuse. What they're really after is brownie points with God. Despite their own Bible telling them that it's only through grace one is saved, they still think they can earn their way into Heaven. And you should see what their missions trips to Africa & Haiti do to those people there. As I think about it, I can't say every Christian is like that, but it IS bad enough that many share my opinion. Mybe one in every twenty is actually concerned for your sake. I was raised an atheit in the Southern states. So, I speak from that experience. Perhaps it's different where you are.
Hi Chris. Thanks for sharing. I am well aware that for some it is like that, but many of those I meet here in Canada are very kind and sincere. But there is a hint of sarcasm in my tone, right? Just a little bit.
@@chrisrozema1599, I honestly don’t think the christians are trying to convert anyone for the sake of their soul or for brownie points with God. I think they’ve been brainwashed into perpetrating great harm upon the world under the guise of protecting it. Most of them are genuinely good people, but they are not fully aware of the nature of spiritual and social influences, and they fear breaking out of the herd.
The rest of them, well, those are the wolves in sheep clothing who use these tools as a mechanism of control and slavery. They are fully aware of what they do, and they are fine with it. Those are the ones that we have to blame for the traumatizing experiences of so many of the victims of Institutionalized Belief.
@@ultimatemeaning😅
Interesting topic! I'm sure you're aware by now how youtube, nevermind the modern internet, has become infested with idolism and "e-celebs". What are your thoughts about likes/dislikes, number of subscribers in relation to your own channel? Are you not concerned that you will grow attached to these numbers and feel you have to perform better and become more "Mainstream"?
Religion is powerful war technology.
It makes me want to join the crusades 😂 and I don’t even know what I’d be fighting for
Same goes for the crusaders, they likewise didn't know what they were fighting for 😆🤣😆
How do you determine authenticity ? Thats the path you want to go down. Youll soon find all anyone is doing is deciding based on feel whether they trust someone/institution enough to believe. Most people dont even know how they think. This is a world of lies. Almost nothing you "know" actually came from your experience. All beleif all trust. All feeling.
What flag is that behind you? I like it very much. Thanks
Hi Isaac, this is the 16th Karmapa's dream flag (it came to him in a spiritual dream) It is the symbol of the Karma Kagyu that is my particular lineage of Tibetan Buddhism 🙏🙏🙏
@@ultimatemeaning 🙏🙏An honor to learn about such a beautiful flag. I find it very serene, It has very calming effect on the mind. Is it appropriate for those not associated with the lineage to have?
No, being lied to makes you smarter.
Take some time off and study on something that would make you a better thinker; in other words, learn to become an independent thinker. Don't rely or be dependent on applications, products, and material things.
The subjects I studied are calculus and physics.
Thanks for sharing your story Red
I never did ask, but are you teaching Dzogchen Buddhism?
In the Kagyu lineage, the teaching is similar but not the same, it is called Mahamudra.