<2022-08-26T22:10:12.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: Hello friend. No worries I presumed something along those lines (ie dude was severely misrepresenting whatever you said) 
<2022-08-26T22:18:09.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Yeah, just wanted to clear the air in that 
<2022-08-26T22:19:21.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Though frankly if you had guys talking about how all science in general was the jews tricking you into touching your pp I wouldn't have been thinking you were being an asd 
<2022-08-26T22:41:31.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Anyway, still trucking along with ngondro, thinking I might have to look into at least trying a personal retreat for some harder accumulation, though there's a retreat coming up in spring that the program says is mandatory 
<2022-08-26T22:45:03.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: mandatory retreat?
<2022-08-26T22:45:32.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: as for the other stuff, I think part of the problem is I have almost 2k followers but the poast you're replying to isn't shown. so people see me being aggressive but they don't see the absolute retardation I'm responding to
<2022-08-26T22:46:38.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: the whole thing about "excluding people from the movement" started because one of the retards was like "if you attack YEC I will leave and take my friends with me" to which I responded GREAT! BYE! and then I made the "problematic" OP saying yes we should drum these idiots out of the movement
<2022-08-26T22:56:33.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: The program I signed up with has a spring retreat I was told to attend, the one run by the https://vajrayana.org guys, from all reading their lineage is legitimate, no scandals I heard about 
<2022-08-26T23:02:01.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: HAHAHAHAHA HAHA PEMA OSEL LING 
<2022-08-26T23:02:12.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: God this is such a small community 
<2022-08-26T23:02:52.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: Yes they are legit
<2022-08-27T00:20:51.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I will say bringing up the Mongoose drama and the 40k hellthread back may have made people assume the worst intentions 
<2022-08-27T00:25:08.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: though the guys bringing the NJP into it seem to have been grinding an ax
<2022-08-27T00:25:21.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Is Pema Osel Ling not a group to associate with?
<2022-08-27T00:32:38.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Not sure what you meant by the laughter, your words about them being legit just loaded. Mobile is weird
<2022-08-27T00:56:06.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: this is strictly between us no joke because doxx ish 
<2022-08-27T00:56:14.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: but I know the caretakers 
<2022-08-27T00:56:43.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: at least they were the caretakers as of a few years ago, not sure if they're still there (or if one is but not the other)
<2022-08-27T00:57:25.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: anyway I've never been there and it's not my personal lineage but Pema Osel Ling is one of the 2 centers in California I can personally vouch for as being authentic
<2022-08-27T00:57:46.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: not saying there aren't others that may be authentic, just saying I can only personally vouch for 2 in CA and that's one of them
<2022-08-27T01:12:02.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: the other is Gomde in Norcal
<2022-08-27T01:12:10.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: (in case it's closer to you)
<2022-08-27T01:31:43.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I live in the east, both are equally far 
<2022-08-27T01:33:58.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: In that case I can personally vouch for Gomde from personal experience with the lineage (though not the center) 
<2022-08-27T02:12:33.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: But yeah, while I've heard complaints about people only wanting "big name" lamas, I know California has enough charlatans you can't blame them for wanting widely known good ones 
<2022-08-27T02:13:48.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Out of curiosity, how personally did you know the caretakers or was it just meeting at a retreat? Not trying to get sensitive info, more getting a feel for the sort of people that get positions there 
<2022-08-27T02:14:47.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: we studied together for a long time
<2022-08-27T02:20:32.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Ah, nice 
<2022-08-27T02:20:48.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: In that case it's reassuring to know these guys are probably good to be around then 
<2022-08-27T02:20:59.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: yes they are good dudes
<2022-08-27T19:05:03.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I don't remember if this is the same guy, but the psit reminded me of one time on Post when somebody was talking about the Kali Yuga being ruled by the goddess Kali and I jumped in because I thought it was named after a demon whose name isn't actually pronounced or spelled the same wayhttps://poa.st/objects/96bf85e1-93ec-4e27-a052-744efd379d05
<2022-08-27T19:05:39.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: The guy then responded with a long diatribe about how trve Aryan spirituality was lost and Evola is a more reliable source than the Vedas, which are now corrupted by Dravidians or something 
<2022-08-27T19:05:44.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: That was a wild conversation 
<2022-08-28T21:42:08.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: you bringing up the mahasiddhas earlier reminded me of something I've kind of wanted to post for a while since it would rile people up, but decided against because I think posting something related to the buddhadharma I know will upset people would probably count as some kind of slander
<2022-08-28T21:42:18.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: namely, Dombipa
<2022-08-28T21:43:34.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: wait, could be mixing him up with another one, whichever was the king that at some point rode a tiger down the street while in union with his underage consort
<2022-08-29T00:17:13.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: lmao
<2022-08-29T00:17:35.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: I'm not familiar with this story but that's not to say it isn't in the Lives (haven't read the whole thing)
<2022-08-29T00:17:46.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: your namesake has more than enough just about him
<2022-08-29T00:19:23.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: I'm enough of a romantic to have my bourgeois morality tweaked a bit by Guru Rinpoche having had multiple consorts, no wife
<2022-08-29T00:19:51.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: one time an older practicioner I really respect said (not directly in response to this but on the topic), "we're not in the business of bourgeois morality"
<2022-08-29T00:23:27.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: It's generally not considered polite to discuss in public but the tantras are quite clear that strictly speaking karmamudra requires a 14yo consort
<2022-08-29T00:25:31.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: The late great Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, teacher (and grandfather) of my teacher, had 4 wives lmao
<2022-08-29T00:37:22.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: don't really have a moral compunction against polygamy other than the obvious "leave some bitches for the rest of u man" tbh, though iirc polyandry was somewhat common in Tibet so that does come off as a massive flex on Guru Rinpoche's part
<2022-08-29T00:38:26.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I think I've heard the reasoning behind 12-16 year olds being recommended for karmamudra has something to do with numerology, though I got that from a book I read a couple of years ago and my memories are hazy, I'm practicing nothing related to it at the moment so it wasn't worth memorizing too much beyond assurance it wasn't just perverts finding some kind of religious justification
<2022-08-29T00:40:01.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: also thank you for acknowledging the handle, though admittedly I wasn't expecting many other people here to get it
<2022-08-29T00:45:19.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: also the book in question of course wasn't anything restricted, more just a sort of overview that's honest without giving too many details on the practice in itself
<2022-08-29T00:46:49.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: this Yuthok Nyinthik guy, Nida Chenagtsang I think, wrote an "open" text on karmamudra detailing the theory behind it, which he was apparently urged not to do but he figured since westerners already associate tantra with sex almost exclusively he may as well give an explanation so people stop getting the wrong idea about it, might be worth a read
<2022-08-29T03:12:27.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: I'm sure the numerology is part of it but I think it's also just taboo even in the medieval Indian context and that's part of it as well. Abhinavagupta (very important non-Buddhist author for Kasmiri Saivism) noted that the best consort is one's own mother or daughter. that's an extreme case (as far as I know entirely theoretical for him specifically) to make a point about the role that breaking social conventions plays in the process
<2022-08-29T03:12:34.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: that said I'm curious about the book, what is the title?
<2022-08-29T03:15:49.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Karmamudra: The Yoga of Bliss
<2022-08-29T03:15:50.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40000465-karmamudra
<2022-08-29T03:19:57.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: ty!
<2022-08-29T03:29:01.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: found an epub of it, tensed up a little when the guy doing the foreword started rambling about patriarchy and possible uses to the "LGBTI"s in Der Community, but the actual author's words don't seem to be in that vein
<2022-08-29T03:29:48.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: also lol>If you’re having sex with one random orincompatible partner after another you can pick up lots of this kind ofsubtle pollution and there’s the risk that your channels will get blocked. When the channels are blocked, thiglé and other parts of the subtle anatomy cannot flow well, so this can have a negative effect on your yogic and Karmamudra practice. So having many Tantric partners is not really the correct or advisable way to do things even if you know about sexual yogic practices.
<2022-08-29T03:50:08.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: >The sexual yogi Drukpa Kunley pointed this out when he joked about the prevalence of homosexuality in Tibetan monasteries as far back as the 15th century: “You say you dislike women, but you really just like other monk’s asses!” 
<2022-08-29T03:50:11.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: the legendary shitposter
<2022-08-29T03:52:05.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: though I disagree with the assertion that the attitude monks are generally encouraged to take re women is a cause of that sort of behavior, seems to happen in most institutions where a bunch of men aren't around women for a while
<2022-09-07T20:45:02.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Been reading Dudjom Lingpa's autobiography, a Clear Mirror
<2022-09-07T20:45:33.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Certainly been one hell of an exercise in how little I've actually shed my cultural priors lol
<2022-09-07T20:46:55.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Not sure if you know much about him or his lineage, but he was the guy who found the Dudjom Tersar cycle despite having no formal education, he claimed most of his training came directly from Buddhas, which certainly seemed like a wild claim and I understand why most considered him a charlatan until 13 of his students attained the rainbow body 
<2022-09-07T22:37:36.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: I don't know that much about him but my favorite story that I do know is that his students asked him to come back a little nicer next time lmao
<2022-09-07T23:13:49.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: According to him he didn't want to write his autobiography and wrote it so his students would stop bothering him about it 
<2022-09-07T23:15:13.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Does paint a funny picture of him, especially in light of him claiming he initially refused Guru Rinpoche when he prophesized his rebirth as the one who'll uncover and spread those teachings 
<2022-09-10T14:04:38.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Reading Life of the Lotus-Born as well and it's certainly a wild ride 
<2022-09-10T14:05:15.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net attached file https://varishangout.net/media/8bf9238c-dd66-4d61-a602-b03f2f84fa11/Husky_1662818705760_QX9X9869PG.png
<2022-09-10T14:05:22.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net attached file https://varishangout.net/media/2c05c25a-461d-464c-a6ee-08e8baa9ee84/Husky_1662818721357_2UPJMQPUY0.png
<2022-09-10T14:05:56.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I know these themes aren't uncommon in tantric literature but it certainly caught me off guard 
<2022-09-10T14:06:15.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I don't know what that posted twice, mobile shit
<2022-09-10T14:07:05.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Anyway it's hilarious how in the first few chapters of Guru Rinpoche's autobiography he already racked up a higher bodycount than the most fantastical account of Milarepa's life, though admittedly the circumstances were different 
<2022-09-10T14:46:45.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: And the book's foreward is by a Nyingma monk who took the time to say the Nyingma tradition only catches shit because so many lamas aren't monks and they keep practicing new termas when the old ones are perfectly fine, which was also worth a giggle 
<2022-09-10T14:48:00.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Sectarianism even against your own sect, the profound essence of the Buddhadharma
<2022-09-15T21:03:06.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: read something you might find interesting if you haven't read it already, it's a book translating some essays written in Classical Tibetan by a Jesuit missionary called Dispelling the Darkness: A Jesuit’s Quest for the Soul of Tibet
<2022-09-15T21:04:00.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: the arguments weren't especially interesting or damning imo, but it was interesting because the man did have a pretty good grasp on using the Tibetan literary style and his take on madhyamaka really brought to light how deeply irreconcilable their foundations are
<2022-09-15T21:04:38.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: though admittedly I don't think I understood his philosophical argument against rebirth, gut feeling says his take on tulkus is really uncharitable
<2022-09-15T21:05:11.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: he argued that if they remember enough from a previous life to recognize their possessions, they'd also not need any education, which by my understanding of karma doesn't seem entirely right
<2022-09-15T21:05:48.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: since the impression left by karma might lead to an aptitude, which many tulkus have, or a sense of familiarity, but actual knowledge seems off
<2022-09-15T21:06:14.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: though admittedly I'm not entirely sure how that works and I'm fairly convinced the majority of tulkus were given the title for political reasons
<2022-09-15T21:51:51.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: >Following the famous Madhyamaka strategy of using the opponent’s own doctrines to demonstrate the fallacy of those doctrines, Desideri cites a passage from Candrakīrti’s Entrance>to the Middle Way (Madhyamakāvatāra 6:8c–9), one of the “five texts”(gzhung lnga) of the Geluk academy. In this passage Candrakīrti is criticizing>the doctrine of self-production in the Sāṃkhya school of Indian philosophy, according to which only something that already exists in the cause>can be produced:>If it originates from itself it will have no benefit at all;>Moreover it is illogical for that which had already arisen to re-arise.>If one conceives what has already arisen to arise once again,>The arising of sprouts and so on will never be obtained here,>And the seed will continue to reproduce until the end of all existence.>In what way can the sprout ever bring about the cessation of the seed?>>Desideri argues that if Buddhists hold that birth has no beginning, they>must hold that it is preexistent; the logical fallacies that the Buddhists ascribe to the Sāṃkhya position are equally present in their own
<2022-09-15T21:52:20.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: the funny part here is Desideri's primary source was Tsongkhapa, and I can't recall if it was you or someone else but I've heard the Gelug view called crypto-samkhya
<2022-09-15T21:52:52.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: Yes lol Gelugs have a very weird interpretation. Less vrpyo Samkhya a than crypto Nyaya thoigh
<2022-09-15T22:02:35.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: ah
<2022-09-15T22:03:40.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: >It is noteworthy that Desideri takes up this more quotidian proof for rebirth. Some background to his decision to do so is found in his HistoricalNotices, where he discusses this phenomenon at some length; he was clearlyfascinated by it. Indeed, he devotes three chapters to the topic. The first isentitled “Of the Grand Lama, Chief of This Religion.” With regard to theidentification of possessions, he writes, “During these examinations andinterrogations, the boy will declare that in his previous life such and such athing happened, that his confidants were so and so, that he often used certain books whose shape and other details he would specify, say where thisor that vestment is in a chest locked in such and such a fashion, and in thissame way he will give many specific details.”22 The second chapter is called“Persuasive Reasons Why the Above-Mentioned Creation of a New GrandLama Is the Direct Work of the Devil,” and the third chapter is “Reply tothe Arguments of Those Who Judge the Above-Mentioned Deception to Bethe Artifice of Men and Not of the Devil.” It is a sign of his grudging respect for the incarnate lamas he had encountered that he can only attributetheir existence to the supernatural and sinister. >In addition, these children are impressive. He describes a three-year-oldboy, unable, as Desideri says, “to tell the difference between his wet nurse’shusband and his own father.”24 And yet the child “does not make any errorsin his responses, nor does what he says prove inconsistent, nor is he caughtin any lies concerning the evidence and proofs that he gives of his previouslife in the world. This is not a trick that his mother or nurse could have taughthim or that any men could, however their great cleverness in pretense andpromptness in fabrication.” This is not just true of the Dalai Lama. “All ofthem manage in the same way to behave with a certain external composure,gravity, and dignity proper to holy persons, which causes great astonishment.Because as soon as the young man is called lama we see him suddenlyendowed with an almost superhuman spirit, taking on the dignity and reserve proper to a priest.”
<2022-09-15T22:03:42.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: lol
<2022-09-15T22:04:12.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: "ok these weird peasant kids they've said are the rebirth of so and so great lama are indeed strangely impressive, this must be the work of the devil"
<2022-09-15T22:04:28.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: similar energy as Seraphim Rose saying "they just think they're right because their methods work"
<2022-09-15T22:06:38.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: >Desideri develops a related argument against the doctrine that rebirth has>no beginning, again playing on the meaning of the word skye ba, which can>mean both “birth” and “production,” declaring that the notion of birth and>the notion of prior existence, both of which the Buddhists seek to maintain,>are incompatible. Drawing on the Buddhist theory of causation, Desideri>argues that birth entails something that did not exist in the past coming into>existence in the present; the Tibetan term sngar med gsar skye means “the>new production of what did not exist in the past.” Therefore, it is illogical to>hold that birth has no beginning, because birth is by definition the coming>into existence of what did not exist before
<2022-09-15T22:07:00.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: are there any good resources giving the complete account of rebirth according to the Tibetan tradition?
<2022-09-15T22:08:01.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: this description of rebirth is clearly more of a samkhya thing, but I know that can't be right because monastics have given pretty strong arguments against that view so it would be strange for them to accept it on a fairly important topic
<2022-09-15T22:14:33.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: >He rather quickly dismisses the claim that deeds are not lost, saying that we must understand a deed to be “lost” when the effect of the deed does not appear where the deed was done. This would mean that the effect would need to be experienced in the same lifetime in which the deed is done, something quite contrary to Buddhist karma theory; for Desideri it is a consequence of asserting that the person of the past life and the person of the present life are dif­ferent. If they are in fact dif­ferent, then the deed done by the person of the past life is lost if it is experienced by someone else.
<2022-09-15T22:14:51.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: this I can definitely dismiss and I don't know if this was sophistry or if he didn't get the concept of a mindstream
<2022-09-15T22:20:54.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: my understanding of the process of rebirth is the display of things is super spooky, the mind doesn't understand shit, so it gets scared, its delusions create a new body & persona, and it hides in a womb or other means of birth 
<2022-09-15T22:21:15.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: though I don't have the experience to really say this as anything more than an intellectual exercise
<2022-09-15T22:26:01.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: not sure what part makes it really distinct from the view Desideri is criticizing, but I suspect in that understanding birth is never an "established" thing and it remains ignorance all the way down, but I suppose someone working from Thomistic presuppositions would think that's sophistry
<2022-09-15T22:28:44.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: that is, nothing is actually "transferred" between births so there's also no grounds for calling it a different being, but also no grounds for calling it the same being beyond the general continuity of mind
<2022-09-15T22:29:08.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I get the feeling I'll have to sign on for a full monastic curriculum to actually understand these things
<2022-09-15T22:51:18.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: ah, I was wrong, he did consider the continuum argument, though it's a little difficult to parse because of the double-negatives & the general character of madhyamaka dialectics https://varishangout.net/media/4629383d-ae3e-44f4-a019-79d7b60092f5/desideri-continuum-1.png
<2022-09-15T22:51:28.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net attached file https://varishangout.net/media/b1168ae5-a100-43f4-9715-dd75927083a8/desideri-continuum-2.png
<2022-09-15T22:51:51.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: not sure if this is actually a good point, but it's interesting to see critiques from someone that actually studied enough to know what he's talking about
<2022-09-15T22:53:38.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: it seems like this actually isn't a problem from the buddhadharma's pov because a practitioner would have no problem with  the current experience never being truly established, his missionary efforts didn't pan out for multiple reasons but I get the feeling none of the lamas he was debating with were ripping their thangkas off walls as a result
<2022-09-16T00:56:09.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: in hindsight I'm realizing one flaw in my understanding is even thinking of the "mindstream" as a thing instead of just a continuum of mental events, realizing I was sort of thinking of it as somehow separate from the aggregates, which I'm sure is an easy mistake
<2022-09-23T18:38:55.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: was thinking about the possibility of the Buddhadharma becoming entirely naturalized to America and had a horrifying thought 
<2022-09-23T18:39:29.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: If that happens, we'll probably see entire institutions dedicated to promoting a literalist view of Meru cosmology
<2022-09-23T23:23:04.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: Why do you think I am so adamant about this shit lol
<2022-09-24T00:06:38.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Admittedly, Tharchin Rinpoche already tried defending it a little, but iirc he was old enough to have grown up with that being a normative view in Tibet 
<2022-09-24T00:07:19.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I've already seen vids of white Bonpos defending Bon's wewuz-tier history, which was incredibly surreal 
<2022-09-24T00:08:44.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: No disrespect to Bon, of course, but there's Guru Rinpoche being born from a lotus and then there's "actually we already had a supreme nirmanakaya during the ice age, we know this because of texts that were coincidentally revealed centuries after Buddhism came to Tibet"
<2022-09-24T00:13:06.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I do like how even the lamas that have vouched for Bon and consider its teachings totally valid means if liberation have a "lol ok buddy" view of its historical claims 
<2022-09-24T00:18:14.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: though interestingly some of their minor claims have been verified, not sure if you've heard of him or read some of his books but Chogyal Namkhai Norbu wrote a lot about Zhang Zhung and pre-Buddhist Tibetan history 
<2022-09-24T00:19:21.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: and he took quite a lot of flak for it, which is hilarious because by his own admission it was mostly a nationalist project and his own people were criticizing him for saying "actually we weren't just murderous cannibal savages before the dharma spread here"
<2022-09-25T00:12:35.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Apropos of nothing, do you have any thoughts on that Lama Lena woman? Apparently she was definitely authorized to teach and some trusted people have vouched for her, she gives out a lot of basic Dzogchen stuff through webcasts these days 
<2022-10-08T02:41:13.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=40493&sid=a9a60d4728f2b970cedae9dbaa6140bf
<2022-10-08T02:41:15.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: lol lmao
<2022-10-08T02:41:58.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: don't really have a horse in this race because I don't really know much about Theravada, but outright rejecting the main philosophical grounding of a school is basically the catholic caricature of protestant christians
<2022-10-08T02:43:10.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: >The Abhidhamma Pitaka did not exist until the 3rd Buddhist Council, centuries after the Buddha's passing and no other Buddhist sect in history has the Theravada's Abhidhamma Pitaka. As such, it is a sectarian document and not Buddhavacana (the voice of the Buddha). Therefore, even before addressing the content of the Abhidhamma itself, the authority and necessity of the Abhidhamma should be rejected on the following grounds specified in the Sutta Pitaka.yeah ok buddy, I'm sure people who studied the texts and wrote based on their experiences were just idiots slandering it or whatever
<2022-10-08T03:09:00.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: I mean he's like 1/10th right in the sense that Abhidharma was not super well codified until around the time of Vasubandhu. both he and Asanga initially made their names codifying it before converting to Mahayana. but the argument is retarded lol
<2022-10-08T03:27:48.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: something weirdly parasitic about converting to a religion and then saying "btw the doctirnes you study are against scripture and actually only like 30 of your scripures are even valid"
<2022-10-08T03:28:15.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: though I don't know if the guy in question is a hardline EBT nigga
<2023-01-30T19:53:58.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: out of curiosity, since you've been following the Russian-Ukrainian War fairly closely, would you happen to know if there are decent detailed accounts of the battles? or is it best to assume everyone's lying about the details so far
<2023-01-30T19:54:34.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: best single source is Defense Politics Asia, he also makes videos
<2023-01-30T19:55:03.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I'll check him out, thank you
<2023-03-05T13:55:22.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: locked in to do a ngondro retreat soon, any tips on etiquette, how to conduct myself, etc? I know it's definitely customary to give offerings to the teachers there and not point your soles towards the lama or any depictions of enlightened beings
<2023-03-12T04:28:49.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: based, I'm sure you will do great
<2023-03-15T14:01:26.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Alright, seems like I've at least got the important parts then 
<2023-04-26T17:26:22.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Forgot to give you the update on this, but I think the retreat went very well, debating on doing some online retreats though 
<2023-04-26T17:27:01.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: They're offering something for Throma Nagmo and pointing out they don't usually allow it for people who haven't finished ngondro, but urged us to attend if we have an interest in Dzogchen
<2023-04-26T17:27:17.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Probably best to not spread my practice too thin, but otoh who knows when my next chance will be 
<2023-04-26T17:34:09.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Though stuff involving chod kind of scares me, the lama was giving an anecdote about a serious practitioner alone in a forest that attained such high realization, he accidentally carved off a chunk of his own thigh because he thought it was just meat and was hungry
<2023-04-26T17:34:40.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: According to the lama that's actually a pretty good sign, but he also admitted we probably would be concerned by that 
<2023-04-29T01:01:13.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: Do it
<2023-04-29T01:01:19.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: If you have interest
<2023-04-29T01:01:32.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: Chod is great 
<2023-04-29T02:47:19.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: I think I'll go for it then 
<2023-04-29T02:48:10.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: For a moment I was worried about bringing up Throma Nagmo since by strict readings I think that could be considered a samaya violation if you weren't already in the know, but it's kind of weird with the internet since all the information is out there 
<2023-04-29T02:48:51.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: Half-tempted to ask about that, before I took refuge or really practiced seriously I was into thangka art from an aesthetic pov and posted images of figures that are meant to be secret to friends 
<2023-04-29T03:09:23.000Z> snailenthusiast@varishangout.net: might be overly scrupulous though, I assume if a center run by lamas from an authentic lineage publicly posts about doing an event it's probably acceptable to say the name 
<2023-04-29T14:15:05.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: Lol I have empowerment for Throma Nakmo chod (the one in Longchen Nyingtik) and practiced it with Lama Wangdu for several years. Got a giant statue of her on my altar
<2023-04-29T14:15:31.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: Chod damaru has collected dust for a long time though... 
<2023-04-29T14:16:40.000Z> DK_Dharmaraj: It'd good to be careful especially with wrathful practice, your intuition is good, but don't worry too much 