No dont trade them! Put them on your altar!

hmm you could head to vajrasecrets.com to hunt for what you need.

Actually a jug would suffice to offer water unless you can afford a bumpa.

Congratulations Alya! Big hug welcome to your first baby steps to being a Buddhist

I hope no one gets mad for my posting here, but I also had a question on this precept. If you are to abstain from drugs and intoxicants does that include things like sleep aids, painkillers and say things to help a cold like nasal decongestants??

the basis of this vow is so that you dont get intoxicated on purpose. For medicine  it is okay unless you do it to numb yourself from the world and not to treat a health aliment.

I guess people just got bored due to the lack of constructive discussion and left. It is a pity tho because they used to be so active and there were intelligent discussions

I watched this video once about a group of homosexual people asking straight people if they chose to be straight. Most of them were dumbfounded by that question as many believed that homosexuality was a choice.

I dont think sexual orientation can change, and it is definitely caused by karma and its already ripened. The least they can do is to not hurt others around them and keep their behavior in check.

Hi there,

part of the refuge vows definitely involve no drinking.

In Kechara House offering of alcohol to the protector was stopped so that people would not use that as an excuse to drink "blessed" alcohol.

Like the terminator, he will be back to terminate your ego

.

I'm praying that will b true.

He's a Buddha, he will definitely come back

Y do I always feel like such a goose in front of the Lama? Y does my brain go to mush and I get kinda hot? U would think I would use that moment to ask something important or say something good but no - it all goes pear shaped. I can't stand myself around the lama and I wish myself would go away sometimes and that a better self that knows what it's doing would show up.

maybe its because he asked you to do something and you didint?

Yes, I am liking her quite a lot. It has taken me a long time to really feel that. Sometimes I'm saying her mantra and I feel very fond of that mantra and of her. It's very interesting.

Most people will connect to Tara first compared to other Yidams because she does attract people via swift relief from suffering (Compassion) but what would be nicer is if we could embody that for others....

weekends. hmm. i dont even know what i do with mine.

And what about merit? Is that carried on the subtle mind?

Merit are habituations and our tendency towards positive actions and results. It is very necessary  to retrain our mind to gravitate towards positivity if we are to want results in our practice.

And Joey, what do u mean by the sutra path? It seems there would b many possible ways to clear the obstacles... y have u specified Sutra path? And do u just mean the practice of reading sutra? 

I mean the non-tantric path, which is in a nutshell, the path prescribed by all of the sutras that the Buddha taught. The path that everyone is familiar with.

Pummy!! its really good to see you around! Please be around i really missed all of your posts! *hug*

Oh, it means  - Arya Tara, I bow down.

I wonder if u can say it over and over again, like a mantra...  Would that b crazy?

It is a mantra and it is wonderful for you to be connected to Tara. I love Tara as well. She has a very nurturing and soothing nature.

There is something that continues life after life though...right?  Isn't it like the subtlest mind or something?  Isn't that subtlest mind a continuance of 'me' on some level?  If this is true, it would be interesting to know what is carried on the subtlest mind and if not all potentials (?) on that subtle mind manifest in any one particular lifetime.  I think of the something in my mind or in 'me' that has such a connection with the Dharma and how this was not manifesting in this life so strongly, until I met a Lama who worked very hard at my blessings and then all of a sudden "bang!" I am hungry for it and connected as if I always had been.  As if he had brought forward some potential that was in me, but wasn't manifesting in this life.  I don't think in this example that I am talking about only karma and conditions, because how does that explain my immediate affinity with it?  

Maybe this is a bad example, but I still stand by my original idea that there is this subtle mind that goes from life to life and there is stuff carried on this subtle mind.  What is the stuff it can carry?  What ever that stuff is, well that's the stuff worth working on now.  Right?

Great topic and comments.  Very thought provoking.  I hope it continues.

here's me hoping that you would

sometimes you may have affinity with a lama but due to incondusive conditions (which we call outer, inner and secret obstacles) we cant receive the full extent of the lama's blessings = opening up our full potential  to put the Dharma into practice, therefore we need to clear them first via the Sutra path. 

the stuff  that is carried in the subtle mind is karma and habituations. therefor training in those are very important.