Interruption Part 9: Self-Prescribed Remedy

March 6, 2020

A Post ‘Course Correction’ Plan for Further Progress A: I think I have a plan for right now: 1) look for evidence that shit doesn’t turn out like I expect and see both sides/full picture more clearly ( example: the restaurant we are on last night had good food, but the seat cushions were all stained and it disgusted me). 2) look specifically at my belongings. What are their nature (4e)…

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An Interruption in Our Regularly Scheduled Program: Rupa+Nama = Aha! Contemplation After the 2019 Retreat (Part 8 )

February 28, 2020

This blog is a direct continuation of the 6th, so if you haven’t covered it yet, please head back there to read that one first. In that blog we explored how rupa forms the foundation for concepts like love, hate, goodness, cleanliness, etc.  We left off with a simple question I had for Mae Neecha: What is the rest of the story? Here we will recap a bit and then launch…

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An Interruption in Our Regularly Scheduled Program: Rupa+Nama = Aha! Contemplation After the 2019 Retreat (Part 7 )

February 21, 2020

So, a little warning Dear Readers: This next blog is a bit our of order. It is a continuation of the Part 5 blog and will start out exactly like that blog and then go in a completely separate direction. So, if a few sentences in you have that creeping deja vu feeling, please press-on my friends. “How can this be?” you may be asking… “I thought you were trying…

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An Interruption in Our Regularly Scheduled Program: Rupa+Nama = Aha! Contemplation After the 2019 Retreat (Part 6 )

February 14, 2020

On to the Hard Stuff…This blog is a direct continuation of the last, so if you haven’t covered it yet, please head back there to read that one first. As a recap: the last few blogs have pivoted off of questions Mae Neecha had asked me early in our conversation: “Is hot and cold generally the same for humans? For instance, desert temperatures are hot, arctic temperatures are cold? Is…

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An Interruption in Our Regularly Scheduled Program: Rupa+Nama = Aha! Contemplation After the 2019 Retreat (Part 5 )

February 7, 2020

Rupa Beyond the Basics – How Rupa Lies at the Foundation of Concepts Like Safe, Clean, Good, Etc.  If I understand what rupa is –alternating, shifting, decaying arrangements of 4es – and I am still consumed by desire for it, it points to another problem. I am dazzled by what I think rupa represents, what it MEANS, or what it guarantees. That, and I don’t truly see its shadow side, the pain and suffering it delivers to my life. I…

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An Interruption in Our Regularly Scheduled Program: Rupa+Nama = Aha! Contemplation After the 2019 Retreat (Part 4 )

January 31, 2020

Dear Readers, this blog is a direct continuation of the previous so, if you haven’t read last week’s entry then please do head back there and read it before you continue here. A little summery/context/extra info:  The dialog below essentially captures the process through which I began to understand how the 4 elements work to make up every physical form in this world. Truth be told, for a long practicing Buddhist,…

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An Interruption in Our Regularly Scheduled Program: Rupa+Nama = Aha! Contemplation After the 2019 Retreat (Part 3)

January 21, 2020

Dear Readers, this blog is a direct continuation of the previous so, if you haven’t read last week’s entry then please do head back there and read it before you continue here. A Roundabout Way to Discovering I Need to Understand Rupa+Nama MN: What do you feel about this? https://youtu.be/bMYGYY-WunE A: So on the video I feel nothing extreme. But the reason is I don’t, in my heart, view eggs…

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An Interruption in Our Regularly Scheduled Program: Rupa+Nama = Aha! Contemplation After the 2019 Retreat (Part 2)

January 17, 2020

Dear Readers, this blog is a direct continuation of the previous so, if you haven’t read last week’s entry then please do head back there and read it before you continue here. Following my big retreat contemplation, Mae Neecha was a massive help ‘course correcting ‘ and rounding out my contemplation. For the next  week  or so she was my  virtual sherpa, helping prod me, guide me and answer questions through…

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An Interruption in Our Regularly Scheduled Program: Rupa+Nama = Aha! Contemplation After the 2019 Retreat (Part 1)

January 10, 2020

Hello Dear Readers — recently I have had a few folks ask me what I have been contemplating on lately, so I thought, “What the hell…why not kick off the New Year with another sequence of ‘Interruption in Our Regularly Scheduled Program’ blogs to share a few of those aha moments that have come to me recently. So, here we are, about to get all out of order again ;)….

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Question on Sakkāya-Diṭṭhi

December 20, 2019

In this blog post I would like to share a Q&A exchange I had with Mae Neecha the topic of Sakkaya-Ditthi, the first fetter, ego or self view. I offer it here because it provides an important clarification on the path to enlightenment and  has since colored my own thinking and process. _________________________________________________________________________ Original Question:  I was re-watching some of Mae Yo Q and As yesterday (way more interesting thank Lakorns…

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