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weaver
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Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 697
Location: Missouri, USA
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 Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 8:28 pm Post subject: I've been out exploring.... |
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Hi everyone,
I made the trip this morning to the Vipassana Center (mostly Theravada orientation) that's an hour+ away. It was their typical Sunday service of sitting and chanting, then a Dhamma talk/socialization. It probably won't be a weekly trip for me, but it's nice to know there's some nice people who are relatively nearby.
Except for weddings and funerals, I haven't been in a "church service" since the 60s. I'm still a little aversive to ritual but I survived it.
The Dhamma talk was great, though. It was a small informal group and it was nice to just sit and talk about the Dhamma. Most of the things I've made it a point to study recently were in the talk today. Turns out my instincts on how to proceed, since my experience a month ago, were pretty much on target.
Not a lot else to report. Just that I made my first real contact with non-elelctronic Buddhists and it was a good experience. 
Steve |
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Compassion First
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Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 2127
Location: Near Hazleton, PA
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| Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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Steve-La,
Good to hear it!!!!
I know it was a typo, but it inspired me to think of a "new" word....
"eclectronic"......which pretty much describes me....LOL
It is good to know that there are "non-electronic" Buddhists in the world....
Buddhist groups of all types seem "adaptable" in the days and times of their "services"....
There are more than a few instances where a Buddhist group "shares" a facility with a Christian congregation... Happy to have the "facility" named as a Christian Church, they play the "poor cousin" and schedule their group activities around those of the Christian organization.... I find this "Union-Church" style cooperation very potentially rewarding, and a good exercise in inter-faith tolerance.....
When a Buddhist group holds services on a Sunday, do their Christian neighbours think it a positive or negative thing, I wonder???
Eh.... chalk it up to morbid curiosity, I suppose.... (there is nothing that is unfit knowledge for a Bodhisattva....)
Much Love and Happiness,
--Tom
_________________
If I do not go to Hell to help them, who will? -- Ksitigarbha |
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weaver
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Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 697
Location: Missouri, USA
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| Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 12:30 am Post subject: |
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| Compassion First wrote: | I know it was a typo, but it inspired me to think of a "new" word....
"eclectronic"......which pretty much describes me....LOL
It is good to know that there are "non-electronic" Buddhists in the world....
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That's a good one, Tom-La I think it fits me well, too.
| Quote: | When a Buddhist group holds services on a Sunday, do their Christian neighbours think it a positive or negative thing, I wonder???
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Depends on the Christian's orientation, Tom. Down here in the "Bible Belt" there are any number who are very rigid in their views and actions - more than in other places I've lived. Yet there are many spiritual communities that don't seem to care, or at least tolerate Buddhists. Like you say, I've seen things on the web, even in Missouri ( ), where the local Buddhist group meets at the Unitarian church, or the Friends, or others.
Tom-La, it was really nice to visit with physical people who lean the same way I do. I am now sure that there are half a dozen real physical Buddhists. One can never be sure if there's a human behind these internet Buddhists, or if it's just a grand delusion 
Even the ones I met today may not ultimately exist. But one of the delusions made coffee and tea, which ranks as proof in my book
Steve |
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Compassion First
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Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 2127
Location: Near Hazleton, PA
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| Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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| weaver wrote: | [
Even the ones I met today may not ultimately exist. But one of the delusions made coffee and tea, which ranks as proof in my book
Steve |
Steve-La,
I think this is a very healthy view of "dependent originating" sentient beings, if ever I heard one.....
I've enjoyed "one on one" meetings with Buddhists over the years, in the course of my "carnival vending" business.... There's bound to be a Buddhist walk into my tent sooner or later.....LOL
But just now I realized, that with my "retirement" from this business, even this opportunity is lost....
I bought my "Bodhi Tree Seed Mala" from a wonderful woman from Nepal, whom I encountered at a "tractor show".... She had racks of them, which, to the "eye" all appeared virtually identical... She told me to "pick through them" and when I found one that "felt right", that's the one to buy...
Incredibly, she was correct... Most had "no" feeling to them, either positive or negative.... one or two had an "unpleasant" feel to me... and one, overpoweringly, had a "positive" feel..... So, for the grand price of $3, it came home with me.....LOL
She also taught me the correct pronunciation of "Namaste" ... LOL
Her little boy (about 4) was amused to see a "giant", and kept pointing at me, and saying things like "Big" "Tall" "Fat".....LOL Not out of rudeness, but out of amazement at seeing "the world's largest living Biped".... He even came up to me and patted my belly...... which was very funny....
I concluded that she was a "relatively real" delusion as well.....
Good luck on this "new" journey, good friend,
--Tom
_________________
If I do not go to Hell to help them, who will? -- Ksitigarbha |
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