My dramatic attention whore exit...

[gnegirl]

Why is only men discussing karmamudra ?

Because women are prajñā by nature.

i was gunna say its because guys forget the brain above their necks at times.

[Malcolm]

Why is only men discussing karmamudra ?

Because women are prajñā by nature.

i was gunna say its because guys forget the brain above their necks at times.

This is not a particularly male fault, actually. Anyone with genitals can suffer from this.

[gnegirl]

This is not a particularly male fault, actually. Anyone with genitals can suffer from this.

i was just being snarky. Srsly.

[gregkavarnos]

You mean us men have a head located somewhere above our neck??? Well, you learn something new everyday!

[Luke]

In an attempt to cater to polite society, Vajrayana people try to sweep the sexual aspects under the rug saying it's just symbolic, etc., and fear somehow sex is going to destroy Vajrayana like it has infected the Catholic Church. This is a vestige of an outdated sexual morality. Vajrayana has a very healthy attitude toward sex. Just as sex can be an obstacle so can attachments to opinions and artificial moralism.

Attachment to speaking out against the viewpoints of those who practice traditional morality is also an obstacle.

If a Vajrayana practioner is truly able to practice karmamudra properly and with the proper motivation, then that's great. But if it's done out of the desire to make some big statement against traditional morality or is done to feel extremely proud of oneself for having learned some complicated, secret technique, then that's not good at all.

The desire to benefit all beings should always be our motivation, whatever our practices are. Bodhichitta is always essential in Buddhism, no matter how developed one's yogic abilities are.

Without a strong foundation built upon the Four Thoughts, all the advanced stuff is meaningless.
****************

@Padma Norbu:
Internet forums often give an unbalanced presentation of Dharma because everyone is so obsessed with the most secret and most exotic topics. Your distaste with this is logical. Please don't lose heart just because of the words of a handful of people on the internet. Continue your practices with strong faith in the Buddha and in Guru Rinpoche.

As others suggested, you may need to find a lama whom you can see in person more often.

I wish you good luck with your Buddhist path.

"Being in samsara means suffering. We should, however, be glad that we had the karma to be reborn with a precious human body. This is a fortunate situation because it means that we have excellent possibilities that are not found in other realms of existence. We have a certain amount of freedom insofar as we are able to discriminate between good and harmful actions. We are able to give up negativity and to concentrate on positive actions. If we practice being useful through this life, we will be able to attain a state of liberation from samsara. If, on the other hand, we don't bother with positive actions or practicing the dharma and continue to act negatively, then we will also get the corresponding result and we will not be able to free ourselves from samsara. We will continue with the never-ending cycle of rebirth in one state of existence or another.

For this reason, we should really be aware of the great opportunity here and now and do our very best to use it while we can. Take the time to study dharma and to practice. This is useful and I want to encourage you to continue doing it. Do not ever be discouraged in your dharma practice."
http://kagyu-asia.com/t_four_thoughts.html

[Pema Rigdzin]

Internet forums often give an unbalanced presentation of Dharma because everyone is so obsessed with the most secret and most exotic topics. Your distaste with this is logical. Please don't lose heart just because of the words of a handful of people on the internet. Continue your practices with strong faith in the Buddha and in Guru Rinpoche.

Luke,
What teachings are you referring to when you say "most secret and most exotic"? Regarding the individuals you have in mind, why do you think they're so interested in these profound teachings? What do you think is their motivation? In what way does focusing on these teachings cause people to often present the Dharma in an unbalanced way on internet forums? Lastly, does the cause of the imbalance you're seeing lie in the teachings themselves or the practitioners of such teachings?

[adinatha]

Without a strong foundation built upon the Four Thoughts, all the advanced stuff is meaningless.

Obvious

[adinatha]

Attachment to speaking out against the viewpoints of those who practice traditional morality is also an obstacle

You are just making this stuff up as you go along.

[gregkavarnos]

Without a strong foundation built upon the Four Thoughts, all the advanced stuff is meaningless.

Obvious

I wouldn't say it is so obvious when you look at some of the crap that is thrown around on this forum sometimes. Many times I get the feeling that it is something very much less than obvious!

[adinatha]

Without a strong foundation built upon the Four Thoughts, all the advanced stuff is meaningless.

Obvious

I wouldn't say it is so obvious when you look at some of the crap that is thrown around on this forum sometimes. Many times I get the feeling that it is something very much less than obvious!

Nobody is going to get taught karmamudra before learning preliminaries. Maybe someone is going to go read a book and try it on their own, but without lineage and teacher, there's no mudra of any kind.

[gregkavarnos]

Learning is one thing, realising is a completely different thing. You can get a parrot to learn to recite the four thoughts out loud, does that mean they are ready for karmamudra, or any mudra? On the other hand another person may not have even ever heard of the four thoughts but live their life according to them, are they incapable of mudra?

[alpha]

Why are people talking about karmamudra?
Is it relevant to our liberation ?

The aroma of certain dreams is irresistible.
The distant and unattainable has always captivated the human mind.After all this longing proves our limitless potential....

Probably we should look into "the distant" and "unattainable" as it happens in our own mind right now and see what we find.

[Tara]

MODERATOR NOTE

Topic locked. A 'goodbye' topic which has taken enough twists and turns.

Regards,
rt