Ben wrote:Very often excellent research does get funded by vested interests such as pharmaceutical companies - it doesn't necessarily mean that because the research was privately funded that the results are biased.
Hi Ben,
Have you read Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself--And the Consequences for Your Health and Our Medical Future by Harriet A. Washington; or Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine by John Abramnson; or Manufacturing Depression: The Secret History of a Modern Disease by Gary Greenburg; or Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients by Roy Moynihan and Alan Cassels; or The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It by Marcia Angell; or The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine by James Le Fanu?
Kindly,
dL
No I haven't Daniel. But not having read those books nor accepting the assumptions within them does not discount what I have said above.
kind regards,
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Is life worth living without coffee? There are so many conflicting views — this is bad for you, this is good for you. Don't cycle, it's too dangerous. Don't drive everywhere, get more exercise, etc.
How about following the middle way regarding such things? If you're suicidal, don't rely on coffee to resolve your problems — seek professional help. On the other hand, if you want to meditate, don't drink too much tea and coffee.
Thank you Bhante,
I don't think anyone has been suggesting that we do not take a middle way with these sorts of issues or to consume coffee instead of seeking professional help.
Personally, I think we have a responsibility to ourselves and others to ensure our health and wellbeing so that we can continue to practice for as long as possible and ensure those who depend on us can continue to do so while they need us. Hence, my interest in health and wellbeing.
kind regards,
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Ben wrote:Thank you Lyndon for the courage to talk about your condition so candidly.
lyndon taylor wrote:And I do not believe the medicine I take in any way hinders my spiritual Journey, short of going on a vegan diet and losing 50lbs, its rather unlikely the amount of medicine I take is going to go down, but that's not any problem, it doesn't make me a second class Buddhist puttajhana that will never reach arhatship because I have a treatable mental illness, as one rather annoying poster tried to say in a thread on mental illness about a month ago, my sicknesses, illnesses, and medications don't define who I am, The buddha defines who I am, just another person on the path, a path to a better way of living.
You are right, neither your condition nor your medication makes you any less a Buddhist.
with metta,
Ben
I am unconvinced that becoming a vegan would have any positive effect on health Mr Taylor..there is growing evidence to the contrary...but why NOT lose 50lbs ? Its been done by many.
Ben wrote:Having said that, very often excellent research does get funded by vested interests such as pharmaceutical companies - it doesn't necessarily mean that because the research was privately funded that the results are biased.
Hi Ben,
This seems off-topic to me. But let's assume for now it's not. Could you provide some examples of such "very...excellent research"?
Kindly,
dL
Ben wrote:Having said that, very often excellent research does get funded by vested interests such as pharmaceutical companies - it doesn't necessarily mean that because the research was privately funded that the results are biased.
Hi Ben,
This seems off-topic to me. But let's assume for now it's not. Could you provide some examples of such "very...excellent research"?
Kindly,
dL
Ben, please don't reply "this coffee study we're discussing" But yes there is both good and bad studies being done by both big pharma, and the independent almost unfunded altruists, having no money and wanting to change the world does not necessarily a serious scientific study make, in fact people obssesed with changing things, like big pharma, and some independents, will not stop to fake data to rosy up their cause. Its a real problem determining which studies you can believe, It used to be, major university, public funding, you could trust it, but even that isn't as true as it used to be.
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John
Regarding coffee, I've found there are advantages to having it just weak and black, with no sugar or milk. Much more conducive to wakefulness, I've found. Having it weak is important ime, as if it's too strong both the stomach and the mind will be disturbed. (I ought to add that I grind it myself, from organically grown beans, and I could not have that freeze-dried battery-acid-flavoured powder that is marketed as 'instant coffee' in the same manner. That type of 'coffee' does need milk and sugar - to mask it's vile taste.)
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
manas wrote:Regarding coffee, I've found there are advantages to having it just weak and black, with no sugar or milk. Much more conducive to wakefulness, I've found. Having it weak is important ime, as if it's too strong both the stomach and the mind will be disturbed. (I ought to add that I grind it myself, from organically grown beans, and I could not have that freeze-dried battery-acid-flavoured powder that is marketed as 'instant coffee' in the same manner. That type of 'coffee' does need milk and sugar - to mask it's vile taste.)
Now now, that is just snobbery Manas!
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
manas wrote:Regarding coffee, I've found there are advantages to having it just weak and black, with no sugar or milk. Much more conducive to wakefulness, I've found. Having it weak is important ime, as if it's too strong both the stomach and the mind will be disturbed. (I ought to add that I grind it myself, from organically grown beans, and I could not have that freeze-dried battery-acid-flavoured powder that is marketed as 'instant coffee' in the same manner. That type of 'coffee' does need milk and sugar - to mask it's vile taste.)
Now now, that is just snobbery Manas!
Ok Ben, I admit I don't really know what battery acid tastes like...but I imagine that it could be something like a cheap, powdered, instant black coffee
But yeah, each to his or her own taste. It is a free country, after all (so I hear)
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
Not all instant coffees are the same, Manas. I'd rather a good instant than a crappy ground coffee any day.
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Ben wrote:Not all instant coffees are the same, Manas. I'd rather a good instant than a crappy ground coffee any day.
Yes, point taken Ben. I do hope it was evident that my deprecating quip about instant coffee was meant in jest. I meant no offense either to it's fans, or it's manufacturers. I was actually kind of sending up the almost cultish obsession with regards to coffee, that some coffee drinkers have (including myself - yes, I am able to laugh at myself also). Just my quirky sense of humour I guess.
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.
"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.
