I suppose an introduction is in order...

Introduce yourself to others at Dhamma Wheel.
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Mawkish1983
Posts: 1285
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:46 am
Location: Essex, UK

I suppose an introduction is in order...

Post by Mawkish1983 »

Hello all at Dhamma Wheel,

I'm new to this site. I was told about it through a celebrity I met at e-sangha (you know who you are). As I never formally introduced myself at e-sangha (or any other Buddhist forum for that matter) I feel perhaps it is now appropriate to do so.

My real name is [censored] (but I've been known as Mawkish online since soon after I first started using the internet, some twelve or thirteen years ago. Long story why I chose that name, but it has always been appropriate). I have been studying and practicing Buddhism seriously since the end of 31st March 2008. although the more I study the more I realise that I'd been a 'Buddhist' all along (I'm sure a lot of people have that experience).

A little bit of background for you, my earliest memories are of me trying to figure out 'stuff'. It was my insatiable search for understanding (rather than knowledge) that lead me to science. Along the way, I thought I'd found the answer to 'stuff' in God (I joined the Salvation Army, became a soldier, etc etc etc), but in the end it didn't make sense to me and I left. So, my quest to understand 'stuff' has brought me to where I am now. I have a Masters degree in Physics and I am studying for a PhD... but more importantly, I have found that Buddhism seems to provide a wonderful path to help me figure out 'stuff'.

I'm sorry if this is all a bit ambiguous, but if I was to go into detail this post would have an ISBN number and be available in hardback from all good bookshops.

So, now, I follow Theravada Buddhism as closely as I can. I'm a beginner still, so go easy on me :)

Sorry for boring you all. I wonder, in what way does 'introducing yourself' reinforce the ego?
Last edited by Mawkish1983 on Wed Aug 12, 2015 8:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dhammanando
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Location: Mae Wang Huai Rin, Li District, Lamphun

Re: I suppose an introduction is in order...

Post by Dhammanando »

Hi Mawkish,

Welcome! :)
Mawkish1983 wrote:Sorry for boring you all. I wonder, in what way does 'introducing yourself' reinforce the ego?
It is reinforced by the distortions (vippallāsa) of perception, mind, and view, not by introducing oneself.

Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
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Cittasanto
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Re: I suppose an introduction is in order...

Post by Cittasanto »

Hi Keith and welcome
Hope the search and Phd goes well!
I believe there are quite a lot of Similarities between science and Buddhism in different areas, although definetly not an expertise of mine more of a keen interest in the comparisons when such papers etc come out, although I think some of the areas are more coincidental/read to much into/seen what we want to see than actually verifying each other!
but anyhow Nice to meet you and we'll probably bump into each other from time to time!
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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Ben
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Location: kanamaluka

Re: I suppose an introduction is in order...

Post by Ben »

Welcome Keith!
I'm sorry to see that your avatar picture is not in motion! I got used to it and it grew on me.
Thanks for sharing your story and letting us in on a little about yourself.
Metta

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

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
Mawkish1983
Posts: 1285
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:46 am
Location: Essex, UK

Re: I suppose an introduction is in order...

Post by Mawkish1983 »

Ben wrote:Welcome Keith!
I'm sorry to see that your avatar picture is not in motion!
Ben
If you want, I can stick it on? <laughs>
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Ben
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Location: kanamaluka

Re: I suppose an introduction is in order...

Post by Ben »

Definitely! The one where you are swivelling slowly on your office chair!
Cheers
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

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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genkaku
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Re: I suppose an introduction is in order...

Post by genkaku »

Hi (again) Keith. Thanks and best wishes in your efforts.
Mawkish1983
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Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:46 am
Location: Essex, UK

Re: I suppose an introduction is in order...

Post by Mawkish1983 »

Ben wrote:Definitely! The one where you are swivelling slowly on your office chair!
Oh dear. The gif is 216.8 kB in size, but the maximum allowed is 128 kB :(.

If I am to swivel I will need to create a new file :( I'm too busy to do it right now
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Ben
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Re: I suppose an introduction is in order...

Post by Ben »

No problems mate!
“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

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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