Hello all Dharma friends!

Introduce yourself to others at Dhamma Wheel.
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Nimbus108
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Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:05 am

Hello all Dharma friends!

Post by Nimbus108 »

Hello, my name is Ronny

Me and my partner Buddha Dave have been studying and practicing different paths including the words and methods of the Buddha for a long time now.

We are especially interested in working with concepts like sunnata, non-clinging to phenomena, and developing the skill of skillfulness itself through concentration and insight meditation.

We have created some material which I hope you all would take a look at. http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=nuw6jj8juQA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is no I in the world. Still we would like to empower all the individuals on this planet with the sublime technology of the Buddha put into a contemporary context. I hope you neither like nor dislike, but judge our material from the standard of skillfulness, knowing the intention to be helping all sentient beings.

We would really like to be a part of and contribute to a community who get what we're trying to do.

Maybe the Dhamma Wheel is such a place, time will tell. :)

Anyways, all kinds of metta for you all, and may all living entities find enlightenment.

Love,
Ron
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DNS
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Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, Estados Unidos de América
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Re: Hello all Dharma friends!

Post by DNS »

:hello:

The link worked for me only by removing the "m." from the prefix.
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cooran
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Location: Queensland, Australia

Re: Hello all Dharma friends!

Post by cooran »

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel, Ron! :group:

with metta
Chris
---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 ---
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waimengwan
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Re: Hello all Dharma friends!

Post by waimengwan »

Welcome Ronny!
Nimbus108
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:05 am

Re: Hello all Dharma friends!

Post by Nimbus108 »

Thank you David!

"I" guess the m. is for mobile devices. I'll post the link again. http://Www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuw6jj8juQA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We really want a discussion going on practice of non-clinging to phenomena and the developing of skillfulness.

We will be posting many videos of our understanding of these subjects, and it would be great to get input from practicing Buddhists.

This is also a time in the world with many problems and much suffering. "I" believe these tools could solve those problems and create a new golden age, if we can make it understandable and desirable for the general public. The aspect of skillfulness "I" think is a great entry. No one cares about being a sinner these days, but who wants to be labeled as unskillful? And who doesn't want to become more skillful, in any field or domain?

The Buddha has by far the best technology for developing skillfulness both in individual fields, and applied to developing skillfulness in and of itself, as concentration and insight training, utill we skillfully cease all grasping and clinging to all phenomena and gain final release.

"I" am not there yet, but "I" have enough experience to know that the method works. "I" am humbly and selfishly asking for Dharma friends to share their experience of the path for "my" own benefit, but also for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Dharma blessings,
Ron
Nimbus108
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:05 am

Re: Hello all Dharma friends!

Post by Nimbus108 »

Hello Waimengwan and Chris!

How is your practice going? And yours David?

I'm a bit of a lazy rascal when it comes to sitting. I love doing it when I get down to it, but the monkey mind is good at excuses and distractions.

I'm getting better at practicing mindfulness in daily activities though, seeing phenomena just as phenomena, but the "I" still pops up every so often and desire for sense gratification like coffee and sometimes girls still disturb my mind.

I'm having good progress now with using peripheral vision, that is looking somewhere in empty space in front of me and trying to see the whole picture at once without giving any energy to anything in particular. That way people including pretty girls just become phenomena, energy in the space I'm navigating through.

Also I've been doing different kinds of martial arts since I was young. Still at it and looking for students. The breath, and mindfulness and concentration is the essence of any real martial art. Working with movement and breath is also a great way to bring mindfulness both into the space of training and everyday activities like moving around from place to place.

Anyway, it would be great to hear your take on this path!

Dharma blessings,
Ron
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waimengwan
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Re: Hello all Dharma friends!

Post by waimengwan »

Hey Nimbus,

I work full time for kechara in Malaysia. I have not been doing that much sitting down meditation as of now.
We are building a a forest retreat hopefully more chances to sit down to really check the mind out :)
Our retreat center is here
http://retreat.kechara.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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BuddhaDave
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Location: Sri Lanka
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Re: Hello all Dharma friends!

Post by BuddhaDave »

Hi Everyone,

I'm Ronny's partner in the Skillful Living Network project. Good to see you all here. It is very important to have Dharma friendship with skillful people. Namaste. :bow:

We'd like to share some of our work with all Buddhist meditators, especially Theravidins. Here's our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/BuddhaDave108

We're just getting started, and there will be lots more videos soon! Please subscribe to our channel so you get the latest updates.

My background is that I was a child prodigy in music and physics. I won a scholarship to MIT but wound up going to conservatory instead. Spiritual life was never far from my thoughts though, and after a couple of years in the NYC music scene I split for the West Coast. I searched for a teacher for some time until I settled on an Indian guru. I came to the conclusion that most religion is simply palliative entertainment supporting unskillful views like eternal existence of the false self. Even Buddhist teachers in the west carefully avoid mention of Buddhism's highest truth: that there is no permanent existence of a self. They do this because if they were truthful, fewer people would come to their lectures and workshops, or buy their books. They compromise Buddhism for the sake of making a living or supporting their monastic orders.

When I was a foolish young man searching for a spiritual path, I also encountered these unskillful Buddhists. But even then, I rejected them because their teachings seemed one-sided, compromised and self-contradictory. Unfortunately, I got a wrong impression of Buddhism from them that turned me away from the Dharma onto the path of eternalism.

I wasted many years in the fruitless pursuit of eternal spiritual existence. Finally, I noticed the fact that even being a monk and guru for many years had not reduced my anxiety nor eliminated my suffering. Something was very wrong: my practice was not giving the results it was supposed to. I began to research being and ontology, which gradually led to the truths of Buddhism from a scientific approach. I traveled to Thailand to have better access to the Buddhist teachings.

As soon as I began to study and practice the authentic Theravada Suttas, I noticed a marked decrease in my suffering. Even though I was not very expert, simply relaxing the constant effort to create a false self was liberating and refreshing. As I gained a little skill in meditation, I began to experience jhānas. Now it seems to me that creating any state of being whatsoever is unskillful. I can clearly see how being and creating a self in any way at all simply leads to suffering. And I came to these realizations after only a few weeks of studying and practicing Buddhism.

I'm very glad that at present I have no fame, followers or large audience. I survive on a small pension and the grace of my good karma. Nor do I belong to any Buddhist monastic order or lay organization. Thus I have absolutely no incentive whatsoever to alter, compromise or cheapen the Buddhist teachings. My opinions expressed here are solely the result of personal practice and self-observation.

My experience is that I have come almost to the final threshold of those teachings in just a few weeks of practice. This indicates to me that the original, unchanged Buddhist methods are very powerful indeed.
"You, too, monks, should relentlessly exert yourselves, [thinking,] 'Gladly would we let the flesh & blood in our bodies dry up, leaving just the skin, tendons, & bones, but if we have not attained what can be reached through human firmness, human persistence, human striving, there will be no relaxing our persistence.' You, too, in no long time will reach & remain in the supreme goal of the holy life for which clansmen rightly go forth from home into homelessness, knowing & realizing it for yourselves in the here & now." — Appativana Sutta [Anguttara Nikaya 2.5]
Speaking of retreats Waimengwan, back in 2001 I spent 6 months alone meditating in the forest on the island of Kaua'i. It was one of the best things I ever did for myself.
Skillful Living Network
oṁ namo buddhāya
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