Oh, one other thing to say. I’ve written in several places that Western Buddhism keeps reinventing aspects of tantra, because tantra is better-aligned with the Western worldview than sutra is. But the reinventions generally suck and often explode, sometimes killing people.
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Replying to @Meaningness @leashless and
Rather than importing dubious non-Buddhist practices as substitutes for Buddhist tantra, it would be much better to bite the bullet and do the real thing, thereby getting the benefit of 1300 years of smart people figuring it out plus vast trial-and-error practice.
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Know anyone who can come to Vermont and share the real thing with us?
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Long shot, but I have a lama in mind who might just possibly be willing. Will contact them and let you know if so.
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To be able to carry this off... that, sir, is clearly the mustache of a siddha! You just can't fake that kind of thing. It's like the Naths and leopard print. Indelible mark. Hipster yogis.pic.twitter.com/TnRSTPlBz4
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Well, to be perhaps excessively serious, the Aro gTér is almost entirely traditional in its content. The hair vows go back many centuries at minimum; mustache vows aren’t a thing. That said, he does encourage “flamboyant facial topiary” on male students.
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“flamboyant facial topiary” seems... underplaying his hand. That mustache is practically a terma all by itself. Many of the best Hindu siddhas are hipsters. It seems to be The Way Of Things. It's a clear signifier for us.pic.twitter.com/wBJUIzBasV
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Replying to @leashless @Meaningness and
https://vividness.live/2013/12/07/reinventing-buddhist-tantra-badly/amp/?__twitter_impression=true … yeah this is great. my lot saddled me with a Hindu tantra modernization project. the result was Eternalicious. Nobody died. It got pretty edgy for a few years, then we turned it off. The teaching wasn't effective for most people, and dangerous to boot.
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Have you considered writing up your experience of what worked and didn't? Might be helpful for future innovators.
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So Eternalicious is the manual. The bottom line is people's lives change very fast, mostly for the better, then their world model breaks. Usually because of all the synchronicity. The real derailer is unconscious fear of God and pleasure: eve made to bear in pain etc. software.
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Thank you… interesting, yes, that makes sense
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yeah all the Pure Land stuff is experienced as "but hell is real too and if you don't obey God, you'll go there." all states are experienced as being contingent on an external authority figure that will command and menace. the guru is seen through that lens/karma seen as sin etc
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Replying to @leashless @Meaningness and
you'd have to sand off the entire fabric right down to early childhood - way way way deeper than stuff like sexual imprinting - to get good, bad, fear of hell, punishing god, virgin/whore and fear of being nailed to a cross if you get enlightened out as well. nightmare level.
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