Hello all: Introduce yourself in this thread or just read it to meet the members

[mettajoey]

Hello qltwmn,
Welcome to the forum!
I think it's great you are taking the steps to increase your awareness.  Do you have a Sangha (sitting/meditation group) in your area?  Joining one will really help support your practice.

[Jimmy Coconuts]

Hey guys,

My name is Jimmy.  I was on the old boards but honestly I only posted a handful of times.  I would just forget to check most days.   

Anyway, I am coming up on my two year anniversary as a practitioner.

Vipassana, and by extension Buddhist, practice has been a great boon to my life.

I am looking forward to more insightful (pun intended) threads to come.

-J

[mettajoey]

Hey Jimmy C,
I remember you from the old boards, welcome back!

[vipa]

Hi, I'm Jessie, Filipino.  I practice Vipassana (Goenka's) and Zen for the past few months although I've been into Buddhist meditation long before but stopped for several years.
Metta to all!

[Matthew]

Jessie,

A very warm Welcome - I look forward to hearing your contributions.

May the Dhamma flourish and all beings attain peace,

Mattthew

[eternalbeginner]

Hi everyone,

my name is Frida and I'm as much of a newbie as can be. I read Mindfulness in plain English some 10 years ago, I probably did a couple of sessions and then forgot all about it.

Yesterday evening, I picked up the book again and started reading. Why? Well, I feel pretty restless and unhappy, and quite stressed out. I don't think this is the best frame of mind for starting to meditate, since I'm very well aware that meditation is something I'll have to stick to for the rest of my life, and since I'm restless and a bit unhappy, I'd obvioulsy would want something to happen quick. But I know it won't. I just hope I manage to stick to it and don't give up.

Honestly, I'm not sure where to find the patience and persistance necessary, but I guess I'll just have to consider the option of feeling pretty much like this for the rest of my life...

My first session today lasted 14 minutes (I'm actually a bit impressed), I used the technique in the book of trying to concentrate on my breathing. I don't know how many seconds I managed to do that, but probably not many. My thoughts are in constant motion.

Sorry about being a bit lengthy, I'm not sure I'll stick to this but I hope to, and maybe introducing myself here can be a motivator 

Frida

[Matthew]

Dear Frida,

A warm welcome to you.

This may be one of the most eclectic and eccentric online Sangha's around. Our doors, our minds and our hearts are open. We are non-sectarian and all-inclusive as I am sure you will see for yourself.

Your story is not uncommon and although we all encounter different obstacles on our paths those obstacles share common characteristics. Hopefully someone or something here will help you to find the persistence you feel you lack, the courage to continue and the gentleness to not be self-critical in the process.

Sitting for 14 minutes is plenty. I generally recommend absolute beginners to start small and build gently - actually 10 minutes twice a day is a fine place to start. So I think you can give yourself a gentle (non-egotistic, of course) pat on the back.

The good thing about starting gently is that it more easily becomes a part of your routine and you keep it up in the good times as well as the bad times - as I am sure you are aware.

Do not worry about being "lengthy" - personally I am known for my ability to "talk the hind legs off a donkey" as we say here in England. And please don't be afraid to post - no one is going to judge you here - as a quick trawl through the boards will inform you: So far this week we have covered subjects as wide ranging as meditating in the supermarket or on the toilet in the office, holding cucumbers to your belly to see if they are good for you and whether masturbation counts against celibacy!

I hope you find the support and encouragement you want here and look forward to your involvement in this community as your meditation practice grows.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[MintyMadness]

Hello!

 I am Jeremy, based in the US (Missouri). I am not a Buddhist, but I do enjoy to take a nice sit outside once in a while, and just bring my mind to a halt. I have been told this is somewhat like meditating .

It is nice to meet you all. I know The Irreverent one through other sites, and have to say that he is definately one of hte more enlightened people I have ever met.



-Jeremy

[Matthew]

I think I might ban you Jeremy. You'll upset our beloved members with talk like that

Welcome,

Matthew

ps The most enlightened moment of my life I remember well. It was in 1997 when I realised I knew nothing about anything of any importance.

[hardik_bavishi_79]

Dear friends,

I am back.  I was away for a few days.  By that time our previous group dissolved and took a new form.  Members from previous group know me.  For new members, I am a wanderer in the empty space of awareness.  I have attended SNGoenka courses and read masters on awareness and equanimity.  Again and again I get lost.  I attempt to absorb energy from sangha, virtual or physical.  Through sangha, I try to climb no-mind from mind.  I get that push from this place.  I am grateful to you.  I am all for you.

Hardik.

[Matthew]

Hardik

Welcome back. It is a great pleasure to have your company on the path again. We've missed you.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[Paul]

Hi Hardik,

Its great to hear from you again!  I hope everything is going well from you...it sounds like it is 

Paul

[mettajoey]

Good to have you back, Hardik.
Welcome 

[Matthew]

TARA !!!!!!!!!!

Welcome back

Thank you for sharing your story. People do find it so very hard to accept change in others because it threatens their own comfort zone. For this reason it is not unusual to find people whose families can not cope with them choosing to grow - that's where Sangha becomes terrifically important as an anchor and a source of friendship and support. It doesn't take away the feelings of hurt but that's what meditation is for, so we can break through those boundaries.

I'm so sorry the new forum was intimidating for you. What did I/we do wrong? What made it so? ... I have been changing the colour scheme to try and get a warm and tranquil feel .. not quite there yet but nearly. Would appreciate your feedback on this (you can PM me if you prefer).



I'm happy to see you here again if you can't tell lol .. and I didn't know you were also in England



Matthew

[vajraYatu]

Namo Buddhaya ~

Thank you for putting this forum together. It should be a great help for sangha to locate each other. Electronic sangha is a great thing. Its even better to meditate together! It's not easy, especially up here in the Great White North (that's Canada eh) to find other Buddhists.

My name is Shiva and I live in a small town on the north shore of Lake Ontario in North America. I have been working as a computer engineer and project manager. I was born in 1957, so I've been through a few evolutions in spirituality, but Awakening has always been close to my heart. It's my central focus now.

Namaste,   Shiva

[mettajoey]

Welcome vajraYatu!
I'm glad you have found us.
I'm just a little east of you here in Maine and can appreciate your comments about trying to find a Sangha of Vipassana practicers.  I'm trying to get one established here but things are still spotty.  Fortunately I'm just a little over three hours to Dhamma Dhara and can pop in on occasion.
We look forward to hearing some your experiences on the path.
Namaste,

[Matthew]

Dear vajraYatu,

Welcome to the forum. Putting this together was a joy. Thank you for your appreciation of the effort -joyful as it was.  As to meditating together if you ever use skype I/we (Joe did I mention this?) have pondered using skypecasts to do a sitting and then Dhamma discussion together. Something for the future (i.e. feeling lazy).

As you may have gathered if you read any boards before joining many of us knew each other from another forum - there are just as many here though who have found us through google.com, tricycle editor's blog or who knows where. It doesn't matter, nor does the type of vipassana/shamatha practice you undertake or if you are in a "real" Sangha or not. I see this as being as real as any Sangha.

The Sangha is broad tent in approach and purposefully eclectic and not centred on one tradition or another. We share a practice and each others experience and a desire to be mindful of each other in our interactions herein. We haven't made up lots of rules -haven't had to, everyone gets five stars on joining and never gets more because I'm a hippy in sheep's clothing (and Buddhist in Buddhist jeans and T shirt). I happen to own this place for my sins. Oops sorry - Karma.

Hope you have fun find/offer support or share in whatever way is right for you. I look forward to hearing more from you as you dive in.

Again, welcome. In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[Mackthefinger]

Hello all,

I discovered this site today, and am already glad of it since I am shortly to embark on a Vipassana retreat here in my native Ireland, and have already found some useful information.

I've had an interest in meditation for 16 or 17 years, since I read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. It enouraged me to attend a course in TM, which I didn't really enjoy and became a bit disillusioned with. Since then I've sporadically attempted short periods of meditation, using mantras or breathing techniques, but never with any degree of discipline or application.

So now I've taken the plunge and signed up for a ten day retreat, and am hoping to bring some method and discipline to my daily practise. I find it hard to fit meditation into my daily schedule, so I'm hoping Vipassana will help me to bring the benefits of meditation into my daily life.

Looking forward to sharing wisdom and experiance (when I have some  )

[Matthew]

Hi Mack,

Welcome again (I found your other post already and welcomed you there)

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[b_f_r_e]

Hello! My name is Alex. I'm from Ukraine. You know this country from former USSR. I'm 22 years old. I should admit that buddhism is thing (I can hardly say what is buddhism - philosophy, religion or psyhological method),that interest me much, from the great variety of noble teachings inherited from Buddha now i study theravada buddhism, Nagarjuna teaching of emptiness. Now I have the aim to converse with someone who try to manifestate buddhist teaching in practice, in real life. So if someone want to discuss with me some buddhist topics, write me. Thank you for your attention.

[mettajoey]

Hi Alex,
Welcome to our forum and Sangha.  It is hard to pin down Buddhist thought.  It's equal parts science and spirituality and completely in touch with nature.  A place I feel that our culture as a species needs to move if we want to continue to evolve.  We would love to discuss all things Buddhist with you.  Please feel free to join in on one of our discussions or start your own.  Glad to have you.
Metta,

[Matthew]

Alex

Welcome to the forum. I studied under teachers in lineages which pay great attention to Nagarjuna's interpretations of "Shunyata" or emptiness. The thing to do is to read what other people are writing and ask questions or answer them or post a new topic if there is something in particular you wish to discuss.

I hope you find some answers and some friends on the path while you are here.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[spiceant]

Hello fellow human buddy's

I was born 1987 to my mother as her son and went on to become who i am. When described by others i'm agreed to be introvert, spiritual, sensitive, empathic and as having a strong sense of justice (finding justice / human rights important). Beside that i will call myself manipulative (there, i warned ya), as i have had a habit of lying to get what i want. I stopped lieing since atleast a year, but if instead someone else still deceives themselves and it is comfortable for me to stay silent about it i will stay silent about it. (I might also try to deceive others by any means except by words, to get what i want). In that sense i just expressed i am very stubborn in my ideas and even more strongly in my intuition. If i have a feeling or intuition about anything there is almost nothing anyone can do to get me off it for the long term atleast not by any orthodox rational rethoric (which is what i think is all i'v gotten so far). Some may call it being led by the holy spirit and thats how i will explain in the christian language.

I have a set of principles / morals / ethics that i will strive to live by more and more every day:

• Use no kind of force (includes killing/eating) against any living being, except that which is excplicitly there to be eaten (i am vegan, strive to be fruitarian, but my parents remain fearfull that will be a bad thing, so i am now striving first to live by myself)
• Support nothing that is evil (destructive...fearfull)
• Ban all fear in my life
• Always hoping the future is better
• Evil is never justified by good (don't fight for peace, no killing of murderers. No evil is ever justified except as a mistake to learn from)
• Never assume anything (no ignorance)
• Everyone is go(o)d (god/good being synonymous)
• The natural state is happyness
• Stagnancy/orthodoxy/comfort leads to loss of (flow of) life and to death. (stagnancy is non-existance)
• Confrontations leads to progression leads to creation / preservation (good)
• A better world starts with yourself

(in no consciously chosen order)

I take much of the thoughts i hold from the New Testament Mount Sermon and also strive to see them black & white (absolute) much like natural laws, meaning that i do not compromise their meaning with orthodox rational rethoric. I try to learn about everything, i want to know everything. I hold fast to my idea that everything can be explained.

Beside that i'v red and seen documentaries about sacred (hallucinogenic) mushrooms, causes of poverty, tri level agriculture, biodyanmic farming, planet x, chakra's, sacred gemetry, 911 truth, fasting, naturism/nudism, diets (raw, fruit, vegan), conspiracy so called theories, barefooting, consumerism, pole shift, sungazing, alternative medicine (most of them), natural birth / toilet posture, peak oil, 2012, apocalyptic scenarios, pyramids, sovereignty, angels / aliens, sovereignty / freedom and a whole host of other subjects most of which alarmastic (fearmonger-ish), esotoric, occult, gnostic, antagonistic, unorthodox, diamatrically opposed to civilized views or combinations of the latter. (most of these terms can still lead you to some exciting subjects when used in internet searches).

I usually go barefoot unless it gets really really cold (subzero), i'd want to go nude too, but i don't think that would be wise to do right now. Normalcy isn't exciting enough for me. I will go to live in a jungle someplace when i feel stronger about doing that.
I despise most religious type conformity and have grown desillusioned and disappointed with civilization and i feel insecure much like when you see a train coming you know you got to avoid, except i don't see the train. I feel very confused in this society, left seems right, up seems down, in is out, and back is forwards.

I also have a Vipassana retreat scheduled to attend to on the 24th of December to the 4th January and have a lot of confidence it will do me a proverbial world of good.

I also have a weblog on spiceant.blogspot.com and a small little booklet linked in its first post.

So thats what what i suggest you considder when you try to define who i am,
best of luck with my best whishes for everyone,

[mettajoey]

Hello Spiceant and welcome to our forum.
I wish you the best luck at your ten-day course and that you take away much from your experience.
You described a lot about who you are and what you believe.  The Buddhist path steps away from stringing outside or worldly thoughts and concepts together to define a self or "I", which then allows one to reveal the ultimate truth already inside themselves.
Fondest wishes to you on your journey,
 

[Matthew]

Welcome spiceant

Vipassana and meditation have nothing to do with anyone defining who you are - they have everything yo do with you finding out who you are, i.e. true gnosticism. You'll learn a lot on that ten day course if you can take all your energy and apply  it to the practice.

If you like the sermon on the mount you may well enjoy the Dhammapada, a simple Buddhist book.

Thank you for your colourful introduction. You will see we are not very religious people in the usual senses of the word on this forum.

Welcome!

Matthew