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Find a Thai amulet seller that doesn't sell using hype. Find one that physically resides in Thailand and that can take photos of an amulet you wish to purchase beside today's Bangkok Post or The Nation newspaper to prove to you the amulet really exists. Order an inexpensive amulet or two as a test before spending more than a hundred dollars on a large order. Can they deliver? What is the quality of Thai amulet the seller sells?
He goes through the Pali Canon and separates what was new to the Buddha and what was also held in Indian philosophy before the Buddha. He can then pinpoint what's unique to Buddhism. So he doubts rebirth and different realms of existence. He pinpoints as distinctively Buddhist: dependent origination; the practice of mindful awareness, being focused on the totality of what is happening in our moment to moment experience; the Four Noble Truths & the Eight Fold Path; the principle of self-reliance, not to be dependent on some authority figure.
BN: Yes and I see it now in Burma and in the world. I gave a presentation on ethics recently to the judiciary in Xalapa. We spoke about how institutions can too often act like predators rather than being fair to the people. How can we say we are serving others if we are exploiting them? At the time of the Buddha, you would be brought to the king if you committed some offense. Simple. A punishment or a pardon was swiftly given. Now it's so much more complex. Modern society demands that we apply ethics more broadly.
We convinced a property manager to take a chance on us in the way of a small apartment, which wasn't easy with our spotty history, Janet's shiny bald head, and driving the old, rusty Toyota that mystically kept going for us. We didn't have much stuff either, so we cruised garage sales and thrift stores to get a few things together, like a $3 phone to keep in touch with the nursing home. Luckily, we were accustomed to sleeping on bare, wooden floors in Thailand, so sleeping on a carpeted floor was a treat.
Massage Therapy is a well-known and well-documented remedy for inducing relaxation and reducing mental stress. In particular, traditional Thai massage with its slow meditative and rhythmic compressions, yoga-like stretches, and passive joint movements seemed to be an ideal tool for someone like Harvey.
Whenever we found ourselves separated from theravada monasteries, day jobs were required to pay the bills; nobody was there to back us up. Only in very spiritual countries, and small growing pockets of awareness here in the States, are meditators looked upon as valuable assets, and supported to one degree or another. Because Janet and I were married, however, Bhante G insisted that we live in town rather than at the Bhavana Society, and we understood this. In Thailand, it's okay to be married, because in Thailand there is more room to support spiritual couples, where each can stay in a separate monastery, or separated in a large monastery.
MZC: Achaan Chah talks about liberation depending on the recognition of the radical separateness of awareness, the "one who knows and the five skandas" (form, feeling, perception, volition, consciousness). I question this. How can we separate the one who knows and what is known? The meditator, according to Achan Cha, separates awareness from the object and can focus on the awareness.
He goes through the Pali Canon and separates what was new to the Buddha and what was also held in Indian philosophy before the Buddha. He can then pinpoint what's unique to Buddhism. So he doubts rebirth and different realms of existence. He pinpoints as distinctively Buddhist: dependent origination; the practice of mindful awareness, being focused on the totality of what is happening in our moment to moment experience; the Four Noble Truths & the Eight Fold Path; the principle of self-reliance, not to be dependent on some authority figure.
