How Would The Buddhists On Here Label Themselves Under Duress

[Joseph Maynor]

Let's say someone put a gun to your head and said you have to label yourself as a type (or combo of types) or die, what would you say?  Remember, no loosey-goosey: you are gambling with your life.

And I assume anyone who talks about enlightenment as a serious topic of daily discourse falls into the category of Buddhists.  Don't nitpick that category please.  Think of it as a wide net.

Gimme some labels! Let's get down to some brass tacks here.  I wanna nail you folks down.

And if it's a combo of schools, say that.  I'd rather have an answer than no answer.

Remember -- No weaseling out!  Weasels die.  No hedge-words.

And no lying just to save your skin either.  Be honest.  Let's say the gunman has you hooked up to a lie detector machine.

Describe your influences and/or types please.  I think y'all get what I'm looking for.  And if you can't do types or schools, do teachers.  Something's better than nothing.  You can give me a list of teachers, no?  I wanna learn about you and your differences.

Edited June 20, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Joel3102]

Advaitan? 

[Toby]

You don't have to play the silly game. Just enjoy the moment. If the other shoots - fine. If not - fine.

[Natasha]

@Joseph Maynor I would tell them, "It's all an illusion and death does not exist. Now what is this thing you're holding to my head?" lol.

There are a lot of good communicators, depends on what point in your journey you're at the moment. I like straight-shooters (pun not intended :) likeTony Parsons, Lisa Cairns, and of course Leo, among some others. 

[Dodo]

6 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

Let's say someone put a gun to your head and said you have to label yourself as a type (or combo of types) or die, what would you say?  Remember, no loosey-goosey: you are gambling with your life.

And I assume anyone who talks about enlightenment as a serious topic of daily discourse falls into the category of Buddhists.  Don't nitpick that category please.  Think of it as a wide net.

Gimme some labels! Let's get down to some brass tacks here.  I wanna nail you folks down.

And if it's a combo of schools, say that.  I'd rather have an answer than no answer.

Remember -- No weaseling out!  Weasels die.  No hedge-words.

And no lying just to save your skin either.  Be honest.  Let's say the gunman has you hooked up to a lie detector machine.

Describe your influences and/or types please.  I think y'all get what I'm looking for.  And if you can't do types or schools, do teachers.  Something's better than nothing.  You can give me a list of teachers, no?  I wanna learn about you and your differences.

I could say any of those three and not be lying : Neo Advaitan, Advaitan,  DirectPathian ( )

Or I'd tell him, I am whatever you are, and still the detector will be like Man, he saying the truth :-D Ofcourse we need an absolute truth detector. 

Edited June 20, 2017 by Dodo

[Martin123]

@Joseph Maynor why would you consider everyone interested in spirituality a Buddhist?

 

[Joseph Maynor]

@Martin123 I didn't say that!  That's a straw man you set up.  I posed this question in good faith and specifically said don't get hung up on the word Buddhist, it's a wide net and not the question at issue.  I wanna know how people identify, not some trivial response.

Edited June 21, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Joseph Maynor]

@Natasha One problem I have is when people are so purportedly open-minded they forget they are practicing philosophy.  I'm not surprised nobody answered this.  It was a good experiment.  Nobody wants to admit they are beholden to theories.  I'll keep to the practical stuff on here, the Self-Actualization side.

Edited June 21, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Martin123]

@Joseph Maynor I am confused  but please Accept my apologie. 

[Joseph Maynor]

No need to apologize.  It's not that serious.

[Loreena]

Calm under stress

[Nahm]

@Joseph Maynor i am comfortable with my type. im definitly the lose myself type. my influences are playing guitar & singing, meditation, long cardio, sex, shrooms.  anything where i am gone. (i love not being gone too. the two states seem to enhance eachother)

you?

[Joseph Maynor]

@Nahm I'm definitely not a fan of nonduality.  I don't accept duality either or the idea that one or the other has to be true (this is an example of a false choice fallacy).  But I have had an ego-death experience in the sense that I no longer cling to a notion and feeling of myself as a thing, and I do practice being in nothingness, meditation, and watching/monitoring my thoughts.  I do not believe all is one.  And I don't think Leo's concept of enlightenment is possible.  You can't lose your self entirely.  That's a fiction.  Maybe 85%, but not entirely.  And I would never believe that or espouse that unless I experienced it directly and firsthand myself first.  Otherwise it's a pipe-dream at worst and hypothesis at best.  And I don't mistake hypotheses for truths.  Until I experience the crack for myself, as Leo has referred to it as, I will continue to believe that Leo's  concept of enlightenment is a fiction.  Nobody else's testimony is really persuasive to me because I can't really climb into their mind and verify it for myself.  But I still keep an open mind and welcome testimony, naturally.  I never stop listening.  To believe it, I must first see it for myself firsthand, especially with something as radical as Leo's concept of enlightenment.  

Edited June 22, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[cetus]

On ‎6‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 2:46 AM, Joseph Maynor said:

And no lying just to save your skin either.  Be honest.  Let's say the gunman has you hooked up to a lie detector machine.

I would probably be breaking out in a sweat thinking about that lie detector!

Than realizing my gig was totally up,

I'd look him straight in the eye and say, "You got me now. Pull the trigger so I may realize the true Buddha nature"

And in that moment I would fully realize my true Buddha nature.

There is no one to be a Buddhist. There is no Buddha

When you strike a match, where does the flame come from?

When you extinguish a flame, where does it go?

When the conditions are right, I manifest.

 When the conditions are no longer there, I am not manifest

 

 

[Nahm]

@Joseph Maynor Now I have some info on your point of reference, thank you, and omg dude, one can lose one's  self 100%. I think, but can't know, that anyone can. It's like anticipating getting a driver's license and a car - super exciting - then a year later it's like riding a bike, doesn't feel extraordinary anymore. Apparently, 5MEO will allow you to see / do this right away. I know shrooms, around 2grams, will allow you to see & realize that you are not what you've been thinking you are / that you are nothing ego wise, and everything otherwise.  I can't explain it because clearly you are sitting there so you exist, but also, you don't. The connotations of "exists" & "real" change.  It's not about adding anything, it's about taking things (or everything) away. After around 15 years of daily meditation (letting go, returning to breathing) I did experience a reality pop - not sure what it's called. Lasted 3-4 days. There is a movie called Lucy, it was like that. Everything made sense so easily - perfect sense. Like the truth of everything is that it is. What other evidence could possibly help or be needed? After around 15 years of playing guitar and singing I started to and still do experience the same thing. It is like anything else, that more focus on it brings more of it. It is also unlike anything else, in that any wanting of it is literally what is keeping it away. It's more setting time aside to allow it and to one's most feasible extent- wrapping everything else in your life around it, as secondary. It's hard to describe because I am not there when I experienced it, only just before and just after. The memory of the inbetween is like I'm witnessing but not doing anything. I bet this sounds like bullshit. My suggestion would be to go out and try everything metaphysical you can find - reiki, psychics, psychedelics, crystals, etc.  Oh and if you don't already, learn an instrument. That's just good sense on every level. You rock man. Like your posts. Like the honesty in your expressions. Glad you came along. Godspeed. One more thing, cause I tend to forget this part around here....it's fucking awesome. It's the most awesome thing I have ever experienced, every time. Like if you're super frustrated with a video game, and you turn it off, all frustration is gone. It's like that. When everything is turned off, the perspective of the everything comes back and I can easily clearly see that there was never anything wrong, it was just my perspective / state.