The PaB session that afternoon was logged and commented for the first half by Adaams, and for the second half by Dakini. First this is Adams speaking, in her comments.
Fael was already seated when Adams arrived
Fael Illyar: Hello Adams
Adams Rubble: Hi Fael
Fael Illyar: that kimono looks similar in style to the black one you had this morning. :)
Adams Rubble: Yes, exactly. It is a seven color set
Fael Illyar: One for each day of the week? :)
Adams Rubble: Maybe :)
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
Adams Rubble: Hi Faenik
Faenik purrs contently.
Adams Rubble: I guess you saw the note that Solo may be late
Fael Illyar: I did, although I’d have been here in any case.
Adams Rubble: I will have to leave about 1:25
Fael Illyar: I saw that too
Fael and Adams share landmarks for stores
Fael Illyar: I tend to pay attention to clothes when I like them ;)
Adams Rubble: I got this in the shop that was recommended here by Monk or Inso
Fael Illyar: Which shop was that?
Fael Illyar accepted your inventory offer.
Adams Rubble: I think that one
Fael Illyar: Ah, didn’t know about this one.
Fael Illyar: Most of mine are from Bare Rose
Faenik: ah :)
Adams Rubble: It’s a little tricky to find. You have to poke around a bit
Fael Illyar accepted your inventory offer.
Adams Rubble: Do you know about that one?
Fael Illyar: no, not this one either
Adams Rubble: That has a wide variety including many middle eastern things
Fael Illyar gave you ::: BareRose ::: HQ, Bare Rose (146, 11, 30).
Fael Illyar: Bare Rose has around 1500 outfits for sale
Adams Rubble: I don;t think I know about this one
Fael Illyar: Hi Thorberg
Fael Illyar accepted your inventory offer.
Thorberg and Moon arrive
Adams Rubble: Hi Thorberg
Thorberg Nordlicht: hello
Fael Illyar: Hi Moon
Adams Rubble: i Moon
Moon Fargis: hello everyone
Thorberg Nordlicht: hello, Moon
Moon Fargis: niceeee sunglasses thorberg:)
Thorberg Nordlicht: thanks
Adams Rubble: Hi Isen
Fael Illyar: Hi Isen
Moon Fargis: thorberg: do you try to look like you do i rl ?
Thorberg Nordlicht: no, not exactly, but more real life than making up something new in SL
Thorberg Nordlicht: an experiement in seeing what works in SL and what doesn’t
Moon begins the activities
Moon Fargis: wel in sl you nearly can be everyting
Fael Illyar: Yes, quite so :)
Fael Illyar is feeling like showing off again.
Fael turns into a large, ,low to the ground, purple dragon and begins to move into the center
Moon Fargis: you.what ?
Adams Rubble: hehe
Isen Enzo: What will you show?
Adams Rubble: bravo
Isen Enzo: Wow!
Thorberg Nordlicht: ((i’m having a lot of lag, right now))
Isen Enzo: Where is the lag meter, Moon?
Isen Enzo: Wow, Fael!
Isen Enzo: That’s great!
Adams Rubble: Very impressive display
Isen Enzo: oh yeah!
Thorberg Nordlicht: wow is right ((Fael turning into a dragon))
Then Moon turns into a tall, large, black, fearsome-looking dragon and begins to chase Fael’s dragon
Isen Enzo: gads!!
Isen Enzo: ooks!!!
Isen Enzo: yow!!
Moon Fargis: hmm eat
Adams Rubble: oh my
Moon Fargis: MUHAHAHA
Isen Enzo: a moon monster!!
Moon begins to east Fael’s monster
Moon Fargis: yumm yumm
After a spell he changes his mind
Moon Fargis: let me give you a hug fael
Moon Fargis: MUHAHAHA
Fael Illyar: not too big hug :P
Moon Fargis: hehe
Adams Rubble: :)
Moon Fargis purrzzzzzzzzz
Isen Enzo: fantastic beings…
Fael Illyar: One of my friends has a dragon AV that’s bigger than this teahouse
Fael goes through a couple of more transformations
Adams Rubble: Not an ordinary session
Isen Enzo: no..
Isen Enzo: not ordinary..
Moon Fargis: play as being isnt it?.)
Adams Rubble: :)
Isen Enzo: extra ordinary!!
Fael Illyar: :)
Thorberg Nordlicht: somehow, i don’t think those reading the chat transcript will capture the full impact of what we just witnessed
Adams Rubble: No way
Isen Enzo: lol
Adams Rubble: A very visual PaB
Thorberg Nordlicht: at least *this* part maybe we can describe
Thorberg then describes what happens next
Thorberg Nordlicht: seems to be a contest between a dinasore and a teddy bear
Adams Rubble: haha
Isen Enzo: Would take a long time to describe..
Adams Rubble: The teddy bear seems to be faster
Adams Rubble: on his feet
Thorberg Nordlicht: and I’m seeing this with a lot of lag, so it’s “choppy” like an old movie
Fael Illyar: Well, enough playing around I guess :)
Moon Fargis: thorberg: bad grphics card?
Thorberg Nordlicht: or maybe a bad sci fi movie
Moon Fargis: ok fael :)
Isen Enzo: Moon helped me get a new graphics do-dad..
Isen Enzo: “driver”?
Moon Fargis: driver yes:)
Isen Enzo: notice my command of technical jargon!
Adams Rubble: :)
Moon Fargis: ok back to myself again :)
Isen Enzo: these two are playing at being lots of beings…
Moon Fargis: walked too much today in sl :)
Moon Fargis: so someone want to tlk about some pab stuff ?:)
Moon Fargis: +a
Isen Enzo: brb
Thorberg Nordlicht: oh, i thought that *was* the PasB stuff
Adams Rubble: :)
Moon Fargis: we need something for the logs :)
Adams Rubble: hehe
Fael Illyar: Well, in a way it was ;)
Thorberg Nordlicht: something for the logs; ok somebody say something profound, quickly
Fael Illyar: Although, if no-one took snapshots, it’s going to be hard to present on the blog
Moon Fargis: uhmm
Adams Rubble: I took a few snapshots
Adams Rubble: too late though
Adams Rubble: missed the first things
Fael Illyar: Well, do send those to pema :)
Moon Fargis: “we are all like leaf’s on a tree”
Adams Rubble: :)
After a long period of silence and possibly beating a dead horse, Adams tries to return to a theme she raised in the morning session
Adams Rubble: This morning I talked about mindfulness
Adams Rubble: I just learned the concept yesterday
Adams Rubble: Pema said something that has mystified me a bit
Moon Fargis: hi toy
Thorberg Nordlicht: hello toy
Adams Rubble: He said that I should think of subtracting rather than ading something
Fael Illyar: I’m interested in the concept but I find myself hard pressed to figure out something to say about it
Adams Rubble: Hi Toy
Moon Fargis: yes
Adams Rubble: His basic premise seems to have been that it is a natural state
Fael Illyar: ah yes, you’re being not mindful because your head is too full of other things
Adams Rubble: and we stray from it I guess
Fael Illyar: So, to be mindful, you need to subtract :)
Adams Rubble: Unfortuantely I have to go soon but I wonder if anyone has anything to add
Moon Fargis: 0-0=1
Moon Fargis: :)
Adams Rubble: :)
Fael Illyar: :)
Fael Illyar: mathematically equivalent to 0=1 :)
Mooncoco Hausmann is Offline
Fael Illyar: or rather, you can derive 0=1 from it
Fael Illyar: or that from 0=1
Moon Fargis: okay:)
Thorberg Nordlicht: be aware of the distinction between the uninterruptable stream of your own experience and your own unending mental monolog commentary on your experience; then subtract the monolog
Fael Illyar: Hello dakini
Dakini arrives
Moon Fargis: ah hi dakini
Dakini Rhode: that was a good note to enter on, Thor
Dakini Rhode: eloquent!
Adams Rubble: Yes. Hi Dakini
Fael Illyar: Thorberg, that’s quite well put, makes very good sense and is quite clear :)
Thorberg Nordlicht: hi Dakini; i was responding to a previous point in the conversation
Isen Enzo: yes.
Isen Enzo: well put, thor.
Thorberg Nordlicht: it all started with something Pema apparently said about mndfuolness earlier today
Isen Enzo: Adams, it’s what we practice in Soto Zen meditation…
Thorberg Nordlicht: *mindfullness
Isen Enzo: SZ med is very similar to “mindfull meditation”
Moon Fargis: yes.. being mindfull of the walpaper you are starring at
Fael Illyar: :)
Fael Illyar: I’d think it’s more like being mindful of your thoughts :)
Adams Rubble: Thank you. I am absorbing that. Having started it I now must run.
Fael Illyar: Well, both, actually :)
Adams Rubble: Thanks again all
Fael Illyar: Bye Adams :)
Moon Fargis: ok see you later adams
Adams Rubble: bye
Thorberg Nordlicht: later
Dakini Rhode: Adams would you like someone to take over blogging 4 you?
Isen Enzo gave you 5-6-08 Necessary Awareness.
Adams Rubble: yes please. I’ll send the first part
Adams Rubble: and thank you Isen
Dakini Rhode: ok I’ll do the 2nd part
Adams departs, and from here on the chat log has been provide by Dakini, with the comments being hers.
Adams, Thorberg, and Moon departed in quick succession, leaving Fael, Isen, and Dakini to pick up the thread. Isen appeared to be serving lattes..
After several 9 seconds passed, Dakini and Fael talked about stages of meditation.
Dakini Rhode: In my tradition there is more than one form of practice
Dakini Rhode: shamatha , vipashyana, and mahamudra
Dakini Rhode: progressive stages of meditation
Dakini Rhode: concentration, and then insight, and the looking directly at the nature of mind
Dakini Rhode: (translated)
Moon Fargis: ahyes
Dakini Rhode: insight sounds closer to mindfulness
Fael Illyar: how do you tell when you pass from one state to other?
Fael Illyar: Can you elaborate on the states?
Dakini Rhode: stages
Dakini Rhode: stages of meditation practice
Dakini Rhode: the purpose of our meditation isn’t to achieve a certain state
Dakini Rhode: the beginning form of practice is concentration
Dakini Rhode: you can concentrate on an object, on the breath… it is to train the mind to keep returning
Dakini Rhode: so the focus is quite concentrated
Dakini Rhode: once concentration is established, we move on to other forms of practice
Dakini Rhode: the fruit of concentration is often a feeling of peace
Dakini Rhode: but we don’t do it to feel peace
Dakini Rhode: the purpose of meditation practice is enlightenment, so we don’t want to be stuck in a peaceful state
Dakini Rhode: it’s a trap, so to speak
Dakini Rhode: even though meditation is “sold” today as a way to become peaceful
Dakini Rhode: and it IS
Fael Illyar: Yes, that’s the most noticeable thing about it I’ve noticed myself.
Dakini Rhode: but, that is just a side effect of attaining some degree of concentration and some degree of understanding
Fael Illyar: so, the first stage is concentration but the second?
Dakini Rhode: the peacefulness?
Dakini Rhode: even tremendous bliss you can feel
Fael Illyar: (yes, I meant peacefulness as the most noticeable)
Fael Illyar: Yes, I experimented with bliss already during some 9-second explorations
Dakini Rhode: from concentrating and letting the thoughts go…
Fael Illyar: Didn’t dare to make it too strong bliss though
Dakini Rhode: whatever we experience, we don’t cling to it
Dakini Rhode: If Isen were here he could comment on how this may or may not be similar to zen practice…
Dakini Rhode: Once we have some ability to concentrate and keep the mind steady, we open up more - and i think this is more similar to zen practice but I’m not sure 100%
Dakini Rhode: vipashyana practice - we let the thoughts come and go instead of concentrating so tightly
Dakini Rhode: we look at them
Dakini Rhode: not clinging, still
Fael Illyar: Ah, I was wondering why it seems I rarely get thoughts while meditating and yet I had an idea there should be more.
Dakini Rhode: but here by allowing some thought coming and going freely, we often have some flashes of insight
Dakini Rhode: the mind can be different each time you sit, actually
Dakini Rhode: sometimes busy, sometimes very quite, sometimes dull, sometimes bright…
Dakini Rhode: sleepy, dopey, all the 7 dwarfs…
Fael Illyar: Yes, I’ve noticed differences.
Dakini Rhode: noticing = mindfulness
Dakini Rhode: like yogi berra said, you can see a lot by looking
Fael Illyar: I was initially a bit worried if the differences I noticed meant I was doing it somehow wrong.
Dakini Rhode: not at all…
Dakini Rhode: because we’re not aiming for a certain state
Dakini Rhode: we don’t sit down to achieve something
Dakini Rhode: if that makes sense…
Fael Illyar: It does, strangely
Fael Illyar: can’t explain :)
Dakini Rhode: sometimes, you have a really good meditation
Dakini Rhode: you know what i mean
Dakini Rhode: you feel bliss, or something
Dakini Rhode: and the next time you sit, you want to try to go there again
Fael Illyar: it makes sense but only rather faintly
Dakini Rhode: well, that’s sort of a mistake
Fael Illyar: Yes, I did want to go there again but I didn’t end up getting there.
Dakini Rhode: because we’re exploring our mind, and reality, and want to be open and curious to what it shows us
Dakini Rhode: yes, that’s what happens.. :-)
Dakini Rhode: by trying, we miss the mark
Dakini Rhode: it’s a balance between trying and not trying, if that makes sense
Somehow meditation seems like housecleaning….
Fael Illyar: Although, somehow I feel like I manage things much faster when I do PaB explorations than when I meditate
Fael Illyar: meditation tends to take me a few minutes to get “deep”
Dakini Rhode: sometimes i feel that “meditation expands to fill the time allowed”
Dakini Rhode: like housework :-)
Dakini Rhode: even so, i’m very much in favor of extended meditation
Fael Illyar: speaking of housework, I kind of felt like I was cleaning up my head today when I had forgotten my morning meditation and did it on the evening
Dakini Rhode: that’s how i feel it, too!
Dakini Rhode: cleaning house…
Fael Illyar: I somehow had the feeling of cleaning up and thought of to compare it cleaning the house
Dakini Rhode: :-)))
Dakini Rhode: One day i had the feeling to compare PaB to windshield wipers
Dakini Rhode: cleaning the windshield
Fael Illyar: After forgetting the morning meditation, I initially thought that I’ll try one day with just PaBs for a change but that didn’t last long
Dakini Rhode: what happened?
Fael Illyar: Well, I ended up feeling like I have to meditate for a few minutes to clean up my head :)
Dakini Rhode: wow getting the meditation habit!
Fael Illyar: Looks like I’m not getting rid of it anymore :P
Dakini Rhode: once it becomes a part of your being, there it is!
Dakini Rhode: you can’t get rid of it
Isen returned to us from latte-land and we different forms of meditation and nonmeditation…
Isen Enzo: Here I am!
Isen Enzo: finally back..
Isen Enzo: (actually I’ve been lurking and reading catch-up)
Isen Enzo: yes, we have similar themes to meditation…
Isen Enzo: the first- shamatha?
Dakini Rhode: concentration
Isen Enzo: we try to pass through as quickly as possible..
Isen Enzo: some place to begin..
Isen Enzo: but then- its more like you describe as vipashyana..
Isen Enzo: just pay attention..
Fael Illyar: a day without meditation idea was partially because my stepfather was rather scared about meditation and fed me all kinds of stories and I’ve been pondering about those.
Fael Illyar: I came to the conclusion that he’s pretty much completely mistaken after a day of pondering.
Llii Quan: illusion…
Isen Enzo: what was his fear?
Isen Enzo: It’s true that some people have a really frightening time….
Llii Quan: hello. just passing thru! :)
Fael Illyar: in short, his fear was that “meditation makes people turn of their brains”
Dakini Rhode: hi Lili :-)
Dakini Rhode: please join us, if you like
Llii Quan: Whats happening?
Fael Illyar: Hello Llii :)
Isen Enzo: Well- there are LOTS of different forms…
Dakini Rhode: we’re chatting about meditation
Llii Quan: interesting.
Llii Quan: Should I leave?
Dakini Rhode: you’re welcome to stay, if you wish
Dakini Rhode: Hi Martie!
Fael Illyar: No reason to leave, group meeting.
Isen Enzo: stick around, lili.
Dakini Rhode: we meet here every day
Isen Enzo: pleasure to have you..
Fael Illyar: Hi Martie
Martie Georgia: Rezzing slow today. all voices, no bodies
Llii Quan: ok. :) Its a lovely place to meet!
Dakini Rhode: we’re experimenting with a new meditation practice, but we’ve been discussing meditation in general
Isen Enzo: oki doki- I wanna hear more mahamudra
Dakini Rhode: slow rezzin day
Dakini Rhode: mahamudra is like playasbeing
Dakini Rhode: stop.
Dakini Rhode: drop
Dakini Rhode: loook
Dakini Rhode: look right at mind
Isen Enzo: great title for a SL blues song- “slow rezzing sim”
Isen Enzo: hm…
Dakini Rhode: mind is clear, luminous, and radiant
Isen Enzo: stop, drop, look?
Dakini Rhode: “empty”
Fael Illyar: hmmh… I suddenly noticed I’ve been doing something like letting thoughts come and go mostly without clinging sometimes.
Dakini Rhode: good!
Isen Enzo: how does it differ from vipashayna?
Fael Illyar: no idea that was close to meditation :)
Dakini Rhode: mahamudra?
Isen Enzo: y
Dakini Rhode: hmmm i will quickly go over my own head
Dakini Rhode: mahamudra practice can be done any time anywhere short or long
Dakini Rhode: a teacher points out the nature of mind, giving you a “glimpse”
Isen Enzo: so mahamudra is not a formar timed zazen session?
Isen Enzo: it’s “zazen” allatime?
Dakini Rhode: well it’s not NOT a formal time zazen session
Isen Enzo: anytime?
Isen Enzo: omg
Dakini Rhode: lying down
Dakini Rhode: sitting
Dakini Rhode: standing
Martie Georgia: You mean it’s like real life!! LOL
Dakini Rhode: whatever
Dakini Rhode: lol
Isen Enzo: well, I guess I don’t not get it…
Dakini Rhode: like playasbeing
Dakini Rhode: lol that’s it
Isen Enzo: lol
Dakini Rhode: hi Luzifer!
Luzifer Kanto: Hi
Martie Georgia: add abbout 6 more nots in a row , isen and you will get it.
Isen Enzo: so- sounds a lot like us soto zennies….
Dakini Rhode: sometimes it’s the best way to say it, lol
Dakini Rhode: does it?
Isen Enzo: our techniques..
Isen Enzo: yes
Dakini Rhode: well there ya go, we’re all doing mahamudra
Isen Enzo: for starting out people, we have them count breaths..
Isen Enzo: then after we just watch the parade…
Isen Enzo: with out comment..
Isen Enzo: as best as possible..
Isen Enzo: then we try to take that to the real world outside the zendo…
Isen Enzo: bare awareness..
Isen Enzo: attention..
Dakini Rhode: sounds the same
Isen Enzo: yup..
Dakini Rhode: good to know buddhism is the same
Isen Enzo: no- it sounds the same..
Isen Enzo: yes- it sounds the same..
Dakini Rhode: i may be missing some subtle distinctions
Dakini Rhode: that an expert would see
Martie Georgia: Noisy! ha!
Dakini Rhode: but sounds the same to me
Isen Enzo: quacks like mahamudra..
Dakini Rhode: hey if it quacks like one…
Martie Georgia: I am too tired. I think I will just let it wash over me instead, It nver forgets to do behind my ears. Bye.
Dakini Rhode: sounds good, Martie
Fael Illyar: mahamudra sounds pretty much like what I’ve often been doing when faced with an important decision.
Isen Enzo: walks like a mahamudra…
Dakini Rhode: funny
Dakini Rhode: i guess i ought to formally end this chat session
Dakini Rhode: since it’s been 1hr 15 mins
Dakini Rhode: but of course we can stay…
