2008.12.29 01:00 - Vegetarian meals [with ‘meaty’ flavour]

The guardian on call for this session was Gaya. Comments are hers.

Moon kicks off the session with a joke.

Moon Fargis: ^^/
Gaya Ethaniel: Good morning Moon ^^
Moon Fargis: morning:) and seems a quiet one :)
Gaya Ethaniel: I came a couple of minutes late and missed Crusty
Moon Fargis: ahyes he wrote me a zen joke for my collection
Gaya Ethaniel: ^^ oh do share?
Moon Fargis: Death of a Zen Master

A contemporary Zen master lay dying on his death bed. His monks had all gathered around his bed, from the most senior to the most novice monk. The senior monk leaned over to ask the dying master if he had any final words of advice for his monks. The old master slowly opened his eyes and in a weak voice whispered. "Tell them Truth is like a river." The senior monk passed this bit of wisdom in turn to the monk next to him, and it circulated around the room. When the words reached the youngest monk he asked, "What does he mean.'Truth is like a river'?"
The question was passed back around the room to the senior monk who leaned over the bed and asked, "Master, what do you mean, 'Truth is like a river'?"
Slowly the master opened his eyes and in a weak voice whispered, "O.K., truth is not like a river."

Gaya Ethaniel: mm... not very funny. Perhaps I expected too much :P
Moon Fargis: hehe ok how about this:

The teachers, seventy-year-old Kalu Rinpoche of Tibet, a veteran of years of solitary retreat, and the Zen master Seung Sahn, the first Korean Zen master to teach in the United States, were to test each other's understanding of the Buddha's teachings for the benefit of the onlooking Western students. This was to be a high form of what was being called _dharma_ combat (the clashing of great minds sharpened by years of study and meditation), and we were waiting with all the anticipation that such a historic encounter deserved. The two monks entered with swirling robes --

Moon Fargis: maroon and yellow for the Tibetan, austere grey and black for the Korean -- and were followed by retinues of younger monks and translators with shaven heads. They settled onto cushions in the familiar cross-legged positions, and the host made it clear that the younger Zen master was to begin. The Tibetan lama sat very still, fingering a wooden rosary (_mala_) with one hand while murmuring, _"Om mani padme hum"_ continuously under his breath.

Moon Fargis: The Zen master, who was already gaining renown for his method of hurling questions at his students until they were forced to admit their ignorance and then bellowing, "Keep that don't know mind!" at them, reached deep inside his robes and drew out an orange. "What is this?" he demanded of the lama. "What is this?" This was a typical opening question, and we could feel him ready to pounce on whatever response he was given.
The Tibetan sat quietly fingering his mala and made no move to respond.

Moon Fargis: "What is this?" the Zen master insisted, holding the orange up to the Tibetan's nose. Kalu Rinpoche bent very slowly to the Tibetan monk near to him who was serving as the translator, and they whispered back and forth for several minutes. Finally the translator addressed the room: "Rinpoche says, 'What is the matter with him? Don't they have oranges where he comes from?"

The dialog progressed no further.

Gaya Ethaniel reads and scoffs at 'dharma combat' in the middle, ooops
Moon Fargis: ^^
Gaya Ethaniel: That's a bit funnier yes ^^
Moon Fargis: ah well i just stand up.. time for a quick tea :)
Gaya Ethaniel smiles. Ok

Crusty joins us and tells us more jokes ^^

Gaya Ethaniel: Hey Crusty ^^
Crusty Goldshark: hey guys
Gaya Ethaniel: [wb]
Gaya Ethaniel: Moon shared your joke about a Zen monk ^^
Crusty Goldshark: ah yes :)
Moon Fargis: ah hi crusty :)
Moon Fargis: thx for the joke ^^
Crusty Goldshark: :)
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Crusty Goldshark: "All Chinese [Buddhists] are vegetarians, but most of them prefer to flavor their vegetables with beef, or pork, or duck, or chicken." - Lin Yu Tang
Gaya Ethaniel giggles
Gaya Ethaniel: I've been pondering about SL recently... especially about being anonymous
Crusty Goldshark: last joke . . .
Crusty Goldshark: Groucho Marx once attended a seance where the medium
asked if there were 'any questions for the spirits?'
Groucho asked:
"What is the Capital of Nebraska?"
Gaya Ethaniel: ok ^^
Moon Fargis: hehe
Crusty Goldshark: back to anon?
Gaya Ethaniel smiles

I continue on the anonymous SL culture.

Gaya Ethaniel: While it seems that 'friends' talk honestly, some are frightfully protective of their RL self... that makes me wonder
Moon Fargis: i think wholeinternet is anonym
Gaya Ethaniel: Makes me trust them less somehow
Moon Fargis: if they dont want to share their RL ? hmm
Moon Fargis: maybe they are afraid
Crusty Goldshark: in some ways - in some ways - eg facebook there is a craving for being noticed . . .
Moon Fargis: afraid that things happen in SL like they happend in RL when both mixes up
Gaya Ethaniel: mm...?
Gaya Ethaniel: I use Facebook to keep in touch... not really to get noticed [almost all on my friends list there are RL ones]
Moon Fargis: well thats the best answer i can give, afraidness that the bad RL comes to the good SL they build up
Crusty Goldshark: Interesting - I loved the interface on facebook but saw it as mindless chatter - a way of wasting time - your experience might be better?
Gaya Ethaniel: brb
Crusty Goldshark: What are peopole afraid of Moon?
Gaya Ethaniel: Most of my friends are not in SL so I use Facebook, a simple reason really...
 Moon Fargis: lets say.. one in sl is a small cute child girl, a princess in a children sim, with parents and and a sister... and in rl the person who is sitting infront is a 57 year old, 80 kg heavy, master in matial arts
Crusty Goldshark: I tend to use email
Moon Fargis: people would think and act totally different to him then
Moon Fargis: (as i still got thisman in my friendship tw:)
Moon Fargis: btw
Crusty Goldshark: most people would - yes
Moon Fargis: +list
Moon Fargis: so they tend, better not to mix up those two
Crusty Goldshark: Well in many ways this can be overcome by using a non human avatar
Moon Fargis: sure but not everyone want to be an cat or a dog or a bear :)
Gaya Ethaniel: ^^
Crusty Goldshark: I watched - you've got mail yesterday and enjoyed it -Tom hanks and melanie Griffiths
Gaya Ethaniel: ^^ it's a nice film
Crusty Goldshark: yes
Moon Fargis: hmm didnt saw it so far
Gaya Ethaniel: Though saccharine sweet
Crusty Goldshark: yes
Crusty Goldshark: I feel the anon thing has benefits for the spiritual community as people are not awed by supposed spirituality but have to take people 'at their word'
Moon Fargis: aww gaya, is that 1st life pic of you from Kiki's delivery service ?
Gaya Ethaniel: ^^ mmhmm
Moon Fargis: i love that anime :)
Gaya Ethaniel: How so Crusty?
Crusty Goldshark: Well dress someone up in a monk or lamas attire and they immediately feel they are dealing with a spiritual person. It is why priests are trusted. However there is no correlation between appearance and inner worth . . .
Gaya Ethaniel: And so SL is helpful in that
Moon Fargis: hehe this reminds me on caspian :)
Crusty Goldshark: My teacher often is in tatters and looks quite comical and to some disconcerting - i have known people to be totally bewildered by his appearance . . .
Gaya Ethaniel nods
Moon Fargis: hehe crusty, often people try to show about the meaningless of thing when they make it meanfull
Crusty Goldshark: It does not help that he is mostly incomprehensible
Crusty Goldshark: So I think the anon thing is overall benefiscial ;)
Gaya Ethaniel: But taking people for their words in SL can be tricky also. One can create alt to have different SL lives
Gaya Ethaniel: Guess I'm beginning to detach messages from messengers in SL
Crusty Goldshark: True Gaya - bbut part of our innate sense is to be taken in (if we wish) or not if we are looking deeper . . .
Crusty Goldshark: Most people want sham teachers and teachings because they are not genuine and honest seekers . . .
Crusty Goldshark: They want pretend teachers who will offer safe dictums and platitudes that will not challenge them . . .it's the 'spirituality game' . . .
Crusty Goldshark: People do not find the truth because it is not what they are looking for . . .
Crusty Goldshark: :)
Gaya Ethaniel is thinking... still
Moon Fargis: hehe
Moon Fargis: thats right crusty, that was one of my reasons i switched from teachings (back when i started in sl with my meditations) to Talks
Moon Fargis: becasue people sttarted just to belive what i said
Moon Fargis: so i just changed the word from teaching to Talk
Moon Fargis: ans whoos everyone shared their minds
Moon Fargis: and they came together to a sollution of problems
Crusty Goldshark: Well sharing and exposing the ego is the first part of transforming ;)
Crusty Goldshark: Spiritual Friendship
Gaya Ethaniel ponders... exposing the ego...
Moon Fargis looks at the ponderin gaya
Moon Fargis gave you Imagine! - Candy Cane - red/green/white.
Crusty Goldshark: Well the ego is the part that differentiates, anon, real, truth, untruth, me , you etc - that is just a position of ego
Gaya Ethaniel: ty Moon ^^
Crusty Goldshark: You can exist with or without too much ego separation but really the experience and Being begin to merge - Iam as I experience . . .
Gaya Ethaniel: I'm still wondering about reasons why some 'friends' are so secretive about their RL... are these people afraid of something or embarrassed about themselves?
Moon Fargis: maybe
Crusty Goldshark: maybe not
Gaya Ethaniel: I'm trying not to question my interactions with them... take their words as they are so to speak
Moon Fargis: maybe could be :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Especially given that these interactions are 'spiritual'
Crusty Goldshark: We live in a world that is obsessed with external being - and people are judged on age, appearance, ethnicity, gender, spiritual integrity, funny hat etc . . .
Gaya Ethaniel nods... true it's not easy
Moon Fargis: yes how people look is the main think how they are trusted
Crusty Goldshark: But here we sit around a pool, we choose what we present and we choose what we say
Moon Fargis: sadly
Moon Fargis nods
Gaya Ethaniel: With honesty and good intention I hope
Crusty Goldshark: I always trust cute bears
Gaya Ethaniel: Even a cross-dressing bear?
Crusty Goldshark: Sure - if you present as a woman I would feel warmth towards you
Gaya Ethaniel: SL provides many good lessons about appearances yes

Moon turns into a humongous red monster.

Crusty Goldshark: LOL
Gaya Ethaniel: ^^ I like that monster AV too
Gaya Ethaniel: Come come Moon, be a dear bear
Crusty Goldshark: I have a lot of time for demons
Gaya Ethaniel: You do?
Moon Fargis tickles crusty with one of his tentacles
Crusty Goldshark: Of course - we should have compassion for even the demon realms - maybe in particular . . .
Gaya Ethaniel gasps... the monster is burning our master recorder!
Gaya Ethaniel: Please say more Crusty?
Crusty Goldshark: OK - there is a great story of a Pure Land master . . .
Crusty Goldshark: He had a dream that he was to be reborn in the Purelands (heaven)
Gaya Ethaniel: Lovely
Crusty Goldshark: He told this to his disciples and ask that they would pray for him
Crusty Goldshark: With tears in his eyes he asked they pray he be born in the hell realms , so he could help the beings there . . .
Crusty Goldshark: That is spirituality . . .
Gaya Ethaniel: Was that the end? dang
Crusty Goldshark: . . . and a touch of madness . . .
Moon Fargis: hehe
Gaya Ethaniel: mm... he's not mad to me
Crusty Goldshark: OK another story I read this morning - no another one about the buddh in a previous life . . .
Crusty Goldshark: He was a child who saw a hungry tigress who could not feed her cubs
Gaya Ethaniel: Though I won't bother about heaven and hell in that way
Gaya Ethaniel smiles... I know this one
Crusty Goldshark: he jumped into a gorge - the tigress ate his child body and was able to feed the cubs . . .
Crusty Goldshark: Clearly this was an incarnation of the Buddha as a demon - what were the consequences on his mother and family?
Gaya Ethaniel: Child neglect charges?
Crusty Goldshark: Things are not always as they appear
Crusty Goldshark: LOL
Gaya Ethaniel nods... I'm learning that lesson
Moon Fargis: *meow meow*
Crusty Goldshark: That is why we are kind to demons, they may be Buddhas in disguise . . . or tiger food . . .
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Moon Fargis: nono bears arent tiger food!
Gaya Ethaniel: Being kind to demons can have consequences ^^
Moon Fargis: WUAHAHAHA...
Gaya Ethaniel: Better approach carefully
Crusty Goldshark: Yes - indeed - wisdom and discrimiation are hard - so usually it is best to be kind
Gaya Ethaniel nods...
Crusty Goldshark: time for me to go demon hunting
Gaya Ethaniel: Same but not demons
Crusty Goldshark: have fun :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Good day both ^^
Moon Fargis: bye bye^^/