Please take all challenges outside

[KFQ Admin]

We have removed the series of recent challenge threads after numerous complaints. Please do not use this forum for challenges.

[Crimson Phoenix]

Finally, some tranquility...it was getting ridiculous, same posts pasted over and over...
Good job!

[ACE BACKWARDS]

THANK GOD!!!!!!!!

Finally THE VOICE OF REASON is heard above the din of senseless and childish babble.




HANG LOOSE AND BE COOL,


ACE

[ACE BACKWARDS]

AH MAN.....here we go again.........





ACE

[GeneChing]

Let me share a little quote I've been saving for just such an occasion. It's from The Sword of Wisdom by Ch'an Master Sheng-yen. He is commenting on the Song of Enlighten ment (italicized).
"If we regard criticism as merit,
The critics will become like reliable friends.
Do not hate those who slander you;
How else can you manifest the unborn power of compassion?
When people slander you, you should receive their words as you would ambrosia. You should be thankful to people who criticize you, because their remarks are beneficial to your practice. Even if you are not what the critics claim, and even if you have done none of the things they accuse you of doing, such criticism will make you more alert. It will sharpen your vigilance; it will help to prevent you from becoming what cirtics percieve you to be, and from doing what critics think you have done."

[David Whitley]

Dear Gene,
Your anecdote reminds me of Mr. Hagood's article from 1996.

In seeking a master one must not be satisfied by simply making the acquaintance of a teacher and learning by rote the exercises, lectures and rituals of martial art. Such training is but the entrance door through which those in earnest quest must pass.

A martial art axiom states that “real initiation” is not found except at the hands of one who has himself experienced it. And it is equally axiomatic that “when the disciple is ready, the Master will be found waiting.” Yet, such a Master is not easily found and under no circumstances does a true Master ever proclaim himself as such; he must be sought, must be clearly recognized as such and wholeheartedly accepted as one. It is natural to have grave doubts of his status and your own judgement about him before according him that confidence. “Ask, seek, and knock” are the tasks of persistent and concentrated will leading to real initiation.

As stated before, every system of real (not just ceremonial) initiation is divided into three stages. The first is a turning away from the attractions of the outer world. It is a work of detachment and self-purification. Second is the analysis, discipline and control of the inner world of. mind, thoughts, intellect and psychic faculties. It is a purifi-cation of the mind. The final stage is the surrender of all sense of personality and selfhood, so that the petty personal will may become merged in the Divine Universal Will and the illusion of separate in-dependent existence give way to conscious realization of unity with the one Life that permeates the uni-verse. It is a complete domination of the lower nature and the devel-opment of a higher order of life and faculty.

You might live in close contact with a Master for years without suspecting the fact. Recognition be-ing due to a spiritual rapport, to vi-bratory harmony and to intuitional certainty; unless your possess these a Master’s physical personality will convey no more to you than any other man’s. But of one thing you may be assured; the Master will know you through and through long befQre you recognize him, or perhaps before you even realize that you are seeking him. Hence, we can see when the disciple is ready the Master will be found waiting.

If accepted as a disciple one must serve and implicitly obey for a pro-bationary period and the Master assumes a real (not nominal) responsibility toward the disciples training, welfare and spiritual growth. The relationship is of the closest and the responsibility is of the gravest. The initiation the pupil hopes in due course to attain cannot be achieved until this intimate relationship exists. The Mas-ter and disciples become spiritually integrated.

A Master rejoices to find a suitable pupil, yet he does not accept him without subjecting him to severe preliminary tests. He discerns the thoughts and desires of the candidate to see if he is yet prepared in his heart. “Seek and ye shall find” is not a vain promise. But where do we find such a Master? He must be sought both without and within oneself. He must be sought in every event of daily life, in the person of everyone you meet. But do not look to meet immediately with some learned or impressive personality capable of giving you all truth in tabloid form in a few hours. Final truth cannot be communicated at all from one person to another orally; it exists already within you and needs only be dug out and liberated.

The true Master does not and cannot instill truth into his disciple but rather elicits truth from him. The pupil must first learn to clear away his own falsities and unrealities, so that what is central in himself may no longer be obscured, but shine out in its own self-conscious.

When the time is ripe and the pupil in a deep sense ready, he may come to meet the Master personally. But a Master; being one evolved in his spirit, is no longer thought to be thought of as a separate independent person, although displaying a separate personality and presence to the world. He is integrated with others; he is part of a group, all the members of which are conscious on the plane of Spirit. And Spirit is universal, not fettered by place, time or space.
In seeking a personal Master; one then seeks the group of which he is a member; remembering that life in the realm of Spirit is a unity not a diversity.

Though a personal Master may elicit the truth within his disciple, it is only the disciple who can realize the Master within his own heart. Failure to find oneself Master of himself will be due only to having failed to seek from the heart. The Master we seek is within.

[jon]

Can i have some CHEESE with that!

[anton]

Originally posted by jon
Can i have some CHEESE with that!

Sorry .. but I'm sure someone can hook you up with some corn.

[jon]

So anton
Hows that local sports team?
Whats the weather like where you are?
Learnt anything new in training?
Seen any good movies lately?

hehe i HATE corn Inside joke dont worry [not the band]
There must be some cheese somewhere i can smell it

[iron_silk]

Anyway to prevent these guys from using the board as their personal tool?

This is getting WAY out of hand...and I mean a long time ago.

It's funny but this David guy can't seem to take a hint.

[mysteri]

THIS IS THE NE-VER END-ING SONGGG! JUS WHEN U THINK ITS DONE, ITS ONLY JUS BEGUN THIS IS THE NE-VER END-ING SONGGG! JUS WHEN U THINK ITS DONE, ITS ONLY JUS BEGUN THIS IS THE........

sorry, i dont have better things to do either. why spend 30 hours a week training my skills when i can jus spend twice as many talkin about them! apparently SOME people's sifu never shouted to them TRAIN HARDER, TALK LESS! or is it jus me?

[JasBourne]

This is absolutely amazing. The thread is clearly labeled "PLEASE TAKE ALL CHALLENGES OUTSIDE."

Unbelievably, it's turned into another "me mo bettah you sukky" challenge thread! David, Steven, don't you guys have, you know, PHONES?

Sheeesh!

[GeneChing]

This next negative comment on this thread earns the first banning since our forum update. Cross this line if you really want out.

[KC Elbows]

You're doing a good job, Gene. I wouldn't have had half the patience you have in this silliness.

However...

Banjo is an ugly instrument!

No! I didn't mean it! Don't ban me, banjo is a beautiful expression of...of...

I can't do it. Banjo is just ugly.

Forgive me Gene.

[Carl]

Thank you very much.