lannarebirth

and Bangkok rather respects Chiang Mai ... for many reasons

I agree. I get Thai visitors from Bangkok every few weeks, and every one of them wants to either re-locate or take a second home up north. They seem to all harbor forest and mountain homestead dreams . I will say they tend to look down on some of the local people, believing they are somewhat unsophisticated.

Check out Sunbelts resposne on this thread. It'll give you a run down of the rules as they stand in real life, not on the burmese worker grapevine.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...mp;#entry897454

Thanks for that Samran. Our workers are all registered with Thai ID's and work permits. I see there is no chnage in their status. That's a relief.

Anyway don't worry, Chiang Mai Bubble is going to burst pretty soon... because Thaksin has been ousted !

No more crazy megaprojects, no more "Safari Night Day Moon Zoo", no more 8767 km of new lines of undergound and sky train for next year, no more Walt Disney Thai Theme park ("to compete with Hong Kong"), whatever.

I hope you're right about the megaprojects, but I think you're wrong about land values. I'm starting to see another move up. Just this week AI'm getting lots of calls for a piece I just listed. I've already turned down an offer. Compared to ,any other parts of Thailand it still presents good value. I'll grant you it's not as cheap as Isaan though.

Putting myself in the woman's shoes I'd be thinking, "I'm pregnant by a guy that hasn't married me, thinks I don't look good anymore, and brought me back to a country where I couldn't support myself and child, were he to dump me" . Now, I'm sure you're a heck of a lot nicer than that, but those hormones will mess with a girls head I'm afraid. Good luck to the two of you.

I had not heard that. Does that include Tai Yai and Karen workers legally registered, do you know?

I've bought and sold several pieces of property near Chiang Mai and prices paid are only driven by market forces. I believe the "official appraisal" is used for taxation and loan funding matters.

I went through the same search as you and found many good sites, but none usable for the Thai baht for free. I use Esignal now. Tradestation is very good also. Or you could check with this guy in Chonburi and see where his charts come from. If you do, let us know.

http://www.asiachart.com/thai.html

Thaksin's brother Payab Shinawatra was arrested in chiang mai airport and was escorted by the army to 33rd infantry regiment.

Newsbreak from radio and national TV.

With the prices in his Shinawatra silk shop, I am sooooo not surprised.

I live around the corner from his sister's house and nary a creature stirring. I've met her on a few occasions socially and a more repugnant woman you wouldn't want to meet. She carried the bag up here in Chiang Mai.

Ever seen the look on a person's face when they realise they've been dudded on the three card trick. Or the pea under the three cups? After Sept 19 I think we're going to see that look on a lot of people's faces.....especially farang faces.

<cliche> I hear what you're saying. So far, so good, but time will tell. </cliche>

Just read this, what do you all think? Thought curuption was strive during T's regime?

Just How Corrupt Was Thaksin?

Bangkok Pundit Blogger - Numerous allegations of corruption have often been made against the government of Thaksin Shinawatra, but are they really backed up with credible evidence? The Thaksin government is the not the first Thai government to face accusations of corruption. During the opposition led Chuan Leekpai government (1997-2001), there were also numerous allegations of corruption yet no coup was staged by the military. What should the threshold of corruption be before a coup is staged? How corrupt is Thailand under Thaksin after all?

The former is subjective and impossible to answer, but the latter can be answered by reference to international surveys on corruption. The World Bank and Transparency International are two respected international organizations who both publish yearly surveys on corruption.

Transparency International undertakes a yearly "Corruptions Perception Index" (CPI). The CPI gives a score out of 10 and the higher the CPI the less corrupt a country is perceived to be. For example, the latest CPI was released on 18 October 2005 and Iceland scored a 9.7 whereas Chad only scored 1.7. Since the Thaksin government first came to power on 6 January 2001, Thailand's CPI has gradually improved as indicated in the table below:

Year CPI

1999 3.2

2000 3.2

2001 3.2

2002 3.2

2003 3.3

2004 3.6

2005 3.8

The World Bank also publishes a survey on Governance Indicators and one of these indicators is Control of Corruption. The Governance Indicators use "276 variables drawn from 31 sources and 25 different organizations". A higher percentile rank indicates better governance ratings. As can be shown by the below table, control of corruption reduced during the term of the opposition Democrat Party, but has gradually improved during the Thaksin government. The Thaksin government has almost manage to restore the control of corruption to the level it was before the Democrat Party took power.

Year Percentile Rank

1998 52.0

2000 45.1

2002 46.6

2003 47.1

2004 48.0

2005 51.2

When the military staged a coup on September 19, one of their claims was the "country has been governed in a way as to suggest widespread corruption". One the leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy, the group who staged a number of rallies against the Thaksin government earlier this year, has stated that the Thaksin "government is the most corrupt ever". An opinion piece in The Nation newspaper stated that "[m]assive corruption" was one of the "hallmarks of the Thaksin administration".

But while critics of the Thaksin government can claim corruption was a problem during Thaksin's 6 years in government, the evidence suggests the opposite. What do you all think?

I think the survey fails to take into account corruption at local levels. Ask any Northern or Northeast Thai and they'll tell you corruption by orbortor and Khumnan (charged with the responsibility for local vote gathering) affiliated with TRT skyrocketed in the past several years. I have experienced some of this myself, and it is with a great deal of satisfaction I learned that my local orbortor was out on his ass when the coup took place. Som Nam Na!

m

Funny to see the parade of former Cabinet members slinking back into Thailand one at a time at the airport today... all looking so sheepishly guilty of "something."

It's come uppance time...

I liked Chaturon's comments the best at the airport media blitz:

"I don't know anything."

I don't have a TV to witness the spectacle, but would I be wrong in guessing that they're all wearing yellow shirts?

Can anyone give a testimonial for a good Italian restauarant in town? I've been to Georgio's and found it wretched. I've been to the Pasta House and it seems a little better than a couple of years ago, but not very good. I've been to Babylon and some of the food is tasty if inauthentic, but the ambiance is not great.

Also, does anyone know of a restauarnt or bakery where i can get real schiacciata or focaccia bread?

avacados are so expensive, i wondered if anyone knows of anyone who has successfully grown them in thailand.

any info of how appreciated.

I've seen avocados growing throughout the northern regions and certainly in Burma. The price seems to be coming down, but I tend not to buy as the varieties groen here ar not very delicious IMO. I've never seen a Haas avocado here, which IMO is the most delicious.

Thailand has also made it abundantly clear, as China has already established, human rights are valueless. Human rights and pursuit of a life of dignity has no cash value. Thailand is not signatory to the International Refugee Conventions, and commonly and flagrantly violates human rights laws with complete impunity. Their treatment of both refugees and stateless tribal persons is quite clear as far as this is concerned. No profit, no recognition, no rights, no voice.

While their track record is somewhat spotty, there are few nations on earth that have taken in as many refugees as Thailand. Many 10's of thousands of refugees have been processed through Thailand for resettlement to other nations.

I'm out of the country on as business trip, but I just talked to my wife in Chaiyaphum and it sounds like people are planning pro-thaksin protests already. I don't think the military will allow this though.

According to a couple of generals I spoke with this evening and a minor royal, starting tomorrow (or very soon thereafter), there will be wave after wave of press reports citing evidence of corruption and unconstitutional behavior by the government, in an effort to take any starch out of any counter coup attempts.

Man, the guy (farang) that moved in above me is real inconsiderate of his neighbors, banging, slamming, stomping, thumping. All day long.

I called him several time, asking him nicely, to help me identify the noises coming thru my ceiling.

Absoutley zero coperation, says its "normal" and I need to adjust.

If fact he seems to "turn it up" after my last call. He got real nasty and insulting on the phone last time I called.

Should I just beat the crap out of him?

Don't use violence. Don't employ hit-squads. Don't waste your breath with reasonable negotiation.

I had a similar problem three years ago, with an Australian and his GF.

Over the period of 3-4 weeks, I caused his complete mental breakdown with specially designed conversationalist and mesmeric actions and communications.

He left.

If you search on the WWW you will find methods of achieving this. There are also several self-help books available, on how to control people's minds through speech and mesmerism.

Are you available for hire? What's your day rate?

Bit off topic ,,,,, maybe,,,,,,,,,, as there seems to be hefty Aussie input on this thread, heard a group of Aussies last night use the wordl... can someone describe or give a definition of the word "Yabo" [sp]

???

According to the Australian / English dictionary, a "yobbo" is an uncouth person or country hick.

I have a question about the way statistics are used here

If a guy goes to AA to try and stop drinking but relapses 19 times before becoming sober permanently on his 20th attempt; is that a 5% success rate(as is so often quoted here)? To my way of thinking, he is an AA success story.

Lannarebirth - Don't forget being a communist country -whilst it's not perhaps as visible in Laos as it is in say North Korea or Cuba- the government officials will not allow

the citizens to leave the country. There is therefore a " behind the scenes "

system to monitor this - i.e. the secret police

midas,

That statement is not true. I know many Lao who travel outside Laos. What is true, is that they require an exit visa.

Sure- I will try to do so briefly...........

This is a relatively new book and is a true

story about Kay ( and her husband Kerry )

Danes who were respectable business people based in

Laos but were unfairly imprisoned in a Communist Gulag

in Vientiane, Laos for ten months.

They were not involved in drugs or anything like that

-they were simply setup by an incredibly corrupt

Communist regime where there are still

" secret police ". The book gives many examples

of how tourists and travelers are probably completely unaware

they have virtually no human rights at all in Laos despite the fact

that the government of Laos has supposedly agreed to

uphold human rights as prescribed by the UN.

There are no words to describe the shocking conditions

in the prison in which the Danes were held

with no rights to visitors and with very limited consular access.

If not for the direct intervention and incredible support given

by the Foreign Minister of Australia - Alexander Downer

and even the Prime Minister, John Howard, it's possible

the Danes might have languished in that dreadful prison for

a much longer period. There are even Thai people still

in the prison known as Phonthong Prison - that have almost

been forgotten about and have been there for years

without charges or any trial.

Not only does this book illustrate what a bunch of thugs

and crooks the Government of Laos are but it points out

that if ever you are detained for any reason whatsoever

in Laos, they have the right to hold you in their dreadful

prison for up to 12 months without any charge

or any court appearance and during that time they

carry out the most dreadful tortures.

Even Kerry and Kay Danes were subject to the most

dreadful tortures.

It's so easy to cross from Thailand to Laos just over the

Friendship Bridge and yet

many of us who have done so in the past quite innocently

probably havent got a clue about the significance of leaving

the relatively safe environment of Thailand to enter

a corrupt Communist country which has such a low

profile.

I finished reading the book days ago but I'm still thinking about it

everyday and I'm thoroughly shocked by what I read.

I think what makes me so shocked is to think I visited this country

three times not realising how potentially frightening this

regime can still be even to the innocent tourist who could

step over the line for any reason at any time.

One Sri Lankan was imprisoned because his friend ( not

the Sri Lankan -but his friend ! ) left the country

without paying his telephone bill............

Why Western countries continue to give aid to this regime

escapes me................

I've spent a good deal of time in Lao. I would say generally, the police there are not even 1/10th as corrupt as Thai police. I'd also say that the Lao people are even friendlier than Thais. That said, it is a difficult place to stay, as there's an incredibly difficult bureauocracy, particularly with regard to visas. Don't even think about getting involved with a Lao woman, inside Laos anyway, as it's against the law and you may be jailed (or set up to be jailed). As for safety while travelling, I would avoid busses on the main N/S hughway between Vientiane and Luang Phrabang (hwy 13?), preferring vans or flying. I would not be a loud drunk in Laos either, as so many farang are here in LOS

There are many historic and beautiful places in Lao. Do some reading in advance and enjoy your travels.

Include a common word in with your search, like "a" or "the" or "my". Something like that.

If you're adventurous, you might try taking a trip up to Chai Nat or Ang Thong, where much of it is manufactured.

I bet TAT is already up in arms about this, and it probably hasn't got them anywhere.

I think TAT is more interested in getting a chunk of the 100 million chinese that have enough purchasing power to go on vacation for a couple of weeks each year.

They couldn't care less about the handful of people for whom this ruling would have a negative effect.

BINGO! Beginning in 2008 comes the first wave of post WW II Baby Boom retirees. Couple that with the coming surge in Chinese tourism and investment and you can see why Thailand is getting things in order. There will be untold billions to be made from legitimate retirees and investors soon IMO.

Dharma Talk: Six Principles of Enlightened Living: The Six Paramitas and the Three Trainings

What I'd like to talk about tonight is the six principles of enlightened living. Over the past six months or so on many Monday nights we have been going through some of the basic teachings that help support our journey of awakening. We have explored together how to relate to the fact of impermanence and death, our own mortality; relate to finding a reliable refuge or sanctuary in this fleeting world, traditionally known as taking refuge; relate to generating the altruistic, selfless, loving Bodhicitta, the innate, pure heart of enlightenment and compassion; relate to self-inquiry and to who and what we really are; relate to the essential awareness practice of sustaining present wakefulness, of Dzogchen (the Innate Great Perfection): the meditation practice renowned as Cutting Through, Seeing Through, in the form of sky-gazing. Various other Dharma subjects have also come along the way. Tonight I'd like to talk about the six Mahayana principles of enlightened living: How to integrate the outer, inner, and innate levels of enlightened living and carry all circumstances into the path, integrate everything as our path, assimilate everything into the path of awakening.

I'm sure you have all heard of what is traditionally known as the Noble Eight-faceted Path taught by Buddha. These eight steps to enlightenment are usually divided into three main principles or trainings: sila (morality), samadhi (meditation), and prajna (wisdom).

The Tree Trainings

Sila means virtue, ethics, morality, self-discipline, impeccability. Sila is a beautiful Sanskrit and Pali word. It means that which cools the intense broiling, roiling stew of passions and conflicting emotions. It's like a shade tree in the desert of blazing, conflicting emotions, a shelter where we can find relief. Nonattachment, integrity, and a righteous, honest, impeccable life provides a shelter, a true refuge in our confusing times.

Samadhi means collectedness, concentration, reflectiveness, inquiry, mindfulness, meditation, focus.

Prajna means wisdom, gnosis, enlightened awareness, transcendental wisdom, true self-knowledge.

Sila, samadhi, and prajna -- virtue, meditation or awareness practice, and wisdom -- make up three enlightened principles that are like a tripod that our enlightenment can rest on. Actually the three are inseparable, like the three facets of a single, luminous jewel. Each supports and promotes the other. For example, if we lie, steal, and have weak moral fiber, how can we think to know truth?

Externally, virtue means not harming. Internally, it means having integrity and honesty. And innately we all have that capacity, don't we? Who doesn't have purity of heart, beneath it all? Is there anyone here who doesn't have that innate capacity, even if they don't reveal it very often? Innately we all have that capacity to be impeccable, honest, virtuous. Not self-righteous, but to live what is known as the righteous life. That's enlightened living.

We can train from the outside in, by restraining or vowing not to harm, not to be naughty, not to kill, lie, steal, intoxicate ourselves, and so on. At the same time, we can work from the inside out, from our innate goodness and integrity, by resting in the natural state without clinging, free from concepts and attachment. Then natural morality, natural integrity, and natural impeccability will flow forth without vows, without having outer strictures. Actually the best way to train is from outside in and inside out at the same time. Then wherever we are, that kind of impeccability can flower, our highest character will develop. So that's enlightened living: impeccability. Not just rules or vows, not just square morality, but impeccability, character, integrity. And when we change for the better, our children and grandchildren and the world change, too.

The second main principle or training of enlightened living is meditation, samadhi. Outwardly that can look like meditation, or mindfulness practice, or other explicit forms of religious or philosophical self-inquiry. And yet without the inward component, it is not so deep; we could just be going through the motions, performing empty rituals and giving mere lip service to high ideals. Inwardly, are we really interested in this work? Are we really inquiring? Are we really applying ourselves and investigating? What is our motivation? Are we just sitting down and trying to stop ourselves from thinking? There are plenty of pills in bottles that will do that. But that's not the point of meditation, of reflectiveness, of contemplation. So inwardly, it is the quality of investigating or inquiring, of being more aware and conscious, which makes a difference. Meanwhile, innately that awareness is part of all of us. We are all lit up by pure, authentic, spiritual presence as if by an inner light. This is what Tibetans refer to as the clear light. We are illumined by consciousness, aren't we? It is innately present; no matter how scattered we feel, it is here. We are totally here, even if we feel scattered -- innately lit up by presence, by innate awareness, the light within us all.

And the third main principle or training of enlightened living is prajna, wisdom. Hard to describe, isn't it? And yet it is so palpable. We can feel it externally functioning in life, very practically, as wisdom or common sense, genuine selfless helpfulness. Usually the wise people are wise about many things, not just about one narrow, specialized field, like meditation or religion. Rather, they are wise in the ways of the world, and, perhaps, the so-called other world too. Wise in life and death. Wise. So outwardly prajna shows up as sageness, being wise, being an elder and mentor and model. We can cultivate that. Inwardly, it is a little more subtle, but it shows up; also, we can cultivate it as sanity, centeredness, inner peace -- at one and at home with both ourselves and with others. We can plumb the deep inner well, and heal ourselves.

Meanwhile, innately: gnosis, transcendence, unselfishness is within us all. The ultimate form of wisdom is not a doing; it is our true nature, our being. It is not just information or intellectual knowledge. Wisdom sounds like knowledge, but it is more like our luminous, pure being. Can we tune into that? Not just doing something externally. Not just knowing something internally. But can we be that? And trust that? Being is complete in itself. That is transcendental wisdom. We may or may not belong to a church, but churches have not been around very long. I mean any kind of church. They have been around for only a few thousand years. But our being -- that mystical sacrament, that mysterious and sacred space -- has been around a lot longer. Not exactly our being, but being itself. Primordial being, as we call it in the Dzogchen tradition. Authentic primordial being, or Rigpa, Buddha-mind.

Thus, there are outer, inner, and innate aspects to all these things -- to virtue, to contemplation or awareness meditation, and to wisdom. So these are three salient principles or trainings of enlightened living that I would you to reflect on. I'd ask you to do a little homework. I'd like you to do some reading or thinking about this. What is the relation between virtue -- outer, inner, and innate -- meditation or inquiry -- outer, inner, and innate -- and wisdom -- outer, inner and innate? You can find many discussions of this in Buddhist books. They talk about the three trainings. Buddha discussed it in the original sutras. It is part of the Fourth Noble Truth, the Truth of the Path.

This is just an outline for reflecting on principles of enlightened living. Of course, we can apply this outer, inner, and innate scheme to almost anything, but it is particularly useful for unpacking and understanding some of the Buddhist teachings about how things are. For, after all, Buddhism is descriptive, not proscriptive. It describes how things are, not what you should do. You get to decide that. We decide. We choose. And we experience accordingly.

The Six Principles of Enlightened Living, the Six Paramitas (Perfections)

Now I would like to look further into the six principles of enlightened living, which I have started to think of as principles of enlightened leadership, to talk about them more in a Western way. But in the old-fashioned way, they are called the six paramitas, the six perfections. I would like to look into this in the outer, inner, and innate fashion since nobody has discussed this to my knowledge and I have become interested in thinking about it this way.

The first paramita -- the first principle of enlightened living -- is dana paramita: the perfection of generosity. This is what is called charity (caritas) in the Christian sense, which means love; it doesn't just mean giving pennies to the poor. Caritas means unattached generosity, boundless openness, unconditional love. Open heart, open mind, open hand. That's why it comes first among the six. It is extraordinarily pertinent to our lives and our path.

The second is sila paramita -- virtue, morality -- which we have already described.

Third is shanti paramita: patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance.

This ties into the fourth one, virya paramita: energy, diligence, courage, enthusiasm, effort.

The fifth is dhyana paramita: meditation, absorption, concentration, contemplation.

The sixth enlightened principle is prajna: transcendental wisdom.

Since each of these is an enlightened principle, a paramita, wisdom is in each and all of these. For example, the first one is dana paramita, generosity: It is wise, isn't it, to let go? Why is that? Because resistance is suffering (this is explicit in the Second Noble Truth). Craving, attachment and resistance is suffering. So it is wise to let go. Externally, dana paramita implies being more generous, open, giving, serving, and donating our time and energy. Internally, it is being more generous with our emotions and generous with others, open-hearted. Not suppressing our emotions, not being miserly with our emotions; rather, allowing them and appreciating them. And innately, being generous, spontaneous, total unbounded energy. Why squelch that limitless, innate energy like a miser, as if saving your energy for "the real thing"? Here is the problem of commitment, which many people suffer from: holding back and fearing intimate engagement or total involvement. You miss your whole life that way.

Dana is the wisdom of openness, internally, externally, and innately. Just being is innate generosity. Everything is available within the natural state. Don't be a miser regarding being and always be lost in doing and squandering your energies in frivolous, scattered activities. Everything is available in the natural state of pure being. Don't take my word for it. Master of old Padampa Sangyay said so, the Buddha of Tingri, Tibet.

We can go through this outer, inner, and innate scheme and find that it is all within us; we can cultivate it externally and internally, and discover that we are actually involved in it already. That's the good news. The bad news is our own way of seeing it, of feeling far from it and inadequate. Even though we are all supposed to be perfect in the Great Perfection, somehow we don't feel perfect enough. Never quite perfect enough. Never truly satisfied. But this is just a habit, a distorted way of perceiving, which enlightened vision can rectify.

Secondly, we talk about morality: it is wise to not harm. That is the essence of virtue. Externally, taking the five basic lay vows or precepts: "I shall refrain from killing and stealing and lying and sexual misconduct (exploiting others) and intoxicating myself." Internally, isn't it just as wise not to deceive ourselves and to have integrity and develop our own character? Innately, of course, we all have that purity of heart and basic goodness, and feel love naturally. Let's not lose touch with that. Let's exploit that innate, natural resource, rather than exploiting others for what we think we need and want. Let's exploit our own natural resource within, our own true spiritual inheritance. That is something we can never really lose; no one and nothing can take it away from us.

The third paramita is patience, shanti paramita. Sometimes it is mistranslated as peace. but it really means patience, forbearance, tolerance. So externally, it means, say, counting to at least ten before we kick back. Having some balance and sense of restraint. Being patient instead of being totally irritable and reactive. It means persevering through whatever twists and turns the path requires, to the goal of our aspirations. Internally, it means being patient with ourselves and having some acceptance and tolerance for ourselves, with all of theirs as well as our foibles, hang-ups, and neuroses. It is good to be cracked. It lets the light through! Recently, I read a poem that I really liked by Wendell Berry: "It is the impeded stream that sings." So let's not try to be too perfect and dull. It will just frustrate us anyway. Having a few rocks in the stream makes it sing. Even stumbling blocks can become steppingstones.

Innately, we are all here for the whole show, so we must be interested in seeing this through. We are not going anywhere else; this is it! That's why as people get older, they get wiser, because they realize that no matter what they do, they are going to keep on keeping on. That's the most secret, mystical meaning of the shanti paramita. And even if you think, but what about so and so who committed suicide, even then there is ongoingness. We are all in it for the whole journey. Don't be deceived by mere appearances.

Fourth is virya paramita: energy, diligence. It is often translated as effort. But that sounds so one-sided. What about effortless effort? What about the great passion of our true vocation, which we do day and night out of love? Not just the effort to get through our forty-hour week and forget about it at Friday at 5:00. How about effortless effort? Externally, it seems like effort, but internally it can be effortless effort and passion for our true spiritual life. Aren't we all interested in well-being? Does that take an effort to pursue? Are we not pursuing it? That's virya paramita: courage, fearlessness to pursue continuously our highest good.

Innately, of course, there is boundless energy and interest and curiosity and wonder and beauty and awe in everything, every moment, if we open to it, if we don't close ourselves off from it, if we don't dull ourselves. Inexhaustible resources and the potential is always available to find everything we seek just in pure being. Endless being, inexhaustible field of being, primordial being.

We can make great efforts to improve ourselves, to learn, to grow, and to develop -- to relinquish what is negative and adopt what is wholesome and positive -- but in the end I think it is the updraft of our joy in just being alive that carries us aloft and puts wind in our sails.

Fifth is dhyana paramita: meditation or absorption, presence. Externally, it shows up as presence of mind or collectedness, meditation, contemplation. Internally isn't it wise to be focused and centered and aware and see what is going on, rather than being heedless, mindless, absent-minded and distracted? Not just be lost in fabrication, but to really see what is going on, right here and now. We can do that, with a little attention and focus.

Innately, we are all totally absorbed. We can never be anything else. So don't feel like you are lost and just looking at everybody feeling lost. You're found. Innately, there is total presence, although we waste it, we overlook it, we defract it with many cracked mirrors and distracted, pointless activities. We feel like we are only operating on one or two cylinders. But we are just using the other cylinders to hold ourselves in. All the cylinders are going all the time. We ourselves are actually the long-sought-after perpetual motion machine. How can we not meditate on, contemplate upon, and reflect upon our lives?

Whether doing sitting meditation, walking meditation, chanting, visualization, yoga, martial arts, breathing exercises, prayers, or whatever, the joy of meditation rewards us deeply.

And sixth, prajna paramita: the highly touted transcendental wisdom, said to be indescribable. I talked about it earlier. I won't go into it again, except by telling a brief story about Vimalakirti, the enlightened layman of Visali in India. He lived in the time of the Buddha. The Mahayana sutra called Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra tells his story. He was a layman with a family. He was an impeccable member of the community, an enlightened businessman. He was the sagest person in the city of Visali. All the Bodhisattvas and enlightened monks and nuns came to him and had a discussion. They all came to his bedroom, which was very small, about 6 feet by 6 feet, and somehow all the enlightened ones fit in there through the magic of interpenetration and emptiness. This august sangha gathering also included all the Bodhisattvas, including Manjusri, Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani, and Tara. Maybe they all made themselves as small as those angels that reportedly dance on the head of a pin. The sutra says they were all there, arhats and Bodhisattvas alike, with their seats, thrones, and mounts, all in Vimalakirti's tiny chamber.

Each member of this Dharma assembly gave their views on what is transcendental wisdom. That was the subject of the discussion that day. Each one gave a description of the indescribable; this is why we love the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra. It is marvelous. With each progressive description, you think, "Ah, now we have really got it." Yet, the truth expounded seems to get better each time. Each expounder outdoes the previous, not in the sense of competitiveness, but the Dharma teaching just goes deeper and deeper. They finally get to Manjusri, the God of Wisdom. He gives his spiel. It is so marvelous. It is the ultimate spiel on nondual truth, transcendental wisdom. Then everybody bows to reverently to him -- including us the reader. What else can be said? we wonder.

Finally they all turn to Vimalakirti, and ask him to pronounce the final word on transcendental wisdom. (All this is part of the Prajna Paramita Sutra, which has dozens of thousands of Sanskrit verses.) So Vimalakirti answers. And the sutra says -- I am always overcome with emotion here, at this point -- that "his silence resounded like thunder." That was the last word on what is wisdom, what is enlightenment. It is truly ineffable, inconceivable, beyond the mind; and yet, it is so palpable, experienceable, demonstrable. Vimalakirti lived it; he embodied it. That's the principle of enlightened living: embodiment, enactment, not just merely knowing about something. That's self-realization: enacting it; embodying truth; wisdom in action as love, compassion, and impeccability.

Lama Surya Das

http://www.dzogchen.org/teachings/talks/dtalk-95feb20.html

I've been to 57 countries and cleared Customs back in the US dozens of times. Not once has anything like that ever happened to me. Those immigration officers you dealt with went well beyond the scope of their duties in interrogating you IMO. It's perfectly legitimate to ask if the trip was for business, vacation, education, etc; but unless they've caught you in violation of some Immigration or Customs law, the specifics of your visit and your personal habits are none of their damned business.