Yamantaka

Can Buddhism cure depression? No. Can psychotherapy cure depression? No. Can medication cure depression? No. Real depression results from an internal "short circuit" of the electrical signals within the brain. The key is acknowledging that malfunction and understanding that it is physiological rather than psychological. I have suffered from chemical depression since childhood but once I realized that it was only an imbalance, it was easier to deal with. For some reason, in our culture having a physical disorder is acceptable but having a mental one is not. Situational depression is caused by external events so can be dealt with acceptance of what has happened and understanding the teachings on karma and reincarnation. Once I began to take Buddhist teachings and learned to meditate, my ability to deal with the depression became better as I could see some of the causation. I will be the first to admit that losing everything to the tsunami and subsequent malfeasance left me seriously depressed even with my thirty years of Buddhist teachings and meditation. I believe that analytical meditation can give anyone the "wisdom" and strength to live with depression which results from bad things in his or her life. It is being able to calm the mind sufficiently to look at the problems objectively that can get us through the worst times and keep chronic depression from ruining our lives.

I believe you are wrong, otherwise my lawyer is wrong and my company is illegal as I (being a US citizen) own 70% of my company, my partners from Australia and Finland own the remaining 30%

Mine too! I own 100% of my company and have for the past five years.

I have never heard about being asked where the money came from when bringing money into Thailand, only when sending it out. I have never been asked over the past ten years. Even when I last sent 12,000USD to the U.S. I only had to say it was for my father and it went through, no problem.

hi everyone,

I see this thread is old but I'm looking for a burglar alarm to install on my home in Bangkok.

I'm interested in finding out whether there are any companies in Bangkok which do monitoring ie when the alarm is tripped, they phone to check and alert the police if necessary.

Thanks if anyone could give contact details, etc.

Please, do not rely on alarms systems and/or CCTVs, even those monitored by security companies, to keep your family safe. They are merely a warning that someone has broken into your home giving you about thirty seconds to get yourself and your loved ones into a protected environment. If you have not made arrangements for that, you are missing the whole benefit of getting that advance notice, however short it may be. These days homes need to be made secure from the outermost perimeter inwards, like layers of an onion. Think of an ancient fortress with outer wall, inner wall, castle and keep. The progression of barriers to the attackers made getting from the outer wall to the keep difficult and time consuming enough for the aristocracy to get themselves to where they were inaccessible. The same holds true with today's criminals who are likely armed with guns, so the best course of action, if you can't keep them out, is to let them have what material possessions they want. There are ways to keep them out entirely but alarms and cameras will not do it and expecting security personnel or the police to get there in time to keep you unharmed is a big mistake.

I don't know for sure if he knows about leases but my lawyer in Bangkok is Khun Thammanat. He and his associates are so good that they got my former lawyer disbarred for life after he cheated me. I would trust them with my life.

I don't know all of his specialties but it would definitely be worth a call. I believe his office is now in his home so call or email him first. He speaks English well.

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: (086) 334 7010

Address: 249/17 Soi Ladprao 122

Wangthonglang 10310 BKK

China is the biggest threat to world peace and prosperity. Buying anything produced in China makes one complicit in:

Genocide: more than 2 million Tibetans murdered including 100,000 monks and 8,000 Temples destroyed;

Human rights: summary executions for expressing opinions, demanding basic rights and wanting freedom;

Labor: highest incidence of slave labor and child labor requiring 18 hours a day work without breaks, living on site sleeping on the floor without proper sanitation;

Environmental pollution: more ongoing and planned destructive infrastructure that will further degrade the atmosphere, land and water;

Ecological: far and away the biggest trade in the body parts of endangered and protected species;

Trade: inundating the world's market with cheap, inferior quality goods a huge percentage of which are toxic and lethal, endangering the children of the world.

There is nothing made in China that anyone needs. I will never buy anything made there. Enough Already!

I think it is great that the millions of families who have had no coverage will have it now. We are the only developed western nation that does not provide health care for everyone, which is more than a little embarrassing. I don't hold out much hope for those if us who live abroad though. I lost home, business and life savings in the tsunami and although there was thankfully plenty of aid to Thais who lost their homes and for Americans who lost their homes and businesses to Katrina, there was no provision for a Yank who lost it all here. I think this is the risk we all take by choosing to leave the safety of our home country. I haven't been to a doctor or dentist in five years and probably won't go to one ever again unless I can find investors to resurrect my business. Some days you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you, right!?

I agree with pete_r, it is not that easy to send money out. Our company was registered with an actual capital infusion of THB 20 million so we can export that much whenever we choose, but we still have to fill out paperwork when we send out large sums.

See if you are in the right place to get WiMax from TOT. I had it for a year, it never went down and was the fastest of any service I've had in Phuket.

I don't know the advertised speed, just that it was much faster than MaxNet or an air card. I got it because when I went to the TOT office in Chalong to get a land line and MaxNet, they said there were no lines available so suggested WiMax which was thb 1500 per month. The hitch is that you have to have a direct line of site to the hill in Phuket Town where the eight tower ares located.

See if you are in the right place to get WiMax from TOT. I had it for a year, it never went down and was the fastest of any service I've had in Phuket.

Isn't there a difference between consciousness, as seen in sentient beings, and the mechanical or mathematical ability to calculate "appropriate" responses as seen in computers, robots, etc?

I.m.o. it is not a real controversy but more a linguistic confusion.

I think you may be right in saying it is a linguistic confusion...or at least that's a good way of describing it.

Some of the things in Buddhism that are most difficult to conceptualize may be more semantics.

For example...reincarnation occurs but there is no soul. Then what is the essence the travels from body to the next?

Karma just spontaneously occurs, there is no higher power to levy it. Hmmmmmmmm.

I am probably the most ignorant of all students of the Dharma but my understanding is that karma is more like a law of nature, like gravity or heat rising rather than retribution or reward bestowed by anyone. The soul is more of a Judeo-Christian-Islamic concept whereas in reincarnation it is the consciousness or train of thought that passes on, although due to our delusion, ignorance and attachment very little of our experiences are remembered in the next life. The most important thing is that as we progress along the path of learning, we begin to see more of the truth. As a parallel, we could think of science in which one begins studying basic biology, chemistry and physics. As some move on in their education, they continue to delve deeper into the realities of the universe like quantum physics and other things far too complicated for most of us. It is the same with Dharma. The initial teachings ready our minds for the more involved and esoteric teachings that we would be unable to comprehend at the beginning. This is why there are prerequisites for taking teachings on emptiness, for instance, and that it is recommended that it not be discussed with those who haven't taken the teachings from a qualified Geshe because of the confusion it can cause to the unprepared mind. Also, the Dharma is not a religion and is not one size fits all in which you must accept every concept in order to benefit from it. It is more of a custom made practice in which each of us can use what makes sense to us comfortably and without mental struggle. As each individual element becomes clear through explanation and meditation, we find ourselves able to grasp others that previously eluded us.

We had a representative from the electric company in Phuket come to our office with their collection book and wearing their identification badge around his neck. We paid him and got a stamped signed receipt. A couple weeks later we got an overdue notice so we went to the electric company office and showed them the receipt. They told us that the employee had been fired before the date we had paid and had never turned in the money so we had to pay the bill or the electricity would be turned off. We went to the police who took a report but nothing ever came of it.

It is completely possible for a foreigner to operate a tourism based business here. Yes there are hurdles and aggravation but if you know what you are doing you can be successful. The 99 out of 100 farang businesses referred to that go under are due to a lack of business acumen and unrealistic expectations. Most farangs seem to think that all it takes to run a bar, restaurant or guesthouse is to buy it and open the doors. Then when they fail they blame it on the Thai employees, Thai government or Thai regulations.That is why there are 100's of these listed for sale with Sunbelt Asia. Be cautious, get a good lawyer ( PM me for a good one in BKK) and do not listen to the multitude of naysayers, malcontents and reprobates on ThaiVisa.com who have no inkling of what business anywhere is all about.

it depends on the amount....i have brought in small amounts with no problem but one year a friend in the states sent me a birthday present of a six month supply of various supplements from the states (all of which are legal here) but it was confiscated because they said the quantity indicated that it was for resale...if it is not in the original packaging you are also asking for trouble....

I would combine the two ideas of the last poster: Take the bus from the airport to Phuket Town and then take a motorbike taxi to the pier. And be aware that there is more than one pier. So try to find out the name and exact location of the pier. I needed to get the ferry to the Southern pier on Koh Yao Yai and none of the motorbike or regular taxi drivers knew where it was even when I told them the name of the pier.

After I had been a vegetarian for many years, I was told by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to eat meat. His reason was that my being a vegetarian had added to my sense of ego by thinking how compassionate I was and thereby stifled my spiritual progress. He also reminded me that vast numbers of sentient beings die in the cultivation and processing of fruit, grains and vegetables. And that since one essential element of the Dharma is that all life is sacred and equal, I was not "saving" life by not eating meat, only again feeding my own ego by being compassionate to those animals I could relate to. It was better he said to eat the dead animal and be reminded of the suffering it endured at every meal so that I would be even more motivated to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.

Is that a million baht, euros, dollars? If its only baht just leave it in your bank account and then make withdrawals using ATMs in your destination country.

charged local folks who earn a fraction of what farangs do the same prices, they couldn't afford to buy anything.

You're probably new in thailand, defending thais at all cost is not gonna work.

Those 'poor' thais do always find a lot of money to buy themselves some leo beer or chang beer even if their kids are starving

I've only lived here for ten years, mostly among Thais, not in farang enclaves, nor sitting in bars with other farangs whining about how horrible the Thai people are. My explanation was merely a statement of economic realities not a biased opinion of how people should live their lives. I wonder why you live here if this is how you feel about Thai people and what you are doing to help alleviate the problem you see so clearly. As regards your comment, poor people everywhere including Europe and the states, tend to spend disproportionate amounts of money on alcohol and tobacco.

I lived in Chalong for two years and the water was always chlorinated. I think if you keep a supply of water standing in the sun for at least a week to allow the chlorine to dissipate it will be safe for fish. But still smell it before you use it.

Sitting mediation is the most elementary form giving you a relaxed physical state from which to enter an observant mental state. All other types are offshoots of this, ie walking, sleeping, even washing dishes.

Meditation is the means of learning to control the mind, not an end goal. After you have participated in a guided meditation or two, you will begin to learn how to observe the activity in your mind from an objective perspective, recognizing how distracted and agitated it is in its normal state. It is this hyperactivity that often prevents us from getting a firm grasp on our problems. As you learn how to meditate, you will be able to calm your mind which is the first step in gaining control. Once this is accomplished you will become skilled at cleansing your mind until it is clear enough to focus effectively. It is like a mental form of martial arts exercise. You will learn how to recognize the "threat" from your deluded thoughts and anticipate them so you can prevent the resulting negative actions from occurring, just as you anticipate a strike from an attacker.

Rather than getting all worked up about two sets of prices, try thinking of it this way. The higher price is the normal price that everyone walking in off the street pays and the lower price is what the business owner gives to his friends, neighbors and family which is pretty normal everyone in the world. You wouldn't expect him to make a profit on them would you? If they charged local folks who earn a fraction of what farangs do the same prices, they couldn't afford to buy anything. If they charged farangs the same low price as they do their friends, they couldn't afford to stay in business because of the exorbitant rents they have to pay to serve the tourists. In Hawaii, where I lived for six years, everything has a lower Kama'aina price for residents. Everyone understands the financial situation and no one wastes their energy crying about it.

After my Austrian partners in a Phuket/Khao Lak dive company cheated me, and the Thai lawyer I hired to get my money back also cheated me, I found this lawyer who was smart enough to get the lawyer disbarred for life which is pretty good considering it was a farang up against a Thai from a rich family. Give him a call:

Thammanat & Associates

249/17 Soi Ladprao 122

Wangthonglang, BKK 10310

(02) 539-5156

[email protected]

I have lived in Thailand for ten years, almost seven of those in Phuket and have never been burgled, robbed or attacked except for one very crazy Aussie who vandalized my boat and put the final nail in my fiscal coffin after the tsunami. Getting professional security advice can make all the difference in the world.

Don't quiet agree with you here, if you have 2 houses and one has alarm and you can see the flasher, sign and the siren/camera and the other don't have anything, which one do you think they will choose?? Also you can turn the alarm on when you sleep, and then you at least will know if they try to enter your house.

Sadly, you are thinking like an alarm salesperson and not like a criminal, which is the mistake most homeowners make. Putting in a visible alarm system of any kind announces to the seasoned criminal that you have something worth stealing and they will find ways around it. The druggie types don't care if you have an alarm or not as they will be in your house as soon as the alarm goes off knowing that the police, if they come at all, will not be there in time to stop them from robbing you and possibly doing you bodily harm. Only a totally integrated protective program can keep men, women and children safe in their own homes.