u/NoMuddyFeet

I was just listening to two podcasts with Joe Evans of Rangdrol Foundation and I wanted to talk about some of the things he said. But, a topic that came up frequently was the old E-sangha and they kind of laughed about it. Joe described it as "vigorous" at first, but I knew exactly what they were both thinking. So, later, I was happy when one of them came right out and just said it without mincing words: "you'd come to this Buddhist forum and everyone was fighting!" The podcaster said he wasn't on E-sangha, but said he later read stories about all the flame wars. Joe replied, "It was fun!"

No, it wasn't. I think it totally screwed up my experience of the dharma from a pretty early stage. I've often thought about it over the years and I find that the same patterns hold true in a lot of Reddit Buddhist subs, too. So, I dip in and dip out quickly, but I can hardly ever manage to avoid a miscommunication and always seem to find myself in the crosshairs of someone I've somehow irritated or who just wants to let me know I'm mistaken about something. I'll cite passages from someone like Dudjum Rinpoche or Namkhai Norbu to support exactly what I said (because at this point, I've come to expect that I can't state a single thing without someone telling me I'm wrong) and, of course, the person disappears into silence.

So, I just don't want that kind of atmosphere with what I wanted to talk about from these podcasts. I had some thoughts on some things Joe said, but I don't want to share them in a public Dzogchen space where everything is hyper serious due to being so public.

I'd like access to the "secret room" where chill people are not always trying to fight about everything and just share ideas without feeling like they have to save the world from bad information. Where is that place?

I have some questions about some stuff he said—not even really doubts—but I don't want whatever I say to be seen as a public criticism because it's not. I'd really like to have a simple, quick, and casual conversation about just a couple things without coming across as if I'm criticizing people (because I'm not). However, I've been around Buddhist forums for ~20 years now and I know that 100% of the time when I post anything, someone out there is going to misinerpret my intentions and start a big argument about it while acting like they're not doing that and it's not their fault I said something they misinterpreted and probably I had ulterior motives because they didn't understand and, in any case, the fault is all mine, certainly not theirs, etc. This sort of nonsense is not how normal conversations take place in person.

I realized that I have audio of the Vajra Amor mantra in the Dzogchen Community Mantras collection I purchased many years ago, so that is why I deleted my previous post asking if there is a Vajra Armor audio in ChNN's lineage. There is and I already had it.

Can anyone here who received this practice from Namkhai Norbu and has been doing this mantra daily can confirm for me that you are also doing it with 31 syllables? I made a mark on a piece of paper for every syllable as I listened to Namkhai Norbu slowly recite the mantra. He speaks it very clearly. I'm just curious if he's always been taught this way because it's not really clear from the Vajra Armor e-book, which mentions some different pronunciations and a potential omission, and also literally every version of the mantra on Youtube is different from this (that I can find).

I'm not worried about it, just curious, so no need to advise me "not to worry about it" or "if that's how he pronounced it on the mp3, then it's correct" or anything like that. I already know that. I'm asking specific questions I am curious about without detailing the mantra publicly. (Just trying to be clear so as not to waste anyone's time). Thanks.

I saw that I received the Vajra Armor from Namkahi Norbu at least once but never knew what it was until recently. Since I have permission to do it, I figured I might as well, so I ordered the little book.

The instructions are confusing and talk about the number of syllables in ways that I can't understand. Whether it's supposed to be pronounced BRITA or BIRITA is indecipherable and all the versions on Youtube pronounce this with 3 syllables, but then a subsequent sentence mentions that the total number of syllables is 30 not including TADYATHA so I can maybe deduce how it should be pronounced, but I am not really convinced I understand correctly.

Does anyone have an audio of the correct pronunciation according to Namkhai Norbu's lineage? Everything on Youtube is different and many have additional syllables.

This question just occured to me after thinking about how:

(A) Tibetan singing bowls were never a real thing in Tibet for rituals or music making or anything and Tibetan flute is marketed the same way.

(B) I remember reading about how Buddhist teachers created melodies for mantras to appeal to westerners, but that doesn't strike me as true at all because 90% of the mantras you search up on Youtube are set to elaborate music (which I personally don't really like to listen to).

So, yes, possibly mantras set to music is one answer. I was curious more about something more along the lines of the singing bowls or flute, though. There really is nothing, right?

Has anyone used this new Fluid Engine 7.1 and knows a very similar page-builder for WordPress that doesn't slow sites down and doesn't break with updates (and basically has given you no trouble whatsoever??). Because I would love to design WP sites in a page builder like this.

Previously, I've had nothing but bad experiences with page builders and did not like dealing with Squarespace in the past, either (many years ago). But, this is different. This thing makes it awesomely easy to create desktop and mobile layouts without feeling like I'm struggling with buggy UI or compromising in annoying ways on the design or page load speeds. I'd really love something exacty like this inside WordPress!

Does anyone know any details about this particular cider? I was trying to research to see if it has erythritol or something that could cause sensitive people digestive problems, but it doesn't seem to. It says it has 10% less sugar than other ciders, so that's what got me suspicious.

WHAT HAPPENED:
I drank a single large can (19.02 oz) of the Peach cider. It is the same exact peach cider as my wife bought at the same time from the same store, so I would guess it's from around the same batch (?) 🤷‍♂️ But, my wife had no stomach problems from it at all.

Mine tasted kind of fuzzy and I thought that feeling seemed yeasty but there are yeasty beers, so I didn't think anything bad was going to happen. I figured they were probably trying to make it feel "peach fuzzy" since it is a peach cider. I did end up adding ice after a while because that fuzziness felt thick and sweet, so watering it down with ice made it taste and feel much better. My wife didn't want ice and said hers tasted good. Again: 🤷‍♂️

An hour later, I felt like I could probably poop, so I stood up from my chair and walked a whole 5 feet to the bathroom and it suddenly felt very urgent and then, the next thing I know, I shit a little right in my underwear. Immediately ripped off my pants and fortunately none leaked through to ruin my pants. I sat on the toilet and had diarrhea.

Afterwards, I took a shower and threw my underwear away.

It was literally my first drink. I have never shit my pants before. It made me realize just how bad it would be to have to wear an adult diaper.

If I was out at a bar or restaurant, that would have been a nightmare. Even though the amount that came out initially was not a lot and it had the consistency of baby food, it made an incredible mess to the point I finally iust gave up trying to wipe myself entirely clean before showering because it seemed like it was going to be an impossible task and I was quickly going through a brand new roll of toilet paper.

PS. I had three more diarrhea sessions this morning and finally just took some psyllium husk powder, which seems to have thankfully started to work. My stomach stopped gurgling about 15 minutes after I took that and I don't feel like I am about to have a 4th diarrhea session this morning, which is how I was feeling before I decided to try the psyllium husk. To be honest, I can tell that another poop isn't too far away, but I'm hoping the psyllium hisk will make it firmer and pull out whatever is irritating my colon. I am trying to avoid taking Immodium-AD for now because that really intereferes with medication. I am also a little concerned it may have been tainted with e coli and if that's the case then I probably shouldn't plug myself up with Immodium-AD. I think I would feel sick if it was e coli, though. I don't feel sick, just diarrhetic.